The air in the Archives was thick with the scent of decaying leather and the cold metallic tang of old spells. Julian sat on a stack of obsidian crates. He focused on the silence. Above them the heavy thuds of the gargoyles had stopped. It was replaced by a more unsettling sound. It was the rhythmic scraping of metal against stone.
"They are not clawing at the door anymore," Julian rasped. His mercury eyes were still clouded by the gray film of the curse. "They are carving into the wards. They are looking for the geometric weak points."
"The Vane Court knows the architecture of this vault as well as I do," Kaleen said. He was standing by a massive reading table of dark oak. He had three open volumes spread before him. "They are not trying to break the door. They are trying to rewrite the lock."
Elara was pacing the small circle of light provided by Kaleen's cane. She was rubbing her bare arms. The cold of the cellar was sinking into her skin. Her scent of Night-Blooming Cereus was the only thing that felt alive in the tomb.
"Mina is still digging," Elara whispered. She tapped her jaw again. Julian heard the faint and frantic buzz of the comms. "She says the auction price just hit a new ceiling. Someone just bid a private island in the Mediterranean. Why would someone trade an island for me?"
"Because you are not a girl to them," Julian said. He reached out blindly. His hand found the edge of the reading table. "You are an engine. Kaleen. What have you found?"
Kaleen let out a long and slow breath. The sound was heavy with a new kind of dread. He turned a page of a book that looked like it was bound in the skin of a reptile.
"It is not a lineage," Kaleen said. His voice was tight. "It is a manual. Silas Vance did not just give her supplements, Julian. He was following a blueprint. These resonance treatments he mentioned... they are the exact protocols used to prime a Seeker."
"Seeker," Julian repeated the word. It felt like a stone in his mouth. "The term has not been used in the Great Houses for three centuries. They were supposed to be extinct."
"A Seeker is a living conduit," Kaleen read from the text. His voice was clinical and cold. "They are born with a biological void that can channel the raw power of the Dragon's Eye or the Heart-Stone. Without a relic to anchor them, they act as a beacon for all supernatural entropy. They draw the curse out of the environment and into themselves."
Julian stood up. His knees cracked. The marble on his thighs splintered and fell away as his anger flared. "That is why the stone weeps. She is not healing me. She is sucking the curse out of my blood because her body is designed to be a vacuum for power."
Elara stopped pacing. She looked at Julian. Her eyes were wide with a mixture of horror and betrayal. "I am a vacuum? You are saying my father turned me into a magical sponge?"
"A sponge that can power a god," Kaleen corrected. He looked up from the book. "If the Fenris Pack gets hold of you, they can use your resonance to break the seals on the Shadow-Vail. If the Vane Court keeps you, they can turn Oakhaven into a fortress that never falls. But it will kill you, Miss Vance. No human frame can hold that much entropy for long."
"My father knew," Elara whispered. Her voice was hollow. "He knew it would kill me. He was just waiting for the price to get high enough."
"He was a gambler," Julian said. He moved toward her. He was guided by the heat of her anger. "He was waiting for the perfect moment to cash out. And I was the fool who bought the ticket."
A loud and sharp crack echoed through the vault. It did not come from the ceiling. It came from the mirror on the far wall. The glass didn't shatter. It began to ripple like water.
"The wards are buckling," Kaleen warned. He gripped his silver cane. "They have found the resonance of the Vane bloodline. They are using your own ancestors to unlock the door, My Lord."
"Julian!" Elara cried out.
She pointed to the mirror. The silver surface was turning black. A hand made of smoke and shadow began to push through the glass. It was followed by a face that Julian did not need eyes to recognize.
"The Vane Court does not want to talk," Julian rasped. He felt the cold returning to his chest. The stone was fighting back. "They want to harvest the anchor. Kaleen. The Heart-Stone. Where is the shard?"
"It is in the Blackwood," Kaleen said. He stepped between Elara and the mirror. "But you are in no condition to travel, Julian. You can barely see the floor beneath your feet."
"I do not need to see," Julian growled.
He reached out and grabbed Elara's wrist. The contact was an explosion of sensation. The gray film over his eyes shattered. For a moment, the Archives were flooded with a brilliant and golden light. He saw the dust motes dancing in the air. He saw the terrified beauty in Elara's face. He saw the shadow-form emerging from the mirror.
"Touch me," Julian commanded Elara. "Do not let go. If you want to survive the next ten minutes, you must be the battery they made you to be."
"I am not a battery!" Elara shouted. But she didn't pull away. She gripped his stone forearm with both hands.
Julian felt the power of the Seeker flooding into him. It was a violent and predatory heat. It was the scent of Night-Blooming Cereus turned into a weapon. The stone on his chest disintegrated. The marble on his legs turned to ash. He stood tall. He was a prince of shadow and gold.
The shadow-form from the mirror let out a hiss of frustration. It recoiled as the golden light from Elara's skin hit it like a physical blow.
"The secret exit to the woods," Julian ordered Kaleen. "Lead the way. We are leaving Oakhaven."
"And the gargoyles?" Kaleen asked.
"I am the master of this house," Julian said. His voice was a roar that shook the very foundations of the cellar. "If they want to stop me, they will have to learn what happens when a mountain decides to walk."
They ran. They fled deeper into the tunnels as the Archives began to groan under the weight of the breach. Behind them, the sounds of the Vane Court's fury echoed through the stone.
They burst out into the cold night air of the Blackwood. The trees were twisted and ancient. They were tall sentinels of shadow. The scent of the forest was damp and dark.
"Mina," Elara gasped into her comms as they scrambled through the undergrowth. "We are out. We are heading for the woods. Find the coordinates for the Heart-Stone. Now!"
"Elara, look out!" Mina's voice was a scream in her ear. "The auction just closed. The Fenris Pack didn't win. Someone else did. Someone with a much bigger appetite."
Julian stopped. He turned his head toward the deep shadows of the trees. He could hear the sound of horses. But they were not horses of flesh and bone. They were the sound of hoofbeats made of iron and fire.
"The Wild Hunt," Julian whispered.
A massive and spectral rider emerged from the mist. He was dressed in armor of bone. He held a spear of blue flame. He looked down at Elara with eyes that were voids of cold stars.
"The collateral has been moved," the rider said. His voice was the sou
nd of a thousand dying leaves. "The debt is now claimed by the Vail."