A Shade of Vampire 15: A Fall of Secrets (6 page)

As I left the Black Heights and began racing back toward Caleb’s and my mountain cabin, I couldn’t help but feel happy for the girl who would eventually end up with him. He would make her very happy indeed.

S
oon after Rose
left the hall, I left too. I made my way back to our apartment and headed straight to the bedroom. I changed into my most comfortable pair of pajamas before seeking out Derek. He was in his study, as I had expected he might be. He looked up as I entered, leaning back in his chair and stretching out.

“How did it go?” he asked.

“Much smoother than Rose and I could have expected.” I walked over to him and sat down on his lap. I ran a hand through his hair, placing a kiss on his cheek. “I’m so proud of our daughter.”

Derek’s face filled with melancholy—an emotion I’d grown used to seeing in him since Caleb had told him he wanted to propose to our daughter. Derek just didn’t want to let his baby go. Neither did I, but I couldn’t deny that I was thrilled. I trusted Caleb and I knew that he would rather die than see anything happen to our daughter. He was also more grounded and mature than Rose in many ways, and I saw that they complemented each other.

Derek would get used to it. I knew he would. I held his hands and stood up, pulling him up with me.

“You look tired. Come to bed with me?”

He didn’t resist as I tugged him out of his study, back toward our bedroom. I collapsed on the bed almost as soon as we entered and crawled between the sheets. Derek took a shower before settling on the mattress next to me. He lay on his back and stared up at the ceiling.

“At least Caleb seems a much safer vampire to be around than I was for you.”

“I would have to agree with you there,” I said, grinning. I squeezed his warm cheek, turning his head to face me. “Speaking of vampires, how long are you going to wait before turning back?”

“I’m not sure. I want to wait a while to see how things play out.”

We fell into silence, snuggling closer to each other and staring into each other’s eyes until exhaustion eventually claimed me and I fell asleep.

D
erek
and I were woken unceremoniously a few hours later by a frantic knocking on our bedroom door. Derek leapt out of bed and swung the door open.

My heart sank as soon as I saw that it was Eli.

“Eli? What is it? How did you even get in here?” Derek asked.

“You left the front door unlocked,” Eli said. “There’s something on the news you need to see.”

I shot out of bed, rushing to Derek’s side. I clutched Eli’s shoulders. “Don’t tell me this is about Ben again.”

Eli shook his head. “Definitely not Ben.”

I could breathe somewhat more easily, although his expression didn’t give me reason to feel much relief. Since Eli’s TV was the only one on the island that had been hooked up to all the news channels, Derek and I hurried directly out the front door. As we raced through the forest toward Eli’s penthouse, I couldn’t help but feel sad that I was beginning to associate Eli’s visits to us with fear and dread.

We reached Eli’s tree and hurried up the elevator. As he pushed open the front door, I was shocked at how messy the living room was. Eli wasn’t always the most tidy of people, but this level of disorder… it was worthy of a teenage boy’s room.

I shoved the thought aside as Eli switched on the television.

“I should’ve noticed this earlier,” he muttered, flicking through the channels. “I just haven’t checked on the news for couple of days. Been feeling a bit under the weather.”

My mouth fell open as he stopped changing the channels.

“More CCTV footage,” Eli said, pointing with the remote toward the scene playing out on the screen. A dozen or so hooded figures dressed in black, wielding a burning ring of fire, closing in on hundreds of young men and women.

“Rhys,” I gasped. “Who else could this be but the black witches?” I clasped a hand over my mouth, gaping at the screen. “Oh, no. No. Why are they doing this?”

“The code of secrecy has already been broken,” Derek said. “They are no longer bothering to hide themselves from humans.”

“But why do they want all these teens?” I stammered. “Why are they so bent on capturing people?”

Derek shook his head slowly. “I don’t know.” He looked at Eli. “We need to call a council meeting this instant. Wake everyone up. I want Caleb there too.”

S
ofia
and I sat at the head of the table in the Great Dome. We watched as our council members piled in, bleary-eyed and confused, and took seats around us. I didn’t answer any questions until everyone had arrived—everyone except Yuri and Claudia, who had already left the island for their honeymoon. Xavier took a seat next to me, Vivienne next to Sofia.

Caleb was the last to enter—without Rose, I was glad to see. He took a seat at the opposite end of the table after closing the main door behind him.

“What happened, Derek?” Ashley asked, wiping sleep away from her eyes.

“The black witches have moved on to new shores.”

Mona’s mouth fell open.

“Where?” she asked.

