Guardian Revealed

by S. A. Moss

  I groaned. “Thanks, but I don’t want to hit you. I’d rather kiss you.”

  I stopped suddenly, biting my lip so hard I almost took off a chunk of it.

  Alex withdrew his arm from around my shoulder, turning to look at me curiously. “You’d rather what?”

  “Oh, nothing.” I knew it was impossible with no blood flow, but I swore I could feel a blush creep up my cheeks.

  His head dipped as he regarded me more closely. Then he reached for my hand. “Cam, are you—?”

  I backed away a step, stiffening. “I’m sorry. I was just letting my brain run away with itself, and as you’ve already probably noticed, I tend to just babble weird shit when I’m nervous. It was nothing.”

  Alex’s hand dropped back to his side, an almost disappointed look on his face. “Yeah, I’ve noticed that. Cam, I—”

  “No, no. You’re totally right. You said we should just be partners, and that’s exactly what we are. And we’re good partners too! I shouldn’t let my stupid thoughts mess that up. I’m sorry.”

  Oh lord, someone shove a sock in my mouth.

  I never thought I’d actually wish for Akaron or my father to show up, but in that moment I would have greeted either of them with open arms—followed by a barrage of fists.

  I glanced down, feeling a sudden need to do a very thorough inspection of the stretch of sidewalk we stood on. Gum stains, check. Cracked cement, check.

  “Cam.” Alex’s voice was soft, but I couldn’t bring myself to look up. I didn’t want to see the rejection in his beautiful green eyes that I knew would crush my heart. After a few beats, his voice came again, harder this time. “You’re right. We’re good partners. We should leave it at that. And we’ve got a job to do—we should get moving.”

  It wasn’t even as harsh of a rejection as I’d been braced for, but my stomach still sank. I forced my feet to move forward again, picking up the pace. Alex fell into step beside me, leaving a several foot gap between us this time.

  21

  By the time we’d reached Michigan Avenue, the awkwardness between us had mostly faded—probably in large part because for once I got my big mouth to behave and didn’t blurt out anything else wildly inappropriate. And when we rounded the corner and took in the sight of emergency crews gathered along the street, my focus shifted immediately to the daunting task before us.

  More police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances had arrived. They were spaced out along the street in between abandoned vehicles. Michigan Avenue was a busy place on pretty much any day of the week, and although a lot of people had probably made a run for it when they saw the chimera coming, a lot had also gotten trapped in the shops and buildings along the road, choosing to shelter in place rather than flee in the open.

  That was good news for us in a way, because although the police had cordoned off the area where the chimera’s body had fallen, they hadn’t totally secured the scene yet. Rescue workers were still helping people out of buildings with smashed facades and treating minor injuries onsite. That made it pretty easy for Alex and I to slip in amidst the bustle of people to conduct our search for the Fallen hideout.

  We started near where the chimera had gone down, and worked our way backward along its path of destruction. It was even worse than I’d originally thought. Chunks of buildings were missing, streetlights were torn down, and glass and debris glittered on the sidewalks. If one powerful supernatural could do this, I shuddered to think what a group of his buddies could do.

  Slipping across to the Shroud, I glanced around, ready to react quickly if I saw any sign of the Fallen. The terrain was rough and uneven, and cliffs rose high all around me. Clouds shifted across the sky, casting undulating patterns on the ground below; the moving shadows made me twitchy.

  I faded back in, making sure nobody was looking in my direction before I appeared fully. I reached out to grab Alex’s arm, but pulled my hand back at the last second and gestured with my head instead. I needed to get over my feelings for him, and touching him wasn’t going to help with that at all.

  “Didn’t see anything. Come on, let’s head north a ways. I’ll check again in a bit.”

  He nodded, stepping out of the way of a firefighter leading a dazed woman across the street. She had a line of blood on her forehead, and her knees were raw.

  As we walked slowly down the street, I started to pick up a pattern in the wreckage. It looked like the chimera had bounced from one side of the street to the other, ping-ponging down Michigan Avenue like the world’s most destructive bouncy ball. I wondered if the monster had had any real goal at all, besides wreaking havoc.

