Chapter 544
The flight to Budapest had been a long one. I’d tried to sleep as much as I could, but Aurora and Elliott were arguing more than usual. Apparently, she’d thought it would be funny to have all of the Cheetos Elliott had requested taken off of the plane before we left the airport. He didn’t think it was humorous at all, and they spent a couple of hours screaming at each other, airing all their dirty laundry for all of us to hear. Even when Aaron stepped in like he was their dad, it took forever for them to settle down. By the time we got to Budapest, I was exhausted.
But the meeting we had with Mila and the rest of the elite team members the leaders had invited in was invigorating, so by the time we started to climb the mountain where Christian, and Daunator, awaited us, I was wide awake. It helped that Jamie had had enough time to examine the creature Eliza and Sergio had captured and the Healer thought he had an antidote that could save some of the people in the ground if we were able to get them out. That would be my job—and Heather’s.
Heather wasn’t part of the advanced team, though. The other hybrid was part of the line of defense behind us. Aaron had explained everything to us, but my sister had been unusually quiet while he went through our assignments. I was a little worried about her. She was ahead of me as we wound our way through thickets and brambles, the moonbeams only sifting through the trees from time to time. That energetic spark I usually see in her as we go into a hunt had faded. When I’d asked if she was okay, she’d only said she had a headache but she was fine. I hadn’t bothered to remind her that Jamie could fix that because she knew that already. I just hoped if Daunator showed up, she’d spring to life.
Daunator wasn’t our objective at the moment, though. Aaron had made it very clear our only task right now was to get Christian out. Then, once we were sure he was safe and we could get some information from him about Daunator, hopefully, we could come back and take out the monster, freeing the black creatures, and turning them back into people. That was the plan. I knew, though, before I even stepped foot on Mt. Klet, that wasn’t what was going to happen.
Aaron and Cadence were in front of me, and Elliott and Jamie were behind me. Somewhere off in the distance, Brandon and the rest of the team were getting into place. There were two lines behind us, about fifty LIGHTS members, mostly Guardians. Aaron said he hoped none of them were needed; they would be. Daunator knew we were coming. I’m not sure how I knew that because he wasn’t in my head or anything, but he was aware.
Christian was so out of it when I contacted him to tell him we were coming, I didn’t know what to expect once I extracted him from the hole. I had a feeling he was going to be more of a weirdo than normal. I just hoped there was no permanent damage. Hannah was in that first line behind us somewhere, on the other side of the mountain, but I doubted she’d have time for counseling until we were all home, safe and sound. I prayed that would be the outcome.
Aaron had warned us that the Hunters could be infiltrated, so we all needed to be cautious. Other than my sister and Aurora, the Leaders had invited Grant, Kaycia, and Moira from other areas. Mila’s Hunters had been excluded, which they hadn’t appreciated, but Aaron and Cadence didn’t know them well enough to be able to trust them. I had no idea what made them think they could trust any of the Hunters under the circumstances. I was nervous about any of them coming into Daunator’s range if he could really take over their minds, although I had a feeling he couldn’t make my sister do anything. If I could get into his head, I might be able to figure it out, but I didn’t want to give him any information about our exact location, so that was out for the time being. And once the battle started—and there would be a battle—I had a feeling I’d be too busy to dig too deeply.
We had some of Christian’s new weapons with us. He’d created some sort of explosive that was supposed to be implanted under the Vampire’s skin so that when it went off, they’d catch on fire from the inside. It was a great idea, but I had no idea if it worked or how a person would get close enough to Daunator to stick it in him. Christian hadn’t tried that kind on the monster yet. We also had a crossbow looking device that seemed questionable to me. If the Leaders brought anything else from Christian’s lab, they hadn’t told the rest of us. It seemed like we hadn’t had enough time to plan well, even though I’d told them weeks ago what we needed to do.
The incline beneath my feet began to even out a little, and I realized we were near the top of the mountain. The forest was thick here, but up ahead, the terrain was clearer and rockier. There was a sheer drop off a couple of hundred yards in front of us, and then, to the right there was another. The ground rolled into another mountainous area on the left before it also fell away. I’m no longer afraid of heights now that I can float, but it still made me nervous thinking of fighting this close to the edge of a mountain. Luckily, none of us would die if we fell over the cliff. Unless, of course, a Hunter pushed a Guardian off. Or a Vampire threw a Hunter. That could be bad. It was unlikely to happen, but if it did, Heather and I would just have to be ready to pull the person back over before they fell below our line of sight.
We reached the beginning of the clearing and stopped. “This is it,” I said. “Christian is in the ground about twenty yards in front of us.”
Aaron nodded but gave the team behind us a chance to get into position. Brandon was way in the back, and I hated having him so far from me. Heather was trying to find the tallest tree around, and my cousin Paul, from Australia, was with her. They picked one and went to the top, with Lex, from Italy, climbing about halfway up to keep any threats away from Heather. Since Margie, Jamie’s sister, was stationed at the bottom, I was pretty confident nothing was going to get to Heather.
