“Jack?” called Mira. “Are you okay? You haven’t been responding to us for the past few minutes.”
“I’m alright,” said Jack. “The mirror is definitely cursed. Be careful as you pass by it. Maybe even try walking backwards to avoid looking into it.”
“What?” said Pierce. “We didn’t see anything amiss from here.”
“Just trust me,” said Jack.
He slipped around to the other side of the mirror, letting out a sigh of relief as he felt himself moving out of its range. The details of the accident were still burned into his mind. The memory felt real, more real than the other images the mirror had shown him. It was devastating and unfair to have remembered what he just had, and it only left him with more questions.
CHAPTER 33
“I’ll go next,” said Katie.
“Seriously,” said Jack. “Whatever you do, don’t look into the mirror.”
“I’m not a child, Jack,” said Katie. “I can manage this.”
She scowled at him and then turned around so her back was facing the mirror, as he’d suggested. Jack watched as she slowly made her way through the dim room. She took small, backwards steps, and eventually slowed to a stop a short distance before passing the mirror completely.
“Katie…” said Jack. He started toward her, but it was already too late.
Katie spun around to face the mirror as though she’d just heard someone mocking her behind her back. Jack watched her face, unable to see her reflection in the mirror from where she stood. She blinked several times in quick succession, and her mouth slowly opened wide with horror.
“It’s going to mix truth with lies, Katie,” said Jack. “If you can hear me, just try your best to stay calm. Don’t do what it says.”
“I doubt she can hear you,” called Mira, from the other side of the room.
Katie stood where she was for several long minutes. Her eyes told a part of the story, widening and glancing from side to side at whatever the mirror was showing her. She shook her head a lot, and at one point, she winced and let out a stifled sob.
“No…” muttered Katie. “No!”
She screamed, as whatever she was being shown intensified, and she clamped her hands over her ears, shutting her eyes tight. Jack took the opportunity to inject himself into the situation. Without walking all the way around to the other side of the mirror, he grabbed Katie’s shoulder and forcibly pulled her beyond it, pulling her to the other side of the room.
“No!” cried Katie. “Get back! I… I’ll—”
“Relax,” said Jack. “It’s just me.”
She glanced around, still holding a tight, panicked tension in the set of her shoulders and body language.
“Oh god…” she whispered, with a shudder. “That was… horrible. I didn’t realize it would be able to see my memories like that.”
“What did it show you?” asked Jack.
Katie didn’t answer him, and she made a point of not looking at him. Jack decided that it was probably unfair for him to press on with the question unless he felt comfortable talking about his own visions, which he didn’t.
“We’re wasting time,” said Mira. “Let us not linger on this particular obstacle.”
She started walking forward, not bothering to turn her back to the mirror, as Katie had. She still seemed a little unsteady on her legs from her earlier injury, but Mira had a different kind of strength to showcase. As she drew near enough to the mirror to be vulnerable to its effects, she waggled her fingers in a teasing wave, and then blew it a kiss.
She didn’t break stride as she made her way past it.
“Uh, wow,” said Jack. “You didn’t mention that you were immune to curses.”
“I’m not,” said Mira. “But I do have a lot more experience than the rest of you at resisting them.”
She moved to stand close to Jack, pulling him into an embrace from the side. He was surprised by how much better it made him feel, almost instantly pushing aside the dark anxiety his own brush with the mirror had stirred up. Katie scowled at the two of them before turning her attention toward Pierce, who’d started toward the mirror.
Pierce made no attempt at trying to go around the mirror or shield his gaze from it. He stood in front of it, staring into his own reflection, his expression revealing nothing of what was transpiring within.
“Pierce,” called Katie. “Don’t let it trick you.”
“I don’t think he can hear you,” said Jack.
“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try!” snapped Katie.
Pierce starting mouthing silent words. He licked his lips, and then ran his hands over his face, deep in deliberation. Then, he started to laugh.
It was a strange sound, simultaneously harsh and over the top, and it echoed off the walls of the chamber. Pierce laughed for at least a minute straight. And then he lifted one of his arms and reached toward the mirror.
“He’s going to touch it!” hissed Jack.
“He won’t,” said Katie. “He’s strong enough to resist.”
Was he? Pierce’s hand slowly moved toward the mirror, and there was a certainty in his eyes which made it seem like an inevitability. Jack wasn’t about to find out what happened when one of them fell for the mirror’s trick.
He gathered his blood essence and formed a Spectral Hand tendril, reaching out and looping the shadowy arm around Pierce’s wrist the instant before his fingers grazed the mirror’s surface. Pierce flinched visibly. Jack pulled him to the side, and then past the mirror, where he seemed to come back to his senses and reality.
“That…” Pierce shook his head. “I don’t know what that was.”
“It’s okay,” said Katie. She took Pierce’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “We all were on the verge of falling for it.”
Mira rolled her eyes.
“I wasn’t going to,” said Pierce. “I was just curious. That’s all.”
“Uh-huh,” said Jack. “Well, we’re past it now. We should keep moving.”
Pierce nodded, though he was still looking in the direction of the mirror. The four of them continued onward, passing through a large, open doorway and onto a staircase leading further underground.
