A Shade of Vampire 15: A Fall of Secrets (8 page)

I
passed
the next several hours lying on my back, staring up at the ceiling.

I replayed everything that had happened since I had left The Shade over and over in my mind, trying to make sense of my behavior—why I couldn’t have just transformed like every other vampire in The Shade.

It was a relief that at least I was able to think straight. Those hours I had spent in the submarine, submerged in darkness, had been one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. It had been like being on a trip I’d feared I would never come down from.

It had been a while now since I had killed someone. I could only assume that my theory was correct—blood in itself didn’t bring about that extreme reaction in me. It was the actual killing, giving into my urge to claim life. To consume. To devour.

I wondered what was going on in The Shade now, whether Rose had returned, and what was happening with the black witches. Whatever the island was going through, I knew that my parents and my people were better off without me. I would only be adding risk to an already treacherous situation.

I still didn’t know exactly what Jeramiah wanted me for. He had said that I would be useful in half-turning humans. I would have to explain to him that the only way I could half-turn a human was if he or she was sick. There was no way I would agree to touch a healthy one. I didn’t trust myself to not kill the human in an instant.

Yet I wasn’t sure that half-turning humans was truly why Jeramiah had shown interest in me. Michael, Jeramiah’s comrade whom I’d met back in Chile when I’d first come across them, had said that if they needed newly turned vampires to create half-bloods, they could just create a new vampire themselves. Besides, I wouldn’t be newly turned for long. A fair amount of time had already passed.

But whatever Jeramiah’s true intentions were, there was no point in reading too much into them now. I just had to watch my back and keep to myself as much as possible. Hopefully I would feel in a fit state to return to The Shade sooner rather than later.

A
s midnight approached
, there was a knock on my door. Opening it, I found Jeramiah standing on my doorstep. He held a glass of wine in one hand. He was shirtless and wore dark pants, similar to the ones I was wearing. I noticed the tattoo of a black cross etched into his right bicep.

“I hope you weren’t sleeping?” he asked, a slight slur to his voice.

“No.”

“Good. I wanted to introduce you to some of the others. They are awake now.”

The last thing I felt like doing was going down to meet a crowd of people, but I couldn’t just refuse. They were letting me stay here. I had to put at least some effort into being sociable.

“Sure,” I said.

I followed him out the door. We walked along the open veranda toward the glass elevator.

“We’re out in the open tonight,” he said.

We ascended one level in the elevator and stepped out onto the glass-walled platform that overlooked the entire atrium. I looked up to see that the trap doors in the ceiling were wide open, the light of the moon streaming in. As we climbed the stairs toward the exit, the temperature became warmer, although as we stepped onto the sand it wasn’t as hot as I had expected. There was a cool desert breeze.

Looking around, I was surprised at how many men and women I saw—vampires, half-bloods and a few whom I guessed were witches. Exotic music filled the air from a corner where four women sat playing stringed instruments I didn’t recognize and a tambourine. To their left was a long table filled with containers of blood and alcoholic beverages. Men and women were dancing, and scattered loosely around the dance area were large cushioned chairs. Dozens of vampires shot glances toward Jeramiah and me as we began making our way toward the drinks table. Five men and women—half-bloods—stood behind it, serving drinks.

“What do you want?” Jeramiah asked me.

“Nothing, thanks.”

“Oh, come on. You need something to hold in your hand.”

“A small glass of blood then,” I said. “But don’t add alcohol. I don’t drink.”

Jeramiah faced the young woman looking tentatively at us from behind the table. “You heard him.” He turned to me. “Why don’t you go and take a seat over there.” He gestured toward an empty chair. “I’ll top up my drink and bring yours over.”

I nodded, crossing the sand and sitting down. I noticed Michael—the blond vampire I’d met with Jeramiah back in Chile. Michael Gallow, if I remembered correctly. He looked at me coldly, holding my gaze for but a moment before averting his eyes to the girl sitting next to him.

Jeramiah arrived and handed me my drink. He took a seat next to me and reached for Marilyn, who was sitting on a cushion nearby, pulling her by the arm to sit on his lap.

