Stonehenge was even more impressive in real life than in all of the pictures Cadence had seen over the years, though it was a little difficult to see in the middle of the night. By the time they arrived in several SUVs and parked far enough away that they wouldn’t be announcing their location to Holland, it was past eleven, and Cadence was rushing to get everyone into place. Still, when she finally had a chance to look up at the towering structure, she stopped for a moment to take it all in. How in the world the ancients had managed to stack those enormous rocks in such a way that they’d stood for so long she didn’t know. She only hoped they didn’t end up getting knocked over tonight. Of course, if that did happen, she wouldn’t feel so badly about it as long as she met both of her objectives in the process.
Stewart was refusing to walk, so Cass was levitating him alongside them as they covered the open ground nearing the landmark. There wasn&rsqu
The demon baby was running amok, leaving bleeding Guardians and seriously injured Hunters in its wake, and Cadence couldn’t help but compare the damn thing to that little psycho Bonnie. It tore through another Hunter, leaving the girl’s leg bleeding profusely, on its way to Cadence. It was hard for her to believe the mother would let her own child attempt to fight her battles for her, but then, Holland was just the sort of parent she imagined would’ve also left her kids alone in the car while she went inside to grab some more menthols despite hundred and ten degree weather--if she had been a human.Despite the chaos unfolding around her, Cadence heard the distinct popping sound of the portal opening to her right. It fell in line with the demon child seeking her out, so she couldn’t pay too much attention to what was happening. She needed to fend off the beast while still managing to get Stewart into the portal, and once the opening began to take shape,
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
The Vampire Queen was pissed, and she was doing her best to take it out on Cadence’s friends. That wasn’t going to do—not at all. The Hunter Leader chewed up the space between them as Elliott fell into step to her right, Margie, who’d seemed to materialize out of nowhere on her left. Up ahead, Jamie was ready to literally put out any fires Holland created while he healed those who’d already felt her wrath. Cassidy was doing her best to offset what Holland was doing with the other Vampires, but it didn’t seem like there was much she could do about the redheaded monster herselfHolland saw them coming, but she couldn’t stop all three of them at the same time, and as she aimed her balls of fire, Cadence and the two Guardians were able to sidestep them, their speed unquestionably a surprise to Holland. With less than a hundred yards between her and the grieving mother, Cadence tried to determine how best to take her out once and for all.
“Hey, how’s it going?” Elliott asked, lying next to her on the ground, panting heavily. “Miss me?”“More than you can ever imagine,” she replied with a crooked smile. But the fight wasn’t over yet, and a much as she wanted to lie there and chat, she had to see if her grenade had done the job.It hadn’t—not really. She jumped to her feet, and off in the distance, she saw Holland’s dragon form flying off into the night. There was a stream of smoke trailing the monster, and she was still shrieking, but she wasn’t dead, and Cadence felt defeated. She’d ruined one of the world’s greatest treasures but hadn’t taken out the monster.“That had to hurt,” Jamie said, coming up behind her. “It might not have killed her, but that will put her out of commission for a while, I think. I doubt she’ll be able to follow us to the next portal opening.”&ld
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
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 befor
The Cliffs of Moher were breathtaking, especially with the first streaks of sunlight coming up, kissing the velvety green grass with hints of gold. Ireland always seemed like a magical place to Cadence, though she’d only been there once before. Standing on the edge, gazing down at foamy waves breaking against jagged rocks seven hundred feet below her as a light breeze blew through her hair, she couldn’t help but hope the enchantment worked in her favor, and when the portal opened, her husband would be returned to her at last.“They’re here,” Cassidy said, purposely making her voice sound like the little girl from Poltergeist. Her approach interrupted Cadence’s solace, and she shifted slightly to look at her sister who stood a little too close to the edge for Cadence’s liking, despite the fact that Cassidy could float. “Dang, that’s a long way down.”“Where are they?” she asked, knowing her
Cadence hadn’t thought about the fact that they couldn’t always see the moon when the portal opened, but it was true. “I don’t think the portal is directly related to the moon. It’s just a trigger or something. Maybe it only matters when someone’s trying to force it open during the blood moon.” It had been up at Stonehenge, but not directly overhead, and she had no idea where it was when Brandon, Dax, and Heather came through.Cassidy looked across the sky before her eyes returned to Cadence’s. “Well, if this works, hopefully we’ll never have to worry about it again.”Cadence agreed. With a deep breath, she turned to look behind her. People were falling into place. It was an expansive area, and there wasn’t a surefire way to know where the portal would open, but she was standing near the coordinates Ward had given her from the work he’d done with Christian. It would be great if the portal ope