Gliss carried her heels in one hand, knowing that even someone with her light feet would find stealth impossible while wearing them. Capper padded along beside her as they negotiated the hive-like halls of the Baelock estate. Once they'd escaped the Synod gathering it had been remarkably easy to move around the mansion itself beyond the carefully prescribed route. Any guards that might ordinarily have been patrolling the halls were either helping chaperone the delegates, or out on rooftops and guard towers.

Baelock had stretched themselves thin to hold this gathering and still maintain their borders.

She still took extreme care as they moved, keeping her mind alert for any approaching Aspects. There were still guards here – whoever was in charge of the security was no fool, but with her senses on high alert, she guided Capper through the maze, deftly skirting around lone patrols with the ease of an expert.

But she could sense something in her companion that she hadn't expected to ever see. Now that they were invading deeper and deeper into the Baelock home, he was terrified.

He didn't show it outwardly, but she could sense his Aspect vibrating like a strummed guitar string. Although he was bottling it up in every way he could, she knew beyond any doubt that he did not want to be here. In some ways being an outsider worked to her advantage in here. Unlike her, Capper had lived his life with Baelock looming over him, a spectre of constant threat, a clan that could destroy his if it chose to. His fear of them was deep-rooted, and rational.

Gliss sympathised, but they had a job to do here. Fear had no place in that.

So she paused for a moment to take a grip of his hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. It didn't quite have the desired effect, however. He took the opportunity to tug her gently into a shadowed alcove, his eyes shining with the reflection of a nearby gaslight.

"Do you know where you're going?" he whispered. "We could run around in this maze forever."

"We won't," Gliss assured him, eager to quash the tremble in his tone. "I can feel my way."

"What?"

"You could too if you took the time to stop and clear your head."

He glanced nervously around him. "Easier said than done, down here."

"You felt the presence of that stuff they had on display. We can all feel the strength of something that old. All you need to do is hone your... direction a little bit." She took a hold of his shoulders and could feel the tightness of his muscles. Looking up into his eyes she spoke softly. "You have to try and relax yourself. Stop thinking about where we are, and what it represents. Focus on the now – on me."

Capper shuddered, lowering his gaze. He gave a small nod but the tension in his shoulders remained. She brought her right hand to cup the side of his face and tipped his head down towards her until their foreheads touched.

"Relax," she breathed.

This time she felt his Aspect and his body unwind, at first only a little, but as the seconds dragged by the tension that boiled through him slowly eased off. She gently stroked his cheek with her fingers.

"You can feel my Aspect, can't you?"

"Of course."

"And the Aspects of the other vampires in this place."

"Yes."

"It's no different. The things we're looking for will have just as strong a presence as any Elder-Blood."

He shook his head, wincing. "I don't know..."

"It will take time."

"We don't have time." He gently pulled her hand away and looked her in the eye. "Just lead the way. I trust you."

Gliss pressed her lips tightly together and nodded. "Thank you."

So she led him onwards, pushing her Aspect out to search for the concentration of power she knew had to be here. Down they went, descending shadowed passages and stairwells, leaving the mass of churning Aspects in the Synod far above them. The guard patrols grew even more sparse the lower they descended, replaced by sealed doors that Gliss had to pick her way through with painstaking care. Hinges creaked, agonizingly loud in the empty corridors.

But she knew they were on the right track. She could feel the encroaching, growing well of power with every obstacle they passed. It was like a beacon in the night, calling out to her like a siren, faintly muted by the walls and doors that lay between them. Whether Capper could feel it too, she wasn't sure, but he remained obediently following her footsteps. Although she appreciated his trust, she didn't like seeing him like this. The presence of the Baelock walls around them and his own inability to feel his way through the maze left him subdued, as though a part of his personality had been taken away.

She quickened her pace, eager to get him out of this warren as much as to find the Keystone itself.

They rounded another of the grey-walled passages, unfurnished saved for the rows of gas-lamps down either side. At the far end of it, unobtrusive and indistinguishable as a raindrop in a storm, stood a simple door, around eight feet tall and half that in width. It was made of a dark wood – almost black and reinforced with a cross shape of iron bolts. It lacked the massive ostentatiousness of the one used in the upper hall, altogether more utilitarian in its purpose, but as they approached it Gliss could tell there was more than just a lock keeping it closed.

Hidden in plain sight?

She sensed the tremor of the hostile Vampyr bulwark that had been placed over the door as she approached. Clearly not everyone in clan Baelock had lost touch with their ancient ancestors. If not correctly handled, the spell would immolate both of them in the blink of an eye. She motioned Capper backwards.

"Give me a minute. This is no ordinary lock."

"What is it?"

"A Vampyr sun-curse. Basically a booby-trap that'll cook anyone who doesn't know what they're walking into."

"But you do?"

"Yeah."

Capper took a tentative step backwards, eyes wide, thoroughly out of his depth. Gliss felt a pang of sympathy for her companion, but suppressed it, focusing her mind on the task at hand. She knew the steps to take, but a lapse of concentration could still have disastrous results.

Moving close, she glided her hand across the metal supports. The bulwark tingled angrily at her presence, ready to explode forth in a destructive nova if she moved any closer. Closing her eyes, she placed her hand at the centre of the cross and started murmuring the nullification cant that she'd been taught back in Iron Hollow. The incalculably old words fell easily from her lips, carrying her back to a world before clans, before cities and before the First had fallen.

It took almost a full minute for her to complete the formula, each syllable weighted to perfection. Capper stood by, mercifully silent as she did. When she rounded off the final languid accent, the effect was immediate.

The bulwark fell silent, rendered temporarily inert by her words. A shudder of relief passed through her and she looked at Capper, smiling.

