Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
JADEON
A man possessed, I flew toward St. Michael’s, my skin tingling with the imminent sunrise.
Alex lingered on the castle steps, waiting for me.
I swooped down with dizzying speed and pulled him by his shirt collar, dragging him as fast as possible into the dungeons.
We tumbled into the Stone Master’s chamber and I slammed the door shut, shielding us from the light.
The items used in the sacrificial ritual were now scattered upon the floor.
The dark room remained disheveled, a cruel reminder of what had transpired earlier that week.
The four decaying bodies of the men remained strewn out in a hideous fashion.
We both recoiled at the bloodbath. It was too late to escape the sickening stench.
Alex ran to the door and tried to open it.
“No,” I shouted and pushed him away. “We cannot go out. The light, it will kill us.”
“What are you talking about?” Alex panicked, his voice shrill. “How do you move like that?”
I stepped in front of him, blocking his path.
“Move out of the way,” he said and headed again for the door. “I refuse to stay in here a moment longer. Open the damn door.”
“You need to calm—”
“Let me out!”
“Please, let go of the door.” I shoved him hard and he flew across the room, landing on the floor.
I had misjudged my strength. I locked the door and removed the key, grasping it, and knelt at Alex’s side. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
He raised his hand to keep some distance from me. Yet, even in the dim glow, I saw the truth that I had suspected all along that he too had been transformed, that telltale shimmer of hunger in his eyes, the quiet thrum of power coiled beneath his skin.
Only he did not know.
“Who did this to them?” Alex stared at the bodies.
“Alex . . .”
“Father?”
“Not Father, Lord Velde.” I tucked the key into my coat pocket.
“No.”
“Alex, we are in complete darkness and yet your vision is clear!”
“That’s not possible.”
“We are changed. We are . . .”
“What?”
I mouthed, “Vampires.”
“You’re talking madness. Did you have anything to do with this?” He pointed at the massacre.
“For God’s sake, you must listen to me!”
He nodded even as his eyes widened with disbelief.
I tried to calm my tone. “Do you remember when we witnessed Father and his men carry that woman from this room? Father held the title Master of the Stones. He led an ancient alliance. That woman whom they dragged into the dungeons was called Sunaria. She and Daumia had been lovers for centuries when Father killed her.”
“That was years ago. Daumia is our age.”
“Daumia is a vampire, as was Sunaria.”
Alex scurried backward away from me. “You have lost it.”
“I can prove it to you.”
On the floor beside the altar, I found Father’s blood-stained knife.
Alex cowered.
This was the only way of proving it to him, but more importantly, to myself. With shaking hands I rolled up my shirtsleeve and proceeded to cut into my left arm.
Alex’s sobs grew louder.
Together, we watched my wound seal itself with eerie ease, the flesh knitting together in a slow, shimmering pulse.
Time to face the truth.
My mind reeled.
“That is not possible,” he muttered.
“You’re next.”
“I believe you. I believe you.”
I threw the knife down.
“But I hate the dark,” Alex said.
“Now would be a good time to get over it.” I spat the words in anger, desperate to blame anyone but myself.
“I don’t understand.”
“The name Sunaria called out was Orpheus. Daumia is Orpheus. He sought revenge for the death of his lover.”
“And now you say we are . . .”
“He has transformed us both. I believe it is through the passing of his blood to us,” I said.
“Not possible.” Alex beheld my expression. “Oh, my God, what have I done? It was I who invited him.”
“He would have found some way to get to us.”
“No, Jadeon, I brought him here.”
“There is something more pressing. I need you to remember everything Orpheus ever said to you. Places he has traveled to, homes he may own.”
“No, I never want to see him again. I want nothing more to do with him.”
“He has Catherine.”
Alex cupped his mouth with a shaky palm to prevent a scream of dread.
We stared in the direction of the dead men and cringed with the realization that we were trapped for the day with the decomposing bodies.