Chapter 15 - Midnight In The Catacombs
At 11:45 p.m., Sarah walked through the heavy wooden side doors of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, her silenced pistol concealed inside her coat.
The vast gothic church was dark, lit only by dozens of flickering votive candles casting long, dancing shadows across the stone pillars.
She found the narrow spiral stone staircase leading down into the ancient underground crypts beneath the cathedral floor.
The air was freezing, thick with the smell of old stone, incense, and damp subterranean earth.
Sarah held a small tactical flashlight in her left hand, following the brass key markings along the stone burial vaults.
As she turned the corner into a wide subterranean chamber, the faint glow of a lantern illuminated a tall figure standing beside an ancient stone sarcophagus.
The man turned around, and Sarah’s breath caught in her throat.
He had the exact same face, the same silver hair, and the same cold, arrogant posture as Arthur Vance.
“Good evening, Sarah,” the man said, his voice carrying a slight Austrian accent.
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“I am Julian Vance—Arthur’s elder brother.”
“And you are standing in the vault where your family’s real history was buried fifty years ago.”
