“You believe in sorcerers, too?” I asked, egging him on for more information. “Really? And you never questioned this crap? The world’s overrun with ghosts and goblins, and you bought into it?”
He took a step toward me and then stopped, his eyes sly. “I see what you’re trying to do. Maybe you aren’t as dumb as you seem. But it doesn’t matter. Your boyfriend shows, I zap him with my crossbow, and the rest is history.”
“You’re going to commit murder over some fantasy? The cops are going to have a field day with that – ‘But officer, he was a vampire!’”
“His driver turned to dust when I cut his heart out and burned it. Nice try, but I saw it with my own eyes. I don’t know how you got mixed up with these creatures, but I’ll sleep just fine knowing one of their consorts went down with them.”
“Consorts?”
He turned from me. “Enough of this. I need to prepare. The spell’s very specific. The bracelets need to be in position in three of the four entryways, and once he’s inside, the fourth closes the square, and he’s trapped. Then he’s mine.”
“Does your brother know you’re batshit crazy?”
“My brother’s a fool. He knows nothing but what his books tell him.”
“Then he doesn’t know you’re living in a B-level horror movie, playing the not-so-smart villain?”
He chuckled and faced me. “Your insults won’t help you. I know you believe you’re distracting me, or buying time, but you’re achieving nothing. This is all foreordained. The sorcerer told me all this when he prepared me to be a hunter.”
“Did the sorcerer give you some magic mushrooms when he was preparing you? Because this is the nuttiest garbage I’ve ever heard. Seriously. You’ve got to be as high as a kite.”
“He gave me a potion that makes me as strong as one of these unholy creatures for a little while. The tables are turned, and there’s no escape for your boy – or for you. So laugh all you want as you slowly freeze to death,” he spat. Then he turned, leaving me alone and sopping wet on the floor of the vault, the water now five inches deeper in just the time we’d been there.
I worked at the chain, but after a few minutes it was obvious that my fingers weren’t strong enough to unscrew the shackle that held the links together. I could feel my hands shaking as cold crept into my legs, and I managed to pull myself out of the water, into a crouch, leaving only my boots submerged.
My mind raced at what I’d been able to glean from Victor. He obviously hadn’t gotten the brains in the family, and he’d been so confident he’d let some critical information slip. First, he was working alone. Second, the talismans were the crux of his entire strategy, and they required him to move the final one into position to activate the spell. Third, the talismans were bracelets. And most important, his strength was being artificially boosted, which meant that once Jared was stripped of his power, he wouldn’t stand a chance.
Knowing all that wasn’t much good with me bolted to the floor, but if I couldn’t escape, I could try to communicate what I knew to Jared. I remembered what he’d said about being able to read the thoughts of those he was connected to when they were in high states of emotion. I didn’t have to work very hard to be terrified of drowning or freezing to death, and terror was about the strongest emotion I could imagine.
I squeezed my eyes shut and was trying to visualize the area we’d walked through when a furry form skittered through the water with a squeak. I screamed as the rat neared me, and swatted at it with what I could of the chain. I was shivering from head to toe when I stopped flailing and listened in the dead silence of the chamber for a hint of the rat’s position.
Some splashing at the far corner told me it had abandoned its quest for a dry island – or perhaps an easy meal – and I went back to trying to gather my mental resources and projecting a mental image of the danger above – however that worked. That I had not the faintest idea of what I was doing was a marked disadvantage, but I couldn’t allow the little voice in my head to distract me with doubts.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Jared having called and threatened Victor if anything happened to me. But that mitigated the terror somewhat, so I pushed the thought out of my mind and focused on reconstructing the ground floor of the fort, as well as vividly imagining the bracelets both Victor and his brother wore.
The water was now at my calves, and my feet were numb, which further distracted me. I slowed my breathing and concentrated, visualizing the area we’d walked through on the way to the stairway.
After five minutes, I gave up. Even though I was petrified, the cold that was seeping through my body was muting the panic, and with it, the intensity of emotion I could harness.
I began working on the clasp again, my fingers nearly as numb as my toes now. My breath hissed between my chattering teeth as I fumbled with the threaded metal pin, trying to get some leverage on it while the sea rose, dulling my senses as degree by degree it cooled my body temperature and slowed my ability to think – and with it, my ability to muster up emotions strong
