Court of the Shifter 5 by Logan Jacobs

Author:Logan Jacobs [Jacobs, Logan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-08-21T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

“Wait,” Luxe said as she hesitated at the entrance. “Are we really going down into the mystery hole?”

“What other options do we have?” Cal asked. “We’ve searched the rest of the town twice already. And Eli said he caught her scent.”

“Fine,” Luxe sighed, and she reluctantly followed me into the entrance of the basement.

There was no light to guide my steps, so I conjured a small flame into the palm of my hand, and I held it over my head to illuminate the stone staircase. The others followed right behind me, and when I stopped a few steps from the bottom, Calantha bumped into my back.

A chilly air current came from deeper within the basement, and it blew our hair backward as it swept out of the entrance to the basement. There was a barrel of torches at the base of the stairs, so I descended the final two steps and grabbed one for everyone.

After I lit the first one, I got a look at the contents of the basement of the church-like building. There were a few tables situated around the room, and the stench of death and other chemicals was heavy in the air, which masked Alisa’s scent again. I passed out the burning torches to my companions, and then I took one for myself as I stepped into the empty space.

I didn’t see any entrance to the upper level, so the outside door was the only way to access this section of the building, but that didn’t explain the candles burning in the upper level.

Shelves along one wall contained dozens of clear jugs full of liquids in various hues, and judging from the collection of dust on the outside of the containers, they hadn’t been touched in a very long time. I could only imagine what the liquids were used for, but I didn’t let my mind linger on those thoughts for long.

“Eli, check this out,” Zolas said from across the room, and I turned to cross the distance to the table where the mystic stood.

The pungent chemical smell was stronger closer to the table, and several bloodied rags lay scattered across the surface. I smelled vampire blood, and the salty odor of sweat, but they were faint like they’d faded over time. Zolas indicated an array of tools laid out on a velvet mat, and a shiver ran up my spine as I scanned over the various scissors and pliers. A small bone saw had a handle smeared with blood, and I bit back bile as I thought about what could have taken place here.

“They cut people open in here,” I mused. “Maybe for surgery? Like to sew up injured organs.”

“Or prepared them for burial,” Calantha observed as she came up behind me. “Although I always thought funeral pyres were the preferred method of body disposal in the hamlets.”

“Derala used to be a thriving place of commerce,” Zolas said. “Historically, before the Mithtari dynasty began, many travelers from the eastern sea came through Derala before continuing on to Marbrooke.

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