Chapter 28

“Let’s go already,” Kerensa grumbled from the door. “It was bad enough just Elias and I. Now I need to take you, Hart and the wolf?”

“I’ll be helping, Kerensa. Stop grumbling.” Kian closed the bedroom door in her face as Sylvie pulled on her clothes, thick activewear with tactical armour over her chest.

It seemed a tad overkill, but Elias insisted. Slipping her feet into her boots, Kian gestured for her to sit and began tying her laces.

“You okay?”

She sighed, wishing that moment he couldn’t feel her emotions. “I think I fucked up.”

He nodded, not prying further and stood as Elias opened the door behind him.

“Are you ready?” His eyes flicked between Kian and her. Sylvie nodded and stood, walking to his outstretched hand and taking it as they walked down the stairs to the front of the packhouse.

Some shifters stood chatting with Rowan, likely forming a plan for his absence. She noted how he turned his back towards her as she descended the stairs, and a wave of guilt hit her.

Kian laced his fingers with her free hand, and she realised miserably there was nowhere for Rowan to hold. Even though he probably hated her right then, she ached thinking about excluding him.

Natalie and Rosie were among the shifters Rowan was debriefing and quickly finished up before coming over to her.

“Hey, Vee,” Rosie said with a bright smile. “Good luck, and be careful.”

“Yeah. Don’t get killed, I guess,” Natalie added, keeping her eyes downcast in front of Elias.

Rosie blushed and shot her a look before rolling her eyes and embracing Sylvie. Elias and Kian released her hands so she could return the hug.

“I’ll be careful, and hopefully, I won’t be gone too long. Don’t want to get behind in my training.”

Rosie pulled back and pinched her cheek lightly before trotting away, followed by Natalie, who opted for a wave rather than a hug. Elias watched her go with barely restrained fury, and Kian tapped his shoulder.

“Relax.”

“She betrayed her-”

“I’m fine, Elias. She apologised, and we’re good now.”

He grunted and reclaimed her hand, gesturing with his head for Rowan to wrap things up as he turned to look at them.

“Coming,” Rowan said, whispering a few last things to Amira, who stood with hands on her hips with a raised brow. She met Sylvie’s eyes and winked before turning and disappearing behind the packhouse.

“Finally,” Kerensa groaned, following down the stairs before crossing her arms. “We all need to keep a grip on each other through this, or you will get lost in the in-between.”

Sylvie’s eyes bugged open as she squeezed Kian and Elias until her fingers hurt from the force. She did not want to find out whatever the’ in-between’ was.

“Kian, channel all your shifting ability to me.”

“Now?”

“No, yesterday.”

Kian clicked his tongue and shuddered, a light shooting from his hands through Rowan, Sylvie and Elias straight into Kerensa. Her eyes rolled back until they were completely white, and she gritted her sharp teeth.

“Don’t let go.”

In a breath, the world tilted on its axis, and Sylvie found herself floating in an abyss of darkness, the only tether to reality being the aching pain in her fingers.

Why did her fingers hurt so badly?

They felt squeezed. Maybe if she just opened her hand, the pain would release.

She wriggled her fingers, but the bindings tightened so hard her bones rubbed together. She yelped, pulling both arms, but nothing budged. A faded shout drew her attention somewhere to her left, but it withered away in a maelstrom of wind and growing light- she could almost see the outline of a structure. It twinkled in strange purple sunlight.

“Hold on,” a voice wheezed, and then she landed in a pile of sprawled limbs and foliage. Sylvie coughed, rolling onto her back and blinked up at a few frowning faces under a canopy of blue-leaved trees.

“Oops.”

“Yeah, oops is right,” Kerensa spat. “You nearly fucked it up.”

“Nearly being the keyword,” Sylvie replied, sitting up and accepting Kian’s outstretched hand. Strangely, besides the fuzzy memory, she felt fine. Perhaps the portal sickness had accumulative effects like in the fae realm.

