Chapter 105
Chapter 105
Elizabeth
The second gate opens at dawn.
I read the words twice.
Then a third time.
They still didn’t change.
Unfortunately.
Beside me, Damon went completely still.
Which, in my experience, was never a good sign.
I looked up.
“Please tell me dawn means something else in supernatural language.”
Silence.
I sighed.
“It doesn’t, does it?”
“No.”
Wonderful.
Absolutely wonderful.
I looked back at the key.
The silver letters glowed softly before slowly fading away.
The room seemed colder somehow.
I swallowed.
“Dawn is in…” I looked toward the window. “A few hours.”
“Three.”
I looked at him.
“You counted?”
“I always know what time it is.”
That sounded vaguely terrifying.
Then again, so was he.
I held up the key.
“So. We have three hours before another mysterious gate opens and ruins our lives.”
“Essentially.”
“Good. Great. Fantastic.”
A small smile tugged at his mouth.
I pointed at him.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Look amused.”
“I don’t look amused.”
“You absolutely do.”
The smile widened.
I stared.
“You’re enjoying my panic.”
“Perhaps a little.”
I looked offended.
He looked entirely unrepentant.
Then the key suddenly burned in my hand.
I hissed.
Damon’s amusement vanished instantly.
“What happened?”
“It’s hot.”
I almost dropped it.
He took my hand gently—not soft exactly, but careful.
His fingers wrapped around my wrist.
The warmth of his skin made my heart perform an extremely unnecessary somersault.
I firmly ignored it.
Again.
The key’s glow faded.
Damon frowned at my hand.
The mark.
The symbol was glowing faintly.
Gold.
“I don’t like this.”
I blinked.
“You say that a lot.”
“Because very little about your life is likable.”
I snorted.
To my surprise, he looked pleased that I’d laughed.
Interesting.
The library doors suddenly slammed shut.
Both of us jumped.
The candle extinguished.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Silence.
Then—
A whisper.
Not from the first Door.
Not from inside my head.
From somewhere in the library.
“Tick…”
I froze.
Damon’s hand tightened around my wrist.
“Tock…”
Nope.
Absolutely not.
I hated everything about this.
The whisper sounded almost playful.
Like someone was counting.
“Tick…”
“Tock…”
The grandfather clock downstairs suddenly struck.
One.
The sound echoed through the mansion.
Then silence returned.
I looked at Damon.
“I have a terrible feeling.”
“Good.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“That means your instincts are improving.”
I stared at him.
“That’s not comforting.”
“It wasn’t meant to be.”
Of course it wasn’t.
A faint light appeared in the middle of the library.
Gold.
Shimmering.
I stepped closer.
Damon immediately stepped with me.
I noticed.
Again.
The light grew brighter.
Then—
Something appeared.
A map.
I blinked.
A floating map.
Because apparently normal paper maps weren’t dramatic enough.
It hovered in the air, glowing softly.
The shape looked familiar.
New Orleans.
It was a map of New Orleans.
I stepped closer.
Several red dots glowed across the city.
My stomach dropped.
“No.”
One of the dots pulsed.
Then another.
Then another.
Damon’s expression darkened.
“What are those?”
The map answered.
Words slowly appeared beneath it.
The Gates.
Silence.
I stared.
There wasn’t one dot.
Or two.
There were seven.
Seven glowing red points spread throughout the city.
“No,” I whispered.
The words changed.
One opened.
The dot nearest the river turned gold.
The Temple.
I knew it somehow.
Then—
Six remain.
I forgot how to breathe.
Six.
Six more.
The room felt suddenly smaller.
The map shifted again.
A new line appeared.
The second gate opens at dawn.
A single red dot began pulsing.
Near the French Quarter.
I knew that location.
Because I’d walked past it a hundred times.
A small abandoned church.
I looked at Damon.
He looked back at me.
Neither of us spoke.
Because—
No.
No, absolutely not.
The abandoned church?
Really?
I had enough trauma associated with creepy buildings.
I didn’t need another one.
The library doors burst open.
We both turned.
Footsteps.
Fast.
Adam appeared first.
Then Lucien.
Then Tristan.
Apparently chaos had summoned everyone.
Again.
Lucien looked at the floating map.
Then at us.
Then back at the map.
“Well.”
Silence.
“That seems bad.”
Adam moved forward.
His golden-brown eyes narrowed.
“What is this?”
“The gates,” Damon answered.
The room became very quiet.
Tristan looked at the seven dots.
Then slowly exhaled.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“You know what these are?”
A long pause.
Then—
“I know stories.”
I hated stories.
Stories were always terrible.
“What stories?”
Tristan looked at the map.
“When Arian sealed the prison…”
Everyone listened.
“…she didn’t create one lock.”
Silence.
“She created seven.”
I looked at the seven glowing dots.
Of course she did.
Because apparently one impossible magical prison wasn’t enough.
Lucien looked offended.
“Seven?”
Tristan nodded.
“Each gate reinforces the others.”
The room became very quiet.
Then I understood.
“Oh.”
Everyone looked at me.
“Oh no.”
Because if one gate opened…
The others became weaker.
My stomach sank.
Damon had clearly reached the same conclusion.
“They’re opening in sequence.”
Silence.
Tristan nodded once.
“Yes.”
No one spoke.
Because that was significantly worse.
The floating map flickered.
Then another line appeared.
Dawn approaches.
The red dot at the church pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The mark on my hand burned.
I sucked in a sharp breath.
The map changed again.
A countdown appeared.
02:57:34
Silence.
I stared.
Was the map serious right now?
A countdown?
Lucien looked horrified.
“Oh, I hate that.”
“I agree,” Adam said.
The seconds ticked downward.
02:57:33
02:57:32
02:57:31
“Nope,” I said immediately.
Everyone looked at me.
“Nope?”
I pointed at the countdown.
“That’s horrifying.”
Lucien nodded.
“I support her use of the word.”
Damon ignored both of us.
His eyes remained fixed on the church.
Thinking.
Planning.
Then—
“We’re going.”
Silence.
I blinked.
“Where?”
He looked at me.
“The church.”
I stared.
“The creepy abandoned church?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
I folded my arms.
“No.”
He looked unimpressed.
“Elizabeth.”
“We have no idea what’s there.”
“Exactly.”
I stared.
That was somehow his reason?
“We need answers.”
“At three in the morning?”
He looked entirely serious.
“Yes.”
I looked at Adam for support.
The traitor nodded.
“We can’t wait.”
I looked at Tristan.
He nodded too.
Lucien sighed.
“I also vote for the haunted church. Unfortunately.”
I couldn’t believe this family.
I looked at Damon.
He was watching me carefully.
I already knew that expression.
He had made up his mind.
I sighed.
“You people are exhausting.”
A ghost of amusement crossed his face.
“So I’ve been told.”
I narrowed my eyes.
He almost smiled.
Almost.
The countdown continued.
02:56:10
02:56:09
The mark on my hand warmed again.
A strange certainty settled in my chest.
The church.
Something was waiting there.
Something important.
I looked at the glowing dot.
Then at the key.
Then at Damon.
He held my gaze.
Silent.
Steady.
For some reason, that made me feel slightly less afraid.
Only slightly.
Then the floating map changed one last time.
The words vanished.
A single sentence appeared.
Five words.
I read them.
And every ounce of warmth left my body.