Kristal answered before even consulting me.
“That sounds like a great idea,” she said.
I didn’t argue since it would have been too awkward. I took a seat next to Kristal, opposite Chloe and John across the table.
I tried to convince myself that I was being paranoid. Yes, it was night. And yes, we were sitting right on the beach. But we were near a restaurant, and that was probably the worst kind of place to collect humans, with everybody seated at tables. No way to mingle with drunk crowds.
Still, I failed to relax as we sat for hours on the beachfront, so close to where those girls had been abducted. I found myself looking suspiciously at each person who walked by us.
“Are you all right, Rose?” Kristal asked, squeezing my knee beneath the table. “You’re awfully quiet.”
“Yes, I’m fine,” I muttered. “I’m just a little tired.”
“We can go back home now if you want. We don’t have to stay for dessert.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding and clutching her hand. “Let’s do that.”
Kristal called for the bill and insisted on paying for all of us.
We all got up to leave together and I breathed a sigh of relief as we bade goodbye to the couple and left the beach.
I was so focussed on getting back to our apartment that I didn’t think to check if anyone was following us.
If I had, I would have noticed two tall, dark figures trailing in the shadows behind us.
Chapter 8: Sofia
Walking along that Cancún beach that evening after the sun went down was chilling. It looked uncannily similar to the beach I’d been kidnapped from by Lucas all those years ago.
That evening when it all began.
I fantasized briefly about what might have happened had Benjamin Hudson, my best friend, not forgotten it was my birthday that day.
Would none of this have happened? Would I not be standing next to Derek now?
I smiled bitterly as I felt the sand beneath my bare feet. Memories of Ben came flooding back through my mind. That handsome, perfect, blond blue-eyed boy who had once held my heart within the palm of his hand. I could almost feel the exact emotions I’d felt that evening when he’d let me down on my birthday yet again. All because of that cheerleader, Tanya Wilson.
If only you had known then, Sofia, how stupid those feelings would seem now.
That used to be all my world consisted of—Ben and my pain over his latest girlfriend. My pining for his attention.
Derek must have detected what was going through my mind, because he wrapped an arm around me and placed a tender kiss on my forehead. I looked out at the deep dark ocean, fighting to hold back the tears.
Where are you now, Ben?
If only you could see what a beautiful young woman Abby has blossomed into.
If only you could be here with us now.
If only you could have found a love of your own to give you the strength to fight the battle you could have won…
It still haunted me to this day, the way he had just given up on his life. Had he just allowed us to feed him the blood from Derek’s palm in those crucial few moments that his soul was still one with his body, he might have been with us now. No matter how hard I tried to understand, I still felt defeated by it. He’d had so much to live for. Yet he’d given it all up willingly, without even a struggle.
I still hadn’t forgiven him for it after all these years. And now I doubted that I ever would.
By the time we were halfway along the beach, I’d lost my battle with tears—the memories cutting open my wounds afresh. Wounds that I’d thought had healed years ago.
Derek stopped walking and cradled me against his chest. When Eli and Ibrahim stopped to ask what was wrong, he told them to keep walking.
“I know he’s not coming back,” I breathed. “And I know it’s been years. But, God, it still hurts. It hurts like it was yesterday.”
Derek bent down and kissed my cheek, then brushed his own cool cheek against mine and whispered into my ear, “Some scars just don’t heal, Sofia. You need to accept that.”
I gripped Derek tighter against me.
“Thank you,” I gasped, breaking down into a fresh wave of tears. “I-I needed to hear that.”
I sank to my knees and he sat with me. I stayed there sobbing in his arms until I felt steady enough to get up and continue walking.
We ran to catch up with Ibrahim, Eli and Shadow.
“I’m sorry,” I said, my voice hoarse.
“The last thing you need to do is apologize, Sofia,” Eli said.
I gave them a watery smile.
“Okay,” I said, drawing in a deep breath. “Let’s get down to business.”
We walked along the length of the beach that night until we reached the area the humans had disappeared from.
We searched all around, scanned the sand, splashed around in the waves looking for any clue that could tell us what had happened. Shadow was finding nothing of interest to us—although he was certainly finding things that were of interest to him. An orange buoy, a dead whale shark and an unholy amount of seaweed.
Of course, we’d expected not to find anything. After all, if these were supernatural creatures, they wouldn’t leave traces.
Once there wasn’t any more beach to scan, we all gathered together in a circle and looked at each other. Then all eyes fixed on Eli.
“So?” Ibrahim said.
Eli ran a hand through his hair and heaved a sigh.
“We need to return home and I need to get my maps out.”
“And?” Derek said.
“I need to analyze all the locations they’ve hit over the past few years. I want to see if I can spot any pattern.”
“And what if there isn’t any pattern?” I asked.
“I agree, it’s a long shot,” Eli said. “But whoever or whatever is taking these humans has never been caught on any CCTV camera, even after all these years. They—or it—deliberately target wide open areas like this. I don’t see what else we can do right now other than try to piece together a pattern. If we are able to spot something, it might give us some clue as to what area they might hit next.”
