The Vesper Creed

Chapter 17

Aizere's Point of View

The descent from the mountain was a blur of shadows and cold wind. When Ezrain finally slowed to a stop, the sudden stillness was jarring. He set Aizere down on a cracked stone path that led toward a massive structure looming through the thick mist.

Aizere looked up and felt a wave of disappointment. The building was a giant, dark church made of old, weathered stone. Two sharp towers reached toward the sky like jagged teeth, and deep, arched windows stared out like empty eyes. Green vines climbed the walls, thick and wild, hiding the stone carvings on the front. To Aizere, it looked like a graveyard—a broken place that had been left to rot in the heart of the forest. The air around it was heavy and smelled of wet dirt and old dust.

"Why are we here?" Aizere asked, her voice shaking as she held her cat closer. "It's just an abandoned building, Ezrain. It looks like no one has touched it in years. We can't hide in a ruin."

Ezrain turned to her, his silver eyes looking at the dark stone. He didn't look worried at all.

"It isn't abandoned, Aizere," he said quietly, walking toward the heavy metal doors. "What you are seeing right now is a trick. To the eyes of a regular human, this place is a ghost. It looks broken and empty so that they will never think to come inside."

He looked back at her, his face very serious. "If a person sees this place as a ruin, it means they are just a human with no power. But you aren't just a human, Aizere. You are a Lightwood. You are the Anchor."

He reached out and took her hand, pulling her closer to the tall entrance. "Close your eyes. Stop looking with your eyes, and start looking with your blood. This place has been asleep for nineteen years, waiting for one of the four families to come back. It is waiting for you."

Aizere took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She felt the weight of the old book in her bag and the steady beat of her own heart. Slowly, the cold air began to change. A hum of power, low and deep, started to shake the ground beneath her feet.

"Now," Ezrain whispered. "Open your eyes."

Aizere opened her eyes, and the world seemed to shift and blur at the edges. The cold, heavy feeling of the forest disappeared, replaced by a sudden warmth that flowed from the stone walls.

The building stood before them, tall and dark. To any person passing by, it looked like a pile of broken rocks and dead vines, a place where time had stopped. But as Aizere stepped forward, the image of the ruin began to melt away. The cracks in the stone smoothed themselves out, and the thick ivy pulled back like a curtain, revealing clean, polished walls that shimmered with a faint light.

"Why does it look so different now?" Aizere asked, her voice a whisper in the quiet night.

"Because this isn't just an old church," Ezrain answered, his eyes fixed on the massive doors. "This is the Shadow Hunter Institution. It is the heart of our world and the home of the four families. For nineteen years, it has looked like an abandoned ruin to keep the mundane world away."

Aizere looked at the towering spires. They no longer looked broken; they looked sharp and powerful, standing guard over the forest. The dark windows were now filled with a soft, amber glow, as if fires had been lit deep inside the halls.

"If a human stands right where you are standing," Ezrain continued, "all they see is an abandoned place. They see a building that is falling apart and empty. They see that because they are mundane. But the blood in your veins is a key, Aizere. Because you are a Lightwood, the building is showing you its true face."

Aizere reached out, her fingers hovering just inches away from the heavy iron door. She could feel a pulse coming from the metal, a steady beat that matched the rhythm of her own heart. The building wasn't just a house; it felt alive, breathing and waiting for her to enter.

"The Institution has been hidden behind this trick since the day your family was lost," Ezrain said, stepping up beside her. "It has been waiting for a Shadow Hunter to return and claim it. It is the only place left where the dark warlocks cannot find you."

Aizere took a deep breath. She looked at the grand entrance, no longer afraid of the ruins. The abandoned place was gone, and in its place stood the only home she had left.

Aizere reached out, her fingers trembling as she pushed against the heavy iron doors. They swung open with a deep groan, revealing a hall that was far from the ruins she had seen from the road. The interior was vast, with high stone arches and torches that flickered to life the moment she stepped over the threshold.

Standing in the center of the Great Hall were Enzo, Niklaus, and Victoria. They looked up, their expressions a mix of relief and intense curiosity.

"You made it," Victoria said, stepping forward. Her eyes moved from Aizere's pale face to Ezrain's tense shoulders. "We felt the surge of power from the mountain. It lit up the sky like a second moon."

"What happened up there?" Niklaus demanded, his voice echoing off the high ceiling. "We saw the violet lightning. We knew the warlocks had found the peak, but we didn't think they would move that fast."

Ezrain took a deep breath, his hand still resting protectively on Aizere's arm. "It wasn't just a scout team. It was a full circle of dark warlocks. And Silas... Silas is alive."

The room went deathly silent. Enzo stepped out of the shadows, his eyes wide. "Silas? The man you killed nineteen years ago?"

"He faked his death," Ezrain explained, his voice grim. "He's been hiding Aizere in Georgia all this time. He told us the truth. The m******e wasn't his doing. It was a plan led by the leader of the dark warlocks, working directly for Hades. They need Aizere because she is the Anchor. She is the only one who can lock the door to the underworld."

Before anyone could respond, the heavy side doors of the hall burst open. A woman dressed in the silver-lined gear of a shadow hunter ran toward them, her face pale and her breath coming in short gasps.

"Niklaus! Ezrain!" she called out, stopping in front of them. "We just got word from the perimeter scouts. There was an attack on the main road leading into Caxwell Town."

Aizere felt a cold pit form in her stomach. "An attack? By who?"

"A dark warlock," the woman said, looking at Aizere with pity. "He struck a vehicle moving at high speed. It caused a massive accident. The car flipped into the ravine, and the driver is severely injured. The scouts said the warlock was looking for information, they are looking for a girl."

"Who was in the car?" Niklaus asked, his voice low and sharp. "Do we have a name?"

The woman nodded, glancing at her clipboard. "He's a local. They pulled his ID from the wreck before the paramedics arrived. It's the Sheriff of Caxwell Town. A man named Forbes."

The world seemed to stop spinning. The adoption papers, still tucked in Aizere's bag, felt like they were burning through the fabric. Her father, the man who had lived a lie for nineteen years just to keep her safe was dying because of the very shadows he had tried to hide her from.

"My dad," Aizere whispered, her voice breaking. "They went after my dad."