“Why would he do that?”
I scoffed. “Do I really need to answer that?”
She pursed her lips. She knew Stellan and I had been at odds with each other ever since we had been put in charge of the two islands. “Why would you lie to me and disjoint Stellan’s neck?”
“The Novak girl was with me. Of course I couldn’t tell you the truth. And by lying to you, it made her think that I was on her side. I’d told her that I wanted her gone from the island because her presence aggravated me. Time was of the essence. I didn’t want to waste it trying to convince you Rose was better used as a key to The Shade rather having Stellan take her back through the gate. But I knew you’d thank me for it later. As for disjointing Stellan’s neck… he got in my way. As with you, I had neither time nor patience to resolve things verbally.”
She chewed on her lower lip, still eyeing me suspiciously.
“Stellan tells a very different story,” she said, but even as she said the words, the bonds holding me down loosened.
“It’s my word against his,” I said, standing up. “You decide who to trust.”
My eyes blazed into hers as she continued scrutinizing me.
Finally, she reached up and ran a finger along my cheek. I tensed beneath her touch and my skin began to sting. When she withdrew her finger, its tip was covered with my blood. She sucked it off, a stain of red remaining on her soft lower lip.
“I hope you’re not lying to me, Caleb. Because if you are, you’ve just made things much, much worse for yourself.”
I kept my gaze steady, my lips sealed.
“You can leave now,” she said.
She shot me one last glance as I left the room.
I had played Annora well. I’d known that she wanted to keep both Stellan and I. It would have been work to find and train a replacement. This way, she could keep us both—Stellan was only guilty of trying to outdo me, and that wasn’t a crime in her eyes. She enjoyed the competition between the two of us because she thought it made us both work harder.
I’d known that if I gave her just enough reason to believe me, even if there were some doubts in her mind, she would more than likely accept it.
Besides, if she had gotten rid of me, she’d have no one to play her evening games with.
Chapter 4: Caleb
We were expecting another attack from the Novaks soon. Annora wasn’t going to make this time as easy now that we had something of true value—the immune.
Although she didn’t admit to it, she had underestimated the Novaks. She’d thought that they wouldn’t risk the lives of their twins and would just hand over the immune. She didn’t realize how much everyone in The Shade looked out for each other.
As I sat on the stone steps outside the castle that evening, looking down at the snowy landscape, I recalled how Rose had once sat with me here. I remembered the way she’d touched me, curled up against my chest.
She was the embodiment of what The Shade was—warmth, love, loyalty. Everything my dark island wasn’t.
Annora had underestimated them because she’d underestimated their humanity.
But she wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
That was why I was surprised, after several hours of being on the lookout, to see a dozen or so submarines emerge in the harbor. I didn’t understand why Annora had let them enter the boundaries with so little resistance. It was as if she wanted them to come.
Figures bundled out of the vessels and rushed through the forest.
Now it was time to play my part. But, memories of Rose still fresh in my mind, I allowed them a few more seconds’ advantage before rushing back into the castle to alert the others.
“They’re here,” I called.
Every vampire in the castle had been warned in advance, so as soon as they heard me, they came rushing down to the entrance hall, prepared for battle. I scanned the hall for Annora, but didn’t see her.
A few seconds after we’d all assembled, there was a crash against the door.
While I had been surprised at first that Annora had allowed them to enter the island so easily, now that they were seconds from breaking the door down, I realized what her plan was.
I contemplated how foolish giving them an advantage had been. I could have not alerted anyone at all, and it wouldn’t have made a difference to their fate.
Even with the witches they’d brought with them, they had already lost the battle. Hell, even if they’d had a hundred witches from The Sanctuary, it would have been an unfair match.
Because they had no idea what kind of witch Annora was.
Chapter 5: Derek
“It’s almost like they want us to come,” Ibrahim said, frowning as he stood in the center of the control room, his palms raised in the air.
“What?” I asked, staring at him in confusion.
“There’s no forcefield at all around the island.”
Sofia shot me a nervous glance. “Why would they want us to come back?” she asked.
“I have no idea.”
“Perhaps they were just careless enough to leave it open after the last attack,” Aiden said. “After all, not much time has passed. Perhaps they’re still recovering.” Though he didn’t look convinced.
“Well,” Vivienne said, looking back at us from her seat, “it’s not like we have any choice. Whether they’re inviting us or not, we’re going in.”
“Of course,” I said.
We all fell silent as the submarine entered the boundaries of the island freely and, after a few more minutes, arrived at the jetty.
Timing was critical now. We had not a second to lose. They likely would have positioned someone to guard the port and now that we’d emerged, alarm bells would be ringing all around the island.
We dashed out of the control room and raced toward the hatch. As I ran, I yelled at everyone else to follow.
We all gathered outside on the snow. As soon as my feet hit the jetty I grabbed Sofia’s hand and we started running.
Sofia and I led our troops forward, through the forest and up the mountain toward the entrance of the castle. We didn’t know what we’d find there now, but we were better equipped than last time. We had more witches with us. The vampires had a head start on the witches, having bundled out of the submarines before them, and the vampires all ran so fast, we reached the top of the mountain shortly after the witches had transported themselves there with magic.