  Pearl had said that it was used as bait to lure more Guardians out, so maybe once the other Fallen snatched the Guardians, they’d left the big guy up to his own devices. That might explain why he eventually stopped at the office building where we’d found him. Once his job was done, he’d been free to focus on what he really wanted—a tasty human snack.

  I gagged, sticking my tongue out.

  Alex noticed and cast a concerned gaze over at me. “You okay?”

  “Yeah. Just thinking about eating people.”

  His brows shot up, and he blinked slowly. “You really are weird.”

  “Not me! I was wondering if all Fallen have a taste for human flesh or just the big hairy ones.”

  Alex nudged me, and we veered off course to get out of the way of an ambulance that was slowly working its way up the street, its siren set to a low whoop. “For my sake, I hope it’s just the big hairy ones. But somehow I doubt it. That freaky vampire looked like he’d be more than happy to take a bite out of someone.”

  “Ick. Don’t remind me.” I glanced around us, noting that there were fewer people on this stretch. “Hang on. I’m gonna fade back over. You can keep walking, but don’t go too far. I’ll catch up with you in a sec.”

  At Alex’s nod, I faded back to the Shroud, my body tensing then relaxing as I realized no one was there. I was about to fade back when a flicker of light in the distance caught my eye. It was directly ahead of me, at the base of a looming cliff. Before I could focus on it, it was gone. But I was sure I’d seen it. It had looked like a torch, and the bearer had either disappeared behind something or had snuffed out the light. Did they know I was here? I was hidden in a leafy thicket, so I hoped not.

  I faded back to Earth quickly, jogging to catch up with Alex, who was only half a block ahead of me. This time I did grab his hand, pulling him forward and making him match my quick stride. He gave a small tug on my hand, and I looked back.

  “Did you see something?” he asked.

  “Yeah. Might’ve been nothing, but I’ll bet everything I’ve got that it was one of the Fallen. I saw torchlight for a second, up that way.” I point up the street, to the part of Michigan we hadn’t canvassed yet. “We need to be careful. I’m not sure if they’ll be able to see my aura if I’m on Earth and they’re in the Shroud, but I don’t want them to get wind of us. Let’s see if we can find any signs here, and once I have a better idea of where they are I’ll cross back over.”

  “Good plan. I can—woah!”

  I stopped at same time Alex did, and I didn’t need to ask him what he’d seen. I could see it too. I was honestly shocked I’d missed it when we drove down this stretch earlier—but I’d been too busy gaping at the scene outside my passenger window at the time.

  Several yards ahead of us, there was a crater in Michigan Avenue.

  The ground was littered with glass shards, but it wasn’t scorched like I would’ve expected it to be if this were some kind of bomb or explosion. The damage to surrounding buildings didn’t suggest an explosion either. But there was definitely a sizable hole in the middle of the street. It looked like a giant fist had punched downward, cracking the asphalt.

  What the hell?

  “Um, Cam? Look up.” Alex’s voice next to me drew my attention, and I followed his gaze upward. We were standing next to the Hancock building, an imposing black skyscraper with a wide base
that tapered toward the top. I didn’t know exactly how tall it was, but I’d heard a classmate brag once about having her birthday celebration in the Signature Lounge on the ninety-fifth floor. So it was at least that many stories.

  And about two-thirds of the way to the top, there was a hole in the side of the building. It looked small from here, but it must be at least two floors high and almost as wide.

  “Holy shit,” I whispered.

  “What do you want to bet that’s where the demon came through?”

  Tearing my gaze from the hole that gaped like a single eye in the building’s facade, I tracked a path down to the crater in front of us. “Holy shit.”

  Since that seemed to be all I was capable of contributing to this conversation, Alex picked up the slack, filling in the next blank. “And then it… jumped down here.”

  I nodded slowly, staring at the hole in the street. “Holy—”

  “Yep.”

  Oh, damn.

