“Sure… Pedro, it’s okay, right?”
The shopkeeper glanced up briefly and nodded toward the door.
I climbed the steps with Caleb, Julio walking up behind us. We reached a dim corridor at the top. The walls were stained and the floorboards creaked beneath us. Julio ushered us along and pointed to a grey door right at the end of the corridor.
“Through there.”
“Thanks,” I said, continuing toward the door, Caleb still holding my arm.
Once we reached it, Caleb let go of me. “I’ll wait here for you.”
I nodded and opened the door. I stepped inside, the weight of the door causing it to click shut behind me. It was pitch black. I fumbled against the wall for a switch and found one.
But as I flicked on the light, strong hands wrapped around my neck. I choked as a thick piece of fabric was forced into my mouth, silencing me.
I strained my neck to see Luis tying rope around my hands and pinning them behind my back. Caleb must have heard the struggle because the heavy door began to shake, Caleb’s body pounding against it.
My heart almost stopped as gunshots sounded outside. Dozens of them in the space of a few seconds. It sounded like a machine gun. I heard Caleb groan, and then there was more banging and crashing.
A sharp pain erupted in the back of my neck and I sank to the floor. Luis had struck me with the end of a rifle. He bent down over me, fastening more rope around my legs. I tried to squirm and struggle, but he was too strong. He heaved me up and crossed to the opposite side of the room, where, to my horror, there was another door. He pushed it open, and it revealed another staircase leading downward.
I screamed into the gag until my throat was sore. Tears of panic blurred my eyes as he walked around the building and headed back to the truck in the parking lot.
Caleb, where are you? I was certain that he’d heard me struggle. That was why Julio had opened fire on him.
Luis wolf-whistled. His other three companions, who’d been taking a smoking break across the parking lot, came racing toward us. One of them opened up the door for Luis, who laid me down over the back row of seats and sat down next to my head. I struggled to sit up but he held me down. I struggled even more frantically as the engine stuttered to a start and the vehicle began reversing. I couldn’t see who was driving, but they were in a hurry. The truck screeched as the tires skidded across concrete.
I glared up at Luis, who had both arms gripping my stomach and shoulders, holding me in place.
“Hush,” he said. I felt his stale breath on my face as he leaned over me, his mouth barely inches from mine. I turned my head to the side and closed my eyes.
He called out something in Portuguese to the other men in the truck, and they all chuckled. He began stroking my forehead.
“Don’t worry,” he rasped. “We’ll take you to Boa Vista. And further, if you care to join us…”
His palm was sweaty against my skin, odor seeping through his pores. I tried to spit out the gag but he stuffed it further into my mouth.
“Behave yourself, my dear. We don’t want to hurt you.”
I didn’t need much imagination to guess what they might do with me. These people were probably human traffickers, or worse. I dreaded to think where they were taking me now.
I was beginning to lose all hope when a thump sounded on the roof. Luis and the men looked around wildly. Metal creaked and before I realized what was happening, two bloody fists appeared through the top of the ceiling, tearing holes right through the metal.
At first, the men all looked too shocked to do anything. But when the hands gripped the newly made holes and began tearing the metal apart, they began shooting.
Once the hole was large enough, Caleb dropped down into the vehicle. His shirt was so ripped, he might have been wearing none. His chest was peppered with bullet holes and soaked with blood. I struggled frantically against Luis, trying to knock the gun out of his hands as he aimed it directly at Caleb’s head. I winced as bullets shot into Caleb’s chest, one narrowly missing his face.
But Caleb didn’t allow the firing to go on for long. He gripped the two men closest to him by the neck, his claws shot out and he dug into their skin. He jerked his hands backward, ripping through their jugulars.
Luis and the other men paused, too stunned to even hold a steady aim, as Caleb’s fangs protruded from his mouth. Caleb felled the next man closest to him in the vehicle. Now only Luis and one other man remained. They scrambled out of the truck which had halted to a stop. Caleb leapt out after them and pounced on Luis. Knocking the gun from his hands, he pinned Luis to the ground and sank his fangs into his neck. Luis convulsed as Caleb took deep gulps of his blood until he became still.
Caleb stood up and looked after the last man sprinting away in the distance. Caleb didn’t seem to feel the need to go chasing after his cowardly ass, and it was better he didn’t. The sun was still shining and it seemed that Caleb had lost his suit in the struggle with Julio.
Hurrying over to me, Caleb pulled the gag from my mouth and with two swipes of his claws, he’d freed me from the ropes. I gasped, clutching my throat.
He lifted me up and walked me round to the front passenger seat where he sat me down and fastened the seat belt around me.
Then he walked back over to the corpse of Luis, lying on the ground a dozen feet away. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Caleb bent down and scooped up Luis’ dark sunglasses, still miraculously intact. Then he limped back to the truck and heaved himself into the driver’s seat, slamming the door shut and starting the ignition.
