But no.
The door creaked open and the foyer where I had once been so afraid was lit by the moonlight. I hesitated, peeking my face into the house. Above my head was the same black onyx ceiling I had
seen before. Red candles burned in iron wall sconces. Directly through the vestibule was a hallway.
Whatever you do, Lenah, do not think about the Vereselum
, I told myself.
I mustn’t think about it or my intentions would be known. If I kept my focus on Rhode, which was easy, I could deflect Justin’s attention from the antidote. With a last glance back
at the driveway I stepped inside, closing the door behind me.
As I released it, the gold doorknob melted away into the dark wood.
There was no way out.
My breaths were loud, so I made them smaller, gathering myself and getting my bearings. A pearly halo shone down from above. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see that it was the
reflection of my soul hanging above my chest like a friend lighting the way. The onyx ceiling remained as polished as ever; even with the deaths of the Hollow Ones, the place remained immaculate. I
checked Cassius’s watch. I had been in the foyer thirty seconds.
‘Well . . . come in already.’
Justin’s voice slithered into my ear. Goose bumps swept over me at the chill in his tone. Justin could have been anywhere in the house; he could have thrown his voice just to frighten
me.
I slid the onyx sword from the baldric and held it before me. Its light weight was welcome, given how sore I was from my attempts to drag Rhode out of Justin’s other house. I took a step
forward.
An arrow flew through the air. I heard it before I saw it and dropped to the floor. The daggers attached to my belt clattered when I hit the tiles. I looked to see where it landed and just saw
the arrow, which had embedded in the door, dissolve away to nothing – vanished.
‘Stay calm,’ I whispered to myself. ‘You can do this.’
Sure, Justin could make a water shield and use air to transport himself, but he hadn’t mastered the elements as Laertes, Rayken and Levi had. But as long as the onyx ring remained intact,
as long as my blood and energy remained in those crevices and microscopic cups, Justin would be extremely powerful.
I pushed against the onyx floor with my sweaty fingertips and stood up. I remembered from my previous visit to the house that if I turned left I would go down the hallway leading to the door
with the twisted sculptures of bodies on it. Behind it was the library.
You will get Rhode out. You won’t fail this time
, I told myself.
I scooted to the doorway, pressed my back against the cool marble and peered around the corner. Candles lit the blackened hallway and portraits lined the walls. Four candle sconces. I had to
keep count. They had black candles and flickered only a two-inch flame within their holsters.
Black candles sucked the positive energy. They held on to fear. Coupled with the onyx, they sent a wash of dread rolling over me. This house wanted me to fail.
I slipped around the corner, my back against the wall. It was dark blue and softer here – wallpaper. Just as I exhaled, another arrow flew into the now empty foyer, embedding itself into
the front door again. It was on a loop!
I shuffled down the hall and stopped at two doors on either side of the hallway.
Rhode. Rhode. Rhode. Come on
. . . I clenched my jaw. Which door to pick first? I opened the one on the
right. Inside was a lush bedroom with a four-poster bed. A bureau sat across from it with very intricate engravings; it was old, possibly Victorian. But it was clear – this room had not been
used in at least a hundred years. There was no television or technology of any kind. A small oil lamp with a white frosted shade sat on a nightstand.
‘Where the hell is he?’
I needed the door made of sculptures.
I opened the other door.
No . . . this was the exact same bedroom with the four-poster bed.
It was an absolute replica, down to the folds in the comforter.
I slammed the door and leaned my forehead on the wood. My breath was hot on my hand. The watch beeped. I’d been inside two minutes.
I lifted my head and stood up slowly. Horror riddled through me.
This hallway had no beginning and no end. The doors went on forever, endlessly. The candles flickered on the wall in two infinite rows.
I licked my lips.
Keep focused, Lenah.
I hated this house. Hated it.
I had to play the game to figure the way out. I tried another door. It creaked open.
The four-poster bed and the lamp with the white frosted shade.
Another door. The same room.
The same.
Four-poster. My heart slammed in my chest.
