Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Adeline
We eat dinner before watching a movie. By the time the movie is done, it is early morning, and I force myself to bed.
I head upstairs, half-asleep, before climbing into bed next to Cyrus, who retired earlier in the night.
Eli climbs in beside me, pulling the blanket up before looking at the alarm clock on the bedside table.
“Won’t be working today,” he mumbles, placing his head on his pillow.
He falls asleep quickly, snuggling into my side but as soon as my head hits the pillow, my mind won’t stop. I struggle to go to sleep, tossing and turning, praying my brain would just switch off its chatter. An hour has passed of me sitting awake in the dark room.
Why did I have that coffee at 10PM?
Rolling over to face the other side, I can’t get comfortable when I start thinking about the basement. My mind conjures up a heap of different nightmares eating away at me. I want to know and doubt I will sleep until I know what they are hiding down there.
Sitting up, I wriggle out of the blankets, checking to make sure they are both sleeping peacefully.
I scoot over the top of the covers toward the end of the bed.
My feet find the soft carpet when Cyrus suddenly rolls in his sleep, his hand outstretched as he pats the bed before coming in contact with Eli.
He rolls over, snuggling against him, while I hold my breath to see if he actually wakes.
When he doesn’t, I climb completely off the bed, standing at the foot of it staring at them.
I quietly make my way to the door before twisting the silver knob, every noise making my heart jolt frantically as I look over my shoulder, waiting for one of them to jump out at me.
I walk down the stairs to the basement door directly under them and twist the knob.
It is locked. I look around for the key in the side table drawers, careful to remain quiet.
I enter the kitchen and grab their keys out of the fruit bowl that sits on the bench.
Each jingle makes my breathing hitch as I listen for movement upstairs. I carefully try each key before realizing none of them works. I remember Eli’s put it in his pants pocket; the only problem is that I will have to go back to the room where he’s discarded them on the floor next to the walk-in.
I sneakily make my way upstairs, the door creaking slightly as I open it, and I crawl around on the floor, trying to find where he has dropped them.
My hand hits the fabric, and I have to contain my excitement when I feel a single key in the pocket.
I rummage through his pocket before grabbing it and making my way downstairs again.
I place the key in the lock, and my heart sinks slightly. Now that I have the opportunity to unlock the door, fear kicks in.
Do I really want to know what is down here?
The way they evade my questions and refuse to tell me what Eli is doing down here has me on edge.
Pushing the fear aside, I decide I have to know.
I know I won’t rest if I can’t figure out what they are hiding.
I twist the knob, the metal cool under my hand, before pushing the door inward.
I find it a little odd that it would open onto the stairs leading down; it doesn’t seem very safe for anyone going into the basement.
Stepping on the top step, I am hit with a cold draft and stagnant air; the place doesn’t have very good ventilation.
All I can smell is dust and the smell of old books.
I quickly close the door and pocket the key before searching for a light, running my hand against the wall so I can find my way down the dark steps.
When I reach the bottom, I feel cold concrete under my bare feet.
My hand comes in contact with hard plastic that I know is the light switch.
I flick it on, the fluorescent light blinking as it turns on and illuminates the room.
I rub my arms, trying to warm them, looking around, but all I can see is shelves.
I walk around the shelving toward the back of the basement.
Boxes are all stacked neatly and labeled on the shelves.
I see a workbench along a wall and walk over to it.
I see a few instruction manuals for some sort of cage-like structure.
Shrugging, I walk along the shelves again before stopping when I see a box that looks way out of place as the lid is off.
It looks like it’s been chucked on the shelf in a hurry.
The box sits crooked, not straight like the others, and the label isn’t facing the front.
Grabbing it down, I walk back to the workbench, flicking on the little overhead light.
Taking the lid off, I find some old photographs.
I look through them; most are of them traveling around the world, different sites and some older ones from before my time, possibly before my grandparents’ time.
The pictures are old and worn, turning yellow as they age.
I continue rummaging, finding all the places they have been fascinating, when I see a photo that catches my eye.
The photo is of me with my father in a hall full of people.
Grabbing it out, I realize it isn’t me but Taylor on closer inspection.
She is around fifteen, so it isn’t long before my father passed.
I take the photo and realize it is some sort of council meeting.
I can see Sam in the background with an older man.
Cyrus is shaking my father’s hand in the picture.
My dad’s arm drapes over my sister’s shoulder lazily.
Is this the hunters’ organization? What is Cyrus doing there, and does that mean Eli is the one taking the photo?
I have so many questions.
I pause, thinking back to when Taylor told me they weren’t human and me wondering how she knew, the way Cyrus pulled her from the room, and she suddenly didn’t know what I was talking about.