Donning Luis’ shades, Caleb pressed down hard on the accelerator and made the engine roar.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Chapter 7: Sofia
Our decision to stay in The Shade while Ibrahim and Corrine went to look for our daughter was probably the hardest Derek and I had ever made. Every fiber of my being screamed out to chase her down again. But Corrine had managed to talk sense into us. If anybody had a chance of finding Rose, it was them. Derek’s and my absence would only weaken our island at a time when we needed to be at our strongest. The Shade’s king and queen simply couldn’t abandon their people at a time like this, not even for their daughter. After Mona, Corrine and Ibrahim were the most powerful witches we had. And since there was no way Mona could leave, the two of them had volunteered to go.
Their departure brought back memories of the time I’d been separated from my twins at birth. While Derek had been scrambling around trying to piece our family back together again, Ibrahim and Corrine had kept Rose safe. They were already like second parents to her. There was nobody I trusted more than them.
And so they left us. I didn’t even know where they were going to start their search. Derek and I were still clueless about where our daughter was.
Soon after Rose was discovered missing, we’d realized that Micah was too. It had sent shockwaves throughout the island that one of our guests could have kidnapped the princess, and I was worried that we might have an uprising on our hands as members of our council began demanding that the werewolves be kicked off the island entirely.
Of course that would have been impossible, since they had close ties with Mona and none of us would even have an island without Mona. We couldn’t afford to upset her.
Although it pained me, I couldn’t deny that a part of me suspected that Rose might have gone willingly. She’d been acting so recklessly of late, I couldn’t dismiss the possibility. And to my further sadness, Derek confessed the same. Sometimes it felt like we didn’t know our daughter any more.
The other possibility, of course, was that Micah had made off with Rose. We’d searched for miles around our island in hopes of finding them. We reasoned that they couldn’t have gone that far in the missing boat. But when we hadn’t found them, Ben and Griffin had stepped forward with a more chilling theory—that perhaps it hadn’t actually been Micah who’d made off with Rose. They’d told me how they’d saved Micah from be
ing stuck outside the island. He’d given an excuse that he must have been absent during the time Mona gave everyone permission to enter the island. Mona had confirmed that it was not true. She said she remembered distinctly Micah being there.
Saira and another werewolf named Kira—the two wolves who’d known Micah most closely—also spoke up in defense of him. They said Micah had been behaving strangely of late. Kira had said that he’d developed an obsession with the princess, while he had shown no interest in her before.
Even I found it hard to believe that Micah could have done something like this. I’d met him only briefly, but he didn’t strike me as someone who would have kidnapped my daughter.
We went back and forth, discussing the situation for hours in the Great Dome. While some were convinced that Micah had just given into temptation and stolen Rose away, others—particularly those who had known the wolf—concluded that something must have happened to him while he was outside the island, and the Micah who had returned was an imposter.
The latter, of course, dug up a whole new plethora of questions.
Mona concluded that the most likely person to pull something like this off would have been one of the black witches. Being unable to penetrate Mona’s spell, they’d had to find another way around it. But if this was the case, we didn’t understand why they would go to all that trouble to get Rose and then leave the island. Why not take Anna, our immune, whom they’d seemed so bent on having before? It was as if they’d lost interest in Anna, because I was sure they could have easily swept her away along with Rose. And what about Mona? Surely, if they’d wanted to take over The Shade and its supply of humans, the best way would be to take down Mona—then it would be no trouble taking over the island.
Although we’d come to some theories, they were just that: theories. And with them came dozens of other questions we had no answers to.
Then Vivienne had another vision, which confirmed that the black witches were behind this. Vivienne had difficulty telling us exactly what she’d seen, but she was convinced that our twins had something that the witches wanted.
I was doubtful about this. Vivienne’s visions had been known to be misleading in the past. If it was my twins they wanted, why wouldn’t they have taken Ben too while they’d had access to the island?
Vivienne had pointed out that there could be an explanation as to why they only needed Rose first. The fact that they’d taken Rose didn’t preclude that both twins had something the witches desired. It just meant that they wanted Rose first.
Whether or not Vivienne was right, it seemed that the only thing we could do while Ibrahim and Corrine were gone was to try to figure out what the twins could possibly possess that was so special.
After a particularly grueling day, attempting to continue running the island as normal while suffering under the weight of Rose’s absence, Derek and I sat together at our dining table with Mona and Kiev. I’d requested them to visit because I wanted to discuss further with Mona what Rose might have that was of so much interest to the witches. Since Mona was a black witch herself, or used to be, I figured that if she didn’t know, nobody would.
As I looked at them across the table, it was still bizarre to think that we were holding a meeting with Kiev about how to save my twins when not too long ago he’d been the primary threat to them. I shook away the thought, and focused on Mona.
“Before I try to answer this, Sofia,” she said, “you need to understand that I was never fully involved with the workings of those witches. I shut myself out as much as possible because I didn’t agree with what went on. My involvement was mostly perfunctory. So what I say is based on guessing.”
“A guess is better than nothing,” I said.
She cleared her throat and sat forward in her chair, casting a worried glance at Kiev before beginning. “When the twins were conceived, you were a human, while Derek was also a human, with powers bestowed on him by Cora…”
“Yes,” I replied. “And I was still an immune since it happened before my visit to Cruor.”
