In the distance, I finally see what I've been looking for. Will and the coven. They aren't on the trail anymore.

Down below the path, they're entering what looks like a tunnel near a riverbed. But there's no road going through it. No cars. Viktor said they were on the trail. I'm not sure why they're off it now. Grass crunches beneath my feet as I jog the remaining distance to the tunnel. This looks more like a cave now that I'm inside. One of the coven members has a torch. If that thing goes out, ain't none of them gonna be able to see a thing.

"Where are y'all going?" I call. "Get out of there!"

"Colin?" Will calls loudly. The coven returns to the tunnel entrance where I stand. "How'd you find us? We've been lost for hours!"

"Well, I was told help was coming. I figured I'd start walking the way I came. Then, I found you."

Will steps closer to me, visibly skeptical.

"We've been walking in circles," he argues, "We should have passed you by now. How did you know where to find us? We could have been anywhere in this realm."

"Like I said," I tell them all, "I just went back the way I came. Seemed like the logical thing to do."

"How did you know help was coming? You said you were told that! By who?"

"Sorry, was I supposed to assume no one was coming for me?" I shoot back. "Why do y'all act like everyone's out to get you? You're supposed to be the ones rescuing me! Remember?" I shout with anger.

They don't let me finish. Will orders his group to restrain me on the ground. They force me to roll over onto my stomach. They check the back of my pants where I stuffed my gun. I'm outnumbered as they take the gun away.

"I don't know how you found a gun here, but it belongs to all of us now. Not just you. Get on your feet," Will instructs. His coven forces me back up. They march me forward, his obedient ants, as if to take me into the tunnel with them for their delusional asshole queen. "We spotted demons coming out of this tunnel, Colin. That's why we left the road. The road doesn't go anywhere."

"It certainly does go somewhere! It goes right into town! We shouldn't be in here!" I rebuke. I drag my feet. "Y'all are nuts!"

Will is looking the gun over in his hands. He aims it down the tunnel, playfully, before deciding on holding it loosely at his side.

"We're all going to get out of here together," Will tells the group. The walls are made of dirt. What's ahead is utter darkness. Only a witch would want to explore a place like this. "There's a reason the demons were in here. The tunnel might have another end."

"You're gonna be sorry for your stupidity," I mutter.

We walk for a long time. I'm hungry and thirsty. It's dirty, dark, and cold.

Will won't listen. The coven is determined to be right. As far as I'm concerned, this is just a cave. What we're walking on could be an old riverbed path, but there's many twists and turns. There's no real destination.

There's only one torch. Its flames light the walls of the cave around us. Stalagmite stands up from the ground like massive spikes in the cave floor. Tall shadows play with my imagination as Will blabs on about what a trap this all is.

If this is a trap, why is he willingly walking into it?

"We shouldn't be in here!" I repeat.

"We are aware demons are trailing us," Will says. He still won't stop walking or talking. "They're not going to stop following us if we go back, if that's what you're thinking, we need to push forward."

Eventually, we reach a dead end. It looks like our cave tour is over. Thank god. Will doesn't seem ready to turn around, however, he takes the torch and peers up at the ceiling of the cave.

"Why would they come in here if it doesn't go anywhere? If there's nothing in here?" he wonders out loud.

"Gee, maybe, I don't know, so, morons like you come in here and get trapped down here forever!"

"No, I don't believe it," Will grumbles, "Let's turn around. We'll split up," he says while gesturing toward the split in the path. He finds a piece of dry wood on the ground and lights it. Then, he hands the new torch to one of the coven members. "The six of you go explore the left side. The path we didn't come down. If it's a dead end, turn around and meet up with me. Colin and I will start walking back, the right side, the way we came."

We should be able to see the light from the tunnel that we entered from. The group splits up obeying him. There's no light at the end of the tunnel now.

"It must be night time. Keep moving," Will encourages. I don't believe it. All we got is one torch. Some leader he is for making the others go off alone the path untread. "Come on, let's get a move on. We can't be that far from the entrance. We only made a couple turns."

I'm not the only one who knows we're lost now. What did he expect walking into a place like this? A cold wind enters the cave. The same gust of air blows out his torch shrouding our surroundings into complete pitch black.

"That's air! It has to be coming from the entrance!" Will says with excitement.

"What do you think we should do now, genius?"

Cold metal presses into the side of my head.

"This is your fault!" Will growls in my ear. He pushes me forward because he's a coward who can't lead. "You can guide the way now. Everyone else! Can you hear me? Find your way back to us! Now! Hold onto each other. Make a human link. We'll let Colin find our way out now...since he's so good at finding things."

"We're over here! Follow our voices!" I shout over the wind.

With a scowl, I step forward feeling my way. The air blows my hair around. Miraculously, his coven has found their way back to us. All counted for. After a couple more paces, I see light from the opposite end of the tunnel. We must be going the right way, after all.

"We're getting close!" I announce.

An awful scream pierces through the air. It's more than one scream. I'm not sure if it's coming from an animal or a person. It's not a fearful scream. The wind picks up rapidly. Sounds like some kind of banshee shriek, or more likely, a demon call.

"Keep moving!" Will yells.

I start out with a run. Will follows. We reach the end of the tunnel. I've run so hard I'm out of breath. I turn around to see if Will still has the gun. At the mouth of the tunnel, he's slumped down on the ground. He doesn't have the gun anymore. It lays a few feet away from him.