But then I have other questions. Do they know about me then?
And Sam never once mentioned he knew my sister. He told me my father was a hunter like him but never once said anything about knowing her.
Everything is spinning like cogs in my mind as I try to work out the connection. Or is it all just one strange coincidence?
I quickly stuff everything back in the box before pocketing the picture. I place it back on the shelf before noticing something in the back under a huge tarp. I walk over to it. It takes up nearly an entire wall hidden behind all the shelving. I pull the tarp off and gasp at what I see.
It makes no sense why they would have one, but it does explain the instructions manual on the workbench.
It is a huge steel cage. You could fit around twenty people in it.
It has a single bed on one side with blankets on it.
On the other side is a toilet and sink basin made of steel.
I step back, bumping into the shelf behind me.
I jump in fright at the noise of me hitting it as everything on the shelf rattles.
Why do they have a cell built down here? What could they possibly need one for?
Having seen enough, I quickly make my way through the maze of shelves before rushing up the stairs as quietly as possible.
I flick the light off on my way before opening the door and popping my head out.
I am met with silence and darkness. Quickly closing the door, I lock it with the key.
Turning around, my heart drops somewhere cold within me.
His hand goes against the door above my shoulder next to my head, caging me against the wall.
Why, oh why, did I go down here?
“You shouldn’t have gone down there, Addie,” Cyrus says, his eyes crimson as he presses against me. “What did you see?”
“Just shelves,” I lie, which don’t get past him as my heart beats erratically in my chest.
“Anything else?” he asks, gripping my chin and tilting my face as he scrutinizes my face.
I shake my head, and he chuckles.
“You’re lying. Now, what did you see, Adeline?” he says.
His eyes are holding mine, and I suddenly find myself answering; no matter how much I try to hold my tongue, the words spill out of me in a foggy haze. He growls, running his nose along my chin.
“See, now that is a problem. You weren’t meant to see any of that yet,” he says, kissing the side of my mouth.
Cyrus runs his hand down my side while I try to remember to breathe, to stop myself from passing out.
He runs his hand down my track pants before I hear the crinkle of the photo.
He puts his hand in my pocket, pulling it out and looking at it.
His eyes snap to mine, darkening, and I see his fangs slip out.
“I really didn’t want you finding out like this. Why did you have to snoop? Now I have to erase everything,” he says, grabbing my face, his eyes staring intently at mine, and I can’t pull my gaze away.
“If Eli finds out, things will be moving a lot quicker than you’re going to like,” he tells me, and I wonder what he is talking about.
“I’m sorry, Addie,” he says, and my heart jolts in my chest.
“I need you two for—”
The upstairs light suddenly turns on, and Cyrus stops, looking up the stairs. He jerks me away from the door before grabbing the key from my hand. He walks me into the kitchen, and I feel like I am about to puke when I hear Eli’s voice.
“Addie?” he calls out, and Cyrus quickly fills up a glass, thrusting it in my hand.
I take it shakily as Eli walks in.
“There you are. Scared the crap out of me. What are you doing?”
“She was thirsty,” Cyrus says, and I nod, taking a sip of the water.
“Well, come to bed,” Eli says before stopping at the door and turning back around. “Are you okay, Addie?”
“She is fine,” Cyrus says, dropping his arm over my shoulder. “Aren’t you, love?”
I nod, taking another sip of the water. Eli goes to say something when Cyrus suddenly grips my chin and kisses me. I feel my body relax instantly as sparks rush over my skin, and I kiss him back, unable to help myself.
“No, none of that. We need sleep,” Eli says, and Cyrus pulls back, some unsaid warning flashing in his eyes.
“Coming back up now,” I tell Eli, who nods, reaching his hand out to me.
I place mine in his, letting him pull me up the steps when he stops. He looks down at the basement door, and I realize a faint light is coming from under the gap.
I turned the main light off but not the workbench light.
“I was down there,” Cyrus says, holding up the key. “I couldn’t sleep. I was going to do something, but I see you had already done most of it. I came out and found Addie walking around. I should go turn it off.”
“No, leave it. Do it in the morning,” Eli says while yawning.
He pulls me to the bedroom before climbing back into bed. Cyrus nudges me toward the bed, and I climb in the middle. Cyrus climbs in beside me before pulling me toward him and holding me in his vise-like grip against his chest.
I don’t understand why Cyrus’s lied and covered for me. Why doesn’t he want Eli to know I was down there? I can tell he isn’t happy about me seeing what is down there, but why lie to Eli?
“Sleep,” Cyrus says, and a strange sensation rolls over me before I am plunged into darkness.