Valero Nightshade's Arc

Chapter 2 of 5

Valero reached the stone house an hour before midnight. The door stood open. He'd left it closed. Someone had been inside. He stepped through the threshold and stopped. The knife was gone from the table. The cellar door gaped wide, showing the narrow stairs leading down into darkness. He descended without hesitation. The cellar lock hung loose on its hinge, forced from the outside. A lantern burned on the floor, casting shadows across the stone walls. A man sat against the far wall, bound at the wrists and ankles with iron chains. His head was down, his breathing shallow. On the wall above him, written in what looked like ash: VALERO. Below the name, scratched into the mortar: EIGHT. On the ground beside the prisoner lay an ornate necklace with a blue stone that caught the lantern light. Valero recognized it immediately. The injured girl who'd reached Helga McDool's house had worn the same design. Someone knew about his work. Someone was counting. Valero crouched and lifted the necklace. The prisoner raised his head. His eyes were clear, not feral. Not turned. Just human and terrified. "They said you'd come," the man whispered. "They said you'd need to know they're watching." Valero set the necklace down and examined the chains. Professionally done. This wasn't a warning. It was an invitation. Someone had delivered him a subject he hadn't chosen, prepared in a location he'd secured, with his name written like a claim of ownership. The man flinched as Valero touched the iron. "Please," he said. "I don't know what you want." Valero stood and walked back to the stairs. The man called after him, voice breaking. Valero didn't answer. He climbed out of the cellar and closed the door behind him. The lock was broken, but the bar across the outside still worked. He slid it into place and left the stone house. His eighth attempt would not be dictated by someone else's design. Whoever had placed that man in his cellar wanted him to proceed, which meant proceeding was the wrong choice. For the first time since the seventh failure, Valero altered his methodology. He would not turn the prisoner. He would find out who had written his name on that wall.