As he withdrew his fangs, I reached for a cloth and dabbed the blood away from his mouth. He leaned back in the seat, closing his eyes and groaning. Before he could protest, I lifted myself onto his lap and locked my arms around his neck. Pressing my cheek against his, I whispered into his ear. “We’re going to be okay, Caleb. We’ll find ourselves again. We just need time.”
He didn’t welcome my advance, but he didn’t immediately brush me away either, which I’d half expected him to do. I dared press my lips against his neck, and began to trail them across his skin up toward his cheek. He turned his head to face the other way. I raised my bleeding palm closer to his face. His eyes still closed, I dabbed some of my blood over my lips and leaned forward to catch his in mine.
He clenched his jaw, his whole body tensing up as though trying to resist my touch. But as I pressed my mouth harder against his, he began to respond—even if he was just sucking away the blood, it felt like he was caressing me. And at that moment, that was all that mattered.
His fangs caught my bottom lip, causing a cut. His lips crushed against mine as he drew more blood, my scent once again driving his senses into a frenzy. His grip around me tightened. I leaned backward, pulling him down with me onto the floor as I reached for my skirt. He was so absorbed in my taste, he barely seemed to notice as I bared myself. I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him closer to me.
Tears brimmed in my eyes as I thought about all the times I could have made him mine. All those years Rose Novak hadn’t been around. When it had been just him and me alone in that big castle, no interruptions. No distractions. If only I had desired him then as much as I am burning for him now. I wouldn’t be in this position, where I had to trick him into wanting me. He’d wanted me with all his heart.
Still, as much as I lamented over my actions, I couldn’t undo the past. I just had to make the best of the situation I now found myself in.
He loosened his grip on my lip to pause for a breath. I smiled faintly as his dark, hooded gaze met mine. He lowered himself again, this time digging into my neck.
I arched my spine, guiding his hands down to rest on the small of my back. “Let’s continue our story,” I said softly, brushing my lips against his earlobe.
I wasn’t sure if he was even conscious of the words I spoke through the haze he was in. But then he tensed suddenly. I hardly dared believe what was happening as he withdrew his fangs and placed a long, lingering kiss on the base of my throat. My heart soared. I barely knew how to contain the joy that one gesture had brought me.
Then he murmured something. But his voice was so muffled, I couldn’t make out what it was.
“What did you say, my love?” I asked breathlessly.
He repeated it again. A short, one-syllable word. Clearer this time, but not clear enough for me to be willing to believe what I thought I’d heard.
The third time it was unmistakable.
“Rose,” he whispered, his voice hoarse.
My whole body froze beneath his touch. My chest burned.
I gripped his hair, yanking his head upward. “No,” I hissed. “Annora.”
His eyes were shut tight. He wasn’t even looking at me now.
He dipped again and caught my lips this time, kissing them with passion and hunger I hadn’t experienced since the first time he’d ever kissed me. That kiss would have lit my body on fire, had he not finished it off with the same ugly, detested word. “Rose.”
“Stop saying her name,” I wheezed, tears beginning to spill down my cheeks. “Stop saying it. She’s dead.”
He shook his head as he brushed his thumbs against my face, his fingers reaching into the roots of my hair as he showered kisses over my face. As he was about to taste my lips again, he froze. His eyes shot open. To my shock, they were no longer black. It was as though the dark mist covering them was clearing before my very eyes and they were returning to their warm brown color. Wiping his mouth, he let go of me and staggered backward, a look of confusion on his face.
“Rose,” he said, no longer in a whisper. “I hear…” His voice trailed off as he climbed out from beneath the shelter and began staring up at the early-morning sky.
“What?” I hurried out after him. “Caleb, darling. She’s dead. You burned her body. You’re hallucina—”
Beyond the rain clouds, the sun hadn’t yet risen above the horizon. But the sky was light enough to see, even through the drizzle. My jaw dropped as I followed Caleb’s gaze. He was staring at what looked like a giant bird, flying toward us in the distance.
Now even I could hear a faint shouting across the waves. Suddenly, it was followed by a spine-tingling roar.
No.
It can’t be…
And yet it was.
As the bird drew nearer, it became clearer and clearer that it was no such creature. It was a dragon—a beast I’d only heard rumors about. The two figures atop the creature’s back became more visible with each beat of its wings. A large, thick form that looked much like an ogre, and next to it, a smaller, frailer figure with long dark hair.
Rose Novak.
My eyes shot toward Caleb. The look on his face as he stared up at her shattered my heart into a thousand pieces.
All my planning, all my efforts to make Caleb mine again had been a waste. I’d tried to kill Rose, yet here she was, as if returned from the dead.
I’d thought I’d come so close to reclaiming him, but at that moment, I knew that I’d been lying to myself. I knew the truth that I had been denying ever since he’d first abandoned me for her in the cave.
I’d lost him.
And there was no getting him back.
I could barely breathe as envy and grief consumed me.
As the dragon approached within a few dozen feet from us, I saw red.
If I can’t have Caleb, nobody will.
Chapter 25: Rose
I had something better than bird crap to surprise Annora with this time.