“Well, this is Joseph,” he said. “Joseph Brunson.”

The crowd looked at me curiously.

“Hello,” I said.

There was an awkward silence as Jeramiah started a side conversation with Marilyn. My eyes roamed the vampires, witches and half-bloods surrounding me. Counting those on the dance floor and those seated, there seemed to be at least a hundred. And there might still be more down below in the atrium. I couldn’t help but notice the same black cross Jeramiah had tattooed on each of their arms—even the witches’.

“Why don’t you dance for us, Marilyn?” Jeramiah said. Marilyn threw him a sultry glance before standing up. She slipped off the sheer coverall she was wearing to reveal a two-part outfit that showed her pale stomach. She raised her hands above her head and began to dance among those seated in chairs, weaving in and out.

Jeramiah watched her, a contented expression on his face, before addressing me again. “I’m sure you’re wondering where we have all come from, and how we found this place.”

“I am,” I replied, taking a small sip from my glass of blood.

“Well,” he said, “I suppose the story starts when I was still a human. A young man. Eighteen years old. I’d already lost both of my parents and, finding nothing better to do with myself once I hit my late teens, I decided to travel East. Whatever few possessions I owned I packed up and set off. It was a long, long journey, but I enjoyed the distraction. I traveled from country to country and ended up in North India. I stayed in the foothills of the Himalayas for several months. I loved it there.”

“Yeah, and he’s kept the long hair ever since,” the black-haired witch, Amaya, interrupted with a smirk.

Jeramiah rolled his eyes at her before continuing. “India was also where I first encountered a vampire. I was out for a walk late one evening. A vampire pounced on me and infected me with his venom. Hours later, I woke up as one myself. The same vampire who turned me ended up bringing me to a coven situated deep within the Himalayas. I spent the next God knows how many decades there. I lost track of time—one day just rolled into the next. But it was in that coven that I met everyone you see here today—except for our half-bloods, of course. They were created by us later.”

“Your witches belonged to that coven, too?” I asked.

Jeramiah nodded, looking toward Amaya again. “We have six witches in total. They’d been staying within the coven. Amaya and I used to be lovers.”

“Firmly in the past,” Amaya muttered.

“Anyway,” Jeramiah continued. “Twenty-odd years ago came the fall of the Elders. They were locked out of Earth and we were free to leave. Nobody was sure where we would go, though. But none of us vampires felt like staying where we were. It was a small place and it held too many memories we wanted to forget. I had heard about The Oasis. I’d heard of the Maslens’ demise. I led everyone who wanted to follow me here. With the help of our witches, we managed to salvage the place and make it inhabitable. It was a slow process to get The Oasis to what it is today.”

“I can imagine,” I said.

Jeramiah’s eyes glazed over as they fixed on the sky. He ran a finger slowly around the edge of his wine glass. “Life is good here,” he said. “No hassles. No responsibilities. We live like kings and do what we want, when we want. I’m sure you won’t want to leave.”

I nodded stiffly.

“So why don’t you tell us your story?” Jeramiah said.

I drank again from my glass, buying myself some time as I thought about what I should say. “Well, as I mentioned, I was taken in by the black witches. I stayed on the island that was governed by Caleb Achilles. I imagine my story is pretty typical amongst most vampires. I stumbled upon a bloodsucker one night and then got pulled into this crazy world. I haven’t been turned long, so there’s not much more to tell.”

Jeramiah watched me intensely. It looked like they all wanted to hear more from me, but I wasn’t going to offer it. The less said, the better.

I took another sip, and as I did, a light feeling began to form in my head. I looked down at the blood, wondering if it had been accidentally, or perhaps purposefully, laced with something. I placed the glass down on the ground and stared at Jeramiah.

“What exactly did you bring me here for?”

Everyone else looked curious to hear Jeramiah’s answer—except for Michael, who was now engrossed in conversation with the girl next to him.

“Well, it’s not often we come across a rogue vampire. Especially not a newly turned one. You had nowhere to go. We have room for you. I didn’t see a reason not to take you in.”

