33. Chapter 33 #2
“I’m going to lead them away from you and buy you some time before the Templars realize the dagger is gone.
They’ve been planning on attacking your clan house.
And now that they followed me here, they will be coming for you more than likely later today.
I’ll try to warn you when they’re on the move.
” She pressed the box into Sienna’s hands before reaching around her back and pulling out a gun.
“Turn right out the door and head a quarter mile down the tunnel. There is a stairwell that’s unlocked.
Head upstairs. When you get up to ground level, your earpieces should be working again. ”
Sienna wanted to fling the box onto the ground and smash it into a million pieces.
Mia must have read something in her expression.
“You can’t destroy it. It’s magicked. The knife and box are made out of pewter, which has a low melt point, but it can’t be melted or crushed.
It’s been tried by Templars over the years. Go before it’s too late.”
Ryan checked both ways before heading down the tunnel with Sienna behind him and John bringing up the rear.
She couldn’t bear to look at him. Her emotions were at war.
Anger, fear, frustration, betrayal all banging around her chest like ping-pong balls.
She tried to control her breathing so that she didn’t pass out.
Her hands grasped the metal box hard enough to leave marks in her palms. They needed to get out of these tunnels and away from the Templars and Mia.
She couldn’t think. And she needed to think.
After a few minutes of jogging, Ryan slowed down and opened a door with a stairwell inside.
Yelling came from behind them, and they sped up, the sounds of gunfire echoing down the tunnel. John went in first and pushed open the gate at the top of the stairs. They entered a hallway, and John slammed the gate shut, engaging the lock.
“Marcus, can you hear us?” Ryan asked.
“Yes. Thank God. We’re on the south side of the building.”
“We’re heading your way.”
“Copy that,” Marcus said.
And then it was a blur of SUVs and guards and heading back to the clan house with the damn box still clutched in her hands.
She let Ryan fill Marcus in on their escape.
Then Marcus was on the phone, barking orders to the guards.
Sienna watched out the window and wondered after all that had happened, how they had gotten to this point.
She closed her eyes and willed the box on her lap to disappear. Yes, she wanted to break the curse, but not at the cost of John’s life and, more than likely, Mia’s life.
John sat next to her, and she still couldn’t look at him.
Childish maybe. But she couldn’t face him until she got her emotions in check.
Which was a joke. She needed longer than the car ride to do that, but she didn’t have time to lick her wounds.
Before she knew it, the SUV pulled through the well-manned gate toward the clan house.
Time to prepare for the discussion—such a tame word for what needed to happen—with her brothers.
Adam and Eric stood on the porch waiting for them as the SUV came to a stop.
The driver hopped out and opened Sienna’s door, and she climbed out and up the stairs, the box weighing her down.
As she stepped into the entryway, she found Tessa and Megan standing there as well with concerned expressions.
They all started speaking at once. Sienna shook her head to stop them and then walked down the hallway.
The voices petered out, and she felt the group follow behind her into the office.
Sienna turned to face her brothers, their wives, Ryan, Marcus, and John, who was the last to enter the room and shut the door.
She set the box on the desk and flipped open the lid.
Before anyone could speak, she held up her hand.
“The dagger in this box was used to create the curse. According to Mia, it is the only thing that can stop it. It is magicked so that it can’t be destroyed, and no one has been able to hold it.
” She looked at her brothers. “Mia believes that dragon sentries should be able to touch it.”
Adam scowled. “And do what with it?”
Sienna’s throat closed, stopping her response.
John watched Sienna standing there in front of her family trying to hold it together as she spoke to them, but he could tell she was struggling, so he answered for her. “You have to kill me.”
Megan and Tessa both gasped.
John looked around the room at the group gathered. “It has to be done. I’m not supposed to be alive. I’ve lived for over four hundred years. I’m the sacrifice the curse talks about.”
“There has to be another way,” Megan said, her voice cracking.
John shook his head. “There isn’t. The Templars are planning an attack, and Mia doesn’t think we have much time, especially now that we have the dagger.”
“And we’re trusting Mia all of a sudden?” Eric asked.
“I believe her,” John said. “The Templars killed her husband, and she helped us escape. She might already be dead.”
“Holy shit,” Tessa exclaimed. “I knew something was off about his death.”
“We don’t have time to waste,” John pushed.
Adam and Eric looked at each other, and John kept talking before they started arguing with him. “It’s okay. I’m prepared. Have been prepared for a long time now. I’m alive because of the curse. I carry it inside me like a cancer. It’s time to cut it out.”
Sienna let out a choking sound before heading toward the door. Tessa and Megan made a move to go after her and John stopped them. “It needs to be me.”
He left the room and headed toward the back of the house, knowing that she would go outside. To breathe again. He found her on the deck overlooking the valley. As he stepped closer to her, she stiffened but didn’t turn around.
“Sienna.”
She didn’t respond.