My face was now hurting from the amount of times I'd wiped my face with my sleeve to dry the tears that were gushing out of my eyes. I could feel my strength weaken as each breath gave way to another shot of pain.
"Zion, I'm so sooo sorry. I know that's not enough. I know it won't erase the pain I've caused you. I know it doesn't change anything. I promise you, nothing will keep me from you again. I won't hurt you again by leaving you. All I've done is hurt you from the moment we met. I wish I could-"
He pulled me into him, wrapping his arms around me tightly.
"I know," he whispered.
The moment was quickly interrupted with a click of the lights going out. We broke apart quickly as I tapped into my night vision, noticing the cameras were off, no longer flickering.
"Should we-" I started, rising up to my feet before he pulled me back down.
"Not yet."
We sat there silently for a few minutes before two guards walked in with a flashlight. Zion pulled me down beside me, nodding before shutting his eyes. I shut my eyes as well, feeling the bright flashlight being pointed at our faces. The light lingered for a few seconds before I heard the footsteps of the guards receding.
"All clear," the guard called out, closing the door behind him.
Within a blink, Zion flitted up and over to the lock, placing the key inside and unlocking it before opening the door. I followed him quickly out before he stopped me.
"The hallways will be lit."
Nodding, I grabbed his hand before whispering the short invisibility spell, channeling magic into both him and myself before feeling it take root. I let go of his hand once it was done.
"Am I invisible?"
"I think it worked. We should still be able to see each other so we won't know until we go out."
Nodding, he stepped forward, opening the door slowly before peeking his head out then motioning for me to follow.
"Now what?" I whispered.
"Let's see if it worked," he said, flitting forward to a guard a couple feet ahead and standing in front of him. The guard looked blankly ahead, clearly not noticing his presence. Zion turned back at me, smiling. I flitted up to catch up to him before pulling him away. Invisibility or not, better safe than sorry.
"So where to next?"
"The lower level. We're located on the edge of the grid now, we have to get to the middle first. Then there's a tunnel that leads to the lower level. That's where they usually keep prisoners. They probably put us here to lower the chances of me escaping like last time."
Nodding, he darted forward quickly. I followed him easily, matching his speed as we weaved effortlessly in and out of guards unseen. Before long, we reached a level that had a large M painted near the ceiling, letting me know we'd arrived. Just as Zion said, there was a dark tunnel that was covered with two wooden planks, nailed down into an X.
"That doesn't look too good."
"We have to go quickly through this tunnel. If you spend longer than 5 minutes inside, the alarm goes off. It should be easy for us since we're vampires but be careful. There are traps and we can't set any off."
I watched him rip off the wooden planks before ducking inside. The tunnel was barely 4 feet tall and we went through as fast as we could through it hunched over. After awhile, I could see light seeping in as the entrance approached.
"Zion," I said uneasily, noticing the multitude of guards who were planted at the opening. Our invisibility helped us not to be seen but if we couldn't find enough space to move around them, they'd definitely feel us.
"Shit."
"I have an idea," I said as we slowed down near the opening.
I reached into my pocket, looking for anything, something I could use. I found a hairtie. I cocked my hands back, preparing to aim the hairtie at the guard positioned near the door before letting it go. The hairtie snapped on his neck, causing him to clutch his weapon protectively before swirling around behind him, which is exactly what I wanted him to do.
"What is that?" A guard asked, bending down to pick up the hair tie.
"It came from back there," one guard said, pointing behind him.
"Someone's here."
The two guards positioned near the tunnel opening moved, allowing us to slide past them as they congregated near the door on the lookout for whoever threw the hair tie. Me and Zion slid past them and out of the door quietly, darting away as softly as we could so they wouldn't hear us.
"You're a genius," Zion said, chuckling.
"Says the one with the escape plan."
"We're on the lower level now. We need to check each cell on this level."
"How many are there?"
"Over 2000."
My jaw dropped open as I looked to him in shock.
"It'll be quick if we're fast. We should start from the ones down the hall that's where she has the group cells."
I nodded, following him quickly. Luckily, each cell had a window on the door so we could see who was inside without having to break in to each one. We went down the line, peeping through each window. It was horrible. There were babies, children, teenagers, adults, older people. Every age group was in the cells, some with missing body parts others bloodied and bruised. It rattled my bones to see so many supernaturals being held captive against their will here. I doubted half of them deserved to be here.
"Saron," Zion called out.
"What is it? Did you find them?" I said, flitting to his side in an instant.
