Chapter 10
I slept longer than usual and woke up starving. I hadn’t eaten much the day before, and it was catching up to me. I pulled out everything to make pancakes and got to work. I was sitting at the nook eating when Charlotte made her way into the kitchen and poured herself coffee.
“There’s pancakes if you’re hungry,” I said, pointing at a plate on the counter.
Charlotte walked by the plate and grabbed one, eating it without any butter or syrup.
“Look, I know you are mad, and you don’t want any of that stuff Ronan said to be true, but it is.
I know that if I wasn’t stupid and reckless, you may have been able to go the rest of your life without knowing.
Might, maybe, a small chance you wouldn’t have found out.
So, I guess blame me if you want, but it changes nothing.
” She was wrong most of the time—but not this time.
“You are correct. So, are you going to ever grow the fuck up and quit messing shit up and expecting everyone else to fix it?” I took my plate to the sink and rinsed it off; leaving it in the sink.
“You need to realize your shit fucks with other people’s lives too, not just yours.
” I left her in the kitchen and went to the study.
On the desk, the contents of the envelope drew my attention. The second part was a set of instructions. I skimmed over the page, then I read it. Was this for real? I read it again, and then I started looking around the room curiously.
Leaning forward in the chair, I reached as far under the desk as I could.
My right hand felt along the underside of the desk.
The tips of my fingers found and traced the outline of something that felt like a cross.
The center of it was round. I pressed it.
The mechanism opened, and I was now able to grab the cross as it was no longer flush against the underside of the desk.
The instructions stated to turn it to the left until it stops, then push the entire thing into the bottom of the desk.
I did exactly as my grandfather instructed.
I heard something mechanical behind the bookcase between the two sets of stairs.
It was muffled by the wall, but it was most definitely unlocking something.
I rose from the chair and approached the space between the stairs with apprehension.
I stepped back as the bookshelves separated and revealed another staircase leading down.
I saw a light switch on the wall just inside the stairwell and flipped it.
The stairway had dim lights along the wall on the way down.
I went back to the study door and locked it, so I didn’t have to let anyone else know about this until I was ready.
As I descended the stairs, I began to get nervous. This was creepy; what the hell was down here? This spiral staircase resembled a castle tower descending lower until you could feel the dampness hanging in the air.
When I reached the last step, there was a short hallway that led to a massive steel door that looked like a bank vault.
Reaching the door, a touchscreen in the middle lit up.
I entered the six-digit code that was left with the instructions.
The code was accepted, and the screen turned green.
A secondary security measure appeared on the screen asking for a thumbprint.
I was confused and positive it wouldn’t work.
I slowly, hesitantly, pressed my thumb to the pad. The icon swirled in a circle, and then the screen turned green again. “Access granted. Thank you, Joslyn.” A voice announced by an unseen speaker near the door.
More loud noises filled the hallway as the locking mechanism in the door was released, and it swung open.
I stepped inside and was immediately in awe of the room that was laid out before me.
It was expansive and looked as though it may hold secrets that were older than mankind itself.
There was the initial room that had a huge table with nothing more than two chairs accompanying it.
There was a plush, antique couch and a full bar against one wall next to a huge fireplace and a bathroom behind the door on the opposite wall.
I walked around the table, and there was a large archway leading to an extremely wide hallway that had three separate archways on each wall spread evenly apart.
I stepped through the first archway and entered a room filled with books, artifacts, and specimens that I had never seen in my life.
These were things a majority of people would never see in their lives—ever.
Each of the six rooms appeared to be similar, but each was devoted to a particular cryptid.
The artwork and everything else contained within each room was related to that cryptid.
These weren’t animalistic cryptids. These were humanoid cryptids.
These creatures either started out as human and were changed, are able to appear human at will, or are part human.
Each room was fascinating, full of books and evidence.
There was seating in each room and a table or desk; it was set up to learn from, like a library.
