Gripping my chin, Salem gave me a hard glance. “Stay alive.”

I nodded. “You, too.”

And then Jared teleported us all inside.

The receptionists gawked, their eyes wide. Before they had a chance to call for help or react in any way, Max paralysed their senses. A psionic blast from David and an energy ball from Sam destroyed them a mere millisecond later.

Turning to the left, we found that the bartender, the keeper, and two clients had jumped to their feet. Salem, Sam, Max, and Denny attacked just as the keeper starting screaming orders, the bartender doubled in size, and one of the clients conjured a spear of frost. As others from the squad raced up the stairs, Jared teleported me and Damien to the attic.

We appeared outside the door just as two naked Pagori males rushed out, obviously having heard the commotion. As one took a swipe at Jared with a set of steel claws that he barely evaded, the other lashed at me with a long leather barbed whip that was stained with blood – and I had to wonder if he’d been using it on whoever was in the attic. Well, shit. The whip caught my face, and one of the barbs slashed my skin. Fucking ouch.

“Whatever you do, don’t let those claws touch you!” shouted Jared.

A brief glance at them told me why: they were dripping with luminous yellow liquid. Poison, I knew. See, you should always be wary of anything luminous.

Hearing the shouting, crashing, and roaring that was coming from the floors below us, I knew the battle was in full flow. And was that the screech of a hawk?

The whip came at me again, but I dodged it just as Jared aimed a bolt of electricity at its owner. The bastard slammed up a gleaming shield that looked much like glass. He smirked tauntingly, earning himself a growl from Jared.

As if he thought I would be the easiest target, Claws struck out at me. So dumb. Thanks to my gift, I could take out a vampiric version of Jackie Freaking Chan. Moving so fast that the action was a blur, I dealt him a solid palm strike to the nose. The sickening crunch made me wince inwardly. Before he had a chance to retaliate, I swiftly followed it up with a blow to the kidneys, a punch to the solar plexus, and a kick to the kneecap. The pain seemed to ripple down his body, making me smile in satisfaction.

I was peripherally aware that the other Pagori had just wrapped the whip around Damien’s ankle, whose astral-self had been darting around in an attempt to distract the fucker. But said fucker unfortunately wasn’t stupid. Before he could drag Damien’s body to him, Jared aimed yet another bolt at him. Once again, the shield saved him. Taking me by surprise, though, it cracked slightly. Huh. So it wasn’t unbreakable. That meant Jared could –

Suddenly we all dropped to our knees as a deafening, ear-splitting sonic boom of sound seemed to echo throughout the building. Pain pounded through my head, making my vision blur and my ears bleed. Knowing I was close to passing out, I forced myself to breathe and think through the pain. My vision cleared…just in time to see that Claws was quickly recovering, the asshole.

Standing now, blood pouring from his nose, he again came at me. I jumped to my feet and managed to dodge his claws, but I knew that if it hadn’t been for my gift, poison would be streaming through my veins right then. He launched himself at me, and I retaliated with blows to the jaw, ribs, shoulder, face, and temple. Disorientated, he blinked and staggered. A punch to the throat followed by a kick to the groin had him stooping, cupping his balls and dick.

“Get up!” Damien’s astral-self yelled at Jared, who was still on his knees.

Whip Boy laughed, dropping his arms – and inadvertently dropping his shield. That was all the opening Jared, who was apparently faking, needed. He projected a powerful lightning bolt hard enough to make the bastard explode into ashes. Ha.

Instinct made me return my attention to Claws, who was back on his feet and charging at me. Before I even had the chance to react, psychic energy rippled through the air and crashed into his head…knocking him out cold. Salem. As Jared happily reduced Claws to ashes with a bolt of electricity to the heart, I turned to Salem, who was then at my side. “Thanks.”

Salem’s eyes did a quick head-to-toe study of me, presumably looking for injuries. “I’ll stay with her and Damien,” he told Jared. “Go to Sam.”

Jared didn’t argue, clearly anxious to get to her, even though he would know through their bond that she was alive.

“We need to get the girl.” Salem took my hand in his and led Damien and I into the attic.

We stopped dead at the sight. Holy shit, Stuart hadn’t been exaggerating when he called it a ‘torture chamber’. Dark and bleak with blood-stained walls, it stank of fear and despair. It was empty apart from some medieval-looking devices, a bed with cuffs attached, and a table that…Fuck, I didn’t even want to know what half of the sadistic implements on it were.

The girl was naked, blindfolded, gagged, and bleeding from several places. In addition, she was hanging limply from the fucking ceiling by a rope that bound her wrists.

Moving closer, I was able to see that though her injuries were closing due to her preternatural-enhanced healing, they had been painful and horrific. Her breasts, groin, and the soles of her feet had been thrashed with a barbed whip – no doubt the one belonging to the bastard Jared had just killed. Her Achilles tendons had been sliced, and holes had been drilled into her arms and legs. Additionally, it seemed that someone had tried to literally bite a chunk out of her bruised face. It looked like she’d also been brutally raped, going by the blood on her inner thighs.

I swallowed hard, tasting bile. “Oh. My. God. W-why would someone ever do that? Why?”

Salem squeezed my hand in comfort. “Because people can be evil, Ava.”

“We have to get her down.” Damien’s voice was vibrating with anger.

“Is there a blanket or something we can wrap around her?” Salem asked me as he and Damien moved to free the girl.

“I’ll look.”

Damien moved behind her and untied the gag and blindfold. “She’s unconscious – either she’s still sedated, or she passed out with the pain or blood loss.”

After a quick search around the room, I sighed. “There are no clean sheets or any clothes.”

“We’ll have to use the one from the bed.” Salem eyed it with distaste. Understandable, since it was stained with blood and semen. But it was better than nothing.

“Can you hold onto her while I untie her wrists?” asked Damien. Nodding, Salem gently took her weight while Damien freed her, and I quickly helped him wrap the sheet around her.