A Bond of Blood (A Shade of Vampire #9)(12)

Only now, I was sure that she wasn’t playing any game.

She gripped hold of my arm and stood up. Her face was pale, her eyes bloodshot as though she’d been crying.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

She shook her head, opening a drawer and retrieving some woolen pajamas. “I’m just feeling… restless.”

“We all are,” I said. “But they’ll return safely with Anna. I know they will. I don’t know what is holding them up… but remember they’re with Ibrahim and lots of other witches. Dad has brought with him the best fighters he has. For all we know, they’ll come back while we’re sleeping and we’ll find them here in the morning when we wake up.”

She gulped and nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

“Now just change into something dry and go to sleep,” I said, sighing and closing the door.

She walked to the door and caught it just before I closed it. She looked at me through the crack, offering me a weak smile. “Thanks, Ben,” she whispered. “I’m glad you’re up and about again.”

“Yeah,” I said, looking at her with mock disdain. “So you can use me as your manservant again. I bet you missed that.”

She chuckled and closed her door.

I returned to my room, shaking my head. We were all on the edge of our seats waiting for them to return. Rose wasn’t the only one.

We just need to sit tight and wait for them to return with Anna. And once they do, the island will be able to breathe again.

Chapter 12: Rose

My head was groggy when I woke the next morning, and my throat felt sore from the stupidity of falling asleep in the chilly lighthouse in damp clothes.

Brushing away the thoughts that had been muddling my brain about Griffin and Caleb, I jumped out of bed and rushed to my parents’ bedroom. I swung the door wide open. My heart sank on seeing that it was still empty.

What on earth could be taking them so long? If they don’t return by the end of today that will be two full days of their absence. Surely retrieving Anna would only take a few hours with all the forces they brought with them. Unless Anna wasn’t at either of the islands and they’re still looking for her…

Ben had woken up uncharacteristically early too and he shared my worried look when I told him they still hadn’t returned. He too ran through the same rationalizations I had, but still looked disconcerted. I downed some milk from the fridge while he grabbed a piece of toast before we both ran off to see what Corrine made of this situation. She would be just as anxious about her husband.

We entered the Sanctuary and found the witch in her potion room with Eli. They were both sitting round her wooden table, deep in discussion. The witch was holding a large black book between them. She shut it as soon as she saw us enter and they both looked at us.

Corrine already knew what was on our minds just from our expressions. “I can’t pretend that I’m not surprised they’re not back yet,” she said. “Ibrahim had predicted six hours to a couple of days—depending on whether Anna was still on one of the islands.” Her voice trembled slightly as she said her husband’s name.

“What do you think has happened?” I asked, even though I was scared to hear the answer.

“I don’t know. The only thing I can think of is that Anna was missing from the islands and they’ve gone off on some other trail looking for her. But they would have sent one of the witches back with a message.”

A silence fell as we looked at each other.

“We can’t just keep sitting here and doing nothing,” Ben said.

“No, we can’t,” Eli said, clearing his throat. “If they’re still not back by tomorrow… we’re going to have to do something.”

“But we have no subs left to even travel there. They took all of them.”

“We have a couple of spare submarines they left in case of an emergency. But they shouldn’t be needed because we have a few witches we might be able to spare for a day or so to see what happened.”

“I want to go,” I butted in.

Corrine scoffed. “You are going nowhere, young lady.”

I stared from Corrine to Eli. It was clear that there would be no budging either of them on this.

“Look, there’s no point arguing about this now,” she continued. “They could return in a few hours. Let’s just hope they return before tomorrow. All right?”

I nodded, though my stomach continued to twist itself into knots. All sorts of dark possibilities began to play on my mind. What if they’re trapped there? What if they were too late to save Anna and all their work and sacrifice has gone in vain?

We left Corrine and Eli in the Sanctuary.

I decided it was time for me to pay a visit to Kyle. I’d been avoiding going near them since I returned because I knew what a shock this was for him, Ariana and Jason. I didn’t want to poke my nose in too soon, but now that it had been a few days, I felt compelled to visit them to see how they were managing.

Ben and I parted ways while I continued through the forest until I reached the town center, the Vale. There weren’t many people bustling around at this time in the morning. I crossed the stone streets and headed straight for the school in the town center. Kyle and Anna’s house was just a few doors along to the right, a pretty stone townhouse with a flower garden out front.