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The sounds of their voices, their murmurs, their worshipful tones rising and falling around him like waves. A sussurant sound that was calming and yet had the hair rising on the back of his neck at the same time. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw the whisperers but when he looked directly at them, there was no one there.

Ghosts. No, no. Memories...

He wrenched his gaze away and started walking again. He hadn’t realized that he had stopped.

There was a bema at the end of the nave a few steps up and where an altar would be was a throne made of bones. Not just human bones. There were werewolf bones, hag bones, and who knew what else. Skulls of creatures with long snouts and razor-sharp teeth adorned the throne, but two human skulls took pride of place on the top of the throne. They looked moreproto-humanthan truly human. Their eye sockets burned with the light of the huge, brilliant and filled soul gems.

There’s a secret passage underneath the throne,his mind whispered.Step forward and you will see.

“What will I see?” Caemorn asked.

His voice echoed throughout the sepulchral silence.

“I was human before I was made a Vampire,” Caemorn said to the silence.

His voice echoed back at him, repeating the world “Vampire” endlessly.

“I cannot know this place,” Caemorn continued insistently despite not having anyone argue with him.

Step forward.

You will see.

Caemorn shut his eyes. He had finally come to find peace in his existence. He had a student. Christian. A brilliant student. He might even havefriends. The faces of Julian followed by, of all people, Balthazar flashed before his mind’s eye. And finally, he realized he might even have apurpose. It was Daemon’s face that appeared then. A slight smile on his lips as he lookedindulgentlyat Caemorn as if just waiting for him to do the right thing. As if Caemorn would know what that was and be able to do it without any problem.

“I don’t want to lose what I have,” he whispered without opening his eyes. “I do not wish to be insane.”

Step forward.

“Damn you,” Caemorn snarled and opened his eyes.

There was another stained glass window behind the throne. There must have been a courtyard behind it because the moonlight poured through the glass. The image was Daemon, standing in the center of the window, beneficent, benevolent, loving, with a skeleton kneeling before him.

Death bowing before the Vampire King.

There is nothing to fear.

Daemon is here.

Even though Daemon was in his palace--not too far away--he was also here. In every stone, every ounce of wood, every piece of gilt. Caemorn could smell him everywhere. Was this why Kaly had never come back here? To a place filled with power, because it was also filled with Daemon? He drew in a deep scent of this place. Where Kaly had found unease, he would find peace.

There is nothing to fear.

Daemon is here.

Caemorn slowly stepped up one step then the next and finally he stepped in front of the throne. There was the softest grinding sound and the throne rolled back to reveal a set of stairs. Soul gems illuminated the entire way down. Caemorn tilted his head to the side.

I know this place. That is clear. But how?

And there were other questions to ask as well. Caemorn didn’t think that this secret passage could have been secret long if just anyone could trigger the throne to roll back and reveal the stairway.

“So this is opening for me. Is someone here?” Caemorn asked aloud.

He slowly turned in a circle and allowed his vampiric senses to roll out around him. Dust--far less than there should be–decaying corpses still here and fresh all these years?--old blood--seeped into every stone. The soft creaks and groans of stone settling. Nothing to see though. Not even in the deepest shadows. There were too many filled soul gems to sense the presence of a ghost reaching towards him. But he didn’t really think there was a spirit behind all of this in any case.

“No one here but me.”

He walked to the top of the secret stairwell and stared down at them. The stairwell curled in a spiral so it disappeared from sight down a graceful curve. The silvery light given off from the soul gems was unwavering. It appeared perfectly safe. Caemorn licked his lips.