White frosted shade.
I drew a deep breath, held the power of my voice in my lungs for a second and screamed as hard as I could, ‘Rhode!’
I leaned my back against the wall and slid to the floor. My breath rushed in and out as frustration rolled over me. I ran my hand over my braid.
Six minutes.
I didn’t want to use Cassius’s amaranth sand. Not yet. I knew what it meant now to use your most powerful weapon before you truly needed it.
I can do this.
‘What is the trick? There has to be a trick,’ I said out loud.
Great. I was talking to myself.
‘You!’
A man’s voice snarled and I jumped up. A vampire I recognized from the street of Lovers Bay ran at me. He was a barrel of a man, at least 250 lbs. My shoulders were tight, my back tired,
and I was done playing games.
The vampire skidded to a halt just when our bodies were about to collide. I crouched, sweeping at his right leg. He tripped, hurling towards the ground. I swiped once through the air, drawing
the onyx longsword in a grand arc from the ceiling to the floor.
The sword might have been lightweight but it sliced through his neck with ease and the head of my first opponent flew through the air. I didn’t care about the victory of my aim or the
swiftness of my sword.
I needed Rhode and I needed to get out of this house with the Vereselum.
Nine minutes.
This is what he wants. He wants you to lose focus.
That giant vampire had given me a clue. He had got to me somehow, which meant there was a way out.
Think rationally, Lenah.
It had to be in the bedroom, which meant that I had to actually go right inside.
I slipped the bloody longsword back into the baldric.
I opened the next door and of course found the bedroom. In the right-hand corner of the room near the head of the bed was another door. It could have been a closet or it could possibly be an
entryway. It could also be nothing and I could be stuck inside that bedroom, trapped forever. I would have to take the risk. I stepped into the room, leaving the door open behind me. I took another
step and was standing in the room completely.
The door behind me slammed closed.
Stay focused, stay focused.
I hopped on to the bed. It squeaked beneath my weight. I was childishly afraid something or someone might be lurking underneath. I landed on the balls of my feet on the other side, gripped my
hand around the doorknob and for the briefest of seconds prayed the door wasn’t locked. The gold knob turned and I ripped it open.
I found myself . . .
In the same hallway! The dark wallpaper with the wall sconces were lit now by red candles, not black. I walked over the same exact Oriental rug.
This time there were four wall sconces, not hundreds. There were only four doors as well; two on each side.
Directly ahead was the great door with the stone statues of twisting and agonized human bodies. I exhaled heavily and smiled. I knew I would find it eventually. I closed my eyes for one brief
second before the closed stone door. When I opened them, I narrowed on the statues. They were crawling up the door as though escaping from hell. Some cried out to the sky, others clutched on to the
marble flesh of the other tangled bodies.
There was no escape for these sculpted tortured souls.
A kick in my back sent me forward. My cheek hit the stone and it burned as I fell to the ground. I flipped over to face my attacker. A vampire had jumped from the ceiling to the floor, so its
feet were on either side of my ribs. I brought my knees up, aiming for the crotch. At one quick push of my knees, he was bowled over.
With a flick of my wrist, one of my daggers flew into my hand, I crouched on one knee and plunged the knife downward. The vampire blocked it with his hand, and my dagger went flying into the
air, clattering against the wall.
I slid the sword from the baldric; I would only extend my arm at the last second. I could do this; I had to be quick. He was almost on me. He carried no knives that I could see, but he was fast.
I could smell his bloody breath. His shadow was over me and I drew my elbow back. I thrust forward, stabbing him directly in the heart. The vampire stumbled back, his mouth open, and he fell
backwards to the floor, lifeless.
I too fell down, catching my breath.
‘Are you going to sacrifice any more men, Justin?’ I panted. ‘Or are you going to deal with me yourself?’
He didn’t answer. Something in the onyx ceiling caught my attention. I could be seen sitting on the ground before the dead vampire. My reflection showed the white orb travelling away from
my chest and through the stone door. It disappeared to the other side.
