Born in Sin [BOOK 1]

Chapter 30

The tomb had been a lot more intricate then they were expecting, where a wrong turn would lead to several more paths and deeper to only the Gods knew and to more dead ends. If it hadn't been for the small trails of disturbed dust on the ashen floor they'd probably had been way worse than they already were. According to Tamara, each tomb had the layout of the family's crest so that their family would be a mark on the world itself long after they were dead.

Finally, they reached the heart of the crest where the paths on the floor suddenly became merged and sparse.

"Seems like someone cleaned up here," Tamara said as she kicked a chair leg off to the side.

"Think they did it to confuse us?" Stephen asked as he peered down a dark hallway.

"With the noise you made?" She scoffed. "I'm surprised we made it this far as is."

Stephen rolled his eyes and was about to peek down another hallway when suddenly the door behind them slammed shut. Instinctively, Tamara and Stephen stood back to back, their guns ready as they spun around the room to look for any sign of danger.

"Do you see anything?" Tamara asked.

Stephen was about to say no when a strong gust of wind blew past them, picking up small debris along the way as it bounced off their legs. Soon the wind swirled around them, more violently and furious now. Ever second it became harder to breathe and whenever they tried to move something would stab at them from the outside and hold them hostage. The dust making it nearly impossible to see, Stephen reached his hand out again to try and find the door when something sharp cut into his arm.

"Shit!" He cursed and tried again, just barely dodging the invisible blade that tried to cut at his skin once more. For a moment he thought he felt something soft before it moved away from him, so he reached out one more time. He waved his hand around, stepping as far as he could without the hidden blade going for his legs, and when he found the soft thing again he grabbed it.

A shrill scream echoed around them and the wind stopped for only a second, but enough for the duo to catch their breaths and break free of their dusty imprisonment. Stephen struggled to hold onto the shaking thing in his hand but as the dust settled, what he saw made him confused.

"Anise?" He called out slightly aghast. "What in Varsaria hell are you doing here?"

Behind him he could hear Tamara coughing, trying to get the dust out of her lungs.

Anise trembled and whimpered and so Stephen let her go. When he did she gave a hiccup-y sob, "I wanted to help big brother too... And then when I got here I got lost. I only just got here because I heard a bunch of commotion. And then ... And then you guys couldn't get out and I-" She gave another hiccup-y sniffle and Stephen sighed and knelt down to her eye level.

"Anise, this is no place to be. There are bad people here. You need to go home and get to where it's safe. Damien is coming with a bunch of his friends so you don't need to worry, we'll bring Neo and Jacquelyn home safe. Okay?"

Anise only stared at him, a look in her eyes he couldn't quite read when Tamara nearly puked.

"Are you okay?" Stephen turned around and left Anise to go help Tamara.

Tamara only nodded her head frantically when she finally settled down. "I've always hated caves," she finally said after she caught her breath. Stephen gave a small chuckle and shook his head.

"You can't have him..."

Stephen turned around to see Anise staring intently at the ground, her body visibly shaking as she clenched her small hands into tight fists.