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The Scions fell into formation immediately, and I scrambled to keep up as Caius led us deeper into the pack house, my feet slipping on blood that hadn't fully dried, my hands shaking as I tried not to touch the walls where more claw marks carved through expensive fixtures.
We passed a sitting room where furniture had been overturned and shredded, stuffing erupting from slashed cushions like entrails. A dining hall where the table had been split down the middle, plates and silverware scattered among more bodiesāthese ones in formal wear, frozen mid-scream.
My nausea built with every step, my vision tunneling as the Core pulsed harder in my chest, responding to something I couldn't name.
Caius led us to what looked like a dead end.
He pushed against one of the statuesāthis one mercifully intact, though blood pooled at its base.
The painting beside it swung open like a door, revealing a dark flight of stairs descending into absolute blackness.
