Chapter 84

Elizabeth

“The prison is opening.”

The words slam into the hallway like a physical force.

Every hair on my body stands up.

Beside me, Chloe freezes.

Vanessa’s fingers instantly wrap around my wrist.

The servant standing at the end of the corridor isn’t moving.

Isn’t blinking.

Isn’t breathing.

She’s just standing there smiling with a face that doesn’t belong to her anymore.

My stomach twists violently.

No.

Nope.

Absolutely not.

The voice that comes from her mouth isn’t human.

It’s the same voice from the creature at the gates.

The same layered sound.

The same thing that makes my skin crawl.

The servant’s head tilts slowly.

Almost curiously.

Like she’s studying me.

Like she’s waiting for something.

For a moment nobody moves.

Then Chloe does what Chloe always does when terrified.

She gets angry.

“What is wrong with everybody?” she shouts. “Can we stop possessing people?!”

The servant’s smile widens.

The lights flicker.

Once.

Twice.

Then stabilize.

A cold breeze sweeps through the corridor despite every window being closed.

My pulse races.

I hate this.

I hate every single thing about this.

“Elizabeth.”

The servant speaks my name.

My blood runs cold.

Because she shouldn’t know it.

The smile widens further.

“You hear it too, don’t you?”

The symbol on my hand suddenly burns.

Pain shoots through my arm.

I gasp.

Vanessa immediately notices.

“Elizabeth!”

The servant laughs.

A horrible sound.

Not loud.

Not dramatic.

Just wrong.

Like something pretending to understand human laughter.

Then—

A blur of movement.

Damon appears between us and the servant so fast I barely register it.

One second he’s gone.

The next he’s there.

Standing directly in front of me.

Protective.

Dangerous.

Furious.

The servant’s smile disappears instantly.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

Even possessed demon messages apparently have self-preservation instincts.

Damon’s voice comes out cold enough to freeze oceans.

“Leave.”

The servant doesn’t move.

Instead she laughs again.

“You cannot protect her forever.”

Silver flashes across Damon’s eyes.

The temperature in the hallway seems to drop ten degrees instantly.

“You have three seconds.”

The servant’s expression shifts.

Not fear.

Amusement.

Which somehow feels worse.

“She’s already connected.”

The symbol burns harder.

I suck in a sharp breath.

The servant notices immediately.

Then slowly—

Deliberately—

She points at me.

And says:

“The door remembers.”

Every instinct in my body screams.

Something about those words feels wrong.

Important.

Dangerous.

Like a puzzle piece clicking into place.

Before I can think about it further, Vanessa suddenly steps forward.

“No.”

Everyone looks at her.

Even Damon.

Vanessa’s eyes are glowing faintly now.

Magic crackling beneath her skin.

Not black this time.

Not dark.

Purple.

Beautiful.

Powerful.

She raises one shaking hand.

And speaks.

Words I don’t understand.

Ancient words.

Witch words.

The corridor explodes with light.

The servant screams.

Actually screams.

The voice changes instantly.

Distorts.

Breaks apart.

Like something is being ripped out of her.

The lights flicker violently.

Windows shake.

The entire mansion groans.

Then—

Silence.

The servant collapses.

Straight to the floor.

My heart leaps into my throat.

“Oh my God!”

I rush forward.

Chloe right behind me.

The woman is breathing.

Alive.

Just unconscious.

Thank God.

Vanessa sways slightly beside us.

The spell clearly took something out of her.

Damon notices too.

His eyes narrow.

“Vanessa.”

“I’m fine.”

She is absolutely not fine.

Everyone can tell.

Including her.

But she’s too stubborn to admit it.

Which is honestly becoming one of her defining personality traits.

Adam appears from another corridor carrying several old books.

He takes one look at the unconscious servant.

Then at Vanessa.

Then sighs.

“Something tells me things got worse.”

Nobody answers him.

Because yes.

Obviously.

Things always get worse.

⸻

An hour later we’re back in the library.

Again.

At this point I should probably just move my bedroom here.

The library has officially become headquarters for supernatural disasters.

The servant is resting downstairs.

Apparently she’ll recover.

Which is the first good thing that’s happened all week.

Unfortunately everything else is terrible.

I sit curled up on one of the couches while everyone argues.

Well.

Mostly Damon and Adam.

“The creature shouldn’t be capable of possession,” Adam says.

“It shouldn’t be capable of existing,” Damon replies.

Fair point.

Very fair point.

Lucien is pacing now.

A dangerous sign.

I’ve noticed Lucien only paces when genuinely worried.

Which means we’re all doomed.

“I don’t like this.”

Chloe blinks.

“That’s your contribution?”

“Yes.”

“Groundbreaking.”

Lucien points at her.

“I liked you more when you weren’t sarcastic.”

“I’ve always been sarcastic.”

“Fair.”

Meanwhile Tristan is reading through ancient texts at alarming speed.

And Vanessa looks exhausted.

Her face is pale.

Her eyes tired.

I don’t like it.

Not one bit.

I move closer to her.

“You okay?”

She hesitates.

Then shrugs.

“My magic feels weird.”

My stomach sinks.

“Weird how?”

Vanessa looks down at her hands.

“Different.”

The answer isn’t reassuring.

At all.

Across the room Damon’s attention flicks toward us instantly.

Always listening.

Always noticing.

It should annoy me.

Instead it makes me nervous for completely different reasons.

Which is honestly worse.

Adam suddenly closes one of the books.

Hard.

The sound makes everyone jump.

“I found something.”

The room stills.

Instantly.

Because in this mansion those words are never followed by good news.

Adam slides the ancient book across the table.

Toward Damon.

Toward me.

Everyone leans forward.

The page is old.

Yellowed.

Covered in symbols and illustrations.

One image immediately catches my attention.

A door.

A red door.

My stomach drops.

The exact same door from my vision.

The exact same flowers surrounding it.

The exact same shape.

Silence fills the room.

Nobody speaks.

Because everybody knows.

This matters.

I slowly reach toward the page.

My fingers trembling slightly.

The moment I touch the illustration—

Pain explodes through my head.

A vision slams into me.

Sudden.

Violent.

Overwhelming.

I gasp.

The library disappears.

And suddenly—

I’m somewhere else.

Standing before the red door.

Again.

The flowers surround me.

Thousands of them.

Red as blood.

The air smells strange.

Ancient.

Rotten.

Wrong.

The door stands before me.

Waiting.

Watching.

This time it’s different though.

Because now I can hear something.

Scratching.

From the other side.

Slow.

Deliberate.

Like claws dragging across wood.

My entire body locks up.

No.

No no no.

The scratching grows louder.

Then—

A voice.

Soft.

Ancient.

Hungry.

“Elizabeth.”

Terror crashes through me.

Because whatever is behind that door—

Knows my name.

The flowers begin bleeding.

Red liquid spills across the ground.

The scratching becomes pounding.

Something is trying to get out.

Something big.

Something terrible.

And then—

The door moves.

Just slightly.

A tiny crack appearing between the frame.

My heart stops.

Because through that crack—

I see an eye.

Watching me.

And it opens.

⸻

I wake up screaming.

The library snaps back into focus.

Everyone is standing.

Damon is kneeling beside me.

His hands gripping my shoulders.

The room is silent.

Terrified.

Waiting.

My breathing comes in sharp gasps.

My entire body shaking.

“Elizabeth.”

Damon’s voice sounds distant.

Concerned.

Urgent.

I look directly at him.

Then at the book.

Then back at him.

And the words tumble out before I can stop them.

“It’s opening.”

The room goes deathly silent.

Because this time—

I know I wasn’t talking about the vision.

I was talking about the real door.