It was an overwhelming structure. The thought of finding whatever it was she needed inside it seemed daunting.
She circled the island again, trying to take it al in context, and noticed that the Notre Dame wasn’t the only building on it. There were rows of medieval houses, crooked al eyways, cobblestone streets, and other buildings spread throughout.
She looked down to see if the mobs were here, too, as they seemed to be everywhere else in Paris. Strangely enough, they were not. In fact, the square in front of the Notre Dame was completely empty. She found that to be odd. Why would the masses revolt everywhere else in the city, but not in its most famous place? Who was control ing them, exactly?
Caitlin swooped down lower, looking more careful y. Al was eerily silent. Was it a trap?
Caitlin landed in the huge, stone plaza before the church, having it to herself, and set Ruth down. The church was lit up by dozens of torches, and she stared up at its edifice in awe. It was massive, with huge, arched doors, and dozens of figures carved over it. She had been to many churches on her journey: she thought of the Duomo in Florence, St.
Mark’s in Venice, and dozens of others—but she had never been to a church as large as this. She also couldn’t help remembering that she had begun her journey here: did that hold some significance? Was she coming ful circle?
She walked right to the front door, and tried the knob, just in case.
To her surprise, it was open.
She turned and looked over her shoulder, sensing some danger. But she saw nothing there.
She turned and went inside, not liking the feel of this.
Everything was too quiet. Everything seemed too easy.
Caitlin looked inside the church, and was blown away by its size and scope. Here, the pews stretched as far as the eye could see, and the aisle seemed endless. On either side were enormous stone columns, the size of tree trunks, reaching high into the sky, culminating in a series of arches.
Between them were enormous candle chandeliers.
At the end of the aisle sat an immense altar, crowned with dozens of statues. Caitlin wondered how anyone could worship in here—it was so large, it seemed like it could hold an entire city.
Caitlin reached down and felt the dagger in her hand, and wondered where on earth she should begin her search.
She sensed danger again, and spun, but saw no one. She suddenly felt that time was of the essence.
Caitlin closed her eyes, and summoned her inner power.
She al owed her senses to take over, to lead her. She wil ed herself to get calm, to get quiet, and to tune in to where the key might be. She knew that there was a key to be found, from the letter, and she knew that the dagger would play a part in it. But other than that, she had no idea where to look.
After several moments, her senses began to take over, and she felt a strong sudden impulse to head into the lower levels of the church.
She found herself walking to her left, through a large marble corridor, then turning down another corridor. She fol owed a series of statues along the wal , until she found herself led to a smal , narrow staircase.
Caitlin descended, twisting and turning, and final y, it lead her into a wide-open, low-ceiling, underground crypt. It was even more solemn down here, with only a few candles burning, and Caitlin could see that this was a mausoleum of some sort. Al along the wal s, as far as she could see, were sarcophagi. It looked like the perfect place for an ancient vampire coven.
Caitlin let her senses take over, and felt herself being led.
She walked down the long corridor, in the dank, musty air, passing one sarcophagus after another. Final y, she felt herself wanting to stop before one of them.
She examined it, and saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Caitlin was about to look elsewhere, but Ruth sat there, whining at it, not letting her leave.
Caitlin looked again.
As she examined the intricate design of the lid, the smal figure of a knight carved into it, the folded hands outlined on the stone, the armor, the belt, she realized something.
There was a slot in the belt, notched into the stone. Just wide enough, she realized, to hold a dagger.
Caitlin held up the smal , jewel-encrusted dagger, and gently inserted into the slot. It fit perfectly.
Encouraged, she pushed it al the way in.
A stone lever suddenly sank down, and a smal compartment opened on the statue’s palm.
Caitlin was amazed. A smal , gold key was now sitting in the statue’s palm.
Caitlin held it up, inspecting it, thril ed to have found it.
But she was also stumped.
This could not be the second key. This key did not look anything like the other one: it was smal and gold, not large and silver. It appeared to be a key to something else.
Caitlin suddenly heard a noise somewhere, high above, in the upper level of the church.
She quickly stashed the key into her pocket, grabbed Ruth, and hurried out from the crypt.
She ran up the steps, and onto the main floor of the Notre Dame. She checked both ways for danger, but saw none.
But suddenly, as she watched, the main front doors of the church were kicked open. To her shock, there suddenly rushed in a huge, unruly, screaming mob.
Caitlin sensed immediately that this mob was different from the other. These were vampires.
And at the center was a figure she recognized from the history books: Napoleon. She was surprised to discover he was of her kind—and that he was leading an entire coven, hundreds of vampires, charging right for her. She was vastly outnumbered.
It had been a trap, she realized. They had been waiting for her to come here, to find what it was they needed. And now that she was boxed in, they were determined to kil her off for good. She had been setup.
As the crowd charged, Caitlin thought quick. She closed her eyes, and focused on summoning her primal energy.
Her rage. She focused on her new powers, and she knew that she could fight off an army. She knew it.
As the hundreds of vampires charged, Caitlin suddenly charged them. At the last second, right before they col ided, she leapt high into the air, higher than she ever imagined possible, and grabbed hold of a huge, dangling chandelier, fifty feet off the ground. She immediately climbed its chain, scaling it faster than she could have imagined possible, heading straight for the ceiling. From there, she figured she could break her way through one of the huge stained-glass windows, and escape through the roof.
Just as Caitlin was getting close, suddenly, one of those huge ceiling windows shattered.
She looked up, and there before her, looking down, snarling, was one of the most evil looking creatures she had ever seen.