Eternal [HS]

Chapter Forty-Seven

THE SPEED THEY MOVE FROM ROOM to room at is too great for her to identify any specifics of what surrounds them except for the fact that the path they're taking will lead them directly back to the tunnel ladder.

She's sure they almost trip over the discarded bodies of the Sacrosanct sentries that killed on their way inside of the warehouse, but she can't pay them any mind. They must continue moving forward no matter what, even if she knows what is happening behind them and wants to turn around to defend her friend, she can't.

Jo only lets go of Harry for a short moment to open the iron covering that conceals the entrance to the tunnel, and she doesn't even bother covering it back up after making Harry jump down inside with her—there's not enough time for any of that.

Fresh memories of Niall being stabbed through the chest flicker through her mind as she ushers Harry on through the tunnel. The look on his face...it broke her heart to see someone she associates only with happiness and friendship look at her with such fear in his eyes. The youngest immortal of his group of friends, born in the 1920s, and yet he died at the age of one-hundred, an age humans have lived to before. It feels like a waste, like the universe spat in their faces since a sick, five-hundred-year-old bastard like Adeline can live so long while he couldn't.

Their quick steps echo through the tunnel as they hurry along toward the eventual exit. She isn't even sure if she remembers where the hidden wall panel leading to the basement is anymore with all that has happened muddling her mind. Everything happened so fast, she can't remember anything but Niall dropping to the ground and the look Mitch gave her before screaming at them to leave him behind.

And in similar fashion to everyone else tonight, Harry says weakly, "Y'need to leave me"—he stumbles, almost tripping her—"I'm slowing you down."

But she isn't having any of it. The feeling of the arm wrapped around his waist grows stronger, and she shakes her head.

"I've had to leave everyone else behind," she says, voice flaring up with a certain determination, "I'm not leaving you too."

Hell must freeze over before she leaves Harry to die.

Despite the fact that she wouldn't allow herself to do so, blood bond or not, the blood bond will not physically allow her to do anything other than defend and protect him by any means possible. Though they're always in control over their own actions, it has a sentience of its own in some ways. Sometimes, that string tying their souls together seems just as alive as they are, and it was most apparent when he mentioned her leaving him behind.

After a minute or so of roaming aimlessly down the tunnel, she sees another ladder leading up to a dim light above. They must have completely bypassed the basement she entered through, but she doesn't have the time to go looking for it. Wherever this leads them will have to suffice.

His legs almost buckle when she stops him from continuing abruptly, his body leaning onto hers with all of his weight so he can steady himself, and he looks up at yet another ladder with dread curling inside of him. Unless Mitch has already killed Adeline, she will not give up that easily, especially not when she sees the open entrance to the tunnel in the warehouse as a direct indicator of where they fled.

As if he summoned the devil herself, the sound of someone running down the tunnel far behind starts echoing around them.

His eyes are pleading when he turns to look at her.

"I don't think I can make it up there, and if that's her coming—"

"I won't abandon you!"

The look on her face is one he hasn't seen since they used to trade jabs and insults at one another at the start of their friendship. It's one of deep offense. The mere suggestion of her throwing him to the wolves disgusts her.