The chamber they found themselves in at the bottom of the stairs was pitch black, lacking the illumination provided by the glowing murals in the previous rooms. Jack felt to either side of the doorway at the bottom and discovered two fresh torches hanging from metal sconces set into the wall.
Pierce pulled a cigarette lighter out of his pocket and used it to coax a flame onto the first torch, which he then pressed against the tip of the second to light it as well. They gave enough light for them to see what the darkness had been hiding.
The chamber was filled with old death. Human bones littered the ground, along with ancient rusted weapons and tatters of cloth. Jack couldn’t begin to imagine how many bodies must have once been dumped in the chamber. Hundreds? Thousands, maybe?
There were no fresh corpses, which was a minor consolation. The chamber’s smell was a mixture of dust, chalk, and mold, rather than the fresh, pungent aroma of recent death. A path had been cleared through the otherwise ankle-deep bone pile, and it led straight to a massive door underneath an archway on the chamber’s far side.
“This is fucking unreal,” muttered Katie.
“I think it was some kind of dumping ground,” said Jack. “Maybe this is where one of the keep’s old lords disposed of his victims, or thralls, or something.”
“Unlikely,” said Mira. “There are better ways to dispose of corpses. And most of these bones look to be around the same age.”
“What do you think happened, then?” asked Jack.
Mira grimaced.
“If I had to speculate,” said Mira. “I would guess that a vast number of people were locked within this chamber. Permanently.”
“Oof,” said Jack. “Maybe I shouldn’t have asked.”
He tried not to think about what would happen to them if Pierce was wrong, a
nd there was no other way out of the vaults. If that was the case, Volandar could simply sabotage the door they’d come in through and leave them to add their own bones to the pile scattered across the floor.
“This is fucking gross,” said Katie. “Can we get this over with?”
“Yeah,” said Jack. “Let’s keep moving.”
They took one of the torches with them, leaving the other by the door. The chamber was silent other than their own footsteps and the rattling sound that ensued whenever one of them accidentally kicked a bone or a skull. To Jack, it didn’t feel like a place intended for the living.
The four of them came to a stop in front of the door on the other side. It was similar to the very first door Jack had encountered in the room with the ghouls, with a round indentation in its center.
“I think the keystone is needed for this one,” said Jack.
Pierce had been quiet for a while, and he’d lagged a little behind the rest of the group. He slowly walked over to them and stood in front of the door, staring at it with a distant look on his face.
“Pierce?” said Katie.
Pierce shook his head and cleared his throat.
“Right,” he said. “Here.”
He pulled the spherical jewel out of his pocket and pressed it into the doorway. A bright, red light immediately burst forth from the door’s center line, and it pulled open, each half sliding outward in much the same way as a modern automatic door, inviting them in.
CHAPTER 34
The chamber on the other side was smaller than the one they were leaving and lit by a chandelier encrusted with white luminescent crystals. Jack knew instantly that it held what they’d come to find.
An egregious amount of treasure was scattered about the relatively confined space. Jack counted half a dozen open chests stuffed full of ancient-looking gold coins, crystals, and jewels the size of his eyes. A long weapon rack running across one side of the room held a plethora of ornate swords, spears, and maces clearly intended for show rather than actual use.
Paintings and intricately carved busts of ancient vampire lords and ladies adorned the walls and sat atop stone stands. A bookshelf in the corner held a hundred or so pristine tomes, some of which looked rare by simple virtue of the arcane lettering across their spines.
It was a treasure hoard worthy of any dragon or pirate. Jack grinned stupidly as he slowly made his way around the room. He knew there was no chance they’d be able to take most of it with them, but still wondered how much each of the gold coins would be worth, assuming he could find a buyer.
There was also a door near the bookshelf in the corner which he assumed led outside, as Pierce had suggested earlier. It would save them from having to walk by the cursed mirror again on their way out—as long as they could get it open.
“A lot of this stuff looks like it’s been down here for centuries,” muttered Katie. “Are we really the first intruders to break into this vault?”
“It’s not unlikely,” said Mira. “At least in the time since Volandar has taken over. I suspect that the way he ruled over the Jade Circle gave the keep a certain… reputation. One that most thieves would think twice about before taking their chances with.”
Jack nodded, and then he noticed Pierce walking ahead of the rest of the group. He was heading toward a weapon rack apart from the rest. One that held a single scepter made of polished bronze, with a steel spike protruding from the tip and five rubies set into its head.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” asked Jack.
Pierce didn’t answer him. His eyes reflected the rubies as he stared at the weapon, his brow furrowed in an intense, satisfied expression.
“Zedekiah’s Scepter,” muttered Pierce. “The only one of its kind. And I’ve finally found it.”
“The only one of its kind?” asked Jack. “If it’s so rare, I wonder why Volandar didn’t just keep it close to him. Putting it inside a vault like this is just asking for it to be stolen.”
Pierce looked over his shoulder at Jack. His face was an unreadable mask, and his eyes were cold.
“Because it isn’t a weapon for vampires,” said Pierce.
