“Son of a bitch! My ax!” A short, blonde figure came running out of the shadows in the direction the cat was headed. Elliott pulled himself up, grabbing his shoulder, and Aaron took a few rushed steps in his direction as they both watched the girl disappear after the cat.
“Should we....”
Sounds of a scuffle, followed by the screech of a panther in pain, and then several sharp thunks filled their ears, and a few moments later, the figure reemerged from the darkness, wiping her ax on her pant leg, muttering to herself about “damn fools and idiots.”
When she realized she was back in front of them, she slid her ax into a belt loop “Don’t be firin’ no damn guns in here right now,” she said with a thick, country twang that made Elliott’s accent seem mild. “You’re liable to shoot clean through the walls and hit one of yer friends.”
Once again, the two Guardians exchanged glances. “One of our...” Aaron began.
“You’ve seen more of us?” Elliott interrupted.
“Yep. Over yonder. I ain’t spoke to ‘em, though. They seemed to be managin’ so far. Though, they’s just as likely to run into a hellcat as you, I reckon.”
The thought that there were more of them trapped in this place made Aaron sick to his stomach, but he needed to establish who this girl was and what she knew about the portal before she disappeared again. “Where are we?” he asked, hoping he had made a mistake and they were actually still somewhere on Earth.
She snickered and shook her head. In the dim light it was hard to see her facial features, but he thought she looked to be only about seventeen or eighteen, close to Cass’s age. Her outfit told him she may have been here a while. She wore brown trousers that widened around the knee and were tucked into high leather brown boots and a button down shirt that looked like it might’ve been white at one point, though now it was more of a gray. A small, brown leather cowboy hat hung off her back. Besides the ax, she had a few other weapons strapped to her, what looked like a handmade crossbow and another large piece of metal. She also had several knifes in various locations ready to be pulled out and utilized.
“You’re in the Blood Moon Portal, knucklehead,” she replied crossing her arms. “Wait a minute. I think I know who you are!” Her eyes dropped down the length of him and back to his face. She leaned in and squinted, and Aaron felt very self-conscious. “You the feller who took out the Ripper?”
“Uh....”
“Who are you?” Elliott demanded before Aaron could answer. “And how long have you been here? Is there a way out?”
“Whoa there, big fella, ain’t no use in pepperin’ me with questions. While I’m happy to see ya, I’m pissed I missed the openin’ and I ain’t sure I wanna be best pals.” She scratched her head and flipped a long blonde braid over one shoulder.
Elliott didn’t like that answer. He took a step forward, but Aaron reached out and blocked him with his hand, noticing for the first time his friend’s shoulder was bleeding. Maybe one of the others trapped in here was a Healer. He hoped it wasn’t Jamie, but he would be the most useful person to be ensnared in a portal with.
“I’m Aaron McReynolds, and this is Elliott Sanderson....”
“Dr. Elliott Sanderson.”
Aaron rolled his eyes and continued. “We’d really like to get out of here as quickly as possible, so anything you could do to help us would be greatly appreciated. And if you’d like to come with us....”
She chortled. “Why would a bunch a Guardians wanna take a Vampire with ‘em?”
“A Vampire?” Elliott asked. His eyebrows hashed together. “You don’t seem like a Vampire. I can usually tell when a Vampire’s nearby.”
“Yeah, you can’t tell when a hellcat’s about to pounce yer ass.”
Once again, Aaron nudged his friend backward. “We’re happy to take anyone with us who can help,” he assured her. “Do you wanna leave?”
“Hell, yeah, I wanna leave,” she replied, spitting on the ground near her boot. “But if it were as easy as jest walkin’ out the front door I’d a done it a hundred years ago. Well, I s’pose I’ve been in here that long. What year is it?”
“Uh, what year did you get trapped in here?” Aaron asked, not wanting to shock her.
She took a deep breath. “1902.”
“Shit....” Elliott took a few steps back, almost colliding with the wall behind him.
“Let’s just say it’s been about a hundred and twenty years.” The thought of being locked in a portal that long made Aaron want to throw up.
“Holy shit,” the girl agreed. “Damn... I bet the world’s a different place by now.”
“You got that right. So... is there no way out?” Aaron prayed she’d have good news for them—somehow.
“No, there’s plenty a’ ways out. The portal opens every six hours, but there’s been a couple a’hang ups for me. Fer one, there’s the damn ‘left behind rule’ them stupid demons put in place, and there’s the fact that ya can’t never tell where the damn thing’s gonna open. Or where it’s gonna exit. Not that I could get out without leavin’ somethin’ in here.”
Her voice trailed off at the end, and Aaron wasn’t sure he understood exactly what she was saying. “One left behind? You mean, someone has to stay in the portal?”
“Yeah, them damn demons put that in place back when they told the Vampires we can’t never use this place no more. ‘Xcept to dispose of unwanted folks, it seems. So the portal won’t never let the last one out. You can try, but it’s like runnin’ into a thick, glass wall that’ll propel you right back in. I tried it once... or twice... long time ago. That was their way of makin’ sure the Vampires didn’t try to use their space no more after they mucked it all up.”
There were a thousand questions swirling around in his head, and by Elliott’s expression, he could tell he felt the same, but Aaron decided to move on for now. “And you said the portal opens every six hours?”
“Yup, but just for a few seconds. If you happen to be near where it opens, you might make it, but chances are, ya won’t be. And you ain’t never gonna make it out without some sorta battle. Demons gotta have their fun, too. Course, them bastards who put me here told me if I found the key, that’d be a start. But I think even with the key, you still got that damn rule. I weren’t never gettin’ out of here till you sons of bitches showed up.”
“Did you say something about a key?” Elliott asked. Aaron had gotten fixated on the same thing. He wasn’t sure what he might’ve missed of the rest of her speech because once he heard that lovely word, the rest sort of floated by.
“Yeah. There’s supposed to be a key ‘round here somewhere, but I sure ain’t never found it. And I’ve been lookin’ fer... a long time.” He could tell it pained her to even think about all the time she’d spent in there.
“Well, we can help you. As soon as we find our friends,” Aaron offered. “We don’t have a hundred years to spend wandering around in here, not that you did.” He felt bad for her. She must’ve had a life before all of this. Even if she was a Vampire.
“How did you get here anyway?” Elliott asked, and while Aaron also wanted to know, there were so many other questions that had superiority in his mind.
“It was a convenient way to get rid of me.” Her eyes narrowed, and that huffy look she had about her was accentuated. “They don’t like folks who ain’t quite like ‘em, you know?”
“How are you different? You don’t drink blood?”
“Nah, ain’t never had a need fer it. And in these parts, you don’t need to eat, or drink, or sleep or nuthin’. I guess it’s just the devil’s way of making sure you don’t miss out on anything.”
“You don’t mean the actual devil, though, right? I mean... he doesn’t live here?” Elliott asked, his forehead crinkled.
“Seriously?” Aaron thought he had to be joking. “Are you expecting him to walk around in a long red cape with a pitchfork?”
The girl snickered. “No, I don’t mean the real devil, although, I reckon he must exist. All these demons gotta be handled by someone.”
Aaron had had his fair share of encounters with monsters that didn’t seem to quite be Vampires, but he’d spent surprisingly little time actually contemplating the existence of demons until recently, when Holland had returned and the Blue Moon Portal had let her escape from hell. Apparently, this place was just another avenue.