“They closed in on a group of adolescents at a school, near the coast of California. The police are reporting just over a hundred missing. The black witches cast a spell and vanished them. It was all caught on camera. This is just the first attack of God knows how many.” I looked around at my comrades. “They must be stopped. And if we don’t do it, nobody will.”

“But how?” Zinnia said, her face deathly pale.

I looked toward Mona. “You know more about these black witches than any of us.”

Mona chewed on her lower lip, looking around the room. “I don’t know exactly what all this blood is for—”

“Blood?” Sofia interrupted, horror in her eyes.

Mona raised a brow. “Yes, blood. What else would they be taking these humans for? I don’t know exactly what they need them for, but it’s for some kind of ritual. I suspect this has to do with Lilith, the one Ancient who remains clinging to life by a thread. Whatever this ritual is, we need to stop it.”

“This Lilith seems to be the cause of most of our problems,” Kiev muttered. “We need to end the bitch.”

Mona scoffed. “Easier said than done. I don’t even know where she resides. I’ve visited her island before with Rhys, but he made sure I didn’t know the actual location.”

I looked toward Caleb. “You know, don’t you? You and Rose were on that island.”

“I have no idea where it is within the supernatural realm, but we do know that there is a gate leading to it deep in the Amazon jungle.”

“Do you remember exactly where the gate is?” I asked. “Could you locate it in the jungle?”

Caleb looked doubtful. “That night we arrived there, I was so bent on getting as far away from that gate with Rose as I could, I’m honestly not sure if I could remember its location now. I could try, but God knows how long it would take me to find it again. The nearest city is Manaus, but that hardly helps us.”

Mona shook her head. “I can’t believe that Rhys would’ve allowed that gate to remain open if you and Rose had escaped through it. Even if you manage to find the location, I’m sure he would have closed it. Lilith is far too precious to them.”

“I don’t understand the logic of going after Lilith,” Gavin said. “Maybe I’m just missing something, but surely we would have to end all of the black witches?”

“I doubt they’d be left with much steam if they lost Lilith,” Mona said. “They want to take over The Sanctuary and revive the lost way of the Ancients. They want to reinstate black magic that today’s witches have mostly shunned. Much of the power that they have, they gained from Lilith. If we managed to take her down, I don’t know if they would be successful without her. They might even lose some of their powers. Heck, I might too. Most of the power I possess came as a result of a meeting with Lilith.”

“And while we are contemplating this impossible task,” Sofia said, “more people could be being abducted as we speak.”

“Mona,” I said, “you really believe that Lilith is the key here?”

Mona nodded slowly. “I just don’t know how we could—”

“If you can’t figure out how to end her, then nobody will be able to. Please, go now and take some time. Think back to all those years you spent with the black witches. Think back to your meeting with Lilith. Try to figure it out. The rest of us wouldn’t even know where to start.”

Mona’s eyes fell on her husband as she gulped. Then she nodded, and although there was no confidence in her expression, that nod alone gave me some hope. She stood up from her chair and left the Great Dome.

I looked now at Sofia, her forehead creased with worry.

“In the meantime,” I continued, “we must try to prevent more kidnappings. It’s impossible to know exactly where they will strike next. But I think we can all be confident that they will strike again. And they will not travel far when they can find what they need nearby. It seems they are targeting younger people. We need to make it more difficult for these witches to get access to them.” I paused, steeling myself for what I was about to say. “We need to do what we have never done before in the history of this island. We need to make contact with the police.”

“What?” a chorus of voices gasped.

“We need to make contact with the police,” I repeated steadily, “of all our neighboring shorelines, and call for a closing of schools. Children and teenagers alike should be kept inside and people should avoid going out. Each household should be equipped with guns, with instructions of what to do if a black witch shows up—”

“Gun or not, a human family wouldn’t stand a chance in hell if a witch showed up in their living room,” Landis said.

“I’m not saying they would,” I replied. “None of these measures will stop them. We can only attempt to slow them down. You all heard what Mona said. These witches are on a blood hunt unlike any before. We can’t let them perform whatever ritual they’re trying for. Because if it’s successful, I suspect that the white witches of The Sanctuary will only be the first among many to feel their wrath…”

Ashley looked at me, disbelieving. “What, so we’re just going to show up randomly at a police department and tell them that all the schools need to be closed? Why would they even listen to us in the first place? What if they ask for ID? What if they ask where we’re from—?”

