Page 21 of Hound

Darkness shrouded the mansion, deafening silence and dust coating the air. Did these guys forget to pay their light billandcleaning lady?

Christopher wasn’t on the first floor. His light scent trailed from the second floor where my feet followed hushed giggles.

Nina came into view, her back to me as I paused next to the nearest corner on the left hallway. She’d been staying here since she was an indoor guardian, but it didn’t mean I liked it. Especially when the boy next to her was too close for fucking comfort. Even with slouched shoulders, Alek, the fourth Sephtis kid, was no different than his brother. The pompous fuck carried himself exactly like Christopher.

She stopped next to a door and after a few minutes of their wide smiles and hushed whispers, he entered and she stepped toward the one on the opposite side. Her body halted and her shoulders straightened. Right as she glared to the side, I hid behind the wall I rested on. No footsteps resounded my way as a door closed in seconds.

For once in my life, I counted to ten. Was it because I didn’t want Nina to see me? Or was it because I knew I wasn’t supposedto be in here? Couldn’t be either. But once I hit ten, I poked my head out, the coast clear. A breath of relief escaped my nostrils.

I unraveled the blueprint in my hand. There were eight bedrooms in total, all on the second floor, and while they didn’t declare who stayed where, Christopher’s scent flowed from the other side of the mansion.

Although my desire to question Nina grew, I stuffed it away for another time. Right now, there was one priority.

The faint powdery smell emitted from the door on the left side, my body pausing before it with a raised fist but no knock. Instead, something else caught my attention.

Another scent. A warm musk that dampened the air just like the rain. One I hadn’t smelled ever since Mom died.

It emitted from the chained-up towering doors at the end of the hall. Many things were wrong. For one, the burnished chains that tightly wrapped around the iron handles weren’t any silver. They were silver nitrate. Lace’s brother had discovered it not too long ago, and apparently it was silver’s stronger variant. Vampires as a whole were secretive already. It made sense they knew of its existence before we did.

From the few times I’ve seen silver nitrate, it was hard to tell them apart since the metals looked practically the same. But it was all in the touch and smell.

It oxidized the air and froze my fingertips. While silver nitrate was known to be the only object that could penetrate and kill vampires, it didn’t affect me. Against my strength, it snapped in half.

The other thing that piqued my curiosity? This room wasn't in the blueprint.

What am I doing?

Before I could convince myself to turn back and ignore the nostalgic scent, I stepped into the room and faced a copycat ofthe vampire parlor. It was as if that cursed place had thrown up here.

Deep red and black speckled wallpaper covered the walls and high ceiling, a large gothic chandelier hanging above the king bed. Burgundy canopies draped around the mahogany bed frame and enclosed the matching velvet bedding. Even the floor was buried in ruby red carpet, but hollow stains stopped me in my tracks. A closer look confirmed what I already knew.

Remnants of putrid blood drowned the air, the majority concentrated at the opposite side where a black chaise lounge chair rested. Death hung like a shadow.

Whoever died hadn’t done so under normal circumstances. They’d been murdered in cold blood.

The warm musk amplified when I closed the distance and leveled in front of the chair. Something else dangled underneath. I grasped it, a light leather-bound notebook weighing my palm. What was this? Opening it to the first page I noticed small, scribbled initials.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Instincts kicked in as I whipped around and stuffed the diary into the back pocket where the folded blueprint hid. Adrenaline raced through my veins as Christopher came into view. He didn’t step inside. What was stopping him? Instead, he hovered by the door, eyes wide with burning anger.

I cleared my throat. Since when had a lump formed? “Got lost.”

“Searching for what? Our mother’s death place?”

Dread washed over me. Fuck, fuck, fuck. “No. I was searching for you,” I quickly said as I stepped toward him, his body recoiling as I tried to close the distance. “L-Listen, I just wanted to apologize for yesterday’s?—”

Words died on my tongue as Christopher pulled a silver device from his pocket. It was small and round, with a centered button his thumb rested on as he held it up for me to see.

This was the fucking device Mallory had used on me that night. And it was in Christopher’s hands, ready to be activated.

Lace failed to find it because the device had already been found. Had Christopher had it this whole time?

Fingers curled and tightened into fists on my side. I bit away at my tongue, the bitter blood and echoing pain enough to subdue the tremble that seized my body.

“Lorenzo. Get. The. Bloody. Hell. Out,” he said through clenched teeth. “Or I will make you suffer for yourdespicableactions.”

Christopher’s fixed composure persevered, but with every passing beat, it slowly crumbled, his body vibrating with unfiltered rage. Muted green eyes darkened as he stared at me with detachment, the very sight of me disgusting him.

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