“Vlad was the most powerful Vampire King of all time—that is, until he was defeated by our Queen. His possessions come from Romania and are said to hold his immortal wrath, and that upon his execution he swore his revenge and his soul was scattered among his treasures.”
That was a good story, but I was too shocked to move on. “Did you just say your Queen defeated Vlad the Impaler?” I asked. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Surprise spread over my features as I angled down to look at Naomi. “How could she defeat someone so much stronger? She had to have been newly made judging by her age now.”
She nodded solemnly. “Oui, she was very young. Vlad turned the tsar’s youngest daughter in hopes to rule Russia. But it is said he picked the wrong daughter. He mistook her youthful appearance for innocence and she played him well. She was shrewd in the ways of men long before Vlad found her. Her father had … made her life very difficult, and Vlad paid the ultimate price for his actions.”
I made a face.
Eudoxia’s father was Ivan the Terrible and her maker had been Vlad the Impaler. Another pinch of grudging respect surfaced for Eudoxia that I knew I shouldn’t harbor. But she was a true survivor on so many levels. It was hard to quantify that kind of strength and impossible not to respect it.
It was clear she had won her title of Queen of the Vampires.
I pushed the trapdoor upward.
It met with resistance. I repositioned and came at it with my shoulder. I gave it a hard jerk and there was a popping noise as a latch gave way. Once it was free, the door opened slowly like a drawbridge.
Mustiness hit my senses immediately. Old, stale air filled the tunnel.
The ghosts were agitated and excited. They breezed back and forth over my face creating a dusty current. I coughed.
“Must go.”
“The time draws near.”
“Grab the relic.”
“I’m going, I’m going,” I muttered. Naomi quirked her head, but nodded, understanding.
I drew my body into the room cautiously. This building had skylights, so it was brighter than the tunnel. But they were weathered and dirty, caked with grime both inside and out. The sun barely shone through, but it was a welcome addition to my dark underground day.
Once I was in, I glanced around in surprise.
Instead of all the prized possessions being laid out lovingly under glass in shrinelike condition, it looked as though everything had all been dumped on the floor haphazardly. It was like one giant junk box.
There were old, dusty cloths draped over things in some areas, and in other places piles of crap had accumulated in no particular order, like someone might sort them later. If they ever got around to it.
“This is it?” I chuckled. “The feared Reliquary? It looks like a church basement garage sale.” The trapdoor was situated in the middle of the room. Nothing had zapped me or came to life, which was stellar. I made a slow turn, testing the magic in the room. There were a few pulses from some of the items, but the major power current seemed to flow freely in a circle around me. “Naomi,” I called. “I think it’s okay to come in. I’m not getting a read on anything too intense.”
Naomi poked her head through the trapdoor. “The power creeps along my skin, but you are right—it is not threatening me either. Still, be careful, Ma Reine. It could be a trap.”
“Why do you think all these artifacts are piled up like this?” I asked, pacing to the inner edge of the circle. “Wouldn’t your most prized possessions be, I don’t know, better taken care of? I don’t think they’re cursed. Nothing in here feels threatening. That must have been an old wives’ tale.” I reached over to touch what looked to be a jeweled crown of some kind. “Let’s find out.”
The moment my hand almost connected with it, an arc of static electricity shot into my finger.
“Jeez!” I yanked my hand away. The power had stung me and I hadn’t even touched the damn thing. “Did you see that? A mini lightning bolt just shot out of that crown.” I turned in a full circle. I hadn’t recognized the configuration of all the junk before now.
“What is it?” Naomi asked.
“Your Queen is tricky,” I said. “Look at how all these things are laid out. They look haphazard, but they’re all connected.” The items ran in a full circle around us. The junk was acting like a giant conduit, and we were standing right in the middle of it. “Don’t touch anything,” I cautioned Naomi. “I’m pretty sure this is what’s fueling the barrier.”
“Find the saber,” a whisper shot by my ear. It was the voice of the only ghost who had stayed with me in the mausoleum.
“What saber?” I asked. Naomi glanced at me. “One of the ghosts is telling me to find some kind of a sword.”
We both looked around, but it was hard to see over the heaps of junk.
“The Kilij. The master’s sword.”
“You must break the circuit.”