Helina had explained that there were often long periods of inactivity. Then suddenly, some of us would be sent on random errands that were often urgent and could take several days to complete. But most of the time they were free, as long as they turned up to the rituals in the evenings.
It was still unclear to all of us what exactly Isolde felt close to breaking through. The witches didn’t discuss anything important with the vampires, confirming my suspicion that they just saw us as slaves. Pawns in whatever game they were playing. I didn’t bother asking. It wasn’t like there was anyone I could ask now anyway, now that Mona and Tiarni were gone. I wasn’t on speaking terms with any of the other witches.
I spent as much time with my siblings as I could to take my mind off of the witch’s absence. There had been such a huge gap since I last saw them that we never ran out of things to talk about. And I appreciated the time to get to know my siblings better.
I still grilled them now and then about what they’d done to Matteo. But deep down, I knew that they hadn’t done it to hurt me. They had acted out of panic, thinking they were protecting me.
I felt the urge to seek out Matteo and Saira, but it was an impossible task. For one thing, my siblings told me that I was bound to this island now and wasn’t allowed to leave for more than seven days without permission—thanks to their initiating me while I was drunk. I’d asked what would happen after seven days, but they refused to tell me. I wondered if they even knew themselves.
In any case, I decided that it was wise not to risk it, and Helina had made me promise that I wouldn’t.
We continued to attend the rituals every night along with all the other vampires and witches on the island. It seemed that for some reason Isolde had decided to start sacrificing more than one human at a time. I assumed she thought it would make the ritual more powerful and bring her closer to whatever it was she was trying to achieve.
In any case, Isolde announced one morning at breakfast that they were running low on humans. Since Rhys was away and Efren still locked himself in the spell room all day to mourn over his sister, Isolde did something out of the ordinary.
After everybody else had left the hall, while my siblings and I had stayed back to finish our discussion, she approached us.
She cleared her throat. “I could use your help,” she said.
“For what?” Erik asked.
“I think you three will be as good as any in helping me stock up on humans. I’d like you to come with me.”
Erik stared from me to Helina.
“Yes,” I said immediately. “We’ll help.”
This was perfect to take my mind off things and I’d been curious to know where they got these humans ever since I arrived on this island.
“Obviously, you are sworn to secrecy.”
“Of course,” Erik said, following my lead.
I was still surprised Isolde had asked us. I supposed that she knew we were all bound to this island and at their mercy, so it wasn’t like there was much we could do with this knowledge. And now that her regular companions were gone, we were as good as any.
“I’m planning to leave tonight,” she said. “Meet me in the courtyard after the ritual.”
“Is there anything we need to bring with us?” Helina asked.
The witch stared at her. “Just your obedience.”
Chapter 19: Mona
We returned to the castle early the next morning. As we arrived back in Rhys’ bedroom, he closed the door and turned to face me.
“It’s time for me to give you your magic back. I think you’re ready.”
I stared at him, my heartbeat quickening. “A-are you sure?”
He smiled and nodded.
“You’ve changed, Mona. I can sense when your mind is on other things, and now it’s not. I am your world now.”
I couldn’t argue with his statement.
I sat down cross-legged in the center of the living room and he held out his palms. I closed my eyes as a flash of light hit me in the chest, and my whole body began tingling as my powers returned to me.
My knees wobbled as I stood up. I gripped the back of an armchair.
I looked at him nervously. “And now what?”
His eyes bored into mine.
“It’s time to do what I’ve been preparing you for. We’ll leave in an hour.”
* * *
Rhys vanished us from his apartment. Once the wind stopped whirling around us, my feet hit solid ground. I opened my eyes. We were standing on a black pebble beach. A freezing wind blew against us. I drew my cloak closer.
“Where are we?” I whispered.
He didn’t answer my question and instead led me toward the foot of a cliff. There was a heap of boulders at its foot. We began climbing over the boulders and soon the entrance of a cave came into view.
Rhys climbed up into the entrance and hauled me up after him. He gripped my arm, pulling me closer to him as we walked further into the cave. It was so dark now that we’d left the light of the moon, I was surprised that Rhys had a clue where he was even going. I stumbled over rocks even as he was supporting me.
“Where are we going?”
“Shh.”
We walked along what felt like a winding tunnel until I could no longer see the entrance of the cave. Rhys stopped suddenly.
Metal clicked and a door opened. A stream of light flooded out. We walked through the door and found ourselves in another tunnel—but this time lanterns hung from the walls. The air felt colder now that we were traveling deeper into the mountain.
Rhys kept his grip on me. We walked forward for several minutes until we reached another old door. He gripped the rusting iron handle and with two hands twisted it open.
The temperature fell yet again. I shivered and huddled closer to Rhys. He lifted up his cloak and closed it around me as I gripped his waist.
I cast my eyes around the circular chamber we’d just entered. This chamber wasn’t as well lit. There were just four large lanterns, each casting flickering shadows along the walls. The floor sloped downward toward a pool of black liquid in the center.
“What is that?”
