CHAPTER 26: THE WOMAN WITH ANNA’S FACE

CHAPTER 26: THE WOMAN WITH ANNA’S FACE

AMBER’S POV

“You’re finally awake.”

The words echoed through the underground chamber.

I couldn't breathe.

I stared at the woman standing at the entrance of the stone staircase.

Long dark hair.

Pale skin.

Golden eyes.

And a face I had seen in photographs, dreams, nightmares, and memories that weren't supposed to belong to me.

Anna.

My mother’s sister.

The woman Steele had searched for.

The woman everyone spoke about as if she had disappeared centuries ago.

The woman who looked exactly like my mother.

My knees nearly gave out.

Steele caught my arm.

“Amber.”

I pulled away from him.

“No.”

The woman smiled faintly.

“You recognize me.”

“I don't know you.”

My voice came out weaker than I wanted.

She slowly stepped into the chamber.

“I know.”

Her eyes moved toward the glowing crystal behind me.

Then back to me.

“But your blood does.”

The crystal suddenly pulsed.

BOOM.

The entire chamber shook.

I stumbled backward.

Steele immediately stepped in front of me.

His eyes flashed gold.

“Stay behind me.”

The woman tilted her head.

“You still do that.”

Steele froze.

His jaw tightened.

“Anna?”

The woman didn't answer.

Instead, she smiled.

And somehow, that smile frightened me more than anything else.

Because it wasn't a stranger's smile.

It was familiar.

Too familiar.

Like something my heart recognized even when my mind refused to.

Steele took one step forward.

“If you're Anna, prove it.”

The woman's golden eyes narrowed.

“You've always been impatient, Steele.”

His expression changed.

For the first time since I'd met him, I saw genuine shock on his face.

“Anna…”

I stared between them.

My heart hammered.

“You know her.”

Steele didn't answer.

“Steele.”

Still nothing.

I stepped beside him.

“You said she was gone.”

“I thought she was.”

The woman laughed softly.

“That is what everyone thought.”

Suddenly, a sharp pain exploded through my neck.

I grabbed the strange mark the vampire had left on me.

It burned.

Not like fire.

Like something beneath my skin was trying to claw its way out.

“Ah!”

Steele turned instantly.

“Amber!”

The golden light around the crystal intensified.

The woman watched me carefully.

“It's beginning.”

“What is beginning?” I demanded.

She looked directly into my eyes.

“The awakening of the blood that should have died twenty-two years ago.”

My stomach dropped.

“Twenty-two years…”

Steele's expression darkened.

“Don't.”

The woman looked at him.

“You can't hide it forever.”

“I wasn't hiding anything.”

“You've been hiding everything.”

The room suddenly went silent.

Then—

CRACK.

A stone behind us split.

Steele turned.

I looked toward the sound.

Something was moving inside the wall.

Not something.

Someone.

My breathing stopped.

A hand pushed through the stone.

Then another.

I raised my gun.

“Don't move!”

Steele grabbed my wrist.

“Amber, wait.”

The stone shattered.

Three figures fell through the wall.

Their eyes were black.

Their bodies twisted unnaturally.

Shapeshifters.

The same kind Steele had told me about.

The same creatures connected to the deaths at Mansfield.

One of them lifted its head.

Its mouth stretched into an impossible smile.

“We found her.”

The woman named Anna suddenly looked furious.

“Run.”

I blinked.

“What?”

“RUN!”

The chamber exploded into chaos.

The first creature lunged.

Steele transformed before I could even react.

His body expanded, bones shifting beneath his skin.

In seconds, the massive silver-gray wolf stood between me and the creature.

His blue eyes burned.

He attacked.

CRASH!

They slammed into the stone wall.

I fired twice.

The bullets hit the creature's shoulder.

It barely reacted.

“That's not normal,” I muttered.

“No,” Anna said.

I turned toward her.

“What are they?”

Her golden eyes darkened.

“They aren't here to kill you.”

A horrible realization hit me.

“Then what do they want?”

She looked at the glowing crystal.

“They want what's inside you.”

My blood ran cold.

“What?”

The second creature suddenly appeared behind me.

I spun around.

Too late.

Its claws came toward my chest.

I raised my gun.

Something exploded from my palm.

Golden light.

The creature was thrown across the chamber.

It slammed into the wall so hard the stone cracked.

Silence.

I stared at my hand.

“What the hell?”

Anna smiled.

“Now you see.”

I looked at Steele.

He had stopped fighting.

His wolf form stared at my hand.

His expression was almost terrified.

“Steele?”

He slowly shifted back into human form.

“What did you just do?”

“I don't know.”

“You didn't use a weapon.”

“I know.”

“You didn't touch it.”

“I know, Steele!”

My voice echoed through the chamber.

“I don't know what's happening to me!”

Anna approached.

Steele immediately moved between us.

“Don't come closer.”

Anna stopped.

“You're afraid of me.”

“I'm protecting her.”

“No.”

Anna looked at him sadly.

“You're afraid of what she'll become.”

Steele said nothing.

I looked at him.

“Is that true?”

His silence answered for him.

My chest tightened.

“What am I?”

Before anyone could answer, a low growl came from the shadows.

The three shapeshifters were no longer alone.

More eyes appeared.

Dozens.

Black eyes.

Watching us.

