Bless The Beauty - By Stacey Kennedy Page 0,49

glanced around, feeling a moment of envy that Kellen could hear something I couldn’t. Dammit, did he have to be better at everything? I quickly chastised myself for having such an emotion at a time like this and focused back on the present.

This wasn’t about me.

Kellen shook his head again. His expression so focused and brows brought together tightly. “I cannot be sure.” Then, he looked down to his feet. “I think she might be beneath us.”

It only took a split second to process what he meant by that. “A basement!” Chase spun around as the others froze in their tracks.

“Look for a basement.” I started to run again as I stared down to the floor. There had to be a trap door here or something that would lead us down there.

We all quickly dropped to our knees and scrambled around the dark space searching for the entrance.

Suddenly, Nick shouted, “Here.”

I jumped to my feet, as did the others and ran toward him. Nick had already moved an old pew out of the way and opened a trap door. When no one moved I pushed on Nick’s back with a hard shove.

“What are you waiting for? Get down there.”

Since there weren’t any stairs, the men took the plunge and dropped down into the hole. I didn’t hesitate. When I met the opening, I fell into total darkness. I looked over at Kellen and he winked.

“Fuck. Got a flashlight?” Mike groaned, clearly unable to see anything in the dark space.

Suddenly a click sounded and Nick held the flashlight up to his face. “I come prepared.”

Mike patted him on the back with pride. “Good job, man.”

“Go, Nick.” I gave him a push forward.

Nick began to run as he kept down low to avoid bashing his head on the wood beams. “What kind of basement is this?” he muttered.

I wondered that myself. When we dropped down, it was to a hallway, not your typical basement. I took a quick look to the wall as I ran by and noticed names lining the wall—a clear indicator just what this place was. “It’s not a basement. It’s tombs.”

“This place was scary enough being a basement,” Nick called out ahead. “Now we’re fucking in the land of dead.” Suddenly, he came to an abrupt halt, which caused us all to slam into the back of him.

“Warning next time,” Mike chastised, pulling himself off Chase’s back.

“Look.” Nick’s tone was more serious than I’d ever heard. He swept the flashlight to roam across the room.

“Christ,” Mike exhaled.

My breath drew back in my body quickly, which echoed along the cold walls of this chamber.

“There has to be at least fifty of them.” I spun in a circle, following Nick’s flashlight.

I’d never seen anything like this. Obviously, the people buried here were of importance. The tombs were spread apart widely, each gold plated and marked with ancient writing and holy symbols.

The very worst part was Chad had used nine of these tombs for his personal use. All nine had a tube running through the tomb attached to an air tank resting beneath.

“She’s in one of these?” Nick said and the horror rolled off his tone.

It only took a second before I glanced at Nick and knew exactly what I had to do. I was about to break my rule—again. “Off to sleep, you.”

He immediately fell to the ground.

“What the fuck?” Mike roared as he rushed toward Nick.

“You too,” I snapped out. A second later, he joined Nick on the ground. With Mike now sleeping as well, I glanced back at Kellen. “Focus, you need to find her.”

Kellen gave a firm nod. He knew this wasn’t a game. He may be against the idea of helping mortals, but he’d obviously grown attached to Sabrina since he’d been through the case with us because there was no hesitation when he closed his eyes.

I attempted to listen as well, but I suspected Sabrina was close to death. I couldn’t hear her breaths. The fact that Kellen could was the only thing that was going to save the woman now.

Kellen spun around with his head cocked as he listened intently.

Chase stayed silent, not moving an inch. Smart man. I gave him an approving smile and his worry-filled gaze met mine.

Only a few minutes later, Kellen’s eyes snapped open. “There,” he said as he rushed forward. He raised his hand and with pure vampire strength, punched the tomb and it crumbled to pieces.

Dust and stone crumbled around us and blurred my vision. Chase began to