A Shade of Vampire 10: A Spell of Time (13 page)

Annora glared at me one more time, but finally nodded. Turning to the Ancient, she said, “All right, I’ll do it. I’ll give it another try. But only if Caleb leaves.”

I stared at her in shock. “What are you saying? You need somebody present who’s familiar to you. Even Lilith advised this.” I turned to Lilith and looked at her desperately. “Didn’t you?” Lilith scowled, but nodded. “Otherwise it will just be a repeat of last time and you might even end up worse off.”

Lilith coughed up another mouthful of black phlegm and spat it over her shoulder into the pond. “Hurry up!” she rasped.

Annora swallowed hard and then nodded. “Okay, with Caleb present.”

Annora folded her legs and sat cross-legged on the dusty floor, while I took a seat next to her.

I looked up at Lilith, who had approached and was hovering over us.

“Let’s begin.”

W
atching Annora writhe and scream
, semi-conscious throughout, was perhaps the strangest experience of my life. Her eyes rolled in their sockets. It was as though she was present at times, rested enough to scream, but other times I had no idea where she’d drifted off to.

I didn’t know what Lilith was doing to her, or why it caused so much pain. I would have liked to ask, but there simply was no time. Lilith had been on the verge of disappearing back into her black pond and I couldn’t afford to agitate her further.

We sat on the dusty floor for what felt like hours. The whole time Lilith instructed that I keep my hands firmly placed in Annora’s, which was becoming harder and harder as she sweated. They were becoming slippery and I had to grip tight as she writhed on the ground and tried to break free.

Annora was so far gone, I wasn’t even sure she was aware I was even here for her, or what good simply holding her hands would do. Still, I had no choice but to trust Lilith.

I wanted to ask how much longer, but since Lilith too had her eyes closed tight I was sure she wouldn’t welcome the interruption. I dared not say anything lest it interfere with the process and the spell went wrong yet again, leaving Annora in an even worse condition.

Truth be told, I was surprised that Annora had agreed at all. I had thought she’d refuse and just vanish from the spot. A small part of me hoped that perhaps she was doing this for me after all. That there was still a part of her that missed what she was before, when she’d still loved me.

It was impossible to know, and a waste of time speculating about, but I had nothing else to distract myself with. Otherwise, I would just find myself worrying about things out of my control, such as whether Annora would resurface at all after Lilith was done with her.

I knew I shouldn’t get my hopes up too high. If she did resurface, she would still be a witch. Still affected by the darkness that had first consumed her when I’d turned her into a vampire. It wasn’t like we could erase all that history and bring back the sweet beacon of light Annora had once been. Still, I hoped that she would at least revert to the way she was before she’d attempted to become a Channeler—when I could still recognize pieces of her, rather than seeing nothing but an empty shell.

More time passed, and Lilith still showed no signs of letting go of Annora. At least by now it was easier to keep hold of Annora’s hands. She seemed to have passed out completely. Her face was still contorted, as though pain was still coursing through her, but now she was stiller, her breathing more steady.

I was beginning to suspect that we were nearing the end when a click echoed around the chamber. Though I was careful not to let the shock loosen my grip on Annora, my eyes shot toward the entrance.

The door was wide open. And standing in the doorway was a man with pitch-black eyes and pale skin. A dark traveler’s cloak was wrapped around his shoulders.

Outraged, I glared daggers at him. I wanted to shout at him, but I was scared to break Lilith’s concentration. She hadn’t yet looked up at the intruder. Her eyes still closed, she seemed so absorbed in what she was doing, I wondered if she’d even heard him enter.

The man began walking down the stone steps toward us, his heavy black boots echoing around the chamber.

No. Not now. Leave, you bastard.
We were so close to completion. We couldn’t afford for this to get messed up now.
I need Annora back.

To my horror, he approached just a few feet away and broke though the silence.

“Lilith. Your Grace. I’m sorry to interrupt.”

Lilith shook her head, her thin eyelids fluttering open. She glared up at the man. Then, once she took in this intruder, her face softened.

To my horror, she let go of Annora and stood up. She hurried over to the man’s side as though Annora and I didn’t exist.

“What are you doing?” I hissed, jumping up. “Did you even finish?”

She ignored me and began speaking in hushed tones with the man.

“Well?” she asked him.

