Chapter 468
A split second later, when I thought the portal was already closed, there was another whoosh, and then Aaron was falling. He collided with Cadence, who was still up on Jamie’s and Elliott’s hands, and they both went tumbling over the side of the cliff.
It took me a few seconds to realize what had happened, and I wasn’t able to keep them from falling. All of us ran to the edge to see them resurface. I was having trouble getting a grip on both of them at the same time because the water was tossing them around like corks. It pounded them into the rocks a couple of times before I managed to start pulling them out of the water.
Aaron was in horrible shape, so Jamie sent a beam of light his direction before I even got them all the way up the cliffside. Of course, they were kissing, which made me gag a little. And they didn’t seem interested in coming up for air. Everyone else was cheering, but this is my sister we’re talking about ,after all. I yelled, “Seriously, I’m gonna drop you back in the if you don’t knock it off!” and Elliott added, “Get a room!”
I set them down and they finally parted enough to speak to all of us. Aaron looked so much better now than when he’d first exited the portal. But his clothes were torn and covered in blood.
Dripping wet, Cadence took a deep breath and said, “I’m so glad that’s over with.”
“Me, too,” Aaron agreed. “Hines died a split second after Christian ran out, so I collided with a brick wall again. I didn’t let it knock me out this time, though.” Christian thought that was funny for some reason. I jumped into his mind and discovered that when he’d first stepped into the portal, Aaron was out cold having run into the portal wall. “I tried again, despite the fact that I shouldn’t have been able to leave without anyone in there, but then—did you throw someone in at the last second?”
“It was Cass who did it,” my sister said.
My face went pink. “Cadence lured her over. I just did the heavy lifting.”
“You did a lot.” My sister’s expression was enough to tell me how much she appreciated my efforts. I had to look away. I couldn’t take all the credit for ending Holland, but I was glad I got to be a part of it. I thought back to how left out I’d felt when I had first found out about LIGHTS but wasn’t allowed to do anything. Now, I’d been a significant part in ending the Vampire Queen. It felt cool, but overwhelming all at the same time.
“Who was it?” Aaron asked, and I realized he had no idea who we’d tossed in, which was shocking, but made sense with the state he was in and coming out while she was going in.
“It was Holland,” Cadence said, her voice low, like she couldn’t really accept it herself.
His eyes went wide. “I guess it really is over then.”
“I hope so,” Cadence said for all of us.
“I don’t think she can survive in there for long, especially if the cave was sinking in on her.” Christian always seems to think he knows everything. In this case, I hoped he was right.
“Won’t the demon hunters have a field day with her?” Elliott asked. “She is part demon, after all, isn’t she?”
“Seems to be. They sure had fun ripping her baby apart.” Christian thought that was funny and laughed when he said it. I looked at my sister, who’d had the idea to toss the baby in. She wasn’t amused.
“The demon hunters left after they killed the child,” Aaron explained. I was disappointed to hear that. I’d hoped they’d hunt Holland down. “But if she’s in there, I’m sure they’ll be back. The tunnel we were using collapsed when the grenades went off, which was unexpected. I’m not sure about the rest of it. I have no idea if she would’ve come through another tunnel or collided with a wall of falling rock.”
“I guess it doesn’t matter.” Jamie joined the conversation. “She can’t get out unless something else goes in, and all of our enemies who know about the portal are dead—or in it.”
“All but one,” Aaron reminded us.
I didn’t have to think long to know who he was talking about, but when Elliott spoke, I had to agree with what he said. “Surely Daunator won’t get himself involved in all of this, will he?”
When Aaron spoke, he was cautious. “I sure hope not. Defeating Holland is one thing, but taking down an entity as powerful as Daunator would be something else entirely. We may have to face him someday, but I hope he gives us a little bit of a break.” He looked exhausted, and I couldn’t blame him.
“Let’s go,” Cadence said, tugging on what was left of his jacket. Behind us, Moira had basically carried the field. Only a few Vampires were still visible, running back down the trail, our Irish friends on their heels.
As beautiful as this place was, I was ready to leave it, and the Blood Moon Portal, far, far behind. I turned and found Brandon’s hand and started heading toward the SUVs, thinking those Vampires would be long gone by the time I got there, if they knew what was good for them.
We were staying the night in a hotel near Shannon Airport, and as we were loading up the SUV, all I could think about was going back to the room and sleeping. I wished I had more energy so that Brandon and I could go explore a little bit before we headed back to Iowa the next day, but it had been so long since I’d gotten a decent amount of sleep, I couldn’t summon the energy, no matter how hard I tried. In fact, I fell asleep on his shoulder a few minutes after the SUV pulled away.
