A Shade of Novak

I fingered through the CDs. He had a lot of blues and instrumental stuff. At least, it was more modern than the stuff my dad had brought me up on. Hmm, but nothing you’d dance to in a nightclub. There goes my theory then.

  “You have a lot of music over here,” I remarked.

  He nodded.

  I picked out a CD and pushed it into the machine. I turned up the volume and stood up once it had started playing.

  “So… do you want to, uh, dance again?”

  He shook his head, the shadow of a smile crossing his face, and leaned further back in his chair. “I’ll watch you.”

  I snorted. “Oh, yeah? I can’t dance.”

  “You seemed to dance fairly well before.”

  “Because you were guiding my every movement.”

  He didn’t seem to have a response to that. He just nodded slightly and looked down at the floor.

  I walked back over to his side of the apartment and sat down on the edge of the bed.

  “It’s late. I guess I’ll go back to my room now.”

  “All right.”

  He remained still, his eyes remaining on the floor, his body tense again. I was about to reach out a hand for him to shake it, but recalled the time I’d tried to touch him before and thought better of it. Instead I just said, “Good night.”

  When he didn’t even respond to that, I picked up my coat, put my slippers back on and headed out the door.

  But just as I was closing the door, I caught him whispering:

  “Good night, Rose.”

  Chapter 23: Caleb

  Rose Novak was everything that I wasn’t.

  Innocent. Vibrant. Untouched.

  She was like a patch of fresh snow among the black ice that was the rest of my life.

  I didn’t want anything or anyone to make a mark on it. Least of all myself.

  So when she’d tried to touch me with her soft warm hand, I’d recoiled.

  When she’d tried to dance with me, I’d rejected her.

  Whenever she’d pressed for answers about me and this castle, I’d brushed her off.

  I wasn’t refusing to answer her because I wanted to keep her in the dark. I wanted to keep her out of the dark.

  I’d just wanted to lock her away. Away from me. Away from Annora.

  I didn’t want to tarnish her mind with the things that went on in my shadowy world.

  But that night, I didn’t know why I was in such a good mood. Perhaps it was because Annora had told me she was leaving to visit Stellan’s island for a while. Whatever the reason, after I was sure that Rose had fallen asleep, I allowed myself to climb down onto her balcony.

  As I caught a glimpse of her peaceful face through the curtains, her expression brought out an ache in me. An ache that both disturbed me and made me feel alive.

  I recalled the time I had first laid eyes on her beauty, her face sweaty, her hair disheveled, breath smelling of champagne. She’d behaved like any other teenage girl looking for a night out.

  Then she’d told me her name.

  And I’d dropped her faster than a hot iron.

  I’d heard rumors about the princess of The Shade—not just her beauty, but her innocence, her purity, her light. She was like her mother, they said.

  I didn’t want to be responsible for ruining that.

  I was responsible for enough evil already.

  And now that she was on the island, since I couldn’t allow her to leave—at least for the time being—I swore that I would do my best to shield her from her surroundings.

  The truth was, I wasn’t so much afraid of Derek Novak as I was of breaking his daughter.

  Chapter 24: Ben

  I’d been injected with something shortly after Stellan pulled me back into the submarine and I’d woken up in this dark dungeon. I’d lost track of how much time had passed since then.

  I looked around the prison at the other cells, all crammed with humans. I was the only one to have been given my own cell.

  My eyes fell on Kristal and Jake behind the gate across the corridor from me. Jake was lying on the floor in the corner, Kristal huddled up next to him, trying to get some sleep. The vampires who had come in to leave us water and bread had refused to answer any questions.

  I just hope that Rose is somewhere better than this.

  “Kristal!” I hissed through the bars. “Kristal.”

  A few humans stirred and looked up at me. But Kristal remained lying still. One of the humans nudged her, bringing her to consciousness.

  She rubbed her eyes wearily. Terror set in again on her face after her reprieve. She crawled over to the bars and stared at me. “Has anything happened since I fell asleep?”

  I shook my head. Her whole body was shivering. It was freezing down in these dungeons and they hadn’t given us enough blankets.

  She gripped the bars tighter, leaning her head against them. Tears spilled down her cheeks.

  “What are they going to do with us, Ben?”

  I’d already explained to both of them that our kidnappers were vampires. They’d had a hard time getting used to that idea—and I was sure Jake still thought I was a raving lunatic. They’d never been exposed to any supernatural creatures before, so I couldn’t have expected a different reaction from them.

  Jake suspected that maybe we’d been taken for ransom because of their wealthy father.

  “If these people really are…v-vampires,” Kristal continued, “what would they want with us?”

  The answer would have been too troubling for her to hear in her already weakened state, so I just shrugged. She, however, wasn’t going to accept that for an answer.

  “Is it our blood that they want?”

  I breathed out, unsure of whether to answer.

  She read my silence and clasped a palm over her mouth, trembling more than ever.

  “Kristal,” I whispered. “Look at me.”

  She raised her bloodshot eyes to mine.

  “What’s that at the back of your cell?” I asked, pointing at something I’d spotted piled up on the floor.