“There is no need to reveal The Shade, and there is no need to reveal our identity. After this violent introduction to the existence of supernaturals, not only by the black witches but also by Ben, I believe that they will be open to talking with us. I suggest that a human and a vampire go.” I looked at Sofia and she nodded, as if reading my mind. She stood up next to me, placing her hand over mine on the table. “My wife and I will go. We will also need a witch so that we can travel quickly.” My eyes rested on Corrine, who nodded. Next I turned to Xavier and Vivienne. “My sister and brother-in-law will take over ruling the island during our absence. You have the dragons here now helping to protect us. While we’re gone, I don’t think anyone needs to be worried about our safety. It’s the world around us that is in jeopardy now.”

W
e had
no time to lose. Neither Derek, Corrine nor I knew how long this was going to take. Hopefully, if the humans weren’t too difficult to convince, we wouldn’t be gone more than a day.

We decided to head to the place where the first abduction had taken place in California. After the meeting was adjourned, Derek and I hurried back to our apartment to get ready for the journey, while Corrine returned to the Sanctuary to make her own preparations.

We hoped that by the time we returned, Mona would have formulated a plan on how to get rid of Lilith once and for all. In the meantime, we had to do what we could to prevent more human lives being lost.

We hurried about in our bedroom, stripping out of our pajamas and changing into comfortable and durable clothing. I pulled out a large umbrella from one of the cupboards and tucked it beneath my arm.

It was still early in the morning and we had no desire to wake Rose up. We would be back soon and Caleb would inform her of where we’d gone.

“Are you ready?” Derek asked.

“Yeah. I think so.”

We left the bedroom and made our way toward the living room to find my father standing there. He looked at us with concern. He drew me into a hug and kissed my cheeks.

“Be careful,” he said. He squeezed Derek’s shoulder before stepping back from both of us.

We descended to the forest ground and parted ways. Derek and I headed straight for the Sanctuary to pick up Corrine. We found her standing on her doorstep, lost in a passionate embrace with her husband. We waited until they were done before approaching. Corrine left her husband’s side and came to stand next to us. She had a map in one hand, and a thick cloak was wrapped around her shoulders. She breathed out heavily. “Okay, let’s go.”

She held onto both of us, and the peaceful courtyard of the Sanctuary vanished.

When we stopped spinning through the air and my feet touched solid ground, my vision came into focus. We were standing outside a large rectangular building, lit by fluorescent lighting. After adjusting my clothes, I ran my hands through Derek’s hair, smoothing it out. Then we headed straight for the entrance.

A plump, baldheaded man was sitting behind a wide wooden desk in the entrance area. He looked up as we entered. Surprise showed in his eyes. We had tried to wear clothes as plain as possible, but I supposed we still looked odd to him with our rather old-fashioned cloaks, especially me with my pale skin, and at this early hour of the morning.

He stood up, all five foot of him. “What can I help you with?”

“We have some information that will be of interest to you,” Derek said.

“Regarding what?”

“The school incident.”

The man’s eyes widened. “Please take a seat,” he said, gesturing to the seats around his desk.

We did as he’d requested, watching as he picked up a phone and dialed a number.

“Three people are here regarding the incident at the school,” he murmured, looking over us once more. “Can you see them now? Okay.”

He put the phone down and beckoned us over again. Retrieving a ring of keys from one of the drawers in his desk, he got up and pushed open the narrow door directly behind him. “Alex,” he called inside.

A young man appeared in the doorway wearing a uniform.

“Take these people straight to Wilson’s office,” the bald man said. “He’s stayed late.”

Alex nodded and led us out of the room toward a flight of stairs. We climbed two levels up before stopping outside a door labeled twenty. He knocked.

“Come in,” a deep voice called.

Alex pushed the door open. We stepped inside and found ourselves in a small office, lit by bright strip lights. A tall man stood behind a narrow desk. He had grey-streaked hair and deep lines in his forehead.

The police officer held out a hand for each of us to shake. “Officer Wilson. Your names?”

Derek replied before Corrine or I could. “My name is Kyle Ardene. This is my wife, Claudia Ardene, and this is our friend, Ashley Novalic.”

I would have fought back a laugh at the mishmash of names Derek came up with had my stomach not been in knots. Corrine scowled discreetly.

The man’s gaze fixed on Derek. “Mr. Ardene, what can you tell me?”

“There will be another attack. Likely more than one. Schools need to be closed. Adults and children alike need to stay in their homes. Each household must be equipped with at least one gun.”

Before Derek could continue, Wilson held up a hand. He reached into a drawer and pulled out a camera and a mini-tripod.