“I’ve—”

I barged into the man, gripping him by the collar and pushing him back. I took his place in standing next to Lilith and staring down at her. “What is happening with Annora? She’s still unconscious! Have you finished—”

Fury sparked in the Ancient’s eyes and with one sharp incantation from her I flew backward and crashed against the wall at the far end of the room.

“Tell me, Rhys,” she said, scowling at me and then fixing her black eyes once again on Rhys.

He threw me a dirty look too and continued, “I was successful.”

“Ah, good, good. Where is the catch?”

“Outside. First I need to speak with you. Alone.” Rhys glared at me once more.

Lilith lost no time in issuing me orders. “Take your girl and get out of here,” she hissed.

Although my blood was boiling, I didn’t see another option but to obey. Infuriating her further might lead her to take her irritation out on Annora. I just had to hope that the spell had worked and now all I had to do was wait for Annora to wake up.

Glowering at both of them and cursing beneath my breath, I brushed past them, scooped the limp Annora up in my arms and stalked out of the room. I took special care to slam the door behind me.

I marched back through the dim tunnel. Although we hadn’t arrived through it, Annora had told me that there was a gate on this island. The problem was, I had no idea where it was. I’d have to try to wake Annora up or just wait until she woke by herself.

Still shaking with anger and frustration, I stopped in my tracks just as I neared the exit of the tunnel. My nose caught a scent. A familiar scent, both sweet and terrifying.

I laid Annora down on the ground and followed the smell. It led me to the end of the corridor. I stopped in front of a narrow gap in the wall, just large enough to hold a thin human. A girl. A black-haired, green-eyed girl. Gagged and bound in ropes at her hands and feet. Blood seeped from her kneecap.

Rose Novak.

I
almost choked
on my tongue.

As soon as Rose saw me approach, her eyes widened and she struggled to sit upright. I stood frozen. My instinct was to reach out and help her, but my hands remained at my sides. It was as if time itself stood still as I stared at the girl.

A wave of longing crashed over me. Longing I’d tried to bury deep. Longing I’d tried to forget. Longing that would only lead to pain and trouble.

Rose began to choke as she tried to talk to me through the gag.

My eyes travelled from Rose in her desperate state, to Annora still unconscious on the ground, then back to Rose.

I didn’t know why Rhys had brought Rose here, but I knew one thing—once she stepped into that chamber with Lilith, she wouldn’t come out the same. Whatever those two monsters had in store for her, they would take something from her, perhaps her very life.

Rose, the delicate flower I’d tried so hard to shelter from my dark world, had been thrust right into it.

All logic shut down and adrenaline took over.

Despite the pang of guilt I felt about leaving Annora in her helpless state on the ground—a state I wasn’t even sure she would wake up from—I approached Rose and scooped her up in my arms.

I didn’t know what I was doing, or where I would go with her. I didn’t consider what would happen if we were caught. All rational thought escaped me as I raced out of that cave and hurtled down over the boulders toward the beach. All of it blurred into the background as I was left with the one overwhelming urge to carry Rose out of the dark. To not let her witness the nightmares within it.

I didn’t want to think about what Rhys might have done to her already. My stomach clenched as I eyed the blood on her leg, which hung limp.

She moaned as I continued ahead full speed, her leg swinging roughly over my arm. Once we’d lost sight of the cave, I dared pause for a breath.

I placed Rose down on the ground and pulled the gag out of her mouth.

She gasped and choked, coughing up dirt and blood. Her lips were parched, her face smeared with blood and sweat, eyes wide and fearful.

She opened her mouth to speak, but we had no time for it.

I shook her silent. “Listen to me, Rose. How did you get here? How did Rhys bring you here?”

“I… Th-there was a… crater. Further up. On the beach. Near the statue.”

“What statue?” I looked left and right, scanning the length of the beach.

She raised a weak hand, pointing toward our left. I squinted and finally saw it—right at the other end of the beach. A lone statue rising high into the sky, at least fifty feet.

I tore off my shirt and wrapped it around her leg for extra support. I picked her up again and as soon as I did, I cursed myself for ever touching her leg. I’d managed to smudge her blood on my hands. It was everything I could do to not stop then and there and dig my fangs into her soft neck. Her scent was making me feel nauseous, like a drug taking hold of all my senses.