  She turned around and crawled toward it, trying not to wake her cell mates who were blocking her path.

  “It’s just a pile of chains,” she murmured.

  “Can you throw them to me?”

  She picked the chains and crawled back over to the bars. Gathering them in one hand, she reached through the bars and swung them toward me. I managed to catch them before they clattered to the floor.

  There was a padlock fixed to one of the metal joints, but no sign of the key. This appeared to be the kind of padlock that locked without a key by pushing it until it clicked.

  I sat for the next few hours leaning against the bars, waiting with bated breath for the dungeon door opening. A vampire was due to come in at any time now to bring us our daily food and water.

  Perhaps it was just my nerves playing tricks on me, but the vampire seemed to come in much later that day. Eventually, the door unlatched and heavy footsteps approached.

  A vampire pushed along a trolley, passing out water jugs and bread. I tried to keep my breathing steady as he stopped outside my cell. He bent down low, pushing the water and bread through my bars. He stood up and before he could continue, I reached through the bars and slipped the chain around his neck.

  He gasped in shock and let go of the trolley. I yanked the chain back with all the strength my weak, dehydrated body could muster and pressed against the padlock. It clicked as he thrashed about.

  His razor-sharp claws caught my cheek, ripping open a gash. I ducked down and removed the cluster of keys attached to his belt.

  The whole gate shook from his struggling. I didn’t have long. I fumbled with the keys until I’d found the one to open my gate. Then I rushed over to Kristal’s cell and unlocked it, freeing all the humans who were inside it along with Jake. I did the same with every other cell along that corridor.

  “Follow me,” I hissed once they’d all bundled out. “Don’t make a sound.”

  I had n
o idea where I was taking them. For all I knew, I could have been leading us all to our deaths. But something told me that if we didn’t try to escape at the first opportunity that came our way, we’d regret it.

  “Wait here,” I whispered, as we approached the dungeon’s exit. I peered around the door to see that it led to a staircase leading upward. There was nobody in sight. “Okay, follow me.”

  I paused again once I reached the top of the stairs. We were now in some kind of kitchen—metal tables lined the room and in the corner stood jugs filled with a red liquid. Human blood.

  Kristal’s trembling hand gripped my own.

  “What is this place?” she gasped.

  I held a finger to my lips. I walked along the edge of the room to the nearest exit.

  The door was ajar. As I peeked through the crack, my breath hitched. Two vampires stood talking to each other in the center of a large dark hall.

  I gestured urgently at the humans behind me to hide underneath the tables. I needed them out of the way while I figured out the best way to escape. With hindsight, I should have let them out of their cells only once I’d found a way out. It would have been less noticeable in case a vampire went down to the dungeon. But it was too late now for regrets.

  Hiding under the tables wouldn’t do much good if they came in. I knew the vampires would smell our blood, but I hoped that it would be masked at least somewhat by the jugs of blood already sitting on the table in the corner of that room.

  Once everyone had hidden themselves, I walked back to the dungeon door and pushed it closed as noiselessly as I could.

  I walked to the door at the other end of the kitchen. Opening the door, I found myself looking around another high-ceilinged hall. This one was empty.

  I crossed the hall and reached the other side, hiding in the shadows of the doorway. The next room appeared to be some kind of library. Bookshelves lined the walls and there was a round table in the center with tall piles of books.

  I had just about reached the other side of the room when someone spoke.

  “Can I help?”

  Behind one of the large piles of books, a tall thin woman stood up. She had long black hair and cold grey eyes.

  “Oh,” she said, scowling at me.

  I rushed out of the door and into the next hall, only to find the same woman standing there, blocking my path.

  This is a witch.

  She reached up and gripped my ear, tugging me down to her level. As her fingers touched my skin, a burning sensation rushed through me.

  I had to bite my lip to not shout out in pain.

  “Where do you think you’re going? Stellan!” she shouted, her voice echoing around the room. “Stellan, come here this instant.”

  No.

  The ginger vampire who had pulled me through the hatch came rushing into the hall. His mouth dropped open when he saw me.

  “What?” he gasped.

  “Looks like you need to tighten up on security,” she said.

  Stellan’s eyes darkened and he gripped me by the neck, dragging me back through the hallways. I struggled against him, but he kneed me in the gut, winding me. His hold was far too strong for a mere mortal to escape from.

  He dragged me back into the kitchen and as soon as we entered, Kristal came rushing out of her hiding place.

  “No! Ben!”

  “No!” I yelled, pushing her back.

  It was too late. She’d just given the game away.

  Stellan’s voice boomed through the kitchen as he called for backup.

  Five vampires ran into the kitchen and began pulling out humans from under the table. A sixth vampire came running into the room with chains. They lined the humans up against the wall and tied them up.

  The witch entered the room behind me, eyeing Kristal, who had tears streaming down her face.

  “Hm. Interesting,” the witch said softly.

  She grabbed Kristal by the hair and forced her to the floor.

  “I say we teach this young Novak a lesson,” she said. “Seeing that he might be with us for quite a while, if he plans to make attempting escape a habit, it will become very tiresome indeed.”