"It's done."

"That was incredible."

"We all have our little skills." Gliss beckoned him forward. "Come on. Let's find what we came for and get out of here."

"Sounds good to me."

He moved up beside her and reached out towards the handle, then hesitated. He glanced at her. She gave him a reassuring nod, then gently grasped his wrist and moved his hand up against the door-handle. He stiffened, as though still expecting some other-worldly curse to strike him down, but it was safe – she knew that. Capper blew out his cheeks in a sigh, flashed her a grateful smile and then turned the heavy bronze handle.

The door swung open with a hiss.

The force of the true cache of artefacts Baelock had assembled was staggering. Gliss's mind reeled as the power washed down the corridor like a torrent of water, engulfing her mind and body. She closed her eyes, placing a hand against the smooth stone walls for support. Beside her she heard Capper make a sort of unintelligible sound, halfway between a swear and a shout, and he took an involuntary step away.

They exchanged looks. Capper's face looked even paler than it should, if that were possible. She might have been imagining it. Nonetheless, she reasserted her will and steadied her mind against the powerful onslaught of the artefacts. She grabbed his hand, squeezed it once, then stepped forward across the threshold.

Iron Hollow was a city obsessed with the past. Everything Gliss and her clan had been striving towards hinged on understanding where they came from, on recovering and preserving everything of the ancient Vampyr that they could find. She thought that she would never find a place that could match their knowledge of the past, but the vault of Clan Baelock was probably as close as anyone would ever come.

Sheaths of reinforced glass covered the walls, and within them lay a trove of artefacts that most vampires could only dream of seeing. Gigantic books written in millennia-old blood lay open, their pages crinkled and browned with impossible age, their pages etched with the Vampyr language. Weapons of incredible age hung on hooks, delicately preserved, their blades still burnished and bright under the lights of the true Drucatta. Jewels, crowns and ancient religious icons filled the spaces, each one bulging with power.

All except one.

Gliss paused, three steps into the room, her eyes narrowing. Amongst all the power and age there was an empty space, a void-like presence that sent a chill through the very air they stood in. It took a moment to orient herself, but eventually she managed to lock onto the object.

Her heart trembled. This was it, the moment she'd been working towards for more years than she cared to count. This was why she'd been sent to Veridian Shores.

The object of her mission didn't look as impressive as many of its companions, but she knew what she was looking at from the sketches and artistic renderings she'd been shown before she left Iron Hollow. The Keystone was a rock of spherical granite about the size of a fist, inlaid with brass ribs and eight small emeralds studded symmetrically across its surface. From the top of the sphere there was a short protrusion of black metal, cut into the shape of an octagon. It sat in the centre of the room atop a cushion of plush burgundy, surrounded by half a dozen other small, ornate artefacts.

"Is that it?" Capper whispered, causing her to jump. So enthralled had she been that she hadn't noticed him come up beside her.

Regaining her composure, she nodded. "Yes."

"Doesn't look like much of a weapon."

"Looks can be deceiving." Gliss looked at him. "We'd better grab it and get out of here."

"Just like that?"

"We just need to open the case. C'mon."

She could feel his reluctance, but he moved with her nonetheless. Together they stepped side-by-side up to the diminutive object and Gliss stooped to unlock the glass case. Her hands shook and it took her three attempts to get the picks into place and shake the protective shield open.

That was it. Nothing stood between them now.

In a slow, deliberate motion, Gliss removed the long glove from her right hand, the white skin of her scars glinting in the light. She clenched her jaw, hesitating for a moment. Then she pushed through the uncertainty: this was why she had come all this way. She reached forward and wrapped her hand around the Keystone.

A rush of cold like nothing she'd ever experienced briefly flooded through her body, as though she'd been dipped in a bath of ice water. She flinched but held on, gasping through the sensation.

"Gliss?"

"I'm okay," she told him breathlessly as the cold began to gently subside. She felt ... refreshed; reinvigorated, as though someone had washed away all the weariness that the world had heaped upon her. Her eyes snapped open, a smile spreading across her face. "That was... incredible."

"Really?"

"Try it." Eagerly she held the Keystone out to him. Capper didn't look particularly enthralled by the prospect, but after a moment he relented, reaching out a careful hand. He paused, just inches away from the surface of the object, and Gliss took the initiative, pressing it into his hand.

She saw him tense; heard the exhalation of surprise as the cold shocked his system. He twitched, turning his head away, his grip snapping tight around the Keystone. His chest rose and fell and after several seconds his eyes opened again. They had changed, now two white orbs with nothing but daubs of oil black pupils marring the perfect unity. Gliss watching in fascination as slowly the vampire in him receded back beneath the surface – the turquoise irises reasserted themselves leaving him with a stunned expression on his face.

"You're right," he murmured, turning the Keystone over in disbelief. "That was amazing. Whatever this thing is it's... I don't even know how to describe it."

"We'll have plenty of time to think about that later," she crooned, stepping forward and pressing her lips against his again.

She leaned into it, revelling in the sensation of the moment. She'd done it – against the odds she'd infiltrated the most powerful clan of this city and stolen an artefact that the fools probably didn't even understand. And she couldn't have done it without Capper. She shoved herself up against him with a squeak of pleasure, hands grasping at his body. He returned the gesture for a moment, but just as she reached to take his face in her hands, he jerked his head back at a faint scraping sound.

A feeling of dread seeped through her lungs when she heard footsteps behind them. In the blink of an eye she let go of Capper and whirled to face what had made the noise, and found a spindly robed vampire staring back at her. He looked at the two interlopers, stunned into silence for barely a second. Then his eyes widened and his mouth opened, gathering the breath to scream.