Pleasure surged through me. This was unexpected, and surprises were rare for a vampire of my age.

I knelt, running my hands over the hinges. The dust had been disturbed there, pressed to the side by the opening of the door. The hinges themselves were now shiny and clean. “They’ve come this way.”

An iron handle was set into the wood. Carrow reached for it, twisting it up and out to pull. It didn’t budge. “It’s locked.”

“They didn’t break through.”

She studied the lock. “This is too big for the key that I saw in my vision. That was much smaller than this lock. Do you think they had another key?”

I shook my head. “Perhaps. But the priest who worked here before the church shut for good was an Englishman. I’ve no idea how one of his keys might have got into their hands, but it’s possible. Maybe they used a spell to trick the door into opening.”

“You knew the priest?”

I nodded and stood. “I also know where he kept important things like keys.”

“How do you know that?” She rose to join me.

“I would visit here centuries ago.” I looked down at the crypt. “Though I never cared what they did with their dead, so I was unfamiliar with this.”

“A religious vampire?”

“Hardly. I was building my empire.”

“With a church?”

“Most definitely with a church. They’ve always possessed great power in communities, and Father Alderage was no different.”

“And he helped you set up your criminal enterprise?”

I shrugged, feeling a strange hollowness inside me. “We were friends, I suppose. And there was plenty in it for him.”

“Like money.”

“Of course, money. And power.” I strode toward the far corner of the church. “Come. His quarters were back here.”

I found the small wooden door that I hadn’t stepped through in centuries. It opened easily beneath my palms. The interior looked like it hadn’t been touched in over three hundred years, with a thick layer of dust over the ornate wooden furniture.

“Wow.” Carrow whistled. “I’d say the maid is overdue.”

I chuckled as I strode around the desk and chair to the stone wall behind. There, I knelt, reaching for the false stone, and slipped it out. An ancient iron keyring appeared, and I pulled it free.

As I stood and held it up, magic sparked in the air, prickly and fierce.

“What’s that?” Carrow spun around, searching the room.

“Ghosts. And they don’t like what we’ve just done.”

11

Carrow

Cold fear pierced me. “Ghosts?”

The Devil—I tried to think of him as Grey, but it was hard—nodded, his brow set in a severe line. “They don’t like that I’ve taken the key. Come on.”

Quickly, he strode from the office. I followed, hurrying to keep up. The church itself was even colder, and figures drifted out from the walls, pale and transparent.

“Can they hurt us?” I stuck close to his side as we hurried toward the center of the church, where the altar still stood.

“Perhaps.” He knelt, smoothly inserting the key.

I stood, spinning in a circle to keep an eye on the ghosts that closed in on us. My heartbeat thundered in my ears as they neared. Each was dressed in an outfit that was at least three centuries out of date, but the malice on their faces was timeless.

The crystal at my throat glowed with heat, and I closed my fingers around it. The ghosts’ eyes followed my movements.

“They want Orion’s Heart.” I clutched it tighter.

“It’s powerful. They may think it can bring them back to life.”

“Hell, no.” I glared at the ghosts. “Back off.”

“They won’t listen.” The jingle of the iron keys continued as he worked.

“Hurry up!” They were almost to me, so cold that I felt like my bones were chattering. “I don’t know how to fight a ghost.”

“You can’t.”

At the edge of the room, Cordelia appeared. The little raccoon raced toward me, holding her bushy tail high. She positioned herself between me and the ghosts, hissing wildly.

They cringed back.

“They don’t like familiars,” the Devil said.

As the key snicked in the lock behind me, one of the ghosts got up its courage and lunged close.

“Beware your fated mate,” it hissed.

I frowned. “What?”

“Come.” The Devil stood and gripped my waist, moving me forcibly toward the stairs that disappeared into the dark.

Cordelia maintained her position, teeth bared at the specters.

I gave them one last look as I hurried down the stairs, the Devil behind me. Had he heard the ghost?

He gave no indication.

Cool darkness enveloped me as we descended. Deep below the church, the air was silent and still. The ghosts stayed above, driven back by Cordelia, no doubt. Finally, I reached the bottom—a narrow hallway with a dirt floor.

