Page 179 of Eternal Surrender

“Not my concern,” Raven said.

“If you so much as lay a finger on Ingrid,” I warned him, “I will rip your heart out with my bare hands.”

“Where shall we meet you?” Lucas asked.

“Stonehenge,” Raven said. “I’ll give you until tomorrow night.”

Lucas grasped the back of my shirt, preventing me from attacking him.

Raven threw me a look of disdain and then disappeared.

Lucas’s grip slid to my arm. “William, you can’t go. It’s too dangerous.”

“They have Ingrid,” I snapped.

“Fabian would never forgive me if I let you anywhere near that place,” he said.

“Lucas, they have the scrolls.” My stare stayed on him.

“Still,” he reasoned. “You’re not going.”

I gave him a soft, knowing smile, and he melted. In that moment, he understood, we were about to begin yet another adventure together.

“Jacob will never forgive me if anything happens to you,” he whispered.

Chapter Forty

I came up for air, having navigated the murky moat of Bodiam Castle.

The stale water tasted fourteenth century. I coughed several times as I pulled myself up the side of the dank underwater cavern. An echo magnified my every move and even my breaths came back exaggerated.

Lucas’s head appeared out of the water. I grabbed the back of his shirt to pull him up and onto the ledge beside me.

“Going through the front door doesn’t sound so bad now,” Lucas whispered, resting back against the brick.

Just up ahead, the tunnel turned in a westerly direction; the echo of the water lapping was the only sound.

“Bodiam was built to fend off a French invasion.” Lucas tugged at his soaked shirt.

I raised an eyebrow. “The French again.”

He smiled at that and then his expression changed. “I’m going to die down here, I just know it.”

“No you’re not. Why don’t you stay here? You’ve got me this far.”

“I’m not letting you go in there alone.”

“Less conspicuous if it’s just one.” I peered down the tunnel.

“We get Ingrid, and then the scrolls,” Lucas said, “and then we get the hell out of here.”

“Let’s not forget Paradom.” I stood up.

Of course, helping a wily vampire escape was bound to be far more complicated than we’d planned.

“I don’t have a good feeling about any of this.” Lucas rose and sidled toward me. He jolted back and shoved me up against the wall, trying to hide us from the flashlights sweeping up and along.

There was a loud splash, and the water swirled near our feet.