Lover Uncloaked (Stealth Guardians #1) - By Unknown Page 0,103
They could always get the demons later. His first priority was getting Leila to safety.
“Think about it, Aiden. They’re coming for her. It’s our best chance of them coming close enough so we can snatch them. They’re our ticket into the underworld. We’ll get one of them and we can get in and find the pendant.”
Aiden contemplated Hamish’s idea. He’d thought the same at first, but seeing Leila sitting there in the damp cave, he couldn’t help but wish for this to be over fast.
“Hamish is right,” Logan said quietly. “We’ll never have such a great opportunity again.”
Aiden closed his eyes for a moment. Could he take this risk? Did he have a right to use Leila as bait to get to the demons? His heart screamed ‘no’ in the loudest of voices, but logic dictated otherwise. He knew this was the best chance they would ever have to catch the demons unawares.
Slowly, reluctantly, he nodded. “But we’ll still go in cloaked now and wait with them.”
“Agreed.”
“Positions?” Enya asked.
“Station yourselves in a circle close to the cavern walls. Logan at 6 o’clock, Enya at 9, Manus at 11, Hamish at 12. I’ll be at 4 o’clock. It’s the closest we can get to Finlay and Leila, otherwise Finlay might sense us despite our cloaked state. Nobody attacks until they hear my command. Understood?”
All nodded, then lined up on the walkway, a safe distance between them.
“Cloak now,” he ordered and his friends disappeared in front of his eyes.
***
The wait seemed to stretch forever even though Aiden’s watch indicated that only a few minutes had passed before he finally heard a sound. He watched as Finlay’s ears perked up too.
Relieved that the wait was over, Aiden gripped his sword tighter and scanned the room for the spot where the demons would appear.
Without warning, a shockwave pushed him back, knocking him against a limestone formation. Black fog rose before him, blocking his direct line of sight to where Leila sat.
Shit! He realized instantly that the demons had thrown up a vortex right in front of him, and he was caught at the back of it, cut off from reaching Leila. Panic roared through him. He couldn’t step through the demons’ portal, knowing that it could hurtle him into the underworld instead. While that was the ultimate plan to get Leila’s research data back, he would only do so once she was safe.
Frantic, he pushed past the edges of the vortex, trying desperately not to connect with it as he slid along the wall. His hand slipped on the damp stone he was grasping, and his body jolted forward. His arm and shoulder dove into the black fog, the iciness shocking him to the core.
An array of voices assaulted him. Yet it wasn’t his ears that perceived them, but his mind: he heard the demons’ thoughts as they stepped through the portal on the other side.
. . . some good killing tonight.
. . . new leader, my ass . . .
And then he heard the thoughts that could only come from one demon. Finlay is a fool to think the Great One is going to make him our leader. I’m their next leader. Once I bring him the scientist, he’ll make me his heir.
Zoltan’s thoughts, no doubt. And it confirmed another thing: Finlay would not get the power he craved.
With all his strength, Aiden pulled from the vortex. He’d had no idea that a connection with it would make him privy to the thoughts of the demons. But as much as this was great news, he had to wonder whether this could backfire. Had they heard his thoughts too?
As he cleared the vortex and reached the position where Logan was supposed to be at, he could finally grasp the entire situation: several demons had stepped out of the vortex and now crowded around Leila and Finlay. He counted nine, maybe ten, recognizing Zoltan easily from the back. He was slightly taller than the others, bulkier, and his entire form oozed power and domination. And clearly, he’d gotten smart, surrounding himself with a small army this time and not only with two demons as he’d done on the previous occasion they’d met.
The demons’ voices now echoed through the cavern, bouncing off the walls, the sound magnifying.
“We meet again,” Zoltan said calmly.
“I brought her to you just as you asked,” Finlay said.
“That you have.” Zoltan made a movement toward his followers. “My associates will give you what is due to you.”