He nodded and moved to open the door for her. The Receiving area was quiet now after the initial disturbance of Sabrina's arrival had passed. Only the guard at the elevator looked in their direction as Zeus led her to the doors, and he promptly moved aside with a bowed head as soon as it became clear Zeus intended to enter.
While everyone else needed a card-key, Chtahzus'aak did not. Like many other things, the doors opened at his approach. He'd enjoyed the simplicity of it and never thought twice about the feature until today. The entire compound’s security lay open to her like a flayed fish. There would need to be altercations made to the sigils--if that were even possible. If he dwelled on it now it would put a sour expression on his face, and that was not what he wanted in this precise moment.
The elevator itself was large enough to accommodate an uncloaked shadow demon, as were the majority of the places within the compound. He waited until she joined him in the elevator before pressing the button for the ninth floor and clasping his hands behind his back. The descent was rapid enough to avoid the need for a conversation to fill what he anticipated would otherwise be an awkward silence, and for that he was grateful. Their discovery made the spacious elevator feel much more constrained.
The doors slid open to reveal a short hallway leading to a massive round door much like the vault of a bank. The structure, composed of the same material as the entrance to the compound, had been polished to a high shine. The pair of shadow demons standing guard stepped aside, in the same respectful manner as the demon at the elevator, as Zeus led Sabrina down the hallway. At their approach Sabrina would see the same sigil carved deeply into the face of the door just before it dematerialized, allowing them to step down into the immense vault.
No sooner than they crossed the threshold, the door rematerialized behind them, effectively sealing them in.
Letting out a long sigh, Chtahzus’aak took a moment to look around at the rows of drawers and lockers lining the walls. Each smooth face had been labeled with simple descriptions in demonic text aside an emblazoned sigil. His footsteps against the polished floor echoed flatly as he moved toward the massive white quartz table at the center of the room. It was spotlit by a single overhead lamp, decorated with demonic low-relief and flanked by stone gargoyles. Save for the generous locked bookshelf and armchair at the back of the room, the vault was filled predominantly with safety-deposit-box-type containers. After glancing briefly at Sabrina, he motioned to the oversized wooden chair behind the table.
“You may sit if you wish. It will take me a moment to locate it.” His tone was uncharacteristically soft and he did not examine it, choosing instead to focus on the task at hand. Turning on his heel, he crossed over to the western wall. Each tiny sigil on locker doors and drawer faces, for those that contained an object, emitted a gentle red glow as he drew near. The organization was immaculate, but he could not recall if he had grouped it with daggers or magical tools. He checked the former first. When that proved fruitless, he crossed to the eastern side of the vault and scanned the rows of drawers with an extended finger.
There it is. His finger came to a stop.
Chtahzus’aak pressed his thumb against the sigil and the drawer slid open on its own accord. A cushioning foam lined the interior, cradling the object in question. He took the pitch athame by the soft leather-wrapped handle and removed it from the drawer. The demonic text label faded and sigil-lock grew dark. He left the drawer open.
There was brief hesitation before he turned back to Sabrina, but his expression was unreadable and he went back to the table at the center of the room with athame in hand.
“Here it is,” The blade was set gingerly down on the table. "
The Selenite Athame."