Sofia and I crashed against the wooden door, loosening it from its hinges. Within three shoves, the doors had swung open.
We found ourselves staring at a hall full of vampires, their claws extended, all waiting for us. My blood boiled as I saw Caleb right at the front of the crowd. His deep brown eyes settled on me, his expression serious. It made my skin crawl to think that Rose had been alone in his care for so long.
I launched forward, heading straight for Caleb. I was so fixed on being the one to reach him first, I barely even noticed what was happening around me.
I’d been expecting him to take a step back, but he remained rooted to the spot. His calmness only fueled my anger.
I closed the final distance between us and dove for his throat. He ducked, though I caught his cheek with my claw, ripping it open. We locked eyes as we circled one another.
The entire hall was now in commotion as our vampires and witches clashed against our opposition. I wanted to cast my eyes around for Sofia, but I couldn’t take my focus off Caleb.
Let’s make this quick.
A second later, I had floored Caleb, pinning his arms against the stone. He struggled and forced a hand free, lashing out and catching my throat. I dodged just in time to avoid being gouged. His claws scraped the surface of my skin, drawing blood.
He was stronger than I’d estimated.
I gripped his throat and hauled him upright, smashing him back against the wall. Clasping my arms and digging in his claws, he brought his knee up and kicked against my chest. I caught his leg and hurled him back down against th
e floor.
As I aimed for his heart, someone approached behind me. I whirled around to find myself face to face with a tall ebony-skinned vampire. Releasing Caleb, I leapt against the dark vampire’s midriff before he could strike me and dug my fist right into his chest, removing his beating heart and throwing it down against the floor.
When I turned back to Caleb, he was gone. I growled in frustration and I cast my eyes about the hall in search of him. Milling through vampires as I made my way around the room, I finally caught sight of him fighting Gavin. I saw where their fight was going as soon as Caleb reached for Gavin’s neck. In one sharp movement, he disjointed Gavin’s neck and Gavin fell to the floor, paralyzed.
“No!” I leapt in front of Gavin before Caleb could harm him further. I was about to launch at Caleb once again, but Xavier gripped him from behind and began fighting him.
I cast my eyes around desperately for Sofia and caught sight of her standing over the body of a female vampire. Sofia’s face shone with sweat, her right hand coated with blood, holding within it a still-beating heart.
“Sofia!” I yelled. She dashed toward me. She gasped as she saw Gavin lying on the floor. “Return Gavin to the submarine.”
She wrapped Gavin’s arm around her shoulder, forced him upright, and hurried out of the room with him. I followed her until she reached the exit, watching their backs in case some other vampire took advantage of Gavin’s vulnerable state. It would take Gavin several hours to recover and he wouldn’t survive if he remained in this hall.
Now I scanned the room once again for Caleb. He was still battling Xavier. I raced back over to them and gripped Xavier’s shoulder, hauling him back.
“This one’s mine,” I growled.
Xavier raced away to find another combatant, leaving Caleb standing in front of me, his chest heaving. Sweat was forming on his brow, and his claws were tipped with Xavier’s blood. His deep brown eyes settled on me, though his expression was still hard to read—he seemed to keep a poker face at all times.
We circled each other once again.
“You had us fooled,” I said, my voice low and menacing. “I’ll grant you that much. I didn’t expect you to be such a lowlife. What did it feel like playing on my daughter’s affections? Using her to steal away a pregnant woman? It must have made you feel like a real man…”
His face remained straight, though I knew my words had stung him from the way his jaw twitched.
I threw myself at him once again, and we both landed against the bottom of the staircase. I gripped his head and smashed it against the edge of a marble step. Refusing to let him squirm away from me again, I extended my claws as far as they would stretch and pierced them through his chest.
I exhaled sharply. I could barely believe my own eyes.
No matter how much pressure I applied, my fist wouldn’t sink further than the surface of his skin—even as my arm muscles bulged from the pressure I was applying.
Caleb looked as surprised as I.
Then a cool female voice spoke from behind me.
“Derek Novak. How good of you all to stop by again.”
I looked up to see a tall dark-haired witch with cold grey eyes looming over us. She reached down and touched my forehead. The moment her skin touched mine, my surroundings disappeared and all turned to black.
Chapter 6: Sofia
I woke up to something brushing against my lips. Slowly, my heavy lids opened and I found myself staring into my husband’s eyes. He was shaking my shoulders and kissing me, forcing me to come to.
He breathed out as soon as my eyes opened. I rubbed my head and sat up on the cold damp floor. I looked around me to see that we were trapped in a cell within a dungeon of some sort. Bodies of familiar vampires lay strewn all around us, still unconscious. Ibrahim sat upright, leaning against the wall in the far corner. I crawled to the gate of our cell and peered through. Several other cells surrounded us, also filled with our vampires and witches. All of them appeared to still be in slumber except for Vivienne and Xavier who were in the cell directly opposite us.
