“She had a son?” My jaw dropped. I didn’t know how that could have been possible.
“No, the king’s mistress had a son. Since Christiane ended up being so toxic to his political career, the king declared the son was hers. He spread the rumor that she chose to live in self-imposed exile. That way, he still looked good, had a rightful heir, and Christiane was finally out of his hair. She was quite the hell-raiser, running around, professing to be a strong Protestant, publicly opposing his Catholic views.” James smiled at the painting with visible admiration.
I was certainly gathering plenty of random knowledge I was sure I’d never need again, unless of course, I appeared on Jeopardy somewhere down the road. I could just imagine it now. For today’s Daily Double, Hartenfels. My reply? What is the name of an historic castle where a legacy of vampires who swore to protect the innocent comes from? I’d be all over that Alex Trebek!
“Ariya, you’ll find that many of the people who wrote the history books also had a hand in the oral traditions and the legends we were told. I fear the truth has been twisted much more than we might imagine. Christiane was erroneously portrayed as something evil strictly because of her strong Protestant beliefs, which at the time, were not regarded with any kindness, tolerance or sympathy,” he replied, ending the mini-history lesson for me.
“Fascinating,” I was rather taken aback at thinking all the history books could have been incorrect. Being the straight-A student that I was, I invested a lot of value in them. As I was shaking my head, I saw another portrait.
“Here she is again?” I asked before I saw James nod.
“I believe that’s our Ivan as well.” The portrait included a few other people in it, not just Christiane, although she was the one up front.
“Royal Advisor, Ivan Ylva. Royal advisor?” I raised my eyebrows in question.
“Well, they couldn’t say warlock, now could they?” he teased.
I couldn’t help laughing at that. “I’m surprised he agreed to be in the same portrait with her. Was that normal?”
“Perhaps. Christiane tended to do things differently. This was taken after she was turned, according to the date. Ivan was probably never too far from her, in order to protect her.”
I stopped. His words hit close to home for some reason. I replayed them over and over in my mind until it finally dawned on me. My thoughts eventually clicked into place. I realized this was what I failed to put together while we were here. Excitedly, I let out a squeal and said, “I know where the weapon is!”
James looked at me and his face was full of questions at my outburst. He was, no doubt, wondering how I could magically know where the weapon we’d spent days searching for could possibly be.
“Okay, well, not exactly, but I have an idea. Ivan was probably never too far from her. Ingrid told me that Christiane restored his hope and he protected her with the spell. He created your role in the life of the bloodline, which means he had to feel some of that loyalty towards her himself; otherwise, how could he have thought it up? Given how you all are so adamant about having me remain close, there is no way he would have let her venture far from his protection. The whole reason he came back to the good side was because of her. He would have always insisted on having direct access to her."
"Yes, we thought of that too, but we can't tell what room was his. We’re assuming one of these rooms must have a secret passageway leading to an area as close to her room as possible. We guessed that’s what we were looking for, but it’s difficult to find his main quarters, or anything else that points to him having ever lived here," James replied.
"You’re thinking too much. You barely let me close a door without one of you in the room with me. Do you honestly think we are looking for something that could only lead us close to Christiane’s bedroom?” James looked at me like I was crazy. My excited gasps probably made me sound insane. “Don’t you get it? Think like this: what if I were the one you were trying to look after? You wouldn’t have a passage close by; no, you’d have a passage right on top of me if you could. I don’t think he would have risked the chance of not getting to her in time. I think we need to focus more narrowly on her bedroom."
“That seems too simple,” James said, scratching his neck.
“James, I have a feeling. That’s where we need to start. I need you all to trust me on this. We have to look in her bedroom, and I guarantee we will find what we’re looking for.”
He nodded. “Let’s get the others and head out to her floor then.”
I knew I was right in my assumption. The thought excited me. We located the others and snuck up to the third floor. For a castle, there were barely any security guards. Especially for a castle hosting such a large event.
We slowly approached Christiane’s room, and I suddenly I felt strange. It was as if I had been here before. My nerves kicked in again, giving me further confirmation that this was where we were supposed to be. James opened the door and led the way into the ornate bedroom.
Everything was beautiful. I imagined Christiane lying in her canopied, dark wood bed, reading perhaps. Her wardrobe was open, and an outer glass casing protected a beautiful, yellow, bejeweled ball gown. There was a bookshelf with volumes of dusty, ruggedly bound books. I wondered what she liked to read.
Caroline and Nick went off immediately and began searching the walls, running their hands over every stone. Meanwhile, Riley walked over towards the candles that occupied random places on the walls.
He kept lifting them and pausing a moment before setting them back down. "Young Frankenstein had the candle thing, remember, ‘put the candle back’?" he said, smiling at me as if I needed a more thorough explanation of what he was doing.
I shook my head at him knowingly and laughed. “Maybe, there is more to movies than we think; life imitates art.”
We both giggled and got back to work.
To me, the logical place would have been behind the bookshelf. Maybe that's why the vampires were carefully avoiding it. They were much smarter at this whole Mission Impossible kind of work. I was probably just heading towards what I thought would be the coolest location.