“I suppose it might also give us a clearer guess as to their location,” Ibrahim suggested.
Eli nodded. “Because so far, only one thing is apparent. They like their beach parties.”
Chapter 9: Rose
The elevator doors were about to close when a gloved hand slipped through. Two men wearing sunglasses entered the elevator and pressed the button for the doors to close.
“Sorry,” one of them muttered, as he ran a finger over the floor number we had already pressed.
The elevator being small, I huddled closer to Kristal and looked down at the floor. I always felt awkward standing in elevators with strangers.
The ding sounded once we arrived at level seven and the doors opened. The two men’s footsteps followed behind us. When we stopped outside the door, I gripped Kristal’s hand before she could open the door with her keys. We stayed standing still, waiting for the footsteps to pass.
They got fainter as they disappeared down the corridor. I breathed out. I released Kristal’s hand and she opened the door.
“You sure are jittery tonight,” Kristal said as she locked the door behind us.
The television blared from the living room. We left our shoes by the doorway and I sat down on the couch next to the boys, who were munching on popcorn and yelling at the screen. Kristal went into the kitchen and returned later with some fruit tea for us.
“Agh, I can’t take any more of this,” she said after about two minutes of trying to watch their match. “Let’s go into my room.”
I followed her and we changed into our pajamas. Then we went into her bathroom. Kristal decided to take a shower while I perched on the counter, removing my smoky eyes. As I was wiping off the last smudge of mascara, my heart leapt into my throat as a crash filled the apartment, followed by yells.
“What the—”
Kristal leapt out of the shower and, flinging on a bathrobe, raced out of the room after me.
Jake and Ben lay flat on the floor with gags in their mouths, struggling against two tall figures wearing long black leather cloaks. Two more men stood standing near the TV, facing Kristal and I. All four men wore balaclavas that covered everything but their eyes.
But those eyes… they were several shades more vivid than they should have been. And the skin surrounding them was far too pallid to be that of a human.
I was too stunned to even scream, though Kristal managed to. As soon as she opened her mouth, the two men launched forward. One grabbed Kristal, stuffed a gag in her mouth, and wrestled her to the ground, while another blue-eyed man chased after me. I sprinted into the kitchen and grabbed a knife from the drawer as the vampire entered.
The vampire extended his claws.
“You want to play with knives?” he said. “I can play that game.”
As he stepped closer, I waved the knife in front of me and backed up against the kitchen counter. Reaching out, I gripped the kettle and, thanking God that there was water left over in it, chucked it over him.
He cried out as the boiling water splashed against his face. It gave me a few seconds to leap over the counter and race back out of the kitchen. I ran for the front door, hoping to make it into the corridor where I could scream for help, but I didn’t make it that far. The vampire who had wrestled Kristal to the ground grabbed hold of me and tripped me up.
The blue-eyed vampire reentered the living room, his chest heaving with rage. He gripped my neck and pushed me down to my knees.
“Kristoff,” he said, breathing heavily. “Take the Novak boy. I’ll take the girl. We may as well bring those two along with us too.” He gestured toward Jake and Kristal. “Christian and Sebastian—you bring them. Make sure that none of them scream.”
I yelled, but he gagged me. He pushed me flat against the ground, face down, and the next thing I knew, there was a loud thud against my skull and all faded to black.
Chapter 10: Sofia
Derek and I had stayed up with Eli all night, helping him pore over maps in his study. We had made mark upon mark on the maps and taken copious notes, but we’d completely failed to make any sense of the targets.
“I’m just not seeing anything,” Eli muttered, rubbing his temples.
“Maybe that’s because there is no pattern.” I sighed. “We’re trying too hard to see something that’s not there because it’s the only thing we have to cling to right now.”
I got up from my chair and paced around the room.
“Mexico… The West Coast,” I muttered slowly. “Hm…”
Derek looked up at me.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said.
“And it’s crazy, right? Nobody here could be doing this.”
Derek shook his head.
“I just can’t believe any vampire on this island could betray our trust like this on such a massive scale,” he said. “I mean, Sofia, we’re talking decades! How could any of them pull something like this off for so long? Even leaving aside the inconceivable betrayal, just think about the logistics of it all. Somebody around here would notice.”
“It’s just that these are all the exact locations The Shade targeted for stealing humans,” I said.
Derek rubbed his face in his hands and sighed heavily.
I continued. “And we know that all the vampires who weren’t living here when the gates were shut were taken back to Cruor—all those who remained came here.”
Eli twirled his pen between his fingers.
“Of course,” he said, “it’s not like we had any way of verifying that. In theory, there could be other vampires out there that we don’t know about.”
I turned on Eli and frowned at him.
“But how would they survive? All those other covens were wrecked by the Elders and they deliberately sucked all the vampires they could out of there. And where would they be keeping all these humans? How would they transport themselves there and back?”