Biting my lower lip, I continued racing forward, throwing a glance back over my shoulder every ten feet. Rhys was still nowhere in sight. Either he was still talking to Lilith, oblivious of the fact that I’d stolen Rose, or he had just found out and was now chasing after us.

Whatever the case, there was only one thing to do. Run.

I approached the statue—an odd grey structure shaped like an upward-pointing dagger—and circled it. I breathed out in relief as I spotted the crater Rose had spoken of.
So this is another one of the witches’ remaining gates.

I had not the slightest clue what we might find on the other side. But there was no time for thought. I just had to let my instincts and adrenaline keep me running, because the moment I stopped to think, the insanity of what I’d just done would come crashing down on me.

“Hold on tight,” I growled, holding Rose closer against my chest as I leapt into the starry abyss.

A
fter Rhys had put
me to sleep on the boat, I’d come to again once Rhys had already jumped through the crater. The free fall had forced me to consciousness and the next thing I knew, we’d landed on a black pebble beach beneath a tall grey statue. The warlock had refused to answer any questions as he carried me toward the cave, but, despite the agony my leg was causing me, my addled brain managed to come up with some theories.

I thought back to the first time I’d met “Micah”. He’d been floating in the ocean calling for help, claiming he’d strayed outside the boundary and needed our assistance in coming back in. That was how the warlock had first entered The Shade. The real Micah must have strayed past the boundary in search of fish, and that was when the warlock had caught him.

I’d seen with my own eyes how Corrine had managed to turn my mother into my father. I doubted it would have been much of an effort for Rhys to turn into a werewolf. I shuddered to think where Micah might be now, if he was still alive.

I remembered how keen he’d been to stray from the boundary that day on Sun Beach. If Saira hadn’t swum up to stop him, he would have made off with me then.

And to think I’d been beginning to fall for his act… I thought back to our conversation in the boathouse. Rhys had likely made up everything he’d told me about Micah’s tragic past. It had all been designed to evoke sympathy from me and draw me closer. The real Micah likely had a completely different story.

Although I’d managed to piece together some parts of the puzzle, there were still so many questions clouding my mind.

Once Rhys had gained entrance onto the island, why hadn’t he taken the opportunity to sneak more witches in and overpower Mona? If he’d done this, it wouldn’t have been difficult to take over The Shade and our supply of humans.

And why take me of all people? Why would the witches throw away the chance to take over our island just to have me, a weak human girl, kidnapped again?

Nothing made any sense.

My blood was still boiling at the warlock’s deception. I felt almost as angry as I had when I’d believed Caleb too had been a lie. Only in his case, I’d been mistaken.

Now that Caleb had jumped back through the gate with me, I had no idea what was on the other side. I thought we might arrive in Stellan’s or perhaps even Caleb’s island. But when we reached the end of the tunnel, I landed on a bed of wet soil. I gasped for breath. The air was heavy and humid. A symphony of chirping, hissing and buzzing pierced my eardrums. In the distance was the sound of thundering water.

I opened my eyes, trying to adjust to the darkness. We had landed in the undergrowth of some kind of jungle. Sharp-leaved bushes surrounded us. I stared up at the canopy of trees—so thick it shut out the moonlight but for a few shafts.

Caleb stood a few feet away, casting his eyes around the area. He walked over to me and gripped my arms, helping me up. My leg still useless, I had to lean against him for support.

“Where are we?” I whispered.

Before he had a chance to answer, the bushes rustled to our left. I let out a scream as I came face to face with a wild boar. Caleb grabbed me by the waist and helped me onto his back. Holding my weak legs around him, he began to run.

“We need to get far away from the gate,” he said, his chest heaving as we lurched forward with furious speed. I tightened my grip around his shoulders. He was travelling so fast, the jungle was a blur to me and it was a struggle to breathe.

My leg was already causing me agony, but now that it kept bumping against Caleb’s hip as he ran, the pain intensified. After what felt like fifteen minutes, I could no longer hold in my groans of pain. He stopped and laid me down on the ground. He crouched down next to me and rolled up the right leg of my jeans. But these jeans were tight and wouldn’t roll up high enough for him to reach my injury. To my surprise, he lowered his head to my thigh.

“What are you—?”

The tips of his fangs pierced through the fabric and grazed my skin as he ripped a gash in my jeans. He used his claws to tear the rest of the way around my leg and pulled the fabric away, leaving my skin bare, my injury in full view.

