The two SUVs belonging to Matthew's men and Olivia's own 4X4 stopped outside the ornate front entrance, a huge wooden door with what appeared to be gold leaf inscribed in it. It sat under an arch that wouldn't have looked out of place in ancient Rome.
I stopped the bike and got off as one of Elijah's men made his way toward Matthew, who was exiting the front vehicle, flanked by several very large werewolves in human form.
"Does Mister Bennett know you're coming," he asked Matthew, stopping the alpha's progress by placing his hand in his way.
"Move," Matthew demanded.
"I'm sorry, but without an appointment, you cannot come into this house."
Matthew's fist moved so fast that it was almost a blur. The guard fell to the floor, holding his stomach and trying to get air back into his lungs.
Matthew ignored the prone guard and opened the front door, stepping into the house. Gordon, Sky and Olivia followed soon after, but something stopped me from joining them. Instead, I spoke to at the guard. "Which room is Elijah's?"
The guard pointed behind him, into the house. "Top of the stairs," he said between haggard breaths. "Turn left, it's the third door down the hallway."
I thanked him and left him to his pain, as I ignored the front door and made my way round to the side of the house and glanced up at the top level windows.
A few minutes use of air magic and I'd climbed up the side of the house, using old bricks and windowsills as handholds, until I reached the window I'd been looking at from the ground.
I placed my palm against the cold glass and used more air magic to blast the pane into the room. I'd caught the shards in a bubble of air, which made the noise of breaking the glass much less noticeable.
The room was lavishly furnished, with a large four-poster bed and an expensive collection of artwork adorning the walls. I crept through the room and opened the door to the sounds of Matthew shouting at someone downstairs.
I exited the room and walked down the brightly lit hallway and knocked on the door that the guard had said led to Elijah's room. "Is the coast clear? I don't want to have to deal with that asshole Matthew."
"All done," I said, hoping it sounded at least something like one of his employees. Although, I doubted Elijah even knew their names and faces, let alone what they sounded like.
"Thank fuck for…" he opened the door and I punched him in the nose with a fist wrapped in air. It was akin to being punched with a sledgehammer.
Elijah stumbled back onto the ground, holding his nose, as I stepped into the room and walked toward my prey while he spat blood onto the floor. He got back to his feet and took a swing, which I dodged and struck him in the kidney. He dropped back to one knee, placing a hand against a bedpost to steady himself.
When he next looked up at me, Elijah's eyes had changed into wolf yellow, but that soon stopped as I slipped a sorcerer's band over Elijah's wrist and snapped it shut with a click that held even promise of the horror that would follow
"Do you recognise it?" I asked, as Elijah's eyes went wide with terror. "It's the one they used on Neil, right before they tore his arms off." Olivia had gotten one of her agents to bring it to Matthew's pack before we'd left to Elijah's.
A sly smile settled on Elijah's face. "You're not going to kill me, you need me."
"I know," I told him. "That's why we're going to have a nice long talk. But first-” I grabbed Elijah by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him to his feet. The sorcerer's band still afforded him his strength, but he knew that if he fought he wasn't going to win. Even if he'd defeated me, Matthew would destroy him.
I marched him from the room and out into the hallway as Matthew reached the top of the stairs. "I thought this would be easier," I said and pushed Elijah toward his alpha.
"Hello, Elijah," Matthew said in a friendly tone. "We're going to have a nice long chat about what happens to those who cross me." And then he threw Elijah over the banister and down the stairs.
Chapter 38
Two hours passed and I was beginning to get impatient. Olivia had started pacing up and down the room within ten minutes of Elijah being taken into his basement. It turned out that he'd had a soundproof room built some time ago. No one in the house moved to stop Matthew from dragging him down there, no one even spoke. The paid guards had all left within seconds of Elijah's head striking the bottom of the stairs. The toss had dislocated his shoulder, and Gordon had popped it back into the socket without giving warning. An act I was certain the aide had enjoyed.
Gordon had told me that the soundproofed room was equipped with a small adjacent room with a one-way window so that people could watch whatever happened inside. I hated to think about what Elijah had done to people in there, but I hated even more to think that he'd had people watching it happen.
"How do you think it's going?" Sky asked. She'd been calm the entire time we'd been sitting in Elijah's large living room. The couches were uncomfortable, purchased more for show than functionality. Actually, that pretty much described the entirety of the room's furniture. Expensive and uncomfortable.
"He's not going to say anything," I said.
Olivia stopped pacing and stared at me, her eyes hard and cold. "Why would you say that?"
"He hates Matthew," I said. "Really hates him. Did you see the look of rage that Elijah had when Matthew dragged him away. And that had nothing to do with him having been launched down a flight of stairs. He won't say anything to Matthew, or any of his wolves, because doing so will mean he lost. And that's what he can't stand. The idea of losing to Matthew."
As if on cue, Gordon entered the room. He appeared tired and fed up as he carried a glass of water over to a chair and sat down. "He won't say a damn thing," he said after taking a long drink. "Just insults Matthew over and over again."
"I don't know how much longer I can do this," Matthew said from the doorway. He was drying his hands on a tea towel, which was stained pink. "He's not giving anything up."
Sky glanced at me. "Can you break him?" she asked.
I was aware of everyone in the room suddenly staring at me. I wasn't sure of the answer. "Yeah," I said anyway. "But I'm going to need a few things."
"Such as?" Matthew asked.
"Did you find anything in that soundproofed room of his? Like knives, saws, implements of torture."
"A set of knives," Gordon said.
"Get them for me. And I'll need a gun."
"You can't kill him," Olivia said. "There's only six hours before Reid said he'd call. We need to know where Kasey and Tommy are before then. We need to get them out, Nate. I won't leave them with those… monsters."
"I don't plan on killing him. I just need to use a gun."
"Anything else?" Matthew asked.
"You mentioned that Elijah wanted his son to be alpha. Where is he?"
"He lives with his mother, word is he hates his father" Gordon said. "Do you need him here?"
I shook my head "No. At the moment he's a future ally, he doesn't need to see his dad being interrogated." I stood and stretched. "Okay, let's go see our guest."
Olivia and Sky followed us as I made a slight detour and filled two glasses with ice cold water from the fridge. And then we all went down to the basement. Two huge werewolves in well-made dark suits stood outside one of two doors. They moved aside at Matthew's gesture.
"We'll be in here," Matthew said, pointing at the door on the right. "We can hear and see you, so as soon as he gives you what you need, we'll be ready to go."
I spotted a group of folded chairs against the far wall, and grabbed one before entering the soundproofed room. I'd expected a dungeon, all dark and grim with chains hanging from the ceiling. But it was actually a large white room, with a sprinkler system in the ceiling and a drain in the middle, which I knew had been installed to remove blood. I dragged the chair across the floor with a noise akin to fingernails on a chalkboard, and placed it in front of Elijah.