“We’re on the western borders of the city,” Elias said, his dark bags seemingly proving the idea. “There is a network of tunnels, Kerensa and I used to slip in the first time, but I imagine they will be more heavily guarded after our visit.

“And why is that?” Rowan asked, tactfully avoiding Sylvie’s gaze as she peered over at him.

“Because I killed half a dozen of them trying to find the Shifters.”

The group collected themselves in silence when Sylvie asked, “And you didn’t find anything?”

Elias grunted, taking her free hand. “Not a trace or scent. But the guards were hiding something. They’ve been compelled so deeply, and I couldn’t break it in the time I had.”

“So you killed them?” Sylvie said.

His cool hand squeezed her own in response, and he started walking towards a ten-foot stonewall.

“Why aren’t there any guards out here?” Sylvie asked.

“There will be in a minute if you don’t shut up,” Kerensa muttered, but Elias cleared his throat in warning.

“Noone leaves the walls of the city any longer,” he said, an unmistakable sadness in his tone. He brushed his palm against the moss-riddled bricks. “It wasn’t here when I called Argyncia my home.”

Sylvie squeezed his hand and cast her eyes across the wall. She wondered what lay beyond and if it would look like the city she saw through the fae-looking glass.

“We could try the cellar entrance,” Kerensa suggested, walking ahead.

Elias and Sylvie turned after her while Rowan and Kian took the rear, their footsteps virtually silent on the ground. Sylvie’s gaze dropped to the soft plant matter underfoot, and her brows lifted.

Instead of grass, or dirt of dead leaves, the foliage underfoot was made up of small flowery vines. The pink and white flowers crept across the ground, snuggling tightly against the tree roots of the small forest they entered.

“That would take us past the dungeons and the turned quarters.”

“So?”

Elias just grunted and pulled Sylvie along so fast she nearly tripped headlong into a tree, but warm hands captured her waist to steady her. She turned to thank Kian when Rowan’s greeny hazel eyes blinked back at her.

“Uh- um... Thanks.”

He nodded, dropping his grip on her, and she turned back to face a break in the brick wall.

“Once we’re inside,” Elias said, “you will all need to walk ahead of me, head down as if you’re my prisoners.”

Kian and Kerensa nodded while Rowan and Sylvie’s brows rose.

“How would that work?” Sylvie asked.

Elias continued walking in silence to two sets of thick wooden doors just above the ground accented with giant silver hoop handles that could be confused as knockers.

His non-answers were starting to irritate her, and she watched him with a slight frown from the corner of her eye. What was he hiding?

Both he and Kian grabbed the cellar door handles and wrenched them open, revealing a dark, damp set of concrete stairs disappearing into pitch blackness.

Kian stepped in first, but Elias grabbed his shoulder, stopping him.

“If we wake them, Sylvie and Rowan are dead.”

“I know,” Kian replied with a stern look.

“What are you talking about?” Sylvie stamped her foot. “No, I’m not going in there until you explain.”

“I agree,” Rowan added.

With a sigh and a frustrated hair tousling, Elias spoke through gritted teeth.

“Turned vampires sleep in the dungeon space and the surrounding tunnels. They wake at dusk, and if we disturb them, they will seek the nearest blood source to their liking, and that will inevitably be you both. So no speaking, and watch your step. Their slumber is deep, but a woken-turned-vampire is a feral killing machine.”

A shudder rippled through Sylvie and seemed to jump right into Rowan.

“I’ll be able to sense if their sleep patterns change, but it is best to stay quiet and move carefully,” Kian said.

Kerensa just rolled her eyes, pushing passed him to descend the stairs. Sylvie swallowed and nodded to herself. She could do this. She wasn’t a weak human. She was powerful, and she had been training for weeks. Surely she could get through the tunnels without raising the alarm, although none of Rosie’s training had been particularly covert.

In hindsight, creeping around the forest playing hide and seek may have been a helpful training strategy instead of a million-mile runs every day.

She descended the concrete stairs with soft repetitive scuffing letting her eyes adjust to the room’s darkness. However, once she reached the bottom, no trace of light reflected in her eyes and her heart started thumping in her ears as she stood frozen in the chill-laden darkness.