His breath hitched. I dared not look down. The pain was overwhelming enough as it was, I was afraid I might lose consciousness again if I saw how mushy a wound the warlock’s sharp boot had caused. I kept my eyes on Caleb’s face.

Extending a claw, he slit the center of his palm. Holding the back of my head with one hand, he held his bloody hand to my lips.

“Drink.”

I refused to drink my own parents’ blood, let alone Caleb’s. But my suffering was now so overwhelming, even I wasn’t stubborn enough to refuse. I held his forearm and sensed his muscles tense as soon as my mouth touched his skin. I ran my tongue gingerly along his palm, lapping up his blood like a cat would do milk.

I held my nose, trying to avoid experiencing the taste. But it had such a strong flavor, I tasted it all the same.

Caleb made me keep drinking for several minutes. Finally he let go of my head and allowed me to sit back. But as soon as I did, my stomach began to churn and I felt a burning in my throat. Crouching on all floors, I retched, remnants of the last meal I’d eaten spilling all over the soil. Spinach lasagna laced with vampire blood.
Yum.

Caleb reached an arm around my waist and forced me to stand. I groaned, pre-empting the pain I’d become accustomed to in my leg, but found I was able to stand straight without even needing to lean on him. I stared down at my knee. It looked quite normal. My skin was grubby and covered in dried blood, but it seemed intact. I ran my hands over my skin over my face and my arms, my lower lip—the cuts seemed to have healed.

I looked up at Caleb, who was looking at me impatiently. I wiped my mouth quickly with the back of my sleeve, realizing I probably still had a bit of puke somewhere there. Not exactly the look I’d imagined sporting when reuniting with Caleb in my fantasies.

“I’m so thirsty,” I croaked, realizing how dehydrated I felt for the first time, now that I’d just coughed up the remaining fluids I had.

Wordlessly he bent down and pulled me onto his back again. He began to run again.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Who is that warlock? Why did you take me? What was that island? And what were you doing there?” Some of the questions that had been crowding my mind blurted from my parched mouth at once. And Caleb answered exactly none of them. He remained silent as we lurched through the jungle.

When I pressed for answers, he said, “Not now.”

My throat was too sore to argue. I had to save my speech for when I really needed it.

It was probably a good thing that it was dark and I had trouble seeing. The disconcerting noises surrounding us—those of predatory animals and tropical insects alike—made me realize that this was a jungle so wild, if I was able to actually see the creatures around me, I’d be screaming.
Sometimes ignorance really is the best course.

As Caleb ran, the thundering of water got louder and louder, echoing around us. Finally, he stopped again. He set me down on my feet and held my hand, leading me down a slope toward a roaring river. I let go of him and crept toward the edge of the water.

“Careful,” he said. “It’s slippery.”

I tried to heed his advice and go slow, but I was so anxious for water. The sight of it made me even more keenly aware of how much my throat hurt. I lost my footing on a muddy stone. The next thing I knew, I’d slipped into the river. The water submerged me and before I could fight my way back to the bank, a ferocious current sucked me under. By the time I surfaced again, gasping for breath, I was already a good ten feet away from the bank and moving fast. It had all happened so quickly, my body was still in shock.

Caleb had already dived in. His powerful arms sliced through the current as he waded toward me. But this river was so monstrous, it slowed even Caleb down.

He swore.

“Don’t look behind you, Rose,” he shouted. “Keep your eyes on me. I’m coming for you.”

“Wha’d you—” I choked, swallowing a mouthful of water.

How can he say something like that at a time like this and expect me to actually obey him?

I cast my eyes back over my shoulder. And I immediately wished I’d obeyed him. The moonlight reflected a set of slimy scales, gliding streamlined toward me.

I shrieked. An alligator.

“Look at me,” Caleb bellowed. “Look at me, Rose.”

I fought to turn myself around and face him again. I forced myself to stare into his intense brown eyes. Eyes that had haunted me for weeks. Eyes that I now believed might be my last vision. I realized I couldn’t think of much else that I would rather be looking at. I could look at them all day. I just wished that a giant reptile wasn’t creeping up on me from behind, about to swallow me alive. That would have made it much easier to follow his instruction.

“Caleb,” I screamed. “Help!”

