Carrie flicked on the flashlight as soon as she slipped through the open window to the basement of the church. The window wasn’t open originally but she made sure it was once she got there. It was the only one big enough for her to fit through and just happened to have several tall boxes stacked in front of it, sturdy enough to support her weight.

She went through the window silently and moved down to the floor, dropping down without making a sound. She waved the flashlight slowly around the room to get her bearings. Radu had told her where she was going, what the room she was going in would look like and where she should go from there. She was to leave the room she was in and take a right down a long hallway. Eventually, she would come up on a door that would take her down into the basement. From the basement, she would find another hallway that resembled a sewer system to any human exploring the area.

Carrie was only halfway down the hallway when the flashlight she was using began to flicker, as if the batteries were going dead. She smacked it a few times, frustrated. When it finally went out completely, she tossed it to the side in anger. She was in complete darkness. She stood for a moment in the dark and tried to think of the most logical solution to the problem.

When the thought came to her mind, she smiled and shook her head. Why hadn’t she thought of her wand to begin with? She reached in her pack and pulled it out.

“Et lux in tenebris lucet,” she murmured, waving the wand in the air. The tip let out a bright beam of light that lit ten feet in front of her. She moved forward quickly, hoping to get to the lower part of the church before she was detected by anyone. She was using her spell to ward off detection but there was always a chance, just like Radu said, that Helga would see through it.

She had to take that chance. Getting the sword was the only way they could get into the fortress. They couldn’t defeat Solomon without it.

She couldn’t help thinking back to her time with Radu in the cathedral. She worried about him, even though he was safe for the moment. He was healing.

Carrie pointed her wand at the walls as she passed them. They were a speckled grey. When she found the door, the only one that could lead her down to the deepest parts of the church, she stopped. Her heart was pounding hard, slamming against the inside of her chest. She tried to breathe slowly, taking in a deep breath and holding it for a moment. When she felt brave enough, she grabbed the handle and turned it. It opened to the inside. She pushed it and pointed her wand down the staircase. It looked deep. She couldn’t see the bottom with the light she had. Only stairs.

She moved down the stairs, taking them carefully one at a time. If she slipped, she would be in big trouble.

The stairway continued down for more time than Carrie wanted to walk. Her heart raced faster with every step. Even with her spell of protection, she could feel Helga’s presence near. It figured that the one church the sword was kept at would be the one Helga would be at.

She was nervous as she rounded another corner. The sense of danger around her was growing so strong she could feel the pressure against the outside of her body, as if she was being squeezed in a vice. She was finding it hard to breathe.

Finally, she saw the ground floor. She saw the hallway that would take her down through the catacombs. The walls were different in the deep part of the church. They were lined with bones, human skulls and large rocks held together with some kind of mortar. It was a creepy feeling but she kept moving, determined to find the sword. She looked down at the map in her hand, directing her wand toward it so she could see clearly. If Radu hadn’t given her good directions, there was no way she would have found the hiding spot.

A sense of immense danger swept over her and she felt her spell of protection dissipating. Fear sliced through her for only a moment. She held her wand out, moving it around in front of her. There was nothing but darkness beyond the light. She saw no movement. No sound met her ears. But the sense of danger remained.

She stopped where she was and waited, listening closely. She wanted to call out to Helga. She could feel her presence. She knew she was there. But she couldn’t see her.

Carrie stayed silent, frozen in place. If she tried to find the sword and Helga caught her, the old witch would have it in her possession. Unless Carrie could somehow keep it from her. That meant she would have to fight her.

Radu came into her mind, like a phantom whispering in her ear. His encouraging words released her from her frozen fear. She ran forward, knowing exactly where she needed to go. She wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass her by. She would get the sword and get back to Radu by nightfall. She would hide in the church walls if she had to.

The hidden spot was behind two identical skulls placed next to each other, their jaws hanging open as if they were scared to death. Without hesitation, Carrie jammed the tip of her wand in between them and broke them apart. The hole that opened was much wider than it should have been. She reached in and felt around in the darkness until she felt the handle of the sword on her fingertips.

She grabbed the handle and yanked the sword from its hiding place. With a flick of her wand, she closed the two skulls back together and the hole disappeared as if it had never been there.

Carrie slid the sword into her belt and bolted back down the way she had come, running as fast as she could. If Helga was there, she wouldn’t catch her in the catacombs. She would reach the surface and get out into the sunlight, where she could see to fight if she needed to.

The steps going up to the surface seemed longer than when she’d come down. It might have been her fear. She suspected it could also have been a result of a spell Helga put on her to make it seem like she would never reach the top.

