The Seventh Vow

Chapter 13: The other half

Seraphina forgot how to breathe.

The woman standing in the doorway looked exactly like her.

Not similar.

Not vaguely alike.

Exactly.

The same dark hair fell around her face. The same gray-green eyes stared back at Seraphina. Even the tiny scar beneath her left eyebrow was there.

For several seconds, neither woman moved.

Then the stranger smiled.

It was the strangest sensation Seraphina had ever experienced.

She knew that smile.

Somewhere buried beneath years of memories she could no longer access, she knew it.

“You…”

The word barely escaped her lips.

The woman stepped into the room.

“My name is Elena.”

Seraphina stared at her.

“Elena?”

“Our mother called me Elena.”

Seraphina’s eyes filled with tears.

“Why?”

Elena’s expression softened.

“Because she wanted us to have names that belonged to two different lives.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you were supposed to be Seraphina Vale.”

She touched her own chest.

“And I was supposed to disappear.”

Damien moved closer to Seraphina.

Elena noticed.

Her eyes narrowed.

“So you’re still protecting her.”

Damien’s expression hardened.

“I promised Edward.”

Elena laughed quietly.

“Of course you did.”

Seraphina looked between them.

“You know each other?”

Elena looked at Damien.

“We’ve met.”

“How many times?”

“Enough.”

Seraphina felt another wave of frustration.

“Everyone knows everyone except me.”

Victor stepped forward.

“That’s because your father made sure you lived without the truth.”

Seraphina turned on him.

“Stop talking about my father as though he was the villain.”

Victor’s expression became solemn.

“Edward wasn’t the villain.”

“Then what was he?”

“A man who made terrible choices because he believed they were necessary.”

Seraphina looked at Elena.

“Why did he separate us?”

Elena’s face changed.

“Because of me.”

“What?”

“I was born with something the Covenant wanted.”

Seraphina frowned.

“What?”

“A memory.”

“That makes no sense.”

Elena slowly walked toward the old table.

“My mother discovered something before we were born. She found evidence that the Covenant had been manipulating powerful families for generations.”

She picked up the photograph of the seven people.

“She stole their records.”

Seraphina listened carefully.

“When they discovered what she’d done, they came after her.”

“And us?”

“Yes.”

Elena’s voice softened.

“They believed one of us had inherited the ability to remember things that had been deliberately erased.”

Seraphina felt a chill.

“Memory.”

Elena nodded.

“Not ordinary memory. Something different.”

“What?”

“The ability to remember things even after someone has tried to make you forget.”

Damien looked away.

Seraphina noticed.

“You knew about this.”

“Yes.”

“And you never told me?”

“I didn’t know whether it was true.”

Elena smiled sadly.

“He still doesn’t.”

Damien’s eyes narrowed.

“Don’t.”

“You’re afraid she’ll remember.”

Seraphina looked at him.

“Remember what?”

Nobody answered.

Then Elena reached into her coat and removed a small silver pendant.

Seraphina stared at it.

It was identical to hers.

She touched the pendant around her own neck.

“You have one.”

“Our mother gave us both one.”

“Why?”

Elena’s eyes met hers.

“Because she said that one day we’d need them to find each other.”

Seraphina’s heart ached.

“What happened to her?”

Elena looked down.

“She didn’t disappear.”

Seraphina froze.

“What?”

“She escaped.”

“Where is she?”

Elena’s expression became distant.

“She was alive for years.”

Seraphina stepped closer.

“Where is she now?”

Elena looked at Damien.

Then Victor.

Finally, she whispered:

“She died three months ago.”

The room went silent.

Seraphina’s eyes widened.

“No.”

Elena nodded.

“I’m sorry.”

“No.”

She shook her head.

“My father said she died when I was a child.”

“He wanted you to believe that.”

“Why?”

“Because he thought the Covenant was still watching you.”

Seraphina’s voice broke.

“Then why didn’t she come for me?”

Elena looked at her with tears in her eyes.

“Because she spent twenty-three years making sure they never found you.”

Seraphina looked down.

For the first time, the anger she’d carried toward her mother began to dissolve.

In its place came something far more painful.

Grief.

Grief for a woman she had mourned without knowing she was still alive.

Grief for a sister she had never known existed.

And grief for a childhood that had apparently been stolen from both of them.

Then Elena said something that made the room go completely still.

“There’s one more thing you need to know.”

Seraphina looked up.

Elena’s voice dropped to a whisper.

“Your father didn’t separate us because he was afraid of the Covenant.”

She paused.

“He separated us because one of us betrayed him.”

Seraphina’s eyes widened.

“Who?”

Elena stared directly at her.

“You.”

The word hung between them.

Seraphina stared at Elena, waiting for her to laugh.

She didn’t.

“You’re saying I betrayed my father?”

Elena nodded slowly.

“When you were eight.”

Seraphina shook her head.

“I was eight years old.”

“I know.”

“I couldn’t have betrayed anyone.”

“You didn’t understand what you were doing.”

Damien stepped forward.

“That’s enough.”

Elena turned toward him.

“You weren’t there when it happened.”

“I was.”

“No. You were outside.”

Damien’s expression tightened.

Elena looked back at Seraphina.

“You remembered something that night.”

“What?”