Charis had flown around the circumference of the island, roaring as Bella and I shouted Caleb’s name. We’d flown close to the trees, so we would have heard his response had he been on the island. We could only conclude that he’d left in the boat—since it was no longer on the beach where he’d been building it.
I was right that Annora and Caleb hadn’t travelled too far in that primitive boat. The dragon’s speed made it easy to begin circling around the island, spiraling outward so that we could search in all directions. Still, it took us hours until we finally spotted them.
My stomach flipped as Charis began hurtling toward the boat.
Please be okay, Caleb.
I’d been hoping that he might have discarded Annora by now. So I couldn’t deny that panic gripped me as she rushed out onto the deck, naked and bleeding, a few seconds after Caleb. But even if I’d wanted to, I couldn’t fix my attention on Annora for long. I stared down at Caleb’s stunned face.
“Caleb!” I yelled.
He looked at me as though I was a ghost at first, but then relief washed over his face and he positively beamed at me. I wished that I was closer to him so I could have better seen his eyes light up.
My joy turned to horror as I glanced back at Annora. She’d swooped down and picked up what looked like a sharp metal spear. At first I thought she was about to aim it at me, but then she stepped behind Caleb and poised to drive it through his back, straight into his heart.
“No!” I screamed.
If Caleb had ducked even a split second later, her aim probably would have met its mark. Now directly above the boat, I was too impatient to wait for Charis to lower us down further. I leapt from his back and landed on the deck as Caleb knocked Annora to the ground with a swipe of his foot. Picking up the spear himself, he crawled over her and pressed it against her neck.
His eyes were filled with fury as he glowered down at her. “I should have done this much sooner,” he growled.
“I’m comin’, Miss Rose!”
My eyes shot up toward the
ogress.
“No, Bella! Don’t jump!”
I didn’t know in what possible way the ogress thought that sending her weight crashing down on the small boat would help the situation, but it was too late. The moment her feet landed on the deck, all three of us—Caleb, Annora and myself—went flying off the boat and into the ocean.
Disappearing beneath the cold waters, I kicked and fought to reach the surface. I looked around, trying to see where Caleb had landed. As I was about to look behind me, hands gripped my head and forced me beneath the water again.
It didn’t take much guessing as to whose hands they were.
I dug my nails into Annora’s fingers until I could feel her flesh peeling away beneath them. She was forced to let go and I gasped for air on reaching the surface. Before I could grab hold of her again, she’d lifted herself back onto the boat. She grabbed the spear that had lodged itself in a net hanging off the side of the boat. I backed away as she leapt back into the water, brandishing the weapon.
Her face was contorted with rage as she lunged for me again. This time, she managed to catch hold of my arm and pull me toward her. I gasped as the spear’s tip pierced the skin above my abdomen.
I heard a loud squelch, and the slicing of flesh.
For a moment, I thought that Annora had finally ended me. But the spear she was holding fell away. Her grip on me loosened. Her eyes widened and began to roll in their sockets.
Blood spilled from her lips as they parted.
I looked up to see Charis hovering directly over us. The sharp tip of his tail was coated with blood. Annora’s blood.
The monster let out a deafening roar and his head shot downward. I could barely believe my eyes as his mouth closed around Annora’s limp body.
With one gulp, he swallowed her whole.
I stared at the bloody water where Annora had been just seconds before. Now gone. Just like that.
The bitch is dead.
My head began reeling. I clutched my abdomen. Everything had happened so fast, I’d barely felt the pain until now. I didn’t know how deep the wound was, but as the salty water washed against it, I doubled over.
“Rose!”
Caleb had appeared around the side of the boat and began swimming toward me. He looked relieved at first but as he reached me and saw the blood on my hands, his face dropped.
“What happened?” he urged.
“She cut me,” I managed.
I swallowed hard as he gathered me to him. He carried me back toward the boat and climbed onto it, placing me down on the deck. He slit his palm with his claws and tipped his blood down my throat before examining my wound.
“It’s not too deep,” he said, exhaling sharply. “Thank God.”
He cupped my face in his hands and lowered his head. As his mouth closed around mine, his tongue parting my lips, I forgot about the pain in my stomach. The ache in my chest overwhelmed it completely. I found myself sitting up and, leaning into him, I pushed him back against the side of the boat. I returned his kiss as though it was the antidote. He groaned softly, the muscles in his chest tensing beneath my hands as he pulled me flush against him and kissed me harder.
When we finally broke apart, I glanced down to see that my wound had healed.
“Rose,” Caleb breathed, still holding me in his strong arms. “You have no idea what I’ve… I thought I’d lost you.”
I found myself wondering exactly what had happened since I’d been gone, but as the dragon let out an impatient snort above us, now was clearly no time to ask. I could have stayed in that boat, lost in Caleb’s embrace for hours. But, clutching Caleb’s hand, I stood and pulled him up with me. Caleb’s eyes raised to the dragon.
“What on earth happened to you?” he asked.
Charis was too close to us for me to be able to explain anything meaningful to Caleb now. I shook my head.
“Well, I thought it was about time that I saved you for a change,” I muttered.
