Chapter 75: Chapter 75

The little red devil seemed to be a pretty good distraction for the demon hunters—while it lasted. Making it over to tunnel twenty-seven wasn’t too difficult, despite the fact that the howls and hisses were growing louder. The demon hunters were chasing Holland’s offspring from one tunnel to the next, the Guardians tracking the battle through the shrieks and growls, and from time to time, a red streak would pass by the end of the tunnel near enough that Aaron could almost make the monster baby out.

The demon hunters were relentless, though, and eventually, they caught up to their prey. From a few tunnels away, Aaron heard the sound of sharp claws on rock and imagined the devil was trying to climb up to escape those chasing him. It obviously didn’t work, though, and a few seconds later, an earsplitting, high-pitched wail filled his ears. The shrieking went on for several seconds, and Aaron had to put his hands up to try to block it out. Holland’s devil child sounded like a puppy being mauled by a pride of lions. But when the shrieking stopped, it was abrupt, and then the portal was completely silent.

“Well, I guess that’s over,” Christian muttered nonchalantly.

Aaron turned to look at him, jamming his hands into his pockets. He didn’t say anything to the other Guardian. Even though Holland’s baby had been a demon, a life had just been lost. And he couldn’t help but think of his own child, one that had died at his own hand because the mother carrying her happened to be a Vampire.

Hines was sitting on the ground, no longer sobbing but still obviously terrified. The sounds from across the way didn’t help that any. He likely thought he would be next. Aaron wondered if the demon hunters would be so vicious when their prey was a Vampire and not a demon. He had no reason to think that wouldn’t be the case.

The sounds of the demons themselves started up again, though, giving him pause. They hadn’t been so loud since before the demon hunters entered the portal. Something was different, and it didn’t sit well with him. The last thing he needed was to defend himself and Hines against the same demons who had killed Alex. Christian had come armed to the teeth with extra bullets and a spare Glock or two, as well as some of his patented grenades, but Aaron had no way of knowing if an explosion in here would even work. Likewise, for all he knew, they could blow themselves up with those grenades inside the portal, so he was reluctant to use them. If the demons came after them in this particular tunnel, they could come from both sides, so the Guardians had taken up residence in the middle, where they could see what was coming from either end more easily and where they would also be able to reach the center circle should Ward’s calculations be wrong, and they needed to move to a different tunnel to find their escape.

“Why do you think they’re being so loud?” Christian asked. His tone wasn’t alarmed per se, only curious. Aaron thought it might be time to be a little more concerned.

“It seems to me like the demon hunters got what they wanted. Either they were looking specifically for Holland’s child, or they just needed a demon of a specific age or variety. So... maybe they’re done.”

“But they can’t get out,” Christian countered.

“I wouldn’t think so, but who knows? They might not play by the same rules we do. The demons seem to be able to come and go as they please out of that dark stretch back there.” He gestured toward the area Heather had warned them to avoid. “Maybe demon hunters don’t need the portal either.”

“I thought you were under the impression they came in when the portal opened.”

“I was. I’ve been wrong before.”

Christian didn’t get a chance to respond before the sound of slithering near the tunnel opening drew the attention of both Guardians and Hines, who started to whimper again. It was too dark to see what was coming, but it was obvious there was something headed their way, and it seemed angered by the fact that the demons had been pursued in their own territory for so long.

“Should I try one of the grenades?” Christian asked, fingering the weapon where it hung on his utility belt.

Aaron was hesitant. The last thing he needed was a cave-in. “Why don’t we try the old fashioned way first and hang on to those until things get desperate? We also don’t want to end up killing our friend here.” He tapped Hines lightly in the leg with his boot, not hard enough to even move him, but Hines’s sniffling grew louder.

The approaching slithers continued, but a new noise was added in, this one coming from the other end of the tunnel. Aaron recognized that sound immediately—the howl of the devil dog. “Yeah, it won’t be long now,” he said with a deep sigh. He’d been hoping to get out of the portal without another encounter, especially now that Jamie was gone, but it seemed he and Christian were about to have a fight on their hands.

When they came, they came all at once and relentlessly. From Aaron’s end of the cave, a giant snake-like creature slithered quickly toward his ankles. He opened fire on it, slowing it down, but his attention was drawn away by two flying objects that reminded him of griffins. They swooped toward his head, giving him little time to aim. He hit one directly, knocking it from the air, but the other was only wounded and circled back. Meanwhile, behind him, he heard Christian opening fire on the devil dog. A glance over his shoulder let him know it was an entire pack, and they were standing between the Guardians and the likely location of the portal opening.

Normally, the attacks coincided with the portal opening, but this time, he didn’t hear the familiar pop and whooshing sound it usually made. There was no sign of it at the end of the tunnel either. So either the demons were early because they were restless, or he’d missed it. He was praying it wasn’t the latter. Surviving another six hours under these conditions didn’t seem likely.

