Glancing up and down the hall, she saw no one, but could hear busy activity and voices downstairs. Looking up, she finally spotted the ceiling attic door. Heading that way, she stopped underneath still looking up. With one last glance behind her, she jumped, hoping she could make it to the high ceiling, catch the short dangling cord and hit the floor in one motion. Feeling the cord hit her fingers, she grasped tight. As she headed back to the floor, she pulled the door open as the ladder came out and down toward her face. Quickly with the other hand, she caught the ladder and held it in place, but then let it go when the door clicked open. She hit the ground and waited as the ladder caught up to her.
“Cool,” Jill whispered, proud that she had done that on one try. Wasting no more time, she began to climb. Once at the top, she slowly raised her head through the hole and looked around prepared for anything. But what she saw she wasn’t prepared for. Shock vibrated through her body making her numb with disbelief. Slowly, she made her way all the way through the hole, her eyes wide, taking in everything at once. She went to step, but stopped just before her foot stepped on nothing but insulation. In just a few feet, plywood had been placed across the beams for a makeshift floor. Putting one foot on one beam and the other foot on the beam next to it, she made her way to the plywood. Once there, she stared in horror. Pictures lined the walls of women and even men as they lay on metal slab tables. Jill frowned when she found two pictures of Anne, one before she was turned with greenish blue eyes and then the other with one golden half-breed eye and one greenish blue. The fear coming from the picture made Jill’s blood boil. “Bastards!”
Filing cabinets lined one side of the room. Reaching out, she tried to open one, but it was locked, as were the rest of them. Grabbing the handle, she reinforced the cabinet with the other hand before giving the handle a hard jerk. The drawer opened. “Too bad I’m not being tested now,” Jill whispered to herself as she thumbed through, and then pulled out a file. It had a woman’s name on it with personal information inside. A page labeled ’Buyer Information’ was the last page, indicating a large sum of money, but all private information including name and contact information was blacked out. Shoving the file back, she pulled another with the same result. Opening each filing cabinet, it was the same thing, but the third and last one were different. None of these files had names, just pictures and different addresses, indicating home address and business address, as well as notes of their daily activities. A chill traveled down Jill’s spine. These women were walking around today, not even knowing they were targets. Reaching over into another cabinet, she grasped one of those files, and then turned to head out with her findings and to inform the Warriors.
Glancing to her right, she spotted what looked like a hospital curtain. Light from an arch window in the attic helped her human eye see through the darkness. Once there, she reached out to pull the curtain open, but stopped. Dropping her hand, she rolled her eyes at herself. “Just open the damn thing already,” she hissed at herself before whipping open the curtain and gasping. The metal slab table sat like a monster. Leather straps dangled from each of the corners, as if waiting for its next victim; she was once a victim of a similar table. Forcing her eyes away, she spotted a tall glass cabinet and inside were vials, as well as other bottles.
“Holy shit!” Before she could move that way, a man stepped out from behind the cabinet, but instead of her safety, her first thought was please don’t knock over that cabinet. She knew Slade needed to know what was in there. He was a half-breed wearing only boxers. “Holy shit!” she repeated, taking a step back. It seemed that was the only words her brain and mouth could form.
His golden eye turned dark as he stared at her. His mouth formed into a scowl, his fangs growing. He took one step before bending over and clutching his stomach in pain.
“Who are you?” Jill finally found some different words, but regret filled her as his head snapped up and he hissed at her. “Listen, you’re going to be okay. I’m here to help you.”
An inhuman roar left his lips as his head reared back. Okay, this was one pissed off newly turned half-breed. Jill opened her mouth to shout for help, but knew it was way too late for that. Turning, she took off, eyeing the hole in the floor and just hoped if she made a run and jump for it, she would hit the downstairs and land in the middle of a few Warriors. Hitting the end of the plywood, she jumped, aiming toward the opening, but she never made it. The half-breed caught her from behind, and instead of hitting the hole, they hit beams and insulation that couldn’t take their weight. All Jill could do was try to turn so she landed on the guy, but as she did, all she saw were razor sharp fangs heading for her neck.
Using her elbow, she thrust back and hit him in the face just as they hit the ground. The air whooshed out of her as colored spots danced in front of her eyes. They had landed on a table, which crumpled beneath their weight. Fighting with everything she had left, she lifted when she felt him move, but he grabbed her by the hair, jerking her head back.