Page 38 of House of Kallan
“Dr. Almeida?”
I blinked the sleep from my eyes and sat up a little. “Yes. What is it?”
“This is Nurse Jack. I’m sorry to call so late, but we were just notified that we have more victims en route and… cages of feral children.”
My entire body broke out in chills. “What do you mean, ‘cages’?” I asked.
“I don’t know. That’s just what they said.”
“Okay, I’ll be right there.” I hung up the phone and looked at the screen. It was one in the morning. There were a whole slew of notifications, but I only opened the one I’d been in with the Malaks. The last few were relevant.
They’d gotten a call about a new Breeding House, but thisone was even more horrendous. That was where it left off. I thought they must have realized I had fallen asleep.
Washing my hands over my face, I climbed out of bed and hurriedly dressed. I wasn’t looking forward to this. Not at all. Cages. Who put children in cages?!
I grabbed an energy drink from the gas station at the corner of my road and then headed for the portal a mile away. Somehow, I managed to arrive just as the van did. There were two vans used for retrievals. One was parked at the location where they were retrieving the victims and the other was moved into our parking garage at The Harem Project headquarters. It was just a straight shot series of halls from there.
As I stepped onto the first floor of my unit, there was already a flurry of activity. Nurse Jack met me and pulled out a phone. On the screen was a short clip of a room filled with cages of children. My stomach churned.
“Where do we put them?” he asked.
“In the orphan wing,” I said. “Same as the others.”
“Not a good idea,” a voice behind me said, and I turned to find a man I didn’t recognize. “They have already clearly been victims of whatever cruelty the assholes could think up to perform on children. Calling them feral is being nice. Their fight-or-flight is stuck on fight. They’d be a danger to the other children.”
“Then what do you suggest? And who are you?” I asked.
“Anakin and I suggest finding a very big room and keeping them in cages until you can find a way to get them calm again,” he said. He reached for my arm and his grip was strong. “Trust me. We tried to take them out, but I almost had my hand bit off. Three times,” he said, holding up a hand wrapped in bloody gauze.
I took a breath, hating the way my stomach churned. I turned to Nurse Jack. “Third floor is still empty?” He nodded. “Clear out that orphan wing and move the furniture into thesurrounding rooms for now. We’ll have the… cages brought in there.”
Nurse Jack nodded and turned. He called to a few more nurses as he rushed by and they joined him as he disappeared into the stairwell.
“I know it sucks,” Anakin said. “Trust me, the things I’ve seen tonight will stay with me for a very long time. We’re bringing the women in first. They’re, uh, rough.”
“I’ve come to expect rough,” I said.
Even as the words left my mouth, a woman stepped onto the floor with a very slight human woman in her arms. I recognized the monster for what she was—banshee. This was the infamous Adeline Daemon. The name everyone recognized as the last known living banshee in existence. She was kind of a celebrity, but for a very dark reason.
Adeline smiled at me, but her eyes were filled with sorrow. “Where to?”
I left Anakin and joined her, helping take some of the small woman’s weight. Though she weighed nothing. “Here,” I said, leading her toward a room. “This entire hall is empty. How many are there?”
Flicking on the light as we stepped inside, the room was cast in a warm glow. We set the woman on the bed. She had her eyes squeezed shut. I brushed her hair from her forehead. “You’re safe now, honey,” I said quietly. “Wrap up and a nurse will be in to check on you soon.”
She didn’t answer. Didn’t do anything but stiffen when she realized I had been addressing her.
Adeline frowned, but followed me out. I shut the door most of the way, but not entirely. “Just over a dozen. Most appear early in their pregnancies. I don’t think it was a true Breeding House. I think it was… for other purposes and maybe they ran out of room, at the local Breeding House, which I shudder to think about.”
Sighing, I shook my head. “This is disgusting,” I muttered.
“Just wait, Doctor,” another man said. A human? “It gets much worse.” He passed us by with another woman in his arms, following a nurse into the room next to the one we had just retreated from.
I scowled. Not at him but at the situation. My job shouldn’t exist. What a disgusting world we live in.
Thanking Adeline, I turned for the nurse’s station and asked them to get the women settled. Any additional staff that was called in were to be sent to the orphan room on the third floor, where I’d be. I headed upstairs, arriving just as the last of the furniture was wheeled out.
“What do you want us to bring in?” Nurse Jack asked.
