Chapter 19 · Blood Opens Doors

The bond dragged me down.

Not metaphor. Actual drag. Like someone hooked a chain to my ribs and yanked. I hit the ground hard, knees scraping stone, and Karl was already on his feet ahead of me. Blood ran down his arm from where he'd torn the bandage off. His face was gray.

"Don't," I said.

He wasn't listening. He slammed his palm against the wall and the stone split open. Not a door. A wound. The kind of opening that shouldn't exist but does anyway because something old and pissed off carved it there a long time ago.

Behind us, footsteps. Eli's people. Maybe Eli himself. I didn't look back.

Karl shoved me through first.

The air on the other side tasted like iron and dirt. My phone flashlight barely cut through the dark. We were in a tunnel. No. A crypt. Rows of stone shelves carved into the walls, each one holding something wrapped in cloth that used to be a person.

"Where the hell are we?"

"Ashe family vault." Karl's voice came out flat. He was already moving, one hand on the wall like he needed it to stay upright. "Only blood can open it.