“A room.”

Seraphina’s mind suddenly flashed.

A red curtain.

A wooden desk.

Her father kneeling in front of her.

His hands resting on her shoulders.

“Seraphina, listen carefully. Whatever happens, don’t tell anyone about this room.”

Then another memory.

A door opening.

A woman’s voice.

“Where is the key?”

Seraphina gasped.

The room seemed to tilt.

Damien caught her before she fell.

“Seraphina.”

She pushed him away.

“I remember.”

Everyone went silent.

She pressed a hand against her forehead.

“I remember the room.”

Elena stepped closer.

“What else?”

“My father was there.”

“What did he say?”

“He told me not to tell anyone.”

Elena’s face tightened.

“Did you?”

Seraphina closed her eyes.

Another memory emerged.

A little girl standing in a hallway.

Someone kneeling beside her.

A familiar voice whispering:

“Tell them what you saw.”

Then—

Nothing.

Seraphina opened her eyes.

“I don’t know.”

Elena looked devastated.

“You told them.”

“Who?”

“The Covenant.”

Seraphina stared at her.

“No.”

“You told them where the records were hidden.”

“I would never do that.”

“You were eight.”

“I said I would never!”

Her voice echoed through the abandoned house.

Elena didn’t flinch.

“I know.”

Seraphina stopped.

“What?”

“I know you wouldn’t have done it willingly.”

Damien looked between them.

“Then why say she betrayed him?”

“Because someone used her.”

Victor finally spoke.

“Memory manipulation.”

Seraphina turned.

“What?”

“They didn’t need her cooperation.”

He looked at Damien.

“They needed access to her memories.”

A cold realization settled over the room.

“The Covenant erased something from me.”

Victor nodded.

“And replaced it.”

Seraphina stared at the floor.

“So the memory of betraying my father…”

“May not be yours.”

She looked at Elena.

“Then whose is it?”

Elena’s expression became troubled.

“That is what we need to find out.”

Suddenly, the lights went out.

A gunshot echoed from somewhere outside.

Everyone froze.

Another shot followed.

Damien grabbed Seraphina’s arm and pulled her behind a stone pillar.

Victor moved toward the window.

“Snipers?”

“No,” Damien said.

He listened.

“Too close.”

Footsteps thundered outside.

Then the front door burst open.

Three masked figures rushed into the house.

Damien pushed Seraphina farther behind him.

“Stay down.”

Elena grabbed her hand.

“Come with me.”

“Where?”

“There’s another exit.”

They ran toward the rear corridor.

Seraphina glanced over her shoulder.

Damien was fighting one of the intruders while Victor struggled with another.

A third man raised his weapon.

Elena pulled Seraphina through a hidden doorway.

The wall closed behind them.

They were suddenly inside a narrow passage.

Seraphina’s breathing became frantic.

“Where are we going?”

“Down.”

They descended a spiral staircase.

At the bottom was a small underground room.

Elena shut the door.

For a moment, there was only silence.

Then Seraphina noticed something on the wall.

Photographs.

Hundreds of them.

But these were different.

They showed her.

And Elena.

Together.

As children.

Seraphina stepped closer.

There was one photograph dated twenty-three years earlier.

Both girls were standing in front of their mother.

Seraphina looked at Elena.

“We knew each other.”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t I remember?”

“Because you weren’t supposed to.”

Seraphina touched the photograph.

“What happened?”

Elena hesitated.

“You asked me to forget you.”

Seraphina turned sharply.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because you were trying to protect me.”

A strange silence followed.

Then Elena reached behind one of the photographs and pulled out a small cassette recorder.

She placed it on the table.

“Mother left this for you.”

Seraphina stared at it.

“What is it?”

“The last message she ever recorded.”

Elena pressed play.

Static filled the room.

Then a woman’s voice emerged.

Seraphina’s heart stopped.

Her mother’s voice.

Older.

Tired.

But unmistakable.

“If you’re hearing this, then I’ve failed to keep you separated.”

Seraphina covered her mouth.

The recording continued.

“Seraphina, there is something you must understand. Your sister was never the danger.”

A pause.

“You were.”

Seraphina’s eyes widened.

“But not because of what you did.”

The recording crackled.

“The Covenant believes you possess the ability to remember everything they’ve tried to erase.”

Elena looked at her.

Seraphina couldn’t move.

Then her mother’s final words came through the static.

“And if your memories have begun returning, you must find the Seventh Vow before they do.”

The recording stopped.

Seraphina stared at the machine.

“What is the Seventh Vow?”

Elena’s eyes filled with tears.

“I don’t know.”

A sound came from behind them.

Three slow knocks.

Seraphina and Elena turned.

The hidden door began to open.

Damien stood there.

His shirt was torn at the shoulder, but he was otherwise unharmed.

He looked at Seraphina.

“We need to leave.”

She shook her head.

“Not yet.”

“Seraphina—”

“My mother said I need to find the Seventh Vow.”

Damien’s expression changed.

Then, very quietly, he said:

“I know where it is.”

Seraphina stared at him.

“Where?”

Damien looked toward Elena.

Then back at Seraphina.

“Inside the original Covenant house.”

“And where is that?”

His answer made Elena go pale.

“Beneath Vale Publishing.”