Page 52 of Corrupted

"Some people can fuck off, and so can you," Hunter said to his twin. "I'm not creepy, I'm awesome."

"You pronounced 'awful' wrong," Gianni teased.

"The next time we need someone used as bait, the answer is no," Hunter said to no one in particular. "Gianni volunteers instead."

"Keep your voices down," Damon snapped.

I noticed he didn't tell us to be completely quiet. I suspected he was as creeped out by this place as the rest of us. Only Reuben looked unruffled. On the outside anyway. I doubted too many people would enjoy being in a place like this.

No one but spiders and people like Kurt, and Leon Graves.

And the cockroach that ran past my left shoe. I shuddered, but didn't flinch.

This time.

We fell into silence after that anyway. Lost in their own thoughts.

The ground dipped before the tunnel led to a set of steps. Two by two, we stepped down them, slowly and carefully.

After those, the tunnel widened, becoming slightly more comfortable before we headed up another set of stairs. If I had to guess, I'd say we must be close to the house.

It already felt like we'd been walking forever. Maybe forever and a day or two.

Enough time for a million thoughts to tumble through my mind. Chief amongst those was, how had any of this happened?

We were keeping tabs on Rose. The house should have been secure. So many questions and, like too many times before, there were no answers. Not yet.

We reached the top of the second set of stairs and stopped in a wide, rectangular room.

There, Damon gestured for us to halt.

Behind me, Aidan gestured for his players to do the same.

"Where do we go now?" I glanced around, but couldn't see a door leading out.

For half a heartbeat, I started to panic. Maybe there wasn't a way out. We might have come all this way only to end up stuck in the end of nowhere. This might have been someone's plan. To bring me here and?—

I shook my head. Those thoughts were ridiculous. There was no way in the world that would happen. No one here would have allowed it, especially me. This was nothing but the past trying to get to me again.

I told it to fuck off, into a corner of my brain for now. I'd deal with one asshole at a time.

Parker turned off the light on his phone and tapped on the screen. "We could do with better connectivity in here, but this will have to do."

Damon nodded and pulled out his own phone.

I stared at them, confused until Parker said, "Got it."

He turned the screen to me, and showed camera footage of inside the house. "Now we just need to find where they are. And how many there are."

I nodded and waved for him to get on with it. Stopping to explain might be a waste of time. Time we couldn't afford to lose a moment of.

"He's still in the living room," Damon reported. "Rose, Angie and Enzo are still alive. Caleb too."

I peered over his shoulder.

Sure enough, they were still sitting on the couch, looking as though they hadn't moved since we saw them last. Kurt was pacing back and forth, gun still in his hand. He was surrounded by several other people.

I caught a glimpse of two of them and sucked in a breath. Sweat sprag out on my palms and under my arms. "That's Jason Andrews and Wade."