A warm body brushed into her back, and she nearly yelped, quickly slamming her palm against her lips as soothing calm flowed from the person up her spine.

Kian.

She exhaled shakily and fumbled blindly for his hand. He took it quickly, a slight indigo star shape glowing faintly where his eyes would be.

So everyone had night vision except for her. Great.

Elias slipped beside her, taking her hand and lacing it with Rowan’s before placing his cool palms atop her shoulder. From Rowan’s slightly damp palm and rigid grip, Sylvie realised he couldn’t see either. Without a sliver of light, his wolf eyes wouldn’t do him any good.

Walking with exaggerated steps that probably looked stupid to Kerensa and her mates, Sylvie followed Elias’s guiding hands’ gentle pressure.

While the dim flickering of purple and red eyes occasionally drew her attention, for the most part, her eyes saw no difference while open or closed. In fact, she played around with that fact by blinking rapidly for a few minutes when Kian’s hand squeezed her, and playful energy travelled up her arm. He had found a way to laugh at her in complete silence. Sylvie blushed and scrunched her face, refocusing her attention on her shaking steps and breath.

Her shuffling footfalls echoed while she walked, the sound growing louder in one spot, making her think they were in a hallway. That and the pressure of Rowan and Kian’s shoulders against hers. As their distance retreated, another sound filled her with fear. Many creatures’ soft, deep inhalations came from every angle.

Surround-sound collective breathing.

Her head swivelled, searching for any red eyes watching them and revealing their sneaking had been busted, but the darkness prevailed.

Trembling, she kept her pace steady, and her mouth clamped shut as they passed the sleeping beasts.

After what felt like an eternity, a faint light filtered down from a staircase they slowly approached.

“You did well,” Elias’s deep voice echoed softly, causing her to jump and exhale in a sharp hiss.

“Fucking hell.”

“Shut up,” Kerensa said harshly. “We aren’t clear yet.”

They ascended the stairs that turned at a sharp right angle and approached a heavy metal door. Kerensa spun and raised a single brow looking at Elias.

“What now?” Sylvie whispered, ignoring the reproachful look from Kerensa.

“We find someone who knows something without getting caught.”

Sylvie’s mouth dropped open at Kerensa’s blunt and unthought-out plan. “That’s it?” She turned to Elias with a quizzical brow.

“More or less,” he replied, a strange expression crossing his face. Then, lips pursing and slightly downturned, a faraway stare rolled over him as he said, “Can you sense any of them?” he asked Rowan.

Rowan shook his head, and Elias hummed. “Didn’t think so. This realm’s barrier against magic is still potent.” He paused and shook his head as if clearing the thought. “Now walk ahead of me, heads down.”

Rowan and Kian stepped up beside Sylvie, bowing their heads. She glanced sideways at Rowan, but he turned away.

Before the sting of his rejection could sink in, Kerensa shoved the door open, and they filed through in front of her. Sylvie almost stopped dead when the low hum of voices sounded around them. She thought they would be more covert, not waltzing through a place buzzing with people.

“Move,” Elias growled, his voice taking on a tone she had never heard before. It frightened her, but she obliged, flicking her lowered gaze around to take in anything of her surroundings. The metallic flooring beneath her feet chimed quietly, and the echo dulled by floor-to-ceiling glass walls on either side of the hall they trudged down.

Despite the glass walls, she couldn’t see the world beyond; it appeared distorted and hazy. Flashbacks of Elias and Kian’s highrise office building flooded her mind when the voices stopped dead, and a flurry of rapid footfalls moved away from the group. Elias sighed, and panic immediately rippled through her.

“I should have guessed,” a voice painfully similar to Elias’ but now directly ahead of her tutted. “My guards turn up dead, and no one raises the alarm? In fact, they accuse me.”

She lifted her eyes, daring to disprove her theory because it couldn’t be. He wouldn’t have kept that from her. Not Elias. But the man before her took her breath away.

Twins.