Anna's expression changed.

“They followed me.”

Steele's claws emerged.

“How many?”

“Too many.”

I looked toward the staircase.

“Then we leave.”

Anna shook her head.

“There's nowhere to go.”

“That's encouraging.”

She pointed toward the crystal.

“The chamber is sealed.”

I stared at the crystal.

“What does that mean?”

“It means they can't enter.”

A loud impact shook the entrance.

BOOM!

Dust fell from the ceiling.

Another impact.

BOOM!

Stone cracked.

“They're breaking through,” Steele said.

Anna looked at me.

“You need to choose.”

“Choose what?”

“The blood.”

I frowned.

“I don't understand.”

“You will.”

She walked toward the crystal.

The golden light followed her.

Then she placed her palm against it.

The crystal reacted violently.

A wave of energy exploded across the chamber.

Steele grabbed me.

I felt something enter my mind.

A voice.

A woman's voice.

My mother's.

Amber.

I froze.

“Mom?”

The voice whispered again.

Don't trust him.

My heart stopped.

I looked at Steele.

He stared at me.

“What?”

I couldn't answer.

The voice continued.

He promised me he'd protect you.

My breathing became uneven.

But he never told you why.

“Why?”

The chamber shook.

Because Steele was there that night.

My eyes widened.

The plane.

Flight XX07.

My mother's death.

My childhood.

Everything.

I stared at Steele.

“You were there.”

He didn't deny it.

“I told you I was.”

“No.”

My voice trembled.

“You were there before the crash.”

Steele's face hardened.

“Amber—”

“You knew my mother.”

“Yes.”

“You knew Anna.”

“Yes.”

“You knew what was on that plane.”

His eyes lowered.

“Yes.”

I stepped backward.

“And you knew I survived.”

“Yes.”

My heart felt like it was breaking.

“You lied to me.”

“I protected you.”

“You lied!”

The words tore out of me.

Steele flinched.

For the first time, I saw guilt in his eyes.

“I didn't know how to tell you.”

“Try the truth!”

Before he could answer—

BOOM!

The entrance shattered.

The creatures flooded into the chamber.

Steele pushed me behind him.

Anna raised her hand.

Golden energy erupted.

The first wave of shapeshifters screamed as they were thrown backward.

But more came.

And more.

Steele transformed again.

He launched himself into the crowd.

Claws tore through shadows.

Bodies slammed into walls.

I raised my gun and fired.

One creature reached me.

I shot it.

It fell.

Then stood again.

“Seriously?”

I backed away.

It smiled.

“You carry the First Blood.”

My blood froze.

Another creature appeared behind it.

“And the blood remembers.”

The mark on my neck suddenly burned brighter.

Golden veins spread across my skin.

I screamed.

The crystal shattered.

BOOM!

Everything went white.

I felt myself falling.

But I wasn't falling onto the ground.

I was falling into a memory.

A plane.

Smoke.

Screaming.

Fire.

My mother holding me.

My father standing in front of us.

And someone else.

A man.

Standing beside the burning aircraft.

I couldn't see his face.

My mother looked at him.

“Please.”

The man answered.

“I promised Anna.”

My mother shook her head.

“You promised me.”

The man stepped forward.

And suddenly—

I recognized the voice.

Steele.

My eyes widened.

“No…”

The memory changed.

My mother pushed me toward him.

“Take her.”

Steele caught me.

My father shouted something.

Then the explosion came.

I screamed.

And the memory vanished.

I slammed back into reality.

I was on the ground.

Steele was kneeling beside me.

“Amber!”

I shoved him away.

“You took me from the plane.”

His face went pale.

“I saved you.”

“You were there before the crash.”

“Yes.”

“You knew my mother was alive.”

His silence was enough.

“Where is she?”

Steele looked away.

I grabbed his shirt.

“WHERE IS MY MOTHER?”

A voice answered behind us.

“She's closer than you think.”

Everyone froze.

I turned.

Anna stood beside the shattered crystal.

But she wasn't alone.

A shadow stood behind her.

Tall.

Broad.

His eyes were completely black.

Anna's expression became terrified.

“Impossible.”

Steele stood.

“Who are you?”

The man smiled.

Then he looked directly at me.

“You really don't remember me?”

My heart stopped.

Because his voice—

I had heard it before.

In my nightmares.

The same voice that had spoken to me when I was a child.

The same voice from the night my father died.

He stepped into the light.

And I finally saw his face.

My breath caught.

I knew him.

Not from photographs.

Not from police records.

Not from the crash investigation.

From my childhood.

He was the man who had been standing beside my mother twenty-two years ago.

And he was smiling.

“Hello, Amber.”

Steele's eyes turned gold.

“Get away from her.”

The man laughed.

“You still don't understand, Steele.”

He looked at me.

“I'm not here for Amber.”

His gaze dropped to my glowing mark.

“I'm here for what Amber inherited.”

The ground beneath us began to tremble.

Then a second heartbeat joined mine.

THUMP.

THUMP.

I looked at my chest.

The stranger smiled.

“Your mother isn't dead.”

My eyes widened.

“She never was.”

Then the chamber doors slammed shut.

And from somewhere deep beneath us—

a woman's voice whispered my name.

“Amber…”

I knew that voice.

It was my mother's.

And she was crying.

TO BE CONTINUED…