My eyes cut to the bars and I ask to be put down. Noah does, and I see him grip a book as if ready to hurled it at a ghoul should they come close. I rush over to the bars and look into the darkness. It took a moment, but then I see the glow of eyes as the Wraith says, "I can save you."

"How much will it cost?"

"Life."

All I do is stare at the glowing eyes in the dark and say, "You're contraditing yourself Wraith."

"Not at all. All I need is your hand."

All around me the world was descending into death. What was the point in not giving him what he wanted. With that I thrust my hand through the bars. The Wraith is before me in an instant and takes my hand. His youthful face smiling as he grabs my hand and kisses it. It was a sharp sudden pain in my palm and I cry out. Looking down I see what looks like a tattoo of a starburst on my palm as the Wraith says, "The deal is struck. Now enter."

"How?!"

The Wraith chuckles and says, "The door isn't locked... It never was."

My eyes widen as I look at the silver made door, and place my hands on it. Slowly it swings inwards towards him. Stark fear suddenly fills me as I realize that all this time that door was a false sense of security between the world and this creature that now slid back into the dark, his voice floating towards me, "Come."

Turning, I see the chaos and scream, "Follow me!"

All eyes snap to me and see the open door. The invitation was taken readily as I watch fifty or so left rush through, Longsworth followed by Noah. More and more push through until I scream at Ki and Igor. They look back and nod. Ki lets out a scream as he pushes out his hands. I watch as at least a hundred of the ghoul are thrown back and Igor and he rush towards the door. Ki gasps, "How did you unlock the door?"

"I didn't. It was always open."

Igor and Ki only glance at each other as we rush through and shut the door behind us. The ghoul were there a moment later and slam into it. A horrible smell and hissing sound comes as the ghoul scream and fall away from the door. We all were panting as we stared at the door. Then a chuckle floats out from the darkness beyond the hall of this doorway, "Silver is such a strange thing isn't it... it keeps things in... and other things out." '

Shivers ran through me at those words as everyone clusters together in this seeming antechamber. It was silent, cold, and dust covered. Only a trail of steps perfectly mired the stone into the dark. This dark was all consuming, no ambient light allowed us to see. The howls of the ghoul continued and Igor says, "Only one path left to follow."

"Are you crazy?!" Ki hisses. "We are in the Wraith's lair right now! We are simply delivering him lunch!"

"Then I suggest we become fast food." Igor snorts. I can barely see the little smirk on his face before it's replaced with the cold veneer once he sees me staring at him.

"Come," the whisper came from deep in that darkness beyond. Everyone collectively jumped at that word, staring into the dark.

One of the few B ranks among us snorts, "I'd rather not."

I watch everyone debating what to do when I watch Igor square his shoulders and take ground eating strides into the dark. There wasn't a moment of hesitation on his face as he did so and Ki calls out to him to wait. Then I watch Ki disappear into the darkness after him. I feel someone give me a pat on the shoulder and see Longsworth give me a soft smile with Anthea right behind her. Her eyes almost excited, as they too follow the Night Hunters into the dark. Noah stood there with the others and I realize its time I made my decision that would likely move the others who were all well above me in the vampire society with regards to rank. Taking a fortifying breath, I walk into the darkness. As it envelopes me, I hold out my hand so I don't run into something. It was quiet, not a sound of the others. It was as if the moment I stepped into this darkness all sound and light disappeared.

Then a hand grabs me and I lurch forward with a yelp as I'm pulled back and that voice calls out with a giggle, "Watch your step."

I grab onto the arm and realize it's Ki as he says, "I guess your eyesight isn't that great after all. There is a pit where you were about to step."

"O-oh,"I say shakily, gripping Ki harder.

Then Igor's voice calls out, "Its a long way down from what I can see and it seems this is the remains of the library."

I hear people walking down the hall towards the pit and then I hear Anthea say, "Yes. It is the most important information of our species."

"How do you know?" Noah asks with a shaky voice, somewhere in this dense darkness.

"Because I used to come here in my younger years as a vampire."

A giggle in the dark as suddenly light bursts around us and we all gasp. On a landing some three stories higher stood the Wraith. His smile was broad and welcoming as he says, voice still soft, "Welcome once again Anna, it's been so long."