He stepped aside, allowing me to look into the window. Edward was chained up against the wall, his shirt removed to show his bloodied back. There was a guard, sitting nearby "watching" him. I say "watching" because he was hunched over, snoring.
"Find the others. I got this."
Zion slid the master key inside, unlocking the door before disappearing down the hall to find the others.
I walked in slowly, careful not to wake him as I made my way towards Edward.
"Edward, listen to me. It's Saron," I said, causing him to jerk awake, looking around before I lowered my invisibility for him to land his eyes on me.
"We're getting out of here," I said, reaching for his chains. He shook his head frantically before I touched them. They shocked me, causing me to retract me hand, wincing in pain.
"Saron, get out of here."
"I'm not leaving you. How do I get these off?"
His eyes traveled to the guard. I looked at him, finding the keys dangling around his neck. I gulped, realizing there was no way to take them without waking him.
I released the dark magic, letting it engulf him into a deeper sleep he was already in before yanking the keys off his neck and using them to unlock the chains. Edward collapsed on the floor, his wrists bright red. He looked awful, clearly exhausted from what they'd put him through. I grabbed him, swinging his arm over my shoulder before helping him up. I sent a rush of magic into him, helping him regain his strength as he leaned on me a little less.
"Where are the others?"
"I don't know. What happened?"
"I'll explain later. We need to find them and get out of here before they find out we escaped."
I flitted out, struggling under the combined weight of Edward but pushing forward until I found him.
"Here," he called out to me whilst turning his master key into another door. He opened the door and was quickly yanked inside. I rushed forward, going through the door and finding the rest of them, with way more guards than I'd seen in any other room.
"Zion!" Jeremy's voice rang out.
There were 15 guards and they were all looking at us. That's when I realized our invisibility had worn off. It didn't last as long as I'd expected which meant now we had to fight.
"They can see us," Zion said.
"We can still take them," I said, smirking at Zion before I let Edward down slowly, near Jeremy before joining Zion who was fighting two guards already."
I saw one guard reach for his radio out of the corner of my eye, flitting over to him quickly before smacking it out of his grip. I slammed him into the wall and he hit his head, knocking out instantly.
"Saron, behind you!" Bonnie yelled.
I kicked my leg back, causing the guard who was approaching me from behind to clutch his groin in pain before I let the dark magic seep out of me, knocking out three nearby guards including the one clutching his bruised ballsack. I looked over to see the remaining guards attacking Zion, who was winning against all of them until one landed a punch into Zion's back, leaving him crumbling forward. I reached into my waistband, pulling out my knives and throwing them at the guards one by one. I aimed for their shoulders and legs, not wanting to add another person to my already too long kill list. I leaned forward to a guard beside me, letting the dark magic drop him. Zion knocked out the remainder of guards before we heard a loud beeping.
"We're out of time," Zion said, quickly unlocking the chains on each of our friends before rushing them out.
Hearing the stomping of approaching footsteps, I focused on quickly opening a portal. Within seconds it was up and my friends were hopping through one by one.
"Ahhhhhhhhh," I heard a Star scream. I whipped my head around, finding her cornered by a guard with a knife sticking into her side.
"NOOOO!" I yelled, grabbing a knife out of my belt and swinging it on instinct at him. It landed in the center of his face and he went falling to the ground. I gulped down the instant guilt that rushed within me. I'd killed someone else.
"Saron, WE HAVE TO GO!" I heard Zion yell, bringing me back to reality. He was holding onto Star who was bleeding badly. He quickly jumped in. I looked around, seeing Tom was the last one left and running towards me.
"Tom, hurry!" I yelled, seeing the room quickly filling with guards.
I flitted towards him to close the distance, my brain on fire trying to focus on reaching him and keeping the portal open. Once I grabbed him, I pulled him with me through the portal.
We landed roughly at the Academy, everyone else on the ground as well breathing heavily. I looked around, finding Star who was laying on the ground, Joel pressing her wound. I rushed over to her immediately, throwing my hands beside Joel and flooding magic into her body. I didn't care how drained I felt, I ignored it and kept going. The blood slowed but I knew I couldn't heal her completely.
"She needs to go to the Infirmary. I can't heal her completely," I said weakly, not moving my hand away from her.
"I can take her there," Zion offered.
"Joel, tear off a piece of your shirt."
He obliged immediately, handing it to me and I wrapped it around her, tightly covering the wound before I flooded an enormous amount of energy into her, slowing the blood substantially.
"Take her," I barely made out before I felt her disappear from my arms. I felt my vision start to blur as I struggled to make out what was around me. I felt myself swaying from dizziness and exhaustion before I let myself go, no more fight left in me to stay awake.