When I had seen it before, my soul hadn’t moved . . .
My soul was trying to get to its mate.
I stood up slowly before the door. I still needed to catch my breath. I trailed my fingers over the sculptures of the bodies. If I ever had the chance, I would come back and break this door into
smithereens.
A white hazy glow illuminated the ceiling again.
My soul bobbed back into the hallway, hovered over my chest and then entered my body. A familiar warmth rolled over me.
It was the same warmth I felt when Rhode and I touched as vampires. I had experienced that exact kind of heat when I was first human and came in from the cold and my face was so numb I could
barely feel my mouth. The kind of warmth that fed my soul whenever Tony laughed or took Tracy’s hand in his. The warmth of love.
In that moment, in that house of darkness, I finally understood why I could once wield the power of light with my hands. Why I was remade a vampire by Vicken and could kill the members of my
coven. Love had lit me up from the inside and it had worked its way outwards, manifesting itself in a weapon so powerful no vampire could come near me. Selfless love. The kind I now had for Tony.
For Tracy. For Cassius, and for the Demelucrea. At one time I had had it for Justin too.
I always loved Rhode. Always.
There was a click of the latch and the great door before me opened. I took a deep breath and stepped inside.
Just as when I had last seen it, the room beyond was filled top to bottom with books. There was an oversized onyx fireplace and forty-foot-high bookshelves. Three or four
ladders rested against the stacks. The ceiling was decorated with an Italian-style fresco. Where the three Hollow Ones once sat in black leather chairs, Justin presided alone.
I waited in the doorway.
‘It’s you and me,’ Justin said.
‘Just what you wanted,’ I replied calmly.
I had expected guards, but there was no one else in that room. There was a door next to the fireplace – Rhode had to be in there.
I kept my sword across my chest like a shield, with the blade pointing up at the ceiling.
‘Where is Rhode?’ I demanded.
‘Here,’ Justin said simply.
I pretended to sweep the room for Rhode but on the middle of a table in front of the leather chairs were the book I’d seen at Justin’s house and a bottle. They were sitting under a
square glass case. The Vereselum. It had to be. Justin wanted his prize next to him like a trophy. He got up and approached me so quickly that I jumped back and extended my sword between us.
At a swipe of his hand, my sword flew into the air and clattered on the ground. I wasn’t surprised. I hadn’t even held on very hard.
‘How did you harness the magic to move my soul out of my body?’
‘Ah. So you figured it out.’ He shrugged. ‘Just a trick Laertes taught me.’
‘He’s dead – he killed himself at Wickham when you sent your rampage of vampires after me.’
He smiled and the stench of blood coming from his mouth was rancid. ‘You’re a terrible liar. He’s quite under my control.’
‘How many fingers did you have to take until he showed you how to remove your love? Two, was it?’
Justin pushed me away and walked back to his seat. I considered this a victory, as he didn’t want me to see his face.
‘If you want to see Rhode, drop all your weapons. Even the daggers in your boots and hidden up your sleeve.’
I released the last remaining dagger strapped to my arm and the three in my boots.
‘Done,’ I said, making a mental note where I had left all my weapons. Justin walked to the door next to the fireplace. Once his back was turned, I brought my left leg back into
fighting position, ready to defend myself if necessary.
With a click of the latch, the door next to the fireplace opened.
Rhode was chained, like I had seen him at the house on Warwick Avenue.
‘Rhode! I’m here!’ I cried. With a wobble, he raised his head.
He didn’t smile.
There was no light in his eyes.
His gaze dropped to the floor. He mumbled something and Justin slammed the door.
‘What did you do to him?’ I yelled, and jumped towards the door. Justin threw an arm out and a gust of cold wind lifted my feet from the floor. I was thrown backwards but caught
myself by gripping the table.
‘You left Rhode to wither away. He needs to feed,’ I said with gritted teeth as I regained my balance.
‘Because he’s so useful to me? He couldn’t give me any information. It was simple. All he had to do was tell me how to switch it so I was your soulmate instead of
him.’