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Half-fascinated and half-repulsed, I averted my gaze. A giant, taxidermized wolf head hung over the bed. Its mouth was fixed in a snarl. I thought of Kai’s welcoming smile and grimaced. Paintings of pale, beautiful people from various centuries decorated the black walls. Across from the bed sat a black velvet couch, and next to it was a silver table. A decanter filled with crimson liquid sat on top of it.
My stomach rolled so loudly, it was a miracle the vampires did not wake from it. Freya glowered at me, and I shrugged.
How am I supposed to control my stomach? I thought. Some people don’t have spells for everything.
I followed Freya to the far corner of the room, where a tall bookshelf stood. I scanned the titles.
Dante’s Inferno, Strange Case, The Picture of Dorian Gray…
Dracula.
I barely held in a scoff.
Freya ran her hand over the left side of the bookshelf, then the right. I assumed she was looking for some hidden entrance to a secret passage. I followed her lead and ran my hand over the top of the bookshelf. I felt nothing but a flat surface.
While Freya ran her hands over the shelf, I studied the books again.
All the books were perfectly organized alphabetically by author, except for Dracula. It was in the H section instead of the S section. I placed my hand on the top of the book and was surprised by how cold it was. I hadn’t thought my hands could get colder.
I tugged on the book, and the bookshelf groaned.
“Damn it,” Freya muttered. She quickly cast a spell. The shelf continued to swing back, but now, it moved silently.
Someone mumbled something behind me.
Both of us froze. We didn’t even breathe. Reluctantly, I glanced at the vampires. One threw an arm over the other, then went still again. My heart beat rampantly, though I begged it to shut up. Regardless, the vampires remained motionless.
Freya crept silently into the dark passage beyond the bookshelf, and I hurried after her. Once we were inside, the bookshelf swung closed on its own.
“Should we be worried about that?” I whispered.
She hesitated. “I’ll get us out.”
We stood in complete darkness. The temperatures had dropped even more, though the air was drier than any other part of the mountain. It burned my throat and my lungs.
“Should we light the torch?” I asked.
No one answered, and I panicked.
“Freya?”
“Oh,” she said. “No.”
I nearly laughed. “Did you shake your head?”
“Just take my hand, Walker.”
I stuck my hand out in the direction of her voice, and her cold fingers found mine. She led me to straight ahead. The hallway was just wide enough for us to walk side-by-side. I kept my other hand on the hall’s wall to keep track of where we went. Freya’s nails scraped against the stone so I knew she did the same.
“Why can’t we light the torch?” I asked.
“We can’t risk setting off any wards yet. Vampires tend to keep track of any fires lit in their castle.”
As we traveled deeper into the darkness, shapes danced around us. They weren’t the same as those Freya had sent after me. They were just sinister blurs of color. They were clearly conjured from my own imagination, considering Freya showed no reaction to them.
Not that you could really see it if she did.
I squeezed her hand, and she did the same to mine.
