Born of Silence (Immortal Guardians) (39 page)

N
itro pursed her lips together and
she folded her arms. She didn’t reply, merely nodded her head once. “On we go, oh fearless leader.”

Garrick snorted as he faced forward once more. Going with his gut, he chose the right tunnel and followed it. So far, so good. They hadn’t run into any demons, and were now close enough that they could hear sounds of them.

There. A door. He peeked in through the window and came face to face with a demon that was staring out absentmindedly. The teenage demon seemed every bit as startled to see Garrick as he was to see him, and
he
fell backwards with a shriek.

“Whoa.” Garrick went to open the door and realized that it was electronically locked.

Raider stepped forward
.
“No problem. I’ll hack in and have this thing opened in no time.”

As the vampire bent down low to inspect the lock, Garrick slid the plexiglass window open. “Hey, kid,” he whispered. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of here.”

“Really?
You’re not
…
one of them?”

“No. We’re the good guys. I just escaped from here myself.”

That seemed to pacify the kid because he slowly came toward the door, looking at Garrick as though he were a deer caught in headlights.

“You escaped from here?
”

He opened his mouth to answer, but the click of the lock cut off his reply. With a triumphant grin, Raider pushed open the door.

“Come on,” Nitro said from beside him. She was waving the kid over eagerly, and he hastily obeyed.

“We should keep him with us until we have others,” Draven whispered. “No point in taking one captive out at a time, or we’ll never get them all.”

“Oh, I doubt we’ll be able to get them all,” Garrick mumbled. But, he had to agree with the vampire prince. The man had a point.
He also noted that Draven and Ethan kept the boy in their sights, just in case he was really an enemy.

And so they continued down the tunnel. They came to another door, only this one didn’t have a lock. Garrick poked his head inside and found a slew of demons sleeping on the floor or in beds, hammock
s
, chairs, or whatever else they could fit in there. He pulled the door shut quietly and placed his finger to his lips. “Minions.”

The others nodded
and they continued on. More doors resulted in more startled captives, and Raider worked agilely on each of the locks. None of the captives had been so heart wrenching
as the sixth door they’d come across. Inside was a small girl, with bright red hair and tattered clothes. She wasn’t startled at seeing any of them though. She wasn’t conscious at all. As soon as Raider broke the lock, Garrick rushed inside her room.

She was maybe ten years old, her body bruised and bloody. Garrick picked her up in his arms and carried her out into the tunnel, handing her over to Draven. The other captives stood by,
peering
at the tiny girl with mixed expressions of
disgust
and shock.

“Get them out of here,” Garrick said. “Lead them outside the cave and point them to safety.” The freed captives would have to remain hidden if they had any hope of escape.

As Draven and Ethan led the others away, Garrick led the remaining warriors through the tunnels. Based on the sounds that bounced off the walls, they were closer to more demons, so they continued their search silently. Garrick reached another doorway and peeked in.

The room was bigger than the previous ones, and far darker. Reaching over, he flipped a switch that lit the room
in the familiar orange glow
. It took him half a second to realize who was inside. Dani.
And not Harpy Dani, Human Dani.
She was chained to a metal bed, thrashing as she screamed and cried. Garrick stepped back,
shocked at the sight
. “Get it open,” he ordered.

Raider dropped down and set to work.

His heart pounded in his chest at the sights and sounds of Dani’s pain.

“Ummm, boys, I think we have a problem.”

Garrick looked at Nitro questioningly as she point
ed behind him. He whirled
to find three of Ekhart’s bouncers staring at them. One was
gaping
at him with wide-eyed astonishment. Boris—or Burly, as Garrick had thought of him—looked as though he had seen a ghost.

He and the Guardians didn’t miss a beat as the two groups bound forward, crashing into each other as fists and weapons collided. He met Burly and the two wrestled each other to the ground. When it was obvious that Garrick couldn’t overthrow the bastard, Blaze stepped in and pulled him backward. It was then that Garrick realized that Nitro had been yelling at him to back off, and once he was far enough away from Ekhart’s minions,
Ash
released a fireball that shot through the tunnel, the demons blanketed in waves of vibrant flames. They hollered in pain, rolling and patting themselves down, but it was no use. H
is
flames continued on until there was nothing left but the sound of the crackling blaze.

Alarms sounded. Nitro gripped Garrick’s shoulder and turned him toward her, her gaze as angry as ever. “What’s wrong with you?” she snapped. “What happened to you? You’re weak.”

He narrowed his gaze on her, and she raised an eyebrow in response.

“Don’t look at me like that, Garrick. I’ve watched you fight for some time, and I can tell when there’s something wrong. Spill.”

“Got it
.
” Raider sighed. Garrick faced him just as the metal door swung open.

****

Dani fought the restraints that bound her to the bed. She couldn’t make out much outside these walls other than that there were sounds of battle on the other side of her door. Over and over, she pushed on her binds, but they were too strong for her current condition.

Screams of agony streamed in through the doorway, the sounds of death. She knew those sounds too well by now
—heck, it could be her own recollection of what happened earlier tonight. Garrick had come for her. She’d almost killed him though, and when she’d been ordered to either return to the caves or crush his windpipe, she’d chosen her own imprisonment over the loss of his life.
It was the only decision she’d been able to make
ever
while being controlled.