"Same to you Low."

"Low?" I ask as I watch the Wraith jump down from that landing and land softly in front of us on a breath of air.

"Yes, his name is..." Anthea starts, but the Wraith waves her off, "Now now, lets get moving before those lovelies find their way in."

Everyone stood stock still as Wraith walks over to Igor, gives him a pat on the shoulder and walks into a doorway now lightly glowing with a soft yellow light saying, "It's a long walk and we have much to discuss along the way."

Igor looked stiff for a moment, but then relaxes as he turns and follows this eerie vampire down the hall. I look at Ki as he does me and we shrug and follow on. I follow along with Ki and ask, "Isn't Igor terrified of the Lineage Seeker?"

"We all are, but Igor has always faced his fears head on. So I'm not surprised when he went first."

Anthea steps up next to me as we walk down this hall with it's intricate words etched in stone. She brushes her hands against it and I ask, "You've truly been here before?"

"Yes, this was the original library of the first Era."

"Really?!" came the excited reply from Noah behind us.

Despite the ash and exhaustion on Anthea's face, her smile was genuine as she says softly, "Yes. It seemed prudent for Fideous to build the standing library on top of it."

From in front I hear the Wraith say, "Telling history now are we Anna."

"We do have a long walk, don't we Low."

"Yes, yes," he says jovially.

This was so strange to listen to these two talk, as if they were old friends and not enemies and I ask it of them, "Anthea didn't you condemn the Wraith down here. Why do you two sound so happy to hear from each other?"

It was the Wraith who answered first, "Oh we are twins."

The silence that answer brought was like a bomb going off. No one spoke as I look at Anthea and then ahead at the Wraith ahead of us. It made sense, the golden hair, and the similar eye color. But this was more than I bargained for and it was Igor's turn to speak, "Then why..."

But Anthea butts in, "Why did I banish Low to this place? Simple, to protect our history."

"Anna speaks the truth," Wraith says, looking back at her with a raised brow.

Igor had slowed and now we walked abreast of each other as Anthea lets out a sigh and chuckle before responding, "Very well. Low knew that the history on these walls written by Piru and Vama would be damning to the vampire society, so he asked me to put him on a faux trail and banish him down here. It had nothing to do with hundreds of vampire murders."

"Nope, not one," the Wraith says, turning to face us with a smile on his face, hands in the pockets of his cloak.

"Why would you subject yourself to a life down here then?" Igor asks with a cocked brow and tilt of his head.

The Wraith shrugs and says, "It seemed the safest option, and Fideous agreed as well once he realized that people are too curious of closed doors."

"So you created a story and made yourself a villain behind bars of silver." Igor says, shaking his head.

Ki chuckles and says, "So what about all the soul sucking you did?"

"I had to keep up appearances."

Noah calls out, "I thought he killed a few b rank librarians!"

Anthea chuckles and says, "Brink of death, they were all brought to me for healing. You see we are opposites. Low can take a persons energy and I can give it to them. But together we neutralize the others ability in close proximity."

The Wraith nods and then it was Igor's turn to shock us all by saying, "Anna, Low... the two other founders of the Second Era."

-D-

It was quiet as everyone lay down to rest and thankfully drink blood. It had been a full 48 hours of walking before the Wraith had stopped at a spot where he had blood stored. Everyone had drank what he could offer and Igor announced a four hour rest. The last 48 hours had been bombshell after bombshell of information. It was true while Anthea was around the Wraith, or Low, could touch people without harming them. It was one reason he was so useful during the Second Era. Igor spoke about how Low was known as the judicial lord of the second Era and founded the Night's Templar. The Wraith chuckled and said it was mostly his second who had formed the Night's Templar by the name of Estius. Igor had nodded at that; speaking about the code of the Night Hunters being written by that said person.

Another surprise was learning that Anthea's name before her new one was Anna the Healer, second to Fideous the Great. She had laughed and said it had been a long road to rebuild both human and vampire society and finally to disappear from humanity over time. Wraith had nodded at that, looking a little sad as he spoke of how humanity and vampire society had worked together for some time to rebuild, but eventually the fear of their predator species took over. That was when I realized they were among the founders of the second era and asked when they were born. They had been turned during the First Era.

