THE BLOOD BETWEEN US
1114 Words
CHAPTER 11: The Blood Between Us
The cabin fell silent.
Lana stared at the photograph in her
hands.
Richard Hayes stood in the background
of the picture, silently out of focus but
unmistakably.
Watching.
Protecting.
Waiting.
Ethan looked just as shocked as she felt.
“ That can’t be right,”he said quietly.
Claire crossed her arms.
“I know exactly three things right now.one,
Someone is following us.Two, dead
people apparently enjoy breaking into
houses.And three,your father being in
Lana’s childhood pictures is extremely
Concerning.”
Nobody disagreed.
Lana looked down at the photograph
again.
Her mother stood beside her younger
Self smiling at the camera.
Richard wasn’t smiling.
He was looking directly at Lana.
As if he already knew something no one
else did.
As if he was guarding a secret.
Her secret.
“What if they’re right?” she whispered.
Ethan looked up.
“What if Richard Hayes really was my
Father?”
The words hung heavily in the room.
Claire looked between them.
If that’s true…”
She stopped.
Nobody wanted to finish the sentence.
Because they all knew what it meant.
Lana looked at Ethan.
Ethan looked away first.
“My father would have told me.”
“ would he?” Lana asked quietly.
The question hurt more than she
intended.
But it was true.
Richard Hayes had secrets.
Too many secrets.
And dead men weren’t available for
explanations.
Later that evening, Lana sat alone on the
cabin porch.
The rain had finally stopped.
The forest around them was quiet.
Too quiet.
The photograph rested in her lap.
Footsteps approached behind her.
Ethan.
He sat beside her without speaking.
For several minutes, they simply watched the
trees move in the wind.
Finally, Ethan spoke.
“When I was ten years old,my father
disappeared for three days.”
Lana looked at him.
“When he came back,he looked different.”
“ Different how?”
“ Tired.”
He smiled sadly.
Lana stayed silent.
“ He told me that sometimes protecting people
means letting them hate you.”
The words settled between them.
Heavy .
Painful.
“At time I thought he was talking about work.”
Ethan looked at the photograph .
“ Now I’m not so sure.”
Lana folded her arms against the cold.
“My mother told me my father left before I
Was born.”
“ From what?”
He met her eyes.
“The truth.”
The next morning brought more questions.
And one answer.
Claire was searching through the journals when a folded page slipped free.
Unlike the others,it wasn’t part of the journal.
It was hidden inside it.
“Lana.”
She looked up.
Claire held out the paper.
“You’re going to want to see this.”
Lana unfolded it carefully.
It was a birth certificate.
Her birth certificate.
Her eyes immediately found the space
marked:
Father’s Name
Blank.
Completely blank.
Lana frowned.
“That’s impossible.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Not impossible.”
“Then what?”
“ Intentional.”
The room fell silent.
Someone had removed the name.
Someone had wanted it hidden.
Someone had wanted Lana to never know.
At the bottom of the document was a
handwritten note .
The handwriting belonged to her mother.
Forgive me one day.
Lana closed her eyes.
Her mother knew.
She had always known.
A suddenly knock at the cabin door made
everyone jump.
Three knocks.
Fast.
Urgent.
Ethan moved toward the window.
Then relaxed slightly.
“It’s Victor.”
Lana stood immediately.
“ what?”
Victor Mercer stepped inside moments
later.
For a dead man, he looked remarkably
alive.
His coat was soaked from the rain.
His expression was serious.
“We don’t have much time.”
Claire pointed at him.
“Because we continue, I would like to
mention that you’re supposed to be
dead.”
Victor almost smiled.
“I get that a lot.”
Lana stepped forward.
“Why are you here?”
Victor looked directly at her.
“Because they’re moving sooner than I
expected.”
“The Order?”
He nodded.
“They know you have the key.”
Lana reached into her pocket and touched
the silver key.
“Then they already have one advantage.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
He reached into his coat.
And placed the second silver Key on the
table.
Everyone stared.
“You brought it?”
Victor nodded.
“They can’t open the lock without both
Keys.”
Lana looked between the two identical
Pieces of silver.
“ So what do they open?”
Victor took a deep breath.
“A Vault.”
“A. Vault where?”
He hesitated.
Then answered.
“Underneath St. Gabriel’s church.”
The room fell silent.
Lana blinked.
“A church?”
Victor nodded.
“The oldest church in the city.”
Ethan frowned.
“The map.”
Victor looked at him.
“‘The truth lies below.”
Understanding spread across Ethan’s
Face.
“Below the church.”
Victor nodded again.
“Your parents hid it there twenty years
ago.”
Lana felt her pulse quicken.
“ What exactly did they hide?”
Victor looked directly at her.
“ The evidence?”
“What evidence?”
“The kind powerful people kill to
Protect.”
Night had fallen by the time they
reached the church.
The building stood against the dark
Sky, old and silent.
It’s stone walls looked untouched by
time.
Lana stared at the entrance.
“This is it?”
Victor nodded.
“Underneath this building is the reason
your parents died.”
Ethan moved beside her.
“You ready?”
No.
Not even close.
But she nodded anyway.
Together they stepped inside.
The church was empty.
Moonlight spilled through stained-glass
Windows.
Victor led them toward the altar.
Then stopped.
“There.”
Set into the floor beneath the altar was
a small metal plate.
Two keyholes.
Side by side.
Lana slowly removed her key.
Victor did the same.
For a moment nobody moved.
Twenty years of secrets.
Twenty years of lies.
All leading here.
Lana looked at Ethan.
He gave a small nod.
Together, she and Victor inserted the
the keys.
And turned them.
Click.
A deep mechanical sound echoed
beneath the church floor.
The altar began to move.
Slowly.
Revealing a staircase disappearing
into darkness below.
Claire stared.
“Well,” she said softly.
“That’s definitely not normal.”
Victor looked down into the
darkness.
His expression had gone pale.
“ What is it?” Lana asked.
He swallowed.
“The vault wasn’t supposed to be
Open already.”
The group fell silent.
Because deep below them——
Someone had already gotten
there first.
- Writer
