The ghosts whispered around my body, not liking that I’d taken a short break. I hadn’t heard anything after us in the tunnels, so we had a minute more to spare.

“You must go.”

“The barrier must come down.”

“You cannot wait any longer.”

I ignored them as Naomi nodded. “Forgive me for not being so vocal,” she said. “It is difficult to shed hundreds of years of servitude. The Queen has never asked for our opinions on anything, so it does not come naturally to me.”

“I understand,” I said gently, “but I’m asking you now.”

“We were told the barrier was to keep us safe, that it was dangerous and unthinkable to tamper with it.”

“Is the barrier the ward I felt when I first came over the wall? Are we talking about the same thing?” Now that I thought about it, that ward carried the same tartness as the other curious spells.

“Oui,” she answered. “It is the same. Only, it is not a standard ward. It acts as a shield over the entire Coterie, like a protective dome.”

“It has to be extremely powerful if it can keep incorporeal beings trapped inside. But I was able to pass through it no problem this morning. The boys couldn’t until the Queen let them in. Why do you think I was able to cross it?”

Naomi shook her head. “It shouldn’t be so. It keeps out even the strongest supernaturals. It is very old and has been in place since this mansion has been in our possession. There are rumors it’s been crafted from the Queen’s own blood.”

“But vamps can’t wield spells.”

“Eudoxia is not … ordinary,” she said, her voice dropping automatically from years of obedience. One does not gossip about their Queen freely. “She is able to cast spells. Some believe that spell casting is her special gift. Others believe … she is more than vampire.”

My eyebrows jumped to my hairline.

That was big, gossipy interesting news. More than a vampire meant she had been something supernatural before she’d been turned. “I’ve seen her power manifest physically,” I commented as I thought back to our first meeting when she’d shot her white light straight into my chest, “but I figured it was because she was so old. That her power had grown so much it had manifested itself physically.”

“Non,” she replied. “She has always had the ability to cast spells.”

That was extremely valuable information. I sat back on my heels. Naomi and I hadn’t had a chance to talk about anything since she had pledged herself to me. I must fix that as soon as I could. Information was power, and I needed more if I wanted to win. “That puts an entirely new spin on all things Eudoxia. A Vampire Queen who can cast spells must be incredibly rare. The vamps must keep that news very close.”

“We are required to keep her secrets above all else. If she finds out I have betrayed her, she will kill me.” Naomi shrugged her petite shoulders. “But she has already tried to kill me, so it is of no consequence any longer.”

I smiled. “Do you have any idea what else she may be?”

“Non,” she said. “That is a true mystery.”

“You linger too long,” a whisper hit my ear.

“They are coming now.”

“Time wastes.”

I batted the ghosts away with my hand in irritation. “The ghosts are telling me we have to move. One last thing—do you think my father can cross the barrier to get to us?”

She shook her head. “No, I do not believe so.”

I inclined my head at her. “Then the barrier comes down. Our decision is made.”

“Oui. We must take it down,” she agreed. “For your father’s sake.”

I started to crawl through the hole. “Naomi, do you still have your cross?” The Lunar Goddess’s trinket was very valuable. There was hope in my voice, even though I knew the answer already.

Her voice was dark. “Non. It was Valdov’s most favored who carried me to the crypt. They wrapped me in silver chains and I could not break free. They took it from me before they bound me to the Strigoi.”

I wasn’t sure how much Naomi knew or suspected about Valdov. “I think Valdov may be a spy,” I told her as I followed the tunnel to the right on my hands and knees. “And he likely had something to do with your brother’s relationship with Selene all these years. I also believe that if the Queen confronts him, he will use the cross against her and kill her if he can. He’s likely been waiting for such an opportunity for years.”

“I know nothing of this. Valdov and I do not interact,” she said. “If my brother had told me he was still in contact with Selene, I would’ve killed him.” Her voice turned cold. “But I do not doubt Valdov’s prowess or his ability to do such things in the least. He has always been hungry for power. There has always been gossip, of course, but nothing of any substance. If this happens and he kills our Queen, it will be devastating to the Sect. We cannot let him succeed. He will bring ruination to all the vampires, as he is not strong enough to rule.”

