The Underbelly did not celebrate the fall of the Zenith Tower. It watched in silence. When the lights in the high-rise flickered and died. a collective breath was held in the slums. Then the scavenging began.
Clara led Vane through a labyrinth of steam pipes and rusted fire escapes. He moved like a man walking through a dream. or a nightmare. Every sound made him flinch. The splash of a puddle. The distant bark of a stray dog. The world was too loud for a man who had lived in a soundproof tomb.
"This way." Clara whispered. She pulled him into a narrow gap between two crumbling tenements.
They reached a heavy iron door reinforced with scrap metal. Clara punched a code into a keypad that was missing half its buttons. The door groaned open to reveal a low-ceilinged room filled with monitors. cables. and the smell of burnt coffee.
"Jax. I need a favor."
A man spun around in a swivel chair. He was younger than Vane. with neon-green hair and eyes that never seemed to blink. This was Jax. the premier data-leech of the Underbelly.
"Clara? You're supposed to be dead. The word on the street is the Vesper collectors finally caught—" Jax stopped. His eyes drifted to the man standing behind her. He recognized the face from every billboard and news cycle. "Is that... is that Vane Vesper?"
"He's not a Vesper anymore." Clara said. She pushed Vane toward a stained velvet sofa. He sat down heavily. His skin was pale. sweat beading on his forehead. "He's a ghost. And he needs a place to hide."
Jax stood up. a wicked grin spreading across his face. "The King of the Clouds in my basement? This is the best day of my life. Or the last."
"The tower is dead. Jax." Vane said. His voice was raw. "The bank accounts are frozen. The legal entities are dissolving. There is nothing left to take."
"That's where you're wrong. Vane." Jax tapped a screen. A map of the city appeared. glowing with red dots. "You didn't just break a bank. You broke a vacuum. Every minor cult. every corporate shark. and every shadow-syndicate is currently racing to the Zenith ruins. They don't want your money. They want the Ledger fragments."
Vane looked up. his eyes sharpening. "The book was destroyed."
"Energy doesn't just vanish." Jax said. He leaned over the monitors. "Reports are coming in from the site. The dust from the altar? It's glowing. People are breathing it in. They're seeing things. They're getting stronger. The city isn't free. Vane. It's infected."
A new player had entered the board.
A woman appeared on the main screen. She was dressed in a sharp. grey suit. standing in front of the ruins of the tower. She looked calm. professional. and entirely heartless.
"That's Elena Vance." Clara said. "She was the head of Vesper Security."
"She is the head of the new Order." Jax corrected. "She didn't run when the ceiling fell. She gathered the elite guards. They've cordoned off the Iron Vault. They're harvesting the ash."
Elena Vance looked into the camera as if she could see through the screen. "Vane Vesper is a traitor to the legacy." she said to a crowd of reporters. "He tried to take the light with him. But the light belongs to those with the will to hold it."
Vane stood up. The room felt smaller. He looked at his hands. They were steadying. The mortality was settling in. but the instinct for war remained.
"She doesn't know what she's playing with." Vane said.
"She knows exactly what she's doing." a new voice came from the back of the room.
A tall. thin man stepped out of the shadows. He wore a long coat and a necklace of teeth. He was a Sin-Eater. one of the few who dealt with the paranormal debris of the Underbelly.
"The pact wasn't just a contract. Vane." the man said. "It was a dam. You broke the dam. and now the river is flooding. If Vance gets enough of that ash. she won't need a ledger. She will become the ritual herself."
Clara looked from the Sin-Eater to Vane. The victory in the vault felt short-lived. The monster was dead. but the blood was still in the water.
"We have to stop her." Clara said.
"With what?" Jax asked. "We're in a basement. They have a private army."
Vane looked at Clara. A dark. human determination filled his gaze. "They have an army. But I built the tower. I know where the foundations are weak. And I know the one thing Silas never told Elena Vance."
"What's that?" Clara asked.
"The pact has a kill-switch."