Now as I looked over at the brother and sister softly whispering to each other in the corner, I realized just how old they must be and how powerful. A body shuffles and sits down next to me and I startle to see Igor. He looked paler than before, and his iris's were no longer black but silver as he huffs out, "Those two are well over 100 millennia old if my math is right. I feel like I'm looking at variable legends."

It was strange to see Igor so human as he looks at me and I ask, "Why do your eyes shift color?"

He blinks, silver iris's remaining and says coolly, "Subject change, very well, because I can." His hand sweeps up to his eye and continues, "This is my natural color. I keep them black to keep things easy. But I'm too tired right now to concern myself with that."

"But that doesn't explain why they will shift between colors at times."

Igor simply closes his silver eyes and leans his head against the wall behind us and sighs out, "I don't know why it does that at times. Maybe I'm upset, at least that is what mother used to say to me."

It surprised me to hear him speak about his mother, but then it was Igor who changes the subject, "So Fideous was your mentor?"

"Yes."

"How spectacular that must have been. Now you can say you have met the Founders of the vampire society in their entirety."

"I wouldn't say that. Furlow... I mean Fideous was just a beggar when I knew him. He knew a lot of things but kept quiet on a lot as well. He joked most of the time, was a bit crude, but I loved him like a father as he helped me find my footing in this," I say, sweeping my hand to the room of vampire in front of me.

Igor nods, his eyes still closed and that's when I notice his hand over his stomach. There was a jagged tear in the fabric and his skin showed beneath where a scar stood and I jerk asking, "What happened?"

But he just shakes his head before murmuring, "A ghoul got to me in battle back there. It has mostly healed, the scar will disappear soon."

All this time he had been hurt and I hadn't smelled his blood at all. How was that even possible? I look around and then its as if he can read my thoughts, saying softly, "My blood is different from most vampire. Do not fret, no mob of ranking vampire will eat me."

I'm about to ask what he means when Ki calls to him from where the few remaining Night Hunters sit in a group. He stands and says as he does, "Get some rest and try to eat that blood."

My eyes fall on the glass of blood in my hands and I just give him a nod as he walks towards the group. Just before all of this, he had scared me, kissed me, and left me confused, now he talked to me as if none of that had taken place. True much had changed in the last few days, but eventually I would need to open that can of worms. But for now my only concern was finding the Phantasma. My back was still tender from whatever was happening to Nick, but it still remained. Anthea had tried to help remove some of the sting, but it was raw. Just then I hear my name being called and see the Wraith staring at me, waving me over.

What a strange thing, a creature so feared in society turning out to be a truly gentle man. He had played his role well and as time past his demeanor changed from that eerie creature to a flushed out vampire known for exacting justice. Picking my way around small groups of people talking and some resting their eyes, I sit down next to Anthea. She asks, "How is your back?"

"Its better."

"Good good," she says, tapping her shoulder to mine.

These two ancient beings didn't react at all the way I expected as Wraith says, "Anna told me you were Fideous's apprentice."

I stiffen, but he just gives me a smile and says, "So many secrets, so little time to discuss. You know Fideous is very good at finding good people."

"Was."

"Was?"

"He's dead."

Wraith, no Low tilts his head at me and says, "Are you sure?"

Anna smacks her brother on the shoulder and he chuckles saying, "Sorry, sorry. Old habits die hard. If Fideous is dead, that means nothing could stop this Silent Phantasma."

"We both know something can, but it's not ready," Anthea says, both their eyes turning to me in unison.

It was eerie, but also made me laugh saying, "Furlow always said to stay away from vampire society."

Low jerks and says, "What did you say?"

"I said Furlow always said to stay away from..." I begin but then Low bursts out laughing and Anthea smiles at her brother, and I ask, "What's so funny?"

Finally Low calms his laughter and wipes a tear from his eye looking at his sister as he says, "He actually did it?! I said it as a jest, but he actually did it."

"He did," Anthea says, her rye grin almost contagious.

"What?" I ask as Low looks at me and answers, "My name is Furlow Marta."

Authors Note: Surprise! I felt like being a little indulgent and giving out a chapter in the middle of the week. If you think the last few weeks have been bombshells of information, you will be blown away with what happens in the weeks to come. I hope you enjoy and please feel free to comment on my story, I do love feedback.