The first bullet shattered the coffee pot on Jax's desk.
Glass sprayed the room like diamonds. Clara hit the floor before the sound reached her ears. Vane was already moving. He shoved Jax toward the back exit as a second round chewed into the computer monitors. The screens died in a hiss of sparks and melting plastic.
"They found us!" Jax screamed. He was clutching a hard drive to his chest. "How did they find us?"
"The ash." Vane's voice was a low growl. He grabbed a heavy metal table and flipped it. creating a barrier against the door. "Elena isn't just breathing it. She's tracking it. My blood is still connected to the source."
The heavy iron door of the basement blew off its hinges. A flash-bang grenade rolled into the center of the room. The light was blinding. The sound was a hammer to the skull.
Clara felt the floor vibrate as three men in grey tactical gear surged through the smoke. They didn't look like guards. They looked like statues. Their skin had a dull. metallic sheen. Their eyes were vacant and milky white.
"Vesper Security," Clara hissed. She gripped the silver knife she had taken from the vault.
The lead soldier didn't speak. He raised a rifle. Before he could pull the trigger. Vane was on him.
Vane didn't fight like a billionaire anymore. He fought like a man who had nothing to lose but his soul. He drove his shoulder into the soldier's chest. He felt the ribcage crack under the impact. He wrenched the rifle away and used the butt of the gun to cave in the man's helmet.
The soldier didn't bleed red. He bled a thick. glowing grey fluid.
"They're turning into it," Clara said. Her stomach turned. "They're becoming the ritual."
"We have to go. Now!" Vane shouted.
They scrambled through the back hatch into the sewer line. The air was thick with the stench of waste and old chemicals. They ran until the sounds of the gunfire faded into the steady drip of the tunnel.
Jax stopped. gasping for air. He leaned against the damp brick wall. "We're dead. We're all dead. Elena Vance has an army of ghosts. and we have a kitchen knife and a broken computer."
"We have the location of the Conduit," Vane said. He was leaning against the wall. sweat dripping into his eyes. He looked older. grayer. but the fire in his gaze was hotter than ever.
"The what?" Clara asked.
"The tower was the body. but the Underbelly has the heart." Vane pointed deeper into the tunnel. "The Thorne family didn't build the first altar in the sky. They built it in the foundation of the old city. It's a mercury well located directly under the central train station. It's the kill-switch. If we dump enough of the purified ash back into the well. it shorts the circuit. It kills the magic. Every soldier Elena has will turn back into a corpse."
"And Elena?" Clara asked.
"She will be at the center of the explosion."
"And you?" Clara stepped closer to him. She saw the way he was clutching his side. "What happens to you if the circuit shorts?"
Vane looked at her. He didn't answer. He didn't have to. If the connection was severed. the last thread holding his ancient life together would snap.
"We need a distraction." Vane said. turning to Jax. "Can you get into the city's PA system?"
Jax wiped his nose. A spark of his old ego returned. "I can make the whole city sing the national anthem in reverse if you give me ten minutes and a signal booster."
"Good." Vane looked at Clara. "We're going to the station. We're going to give the Underbelly something to look at while we go for the throat."
"Wait." Clara said. She looked at the shadows at the end of the tunnel. A figure was watching them.
It was the Sin-Eater. He was standing perfectly still. His necklace of teeth rattled in a wind that didn't exist.
"You're going to need more than a distraction." the Sin-Eater said. He reached into his coat and pulled out a small. black vial. "You're going to need a sacrifice that isn't blood."
"I'm not letting her die." Vane snapped.
"Not her." The Sin-Eater tossed the vial to Vane. "The memory of you. If you drink this. the city forgets the name Vesper. The legend dies. The power dies. You become a ghost before you even reach the well. Elena won't be able to track you."
Vane looked at the vial. He looked at Clara.
"Do it." Clara said.
Vane opened the vial. The liquid smelled of dust and forgotten dreams. He drank it in one gulp.
His golden eyes didn't just fade. They turned as dark as a winter night. The air around him stopped humming. The weight of his presence vanished. He looked like just another man in the dark.
"Let's go kill a legacy." Vane said.