“I’m coming for you. Just keep your eyes on me. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

Another current pulled me under water. I was afraid I might resurface right next to the beast, perhaps even underneath it. But I reappeared ten feet away. I fought to turn myself around in the water to look at Caleb again, and breathed out as I saw he too had been swept under by a current and was now only few feet away from me. He closed the distance between us quickly with his broad muscular strokes. And then his strong arm snaked around my waist, guiding me to climb onto his back. I was expecting him to immediately turn round and swim in the other direction. But to my horror, he headed straight for the monster.

“Caleb! What are you—” But it was too late.

The creature quickened its strokes until it arrived within two feet from us. I shut my eyes, burying my face against Caleb’s neck.

The alligator bellowed and when I dared open my eyes again a few seconds later, the reptile was bleeding from its eye sockets. Caleb had ripped out its eyeballs, leaving it thrashing in agony. Caleb turned away and began swimming against the current. I felt his whole body tense—pure muscle challenging the might of this terrifying river that was so bent on swallowing us up. Caleb won. It was a slow and steady process, but a few minutes later he was climbing back onto the bank. I rolled off him and lay on the ground, panting.

I stared up at him, then let out a scream. I pointed to his shoulder.

“What’s that black thing?”

He glanced down. “A leech,” he said. I expected him to immediately pull it off. Instead he crawled over to me and began running his hands over my own arms. I shivered as his hands brushed down my legs, reached up beneath the hem of my ripped jeans and touched my thigh. Then he lifted up my wet shirt to reveal my stomach. I screamed again on seeing a black leech writhing and sucking on my own skin, just above my panty line.

“Lie back,” he ordered.

I leaned back, but only enough that I could still keep an eye on what he was doing with the leech. I gasped as he lowered his mouth to my stomach, his mouth enclosing the leech. I shivered as his lips brushed against my abdomen. Then I felt a sharp pain. He sucked the leech from my skin and threw it over his shoulder. He jumped up several feet away from me, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and spitting on the ground, I assumed to rid himself of any trace of my blood that might have entered his mouth. I couldn’t imagine the amount of self control it must have taken him to do that. I knew he craved my blood as it was. If he allowed himself to taste even a drop of my blood, he might not be able to stop himself from sucking me dry.

“You may want to check beneath your clothes,” he said, casting me a sideways glance.

This was no time to be worrying about preserving my modesty or being a shy wallflower around him. He turned around while I stripped to my bikini. Thankfully, after a thorough inspection I was able to conclude that there were no bloodsuckers anywhere down there. I slipped my torn jeans back on.

“Okay, there was nothing,” I said. “You can turn around.”

But he didn’t turn around. I walked up to him to see him concentrating on removing a particularly monstrous leech that had attached itself to him just above his navel. He gripped its head and yanked it out, squeezing out the blood from it before tossing it into the bushes.

“How many did you have on you?”

“Just two.” He looked down at my stomach, frowning. “Lift your shirt again.”

I lifted it to reveal the wound the black leech had caused, blood flowing freely from it, showing no signs of clotting. His wound flowed similarly. I thought he might bend down to look at it more closely but his jaw tensed and he jolted back several feet away from me again.

This was so difficult for him. I was a walking meal. He turned his back on me, his shoulders heaving, struggling to regain control. Finally he turned around again, his eyes focused on my face, avoiding looking at the blood leaking through my shirt.

“You’re going to need to drink my blood again,” he said, his breathing still uneven. He extended a claw and poised to slit his right palm again.

“No,” I said quickly, not willing to risk vomiting up my guts again. “Don’t cut yourself again. My wound will heal.”

“Not fast enough. Leeches inject an anticoagulant to stop your blood clotting.”

When I still hesitated, he breathed out sharply in irritation. He stood up and began walking away.

“Wait,” I said, “Don’t leave me!”

“I’m not leaving you,” he hissed. “Just stay there. If you won’t drink my blood, I need to find something else to help clot the blood, or I’ll drink from you myself and there will be no blood left in you to coagulate. Trust me, unlike the leech, there will be no detaching myself from you if I do lose control.”

I watched as he disappeared behind a tree, now regretting that I hadn’t just forced myself to drink his blood again. I breathed out in relief as he returned a few moments later carrying a handful of long thin leaves. Still keeping his distance from me, he put three of them in his mouth and began chewing.