Cadence was getting away from him. Despite his best effort, it seemed every time Aaron took out one of the black creatures, three more took its place. They continued to pour out of the mountainside, the ground nearer Daunator opening up in a wave that went halfway around the mountain so far, from what the Guardian Leader could see, and there didn’t seem to be any end in sight. How his wife had managed to power through them was a mystery, but then, he hadn’t realized she was leaving until she was gone, and by then, the first bunch of demons had been on top of him. While part of him had wanted to hang back a bit, to make sure Cassidy was safe, it was obvious now that they couldn’t reach her anyway as she was floating out of their grasps, using her powers to push them over the side of the mountain, a novel idea that only she and Heather were capable of.
“This isn’t cool,” Elliott said, his hands full with the monsters as well. “The cover fire is doing nothing!”
“It’s doing something,” Aaron corrected, using his knife to chop down a snarling woman before firing his Glock into another. The Beretta would’ve worked better from high up, but down here, a quicker shot seemed to get more results. “They’re holding back the new ones.” It was difficult keeping his footing with the ground shaking and so many holes all around him, but so far, it seemed most of the team was able to manage. From what he could tell, no one had taken a tumble or fallen into one of the pits—yet.
Elliott took down another of the minions with his knife. “Yeah, well, it’s the old ones I’m worried about at the moment. We need to get through this crowd, or Cadence is going to end up in trouble.”
His best friend didn’t need to tell him. A quick glance in his wife’s direction let him know she was closing in on Daunator, and Christian’s grenade had done little more than amuse the Vampire. Further up the hillside, the first line of defense was engaged with five extremely powerful Vampires. While the Guardians were making headway on one of the women and a man who looked like maybe he wasn’t quite as experienced as the others, that left three who were having their way with his team, and Aaron didn’t like it.
“Who are those guys?” Elliott asked, his head gesturing in the direction of the newest threat. “Ever seen them before?”
“No, I haven’t,” Aaron admitted as a creature managed to sink its claws into his arm. It stung, but a swift kick to the gut, and the ebony monster landed in the dust a few feet from where Cassidy was rounding up her next bunch to deposit off the side of the cliff. She sucked him into her vortex and began to move them over to the ledge. It was windy standing this close to her, but he could still hear even though Elliott was talking aloud instead of using his IAC.
“What do you want us to do?” one of the Guardians Aaron had brought in locally asked. Guy, pronounced “Gee” with a hard G, like the famous writer, Guy de Maupassant, was French and impatient.
“Send ‘em in,” Elliott said out loud as Aaron pondered whether or not that would be a mistake. If Daunator had another weapon up his sleeve, something they hadn’t anticipated, sending everyone in might be a problem. There’d be nothing left to stop them off if they broke through that second line.... But then, as the ground continued to shake and Daunator waved his hand in Christian’s direction, sending him flying into a boulder, it seemed they didn’t have much else to lose.
“Everybody in,” Aaron said definitively. “Heather—are you able to do anything at all to weaken him?”
“I’m tryin’,” the cowgirl said quickly. “But he’s a tough devil. I’m workin’ on keepin’ the ground from shakin’, but it don’t seem to be doin’ much.”
“Maybe you should start moving some of these creatures out of the way, like Cass is doing,” Aaron suggested as a round of fire echoed off to his left. He barely had time to turn his head with the creatures beginning to stack up on him again, but the second wave of Guardians was in the fray now, which meant that Brandon would be here in a second, he had little doubt.
“What the crap is Cadence doing?” Cassidy asked, drawing his attention back to the battle going on in front of him. He needed to move that way... fast.
Cadence was deflecting surges of power coming out of Daunator’s hands. As the Vampire attempted to force her back, the way he had Christian a moment ago, one way or another, the Hunter Leader was blocking each shot, sparks of light coming off of her raised arms with each blow. “I have no idea,” Aaron said, not having time to give much thought to it as he popped off several more titanium bullets into the black trunks around him.
He wouldn’t have much of a chance to investigate either as Hannah’s voice came over the IAC. “I don’t want to alarm you, Aaron, but I don’t have visuals on Aurora any more. And her IAC is black. She says it’s malfunctioning. Seems... strange to me.”
“What?” Aaron repeated, not quite understanding. “Aurora?” Why he needed to know that evaded him for a moment before he remembered the warning he’d given his second during the meeting. “Okay—right. Got it.”
“Just... be careful,” Hannah said. She was engaged with one of the Vampires nearer the top of the rise in front of him, and it was clear she didn’t have time to say more. It was no wonder the Hunter was no longer in her line of sight, but just because Aurora wasn’t near Hannah, that didn’t mean she was up to no good. It was probably nothing to worry about, and the fact that he needed to get to Cadence kept him from dwelling on it too much.
“Watch out!” Jamie yelled behind him, and Aaron ducked just as a fireball flew over his head.
“Where the hell....”
“Daunator,” Cassidy answered. “He’s shooting past Cadence now that he can’t hit her. She’s going to try to implant that damn grenade, isn’t she?”
“Probably....” Aaron needed to get up there. Now.
But that would have to wait as just to his left, a form much taller than any of the black creatures appeared in his peripheral vision. There wasn’t enough time to react as he realized it was Aurora, but she wasn’t aiming for the demon creatures. Aaron’s eyes widened and a screech of, “No!” came out of his mouth, just as Aurora fired in his direction.
She wasn’t aiming at him, though. The earth was already shaking from Daunator’s efforts, but the thunk of Elliott hitting the ground jarred him to his very core. Mixed amid the black, tarry blood spilt by dozens of creatures, his best friend lay in a heap, crimson leaking all over the mountainside.