Rhys didn’t answer me as we neared it.
It was thick, yet grainy like tar. I couldn’t imagine for the life of me what it was.
The liquid parted. I screamed as a woman’s corpse emerged from it.
At least, I had thought it was a corpse. The woman’s body shuddered as she drew in a deep rasping breath. The hall filled with a stench of decay.
Rhys clasped a hand over my mouth and pulled me a few steps back.
She reached a skeletal arm out of the water and brushed strands of black hair away from her face.
My heart hammered in my chest.
Bone protruded from the top of her forehead and her lips were shriveled. There were patches of skin missing from her nose, revealing bare cartilage. Her eyes were black as beetles, small and shrunken.
“What is she?” I breathed.
Even Rhys’ breathing had quickened.
“Through us, the spirits of our Ancients live on. They still watch over us. Some more than others…”
I gasped.
“An Ancient? But I thought they were all gone long—”
“As long as we remain loyal to them, they still live and breathe with us. Lilith is the last to physically remain with us.”
Lilith. It was hard to wrap my head around this thing having a name.
Rhys’ eyes remained fixed on her as he spoke.
Strange words rasped from her mouth. Her voice was low and hoarse, so much that had it not been for her body, I would have assumed her to be a man.
“Only those who wish to become Channelers are admitted entrance to see her,” Rhys said. “Otherwise, her existence is kept a secret.”
The witch spoke in ancient witch tongue. Although Rhys had taught me to read it, I couldn’t understand it when it was spoken. I looked up at Rhys, bewildered.
Rhys replied to her in the s
ame tongue.
Then he addressed me. “She wanted to know why I’ve brought you here.”
I stared back at the vile creature floating in the black pool. She was almost bald, except for the thin strands poking out from the front of her scalp.
Lilith spoke again. Rhys’ grip around my hand tightened.
The Ancient’s black eyes narrowed on me, and an eerie clucking emanated from her mouth.
I looked up at Rhys again.
“Don’t break eye contact with her,” he hissed, gripping my chin and forcing my head back.
I felt like I was about to throw up. The smell of the hall and her frightening eyes roaming my body made me feel violated.
She continued clucking her tongue for as long as her eyes were on me. Finally, just as it felt like I couldn’t look at her anymore, she looked back at Rhys and spoke again. Her voice grated against my ears like granite.
Rhys looked back down at me.
“She… she wants to touch you.”
“W-what?”
“You need to trust me,” he said, glaring daggers at me.
Breathing through my mouth to avoid the stench, I inched toward the edge of the pool. My knees buckled, but as Rhys moved to help me, the witch hissed again.
Rhys stopped in his tracks.
“She wants you alone,” he muttered.
The witch was watching me intently, whatever skin she had left on her lips pursed in disapproval.
I trembled as I arrived at the edge of the pond. She moved toward me.
She hissed again.
“Bend down,” Rhys translated.
I bent down. Her arm shot out and gripped my hair. She tugged me closer to her. I was so close to the edge now, I almost lost my balance and fell face forward into the pool.
My whole body shivered as slimy, cold fingers brushed my forehead. I had the horrible thought that she might leave a bit of her flesh on my skin when she removed her hand.
I breathed out a sigh of relief when she finally let go of me. I scrambled back away from her, wiping my forehead with my sleeve and staring at her, panting.
Her beady eyes remained on me.
Another hiss came from her lips. Rhys’ eyes had become wide with alarm. I looked from the Ancient to Rhys, perplexed, as they went back and forth for several minutes. Finally, she bared rotten teeth and snarled at Rhys.
He fell silent and averted his eyes to the ground.
“What is she saying?” I hissed.
He looked over at me, frustration in his eyes. I managed to get to my feet and move toward him.
“Stay there.” His voice boomed through the chamber.
I was taken aback by the urgency in his voice and stopped in my tracks. The witch was glaring at me. My throat felt so dry it was now painful to breathe.
Rhys spoke again to the Ancient, now sounding resigned.
The Ancient nodded slowly, her chin grazing the edge of the pool.
Then her head dipped beneath the black liquid and she vanished.
What the hell is going on?
“You can come here now,” Rhys said.
I lost no time in stumbling over toward him and gripping his cloak.
“She’s not convinced that you’re ready.” Rhys said finally.
I looked back over at the thick black liquid. The Ancient’s liquid tomb was now still, as though it had never been stirred. “What?”
“She wants you to prove that you’re serious first.”
“Prove myself how?”
His eyes darkened.
“Doesn’t she trust your judgment?” I pressed.
“She always has in the past. But with you… She wants you to do something for her first.”
“What?” I was afraid to hear the answer.
Rhys paused, running a hand over his face.
“Let’s get out of here first.”
Chapter 20: Kiev
As planned, we met with Isolde in the courtyard a few minutes after the ritual ended. Even once she’d approached us, she still didn’t offer any explanation as to our destination. She just made us all touch shoulders in a circle and we vanished from the island.
