Cold Blooded

“You mentioned salvation,” I said. “I need to know if my father will survive.”

She cocked her head. “His salvation depends on another. But it is ultimately up to you.”

“That wasn’t exactly helpful—”

Something rocked the mansion from the outside and the storage shelves clattered and dust fell from the rafters.

“It begins now,” she said, shuffling away from me. “We must part.”

“But you haven’t answered my question yet,” I complained.

“I can say no more.” Alana moved toward the far wall. “Just know that everything is up to you. And you must make choices true to your heart; if you do not, you will suffer the consequences.” Another explosion hit the ground. “Quickly, you must exit through here.”

I strode toward the grate she had just pulled open. “You want us to crawl through the venting?” I asked.

“It is necessary,” she said, her voice firm. Yuri had come to stand by her side. It was hard to disagree with a seer when my father’s life was on the line.

I turned to Rourke, who was already leaning in to take a look. “This must be a shortcut to the main part of the mansion.” The house shook again. We could feel the vibrations, but they weren’t direct hits. If they were, the walls would be coming down around us. That meant the Queen had put up her ward. I hoped my father made it in. It was time to get out of here. “We may as well take it. It looks maneuverable.”

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s do it.”

He eased his large frame into the small opening.

I turned to follow, right as Alana laid a hand on my arm. “Eudoxia will be resistant at first, but she must perform one last task before she is worthy of the power required. Make sure she agrees to it.”

“I’m tired of crawling through tunnels in this place,” I growled, because I could. “There has to be an easier way back to the main rooms than taking old venting units.”

Rourke was ahead of me, his massive body barely fitting through the narrow passageway.

“The moment the demons spot you, this battle will start in earnest,” Rourke said. “We have to be methodical about this.” He’d been going over strategy since we started our crawl. The sun had set. We’d spent too much time with Alana and Yuri and now it was time to start planning. “We regroup with everyone and hope they have Ray.” He stopped moving. “I see something with a knob ahead. Let’s try it.”

A whispery voice hit my eardrum. “No, not that way.”

“Hey, where did you come from?” My head hit the top of the tunnel in surprise. “Ow.” It was the same ghost who had stayed with me in the mausoleum. I rubbed my head. “I thought you left with the rest of them.”

“What?” Rourke said. “I’m not leaving.”

“You must stop him,” it said. “That is a gate, not a door. It will lead to agony.”

Rourke started shouldering the small doorway. “Rourke, wait! Don’t open that.”

“Why?” He craned his head toward me. “Let’s see where it leads. If it’s not the right one, then we can keep crawling.”

“It’s not a door. Apparently it’s one of those gates. It could open us up to something shitty, like more Trows.”

“How do you know? I can’t smell anything dangerous.” He leaned his head toward the portal, inhaling.

“Um … a ghost just told me.”

Rourke snapped his head back at me. “What ghost? I thought you said they all left.”

“I have stayed,” it whispered, “because you are still in danger.”

“It says I’m still in danger, so it stayed,” I relayed. “Tell me something I don’t know, Mr. Ghost. So where do we go?”

It brushed by my ear. “You must climb.”

“Climb? You mean up? We’re in a four-foot-square tunnel that happens to be running horizontally.”

“How do we go up?” Rourke maneuvered himself to his back and examined the top of the tunnel. He grabbed on to the flimsy sheet metal of the venting and tore. It opened to expose red brick. “It’s solid above us.”

“The passageway is above you.” The voice was soft and muffled, like it had drifted through the stone as it talked to me.

“The ghost says we have to go up,” I said. “Honestly, I don’t know if we should trust it. But this is the same ghost who aided me with Naomi, and we’re kind of out of options. And this vent is making me edgy. Why did we agree to crawl in here again? I think Alana slipped us some of her Kool-Aid. There’s no other explanation.”

“Fine, we go up,” Rourke grunted. “The reason we’re in here is we believe she’s right.” Without any more discussion, he rammed a powerful fist into the ceiling above our heads. “And she had better be right.”

The old bricks cracked immediately, crumbling down around us.

The top of the tunnel sounded hollow. I covered my mouth and nose as dust flew around the small confines of our space. “If she’s not right, I say we track her down and string her up by her skinny ankles.”

“One more time should be the charm.” Rourke smashed through the stone in another stellar hit and more chunks and debris came crashing down around us.

Once everything settled, there was a hole, but it wasn’t big enough for us to climb through. “Here, let me help. I can use my legs to open it up,” I said. “You’re too big. I can angle myself in a better position than you can.” He slid forward and I rolled once, scooting myself into place. I brought my legs up. They almost touched the top of the tunnel. Give me some juice, I told my wolf. My legs bunched under my skin and I shot them upward. They busted straight through the rest of the loose stones, making the hole big enough for us to fit through in one go. I coughed, twisting my body to kneel, ducking my head through the hole to take a look. “It’s an old elevator shaft.” That was a surprise. “And it smells stale. Nobody’s been in here for a long time.”

Beneath me I kicked away errant bricks and rose, lifting my head and shoulders through the small space. There were wooden beams directly above me, and I dug my nails into one to get some leverage. As I continued to pull myself through the hole, I felt Rourke’s hands begin to slide down the length of my body, ending at my hips, where he grabbed on and hoisted me through. “Resorting to cheap feels?” I chuckled.

“At this point, I’ll take what I can get,” he growled. Once I was up, I splayed my feet across one side and made room for him to join me in the small shaft. He started through the hole, knocking away more stone so he could fit. “All these adrenaline jumps are making me nuts. My cat wants a release yesterday.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” I started to climb. I’d gone only a few feet when Tyler’s voice shot into my brain.

Jess, where are you? His tone was frantic.

How could I explain where I was? We’re inside the mansion, trying to find a way out. Did you find Ray? Please tell me you found him.

Yes, we found him. Relief swept through my body so clearly I almost lost my grip. He was locked in a crypt and is pissed as hell, but there’s more trouble. The sorcerers have set up summoning rings around the perimeter. But that’s not the worst part. The Screamer is loose.

What do you mean it’s loose? It’s fully corporeal?

Yes, and Ray has already fought it once. I’ve been trying to reach you for a half hour. Where have you been? I was about to go balls out ripping down walls in this place.

We ran into an important … complication. Too much to explain. Tell me about the Screamer. I don’t get why Ray is involved.

It’s after you, Jess.

What do you mean, after me?

It’s linked to your blood somehow and it’s trying to find you. Naomi says it craves your power and it needs more. It’s like a possessed banshee. Everyone is running.

Stay away from it. Once we get out of here, we’ll find you outside.

Jess, it’s in the house.

In the house?

Tyler, don’t worry about me. I’m concealed right now. If the Queen has fueled the new ward and it’s protecting us from the demons, our priority is still finding Dad. I’ll get out of the house as soon as I can.