Chapter 27: Alucard

I felt flames coming from my skin, rising and whirling in beautiful but dangerous spirals. They moved around on my shoulders and over my arms, and I felt my wolf for the first time in what seemed like a long time.

Not made weaker. Not far away.

She was still living. She was very angry. She wasn't the only one.

Outside of my blood and any prophecy, there was something else inside me. Something nasty and scary.

And mine.

Then the world broke apart just as quickly.

I screamed so hard that I couldn't breathe when I woke up in the cell.

I was shaking and drenched in cold sweat. I was still stuck in the chains. It was still dark.

But now something was different.

My fingers had a faint glow that looked like red-gold paint.

Sage's eyes got narrow and his head snapped up.

He said in a quiet, amazed voice, "You had a dream."

I wasn't quick to answer. I was unable.

Because the dream wasn't real.

It served to warn.

I was never meant to be locked up.

I wasn't quick to answer.

Instead, I raised my hands and watched the faint bits of red-gold light move across my skin. They were living and warm. Like sounds of something that was always there, getting ready to be remembered.

I said in a whisper, "It wasn't a dream." "It was... a thought."

Sage's face turned dark. "Then we don't have time."

As he moved towards a dark area of the dungeon, his chains dragged against the ground with a low scrape. I was shocked as I saw him kneel next to a weak wall and start scraping off layers of moss and dirt.

He didn't look up and said, "This place was built on an old leyline. It was a temple of the Forgotten Moon many years ago." Alucard turned it into a jail, but he can't get rid of what's inside.

"You knew this the whole time?" I asked, short of breath.

He wiped sweat and dirt off his face and said, "I've been here six months. Looked at every crack in these walls." There is a path that goes to the lower caves. It can only be opened when the moon is going down.

My face was losing blood. "That's tonight."

Sage smiled at me and looked over his shoulder. That's right.

My heart beat fast. It kept going over and over in my head. "What about the guards?"

He reached into his boot and pulled out a very sharp piece of bone. "Give that to me."

I made a face. "Do you trust me enough to run away with me?"

He didn't think twice. "No." But you're filled with old magic, and you hate Alucard just as much as I do. "That's good enough."

Even though I was scared, I couldn't help but smile. "Fair."

We scraped and poked at the stone with our hands in quiet, leaving the glowing runes on it. The energy buzzed under my fingers; it felt like it was familiar. It seemed to remember me too. In slow, steady waves, I could feel my strength coming back.

We were going to run tonight.

I would also burn this cursed place down if the gods were around.

The wall made a noise when Sage pressed the last rune. The floor below us shook, and dust fell from the roof like ash. After that, click. A low sound that was hard to hear.

When a piece of the wall cracked and then opened up, it showed a small tunnel cut into the old stone.

Sage told them to move quickly. "It will close when we're done."

It was enough for me to know.

I slid into the cave with my fingers lit up to show the way. Sage was right behind them. He was careful with every step and kept looking back every few seconds as if he thought something or someone might appear out of nowhere.

There was a smell of old things in the damp air. The roots were winding through the stone above us, dropping water into pools that didn't move and splashed under our feet.

The prison then groaned behind us and locked us out.

finally let out a breath. "We're leaving."

Sage had a sharp voice. "No. Not yet."

We kept going.

The tube went through the ground like a snake. We had to crawl through cracks sometimes. We would jump over old, broken stone bridges where the ground had already given way.

Not because I was tired, but because of the sounds following us, my breath came faster.

At first, it got stronger.

Howls.

Metal on stone.

A roar far away that chilled my blood.

The dogs that Alucard had on duty had found us.

I took a quick look at Sage. He didn't seem scared.

I did, though.

Not of the dogs. Not dying.

About what I might turn into if they didn't find us in time.

I woke up because of something inside me that wasn't done yet.

Sage began, "We need to split up."

"No." I really grabbed his wrist. My voice was rough and low. "Let's get this done together."

Following a brief look, he gave me a nod.

After that, we didn't talk.

We ran away.

We went through a narrow tunnel that got wider and wider until we finally came out through a rough crack into the open. I stopped stumbling and my breath caught in my throat.

A huge cave opened up in front of us, and the faint shimmer of ethereal crystals in the roof lit it up.

Light danced on smooth rocks and pools below the ground. In the middle of it all was a refuge. Its walls were falling apart and its pillars were getting cracked.

In the middle, there was an old, circular platform surrounded by inactive runes and twisted vines. Under layers of dust and moss, statues of robed moon priestesses and wolves stood.

They were quiet.

I could feel it, though.

I moved forward. The hum got louder as I got closer.

"This spot..." It made my chest hurt so badly that I had to whisper it. "I've been here before." When I was a kid.

Sage got down on his knees and brushed dirt off of his rough fingers. He said, "This is the Temple of Veritha. One of the last places where the magic-born could hide before Alucard got rid of them."

I looked at him with shock running through my body. "How did he keep it from being destroyed?"