The floor flattened, and they slogged over wet ground. Beside her, Karas protested with a muffled cry. The odor of sulfur was strong enough to make one blanch—unlike Silvie and Johnis, Karas had been away from the Shataiki scent for ten years.

A soft popping sounded high overhead. Worms nestling in their own gook. Silvie swallowed. A hand tugged on her chain. She stopped. For several long seconds they just stood there. She could hear a flame crackling, could smell the smoke mixed with the scent of rotten eggs. Heard the worms she imagined overhead.

The sound of someone breathing. Nails clicking on the stone floor.

“Take them into the main chamber.” Alucard. Silvie’s blood froze in her veins. The voice was low and breathy, backed by a growl that reached into the pit of her stomach.

They were led deeper, down another flight of stone steps, wetter and slipperier than the previous one. She could hear the same squealing they’d heard below the monastery in Paradise. Worms in torment, far away.

Her desperation deepened with each step she took. They must be a hundred feet below the earth’s surface now. Maybe twice that. Even if Johnis did find a way to the castle, there was no way he could save them.

She’d loved him. She’d kissed him, and she’d known with that kiss that she would marry him. If she died in the next ten minutes, she would cling to that memory, that single moment of comfort between them.

I love you, Johnis. I love you.

She slid, caught herself on a rail, then eased her foot to the next step. Her chain tugged.

I love you, Johnis. I love you.

The cry from the tormented worms grew at an alarming rate. And with the clunk of a latch and the protest of rusty hinges opening, the squealing became a scream, directly overhead.

Silvie gasped under the tape. Again someone pulled her forward.

They entered the room of screaming worms; she could smell them, hear them, feel their slime underfoot, taste their foul odor. It was a vast room, judging by the echoes off the stone walls.

A hand stopped her. The chamber fell to silence.

It occurred to her that she was panting through her nostrils. Dizzy from the hyperventilation, she tried to calm herself.

“Move,” a gruff voice commanded. Hands shoved her.

She stumbled forward, tripped over a ledge, and fell headlong onto a three-foot-high riser. Karas grunted beside her. They were hoisted to their feet and clamped into brackets on the wall.

Silvie gazed at the chamber near the guard’s torch as he slumped toward the large black door through which they had entered.