The Vesper Creed

Chapter 18

Aizere's Point of View

The name "Sheriff Forbes" hit me like a physical blow, knocking the air right out of my lungs. The adoption papers in my bag suddenly felt like they were made of lead, pulling me down toward the cold stone floor. My father, the man who had spent nineteen years living a lie just to keep me safe was bleeding out in a ravine because of the shadows I had brought back to this town.

I didn't think. I didn't breathe. I just turned toward the heavy iron doors, my boots skidding on the polished floor as I started to run.

"Aizere, wait!" Ezrain's voice cut through the hall, sharp and commanding.

I spun around, my vision blurring with hot, angry tears. "I am not staying here while he dies! He is the only father I have ever known. If Hades wants me, he can come and get me, but I am going to that hospital right now!"

Niklaus stepped into my path, his face a mask of cold, hard stone. "You don't understand the rules of this place, girl. The Council of the Institution has already been alerted to your arrival. They have issued a standing order: the Lightwood heir does not leave these wards until the moon reaches its peak. If you step outside, you are defying the highest law we have."

"Let them be angry!" I shouted, my voice cracking as it echoed off the high arches. "Let them lock me in a cell for the rest of my life, but I am not letting him die alone."

Enzo and Victoria exchanged a grim look. I could see the hesitation in their eyes; they knew the Council's wrath wasn't something to be taken lightly. To defy them meant risking everything they had built. The Council didn't care about one human sheriff; they only cared about the Anchor and the safety of the veil.

I looked at Ezrain, my heart pleading with him. He saw the raw desperation in my eyes, and for a moment, the cold vampire mask slipped. He looked at his siblings, then back at the heavy doors.

"We're going," Ezrain said. His voice was quiet, but it held a finality that silenced the room.

Niklaus turned on him, his eyes flashing with silver fire. "Ezrain, think about what you're doing. If we take her out there without a Council order, we are all dead men walking. They will label us traitors before we even hit the town square."

"Then let us be traitors," Ezrain countered, stepping up beside me. He placed a steadying hand on my shoulder, his touch the only thing keeping me from falling apart.

"We spent twenty years mourning a bloodline we thought was gone. Now that she's here, I will not start our new era by letting her heart break. We are the pillars. We protect our own."

Victoria let out a long, weary sigh, but I saw a small, defiant smile touch her lips. "The Council has been stagnant for too long anyway. A little rebellion might do them some good."

Enzo checked the daggers at his belt, his expression darkening into a lethal focus. "If we're doing this, we move as a unit. Niklaus, you take point. Victoria, you cover the rear. Ezrain stays with Aizere. If a warlock so much as looks at her, we end them."

Niklaus growled, a sound of pure frustration, but he eventually nodded. He was a warrior first, and his protective instincts were overriding his fear of the law. "The Council will have our heads for this. We are putting the last Lightwood bloodline at a risk that could end the world."

"Then we had better make sure we don't fail," Ezrain said, looking at me.

Together, the five of us turned and marched back toward the great doors. We were breaking every rule, defying an ancient government, and walking straight into a trap set by the King of the Underworld. But as we stepped out into the night, I felt the power of the four pillars closing in around me, a shield made of blood and silver that felt stronger than any stone wall.

The cool night air hit my face as we stepped out of the Institution, but it did nothing to calm the fire in my chest. My hands were shaking so hard I had to shove them into my jacket pockets. Every second we spent walking down that stone path felt like an hour stolen from my father's life.

"Stay close, Aizere," Ezrain whispered, his hand never leaving the small of my back. His touch was cold, but it was the only thing grounding me as we approached the Caxwell Memorial Hospital.

From a distance, the building looked normal, but as we got closer, I saw the truth through my "Sight." The hospital wasn't just a building anymore; it was wrapped in a thick, oily fog that moved like it was breathing. The streetlights flickered and died as we crossed the parking lot, leaving us in a heavy, unnatural darkness.

"They've warped it," Victoria said, her hand moving to the hilt of a silver blade hidden at her waist. "The warlocks have turned the interior into a shifting maze. They want to separate us."

We pushed through the sliding glass doors of the emergency room, and I gasped. The lobby was silent. Nurses and patients were slumped over desks and chairs, caught in a deep, magical sleep. But the hallways—they were wrong. What should have been a straight path to the elevators was now a twisting corridor of white tiles that seemed to stretch on for miles, bending at impossible angles.

"Dad!" I shouted, my voice echoing and distorting as it traveled down the hall.

"Don't yell," Niklaus warned, his eyes scanning the ceiling as if he could see the shadows hiding there. "You're just giving them a target. Enzo, take the left flank. Victoria, stay on the right. Aizere, you stay between me and Ezrain. We move together, or we don't move at all."

As we stepped deeper into the maze, the walls began to groan. The hospital smell of bleach and medicine was replaced by the damp, heavy scent of earth—the same smell as the mountain. I felt the Anchor in my blood begin to pulse, a painful heat that warned me we were being watched.

"The room numbers are changing," I whispered, pointing to a door that flickered from '204' to a strange, glowing symbol. "How are we supposed to find him if the building won't stay still?"

"The building is reacting to you," Ezrain realized, his grip on my arm tightening. "It's a maze built out of your own fear. To find the Sheriff, you have to stop looking for a room number and start looking for the bond they used as bait."

Suddenly, a dark, hooded figure stepped out from a doorway at the end of the hall. It didn't have a face, just a void where features should be. It raised a black wand, and the floor beneath us turned into liquid shadow.

"They're here," Enzo hissed, drawing two daggers that hummed with blue light.

The Council would have my head for this, they would probably have all of our heads but as the first dark spell whistled past my ear, I didn't care about the laws of Shadow Hunters. I only cared about the man at the end of this maze who had sacrificed everything to be my father.