“I’m going to record this, if that’s okay.” He set up the tripod so that the camera was pointed toward the three of us and pressed record. Then Wilson folded his hands on the table and leaned forward in his chair, watching Derek intently. “Please repeat what you just said.”

Derek acquiesced.

“How do you know this?” Wilson asked. A deep frown settled in on his face.

“By now you may have realized that there exist beings who are very different from you. Nonhuman, supernatural beings. The three of us are such beings. That’s how we know.”

Wilson’s frown deepened. He looked from Derek, to me, to Corrine, then back to Derek again.

After almost a minute’s pause, he said, “What exactly do you mean by… supernaturals?”

“The type the world has already seen in the news. Vampires. Witches…” Derek placed an arm around me. “My wife here is a vampire.” He caught my eye and nodded. I raised my lips and bared my fangs.

“Dear God,” Wilson whispered, gaping at me in disbelief.

“And Ms. Novalic here,” Derek said, gesturing toward Corrine, “is a witch.”

With a flick of a finger, she levitated a pen on the man’s desk into the air and made it do a twirl before setting it back down again. The man’s mouth opened and closed like a fish’s. He looked at the three of us as though he still couldn’t believe his eyes.

“And you?” Wilson said hoarsely, addressing Derek.

“My powers are not safe to display in this room.”

Wilson stood up, his legs shaking. “W-wait here, please. I need to make a phone call.”

We watched the man leave his office and walk into the adjacent room. I heard him pick up a phone and begin talking to someone—a superior of his, by the sound of it.

“That was really the first surname that entered your head for me?” Corrine muttered.

Derek ignored her, his eyes fixed on the door.

Wilson returned about twenty minutes later.

“I have spoken with my superiors and called for an urgent meeting.”

“Your superiors need to issue a warning nationwide,” Derek said, standing up. “And they need to do it as soon as possible.”

“When and where do you believe that they will strike again?”

“It’s impossible to say exactly when, but I’m certain that it will be soon. As to where, we don’t know. Hence, you must not delay in this.”

“Those black hooded people in the schoolyard footage, you say they are… witches?” Wilson asked, still looking as though he was in a daze.

“Yes. The worst kind,” Derek said, looking straight into the camera as though addressing Wilson’s superiors directly. “The best chance of surviving an attack by them is to shoot them through the palms. That’s where their powers emanate from.”

“And y-you three. Where have you come from?”

“That’s not important. Just understand that not all supernaturals seek to prey on humans. We are here because we want to help you.” Derek turned once more to the camera, his eyes boring into it. “You
must
heed our advice.”

“Mr. Ardene, you must come with me to headquarters. My superiors will have many more questions for you. We would like to conduct an extensive—”

Derek shook his head, cutting him off. “Perhaps in the future, but we don’t have time for that now. We just came to deliver this warning.” Derek held out a hand, gripping Wilson’s so firmly Wilson winced slightly. “I trust your superiors will make the right decision and do what is needed. Goodbye, Officer.”

Before Wilson could say another word, Derek looked toward Corrine and nodded. She held both of us by the hand and the brightly lit office disappeared.

When we reappeared again, it was on a beach.

“We’re still in California?” I asked Corrine.

The witch nodded. I looked up and down the empty shoreline, the sun still hours from rising above the horizon. I caught sight of the promenade behind the beach, lined with beautiful houses, not unlike Derek’s and my dream house that we’d spent the first five years of our twins’ lives in. I was overcome by a bout of nostalgia. The life we’d lived in that house seemed so distant now, like a past life. I swallowed hard, forcing my thoughts back to the task at hand.

“So we’re just going to assume that Wilson’s superiors will take care of things?” I asked.

Derek nodded. “We’ll have to. We did our part. Wilson filmed the meeting. He has proof of our display of powers, so there’s no way that his superiors can think he was hallucinating. After two displays of supernatural existence broadcast on mainstream media, we have to hope that his authorities will be more open-minded than to completely reject what we had to say.”

“And now,” I said, “what about South America? The countries lining the Pacific Ocean also aren’t far from the witches’ base.”

“We’ll start trying to meet with authorities in Mexico and make our way down along the coast,” Derek replied. “But we simply don’t have time to visit all of them. We’ll go as far as Panama. Hopefully our warning will start spreading to other countries.” Derek must have caught the doubtful expression on my face. “Sofia, I know this is a pathetic situation. We just have to try to do what we can.”

“What if the witches start moving to other parts of the world for easier targets?” I asked.

Derek heaved a sigh, casting a worried glance out toward the horizon. “We have to hope that Mona will find a solution before it comes to that.”