BloodStone: Ice (Book 1)(Completed)

Chapter 5

Quintus examined the wall carefully. He started at the bottom where the stones were long rectangles and evenly cut. Odd stones for this area of the world. River stones that size were never found here. Then again, who knew for sure what this place even was. The next level of stones was perfectly square shaped, leading upwards for the rest of the wall, except where they lay on the very top. Then they went back to the longer rectangle. He could see no discernable differences as he moved his gaze upward slowly. There were no hidden areas, or traces of power

Titus pointed it out to him though. A long rectangular stone right under the edge of the roof. The mortar didn't seem to be as dry as all of the rest. Quintus put his hand to it and felt it shift immediately. It was a loose stone, concealing a small hollowed area. He put his hand into the hole and drew out a small glass bottle and a collection of papers.

The bottle took his attention first as he settled down next to his brother. It was hand blown, triangular with a cork stopper, and spoke of great age. Inside rested seven small stones. He poured them out into the hand that still held the black stone. Everyone one of them were identical in shape and size. The shape and size of a single drop of liquid. A single drop of blood. Two of the stones seemed to be very clear though. Quintus held them up to the moonlight coming thru the window and could easily see through them. They held a reddish gold tint to them, but were otherwise transparent. Carefully he set them on a cushion next to him. The other six were in varying shades of blackish red.

Quintus laid the six stones in order from darkest to lightest on his leg. Slowly, he placed the newest one at the beginning of the line. He stared at them for several minutes while Titus watched,unconsciously stroking his thumb over the pulse of the hand he held to his heart.

"The first, the fifth, the sixth, the eighth, the twelfth, and the fourteen. The other two stones are the ancient and the girl child we never met."

"Surely she didn't kill all of those. The vampires' maybe, but not the others."

"No, these two stones speak of dying peacefully. They gave up their existence of their own free will." He reached into his jacket pocket and drew out a small leather bag. He poured four similar stones into his empty hand. "The soldier." he held up one that was the same clear reddish gold. He placed it next to the other two on the cushion. He held up the other three which were much darker in color."The fourth, the tenth, and the fifteenth. That is nine in total. Do you realize what this means?" he sighed, his face a passionless mask. Titus nodded.

"We can be done soon. Only six left to go. I don't understand though. It's taken us almost two millennium to find three, yet she has six. Are we not searching in the right places?"

"Maybe they're drawn to her somehow?" Quintus shrugged his shoulders, answering his own comment. He poured all of the stones including theirs into the bottle and stood to replace it in the small chamber he had found it in. Idly he flipped through the papers he had found. They were school documents, a newspaper clipping, and two photographs. One was of her in front of a small steepled church standing arm in arm with a priest. She was wearing a white lace dress holding a small white book and looked no more than twelve or thirteen years of age. He glanced at her. The date on the back of the photo marked her age at about twenty five or twenty six. He had guessed right. She was no more than a quarter of a century old. The other photograph was of a group of teenagers. He could see her clearly trying to hide in the back. Her hair was piled up in elaborate curls and she wore an aqua colored fitted formal gown. It appeared to be some form of special occasion, or initiation ceremony, and he recognized the young man standing in the front holding hands with another girl. It was the young police officer from the night before. No wonder she had been so concerned for his welfare. She had known him. He had clearly interacted with her during her adolescent years. Perhaps they had gone to school together. He shared them all with his twin, including his thoughts in the process.