Kassie seemed to sense the reason for his hesitation. "It's okay. Go ahead and tell them. Everything. They need to know it all."
Lyght reached for her hand under the table, his heart pounding with a mixture of anticipation of her touch and fear she might pull away. "Anytime you need me to stop, just squeeze my hand."
Kassie gave a determined nod, but Lyght recognized the unnatural flush high on her cheeks. She would need careful watching through the whole thing.
Lyght drew another deep lungful of her scent, and went on. "When I pulled the cabinet back to open the stair door, there was an odor, strong, of a great deal of unpleasantness. The whole level is filled with tiny little cells built of sheets of wood. Reminiscent of the slums of a medieval city, crowded, filthy and full of misery."
"How many of these cells are there?" Ezekiel held a pen over his own notepad.
"Five hundred at least. Nearly all occupied."
Silence settled as the Quads absorbed the magnitude of Lyght's statement. Abrupt realization jolted through Lyght with near physical force. This was roughly five hundred humans taken from family and home, carted from one underground auction to another and offered to the highest bidder. The number wasn't huge in comparison to the number of people missing at any one time. But so many in any one location was gargantuan.
Kassern leaned forward. "So we know these people are being auctioned off for any terrible purpose the buyer wishes. They're probably bought and taken wherever the buyer needs them to become prostitutes or whatever. We know from Toren's and Sam's battle at the ranch there is definite demon activity in the operation." Kassern paused and met Lyght's gaze, then that of every person in the room, except Tyler.
"I think it's safe to assume a couple of things. First, we have demon collusion in human trafficking, probably international. Second, the possible and even likely connection with prostitution brings the demon influence into that realm as well. That, to me, means our earlier conclusions from the ladies' ideas about the Enemy's big plan are probably correct. An exploitation of exploitations." Another look around the room. "Now we have to decide what we're going to do about it."
Chapter Twelve
Kassie stood immobile until her legs told her she was going to turn into a scarecrow if she didn't move. But it was hard when you stood in the center of a room of diamonds. The white walls and abstractly arched ceilings glistened as though painted with diamond dust. And the floor! It reminded her of the Mr. Clean commercials with that seamless wet floor of blue, only this was a light blue, like a pastel blue sky frozen in rock beneath her feet. The chandelier hanging above her head could easily be the eighth Wonder of the World. The thing was the size of…a spaceship.
My lord, she thought, turning in small circles while looking up at the contraption holding layers and layers of diamonds. The base where it attached to the ceiling looked like the roots of a tree buried into the surface. Like if you could see on the other side, you'd find giant fingers clutching the thing tight to the roof, which seemed suspiciously diamond-like as well.
She raised a trembling hand to her mouth and gasped finally. She looked around then, noticing something odd. All around it was so bright but…she couldn't find any source of light. Like the diamonds were lit from within.
Just. Fascinating. And impossible. All of it. Every damn bit of it. She was dreaming. She knew it with all her heart. Just a dream. Every ridiculous bit of it. Either that or she'd died. And was in…not Heaven. Some kind of limbo maybe.
She stared at the wall of white sheers before her and made her way to it. She paused just next to them, stroking them softly. Diamond fabric? She gasped a light laugh and moved them aside. And gasped again. "My God.". She couldn't resist the smile of awe and joy that filled her face as she stared out at what could be considered a miniature Garden of Eden. A vegetable garden! An irreverent giggle burst out before she could stop it.
A closer look at the window revealed a huge door. Unable to resist, she took hold of the diamond-looking handle and the door sort of shimmered for half a heartbeat and vanished. Hysterical joy escaped her in odd sounding giggles at the sheer delight of such a discovery.
Hurrying out into the garden, the cook in her glimpsed maturing vegetables and fragrant herbs, already planning meals to take advantage. After a few seconds just absorbing it all, she looked closer at the strange dome covering the garden all around. The sky was clearly visible beyond what appeared to be glitter-filled air. It took her breath away. She turned her full attention to the garden and began to explore.
Whoever planned this little Eden had been a master. She chuckled a little. Of course he was. Vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers grew in natural-looking groupings that allowed each plant to flourish. No chemical fertilizers or pesticides in this garden, or she missed her guess.