The sound of voices jarred Aaron awake, and his hand immediately flew to his head. The last thing he remembered was running headlong into the portal wall, trying to break free. He’d seen something come flying in and hoped that was his chance to get out, but for some reason, whatever Cadence had done hadn’t worked. So he’d knocked himself out trying to reach her.
That didn’t explain the voices, though. He sat up too fast, made himself dizzy, and leaned back on one elbow. The forms were at the far end of the tunnel, and it was difficult for him to understand what or who he was looking at at first because his vision was blurred. But then he recognized a voice. “Shit,” he said, falling back to the cave floor thinking he’d rather be in there all alone than trapped with Christian Henry.
“Hey—you awake?” Major Henry called, making his way over. Aaron managed to sit up again, this time hoping to handle the situation a little more professionally. Christian didn’t seem panicked, so it wasn’t like he was there because Holland had tossed him in. So why was he there?
Whoever the other person with him was, it had inspired a flock of rampaging butterflies in Aaron’s gut, which meant it had to be a Vampire. Perhaps this wasn’t such a bad thing after all. And the fact that Christian had made it all the way to where he was sitting and the other person hadn’t moved let him know he wasn’t able to go anywhere for whatever reason. Aaron sat up. “Christian? What’s going on?”
“I brought a present,” he said, a sarcastic grin on his face. “Sorry we couldn’t get you out last time, but this should work. That is, unless Hines decides to go and die on us in the next six hours. But I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”
Aaron’s head was beginning to feel slightly better. He ran his palm over it and noticed the goose egg he’d created on his forehead was smaller now than it had been a few seconds ago. At least he was still able to heal himself to a degree, even in here, something he’d picked up after the last round of Transformation serum. “You brought Hines?” he asked using the tunnel wall to pull himself to his feet.
Christian stuck his hands out like he planned to catch Aaron if necessary, but since it wasn’t, he dropped them. “Yeah. We were going to bring Stewart, the professor who arranged for the portal to open, but Holland incinerated him, so we were left with plan B. Still, I think it’s a good option. This asshole is the one who figured out the portal existed in the first place.”
“By this asshole do you mean Stewart or yourself?” Aaron asked, not hiding his anger as he walked a few steps toward the Vampire.
“All right, I had that coming,” Christian admitted. “I guess Cadence told you then?”
“Told me what?” Aaron turned to look at him. “I asked you to find out if there was any chance of there being a portal, and you told me there wasn’t, and yet here we are. That means you’re either an idiot, or you knew about this. Since you’re not an idiot, I can only come to one conclusion.”
“Fair enough.” Christian’s attitude shifted. He was no longer the cocky son of a bitch who was proud of himself for pulling a Vampire into the portal to save his boss. “I did read something about it. I didn’t know for sure, but I thought there might be one.”
“And you kept this information to yourself because...?”
“Because I wanted one more chance with Cadence.”
It sounded so ridiculous coming out of his mouth, Aaron had to fight the laughter so hard he almost choked. There was nothing he could say in response to such an idiotic statement, so he said nothing at all.
“Anyway, I’m hoping Carter Jr. will keep the demon hunters busy long enough that we can get out of here. Ward said he expects it to be tunnel number twenty-seven next time. Do you know where that is?”
“Yeah, I can find it,” Aaron replied, still absorbing the comment about Holland’s baby. That must’ve been what he heard coming in that made him think he was safe to get out. “How did Holland’s offspring end up in the portal?”
“Cadence tossed the damn thing in,” he replied as they both stopped next to Hines. The smell of piss and smoke filled his lungs as Aaron gazed down at the doctor. His hair was deflated, his glasses broken, and he was wrapped in duct tape from his mouth to his ankles. “I figured that should hold for a while. He’s got handcuffs on under that tape.” Christian nudged the Vampire with the toe of his boot, and Hines whimpered.
“We’ll have to take him with us to twenty-seven,” Aaron reminded Christian. “We need to keep him alive long enough to get out of here, and even if the demons and the demon hunters are busy chasing each other right now, I don’t want to take any chances.”
“No problem. I’ve got him,” Christian insisted, stooping down to pick Hines up and toss him over his shoulder, not seeming to care that the Vampire had clearly peed himself.
“All right then,” Aaron said, his head still throbbing. He headed back toward the opening of the tunnel but slowed when they approached the center circle. They’d need to be quiet. Eluding the demon hunters hadn’t been easy before, but they’d manage to get away from them, and the portal had opened just as the white wisps were closing in. He assumed Elliott and Jamie had both gotten out and imagined it was only the fresh demon meat tossed in by his wife that had kept the demon hunters from taking him out while he was lying unconscious on the cave floor. There was no way for him to tell how long he’d been down, but he assumed Christian had been there a while. It didn’t sound as if Hines had originally been part of the equation, so all of the taping and the cuffing must’ve happened once they were inside of the portal.
“Is it true there’s no time in here?” Christian asked. “I mean... by my IAC , it looks like I’ve only been in here, like, ten minutes. But it seems like it’s been longer than that.”
Aaron checked the time on his own IAC which indicated it had been a little over two hours since the time the portal should’ve opened last. “Yeah, it’s all over the place,” he confirmed.
“Great. So we just listen for a whooshing sound and make a run for it?”
“Yep. But be careful—because even when it looks like it’s open, that isn’t always the case.” He rubbed his head again for good measure.
Christian snickered at him. “As long as Hines is alive, that shouldn’t be a problem.”
Aaron agreed. Off in the distance, howling and hissing increased, and then the banshee scream of the demon hunters let him know they were closing in on something. He checked the number on the tunnel they were standing in and then counted over to twenty-seven. “Be quiet,” he reminded the other Guardian. Christian nodded, and they slowly stepped out into the center circle, Aaron holding his breath they didn’t catch any unwanted attention as they crept closer to his next chance at escaping this hellhole.