I sat down inside one with a velvet couch.
I looked around the room and as everything crept into my brain, my stomach dropped.
Ronan was right. If I was being honest, I already knew that a while ago. I didn’t ask for any of this. The more I learned—the more that my grandfather showed me—the more it just seemed like, too much. I felt alone in this. It wasn’t meant for Charlotte; at least that’s what he decided.
What do I do? Drink. I need a drink. I remembered the bar and returned to the main room I entered into.
I picked up the decanter of whiskey and poured two fingers into the bottom of a rocks glass.
I swallowed it in one gulp and poured again.
I returned to the first of the six archways.
The archway was adorned with an ornately carved frame that boasted the tiniest details.
It also had bigger details: an armor-clad woman, a large bat-looking creature with giant wings.
I stepped through the doorway and slowly walked around the room, running my fingers over the spines of the books that lined the shelves.
There was practically every piece of literature that ever contained any mention of vampires; maybe not, but that is surely what it felt like.
Of course, these were all considered fiction—well, because vampires don’t exist.
I sipped my whiskey as I pulled a book off of the shelf.
I set my glass down and flipped through the pages.
If they are real, then apparently, they’ve been around almost as long as humans; at least as far as this particular book is concerned.
Replacing the book on the shelf, I picked up another.
It opened to a page referencing a warrior goddess that consumed blood to gain power and immortality.
There were a few books that dated vampires as far back as 500 BC.
A glass case in the corner of the room contained a skull with a very large rock wedged into its jaw.
There was ancient artwork hanging on the walls that weren’t lined with books.
I was sitting at that table for hours just reading, thinking, and drinking. At some point, I had retrieved the decanter of whiskey. I needed to call Ronan. I sort of owed him an apology. I just wasn’t ready, but I think I knew I wasn’t ever going to be ready. Either I was in, or I was out.
As I stood up from the table, I swayed slightly.
I hadn’t realized how much I had to drink and I didn’t care.
I made my way back up the stairs to the study.
I took a seat at the table and pulled my phone from my pocket.
I located Ronan in the contact list and hit the call button, putting the phone to my ear.
“Joslyn?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“Get some place safe, right now! I don’t ’ave time to explain, but ye need to go somewhere in de ’ouse dat is safe. Do not try to leave. Please just listen.”
He sounded frantic. I immediately stood up.
I heard Charlotte scream from somewhere in the house.
I hesitated, and then I ran back into the hidden stairwell.
There were two steps left in the instructions that I hadn’t used yet.
As soon as my feet made contact with the steps, I turned to the left and located a security pad on the wall.
I slammed my hand down onto the green button, and the door immediately shut and locked.
I reached the bottom step and ran down the hallway and through the steel door. I slapped the red button on the side of the wall as I entered. An alarm was sounding within the house. The sound faded as the door closed, and the large bolts slid into place.
I put the phone back to my ear. “I really hope I was supposed to press that.”
I stood there staring at the door. It felt like forever.
My heart jumped as I heard and saw the bolts sliding and the door unlocking.
As it swung open, Ronan came running into the room and wrapped me in his arms, lifting me from the floor.
I wrapped my legs around his waist and buried my head in his shoulder. He held me tightly.
“I thought dey got to ye.” His lips found mine, and there was relief in his kiss.
As soon as my mind returned to normal, I remembered the scream from inside the house when I first spoke to Ronan. “Charlotte! Where is Charlotte?” I screamed.
“She isn’t ’ere. They took ’er.”
“What do you mean? Who took her? Who the fuck took her, Ronan? I thought you took care of the problem. Permanently.”
“I did. It’s not de same vampire. We are going to find out who, but we aren’t entirely sure yet.
Apparently, de guy dat kidnapped ’er de first time was literally only made for dat exact purpose: to kidnap Charlotte.
The ting is, we aren’t entirely sure if it is Charlotte dat dey are after or if it’s really ye. ”