Garrick would
search
for her. He wouldn’t find her. The cave’s entrance would have been too far away from where he had seen her. He may hunt for days, he may not. There were other demons with him, though her recollection of everything that happened was broken up, as though she’d blacked out a few times. She tried to drum up what his companions had looked like, but she drew up short. Only the sight of him came to mind.

The screams died out and were immediately replaced by the wailing sounds of the Institute’s alarm system. Her door’s locks released and the heavy door was pushed open. She
glanced
over, ready to tell whatever asshole had just entered to screw
off, when she c
aught sight of the warmest
eyes she’d ever seen.

Her breath caught in her throat, even as his name slipped from her lips.
He’d found her. And so fast!
“Garrick.”

He rushed toward her, placing his hand gently ag
ainst her cheek. He was silent
, but he didn’t have to
say a word
. His eyes told her everything. His warm palm left her skin as he and another man worked to unbind her. As soon as she was freed, he pulled her to her feet.

“Dani, are you—”

Her arms wound around his shoulders as he pulled her tightly to him. “I
didn’t think you’d find me
.”

Garrick’s warm breath fanned over her hair and ear as he held her to him. “I will always find you.”

Tears trickled down her cheeks. Garrick—
her
Garrick—came for her. She was so happy, she was. . .

The alarms.

“Garrick,” she said. “The alarms. We’ve got to get out—”

“What is that?” he asked, stepping back. His hand gently probed the base of her neck before he lifted her hair away from it.

She chewed her lip as he turned her away from him.

“Dani,
w
hat
is it?” he asked again, slower this time.

When she didn’t respond quickly enough, Garrick stepped around her, holding her chin up so her eyes would meet his. His were filled with worry. How could they not
be
? He knew of some of the things that happened inside the Institute; of course he’d have an idea.

“They didn’t remove it?”

She shook her head. “It’s permanent.”

He
turned
away, focusing on the other guy who had helped unbind her. “Raider.”

“I’m on it,” the other man said. He took up the space right behind Dani, his fingers lightly touching the device Ekhart’s lab rats hooked into her spine. As soon as Pyro brought her back here, Ekhart had insisted that they “get her under control,” as he’d called it. And that was in the literal sense.
T
hey’d hooked the device into her neck,
and it snapped onto her in more places than usual. S
he’d shortly lost control of herself, unable to move the way she wanted.

As Raider inspected her neck, Dani held Garrick’s gaze.
He
stood there, tall and vibrant, his body thrumming with excitement. But even so, he focused everything he had on her.

“Jesus Christ,” Raider muttered. Garrick broke the gaze and
focused on
him
, his eyebrows raised in question. “It’s tapped into her spine. I don’t know if it’s safe to remove it.”

“Can you break it?” Garrick asked.

“No,” Dani said, her eyes lowering to the ground. “They told me I’d die if I
tried
.”

She glanced up again, noticing that the two me
n looked at each other silently. It looked
as though they had an entire conversation in the span of a few seconds. “Garrick,” she said. “We need to go. The alarm has been going off forever.”

Raider
glanced
at the doorway and
uttered a curse. “Where is Nitro?”

“And Ash,” Garrick added, looking around the empty room.

“Jesus Christ,” Raider groaned.

“What’s wrong?”
Dani
asked.
A trickle of awareness shot through her, though she didn’t know what caused it.

“It’s my mate,” he replied. “She’s going after Ekhart.”

Garrick enclosed her hand in his as he led her from the room. Raider followed tight on their heels. As soon as they reached the hallway, two other warriors met up with them. She
turned on them
, ready to fight, when Garrick stopped her.

“Draven, Ethan,” he said. “I need you to take her out of here. Keep her safe.”

She turned toward him as her mouth dropped wide open. “You’re not making me leave you behind.”

“Yes, I am. These are my friends; they’ll make sure no one gets to you.”

“I. Am. Not. Leaving. I’m staying with you.”

Garrick
glanced
at the others for a second before ste
pping aside with Dani. “
I’ve got a few things to take care of. I can’t get everything done if I’m constantly worried about you.”

“And you won’t be worried if I’m with them?”

“I…” He paused.

“That’s what I—”

“No,” he finished. “I can trust you with them.”

She flushed, surprised that he felt so strongly about getting rid of her. Even if he thought she was a distraction, she’d much rather be with him than to ever be separated again.

A loud explosion rang out, shaking the walls
of the cave around them. Dani hu
ng on
to Garrick as he pulled her to him. “What was that?” she asked.

Raider
’s
expression of worry and rage
answered her
. “Nitro.”

Well, if she didn’t just walk into a godsdamned shit storm.

Somehow, while
searching
for that bastard Ekhart, Nitro and Ash had stumbled into a room that was filled to the brim with angry, ugly-ass demons whose sole purpose in life was to fight.

Just like what she and Ash had faced all those years ago when they’d been turned Ignitis.

She looked over at her brother as three demons fell on him, taking him to the ground in seconds. Just as quickly though, a fireball shot from his palms, throwing the demons off of him in a bright explosion.

And that was all the look-see she’d been able to take advantage of.