That was embarrassing.
I quickly opened my eyes and his angelic face was an inch away, his sweet breath tickled my nose. Gently clasping his hand behind the back of my neck, he leaned closer and kissed me. When he pulled away, I was left dizzy.
“I’m ready,” I exhaled. He took the duffle from my hand and we began to walk down the hall toward the bathroom that had the secret door.
“How many secret doors are there in this place?” I asked.
“Three. One on each floor. There is a room right below us on the opposite side of the hall, and the last one is on the first floor, behind the grandfather clock in the foyer.”
“Wow. I would have never known.”
“Yeah, Alaine wanted to build a few more, but her late husband already thought she was crazy for even thinking of making secret doors which led to a safe room in the middle of the house. She had a lot of convincing to do, but he finally gave in. I’m glad she did it.”
“Me too.” I smiled thinking about how Alaine had planned everything out from the beginning, even though she didn’t know what the future held. She was a prepper.
Familiar thundering growls and barks erupted outside, just as we were making our way to the last room. The darkness had awakened the creatures.
As we entered the bathroom, I disconnected from Kade and made my way to the window.
“Emma,” he called after me.
“Just keep the light off. I have to see what’s out there.”
I slowly pulled the curtain from the window, and saw fiery red eyes slowly emerging from the forest.
Hellhounds. There were at least a dozen of them; more than any of us had anticipated.
“Emma,” Kade called, pulling the secret door open.
“Wait, please,” I whispered, frozen.
Malachi stood just inside the barrier, about twenty feet away from one of the beasts. His sword was drawn, and he was crouched, ready to take it on. There were too many Hellhounds for the few we had, even with all six of them fighting.
As I glanced to the right, I saw Thomas, and beyond Malachi to the left was Alex.
The Hellhound in front of Malachi stopped. Kade stood behind me and pulled back the curtain a bit more so he could see. His chest pressed against my back, so I leaned into him for support.
“What happens if they come through the barrier?” I said, my voice quavering.
“Then we run for the safe room,” he said, taking hold of my hand.
We watched helplessly, incapable of offering any help.
My breath seized as the beast crouched. It pounced toward Malachi, who stepped forward to meet it, his sword raised above his head. But as soon as the beast hit the barrier, it slammed to a complete stop and dropped to the ground. Sparks flew everywhere and the Hellhound yelped in pain.
“Oh my God. It worked,” I exhaled loudly. The barrier actually kept the Hellhounds out too. I wondered why it worked on Hellhounds and not the Darkling.
“Now we know they’ll be fine, so it’s time I get you inside before Alaine finds us standing here. There are monitors in the safe room where you can watch what’s going on outside.”
“Okay,” I agreed. Our hands were still locked together as he led me into the secret passageway. As soon as we were inside he clicked on a flashlight and handed it to me, then closed and locked the door behind us.
While we were walking to our safety, I started to feel horrible; I was abandoning the others. But I knew there was really nothing I could do to help. If I were out there, they would probably be worried about saving me, which would be more of a hindrance than good.
Once we reached the safe room and Kade locked the doors, I began to feel a bit claustrophobic. I walked over and sat on the bed.
“What happens if the Fallen break through, and find this secret room? We won’t have a way to escape, and this safe room will become our tomb.” My mind started to go haywire again, thinking up every negative scenario.
Kade grinned and made his way to me. He sat down on my side and took my hand. “Don’t worry. They all know what they’re doing out there. This is just for safety measures. Plus, there is another way out,” he said pointing under the bed. “It’s a downward drop of about a hundred feet that will take us into an underground tunnel that leads to the garage. It’s a last resort.”
“It’s good to know we have an option.”
Kade walked over to a cabinet on the wall, just above a small desk. When he pulled open the cabinet, inside were five small monitors which he clicked on.
Each screen was split, with two different views from different areas around the house. My eyes locked onto the first screen, looking out from the front of the house. Malachi was in the left corner of the screen but beyond him were three huge beasts, Hellhounds, stalking the perimeter trying to find a way in. Behind them I saw a set of black wings quickly fly past, and I could swear I saw red eyes flash. My heart dropped.