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Prologue: Caleb

T
ick
, tock.

Tick, tock.

I sat in my armchair, staring up at the clock in the corner of the room. The hours seemed to drag by, the time between Annora’s nightly visits growing longer. Or perhaps it was just the absence of music.

Nobody knew what the witches’ plans were now that Mona was protecting The Shade. Annora hadn’t told any of us. I didn’t care, as long as I never had to go near the island again. I wasn’t sure if human abductions were to continue as usual, or whether she would continue harassing The Shade until she managed to penetrate it.

Somehow, I suspected the latter. But it didn’t concern me. I’d already made clear to Annora that I wanted to be left out of visits to The Shade from now on.

There was a knock at my door.

I swallowed the last of my drink before opening it. Annora glided in and sat down on the edge of my bed.

“I wasn’t expecting you early today,” I said.

“I’m in a good mood.” She loosened her robe, allowing it to slide down her shoulders and reveal her silk underwear.

She stood up, roughly unbuttoning my shirt and throwing it aside. She manifested a knife and ran it across my chest, leaving a line of blood. I barely flinched. She crawled back onto the bed, kneeling and beckoning me over. I remained still.

“What?” she snapped.

Breathing steadily, I held her gaze, taking in her dark beauty. Her long hair, sharp cheekbones, cool grey eyes, pillowy lips. How I used to yearn for this woman. She’d once been my vision of perfection.

It wasn’t often that I reminded myself of the life Annora and I used to share. The promises we’d exchanged. The plans we’d made. But now I did. Perhaps it was because the vision of Rose was still fresh in my memory, her soft voice still ringing in my ears.

Rose likely considered me a coward. Weak. For running away. For not being willing to fight for what we had. Of course, I couldn’t expect her to think anything different. She didn’t understand.

I’d already witnessed the wilting of one blossom. I wasn’t about to risk the petals of another. Least of all Rose.

The princess still haunted me and it was all I could do to distract myself from the pain.

That night, I touched Annora in a way I hadn’t for decades. Instead of extending my claws and cutting her, I gripped her waist and pulled her against me. Running my hands down her back, I caught her lips in mine.

Her eyes widened, and I thought I saw within them a flicker of emotion as I crawled over her, still kneading my lips against hers. But I could have been mistaken, for it lasted but a moment.

I closed my eyes and remembered.
Annora. The girl who’d once owned my every thought and breath, whom I would have done anything for. The girl I’d sworn to marry.

I knew better than to expect Annora to feel anything other than mild boredom at my advances. But it didn’t matter.

She pushed against my chest.

“Caleb?”

I ignored her. I lay beside her, pulling her flush against me as I continued caressing her lips, running my fingers through her sleek hair.

To my shock, she began returning my kisses. I thought for a moment it was out of passion, perhaps even hunger for me. But then her hands slid down my back and spasms erupted at the base of my spine.

She broke away from my kiss, her eyes sharpening.

I shouldn’t have allowed myself to hope for anything different. The only thing that aroused her was pain. Violence. So I positioned myself over her, dug my fangs into her neck and pressed down hard, sinking her into the mattress.

She moaned and squirmed beneath me.

She wanted to feel pain. I’d make her feel it.

Chapter 1: Sofia

T
here wasn’t
much we could do other than just wait and hope for the best. We didn’t know when or if the witches would attempt to attack us again with more force, and whether Mona would be able to keep them out if they did.

Our other witches weren’t of any real help to Mona in securing the spell. The security of our island, and all our lives, depended entirely on this witch we barely knew.

Derek and I had done our part in preparing the island for an attack. We’d had all the storage chambers in the Catacombs cleared out and filled with food, water and bedding. But really, if Annora managed to penetrate the island, it would only be a matter of time before we were all brought down.

For now, Kiev and his people had agreed to stay. We just had to hope that they wouldn’t change their minds any time soon.

Although we were all on edge, we had to continue with our lives. Ben and Rose resumed classes at school, and the witches went back to teaching.

While I had been making an effort to acquaint myself better with our guests, now living in the northwest of the island, Derek took any opportunity to shut himself in our apartment. Whenever he didn’t have a meeting, or some other important matter to attend to, he stayed indoors. I didn’t need to possess more than a few brain cells to realize why that was.

So far, I had paid a visit to Matteo, Mona and Kiev, his siblings and a few other vampires. Now I planned to spend some time with Saira and the other werewolves, and then stop by Brett the ogre’s cave on the way back.

Before leaving the apartment, I poked my head through the door of Derek’s study. He sat at his desk, sifting through a pile of papers. I approached and looked over his shoulder. I recognized Eli’s meticulous handwriting. He’d had a meeting with Eli earlier to discuss reconsidering our lookout spots around the island.

I wrapped my arms around Derek’s neck, placing a slow, tender kiss beneath his right ear.

“Hey,” I whispered.

“Resorting to seduction now, Mrs. Novak?” he muttered, not bothering to look up from his work. “I thought you were more classy than that.”