But she did. And as soon as she opened the door to the hallway of the church, she was lifted off the ground and brought down on the other side of the hall, slamming against the wall, knocking all the breath out of her lungs.

She gasped and put one hand to her chest, trying to pull her breath in. She gripped her pack to her side. There was no way she was letting go of the book or the sword. No matter what Helga had in store for her. She would die before she would give up the book and the sword.

Helga didn’t need the book anyway. She knew all of it, didn’t she? Anger split through Carrie and she pushed herself to her feet, taking in gulps of breath as she did so. As soon as she was on her feet, she saw Helga, a smug look on her face, walking toward her.

“Helga,” she gasped. “Please, stop. You know Solomon is making you do this. Why are you letting him…”

“I don’t want to hear it!” Helga lifted her hand in Carrie’s direction. Carrie’s mouth closed. She was unable to open it. She felt a binding sensation around her body. Her arms pressed against her sides, her legs were frozen. Her head lifted and she grunted in pain. Her mind screamed for Radu, but hopelessness was creeping up on her. She was unable to get to her wand. The book and the sword were there for Helga’s taking. She felt helpless and bitterly angry. Without her words, she couldn’t cast spells. Without movement, she couldn’t use her wand or fight with her hands. She was completely under Helga’s control and the old witch knew it.

Carrie was sad to see the look on her mentor’s face. She looked so satisfied, so pleased with herself. It was heartbreaking.

Deep in the darkness, Radu stirred. His body began to boil with frustration. He woke from his slumber, feeling a searing pain of anger slice through him. He pushed up one hand and threw the dirt from his body.

Carrie was in danger. Helga had her trapped. The sword… the book… Carrie…

He leapt out of the dirt, throwing it in all directions around him. The sun was beginning to rise but he still had enough time to get to the church, he was sure of it. He would find a way to stay covered. He would find a monk’s robe, tear down a curtain, whatever he had to do. His number one priority was getting Carrie away from Helga.

He could feel the heat of the sun as it came up burning his skin. He made it to the church before it poked its bright head over the mountains in the distance, slipping into the shade of the building just in time.

He ran down the hallway in the direction he knew the witches would be, sliding around the corner to see Helga approaching Carrie, her arms reaching out to take his lover’s possessions from her. Helga caught sight of him and bared her teeth in anger, shrieking like a banshee. She backed away from Carrie, focusing her attention on the vampire.

“You are no match for me, monster!” Helga cried out, lifting her hands to send a spell in his direction.

Radu was too quick for her. He moved from left to right so quickly she didn’t see where he was for a moment. Before she knew it, he was next to her, his arm stretched out to knock her off her feet. She slammed back on her behind but only for a moment. She was up on her feet, holding her hands out in his direction, shouting foreign words he didn’t understand.

Before the spells could reach him, he was already circling Carrie, unbinding her from her frozen spell, relieving her of the possessions Helga so desperately wanted. Carrie fell to her knees for a moment but was back up on her feet quickly, ready to follow Radu wherever he went.

Helga screamed out in frustration, tossing spells through the air at the both of them. Once she was freed from her frozen state, Carrie was able to take her wand and knock each blast away, throwing a few of her own in return.

They had little effect on Helga, who looked like she would have been having fun if she wasn’t so angry. Carrie was reminded of her training days, when Helga would throw spells at her and she would deflect them with what she had been taught.

After arming himself with the sword, leaving the book with Carrie, Radu moved like a bolt of lightning, coming up next to Helga and throwing her to the ground. He held her there, baring his teeth, ready to sink them into her neck when she cried out “Cedere nescio”!

Radu’s hands went through a thick fog as it surrounded Helga. Within moments, he was scrambling at the empty smoke, his hands grabbing nothing.

Helga had disappeared.

Carrie collapsed behind him. His body on fire, Radu crawled back to her, grabbing her arm and pulling her into the shaded part of the hallway, where the sun wasn’t shining through the windows. At this rate, he was never going to heal. His skin was beginning to flake from his hands and feet, though the sun had not touched them yet.

Carrie reached for him and covered him with her body. “What do we do, Radu?” she asked in a desperate voice. Her love for him overwhelmed her. All she wanted to do was keep him healthy and safe. “Take nourishment from me. Please. I want you to.”

He shook his head. “I must get to ground. The sun is out and I can’t be out here. Take me down. Take me down to the catacombs. I will ground there.”

Carrie took one of his arms and put it around her shoulders. She dragged him back to the door that led down to the deep parts of the church. The steps were long and it would be a struggle but she was determined. She would get him where he needed to be.