Chapter 12
The west wing loomed before them like a forgotten grave, its iron-bound doors sealed beneath layers of dust and silence. Students avoided this part of the academy as if their instincts warned them of something ancient hiding behind the walls. Elara now understood why.
Lucien stood beside her, eyes dimmed, shadows clinging to him as though the wing itself recognized him.
"This place…" Elara whispered, "what really happened here?"
Lucien hesitated—longer than she expected. When he finally spoke, his voice sounded heavier, older.
"It wasn't always sealed. This used to be the East Court Hall—a sanctuary for the first vampire scholars who tried to coexist with humans."
Elara blinked. "Vampires… studied here?"
"For centuries," Lucien murmured. "Before humans realized what we were. Before fear turned them into hunters."
He moved toward the rusted doors, fingertips gliding over ancient carvings she hadn't noticed before.
Elara followed his gaze and gasped.
Symbols.
Hundreds of them.
Woven into the stone—circles, runes, intertwined lines. Not just decoration. Warnings.
Lucien traced one symbol, the faintest tremor moving through him. "This is where the Blood Oath was created. Where it bound the vampire clans to a code of restraint. But Kade's clan… twisted it."
Elara stepped closer. "Twisted how?"
"By tying loyalty to blood instead of choice. And anyone who broke that oath…" He swallowed. "Was punished by the walls themselves."
A cold draft seeped through the seams of the door, brushing her skin.
Elara shivered. "You said Kade wants us here at sundown. Why this place?"
"Because this is where our oath was forged," Lucien whispered. "And he plans to use the hall's power to make it absolute."
The thought made Elara's stomach knot.
"Lucien," she murmured, "what exactly is your connection to him?"
He didn't answer at first—just stared at the locked entrance as though it was staring back.
"Kade wasn't always my enemy," Lucien said quietly. "He was my mentor… my brother, in every way except blood. Before he changed." His voice dropped to a fractured whisper. "Before the oath consumed him."
Elara felt the ache in his words.
The pain.
The loss.
"Lucien…" She hesitated, then reached for his hand. "You don't have to face him alone."
He looked down at their hands—her warm fingers curled around his cold ones—and something unspoken flickered in his eyes.
"Maybe I don't," he said softly. "But I fear what happens to you when you stand beside me."
Before she could respond, the hallway lights flickered violently, then burst—showering sparks across the floor.
Elara flinched.
Lucien pulled her close, shielding her.
A low, chilling whisper slid through the dark corridor:
"Little traitor… little human… sundown begins early if I say it does."
Kade's voice.
The shadows rippled across the walls, gathering like a forming storm. The ancient runes glowed faintly, reacting to the presence of something powerful and wrong.
Lucien's jaw tightened.
"He's already inside."
Elara gripped him tighter. "Then we go in together."
Lucien inhaled slowly… then nodded.
"Together."
And with a single push, the ancient doors groaned open.
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