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CHAPTER 26
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Marked CHAPTER 27
When they opened the oak door, I could not believe my eyes. The room was enormous. Shaped in a huge circle, it was lined with hundred-foot-tall stone columns, ornately decorated. It was well lit, torches placed every 5 feet, all throughout the room. It looked like the Pantheon. It looked ancient.As I was led in, the next thing I noticed was the noise. It was a huge crowd. I looked around and saw hundreds, if not thousands, of men and women dressed in black, moving quickly all about the room. There was a strangeness to how they moved: it was so fast, so random, so…inhuman. I heard a swooshing noise, and looked up. Dozens of these people leapt, or flew, through the room, going from floor to ceiling, from ceiling to balcony, from column to ledge. That was the whooshing noise I had heard. It was as if I had entered a cave full of bats.I took it all in and was completely, utterly, shocked. Vampires did exist. Was I one of them?Or was I a werewolf?Or was I somehow…both?They led
Marked CHAPTER 28
The water covered my entire body, making it hard to breathe, or open my eyes. After about ten seconds, though, after my entire hair and body and clothes were completely drenched, I blinked my eyes. I braced myself for the pain.But it didn’t come.I blinked, then looked up at the cauldron, wondering if it were completely empty. It was. I looked back down at myself, and saw I was drenched. But I was completely fine. Not an ounce of pain.The leader, suddenly realizing, stood in his chair, jaw dropping. He was clearly shocked. Kyle, too, turned and looked, his mouth open. The entire assembly, hundreds of vampires, all stood, and a gasp spread through the room.I could see that this was not the reaction they had been expecting. They were all dumbfounded.Somehow, their water had not affected me. Maybe I wasn’t a vampire after all?I saw my chance.While they all stood there, too shocked to react, something happened.My strength came roaring back.I felt my body stretching again,
Marked CHAPTER 29
Before I could react, he grabbed my arm and led me away. He tugged at me, making me run faster than I ever had, faster than I knew I could, and within seconds we were down one hall, then another, then another, twisting and turning every which way. The only thing we had to see by were occasional torches. I never could have made it out of there on my own.“What’s going on?” I tried to ask as we ran, out of breath. “Where are we –”“This way!” he yelled, yanking me suddenly in another direction.Behind us, I heard a crashing, followed by the sound of a mob, bearing down on us.We reached a circular staircase, made of stone, winding its way up along a wall. He ran full speed toward the steps, yanking me with him, and before I knew it we were racing up the steps, twisting in circles, taking them three at a time. We were ascending quickly.As we reached the top, it seemed to end in a complete wall. A stone ceiling was above us, and I could see no other way out. It was a dead end. Where
Marked CHAPTER 30
I landed on my back in the water, and looked up to see him pouncing again, right for my throat. I rolled out of the way just in time, springing back on my feet. He was fast, but so was I.He fell flat on his face. He got up and spun around and squared off in a rage. He clawed his right hand right for my face. I dodged it, and his hand barely missed me, the wind of it passing right by my cheek. His hand hit the wall with such force that it lodged into the stone.I was mad now. I felt the red-hot rage pulse in my veins. I walked over to the stuck vampire and wound back my leg and planted a strong kick right in his gut. He keeled over.I then grabbed him from behind and threw him right into the wall, face first. His head hit the stone hard. I was proud of myself, figuring I had finished him off.But I was shocked by a sudden pain in my face, and found myself backhanded once again. This vampire had recovered quickly—much more quickly than I had thought possible. Before I knew it, he wa
Marked CHAPTER 31
I opened her eyes. I didn’t recognize any of the buildings below us. It appeared that we were way uptown. Possibly, the Bronx somewhere.As we descended, we flew over a small park, and in the distance, I thought I saw a castle. As we got closer, I realized that it definitely was a castle. What was a castle doing here, in New York City?I wracked my brain, and realized that I had seen this castle before. On a postcard somewhere…Yes. It was a museum of some sort. As we ascended a small hill, flying over its ramparts, I suddenly remembered what it was. The Cloisters. The small museum. It had been brought over from Europe, piece by piece. It was hundreds of years old. Why was he taking me here?We descended smoothly over the outer wall and onto a large, stone terrace, overlooking the Hudson River. We landed in darkness, but his feet touched down gracefully on the stone, and he gently let me off.I stood there, facing him. I looked at him closely, hoping that he was still real, hoping t
Marked CHAPTER 32
There was something about him I could not explain, something that made me unable to look away. Something that made me not want to leave his side. I liked Jonah. But I needed Caleb. Being around him was all-encompassing.Caleb’s smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared. He was clearly disturbed.“I’m afraid there will be a much higher price for admission,” he said, “if this meeting does not go as I would hope.”He led me through another stone archway, and into a small, medieval courtyard. Perfectly symmetrical, surrounded on four sides by columns and arches, this courtyard, lit by the moon, was very beautiful. I could not fathom how we were still in New York City. We could have been in a European countryside.We walked across the courtyard and down a long stone hallway, the sound of our footsteps echoing. We were trailed by several more guards. Vampires? I wondered. If so, why were they so civil? Why didn’t they attack Caleb, or me?We walked down another stone corridor and t
Marked CHAPTER 33
I reached over and slipped my hand into Caleb’s arm. I hoped that he would let it sit there. He did. In fact, he tightened his arm around mine. Once again, everything felt OK. I felt that I could descend into the depths of darkness, as long as we were together.Our footsteps echoed on the wide, stone staircase as we descended. It was dimly lit. So many thoughts raced through my mind. What was this Council? Why had he insisted on taking me? And why did I feel so insistent on being at his side? I could have easily objected up there, told him that I didn’t want to go, that I’d rather wait upstairs. But I didn’t want to wait upstairs. I wanted to be with him. I couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else.None of it made any sense. At every turn, instead of getting answers, all I got were new questions. Who were all those people upstairs? Were they really vampires? What were they doing here? In the Cloisters?We turned the corner, into a large room, and I was struck by its beauty. It was in
Marked CHAPTER 34
Caleb led me.This staircase was narrow and steep, and led into real blackness. After winding and winding, deeper and deeper, I finally saw a light in the distance, and started to hear movement. As we turned the corner, we entered another room.This room was huge and brightly lit, torches everywhere. It mirrored the upstairs rooms identically, with soaring, stone, medieval ceilings, arched, covered in intricate detail. There were large tapestries on the walls, and the huge space was filled with medieval furniture.It was also filled with people. Vampires. They were all dressed in black, and they moved casually about the room. Many of them sat in various seats, some talking to each other. In the other coven, under City Hall, I had felt evil, darkness, had felt in constant danger. Here, I felt strangely relaxed.Caleb led me across the long room, right down the center. As we walked, the movement subsided, and a hush descended. I could feel all the eyes on us. As we reached the end
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