As Shadows Fade by Colleen Gleason

age. A large ash-colored crypt rose low in the center of the room.
    â€œMax?” she said, more to try out her voice in the sudden silence than anything else.
    â€œBrim and Michalas are still out there,” he said by way of reply. His voice was low and taut in the quiet.
    She wondered if the closing of the door had subdued the curdling fog, or if it merely waited outside, battling harder against Brim and Michalas.
    â€œVictoria.” Sebastian had moved away from her, and now crouched near the corner where the dull bluish light shone.
    The urgency in his voice had her hurrying past the waist-high crypt to join him, hand on her sword. He stood as she drew closer, revealing that the glow seeped from beneath the wall, and appeared to be curling into the darkness of the chamber. Tendrils of the eerie bluish light coiled up, snaking around Sebastian’s boots and legs, writhing up against the wall…then dissipated as if losing strength.
    Victoria’s and Sebastian’s eyes met, that odd glow giving his golden skin a peculiar pallor. She read the worry in his gaze, and knew it echoed her own.
    â€œA door,” she said. But what was behind it? Another hurricane of fury? Wayren?
    Max moved up to join them, his face stark and taut. “Let’s get it open.”
    Without further discussion, the two men turned to the wall, feeling along with their hands in search of a crevice or gap in the doorframe, while Victoria moved farther away, searching for some other opening.
    A hiss of satisfaction in the silence drew her back over to Max. “Here—Vioget, push…there.”
    And then a portion of the wall moved slightly, one side canting inward, and the one nearest Victoria edging out. She braced herself, waiting for an angry burst of foggy blue light. The hair on the back of her neck rose as more coils slipped through the crack, draining into the room through the narrow aperture. Silent, like insidious smoke.
    She looked at Max, nodded for him to continue, and the door moved again, levering out of position until it left a gap wide enough for someone to pass through.
    Now the chamber glowed with blue and gray smoky light, and the air began to whip up. Victoria heard the roar as it gathered its strength, filling the room, seeming to swell and writhe with fury. A dusty, musty evil smell filled her nose, and an ice-cold sting again pummeled face and skin through her clothing. The wind swirled against her, pounding and deafening.
    She ducked, dodging into the gap, and heard a vague shout behind her. Past the door, she found herself stumbling into another chamber filled with the thrashing blue smoke. It glowed as if possessed.
    The illumination was enough to reveal the walls, etched with dark shadows. In the center, dark blue flames roared toward the low ceiling. The smell of death and malevolence was stronger here, the snarling rush of wind louder.
    Victoria stayed near the ground where she had more stability, and inched toward the twisting blue flames. The ferocity around her charged and buffeted onto her back and the top of her head, but it was marginally quieter near the ground. Her sword dragged next to her as she moved along, the other accoutrements in her pockets sagging toward the floor.
    She’d seen sapphire-colored fire like this once before, when Max had destroyed Akvan’s Obelisk. Whether this pyre of flame protected another such evil item, or something else, she didn’t know.
    But she would find out, for she believed it had to be related to Wayren’s disappearance. And it was imperative they save Wayren, for she was the Venators’ mentor. There were other Venators to replace Brim and Sebastian and even Victoria, Summa Gardella…but there was only one Wayren.
    The stone floor burned beneath her fingers, but it was an odd sensation. Icy heat seared her fingers and crept through the trousers into her knees. It burned hot, then immediately blazed cold on her