  I glanced over at Alex. “Thank goodness you have the powers you do. If you hadn’t helped us, we’d never have taken that demon down.”

  He blushed slightly, but shook his head. “You’d have found a way.”

  I highly doubted that, but I let it go because we had much bigger things to worry about. I jerked my head to the side, and Alex followed me across the street. A few stragglers were slowly emerging from the shops on this side of the road, taking in the crater with wide eyes just as I’d done.

  I nudged him down a side street half a block away, then peered back around the corner. “That’s gotta be the Fallen camp. The place everyone knows, and all will soon fear.”

  Alex popped his head around the corner above mine. “It makes sense.”

  Craning my neck, I looked up at him. “I need to cross over to make sure. I won’t stay long. We can’t let them know we’ve found them.”

  “Okay.”

  I started to fade out, but Alex reached out a hand, anchoring me to the earthly plane. My heart gave a few heavy beats in my chest.

  “Hey, Cam. To quote my good friend Seth, don’t be a hero.” Concern reflected in his eyes as he spoke.

  I shot him a shaky grin. Between my growing nerves and the electricity zinging through my body, I couldn’t have held my lips steady if I wanted to. “Yep. I’ve found that’s always the best policy.”

  He shook his head wryly at me; I knew he didn’t believe I wouldn’t do something stupid. I should’ve been offended, but my track record so far was solidly on his side. So I just gave his hand a little squeeze. He squeezed back and then released his grip, watching me fade out. And then he disappeared from my sight too, replaced by the dark jungle of the Wild.

  I stood in a rocky crevasse. The dim light that always shone from the moon-like suns in this place was barely able to penetrate the darkness down here. I ducked behind a large boulder to my right, seeking some cover—even in the dark, I felt way too exposed out in the open. Besides, whatever creatures dwelled here were probably used to the low light and could see better in it than I could.

  Steep cliffs rose up on either side of me, much higher on one side than the other. At the base of the taller side, a dim light shone from the side of the rock face. The entrance to a cave? That would make a good hiding place for a bunch of Fallen and their captives. But I didn’t see anybody coming or going from the cave. I really didn’t want to feed bad intel to the Council.

  Taking a deep breath, I slipped out from behind the rock, darting over to the cliff wall and plastering myself flat to it. Slowly, I inched sideways, clinging to the rough surface. As I neared the light, a gaping hole in the rock came into view. It was small, probably only big enough for one or two people to fit through at once. My brow wrinkled. They must have another entrance for demons like the one we’d just fought. No way would he be able to fit through here.

  That was potentially good news for me. If I’d found a back entrance, I had a better chance of sneaking in undetected.

  When I reached the edge of the opening, I leaned around the corner slowly, every muscle in my body tense.

  Nothing.

  A tunnel led deeper into the side of the cliff, but there was no one—Fallen or Guardian—in sight.

  I blew out a breath.

  It took every bit of nerve I could muster to step inside the tunnel. I felt like a sitting duck as soon as I did. If anyone came through now, either from the outside or the inside, I’d be totally screwed. But I needed to find some sign that this was the right place.

  All my senses alert, I crept down forward quickly. The tunnel curved to the right slightly, and as I rounded the bend, I could see the entrance to a large cave about thirty yards away.

  I also saw a demon walking down the tunnel.

  And he saw me.

  22

  Crap.

  I stopped in my tracks, and the demon mirrored my action. He was another one of those pig-faced demons—they seemed to be a popular variety for enforcement—and his snout wrinkled up in surprise, showing off his long tusks.

  He made a move toward me, but with speed born of panic, I threw up a filter and shot a blast through it immediately after. An aether arrow impaled his throat, and dark blood oozed out. He made a gurgling sound, grabbing at his throat. The wound wouldn’t kill him. Hell, it probably wouldn’t even slow him down much. But at least with his vocal chords temporarily disabled, he couldn’t raise an alarm.

  Letting go of his neck, he raised his bloodstained hands and began running toward me.

  Oh shit!