I giggled, tightening my grip around his neck. “What about resorting to force?”

He leant his head back, staring up at me with his blue eyes, calmly raising a brow.

“You can always try, darling. Though I don’t suggest it if you place any value on the time you spent combing your hair this morning…”

I squeezed his cheeks and pulled a face at him. I couldn’t stop grinning as I knelt next to him. I removed one of his hands from the desk and held it.

“Derek, seriously. You’re king of this island. They are now your citizens. You need to get to know them.”

“It’s not required that both of us get to know them. You’re queen. My other half. My representative. You going is the same as my going. It’s a waste of time both of us doing the same task. Besides, I already spoke to Matteo. And as for Kiev, I know more about that vampire than I can ever hope to erase from my memory.”

“You don’t know him. He’s different now.”

“So it seems. But you’ve already told me his story. There’s nothing more I require.”

“But, Derek—”

“Sofia, I don’t owe him anything. He owed us. That’s why he did what he did. Now we’re even.”

I sighed and stood up. It seemed that Derek would rather swallow a mouthful of nails than agree to my proposal.

I walked round to the back of his chair as he focused his attention once again on his work. I placed my palms over his forehead, brushing back his thick dark hair, and kissed his temple.

“Okay, baby. I’m not going to keep trying to force you. I just hope that one day you and Kiev will be able to accept each other for what you both are now… family.”

Derek remained silent.

I rolled my eyes and left the room.

Since the last meeting, Derek had resisted all my attempts to rope him into another meeting with Kiev. And vice versa. The truth was, as much as the two men’s stubbornness was frustrating, it was also beginning to amuse me. Kiev and Derek could pull off passive-aggression like I’d never seen before. As I walked out of the apartment alone, I determined to somehow bring the two of them together again. And something told me that I would have fun doing it…

I descended the elevator and began walking through the forest toward our guests’ residences. My father was approaching Yuri and Claudia’s tree.

“Hey, Dad,” I called.

“Hi, Sofia,” he said. He looked exhausted, his skin grey, eyes dark with fatigue.

I hugged him and kissed his cheek. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” he said, pulling a strained smile.

“I’m just on my way to meet some of the werewolves,” I said.

“Oh, great. I won’t keep you then, honey. I’m just paying a quick visit to Yuri.”

“We need to make some time for each other.” I could hardly remember the last occasion we’d sat down and spent quality time together.

“We will.”

I hugged him again and we parted ways.

It took me about ten minutes of sprinting to reach the stretch of beach that was lined with the werewolves’ townhouses. I headed straight for Saira’s door. I knocked three times and waited. No answer. I peered through the window, but the curtains had been drawn. I knocked again. When there was still no answer, I tried knocking on the house next door. Again no answer. I knocked on each door next to hers for about five doors. When not one of them opened, I stepped back onto the beach, frowning.

Strange. Perhaps Matteo knows where she is.

I continued walking along the beach toward the vampires’ residences when I saw a large bonfire in the distance. A group was huddled around it, laughing and chattering.

Brett the ogre towered over the fire, skewering fish and holding them against the flames. He wore a stained waistcoat over his muddy brown chest, and grubby-looking pants that were a little too ripped for comfort.

I looked around at the crowd. All werewolves—still in their human forms since it was daytime, for which I was grateful. It still felt strange to hold a conversation with a giant wolf. I hadn’t yet gotten used to the way they replied in their deep gravelly voices.

They stopped laughing and chattering as soon as they saw me approach. An awkward silence descended. It was broken by Brett, who pointed to a spare seat near the fire. “Have a seat, why don’t ya.”

All eyes were on me as I sat down on the sand. I was glad to see Saira a few feet away from me. Her plump face split into a smile.

“Hello, Sofia.”

“Hello.”

The rest of the group began chattering again, though still glancing at me curiously.

“So, how are you finding The Shade so far?”

“Very comfortable. Certainly, these accommodations are more luxurious than what we’re used to.”

“Good.”

We needed to go out of our way to keep them all as comfortable and satisfied as possible.

So far, there had been no reports of attacks of their vampires or werewolves on our humans, which a part of me was definitely surprised about. Despite their assurances that they were house-trained, I had still harbored doubts. But they seemed to stick to their area of the island and not encroach on ours.

The ogre roasted several skewers of fish at once. I nodded toward the fire. “I see you’re doing all right for food.”

“Yes,” Saira said. “This fish and the meat here… it tastes very different to what we’re used to. But we’re getting used to it.”

“The fish are easier to catch,” said a voice from my left.

I turned to see who had spoken. A handsome young man—he looked no older than twenty—with sandy blond hair that licked the sides of his face. He had a broad forehead and hazel eyes.

“And your name is?”

“Micah.”

I reached out to shake his hand and smiled.

“Nice to meet you, Micah.”

It truly was a pleasant surprise to see how easy to please our guests were. They seemed to be grateful just to have clean beds, fresh water and food, basic amenities everyone in The Shade took for granted.

