When a different Savage leapt at him, Logan dodged in time to avoid having half his head cut off by the sword the Savage wielded. As the monster lunged past him, Logan delivered a blow to the back of its skull.
Bone caved in from the impact, and a strange gurgling emanated from the Savage as his tongue rolled out. Logan yanked its sword away and brought it down across Savage’s neck. It took one more blow to decapitate the creature, and by then, the black and red color spreading through Logan encompassed his entire body.
Turning from the creature, he continued his search for Elena. He still couldn’t feel her through their bond. Either she’d shut him out completely in this insanity, or…
He couldn’t let himself think about the or he would lose his mind and what little remained of his control. She was alive, somewhere. He just hadn’t seen her through all the chaos.
Maybe she went into the mission.The second the possibility crossed his mind, he dismissed it. She was far too much of a fighter to retreat. She was here, somewhere, and he would find her.
He spotted Ronan and Kadence working together to eliminate another group of Savages. Sister June and Duncan rushed a group of children across the lawn toward the mission, a fortified stronghold built beneath the ground and designed to house the women and children for a month if something like this occurred. He’d never seen the mission used for anything other than drills, but they would be safe there.
The heat of the growing fires burned his cheeks as more hunter homes started to smolder while others became completely engulfed. Since the mansion was the first thing anyone encountered when entering the compound from the front gates, the hunters’ homes being on fire only confirmed his suspicion the Savages had also attacked from the sides and back.
These monsters were here to destroy as much as possible. He had no doubt they also possessed more of the shit that had ruined Josiah and the hunters in Arizona.
Through the increasingly thickening smoke, he spotted Simone and Vicky with their backs to each other as they used small swords to hold off the group of Savages encircling them. Since he didn’t see Vicky’s son, Wyatt, he assumed the boy was safely tucked inside the mission.
Willow hacked her way toward her sister with vicious swings and deft killing blows that had the Savages scrambling back. She was nearly there when the Savages suddenly released a howling battle cry and ran at her.
They were nearly upon her when Declan tackled a couple from behind and smashed their heads into the ground. Logan slashed his way through the Savages and toward them; one of them might know where Elena was, and even if they didn’t, he couldn’t allow the Savages to claim Willow’s sword.
It was a powerful weapon in her hands; it would be a disaster in the hands of the demons.
As he worked his way through the monsters, he spotted Elyse running with her and Saxon’s almost-two-year-old daughter, Madison, cradled in her arms. Her father ran at her side toward the mission.
They were almost there when a Savage crashed into the two of them and knocked Raymond to the ground. Elyse covered Madison’s head and spun to deliver a roundhouse kick to the monster’s face. It staggered back.
She grasped Raymond’s bicep and was helping him rise when the Savage lunged at her again, but it went for Madison this time. Before the creature could get its hands on the child, Elena rushed out of the smoke.
Logan nearly stumbled and went down from the force of the relief flooding him. He staggered a couple of steps toward her before regaining his balance. He hacked through the Savages as he fought to get to her.
Elena raised a stake over her head and plunged it into the Savage’s back, piercing its heart. The Savage dropped to the ground, and Raymond managed to rise. Elena ripped her weapon free and slid it into the holster at her side. She wrapped one of her arms around Raymond’s waist, and together, the four of them ran for the mission.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Logan continuedto battle through Savages as he made his way toward Elena. He was hoping she’d go underground with the others, but she and Elyse both stopped at the entrance to the mission. Elyse thrust Madison into her father’s arms.
Her father reached for her too, but Elyse moved away from him. The glow of the fires danced in the tear tracks on Elyse’s face as Madison screamed for her, but she didn’t go below with her daughter. Sister June draped her arm around Raymond’s shoulders and turned him toward the bunker.
When Elyse slammed the steel door shut behind them, it practically vanished into the ground. Duncan braced his legs apart on top of the door as he sought to protect all those below. They would still take more into the mission, but only if Duncan, or someone else who knew the code, banged on that door. Otherwise, those below would remain sealed protectively inside.
Elyse took up a defensive posture on top of the door with Duncan, and Saber held his triple-bladed haladie knife as he joined them. Elena turned away and started fighting her way through more monsters as Logan finally broke through the Savages and sprinted toward her.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spied Declan and Willow battling against the ever-increasing horde surrounding them and realized they had becometheprime target. Or at least Willow’s sword had, and she was not going to give it up.
Logan darted around another group of Savages before finally arriving at Elena’s side. She’d moved about fifteen feet away from the mission, and when her eyes fell on him, her shoulders sagged as they embraced.
“Are you okay?” he demanded when he reluctantly released her to take her in. Blood streaked her face, and a bruise was forming on her cheek.
Even in the middle of all this horror and death and that strange black and red color encompassing him, Elena had never been so happy to see anyone as she was to see Logan. She’d tried briefly to reach out to him after they first connected but found it distracted her too much, so she shut the connection down. She couldn’t talk to him and she couldn’t have him talking to her while fighting for her life.
But shutting the connection down meant she had no idea where he was or if he was safe. She blinked away the tears burning her eyes as she placed one arm around his neck and briefly hugged him. She released him almost as soon as they touched for fear she’d get them killed.
“I’m fine!” she shouted over the din.
Now that he knew she was safe, the full reality of what was happening sank in. The compound was compromised. Their safety net and everything they’d built here was gone.
The spreading fires leapt from one house to the next with growing speed. Tucked beneath the earth and equipped with an air filtration system, those in the mission would remain safe. They had to make sure they had a safe place to exit into when the time came for them to reemerge.