Eli shrugged.
“I have no idea,” he said. “I’m just saying that we don’t have evidence that there aren’t other vampires existing on Earth outside of The Shade.”
“I don’t know,” I muttered, stretching my palms out on the table. “Everything points back right here to The Shade. I mean, it’s a large island. And we know how hard it is to live exclusively on animal blood. Hell, I find myself craving my own children’s blood sometimes.”
I locked eyes with Derek. We both shared the same expression. Neither of us wanted to believe that anyone could be betraying our trust and breaking a law of The Shade that we’d instituted two decades ago.
But most of all, neither of us wanted to be the ones to make an accusation like this of our own people.
“Maybe we should investigate,” Eli said finally, breaking the silence. “Then we can at least rule it out as an option.”
Derek nodded reluctantly.
“All right,” he said, clearing his throat. “I guess we’ll start once we’ve had some rest.”
“You are aware that our law calls for expulsion if someone here was found guilty?” Eli said, eyeing me.
I nodded, gulping.
Derek and I left Eli and returned to our penthouse. We undressed and got into bed. I snuggled against Derek beneath the sheets.
“Who do you think it could be?” I asked quietly, resting my head against his chest. “I mean, if it was somebody here, who do you think would be behind it?”
Derek shrugged, running his hands along my back.
“I can’t answer that. I just know that no matter who is behind this, we can’t allow ourselves to go back to our old ways.”
Chapter 11: Rose
I woke up to a searing pain in the back of my head. I reached for it and felt a round bump. I was lying on a hard metal floor. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Ben lay a few feet away from me. I scanned the room for Kristal and Jake, but they were nowhere to be seen.
I was sitting in a dark, damp room. And it felt like we were in some kind of vehicle or vessel, because we were moving forward. The lower deck of a boat, or perhaps the storage chamber of a submarine.
Memories flooding back, I scrambled over to Ben and shook him. He didn’t budge at first.
Oh, God.
I turned him over onto his back and placed my ear against his chest. I exhaled sharply when I heard his heartbeat.
“Ben!” I whispered, shaking his shoulders. “Ben, wake up!”
I shook him more violently. When he still didn’t open his eyes, I gave him a slap across his face.
That woke him. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes. “Wh-where… what happened?” He sat up, wincing as he rubbed the back of his head.
“I don’t know. I just woke up a few seconds ago.”
“Where are Kristal and Jake?”
“I told you, I don’t know.”
He pulled himself off the damp ground and we both sat on the bench.
“I don’t understand why these vampires want us,” he said. “I thought that vampire left you on the beach, even though he could have easily taken you?”
My brain was throbbing. “Yes,” I said. “He let me go. He even seemed scared to come near me.”
“Then what the hell are we doing here now? Who are these vampires? Where have they come from? They shouldn’t even exist.”
I paused and ran a tongue over my parched lips as a more disturbing question entered my mind. What will they do—or what have they already done—with Kristal and Jake?
“Some supernatural powers would come in handy now,” Ben muttered.
My throat was so dry, I was dying for water. I scanned the room, but there was nothing down here except a few dirty blankets in the corner. I buried my face in my hands and breathed deeply.
If anything happens to them, it will be all our fault.
We should have just gone to that stupid Scott
ish island.
“Ben,” I said suddenly. “Check your pockets. Is your phone still there?”
He reached into his back jeans pockets and shook his head.
“They must have searched us and confiscated it.”
I swore.
Ben got up and walked over to the metal door of the chamber and banged his fists against it.
“We’re awake, you assholes!” he yelled, his voice as hoarse as my own. “Some water would be appreciated.”
Ben returned to his seat. Several minutes later, footsteps sounded outside and the door creaked open.
A tall ginger vampire stepped in and placed a tin bowl filled with water down on the floor. I recognized those light blue eyes of his instantly.
“What have you done with them?” I hissed, jumping up and running toward the door.
He slammed it shut before I could reach it.
I shouted in frustration and kicked the door. I looked down at the bowl and brought it over to the bench.
“You have some first,” Ben said.
I took a sip, then passed the bowl to him. We alternated until we’d drunk it all up. It tasted stale and metallic, like it had been stored in some kind of old rusting container for too long, but at least it wasn’t sea water.
Ben placed the bowl on the floor and I rested my head against his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer against him.
“I miss our parents,” Ben admitted.
“Me too.”
Chapter 12: Sofia
Under the questioning glares of all the vampires on the island, we made them all gather in the large clearing outside the Black Heights and wait in line as we called them into the mountain chambers for interviewing. Claudia, Ashley and Zinnia produced a particularly loud symphony of complaining, so we saw those three early. Eli, Derek and I each interviewed a vampire at a time, but it still took all day even though each interview didn’t last long.
We even interviewed those closest to us: Vivienne, Xavier and my own father, Aiden. Although there was no chance in hell they’d betray us, we had to do it.