The chamber was empty. Even Lilith had sunk back into her tomb.
I stumbled back into the tunnel. I ran until I reached the other end. I pushed open the door at the other side, the darkness of the cave enveloping me. I tried to summon light from my palms. Again, I was unable to wield my magic.
“Caleb! Caleb, it’s me… Annora… I-I’m back. It’s me.” My voice broke. I ran to the cave’s entrance.
Another pang hit me as I realized Caleb wasn’t here. Did he leave? Where could he have gone without me? Why did he leave me lying on the floor?
What have I done to him all these years?
It felt like I’d just woken from the dead. I’d forgotten what it was like to breathe. To feel anything other than cold.
“I’m sorry,” I gasped, trying to swallow back the tears. “My love, I’m sorry. Forgive me. Please. Come back.” I fell to my knees, gusts of ocean wind whipping my skin. I closed my eyes, imagining Caleb standing in front of me. “I made the wrong decision,” I breathed. “I should have listened. I never should have given myself up. But I’m back. My love, I’m back. And I promise to love you for the rest of my life. I’ll never lose myself again. I swear, I’ll be the girl you wanted to marry. We’ll run away. Far away from… all this. We’ll live our story.”
Although my mind was riddled with fear not knowing where he was now or why he’d left me in my vulnerable state, a warm rush of comfort spread through me.
I had found him again in my heart. Now, it was only a matter of time before I found him again in the flesh.
That I knew, because ours was a never-ending story.
Chapter 38: Vivienne
“Eye of snake. Beak of crow. Skin of toad. Blood of Rose.”
The chant echoed around the moonlit graveyard.
A tall man with black eyes levitated a few inches off the ground, stirring a black pot. Beside him was a grey tombstone. Smoke erupted from the cauldron, billowing upward, forming a swirling vortex. Within the smoke, another figure appeared, back turned to me. A pure white robe hung against soft curves. She turned slowly in midair, twisting to face me. But she had no face. Where her eyes, nose and mouth should have been was nothing but smooth pale flesh.
An echoing crack pierced the night. Then a hiss.
The tombstone’s lid sprang open. A still corpse rose from it into the air. The rotting corpse of a woman, it dwarfed even the man, her bony legs almost twice the size of his. Her ripped clothes revealed more of her moldering body than they covered. Her black eyes glinted in the firelight.
She spoke in ancient tongue, her voice grating like nails.
The man drifted toward her and poured a goblet of boiling liquid into her mouth. She let out a blood-curdling scream. Her jaw expanded and split, the bottom half hanging disjointed.
As the corpse began swirling around in the air, her head snapped back at an almost ninety-degree angle, the faceless woman in white drew closer to me. And a face formed. The face of my young Rose.
Tears of blood spilled from her green eyes.
“Auntie.”
“Vivienne. Wake up!”
I opened my eyes, gasping for breath. Xavier stared down at me, gripping my shoulders and shaking me. I was in our bed. I sat up and leaned against the headboard. Xavier’s face was stricken with worry—an expression that everyone on the island had shared since Rose had been discovered missing again.
I dropped my head in my hands, trying to piece together my jumbled mind. I could barely form a coherent sentence. I was thinking in fragments, thoughts assailing my mind so fast I couldn’t keep up with them, much less articulate them.
“They know something.”
“What?”
“About the twins. We’ve been mistaken in thinking there’s nothing different about them.”
“Vivienne, who’s—?”
“We need to discover what the twins have. Before it’s too late.”
* * *
Ready for the next part of Derek, Sofia and the twins’ story?
A Shade of Vampire 11: A Chase of Prey is available now to order from Amazon!:
Click here now to grab your copy!
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I’ll see you on the other side. ;)
Love,
Bella x
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A Note About Kiev
Dear Shaddict,
If you’re curious about what happened to Kiev during his time away, and how he came upon Anna, I suggest you check out his completed stand-alone trilogy: A Shade of Kiev.
Kiev’s story will also give you a deeper understanding of the Shade books and the kind of threat Derek and Sofia are now up against.
The trilogy is available from Amazon, and the first book is currently discounted to $0.99 (I can’t guarantee how long the sale will run): Click here
Click here
Read More by Bella Forrest!
A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES
A Shade of Vampire (Book 1)
A Shade of Blood (Book 2)
A Castle of Sand (Book 3)
A Shadow of Light (Book 4)
A Blaze of Sun (Book 5)
A Gate of Night (Book 6)
A Break of Day (Book 7)
A Shade of Novak (Book 8)
A Bond of Blood (Book 9)
A Spell of Time (Book 10)
A Chase of Prey (Book 11)
A SHADE OF KIEV TRILOGY
A Shade of Kiev 1
A Shade of Kiev 2
A Shade of Kiev 3
BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY
Beautiful Monster 1
Beautiful Monster 2
For an updated list of Bella’s books, please visit her website: www.bellaforrest.net
Also, sign up to her New Release email list and you’ll automatically get notified as soon as her next book is available: www.forrestbooks.com
Bella Forrest, A Spell of Time
(Series: A Shade of Vampire # 10)
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