Chapter 38
Chapter 38
At least that's what I'd hoped for. I held my hand out to reach for the door. The Volati threaded like bolts
of dark blue buzzing electricity that wheeled around the shed. I felt a slight sharp pain but it wasn't
something that I couldn't handle.
I heard Asia call out my name but I didn't listen. I reached my entire arm out until half my body was on
the other side of the jolts.
"Well?" Xavier asked after a couple of seconds.
"It's hot," I answered," it's getting hotter."
I felt the heat of the jolts began to throb on my skin like hot coals. I rapidly jumped to the other side and
felt immediate relief when the pain was no longer there.
"What now?" I looked up towards a shocked Xavier.
"You have to unwind the chains from the door," he quickly snapped to reality," behind the door is the
entrance to the church."
I nodded and looked down towards the metal chains that were outlined with the same jolts. I tried to
reach for a link but quickly winced away at the heat.
"This ones even hotter," I yelled towards Xavier.
"They get stronger as you get deeper inside," he said," pull your sleeves over your fingers!"
I did as instructed and fumbled with the chain as quickly as I could. I took breaks every time I unlinked
a chain but the heat was slowly starting to get more and more overbearing. I pulled back my sleeves
and looked down at my blistering palms and back up at the chain.
I had about three more links to unhook.
Shit! Shit shit shit shit!
I tried to clear my mind of the pain but that was almost impossible. I unhooked another and now my
palms were bleeding through my sleeves. I took another break and looked back towards an anxious-
looking Xavier.
"Holly, you have to hurry, the wolf might wake up at any second."
"Okay," I breathed out and wiped my hands on my jeans, I pulled the sleeves back over my palm and
unhooked another, and then finally the last one, screaming out just as the chain tumbled to the ground.
I groaned out in pain and felt my tears flooding down and stinging the cuts on my face.
"Good job, open the door, Holly."
I pulled on the metal knob and revealed a dark staircase that led down to pitch black.
"There's nothing, just stairs," I said," I can't see."
"Go down the stairs, the prison should be somewhere down there-"
"I-I can't," I muttered, trying to control my crying. I didn't want to admit to Xavier that I was terrified of
going down there and the staircase had reminded me of the one at the castle cell. I never wanted to be
anymore near that cell again and the thought of going down those stairs sent chills up my spine.
"Yes you can Holly, whatever is down there won't hurt you," he was oddly reassuring.
"Put me down," I heard Asia say today Xavier. She must have gotten out of his grip because she was
now standing right beside me, on the other side of the barrier.
"Holly listen to me," she began and I suddenly wished I could hug her. I needed a sense of comfort that
her hugs always seemed to give me. I stared back at her.
"It's Damon," she said," The Mark of Eros, it's Damon."
Somehow her words didn't surprise me. Somewhere along the way, I must have subconsciously figured
that out. There was no other way to explain the way I feared for Damon other than destiny, The
desperation I felt, to save him, to make sure he was okay, it was a feeling I had never felt before and I
could only describe it as fate.
"It's always been Damon," I felt myself whisper.
"You can do this," she said with big reassuring eyes.
I nodded," okay."
I took a couple of steps down the stairs and a couple more until I was surrounded by nothing but dark. I
walked down what must have been a hallway until I could no longer see the slight light of the entrance.
The only sound that I could hear was the buzzing of the Volati and my heart thudding against my chest.
I heard droplets of water hit the hard pavement underneath me and sudden images of the castle cell
flashed across my brain. I took a deep breath and kept going, praying that I couldn't hit something with
my feet. I put my arms out in front of me and they made contact with the end of the hall.
I fumbled with the wall to realize it was actually a door. I reached for the cold metal doorknob and flung
the door open, revealing what must have been; the prison.
It was one large room the size of a football stadium or maybe just a little bit smaller. The ceiling was
high enough for it to be a castle and I realized I must be very deep underground if this was the inside of
the church. There were dozens of rows of prison cells, as well as cells stacked on top of each other.
The only thing separating the cells was a single jolt of Volati. The cells on top of the base cells were
also separated but a floating metal shelf that covered the entire second and third floor of prisons.
There were hundreds of bodies in the room. Some were wide awake and some lay unconscious. I
didn't know where to start looking for Damon or if he was even here. I prayed that if he were, he
wouldn't in the top layer of the cells where it would be almost impossible to see him.
I walked past the first row of cells and examined the people inside. Not all of them looked like people,
others looked like creatures. Some had small wounds others were heavily injured. They all stared at
me with curious eyes, wondering who I was or if I've come to free them. I tried to not make direct eye
contact with anybody and instead focused on scanning the cells. Sometimes they took steps closer to
the barrier but flinched back at the heat of coming too close. No one dare said a word and I was
starting to wonder why. The constant buzzing of the Volati was becoming almost deafening. I make eye
contact with a boy on the second floor of the cells. He was looking directly at me, almost as if he knew
me. He had burn marks across his face almost as if his face was pressed against the Volati. He didn't
look much older than I was. I couldn't tell what he was but from where I was, he looked normal. I began
to recognize his dark black Mohawk and as I grew closer, I was able to decipher that it was Matheos.
What was he doing here?
Last I'd seen Matheos was at the castle, grinning mischievously at the thought of getting what he
wanted. He now looked scared, and confused, almost completely unrecognizable and I began to
wonder if the others were here.
I kept walking, past his cell, fear crumbling at the pit of my stomach and I wondered if they had
managed to break Matheos in the short amount of time that they'd had him, what could they have done
to Damon by now?
I got to the very last row, eyeing each cell from the bottom to the very top. My heart squeezed on itself
immediately when I caught sight of a limp body, lying on the hard metal floor of the second floor. His Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.
brown hair that was identical to Damon's was stained with blood. I stood in front of the cell and got on
my tippy toes trying to get a better look. There was a girl in the cell underneath, she looked like a
faerie. Her eyes followed my movements in curiosity. I wondered how I was going to get on top of her
cell to get to the one on top.
I tried to grasp hold of the Volati and it burnt slightly against my bare palms.
"Damon!" I hissed out trying to get him to wake up," is that you?"
I was rewarded with silence. I struggled to get my feet on top of the bottom cell. I grabbed hold of the
edge of the metal on top of the bottom that separated the two cells and hoisted myself up. I was hardly
balancing but now that I was face to face with the person inside the cell, I could indeed confirm that it
was Damon. Although I was relieved that I had found him, I had no idea if he was alive and if he was,
how I was going to get him out of the cage.
I whipped my hand past the barrier and winced at the burn. I nudged Damon's shoulders and he began
to stir.