It was nearly pitch black, and the Devil drew a lighter from his pocket. He flipped it on and lit the torch on the wall.

Golden light illuminated the long hallway, highlighting the tiny doors set into the walls on both sides. Each door was roughly one square meter in size, just big enough to fit a coffin. They were stacked six high and stretched endlessly down the hall.

There had to be dozens. Hundreds, even.

“Each of these must contain a body.” I ran my fingertips over one, feeling a prickle of magic.

“You said you saw a symbol on one?”

“Yes. It’s hers.” I walked down the hallway, searching the little stone doors. Each was marked with a different name or symbol, but none were the one I sought.

Finally, at the end, we found an empty hole in the grid of doors located roughly at chest level. The interior was so dark that it was impossible to see inside, but prickling magic spilled out.

A shiver raced over me. “The door is gone.”

“Down there.” The Devil crouched, running his hand over a slab of rock that lay on the ground. “They aren’t hinged, so when the crypt is open, the door must be left on the ground.”

I looked down and spotted the sorceress Mariketta’s symbol. “They’ve beaten us here.”

The Devil stood, slowly reaching toward the interior of the small crypt.

I leaned closer, trying to peer into the darkness. “Can you see anything? A body?”

He drew a small charm from his pocket and flicked his wrist. The stone began to glow a bright gold color that shed light inside the small space.

Shock lanced me. “It goes back forever.”

“A tunnel.” The Devil grinned.

“Why do you look so happy?” Nerves chilled my skin. “Do you have ulterior motives?”

“If I did, I wouldn’t say so.” He shook his head. “But no, I don’t. I just like when the unexpected happens here in Guild City.”

“Like the door in front of the altar.”

“Yes. Immortality is a long time, and boredom is my enemy.” He looked down at me, impossibly handsome, his eyes gleaming with interest. “Ready to explore?”

I nodded. “Can you give me a boost?”

“Yes.” He stored the glowing gem back in his pocket and gripped my waist in his strong hands. A shiver raced through me, and he hoisted me up.

I crawled into the tunnel, then tumbled forward into a much larger space. It was tall enough that I could stand, a strange trick of magic. I rose slowly and stepped out of the Devil’s way.

He climbed up to join me, and we stood side by side in the tunnel. It was a tight fit, close enough that I could feel his warmth and smell the fresh scent of his soap as I pressed myself back against the wall.

“I’ll lead.” He pulled his glowing charm from his pocket to light the way and started down the tunnel.

I followed, sticking close behind him, glad to let him face whatever monsters might lurk in the dark. The path descended deep underground, sloping downward sharply.

“We must be going back into town,” I said, my innate sense of direction kicking in.

“I had no idea.” He sounded thrilled.

“You aren’t worried?”

“I’m not as familiar with fear as I once was.” There was a hint of deception to his voice, and I wondered why.

“That’s not true.”

He looked over his shoulder at me, his face cast mostly in shadow. “Last night, I feared for you.”

“Oh.” That was not what I’d been expecting.

Cursed Mate.

Did he have feelings for me? Was that the mate part of the equation? But what about the cursed part?

He turned back and continued, going deeper and deeper until we had to be underneath the city itself. There were no other tunnels leading off the main one, and the narrow darkness was starting to press in on me. I kept my eyes glued on the light.

“There are many tunnels beneath Guild City,” he said. “Most are managed by the Dwarves. This one must be deeper to avoid intersecting.”

“Wow.”

Ahead, the Devil slowed. “Something happened here.”

I edged up behind him and peered over his shoulder. Spikes protruded from the walls, their tips stained dark red. I recoiled. “That’s blood.”

“Fresh blood.”

I looked again. The spikes protruded from each wall, hundreds of them, their tips touching. There were bits of fabric hanging from some of them where they’d torn at a person’s clothing. There were so many of them that they formed an impassable wall.

The Devil reached out and snapped one off.

“What are they made of?” I asked.

“Iron.”

He broke another, then another, creating a passage for us. Soon, it was completely open. I followed him through, reaching up for one of the taller ones to see if it really was iron.

It didn’t budge beneath my hands.

He shot me a grin over his shoulder. “Didn’t trust me?”