I was about to inform him about my inability to half-turn healthy humans, but I held my tongue. I would wait until he actually asked me to turn one before informing him of this. There was no point before then—for all I knew, the occasion might not even arise.

Jeramiah placed his now empty glass down on the sand and stood up. He walked over to where Marilyn was dancing. Catching her hands, he placed them around his neck and slid his hands down to her hips. He led her toward the main dance area.

I took that as my cue to leave. At least for now, Jeramiah appeared to have had enough conversation. And my head was feeling lighter and lighter. I couldn’t be sure if it really was something in the drink. Perhaps it was something about this desert air making me react like this. Whatever the case, I stood up.

“Excuse me,” I said. “I’m not feeling my best at the moment.”

Most of the crowd nodded understandingly. Jeramiah called to me as I passed him. “Leaving so soon? The party hasn’t even started yet.”

“Yeah,” I called back. “I haven’t managed to sleep since I got here. I’m going to try now.” To my surprise, a yawn escaped my mouth as I finished the sentence.

“Catch you later,” Jeramiah said.

I entered the trap door and climbed back down onto the platform overlooking the atrium. Descending in the elevator to my floor, I headed straight for my apartment. I locked the door behind me, my feet now strangely heavy.
What is wrong with me?

Dropping down on the bed and closing my eyes, I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

When I woke up several hours later, it was to a burning feeling in my right bicep. My head pounding, I sat upright and looked down at it:

A black cross etched into my skin.

It seemed that whether I wanted to become a member of this coven or not, I’d just been marked.

I
woke
the next morning to find myself alone in bed. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and looking around the room.

“Caleb?”

I slid out of bed and exited the room. He wasn’t in the bathroom, or in the living room. I caught sight of him standing outside on the veranda, leaning against the railing and staring out toward the ocean.

I opened the front door and joined him outside. I walked up behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist and burying my head against his back. His hands closed around my arms, holding me against him.

“Something has happened, Rose,” he said quietly.

He turned around to face me, looking down at me with a serious expression on his face.

“What?”

“The black witches. They’re now on a rampage like never before. They’re stealing masses of human teenagers.”

My breath hitched. “What? How do you know?”

“They’ve been caught on camera. Your father called a meeting in the Great Dome last night and requested that I was present.”

“Oh, my.”

“The first victims we know of were a group of adolescents in a schoolyard. Your parents have left the island with Corrine. They’ve gone to try to warn the humans on the neighboring shores. In the meantime, Mona is trying to figure out if there’s any way we can end Lilith. Mona believes that she is the key to our problems.”

My mind was still fixed on my parents. “But how would warning humans do any good? Even with the warning, there would be no stopping those black witches.”

“Correct. But we need to make this as difficult for the witches as possible. We need to delay them in this ritual they are trying to carry out.”

“So they are meeting with the police?”

Caleb nodded.

“When will they be back?”

He shrugged. “We don’t know. Your parents hoped they would be able to return within a matter of days.”

My head was beginning to reel. So much had happened since I had fallen asleep several hours ago.

Frustration filled me that my parents had left without me. I didn’t want to just sit here on this island. I wanted to help do something to combat this situation.

Caleb seemed to notice my restlessness. He frowned as he looked down at me. “What are you thinking?”

“I hate sitting still.” I began pacing slowly up and down the floorboards. “Has Mona made any progress since they left?”

“I’ve heard no news.”

Caleb’s words replayed in my mind.

We need to make this as difficult for the witches as possible.

More difficult…

“My parents have left, but is everyone else still here?” I asked.

“To my knowledge,” he replied.

There were so many more of us on this island, just sitting here. It seemed a waste of time for us to just be sitting here doing nothing.

I sat down on the bench, dropping my head into my hands as I racked my brain.

Think, Rose. Think.

Caleb crouched down in front of me, placing his hands either side of me on the bench. “Your parents wanted us to stay put until they returned.”

But we didn’t know when they were returning.

As I looked up into Caleb’s eyes, an idea struck me. Now that I’d thought of it, I wondered why it hadn’t occurred to me immediately.

Placing my hands on Caleb’s shoulders, I stood up. “Wait here for me. I’ll be back soon.”