I refocus as we get to the edge of the woods, sure enough there are two guards outside of a small and unassuming wooden door. I catch Sage’s grin just as she lets her knife fly and quickly launch my own at the other guard so he can’t alert anyone that they are under attack the longer we can keep our presence in the castle unnoticed the better. I grin as our knives hit within seconds of each other and Sage spins on her heel shocking the hell of me when she kisses me quickly before walking forward towards the door.
I catch the looks being thrown in our direction and shrug, it’s not my fault she likes it when I throw knives. Actually it’s a massive turn on that she likes it and doesn’t shy away from the violence. Although that might have more to do with our supernatural make up than anything else.
Just as we get to the door Sage holds her hands up to Erin showing two, nil on her fingers and blowing her a kiss. I hold back a snort of laughter as Erin practically growls before mouthing back, it’s on bitch. I don’t think I’ll ever understand their friendship but I am so damn glad that they have each other.
“They didn’t seem to be supernaturals?” Jett comments quietly as we move the guards out of the way.
“They’re not.” Kysen replies. “Remember that although we now know that the Order is actually run by Creep. It is supposed to be made up of entirely human people who are dead set on enslaving or eradicating us all.”
“They obviously have some supernatural in order to get them over to the demon realm in the first place but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they used one of the Centre’s to do it.” Harry adds.
“Or even technology gifted to them by Creep. They can’t know that he’s a supernatural being surely?” I ask.
“I highly doubt it.” Asher replies.
“Come on lets get this over with.” Jett says.
Levi nods and takes lead as we head back to the door and open it up.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sage
Behind the seemingly unassuming door is an equally unassuming corridor. It’s lit every few metres by torches, the flames flickering shadows on the damp cobbled walls giving the whole place and decidedly eerie feel. A shudder goes down my spine and I grab the closest hand which just happens to be Levi’s. He glances down at me and his expression softens as he squeezes my hand tightly.
I let go of Levi’s hand as we reach several sets of stone steps leading upwards, so that we both have our hands free in case we run into more guards. Ghost and Knot fly ahead scouting for guards and helping to guide our way. On the second set of steps two guards round the corner, without any hesitation Knot dives for the guard on the left her pink magic surrounds her as she dives straight through the chest of the guard. When she reappears on the other side of him she leaves behind a singed and smoking hole the size of a basketball. He crumples to the floor in a heap and I make a note never to piss off Knot because holy fuck is that scary and I’ll admit a little bit impressive.
Erin wastes no time charging the shocked guard that is still staring at the corpse of his friend. His head bounces down the stairs and I step over it. The guards may not be supernaturals but it’s still an effective way to kill someone. Actually I’m not entirely certain that the guards will be all human there is a small chance that there may be a couple of guards here that are supernaturals and aligned with the Order. I can’t imagine betraying my own kind like that but Creep is the leader and very much a supernatural so it wouldn’t surprise me if he had supernaturals in the Order keeping an eye on things for him. The Director was loyal to him and the Order and she was supernatural.
There’s not really anywhere that we can hide these bodies so the boys just push their bodies down the stairs in the hopes that it will take someone longer to find them.
“That was fucking insane.” Nate exclaims as we make our way up the rest of the stairs. “Did you know she could do that?” He asks me.
“Nope I had no idea, pretty fucking cool though. Such a good girl.” I compliment her stroking the feathers on her chest as she perches on my shoulder before flying ahead again and stopping at a wooden door.
The door leads out onto the wide and ornate hallway that we saw when Ghost flew through the castle earlier. This hallway is in better condition than the one that we’ve just come from but it’s still fallen into disrepair.
I push away my anger at such a beautiful building being so badly mistreated, the carpets dirty and worn, the once beautiful and luxurious velvet drapes tatty and torn and I can’t help but pause in front of a portrait of Nyx and her men. They look happy and relaxed, dressed beautifully but comfortably all of them smiling. Nothing like when I last saw them all together on the battlefield.
It’s a beautiful portrait.
At least it would be except the assholes here have defaced it with immature drawings and disgusting slurs. The darkness within me swirls restlessly, responding to my anger.
“Come on Sage.” Erin says softly, tugging my arm and pulling me away from the painting.
I follow reluctantly, desperately wanting to fix it but I know that there are bigger things that need to be dealt with right now. It’s surprisingly quiet, we haven’t come across any more guards and I can’t believe that their security is really this lax. Levi comes to an abrupt halt and the rest of us quickly pause as he holds up is hand signalling us to be quiet. I use my supernatural hearing to try and hear whatever’s made him pause, it seems to come a bit harder for me, I have to consciously focus on it in order for me to hear better whereas the others don’t seem to have that problem. I’ll have to remember to ask Erin and see if it’s the same for her. Sure enough once I’ve focused I can hear the sounds of silverware clacking on plates, raucous laughter and raised voices.
We move towards the massive ornately carved wooden doors even my hearing can pick up that, that’s where the noise is coming from. It sounds like there are quite a few people in there which would explain the lack of guards out here. The Order or at least this branch of it have damn bad tactical skills. If I’m being completely honest though it’s not exactly been difficult so far to get in here bar a few guards.
“Are you ready?” Kysen says to Erin.
She opens her mouth to reply but before she can get anything out the doors swing open and three guards walk out laughing and joking with each other and not paying attention to their surroundings at all, they don’t even notice us standing here and it’s not like we had a chance to hide when they came out.
We all wait until the doors close behind them again before we make our move.
“Hunter, Jax it’s your turn.”Levi sends down the Bond link and they both grin viciously.
This time the shiver that runs down my spine is for an entirely different reason.
