Page 62 of Vampire Blood

I didn’t know how much time I had. Minutes? Seconds?

My mind screamed at me to turn back, to run the other way. But my feet kept moving, carrying me toward the crypt. Toward him.

I wiped sweat and dirt from my face, my fingers shaking as I climbed over rocks and tangled roots. The forest seemed darker now, the branches overhead twisting together, blocking out the light. It felt alive… watching, waiting.

Every nerve in my body screamed that this was wrong. That I wasn’t ready.

But ready or not, it didn’t matter.

I reached the edge of the ruins, my breath catching as I saw the broken stones and jagged pillars rising like bones from the earth. The entrance to the crypt loomed ahead, dark, gaping, and endless.

Fear clawed up my spine.

My fingers brushed the vial Rowena had given me, the concoction we’d made. It felt small and fragile in my grip, but it was all I had.

I pressed myself against the cold stone wall. The shadows cloaked me, but it didn’t feel like enough, not with the shifters prowling through the ruins like predators.

I gripped the edge of the pillar, peeking around it. My pulse hammered in my ears as my eyes darted over the scene below.

They were everywhere.

Shifters in their half-shifted forms, hulking beasts with sharp claws and glowing eyes, moved between the captured townspeople. Some were bound, their wrists tied, faces streaked with dirt and fear. Others knelt, heads bowed, trembling.

My stomach twisted.

I searched frantically for Lucas. My gaze swept across the square, catching on every dark shape and movement, hoping to see him.

But he wasn’t there.

Chapter Twenty

Lucas

The ground trembled beneath our feet. Dust and loose stones rattled, and the air grew thick, heavy and suffocating. I clenched my fists, my nails biting into my palms as my gaze locked on the crypt's sealed entrance.

It was opening.

The stone slab groaned as it shifted, ancient mechanisms grinding against each other in protest. Light didn’t pour out. There was only darkness, seeping like smoke, curling along the cracks as if the shadows themselves were alive.

A ripple of unease spread through the crowd. Even the shifters, arrogant and bloodthirsty, stepped back. The townspeople trembled, eyes wide with terror. I felt their fear clawing at my own resolve, but I swallowed it down.

Zaros stood beside me, his lips curling into a dark smile. “You feel it, don’t you?” His voice was sharp, hungry. “Power unlike anything you've ever known.”

I ignored him, my eyes fixed on the crypt. The air crackled with energy. My skin prickled, my instincts screaming at me to run. But I stood my ground.

I had to.

With one last groan, the slab slid away completely, revealing the darkness inside. Silence fell… a suffocating, unnatural stillness.

And then he stepped out.

Aurelius.

Tall. Regal. Terrible.

His skin was pale as death, stretched taut over sharp cheekbones and hollowed eyes that burned with crimson fire. His hair, dark and sleek, framed a face that was both ageless and ancient, beautiful and monstrous.

He wore black robes that seemed to drink the light, flowing like smoke around his towering frame. Power radiated off him, heavy and suffocating.

---