I made my way over to it anyway, running my hands through the accumulated dust that had settled on the books over the years. Was nothing ever dusted in here? It was a museum, for heaven’s sake; you’d think it would have been better taken care of.
I started tugging out the books one at a time. I laughed at myself as I neared the end of the bookshelf. Or maybe there really isn’t more to movies than we think, I thought, growing annoyed at myself for never quite being able to help out.
I sighed, looking around for something else I could possibly assist in. I walked around the canopy bed. The posts were carved in such detail, they were incredible. I continued walking around it, running my hands along the headboard when I felt a funny bump. I stopped and ran my fingers over it again. There was definitely a knot in the wood. After seeing how perfectly everything was carved, it seemed out of place. I tried pushing on it, but nothing happened. Using my fingers to feel down the sides on either side of the headboard where the knot was, I still found nothing. My fingers curved, gripping the bottom of the headboard near the mattress, and that was when I noticed something. This time, I felt a dip. I pushed in hard with two fingers, and I heard a click. Riley missed it, but all three vampires jerked their heads toward the bed, looking in my direction.
"Don't move, Ariya," James instructed.
He made his way towards the bed, running his hands on the ground at the side and to the right of me. A moment later, I heard his voice again, "It's here. Ariya, try letting go of whatever you're holding." I did as I was told.
Moving around from the front of the bed to where they were huddled, James propped open what appeared to be a trap door. My nerves were all over the place. I did it. I found it!
All we could see were a few stairs disappearing into what had to be more, concealed by the blackness of the unlit area below. We all stood looking at each other. Thi
s had to lead us to our weapon. It was a well-hidden access to Christiane's room. I could feel it, just like I knew Christiane’s room was the place to go, I knew this was step two.
“You go, I’ll wait here in case this thing shuts on itself. Or if we get company,” Nick said as he motioned for the rest of us to go down as he spoke.
Caroline headed down the stairs first, followed by Riley, then me, then James. We started walking single file down the stairs. Caroline took out her cell phone and flicked it on for a flashlight, which made me smile. Who would have thought we'd be in a tunnel created in the 1700s using a cell phone for light? Not that it was very bright. We could only see a couple feet in front of us. Well, we being Riley and me, as the vampires didn't need any light to see. Even without any need for it, it was comforting not to be covered in total darkness.
The steps continued downwards, and by the time we reached the bottom floor, we could barely see the top from where we had descended. I knew Nick was there though, watching over us. The cell phone flashlight illuminated a portion of what seemed like a very long hallway.
There were brass rings hanging on either side of the tunnel. Unlit torches lined the walls inside each of the rings. Cobwebs clung everywhere, and since we were all pretty silent, it was easy to hear the ever present scurrying and patter of mice. I hoped there was nothing more ferocious than mice, like snakes. I was worse than a baby when it came to creepy, crawly animals.
I felt James’s hand brushing against mine and turned my head toward him. He gripped onto me tightly, and I knew he wasn’t comfortable either in the unknown passageway. We continued down the tunnel. It felt like minutes passed before the light hit a wooden door, signaling the end of our path.
"Here we go," I said, holding my breath. We were so close to something, right at the edge of a wonderful discovery. I could just feel it.
Caroline tried the door, only to find it locked. Instead of hesitating or trying again, she kicked the handle hard, and the resulting crash echoed several minutes throughout the tunnel. I flinched when the echo bounced off the walls around us. Caroline began to move forward, but was abruptly halted and jerked back. Riley, who hadn't been paying attention, had to dodge her to keep from slamming into her back.
"Care!" he whispered loudly, sidestepping her and going against the doorframe. She just stood there, staring at the opening of the door. I frowned as I watched the scene playing out in front of me.
"How did you do that, Riley? I can't get by." She tried again, but was brought up short. The flashlight was pointed at Riley and his surprise was evident as he observed Caroline trying to get past him.
I walked over and saw that I had no trouble either, going through the door and standing with Riley. When James tried to follow, he was stopped as well.
"What is this?" I said, growing more than a little concerned as to why James and Caroline couldn't get through.
"It has to be a protection spell. I don't think we can go any further. We'll have to turn back," James said.
"No!” I panicked. “Riley and I can keep going. We're too close, James! So close, I can feel it." I touched his arm, silently willing him to let me go, knowing it would be a long shot. I continued, "If you can't get by, anyone else who could hurt us probably can’t either, right?"
He gritted his teeth. “Not necessarily. We don’t know what is in there. It's too dangerous," he said firmly.
"James, we don't have any choice here," Caroline said and I responded with a thankful smile.
"I'll look out for her," Riley said.
James sighed, unhappy with the decision, and ran his hands through his hair. "Be quick." He nodded and I took the cell phone from Caroline.
I turned and was about to walk away, but James called my name. “Ariya,” he waited for me to bring my light around to look at him. “I mean it. Be quick. Any signs of trouble, come back immediately.”