He reached forward and seized the scepter. Bright white light flashed as soon as his fingers made contact with the scepter’s shaft, emanating not just outward but into Pierce as well. It was intense enough to force Jack to look away, and it left a multicolored afterimage against his vision.
When he finally looked back in Pierce’s direction, he wasn’t sure what he was seeing. Pierce still held the scepter, which now pulsed and hummed with power, the rubies set into it emanating a deep, red light. Pierce’s eyes were glowing, too, and not their original color. His irises had turned silver, and they shone with more intensity in time with the pulsing of the scepter.
“Pierce…” said Katie. “Are you okay?”
“I’ve never been better,” said Pierce. “I’ve dreamed of this kind of power. The scepter… it’s like a deep well.”
Pierce took a deep breath, and electricity crackled across his chest and up the length of his arms. Katie took a step forward, holding a hand out toward him and frowning.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked.
Pierce’s expression softened a little, and he nodded his head.
“It’s still me,” he said. “Truly, it is. The feeling of the magic coursing through me is a little infectious, but the scepter hasn’t stolen my free will, if that’s what you’re worried about. Which you should keep in mind, given what I’m about to do next.”
Pierce stepped by Katie and turned his attention toward Mira. She’d been watching the scene play out, but still wasn’t ready for Pierce as he hurled himself forward and sank the tip of the scepter deep into her shoulder.
Mira screamed as magical electricity danced over her body, scattering her blonde hair outward and forcing all of her muscles to tense at once. She fell backward to the ground, clamping a hand over her shoulder and making no attempt to stand back up.
“You bastard!” shouted Jack. “Pierce! I won’t let you kill her.”
“I know you won’t,” said Pierce. “That’s why I waited until I had the scepter to attempt it. Obviously.”
He turned to face Jack, pointing the spiked tip of the scepter at his chest.
“There are consequences for all actions,” said Pierce. “Forcing me to let your disgusting broodmother suck blood from my neck has consequences. Consequences which I shall now carry out.”
He shuddered slightly before letting his expression fade back into a stony mask.
“It was to save her life,” said Jack.
“And I should care about her… why?” asked Pierce. “She dies here, Jack. I have the power to decide what happens now. Not you.”
“You sound awfully sure of yourself,” said Jack.
Pierce grinned.
“If you knew as much as I did about this weapon, you’d understand why,” said Pierce.
“You’re pathetic,” said Jack. “Breaking our deal on an impulse? I thought you were a man of your word.”
Jack glanced over at Katie, who’d taken a step back from the standoff. She had a guilty look on her face, and her arms were tightly folded over her breasts. She wouldn’t look at him or Pierce, despite both their efforts to try to catch her eye.
“Don’t take it personally,” said Pierce. “I’m not planning on turning this weapon over to the Order of Chaldea, either. Everyone’s life has turning points in it. You should know this as well as anyone.”
Pierce let his fingers tap against the scepter and took a step forward. Jack crouched down next to Mira, who still seemed to be stunned from the effects of the stab she’d taken. He carefully slid her over to one of the room’s walls and out of the way of the oncoming fight.
Her shoulder was still bleeding, which was odd. The wound Pierce had inflicted on her wasn’t that bad, by vampire standards, but it hadn’t closed up. If Zedekiah’s Scepter could inflict wounds that even his vampiric regeneration couldn�
�t heal, it would make things tricky for him. Pierce landing even just a single blow on him might be enough to end the fight. He would have to be perfect.
“If you really want to do this that badly,” said Jack. “Then let’s go. Come at me.”
Pierce let out a low chuckle.
“You know, I do have a certain kind of respect for you, Jack,” said Pierce. “Keep that in mind for the short while you have left to live.”
“Suck a dick,” said Jack.
He reached his hand to the side and conjured his Spectral Sword. No sooner than the ethereal blade materialized did Pierce make his move, slamming forward into him with his shoulder.
Jack went flying much farther than he’d been expecting to and landed in a hard sprawl on top of one of the treasure chests. Gold, despite being a soft metal, was still much harder than the side of his face.
He felt his heart beat a little faster as he pulled himself to his feet and realized the stakes. If he lost to Pierce, both he and Mira would die. He hadn’t felt much fear for his own safety since becoming a vampire, but knowing that he was fighting for someone else’s life too made the pressure all the more real.
Pierce charged toward Jack, stabbing the point of the scepter at his chest. He was faster and stronger than he’d been before. Faster and stronger than Jack was, even. Jack managed to swipe the strike away with his Spectral Sword, but his fingers tingled as his weapon made contact with the scepter. No mark was left on the point of impact on the scepter’s shaft, meaning that the weapon’s composition was likely also fortified by magic.
Jack went on the offensive, slashing with his Spectral Sword and trying to force Pierce back into the corner of the room. It was like trying to cut through the wind. Pierce seemed to blur out of the way each time he dodged, flashing a taunting smile at Jack as he came back into view. He didn’t seize on every opening to attack, and he didn’t hide the fact that he was toying with him.
“It’s tragic, really,” said Pierce. “So much spirit and resolve. Too much for a nightwalker.”
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