Once there was an opening, we attacked with witch power. When one of my spells bounced off the guards’ armor, I groaned.
“Switch to black magic,” Eva said.
Black tendrils unfurled from my hands and shot up the stairwell. They twisted like vines around each of the soldiers’ necks, cinching tighter and tighter until their bodies fell.
As we climbed higher, stragglers from our rescue team burst from their levels, shaken, and joined our ranks. The number of fallen guards grew so that they clogged the stairs. The bear shifters helped make a path, their enormous heads nuzzling the guards to the sides, piling the unconscious humans atop each other.
We progressed upward, getting closer to the surface. Every few steps, more guards descended, and Eva and I pummeled them with demon magic.
It wasn’t until we neared the top that we faced the largest obstacle. A wall of a dozen guards pointing guns straight at us. Behind them, red eyes glowed maliciously.
“I see you have embraced the darkness within yourself,” the cambion said. “That’s wonderful news. In fact, if you turn sides now, there will be no retaliation for your attacks on the royals’ property tonight.”
I seethed at his insinuation that the royals controlled this facility completely, and perhaps even the prisoners inside it.
“We’ll never join you,” Eva screamed, and released a barrage of dark power.
I attacked with her, black magic swirling from me. Others accompanied us, and witch magic and aether mixed in, soaring past our shoulders. Our friends had our backs, and while their power deflected off the guards’ uniforms, when the cocktail of magics hit the cambion, they were effective.
The human-demon hybrid fell with a moan.
For good measure, I shot off the demon-binding curse, preventing him from using his power if he woke before we got far enough away. Black magic did the rest, and our group tromped up the last few stairs and out the door.
Cool night air filled my lungs as I emerged into the desert. Not able to relax just yet, I spun around, scanning the area.
No one was there.
The cars that the extra guards had arrived in sat a ways away, all turned off, not even a driver waiting inside.
I took a full breath and turned to face my people, still spilling out of the doors of the facility like salmon swimming upstream.
Though guards had been sent to annihilate us, I didn’t believe that was the end of our troubles. This facility had too much to hide. The alarm system had to be linked somewhere else—another base or armed facility. If it didn’t get turned off, more humans, and perhaps even demons, would arrive soon.
We need to get out of here.
When the string of people petered out, Eva and I divided the group in half and began to count.
“Twenty-one on my side,” I said.
“Twenty-seven on mine,” she replied.
I did the math. Two people were missing.
“Who’s not here?” I asked.
“Magdalena’s missing,” Simone announced.
One wolf transformed into a human.
“She’s gone,” said Gregor, Dasha’s burly, ginger mate. “She was one of the first to go after the guards when they infiltrated. He must’ve known exactly what she was, because he didn’t hesitate to stake her.”
I noticed Francis and Simone both stiffen, though that was the only outward emotion they exhibited. They were trying to be brave, to lead. I’d have to give them my condolences later, in private.
“Okay, well, we’re not going to go get her ashes, right?” Eva asked tentatively, clearly not wanting to upset the vampires.
“Not for ash.” Francis shot me a look because he clearly thought I was about to go sprinting back in there and look for ash on the ground. “Vampires rarely get to use the ash in our final death ceremony, so it’s not necessary. We’ll mourn without it.”
“Who’s the other missing person?” Diana asked, looking around.
