Chapter 6 · The Room Under the Blood

The voice came from inside the wall.

Drake's hand went to his hip—empty holster, no blade, nothing but the burn crawling through his veins again. Six hours. That was all he got before the silver started eating him from the inside out. He looked at Ella. She stood in front of the hidden door like she'd been expecting it to open her whole life.

"Your mother's voice," he said.

Ella didn't turn around. "Recording. Probably. She was good at traps."

The door was stone, same as the wall, but the seam glowed red now. The symbols running down both sides pulsed in time with his heartbeat. Or maybe that was just the poison doing its thing. Hard to tell anymore.

"You coming?" Ella stepped through.

Drake followed because what else was he going to do? Sit in the crypt and wait for his organs to fail? He ducked through the doorway and the temperature dropped twenty degrees. His breath fogged. The room on the other side was small, maybe ten feet across, carved out of raw stone. No windows. One torch on the far wall, already lit.