Brett started handing out skewers to the werewolves, who began eating hungrily. He looked at me apologetically.

“It’s a shame you can’t try any. This batch is scrumptious.” He licked his thumb as he removed three fish from a skewer and guzzled them down.

“That’s kind of you, Brett.”

I had to admit that I did miss food. Often. Blood became so boring. Especially animal blood. Mealtimes were just a means of sustenance. There was never any pleasure in them. I’d tried eating regular food a few times, but I’d had a similar reaction to Derek’s the time I’d tried to stuff toast down his mouth. It was tasteless and I wasn’t able to digest it. I’d tried eating my favorite breakfast, toast with jam, but each attempt had resulted in a severe stomach ache that had lasted for days afterward.

I moved over, squishing closer to Micah as Brett plodded toward me, attempting to sit on a patch of sand that was clearly far too small for him.

I watched with a mixture of intrigue and disgust as the ogre devoured his meal. It was fascinating how he used his tusks. His teeth seemed to be all around quite blunt. It was his tusks that he pressed the fish against, tearing the flesh into pieces.

No wonder they always look so greasy.

“Micah here caught these fish,” he said through a mouthful, pointing a sticky finger in Micah’s direction while spraying pieces of meat down the back of a female werewolf sitting directly in front of him.

“Ugh! Brett!” She stood up and began shaking herself down, brushing away the meat which had crept down the back of her collar. “How many times have I told you not to sit behind me when you eat?”

“Sorry,” he blurted, wiping his mouth with the edge of his waistcoat.

I had to fight to suppress a grin.
I think I’m going to like Brett.
He certainly seemed to be the gentle giant Matteo and Saira had made him out to be.

“So, Micah, you’re a fisherman?” I said.

Micah smiled. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“He’s the best we have,” Saira said fondly. “He always comes back with the juiciest catches…”

I chatted with Saira, Brett and Micah for about an hour before standing up and brushing the sand off my clothes. They seemed to be more than content with their setup. None of them voiced any complaints even when I asked the whole group. My business with the wolves was done for now.

My vow to bring Derek and Kiev together still playing on my mind, instead of going straight back home, I decided to pay an unexpected visit to Kiev.

I approached the vampires’ stretch of beach and knocked on Kiev and Mona’s front door.

Mona answered the door.

“Hi, Sofia. What brings you here?”

“I wanted to talk to Kiev again. It’s about Derek.”

“Oh.” She gave me a knowing glance and rolled her eyes. “Good luck with that.”

She swung open the door, allowing me entrance.

“Kiev!” Mona called up the staircase.

There was a click of a bolt and the sound of a door creaking open. The floorboards groaned overhead and Kiev descended the stairs. His dark hair was wet and he wore nothing but a towel wrapped loosely around his waist.

“You could have put something on,” Mona said, wrinkling her nose as she looked Kiev over.

“Mrs. Novak could have warned of her visit in advance,” he replied, eyeing me steadily.

She rolled her eyes and looked back at me. “I’m sorry, Sofia. Kiev's manners are still a work in progress… Well, I’ll leave you two to it. I’m off to see if there’s anything left over of Brett’s cooking.”

I wished that she wouldn’t go. It felt so awkward to be standing here alone with the half-naked vampire.

I averted my eyes from his rippling muscles to the floorboards and walked briskly into the living room. He glided in after me and drew up a chair at the table. He gestured that I take a seat.

I sat down on the sofa at the opposite end of the room, as far as possible from him. He leaned against the edge of the dining table. Crossing his arms over his chest, he gazed down at me.

“Well? What does her highness want with me?”

“It’s, uh, about my husband.”

His mood darkened instantly. His jaw tightened, his biceps tensed.

My husband’s name always had been a trigger word for Kiev. I remembered how it would bring about fits of violence when I’d been under his care in The Blood Keep.

Ignoring his reaction, I continued. “I’m trying to find a way to make things less uncomfortable for the two of you, and the rest of us, and I could use your cooperation.”

His gaze remained steely.

“Stop being so passive-aggressive around him. I’m trying to get him to do the same. But it would make my job a hell of a lot easier if you threw me a bone. Look, Kiev, I’m not asking you to be friends with him. I just want the two of you to grow up.”

More silence followed. His eyes were still on me, his face unreadable. “Is that all?”

“Yes.”

“Then you can leave me to get dressed.”

I glared at him. I didn’t need to be a Seer to know that he wasn’t going to budge one iota from his stance.

I stood up and walked toward the front door. He made no motion to follow me, so I shut the door myself on my way out. I sighed, staring out at the ocean. It was like trying to shift two mountains.

How am I ever going to do this?

I lost myself in thought as I made my way along the beach. I kept drawing a blank, but as I reached the foot of our tree, it dawned on me all at once. It was obvious now that I’d thought of it.

If the two men can’t put aside their egos, I’ll just have to create new ones for them…

I could barely keep the smirk from my face as I entered our penthouse.

BOOK: A Shade of Vampire 10: A Spell of Time

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