Blood & Lust [Book Two of The City of Eternity Series] [✔]

2.26: Fealty

It didn't take long to get to the 'dungeon' considering who had been locked in there. A simple hallway, an eight-step staircase and another slightly longer hallway and we'd arrived.

There were two guards by a large metal door. I would've been apprehensive of such a sight if they weren't lounging, slumped on chairs and looking relatively spaced out. The receptionist had laughed lazily, just enough to alert them of our presence.

The pair had stood up hastily as we approached, looking down at their watches in a synchronised movement. They shared a glance at each other before the woman with neon pink hair started walking down the hall. There was a slight saunter to her walk that I registered immediately as one belonging to a vampire.

"We're taking our ten. That's when your time ends as that's all she's been allowed," The man says, offering a slight smile that comes across more as a sympathetic gesture than one of true substance. I had to hide my smile as I realised the man with matching neon green hair was a human, and happily working alongside her.

I'd quickly, without really thinking about it, made a small story for the pair - long-term coworkers where one had dyed their hair in a drunken night dare, and the other had followed suit in solidarity. Neither could imagine breaking such an allegiance because of some 'revolution' they'd not signed up to participate in. I'm sure both would be relieved it'd ended in a relatively happy ending for Eternity - to an extent, of course.

The man turns quickly to the door and with a swift movement unlocks the two electronic locks on the door. His ID card swung back to his chest, the blue lanyard keeping it firmly on his neck. He smiled as he turned back to us, opening the door by the handle and gesturing his hand inside.

"Each prisoner is in a cell that has been enchanted to reduce their stamina, alongside other effects I've been assured. If that offers you no comfort, there are three guards inside keeping watch so you should be safe, Miss," He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small keycard which he offers to me, "If you want out before we return, feel free to use this."

With that, the man began to walk down the hall, and the reception man dropped my arm from his and began to walk in the opposite direction. I took a deep breath and entered through the doorway, realising this was it.

I hadn't expected it to be so cold when I walked into the containment room. With no explanation of the layout, I was left to walk cautiously past long cell blocks, relying on the golden signs on each end which had been stamped with simple lettering 'werewolf', 'vampire' and 'human'.

I was forced to focus on that small sample of lettering because the quick glance upward told me it would be the only way to settle my nerves; the three guards slowly roaming the balcony that ran along the outside edge of the room certainly doing the opposite.

I was thankful that it was relatively quiet; despite the masses of people that had been crammed into this mechanically built room, the only noise was hushed whispers and shoes grinding against the ribbed metal flooring. If anything, the shoes Nora had provided were clicking against the floor louder than anything else.