Caleb frowned and opened his mouth to press me further. Before he could, I quickly pulled his neck down and pressed my lips against his again, silencing him. Then I unlocked our lips and whispered into his ear, “I can’t explain everything now. You just need to trust me.” I cleared my throat and gestured up to the dragon. “This is Charis. He’ll be carrying us all away from here.”
“Where to now?” the dragon boomed down.
“To an island known as The Shade,” I replied, as calmly as I could. “Our last destination before I return to your realm, Charis.”
Caleb’s mouth dropped open. I held a finger to his lips. “You just need to trust me,” I repeated in a whisper.
Charis hovered closer to the boat. I climbed onto his back first and positioned myself at the front, while Caleb climbed up after me, his legs closing around either side of me as he wrapped his arms around me protectively. Bella followed next.
As we launched once again into the sky, the only thing I could do was pray that Mona would be able to help us fight off the dragon.
Chapter 26: Kiev
I’d never visited The Sanctuary. Neither had Erik or Abby. I had no idea where to even start looking for Mona. We were dependent on Patricia’s instincts now more than ever. But once we did find Mona, something told me that I’d be able to convince her that everything she’d thought she’d seen was an illusion caused by a ghoul. And once she was convinced, she was powerful enough to break us all out of here.
We just needed to find her.
“I suppose the logical place to start looking is Mona’s old home in the city,” Patricia said. “When I used to live here, I recall another family had moved into it, but they might have been moved out…”
We held onto Patricia as she vanished from the forest and we reappeared on a quaint cobblestone street lined with flower baskets.
“All three of you need to keep holding on to me,” the witch said as I motioned to let go. “We can’t afford to lose each other now that we’re on the inside.”
I ran my hand down her cardigan and held on to the hem of it as we moved forward. We walked through an open gate to our left to see two young boys playing on a lush green lawn in front of a pristine white two-story building, lined with balconies. One look at the boys and we didn’t need to investigate further. Clearly, Mona no longer lived here.
We exited through the gate and walked back out onto the street.
“Those two witches,” I said. “Brisalia and Csilla Adrius. They are the ones responsible for luring Mona to this realm. I have a feeling they won’t be far away from her.”
“The palace of the Adriuses,” Patricia muttered. “That would present some problems indeed…”
“What kind of problems?” Erik asked.
Patricia let out a sigh. “Well, since the death of Odelia, I am certain that they have tightened security. I don’t know how easy it’s going to be to gain entrance… But Kiev is right. After Mona’s own home, that’s the next most likely place she could be. We’ll just have to try.”
“Then let’s go now,” I said, gripping Patricia by the arm.
“Hold on tighter, Abby,” the witch said before we all vanished and appeared again in another cobblestone lane. Only this time, we were standing outside two sets of giant gates.
“I wasn’t able to vanish us behind them,” Patricia whispered.
“Damn it,” I said. Approaching the gate, I gripped the bars with both hands, ignoring Patricia’s advice that we ought to remain connected the whole time.
I stared through the bars up at the celestial palace that was perched on top of a hill. Within those walls somewhere is Mona, I’m sure of it. The thought was infuriating.
Patricia gripped my arm and replaced it over hers. I glanced at the warlocks dressed in black robes patrolling the grounds. Guards, I assumed. The trick we’d managed to pull off down by the beach certainly would not be easily replicable here.
“Mona,” Patricia said suddenly. The strength of her voice alarmed me considering our proximity
to the guards behind the gate.
“Huh?” I whipped around and was stunned to see a familiar blonde figure walking toward us in the distance, a man with long hair by her side.
“Hey! Mo—!” I attempted to yell, but my voice cracked mid-word. When I tried to shout again, my voice had completely vanished.
I launched forward into a sprint, but I’d barely moved a few feet when a sharp pain pierced my lower back, as though I’d just been hit by a bullet, and my legs collapsed beneath me.
As I fell, I looked around in horror to see Patricia—no longer invisible—caught in the arms of a warlock draped in black clothes. Two more guards were approaching me and, looking down at my own body, I realized that the invisibility spell had lifted from me too. They both gripped my arms and pulled me up, and before I could even look around the place for my brother and Abby, the guards vanished Patricia and me from the spot.
Chapter 27: Abby
It all happened so fast. One minute, I was staring at Mona walking toward us on the road in the distance, and the next, I whirled around to see a guard lunging in mid-air and landing on the floor with Patricia fully visible in his arms. Then, when Kiev yelled, they managed to hit him with a spell and he got caught too. We hadn’t even noticed the guards approaching us from behind.
Holding my breath, I stumbled back and stared down at my own hands. I was still invisible. I looked back at the spot the guards, Kiev and Patricia had been a few seconds before only to see that they had disappeared.
No!
“Abby?” A whisper behind me, barely louder than a breath. Erik.
“Yes,” I replied just as quietly.
I felt his hand brush against my arm, which he then gripped and pulled me back against the wall.
Mona and her companion still walked toward us, apparently oblivious to what had just occurred.
“What are we going to do?” I whispered.
“I think our best chance is Mona,” he replied after a tense pause. “If we can get through to her, she’ll be able to help us find Kiev and Patricia… wherever they’ve just been taken.” I felt his body shudder next to me.