The snake was almost at his ankles by the time he disposed of both griffins. He shot it several more times, but stomping on its head was what finally made it go still. Behind it, several more pairs of glowing red eyes caught his attention.

A loud grunt from Hines had him spinning around. One of the devil dogs had made its way past Christian and was gnawing on the Vampire’s head. “Son of a bitch!” Aaron screamed. Hines could do nothing to defend himself, and the canine had destroyed most of the quack’s scalp. Aaron shot the dog three times before it started whimpering and backed away. One more shot and it was down.

“Sorry. Slipped by me,” Christian said, kicking another dog in the head as the red eyes on Aaron’s end of the tunnel closed in. He could see them now, devilish creatures of all variety. He shot in their general direction, but that grenade was starting to sound like a decent option.

He didn’t have a lot of time to check on Hines, but from the looks of it, the Vampire didn’t have long to live. A good portion of his head was gone, and he was billowing smoke and ash like a chimney in old London. There was absolutely nothing Aaron could do to help him, so he began to think about an alternative solution. When the portal opened, he needed to get Christian out, and then he’d just have to find a way to survive a few more hours.... Again....

“We need to keep him alive!” Christian shouted, as if reading his mind.

“How, exactly, do you propose we do that?” Aaron yelled back at him, taking aim at the approaching monsters.

“I don’t know, but if he dies...”

“If he dies, you get out, and then we start this process all over again,” Aaron clarified.

“Not happening. You’re getting out this time. I made a promise.”

Aaron wondered why in the world Christian would want to start keeping his promises now, but with a large cheetah-like hellcat bearing down on him, he didn’t have time to argue. He fired several bullets into the cat as it leaped into the air, its daggered claws swiping at his face.

The gunfire threw the cat’s trajectory off, but it still managed to catch Aaron’s shoulder, sinking its claws in several inches as it fell lifeless to the ground. He pulled away from it, letting the heavy corpse hit the cave floor as spurts of blood came from the gashes. The pain was bearable, though he would’ve preferred it if Jamie’s blue healing light was surrounding him now. There wasn’t much time to think about it, though. Not only were there several more monsters coming at him, a familiar noise in the distance caught his attention. He turned to see a small area of light behind the devil dogs on the cave wall. The portal was opening.

A glance at Hines told him they wouldn’t have long. Getting through a half-dozen or so rabid mutts before Hines expired would be tricky, especially since he couldn’t turn his back on the other creatures, nor could he let them get to Hines before he and Christian were both out.

“Make a run for it, Major Henry!” He shouted over his shoulder. “I’ll cover you.”

“No, you go,” Christian insisted, another of the dogs hitting the ground from his fire power.

“We don’t have time to argue about this!”

Christian mumbled a curse word under his breath and stopped shooting long enough to bend over and collect the dying Vampire. Tossing Hines back over his shoulder, he turned just in time to fire at another hound while Aaron kept the first line of other monsters at bay. “Let’s go!”

“Why are you bringing him?” Aaron yelled, keeping his back to Christian so he could fire behind them.

“Because it’s the only way to keep him alive until we get out of here.” It made sense, so long as Christian didn’t get Hines too close to the portal opening. Back to back, they continued to fire, trying their best to keep their attackers away and still get to the portal before it closed.

They were almost there. Another griffin swept down at Aaron’s head when they were just a couple of yards from the end of the tunnel. It’s talons grazed his face, opening up the skin, before he managed to shoot it from the sky. Now, in addition to the blood dripping down his arm, his face was covered with the sticky substance as well.

At the end of the tunnel, they would have to cross a small intersection before reaching the opening of the portal. But he knew from what Heather had told him earlier and his own experience running into a glass wall the portal was longer than it looked. As soon as Christian stepped out into the opening at the end of the tunnel, they were greeted with dozens of demons on either side, some the familiar devil dogs, snakes, and hellcats, others free-form, like the shadow monster Aaron had faced back before Alex had died. They were flooding in from both sides, and the tunnel was filling up fast as well.

The opening to the portal was only feet away, and so far it was clear. “We need to drop Hines and sprint out of here!” Aaron insisted.

“Yeah, we’ll never make it unless we can find a way to move them back,” Christian replied. He looked about as frightened as Aaron had ever seen him.

“Grenades. It’s the only way.”

“Unless it collapses the whole tunnel, like you said earlier, or kills Hines.” Christian had a point.

“I don’t see any other way. Do you?” Aaron fired into the crowd of monsters one more time as Christian agreed with his statement.

He flung Hines down on the ground and went for his belt, pulling out three of the grenades he’d designed to kill Vampires. Hopefully, they worked on demons, too. He handed one to Aaron and nodded in the direction of the creatures in front of him, and Aaron understood that Christian would toss the two down the other tunnels.

“If this doesn’t work, and only one of us gets out, there’s no point in coming back for the other,” Aaron said, looking the man he’d known for over a century in the eye.

“Then it better work.” With a deep breath, Christian counted to three, and they both pulled the pins.