There were two cells finished on one side of a corridor that was empty and smooth, as if it had been started and never finished. There were two more cells roughed out on the other side. Everything was painted white from ceiling to floor, so the hallway had a science fiction feel to it, complete with cameras near the ceiling inside clear bubbles that were supposed to be bulletproof. I was pretty sure that I knew a caliber big enough to make bulletproof into bullet resistant, but I let it go. We weren’t here to test the cameras out; we were here to test the cells.
The doors were oversize, like they were expecting small giants. The hinges were large but strangely flat to the wall. There were two small windows in each door, one in the upper part and one in the lower part. Both had small bars in them and were covered by sliding metal panels. When the panels were closed the doors were solid metal.
Donnie used her earpiece to signal for the doors to be opened. “We can’t open the doors from down here,” she said.
“What if you have a medical emergency with one of the prisoners?” Socrates asked.
They exchanged a look between all of them who weren’t us. “Like what kind of medical emergency could a shapeshifter or a vampire have?” Brennan asked.
“If you put more than one new shapeshifter in a cell together, they will tear each other up,” he said.
“I thought they wouldn’t attack each other,” Donnie said.
“Whoever told you that was wrong,” I said.
Socrates added, “We’re less likely to attack each other, because humans smell more like food, but if a brand-new shapeshifter can’t get to anyone else it will turn on another of its own kind.”
“What about vampires?” Donnie asked.
“They can’t feed on one another, so I don’t think they’ll try to hurt one another.” But I was frowning as I said it. I looked at the others. “You know, I’ve never seen new vampires that didn’t have an older one around somewhere. Will the newly vamped attack each other if there’s no other food around? I mean, they don’t know that they can’t feed on each other unless someone tells them, right?”
“Giacomo says that other vampires smell bitter. They don’t smell like something edible,” Magda said.
“Okay, then probably you can house multiple vampires together and they won’t eat each other, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be violent to each other. I mean, I’ve seen vampires kill each other.”
“We don’t have enough cells,” Donnie said.
“I think these three will be fine together,” Flannery said, and turned to me. “What do you think, Marshal?”
“I think you’re probably right, but we should put vampires in separate holding areas if possible, or have them chained up so there’s no chance of them hurting each other, or themselves.”
“What are your cells for them like, then?” Griffin asked.
“They aren’t held long enough for it to be pertinent,” I said.
“What does that mean?” Donnie asked.
“It means she executes them,” Brennan said.
“Well, not just me, but yeah, usually they’re executed too quickly for special cells to be needed.”
“You think they can’t be held safely, don’t you?” Flannery said.
“I think we tried it in the States and ended up with a lot of dead correctional officers and fellow prisoners trying to be fair to vampires, shapeshifters, and even human sorcerers.”
“But you’ve fought to get more lenient legislation on the books in your country so that execution isn’t the only answer,” he said.
I nodded. “When the vampires are being controlled by a powerful enough master, they literally have no will of their own. They can be forced to kill and do other terrible things totally against their will. I fought to have the law reflect that. Because once I realized they really had no choice, killing them for it seemed worse, but the law didn’t give me another option, so I worked to give myself another option.”
“Then you would rather not have to execute them?” Flannery said.
I thought about my answer and finally said, “If I think the person I’m about to kill was innocent, then yes, I want an option, but don’t mistake me for someone who’s against the death penalty. Most of the people I’ve executed have taken multiple lives, and I believe that ending their lives saved others.”
“We may have to agree to disagree,” he said, smiling, but his eyes stayed serious.
“We may,” I said.
The doors to the cells opened and one was as white as the hallway, but the other one was shiny. “Silver-infused paint,” Nicky said.
“Maybe one is just a glossier paint than the other one,” Donnie said.
He shook his head.
“How did you know that quickly?” she asked.
“Being around this much silver . . . you know.”
“Then it will limit what you can do inside the cell,” Flannery said.
He shook his head.
“Magda is not getting in a silver-lined cell,” I said.
“I am wearing good boots and I can use my clothes to protect my hands,” she said.
“No.”
She looked at the others and asked, “Do you want me to destroy the most expensive cell or the one that is the most useful?”
“Destroy away, as long as you can’t get out,” Brennan said.