Hellhound (Supernatural #1)

25: Almost Home Free

Compromise, noun.

1. a settlement of differences by mutual concessions; an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing claims, principles, etc., by reciprocal modification of demands.
2. something intermediate between different things.

***

When the elevator doors opened on the ground floor, it was like we walked onto the edge of a battlefield. There were the distant sounds of gunshots being rapidly fired off almost at a regular interval. Tate cast me one look, making it very clear what he wanted, which was for me to stay right where I was with the other rescues. Of course, I could listen to him and stay away from any dangerous situation seeing how I had been in a nasty one already. And one dangerous situation was definitely enough for one day.

Only the gunshots sounded so far away... and if curiosity killed the cat, it would probably kill the siren as well.

I went after Tate, knowing the others would follow me. I really wasn't the best person to follow around that day but, oh well. Only two corridors further, we soon came across the other rescues, all sort of huddled together in a corridor yet keeping enough distance between them all. There was a werewolf standing guard, who only nodded at Tate when the redhead rushed past. The rescues looked sad. In fact, they looked utterly miserable; they were so close to their freedom yet it was still so far away.

"What's going on out there? I thought everyone would be dead by now," I asked the werewolf.

"So did we. Except they weren't. They can't go outside because of Peter and three of us were also still here, keeping an eye on the elevator. They were smarter than we gave them credit for; they got their guns and have been shooting at us with all the magic bullets they have. You poke your head out and they'll shoot it. As soon as one of them finished a mag someone else takes over. Even Dean can't get close enough for a kill."

"Where are their hellhound tricks when you need them the most, right?" The guy nodded, understanding exactly what I meant. "How far that way can I go?" I pointed to the corridor where the gunshots sounded loudest.

"You can go all the way and meet up with the others without risking to get shot at."

I nodded and immediately started jogging down the corridor. The gunshots grew louder as I left the rescues behind and approached the exit. Of course, we could have simply left through the club's front entrance. Except, our van was waiting around back, and neither hellhound would be satisfied with only the rescue of the supernaturals. Their job was to keep the supernatural community safe and secret. Letting humans with knowledge of that community get away was out of the question, especially when said humans had knowledge that was more than a potential threat to that same community.

It wasn't too long before I found the others waiting in another corridor. They stood around in a group as if they were standing in the school hallways, having an everyday conversation. The jocks and the popular kids. The gunshots in the background could almost have been mistaken for an overenthusiastic pep rally.

"There she is," Devin called out when I was fairly close to them. "Told you she wouldn't be far behind."

"It seems one near death experience wasn't enough to keep her away," another of his buddies snickered.

I shrugged with a smirk, which was meant for Tate who rolled his eyes while still managing to look annoyed at my presence. "I asked myself what Nikki Heat would do, and decided she would never stay behind. Besides, it all looks pretty safe here to me."

"As long as you don't poke your head around that corner," Dean grumbled, jerking his thumb at the corner in question.

"So, now what?"