Chapter 70: Chapter 70
Nobody argued after that. The building shook again beneath their feet while distant screams echoed faintly upward through the stairwell. Whatever was happening across Houston was spreading quickly now.
Corvin made the decision first.
“Move.”
The command snapped through the tension immediately. Malric started down the stairs without hesitation while the stranger fell easily into step beside him like joining dangerous situations during supernatural disasters was part of his normal routine. Jess stayed close behind Rowan this time. Rowan glanced upward once as they descended, watching emergency lights flicker weakly across the endless concrete stairwell above them. The penthouse already felt impossibly far away.
Like normal life had ended several floors ago.
“You still haven’t told us who he is,” Rowan said while keeping pace beside Corvin.
The stranger looked mildly offended. “I’m standing right here.”
“That does not make you less suspicious.”
“Again, fair.”
Corvin’s expression tightened slightly before answering.
“His name is Lucien.”
Jess immediately looked toward him. “That is the most supernatural name I’ve ever heard.”
Lucien smiled faintly. “Thank you.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“It rarely is.”
Rowan studied him more carefully while they continued downward. He looked younger than the others in some ways, though she had learned appearance meant absolutely nothing anymore. Dark hair fell loosely across his forehead while silver rings flashed occasionally beneath the dim emergency lighting every time his hand brushed the stair rail. Too calm. That was the unsettling part. The city was collapsing into supernatural chaos and Lucien looked mildly inconvenienced at worst.
“You know the reflection woman,” Rowan said.
Lucien’s gaze shifted toward her briefly.
“Yes.”
The simple answer tightened the atmosphere immediately.
Jess noticed too. “That response contained emotional damage.”
Lucien laughed softly under his breath.
“You’re observant.”
“I’m surviving entirely through anxiety and pattern recognition.”
“That’s fair.”
Corvin’s voice cut cleanly through the conversation. “How much do you know?”
Lucien’s expression faded back toward seriousness.
“Enough to understand we are running out of time.”
Not helpful. Apparently ancient supernatural men all attended the same communication classes. Another pulse rolled through the building. This one stronger than the others. The stairwell lights burst overhead several floors above them, showering sparks briefly through the darkness before dying completely.
Jess physically ducked. “Nope. Absolutely not.”
Malric glanced upward briefly. “She’s destabilizing the entire network.”
Lucien nodded once. “The veil was already weakening before she woke.”
Rowan frowned. “Because of the city?”
Lucien looked toward her again, sharper this time.
“Partially.”
That single word carried enough weight to make Rowan’s stomach tighten.
Corvin noticed immediately.
“Lucien.”
The warning in his voice was subtle but unmistakable.
Lucien sighed softly. “You always become dramatic when protecting someone.”
“And you never become dramatic enough.”
Jess looked between them slowly. “Okay, so everybody here clearly has centuries of emotionally complicated history.”
“That is unfortunately accurate,” Malric muttered.
The lower they descended, the stranger the building felt. Pressure gathered heavily through the stairwell now, almost humming beneath the concrete walls around them. Rowan could feel it through the bond too. Corvin stayed controlled beside her, but tension sharpened through him more with every floor. Then Rowan heard it. Whispering. Faint. Barely audible beneath the sound of their footsteps. She slowed instinctively.
Corvin noticed immediately. “What is it?”
Rowan frowned slightly, listening harder.
“I thought I heard…”
The whisper came again. Not from ahead of them. Not below. Inside the walls.
Jess went pale almost instantly. “Please tell me everyone else hears that.”
Malric stopped walking. Lucien’s expression darkened. Well. That answered that. The whispering spread slowly through the stairwell around them, dozens of overlapping voices murmuring too quietly to fully understand. Rowan caught fragments only half formed beneath the sound.
...awake...
...found...
...below...
A sharp crack echoed somewhere beneath the building. The whispering stopped instantly. Silence crashed back over the stairwell. Then something massive hit the lower floors. The entire structure lurched violently sideways.
Jess screamed.
Rowan slammed into the railing hard enough to bruise while concrete groaned around them like the skyscraper itself was in pain. Dust rained from the ceiling overhead as the emergency lights flickered wildly.
Far below them, something roared. Not human. Not even close. The sound ripped upward through the stairwell with enough force to vibrate through Rowan’s chest. Lucien looked downward into the darkness beneath them. For the first time since appearing, he no longer looked calm.
“She found the building.”
Another impact hit below them.Closer. The stairwell lights died completely. Darkness swallowed everything. Rowan’s breath caught sharply before Corvin’s hand closed instantly around hers. The bond surged warm and steady through the panic threatening to spike inside her chest.
“I’m here,” he said quietly beside her.
The calm certainty in his voice grounded her immediately. A pale silver glow appeared a second later farther down the stairs. Lucien. Energy moved faintly beneath his skin now, outlining the sharp edges of his expression in dim unnatural light. Ancient symbols flickered briefly along the silver rings on his hands before fading again.
Jess stared at him. “Okay, that’s new and concerning.”
“Later,” Malric said sharply.
Another roar thundered upward beneath them. This time accompanied by the sound of metal tearing apart somewhere below the building.
Corvin pulled Rowan closer instinctively while scanning the darkness beneath the stairwell.
“How far down?”
Lucien listened briefly before answering.
“Too close.”
“That is not a distance.”
“No,” Lucien agreed calmly. “It’s a warning.”
Jess made a stressed sound under her breath. “I miss normal problems.”
“You never handled normal problems well either,” Rowan whispered automatically.
Jess looked personally attacked. “Emotionally unnecessary.”
The building shook again. A deafening crash exploded several floors below them followed immediately by screaming. Human screaming.
Rowan froze.
“Oh my God.”
Corvin’s expression hardened instantly.
“They’re still evacuating the lower floors.”
Another impact hit. Closer again. The stairwell rail twisted loudly several floors beneath them like something enormous had collided with it. Then the whispering returned. Louder now. The voices no longer sounded trapped inside the walls. They sounded excited.
...found her...
...the bond...
...open...
Rowan went cold.
Lucien’s head snapped toward her immediately.
“She can hear the city.”
Malric looked genuinely alarmed now. “That’s accelerating too fast.”
Rowan stared at them. “Can somebody please stop talking about me like I’m not standing here?”
Corvin’s grip tightened slightly around her hand. “Rowan.”
“No. Seriously. Everybody keeps saying cryptic horrifying things and I would love one complete explanation before we die in the haunted skyscraper.”
Despite the situation, Lucien almost smiled.
“She really is yours.”
The words slipped out quietly enough that Rowan almost missed them.Corvin did not. The temperature in the stairwell seemed to drop another degree. Before anybody could respond, something slammed into the stairwell door three floors beneath them hard enough to dent the metal inward. Everyone froze. Another impact followed immediately after. The steel screamed.
Jess whispered one terrified word.
“No.”