I nodded, acknowledging his request, and turned to continue further into the room. There was a small hallway leading into a larger area that could be glimpsed at the end of where our light beam reached. The hallway was large enough for Riley and me to walk side-by-side. The room we entered had no door, but opened up into a large space that looked like a study. It was clear the room hadn't been accessed in ages.
Riley started having a coughing fit over the foul smell coming from it. It seemed like no air ever circulated down there. There was a desk on one side where our light hit that appeared to have a ledger of some sort, which was open.
I shone our miniature light onto the pages. “I have no idea what language this is written in,” I said quietly.
“The others probably would. Should we take it?” he questioned.
“Let’s keep looking. Maybe if we don’t find anything else, we can.”
There was another bookshelf on the side of the room with a podium-type structure holding another large book.
"You think it might be a book of spells?" Riley asked, his voice shaky as he wiggled his hands in my direction.
"Riley!" I chided him, but it came out sounding like a stifled laugh instead of a reprimand. I was really scared but having him here, making a joke, eased my tension.
As we walked towards the desk, I felt like I was moving further away from the goal. I don't know how I knew, but I was sure what we were searching for couldn’t be found here in this room. Where could it be then, if not here? I felt so sure walking down the passageway earlier. I turned in place at the center of the circular room, trying to take in every factor. There wasn't much to see besides papers and books that we couldn't read.
I shone the light quickly around and then reminded myself to take it slower. Even the vampires took these things slowly. I moved in a steady circle this time, shining the light up and down the walls. On the second time around, I noticed another small alcove along one of the far sides of the study we were in.
"Hey, come this way." I motioned to Riley to let him know I'd be moving the light.
The alcove was small and the space leading to it appeared very narrow. When I shone the light through, I noticed a bed on the other side. Excitement fluttered inside me.
"This is it! I know this is it!" I said softly to reassure myself.
I scooted through the narrow passage easily and stared at the extravagant bedroom in front of me. The wardrobe looked like it could have taken me to Narnia. It was very large and a wooden bed with brass toppers on the four posts complemented it. There was a nightstand that had some strange carvings down the legs that looked ancient. Some other pieces of random furniture were scattered around the room as well, but everything looked like it belonged in a public museum, not here, lying unseen by anyone for centuries. The air was cleaner in here too, which made no sense. There were no windows, no place for any air to circulate and yet, it seemed cleaner. There wasn’t any stench of dampness to the room like the study I had just come from.
"Ariya?" Riley's voice was concerned and I turned, expecting him to be right inside the room with me. He wasn't.
I poked my head back out of the passage to get his attention. "Come on, you have to see this." Shining the light on him from where I stood inside the bedroom, his face grew horrified.
"Riley? What's wrong?" I turned, but nothing was behind me. “Riley?” I couldn't understand his fear. He just stared at me, shaking his head.
I crawled back towards the entrance and hopped into the larger circular room with him. He wrapped his arms around me.
"I can't get through there. I'm blocked. I saw your mouth moving but couldn't hear your words. I thought you needed help," he said, sounding a bit frantic.
I frowned, then smiled. "This has to be it then! Only I can get in. A bloodline member! Don't you see?"
"I don't know about this, Ariya, I can't hear you when you're in there. James wouldn’t like it.”
"Don’t be such a baby. It's okay. I'll be super quick. I don’t think there is another way into the room. Are you okay without the light?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine.
Just hurry up in there, okay?" He rubbed my arm briefly.
I grinned, knowing that I was about to find the weapon we'd been searching for. I hadn't been surer of anything in my life. Hopefully, we'd soon have exactly what we needed and be that much closer to destroying Audrey in a matter of moments.
I stepped back through and started looking for something, anything. The only item that seemed out of place was a book as large as an encyclopedia that was leaning against the wall next to the wardrobe. I walked over to it, pulling it aside. The movement caused a mountain of dust to almost bury me and I choked on it. Maybe the room wasn’t as clean as it first appeared. When I caught my breath, I aimed my attention back to the wall behind the book. A stone block was loose and sticking out. I tugged on it hard, but it only budged a little.
I clamped the cell phone in my mouth, trying to shine the light on the wall. I moved closer, holding the stone on either side with both hands. Twisting it and tugging at it, it finally came out. Inside the makeshift cubbyhole was a canvas of sorts. My fingers shook as I reached towards it and pulled it out. Setting the item in my lap, I began to untie the worn, brown strings enclosing it. Unwrapping it slowly, I soon uncovered a silver dagger. My breath caught. It was an actual weapon, not a spell!
The dagger itself was marvelous. It was small, something that could easily be hidden but still looked very sharp. A green emerald was embedded in the hilt and the design leading from the emerald throughout the rest of the hilt was exquisitely detailed and perfect. I was mesmerized. This was it! But could there be more? Was there another piece I would need?
"I knew you could do it," a soft voice said and I clutched the dagger in my hand as I quickly got onto my feet. My heart was pounding until I recognized the person in the room with me.
Sacrificed Page 5