  The vampires stopped what they were doing and looked over at us, Stellan’s grip on me unrelenting.

  The witch withdrew a dagger from her cloak and held it against Kristal’s neck.

  “No!” I yelled, managing to break free from Stellan, only to have three vampires throw themselves at me to hold me down. Stellan lifted my head to face Kristal’s trembling form. Jake shouted and struggled against his chains.

  “Watch,” Stellan grunted, holding my head in position.

  With one sharp motion, the witch drove the dagger into Kristal’s chest. Her scream was stifled as she choked on her own blood. Both my and Jake’s yells echoed around the kitchen as she bled to death in front of us.

  “Now,” the witch said, letting go of Kristal’s hair. “Let this be a lesson to all of you. Stellan. Have your men collect her blood.”

  Chapter 25: Rose

  I was woken the next morning by another knock at my door.

  What is it this time?

  I found myself looking at Caleb’s harp. I supposed he’d thought it would give me something to do while I was alone in my room for hours. I felt grateful for the gesture. Then my eyes settled on the floor beside the instrument. A tray full of food. Not oatmeal. Real breakfast food. I pulled the harp into my bedroom. Then I returned to scoop up the tray and put it on my bedside table, and began to eat hungrily. French toast had never tasted so good to me in all my life. I gobbled everything up in less than five minutes.

  I wonder where on earth Frieda—Caleb—even got this food? I witnessed for myself how bare the kitchen was.

  Once I’d finished, I took a shower and got dressed.

  I headed up the stairs toward Caleb’s room. I knocked on the door and waited. He answered it after a couple of minutes, appearing at the door fully dressed, no trace of the scars from the previous night left visible.

  “I, uh. I wondered if you’d mind taking me for a walk? Outside, I mean. I haven’t had any proper exercise in days.”

  He stared down at me, a flicker of discomfort showing across his face, followed by indecision. I thought he was about to say no, but then he nodded.

  “All right,” he said. “Wait here.”

  He returned a few seconds later wearing shoes and holding a scarf in his hands.

  I eyed the scarf as he stepped out of the room and shut the door behind him.

  “I didn’t know vampires needed…”

  He handed it to me before I finished my sentence. “For you. It’s freezing out there.”

  “Oh. Cheers.” I took it and wrapped it around my bare neck.

  He gestured toward the stairs and I followed him.

  “Thanks for the harp. And the breakfast.”

  Keeping his eyes straight ahead, he nodded slightly.

  We descended the stairs in silence. When we reached the main door, he pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked it. Pushing with both hands, he heaved the doors open. The force of the icy wind that came flooding through the doorway knocked me breathless.

  “Can you manage?” he asked, frowning.

  “Yes,” I said immediately. As if I can’t walk through a bit of wind without his help.

  Holding onto the door for support—my eyes now beginning to water from the wind—I walked to the edge of the wide stone doorstep and, rather too brashly, placed one slippered foot onto the icy ground. It started sliding as soon as I made contact with it.

  I can do this. I just need to take it slowly…

  I placed the second foot on the ground and found enough confidence to let go of the door completely.

  Swiveling around, I turned myself to face Caleb, who was watching me, his expression blank. Glancing down the side of the mountain, I was so taken by the sheer beauty of the frozen landscape, I lost concentration and slipped. Just as I was about to make contact with the ice, Caleb
’s arms wrapped around me, breaking my fall.

  His face inches from my own, I could feel his cool breath against my cheek as he pulled me upright.

  Okay, these slippers weren’t designed for the Antarctic.

  “So that witch,” I said, clearing my throat and looping an arm firmly though his, “Annora. She makes this island freezing like this just to make it more difficult for the humans to escape?”

  “That’s the main reason.”

  “And you have to put up with this weather all year round. What an asshole.”

  Caleb didn’t respond to my outburst, though I could have sworn I saw the shadow of a smile on his lips.

  I gripped onto him as we began to make our way down the narrow steps.

  “So, what’s your name?” I asked.

  “You know my name.”

  “Your full name.”

  “Caleb… Achilles.”

  “Achilles? As in the tragic Greek hero Achilles?”

  I was about to say “as in the Brad Pitt Achilles”. But I wasn’t sure if he would have seen that movie. I wasn’t sure if he even watched movies.

  “It’s also a Germanic surname.”

  “Oh. I see.”

  I started wondering about what his boundaries were in terms of questions he would answer. I suppose there’s only one way to find out.

  “Do you have family?”

  He shook his head, his eyes fixed on the icy steps.

  “How old are you?”

  “Nineteen.”

  “And how long ago were you turned?”

  “A while ago.”

  Hm.

  “So when you’re not out kidnapping girls, you’re moping around this gloomy old castle?”

  “You could put it like that.”

  No wonder you’re depressed.

  By now I was beginning to get tired of walking down the steps in my slippers. “Would you carry me the rest of the way down?”

  He grunted and scooped me up in his arms. Then he began dashing down the mountain. My eyes watered from his speed coupled with the fierce wind blowing against us. I half expected him to slip and for both of us to go tumbling down the mountainside, but he didn’t falter once. Every step was perfect.