“I agree,” I said. “And I’ll do my best to stop it from happening. But in order to do anything we have to get out of these godforsaken tunnels.” I was resenting my time spent underground in a big way. I ducked my head as the tunnel narrowed. It was clear no one had used this one in a long time, and anyone who did had been sneaking around. This was not a main artery. “By the way,” I added, “was the Strigoi supposed to wake up? Is that what they intended when they siphoned off your blood?”

I couldn’t imagine they wanted to unleash a Screamer. It seemed ridiculously extreme.

“Wake up?” Naomi balked. “Of course not! As the Strigoi feeds, we are bound to it fiercely. It is one of only a few ways to keep a strong vampire immobile. It’s called a Vassalage, as we are its servants until the binding is broken and the blood is drained.”

“Well”—I cleared my throat—“the one bound to you was well on its way to becoming corporeal.”

A small gasp came from behind me. “That is very dangerous indeed. I have only seen one Strigoi come to life and it was a truly horrid sight. They eat a living thing from the inside out to gain a new life, but it’s only a temporary one. Once it inhabits a vampire’s body, it cannot feed properly, so it will eventually die as the host body dries out. But its instinct is to tear others apart in its frenzy to stay alive. It is very strong and almost impossible to defeat.”

“That sounds perfect,” I muttered as I continued to claw my way through the dirt tube. “I pray it didn’t have enough blood to come to life. That would be one too many things to worry about right now.”

19

The tunnel turned uphill abruptly. We climbed up the incline to yet another trapdoor. This place was a maze of secret hatches. This had to be the end of my underground road, because I was done. More than finished. It was time to emerge and make contact with Rourke. He would be in a borderline frenzy right now. I hoped all the boys had made progress on the outside. It would be nice to have some good news.

“Okay, we’re here. What do I do now?” I asked the ghosts.

“Enter.”

“You must go up.”

“You will find it there.”

“What is it exactly?” I grumbled. “The last time you said it, it was a half-formed Screamer.” I glanced down at Naomi. We were in such a small space it was difficult to see her. “Do you have any idea where we are?”

“By the scent and magic, I’d say we are beneath the Reliquary.”

“We’re under a church?” I lifted my nose and inhaled around the edges of the door. I caught a trace of candle wax and lots of dust, along with the buzz of magic. “Why do vamps have a chapel on the grounds?”

“Yes, the Reliquary,” a ghost voice filtered in my ear.

“It is the key.”

“Must break the barrier.”

“Non,” Naomi answered. “Not a chapel, but a shrine. It is where we hold our most scared objects. It is said to be cursed and all vampires stay well away from it. The magic here is old. My bones ache with it even now.”

Naomi was right. The magic had begun to filter into my skin, but didn’t threaten me directly. The floor above us hummed with it. “Do you think this is where the ward is fueled?” I asked. “It feels strong enough.”

“Yes.” A ghostly response hit my ear first.

“The barrier begins here.”

“I do not know,” Naomi confessed. “But it would make some sense. Vampires do not venture to this place. It is said that Vlad’s possessions still carry his essence and any who touch them will go insane.”

“Vlad, huh?” He had been a powerful Vampire King long ago, but had been dead for centuries. There could be only one great ruler of vampires at a time, and Eudoxia was the supreme Queen now. “If your Queen fueled that rumor, she was smart. Now nobody comes near her ward or her priceless artifacts on threat of possession.” From what I knew about strong wards, they were almost always grounded to something solid—the more powerful that something was, the longer it held and the harder it was to break.

I placed one finger tentatively on the underside of the trapdoor.

Energy tingled into the tip, but it wasn’t anything major. Maybe threats of curses had managed to keep this place untouched. “This door doesn’t feel spelled,” I told Naomi. “Kind of like the mausoleum you were just in. They must have put up a perimeter spell around the outside but didn’t bother to include the inside. I’m going to push it open and see what I can find. If all looks good, follow me.”

“Okay,” she said. “But be careful. Even if there is no curse, I have heard that some of the relics have … a presence. Or it is said.”

“I don’t know much about your vampire history, but a roomful of Vlad the Impaler’s trinkets is a little on the Dracula side, but if he was your King, it makes some sense his things would hold residual power. I’m not planning on touching anything I don’t have to, so don’t worry.”