"Where are the others?" I ask quickly. I pick up the firearm. I point it down at him with new understanding. "The demons took them, didn't they? You knew our group was being targeted...and you knew they'd take your own people. Why'd you take them in there?"

"What are you talking about?" Will spits back. "I didn't know that! I was looking for a way out of here!"

With a scoff, I leave the tunnel, but not without taking my eyes off of him. 

"We should go back in there," Will insists. He rises to his feet. "I can't use magic, but we can't leave them. How can we turn away?"

The demons may not be screaming anymore, but what waits in that tunnel is death. I'm not going back in there. I keep the gun pointed at Will hearing the roar of the wind in the tunnel grow louder.

"We aren't going back in there! You're coming with me!"

"What? Are you gonna shoot me, Colin? You aren't even holding it right and the safety's on!"

Just then, a figure emerges from the tunnel. It's one of those pointed-hooded guys. It grabs Will from behind dragging him slowly backward into the cave. The walls light up with torches. I can see his coven members. The hooded things have them surrounded. They're the ones making shrieking sounds. The coven members cover their ears. 

I have no idea what I'm about to witness. In a panic, I shoot my gun off toward the tunnel hoping to scare the nasty things away.

The cave rumbles against the rising violence of the wind inside. Unfortunately, the demon men scurry away further into the dark taking the coven with them. It's a violent wind of some kind, it's so dark, it sucks out the light of their torches on the walls. It's complete darkness in there now. A figure is emerging from it. It has some sort of flesh to it. Some kind of black ghoulish skin wrapped around its bones standing over six feet tall as it strides out of the tunnel in my direction.

How could I forget my initial terror? The first time I saw him. The real him.

"Colin!" Noctus orders. His skull-mouth, I don't know what else to call it, opens as he speaks, "It's time to go."

He transports himself right in front of me. The wind gets knocked out of me, and the world falls to black, momentarily, as I shut my eyes in fear. When I open them, I'm no longer in that awful afterlife. It's pouring rain. The streets smell like urine and garbage like they always do outside Stella's house. It's really early in the morning. The sun is just starting to rise.

The nightmare is over, I'm no longer in those weird black clothes, but my own. This is heaven. I bound up the steps to Stella's house and eagerly knock on the door. The police captain no longer is in his demonic form, but his human one. Somehow, he's all suited up in his police gear.

"I'm home, baby!" I shout. Stella screams with joy as we embrace. "I missed you so much!" I cry into her hair.

Valerie hops up and down in the kitchen with glee. I've never seen her look so happy. It smells like cookies in here. It smells like home.

"You're here!" Stella breathes out. "I love you! I love you so much! We were so scared. I can't believe it! I love you!"

"Me too! You couldn't pay me all the money in the world to go back there. It's good to be back. That's for sure. It's so good to be home."

Noctus lingers by the doorway as I head inside.

"Colin," he announces, "Thank you for following my instructions. The coven, however, did not. This is why there has been such a delay. Rest assured, they have been found now, too. They will return in due time."

"How much time?" Valerie rushes out. She walks by Stella and I. She approaches the police captain with worry written all over her face. It takes everything in me not to laugh at her questions. Ain't nobody safe in that place, especially, the state they're in now. They may as well call that place hell. "Is anyone hurt? Are they safe?"

"Oh, don't you worry!" Noctus says. Feigned empathy is sewn well into his sweet-talk, "Will and the coven are in good hands now, little lamb. They'll be back real soon!"

Valerie searches his eyes. I'm not sure if she's buying it.

"Okay," she says after a long moment, "Thank you for rescuing Colin! I knew you'd save him!"

"Oh, I'm just doing my job!" he gushes with a grin. He stands very close to Valerie and pets the side of her face fondly. He appears to be looking down her shirt, but she doesn't notice. Yeah, he isn't going to be monitoring a thing now that I'm out of there. He puts on a good show, however, and pulls her in for a big bear hug. "I need to continue monitoring the situation! Hopefully, you can trust me a little more. I'm sorry for bringing up my ex the other day. I want to care for you, as your guardian, and handle some personal things."

I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean. Valerie appears content. She smiles innocently up at him, when he pulls away, as if pleased by what he says. Noctus heads for the doorway.

"Take care!" Valerie says sweetly.

Then, she closes the door. Newly alone, Stella and Valerie let out their fear.

"What the hell is going on?" Stella asks. She hugs me tighter. "Are you done working for him now? After I nearly lost you? I certainly hope you are!"

"What happened to the others?" Valerie asks with worry. She's peering out the window near the front door. "He just pulled away. Do you think he'll bother to save them?"

"No," I deadpan. "Why should he? Will is an idiot and the coven is radicalized. What humans are gonna care if a couple witches go missing?"

"Their crazy families!" Stella answers. She watches me with anxiety. "They'll want answers, Colin. They'll keep looking until they find them. I don't want you attending any more vampire meetings! And what the hell is this on your arms?"

"Oh, the police captain had me hexed. They said they needed to ensure I could get there and back. They used some kind of vampire magic to take me to the portal. That's why there's these markings-"

"No. That is not a hex anymore! Those are satanic symbols. Tattoos," Stella cuts back. She pulls me by the arm. "Upstairs. We'll talk about this in private. I've missed you too much to be angry right now."

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