Free Devil's Eye by Kait Nolan

There was no response to the noise, so he slipped inside with Sophie close behind.
    He waited, ears straining as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.
    Except for the sounds of their breathing and the roar of the wind, the warehouse was silent. Too silent. The wolf prowled beneath his skin, hackles raised. And yet, when he lifted his nose, he caught traces of Liza’s scent. Faint, but there. It was overlaid with wood and metal…and blood. Suppressing a growl, Mick crept forward, Sophie on his heels.
    The narrow hallway led past a row of what had probably been offices, their windows now dark. At the end of the hall, a series of huge metal racks, still loaded with wood, rose high above them. The ceiling sloped up toward a central point with a skylight. Mick could make out the lines of some kind of crane apparatus with a system of chains and pulleys. Probably for moving the ships from one point to another.
    Sporadic thuds of debris hitting the walls sounded like gunfire and the roof above groaned under the onslaught of the storm.
    “ Better hurry, Sophie. I’m getting impatient.” The voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere at once.
    Something metallic groaned and snapped beyond the wood racks. Mick froze, listening to the sound of saws starting up. Then they heard the muffled scream. Sophie was already running toward the middle of the building. He loped after her, trying to snag her before she left cover, but he didn’t make it. Stopping before the end of the racks, he didn’t follow her out. Keeping hidden might give them an advantage if things didn’t go as planned.
    There was a series of scaffolding and catwalks at varying levels around this central work area. He leapt up to the nearest one, using the noise of the equipment and the storm to mask the sound of climbing.
    Sophie skidded to a halt, the hand with the box held aloft. “ Stop! I’m here! Stop it!” she shouted.
    Mick followed her gaze to see Liza suspended by handcuffs from a hook on one of the chains hanging from the ceiling. Her face and head were crusted with blood, her shoulders bunched oddly. Dislocated , Mick realized, probably from struggling to get free.
    Mere feet away, an enormous circular saw hummed. Her body writhed, her eyes wide and terrified. She was whimpering behind the gag. Oh gods . He gauged the distance, but even in wolf form, there was no way he could reach her. His eyes travelled up to the pulley system, searching for access.
    “ Excellent. I’m glad to see you made it out of the catacombs unscathed.”
    Mick could hear the smile in the voice and finally tracked its source. The man stood at the edge of a catwalk, high above the workspace below. He was white, almost from tip to toe—platinum hair, fair skin, and even a white suit. Vampire. A very, very old one. Mick automatically curled his lip in a snarl.
    “ Cassius?” The shock in her voice had Mick turning his attention to Sophie.
    “ The very same,” said the vampire with a sarcastic bow.
    “ But I don’t understand. Why would you go to all this trouble? You’re an Elder on the Council. You could get access to the Eye without me.”
    “ Ah yes, but not without the rest of those simpering dolts knowing about it. It’s so much harder to stage a coup when they see it coming.”
    “ You want to overthrow the Council of Races?” asked Sophie slowly.
    Don’t we all? thought Mick. Yet he didn’t think whatever Cassius had in mind was in line with the goals of the Underground.
    I could help with that, said the demon.
    Shut up, Mick snapped.
    “ Yes, yes, child. Catch up with the program here. The Council is hopelessly stuck in the past, content to exist with their collective heads stuck up their asses. War is coming, whether those doddering fools recognize it or not.”
    War? Mick shifted uneasily. The Underground had known there was another group in play, but their intelligence hadn’t uncovered anything like this. Keep him talking, petite .
    “ Why would you start a