Mona slunk back in her chair. “Human, vampire, witch,” she muttered.
“What?” Derek said.
“A confluence of three.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You know how immunes first came into existence. You, Sofia, as an immune, were essentially a by-product of the witches’ meddling with the human race. A creation of the witches. Derek was an ex-vampire, also endowed with the powers of a witch, and both of you were also human of course. Three species combined. A meeting of three life forces.”
“But what does it mean? So what?”
“I remind you again that this is all my speculation,” she said, looking at me sternly before continuing. Derek and I nodded. “I worked in the spell room for many years under Rhys. While I wasn’t invited in to take part in higher-level plans because they didn’t trust me, I remember the types of potions they asked me to make, and for what purposes. Which ingredients were more potent than others. You see, the reason they are so keen on having a constant supply of human blood is that it is a key ingredient of so many rituals they carry out. Most I don’t want to describe to you, so don’t ask. But human blood is key in most of them. The twins’ blood is more than just ordinary blood. It’s more potent. And it’s rare—I’ve never come across such a combination throughout my years of potion-making… And believe me when I say I’ve dealt with almost every ingredient imaginable.”
“Then wouldn’t Anna’s children be at risk too?” Kiev said suddenly.
Mona paused, staring at him in thought. “They could be. Although Kyle used to be a vampire, he wasn’t endowed with powers like Derek was. But Anna is an immune—the witches’ influence runs in her blood. Vampire, witch, human. The confluence is still there.”
“And for whatever reason, they only decided to take Rose, when there were five children in total to choose from,” Derek said, rubbing a hand over tired eyes.
“It’s possible they aren’t aware that Kyle was a vampire, and so aren’t aware of the confluence,” Mona said. “Remember, Derek Novak has a much higher profile, not just in this human realm, but also in the supernatural realms. The Shade is practically a legend there too. Before I came here, I’d lived my whole life outside of the human realm and even I had heard rumors of The Shade.”
“So if they are interested in this ‘confluence’, as you say, they actually have four more possible targets. Ben, Ariana, Jason… and baby Kiev,” I concluded.
“Maybe,” Mona said. “Since, at least so far, you say you haven’t noticed anything different about the twins, I can only assume that it’s their blood the witches are after.”
Chapter 8: Rose
“We need to stop,” I said firmly, after we’d been driving ten minutes and the gas station was out of view.
“Not yet,” Caleb replied through gritted teeth.
I stared at him in exasperation. “Caleb, you’ve got twenty bullet holes in your chest. You’re losing blood like it’s water.”
His seat was soaked in blood. Even though the seat was made of absorbent fabric, it had reached its limit and blood puddled beneath Caleb.
He exhaled deeply and shook his head. “We’ll stop once it’s dark.”
I stared out at the sky. That could be hours still. “Damn it, vampire. Stop the car now!” I slammed my fist against the dashboard.
He ignored my tantrum, and if anything he pressed down harder against the accelerator as we continued speeding north along the highway. I glared at him, but he refused to look at me.
Stubborn boy.
“If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for me,” I pleaded. “We need to do something about those wounds. If something happens to you—”
“These wounds are inconsequential.”
“What?”
“They’re not going to kill me.”
“But don’t they… hurt?” His face certainly looked strained. I couldn’t imagine that even a vampire wouldn’t feel such i
njuries.
“I’ve experienced worse.”
I guessed this was true, but that didn’t make me feel any better sitting here with him bleeding out.
“Besides, they will heal soon. I just drank a body dry of blood. My system just needs time to process it. If it doesn’t, perhaps I need more blood.” He jerked his head toward the corpses still in the back of the truck. “There’s enough in this vehicle to keep me going for a long time. If I drink enough, the bleeding will stop fast and the wounds will close… In any case, we don’t stop until night.”
I shuddered, unwilling to look at the mess behind us. Locking my eyes on the road ahead, I was thankful that the windows were tinted. Of course, we had a gaping hole in the roof, but unless a very tall vehicle passed close to us, nobody could see inside.
I sighed and slumped back in my chair, scowling. It was clear that there was no budging Caleb.
Now that things had calmed down a little, the panic and shock that had been coursing through my veins dissipating, I realized that I genuinely still needed to relieve myself. That was a good excuse to get us to stop.
“I need the toilet.”
Caleb breathed out in frustration. He swerved over to the side of the road, the tires skidding on the pavement, and stopped next to a ditch. I got out and looked around. I walked to the nearest patch of bushes and ducked behind them. My bladder felt close to bursting.
Finishing up, I walked back to the van. But I didn’t walk back to my side of the car. I walked up to Caleb’s door and knocked.
He rolled down the window and stared at me through Luis’ glasses, his eyebrows raised. If I wasn’t aware that a few inches below his face, behind the tinted glass, was a bloody mess of bullets lodged into skin, I would have thought there was nothing unusual about him, apart from his paleness.
“Will you really not let me look at those wounds now?”
He scowled. “Just get in the car.”
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