Our feet hit solid ground a few seconds later. I opened my eyes and blinked, my vision coming into focus. We were in some kind of rectangular dungeon. It appeared empty at first but on a closer look, I noticed something strange on the floor. I walked forward to see what it was.
“Wait,” Isolde scolded, gripping my arm and pulling me back. “Follow after me.”
She walked forward and we followed.
As I approached within five feet of it, realization hit me like a brick.
A dark hole in the floor extended downward to form a tunnel. Its walls were made of a swirling, translucent substance. And beyond the walls lay a sea of endless black scattered with stars.
My siblings’ faces looked how I felt inside. They had seen one of these too. When they were first brought to Cruor from the Blood Keep.
This was a gate to the human realm.
I wondered now how many more gates remained secretly open and where they were. It brought back unwanted memories of the redhead girl I’d fallen for. Sofia. I’d said goodbye to her standing outside a gate like this. She’d given me one last glance before she let go of the edge and hurtled down into the abyss. The gate had closed soon afterward.
Prying my eyes away from the hole and swallowing hard, I looked again around the dungeon again.
“Where are we?”
“That’s not important,” Isolde said curtly. “Now, I’m sure you all know what this is.”
We nodded.
“So I’ll jump first, and you follow a few seconds after me, one at a time. All right?”
“All right,” Helina said, although she was trembling. I supposed her last memories on earth had been so traumatic that she now associated the human realm with pain.
I wrapped an arm round her shoulder. There wasn’t much I could say to comfort her though when I myself had not the slightest clue where we’d end up.
Isolde jumped through and disappeared.
“You go next, Erik,” I said.
He cleared his throat and nodded, stepping forward. He glanced up at us before diving in after her.
“And now you, Helina,” I said.
She trembled as she neared the edge of the gate. The suction began pulling at her hair. She jumped through.
And then it was my turn.
I was sucked down through that tunnel so fast I couldn’t keep my eyes open. The air pressure squeezed my body, making it hard to even gasp for air.
I landed on a hard surface. I climbed to my feet and looked around. We were in another dimly lit dungeon. Had I been a human I would have been shivering already. The cold was biting, the type that gnawed at your bones.
“Good,” Isolde said, straightening out her long black gown. “Follow me.”
She grabbed a chain of keys from a hook on the wall. She walked toward a wooden door in the corner of the chamber and pushed it open. We followed her up a set of narrow stone steps. We emerged through a trapdoor into a hall. Black chandeliers hung from the high ceiling. There was a click as Isolde locked the trapdoor behind us.
We crossed the room and passed through a door that led to a circular hall. There was a door to our right, and a staircase in the center leading upward. Architecturally, this place was similar in design to the castle back in my siblings’ island, and also Rhys’ island. Even the long drapes were made of similar fabric.
I looked out of the stained-glass window nearest me. I was shocked firstly to see how high up we were. This building—or castle, it seemed—was built on the peak of a high mountain. There was thick snow everywhere. In the distance at the foot of the mountain was a forest, as evidenced by the white treetops, and further still in the distance was the sea.
Where on earth are we?
“Annora,” Isolde called, her voice echoing off the walls.
I turned around. A tall young woman with long
black hair and cold grey eyes descended the wide staircase. She wore a long black dress which trailed on the ground, similar to Isolde. Evidently also a witch.
I left the window and rejoined my siblings, who were watching Isolde talking to this stranger.
“We’ve come for more,” Isolde said, rubbing her palms together.
“Well, you know where to find them,” Annora replied, her voice smooth like silk. “Take what you need. We’re due for another batch soon.”
Her eyes glanced over me and my siblings briefly and she raised a brow.
“New recruits, I see. No Rhys and Efren this time?”
Isolde shook her head.
“It’s complicated,” Isolde said. She paused and looked at my siblings and I. She held out her ring of keys and Erik took them from her. She pointed toward a door in the far corner of the room. “That’s the kitchen. In the far right corner, you’ll find the entrance to another dungeon. You have the keys—it’s the large bronze one, and the smaller bronze ones will unlock the cells. Go in and bring out a dozen or so humans. Herd them out here. Don’t let any of them scramble away. We don’t have time to go chasing after them. And only take humans from the first four cells. Do not go further than that. Understood?”
“Yes, Isolde,” Helina replied.
Isolde turned back to continue her conversation with Annora.
We swept toward the kitchen. Erik found the entrance to the dungeon and we descended the steps.
It was dark inside. The smell of fresh, hot human blood was intoxicating. I began to salivate. Screams and cries echoed around the dungeon as soon as they realized we had entered.
Erik unlocked the door of the first cell, which contained half a dozen humans, and, with the help of Helina, started grabbing humans and pulling them out.
I was about to help them when I smelt it. A type of blood that was a rarity to our kind. Its sweetness was intoxicatingly familiar. And it reminded me of Sofia. This was the blood of an immune—a rare species of human who couldn’t be turned into a vampire.
Unable to resist following the scent, I rushed past the first four cells.
“Kiev!” Erik hissed. “What are you doing? She said—”