I looked back around my own cell, and approached my father, who was lying a few feet away from me. I grabbed his shoulders and shook him vigorously until he came to. He cursed beneath his breath as he sat up.
“Where are we?” I whispered to Derek.
“I don’t know,” he replied, his voice hoarse.
“How did she trap us down here like this?” I looked over at Ibrahim. “Were you witches not paying attention? The reason we brought you was to do what we vampires cannot—protect us from the powers of this witch.”
“We tried,” Ibrahim muttered. “But our powers are useless against this witch. It’s as though she’s drained us of them.”
“But there are almost a dozen of you!” my father said, rubbing the back of his head. “Combined, how could you not have been able to do something?”
“Clearly,” Ibrahim said, standing up, impatience now in his voice, “this witch is no ordinary witch.”
I stared at him, perplexed. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve never come across a witch so powerful before,” he said. “She is not a witch of The Sanctuary.”
“What do you mean? All witches come from The Sanctuary,” Derek said, frowning at the warlock.
Ibrahim shook his head. “Although all witches are originally from there, there are splinter groups and outcasts who’ve moved away, not believing in the way things are now run in The Sanctuary.”
“But how would she be so powerful?” Aiden asked. “Surely, if anything, leaving The Sanctuary lessens one’s potency, not strengthens it?”
Ibrahim’s eyes darkened. “Well, that’s not the case here.”
“So who is this witch?” Derek asked.
“We call them black witches,” he began, sitting back down in his corner. “They stand for everything The Sanctuary doesn’t. Witches of The Sanctuary are generally peace-seeking people. The only time they will encroach on others is if their own peace is threatened. The black witches, however, are very different. The history of their existence is a long story… but they practice witchcraft forbidden within the walls of The Sanctuary. A black witch is the only kind strong enough to overpower me, when I am especially endowed with powers of the Ageless herself.”
Vivienne and Xavier had crawled closer to the bars opposite us as they listened to our conversation.
“And what now?” Vivienne asked, worry filling her violet-blue eyes.
Ibrahim heaved a sigh. Before answering, he made his way over to the other witches in our cell and began shaking them until they each woke. They sat up, stretching their limbs and looking around in confusion.
“Are any of you able to conjure your magic?” he asked.
Each of them tried to wield their powers, and each of them failed. Ibrahim turned back to face us. “It seems that this witch has managed to knock out all our powers. We’re no better than humans now. You vampires have more strength than us.”
I stared at Derek, dumbstruck. I had always thought of Ibrahim as invincible. I’d never thought the day would come when I saw him weak like this.
I gripped Derek’s hand. “But we need to find Anna,” I croaked, my throat tightening. “We might be too late, even now.”
I stood up and gripped the gate, using all the strength I had within me to try to rip it from its hinges. It wouldn’t budge an inch. The witch must have put some spell on it.
“Believe me, Sofia. I’ve tried that already,” Derek said grimly.
I looked around the dungeon at the most capable warriors of The Shade. I didn’t remember a time in the history of my being queen of The Shade when all of us were speechless at once.
Chapter 7: Caleb
After Annora made the Novak army unconscious and transported them down to one of our dungeons, she called on me and several other vampires to lock them securely inside the cells. Once we’d thrown them all into cells, Annora charmed the doors. Then she turned to me. “Bring the imm
une up to my quarters, I’ll be there waiting for you,” she said, and vanished.
I left the Novaks’ dungeon and made my way to the kitchen. I walked over to the trap door in the far corner, and yanked it open. Screams echoed all around me as I passed the cells. I walked past the first few cells and headed straight to the back of the dungeon.
That was when it hit me.
Why can’t I smell her blood?
The immune’s blood was so exquisite that usually I could smell it as soon as I entered the dungeon, sometimes even from the kitchen. But now, I smelled nothing but regular human blood.
My footsteps quickened. I realized when I reached the immune’s cell that my fears had been justified.
Her cell was empty.
What in the world?
I knew for a fact that she had been in this cell within the last twenty-four hours because I’d had Frieda go down and check on her.
I stood rooted to the spot, stunned as I gazed at the empty cell.
I left the dungeon and headed straight for Annora’s quarters. She stood waiting in her library. She eyed me coldly as I entered alone.
“Where is the immune?” Annora asked.
“She’s gone.” I could hardly believe the words as they came out of my own mouth.
“What do you mean, she’s gone?”
“I mean what I said. She’s not in her cell.”
Annora stalked over to me and gripped my shirt. “How could she not be there?” she hissed.
“Go see for yourself.” No sooner had I said the words than we both vanished from the spot and reappeared in the dungeon outside the immune’s cell.
Annora clutched the bars of the cell and peered inside, a gasp escaping her lips as she saw that I was telling the truth. Then she turned on me, her eyes shrouding with suspicion. “You’re behind this,” she said.
I almost laughed at how ludicrous her suggestion was. This time, it would be easier to convince her of my innocence because I had the truth on my side. “How? There are plenty of vampires who can confirm I have an alibi. Since I left your presence, I’ve been preparing them for the attack and then I was waiting on the lookout.”