  I shot another arrow at him, but this time I was in too much of a rush and my shot went wide. The blast he threw at me knocked me off my feet, slamming me into the dirt floor of the tunnel. The demon threw himself on top of me, aiming a meaty fist for my face. I threw up my hands, blocking with my forearms like Alex had taught me. Blood continued to flow from the demon’s neck wound, although this close, I could see it already closing up. As he tried to grapple my hands down to the ground on either side of my head, his blood dripped onto my face.

  I could not let this guy haul me in.

  Giving up the physical struggle momentarily, I let him pin my hands down, turning my head to the side to avoid getting blood in my mouth. I could hear him making louder grunting noises as his throat healed itself. Pretty soon he’d be able to yell.

  Suppressing the panic trying to take over my body, I reached out into the aether around me, trying to feel his energy. It was surprisingly easy—probably because he was right on top of me, bleeding all over me. His essence was chaotic and dark, and just like I’d done with Reeva, I imagined building a blanket of aether over him, weaving it into his own. Then I pulled as hard as I could, wrapping the blanket tight around him.

  The demon’s eyes bulged, and his mouth hung open mid-grunt. His hands, which had been gripping my wrists tightly, were dragged to his chest and pinned there.

  Yes! I did it!

  Of course, the downside of binding a demon who was holding me down was that as soon as his arms were bound, he had no way of supporting his bodyweight. A fact I realized belatedly when he crashed down on top of me. His chest landed on my face, and I grimaced. Demons did not smell great. Or at least this one didn’t.

  With a grunt of my own, I heaved him off me, rolling him onto his side. His eyes were still open, and the baleful look he was shooting me told me he was still very much conscious. But he didn’t seem to be able to move any part of his body.

  Hot damn. I’d never done a full body bind before.

  I could feel him trying to break the bond, his energy pushing against the aether I’d anchored to him. But I didn’t think he’d have much luck, at least not anytime soon. Reeva had broken my bond easily, but she was a master at aether manipulation. This guy definitely wasn’t.

  Standing up, I ran the back of my forearm over my face, trying to wipe away the blood. Then I rolled the demon over until his body was wedged up against the wall. It was still pretty conspicuous, but I didn’t have time to properly hid
e him. My best bet was to sneak into the main cave for a quick look around and then make a run for it before anybody found this guy.

  Darting deeper into the mountain, I followed the tunnel to the archway at its end, flattening myself against the wall and peering around the corner.

  The cave the tunnel led to was huge, but not like the portal room at the Haven. That one was wide and long, whereas this one went straight up. It was as if someone had carved out the inside of a mountain, all the way from the base to the peak. The bottom of the cavern was fairly wide, tapering as it rose hundreds of feet in the air. Stairs to the top tracked around it in a giant spiral, dimly lit by torches spaced intermittently along the wall.

  And there were Guardian bodies everywhere.

  A large number of them were laid out on the cave floor around the edge of the room, and more were resting in little pockets carved into the stone along the winding staircase. They all appeared to be in some kind of sleep. Their eyes were closed, unlike the demon I’d just bound. My dad must’ve done something to put them under when he bound them.

  There was a wide hole at the top of the cave. Maybe that was where the giant chimera had entered from. A large fire burned in the center of the floor, and several Fallen sat on rocks around it.

  I pulled my head back around the corner, breathing hard.

  Don’t be a hero, Cam. Don’t be a hero.

  But…

  I couldn’t just leave.

  Torches lit the dizzyingly tall staircase, but the only light on the ground was from the bonfire in the middle of the cave, which left patches of darkness around the edges. Before I could second guess myself, I slipped through the doorway into the shadows of the cave.

  Pressing myself against the musty floor, I army crawled around the perimeter of the cave. I stopped at the first Guardian I came to, a tall, slender man with wavy blond hair. His eyes were closed, and his arms lay loosely across his chest. With no breath issuing from his lips, he looked dead. I closed my eyes tentatively and reached out with my awareness to see if I could sense the bind on him. Disappointment flooded me—aether was wrapped firmly around him. Reeva had compared it to weaving, and the weave was tight in this bind.