A Bond of Blood (A Shade of Vampire #9)(20)

Shock gave way to urgency. The rest of the witches hurried out and began breaking down the gates surrounding us, freeing the rest of the vampires.

Everyone paused in the hallway outside the cells, looking to Derek and I for instructions. Derek locked eyes with me. We had a split second to decide whether we would escape with the rest of them, or run the risk of seeking out Anna.

No words were required. We read each other’s expressions.

Derek turned to Ibrahim. “Lead everyone back to The Shade. Hurry!”

Ibrahim nodded and began leading everyone toward the exit.

Rose reached out and grabbed Derek’s arm. “Wait! What about you two?”

“We’ll be following soon after you, darling,” he said.

Before Rose could protest, Xavier approached her from behind and flung her over his shoulder. Ibrahim blasted open the dungeon’s heavy door and they all began rushing out.

“Yuri!” I called out. He was at the back of the crowd and turned to face me.

“What?”

“Wait a second.”

The elderly woman huddled by the bars watching us escape. I hurried over to her. “Tell us exactly where the dungeon with the hole is, and we will help you escape too.”

Her face contorted as she racked her brains. “If you go upstairs, you’ll find yourself in a large rectangular hall. Take the exit in the… far right corner. I think that’s the one. Then cross the entrance hall. The chamber you want is a few doors along from the main entrance to the castle. I-I think it’s the third door. Go through it, and you’ll see a Chinese carpet which covers the trap door. If you can break through the door’s bolts, you’ll find a staircase beneath it which leads directly into the dungeon with the hole.”

“Okay,” I breathed, trying to commit her instructions into my memory.

Claudia was now poking her head through the dungeon door, anxiety written all over her face.

“You can leave now,” I said to Yuri, “But take this woman with you.”

Derek and I tore down the door to her cell. Yuri scooped her up in his arms and hurried out of the dungeon with Claudia.

We followed immediately afterward. We both knew that the chances of finding Anna were practically nonexistent.

A wave of déjà vu hit me. We were in exactly the same position now as when Ben had been trapped in Aviary as a newborn. The chances of us surviving and returning in time with our son had been practically nil then too. But we had taken the chance anyway.

Can lightning strike us twice?

We parted ways with the others and raced across the marble floor, praying that we wouldn’t bump into anybody. Apparently, the lights had been knocked out not only in our dungeon, but throughout the castle. Thankfully, the woman’s instructions had been accurate. In no time at all, we found ourselves in a chamber near the main entrance with an ornate carpet in one corner. We slid it away and ripped open the trap door. We descended the steps until we found ourselves in a pitch-black dungeon.

My breath hitched as I caught sight of a circular crater in the center of the room. Approaching it, I stared at its swirling blue-tinged translucent walls, its endless depth, the glitter of stars beyond… It brought back so many memories, I was stunned into silence for several moments.

The flicker of electricity returned all around us.

I gasped. If this meant that Annora’s influence over the castle had returned, I hoped that the others had managed to get out in time.

I said a prayer and gripped Derek’s hand.

We leapt into the abyss.

All was a blur as we hurtled downward. I could barely gasp for breath, the force pulling us downward sucking the air from my lungs.

As we reached the other side, I landed in a heap on a stone floor. Derek stirred a few feet away from me. I sat up and looked around.

We were in another dungeon. Only this wasn’t as cold as the one in Caleb’s island.

Now we were back in the world of supernaturals. A place I’d sworn I’d never venture again after the ordeal we’d gone through retrieving Ben.

I spotted an oak door in the corner of the room and Derek and I rushed over to it. It was locked, so Derek had no choice but to rip it from its hinges, despite the noise.

We crept up a set of narrow stairs and reached what was clearly a kitchen. High-ceilinged and dark, the room was surrounded by steel counters upon which lay an array of black cauldrons, carving knives and other sharp-looking utensils. The scent of burnt blood lingered in the air. Human blood.

I shuddered. “Where do we start?” I whispered to Derek.

“If Anna’s here,” he replied, still scanning the room, “it would make sense that she’s being kept with other humans. There must be a dungeon, or room of some sort…”

I sniffed the air again. If this kitchen is where human blood is prepared, it would make sense for the humans to be kept nearby somewhere.

“There,” I said, pointing to the far corner of the room. We hurried over and looked down at another trap door.

Unbolting it, I lifted open the hatch. It creaked open and the smell of hot human blood emanated from the hole.

We descended the steps and found ourselves standing inside a dungeon filled with humans trapped behind bars. Waves of screams echoed around the walls. I rushed to slam the trap door shut, hoping that the noise hadn’t already been heard.

We split and ran about the dungeon, scanning each of the cells for any signs of Anna.