A Bond of Blood (A Shade of Vampire #9)(23)

“What is this place?” I breathed, gripping the back of her chair.

She scraped her chair back just as I was trying to read the small text, and I was forced to step away. She climbed back into bed and pulled the covers over her. She closed her eyes and began snoring.

I stared back down at the atlas, finally able to get close enough to read the writing. This whole page was a map of Waianae, Hawaii. The black circle surrounded a tiny dot along a beach. I squinted to read the minuscule writing next to it.

“Mikau Cave.”

I was still mystified by what had just happened. But it was clear that something—or someone—had just possessed Corrine. And whatever it was, I was damn sure it had something to do with the vampires and witches’ disappearances.

I reached for the atlas, tore out the page that contained Corrine’s mark, and tucked it into my jeans pocket.

I replaced the book in the bookcase. Walking over to Corrine, I touched her forehead. She was burning up. I shook her shoulders until her eyelids flickered open. And when they did, it was clear that Corrine was back. Her face was lined with fear, panic in her eyes. She gasped, clutching her throat.

“What just happened?” I asked, gripping her shoulders.

Wiping sweat from her brow with the back of her sleeve, she swallowed hard. “I’ve felt it only recently,” she said. “There’s something… something out there.”

“What?” I urged.

“A power unlike any I’ve experienced before. Trying to communicate with me. I’ve been trying to figure out what it could be. But I’m still uncertain.”

“Corrine, whatever this is, it’s responsible for stealing them, right?”

She looked at me, her lips quivering. She nodded slowly. “I believe so, Ben. Whatever it is, it’s certainly powerful enough to have overcome all those witches and vampires…” Her voice trailed off and she clasped a hand over her forehead.

That was all I needed.

It seemed that she hadn’t remembered marking the atlas and leaving it on the table. At least not yet. And by the time she did remember, I would already be gone.

I left Corrine’s bedroom and returned to my own. Sitting down on my bed, I reached into my pocket and unfolded the map.

I smiled bitterly as I recalled the words Rose had spoken not long ago.

“Hawaii, here we come.”

Chapter 21: Ben

I returned to my bedroom in the Residences and packed up whatever few personal belongings I could think of in my hurry to leave. I ran to my father’s library and, pulling open one of the cabinets in the corner of the room, withdrew a couple of stakes and two UV ray guns, along with a supply of bullets.

I had to be fast, because I had to be gone before Corrine woke up and tried to stop me.

I didn’t know what I was thinking going alone. I had no plan. I was walking into this blind, with just the conviction that the little circle on the map was where my family were being held.

I knew that I couldn’t start recruiting others to come with me. Corrine wouldn’t allow anyone else off the island, least of all myself, after we’d already lost three batches of recruits.

But even if it meant being caught along with them, I refused to stay on this island a moment longer now that I had a clue as to their location.

After I’d bundled the few items into a backpack, I grabbed my cloak and ran out of the penthouse. I descended in the elevator and rushed through the forest as fast as my legs could carry me. I paused now and then, convinced that someone was following me in the shadows, but they didn’t show themselves, so I assumed it was just my imagination.

Half an hour later, I had reached the port. I looked at the last submarine we had floating in the water. Climbing onto its side, I opened up the hatch and lowered myself inside.

Two arms shot out as I was seconds from pulling the hatch shut. My heart sank as Abby’s face appeared outside the hole above. I expected that she’d try to stop me from going and tell Corrine.

But instead, looking down at me seriously, she said, “Wherever you’re going, Ben, I don’t think you should go alone.”

I gazed at her, taken aback.

She was right of course. I shouldn’t be going alone. The chances of me surviving were much less than if someone came with me. But I hadn’t seen any alternative. There was nobody on this island whom I trusted enough to not turn me into Corrine and report me for trying to leave.

“And you’re volunteering?” I asked, frowning at her.

She dangled her legs through the hatch and slid down the ladder.

“You don’t even know where I’m going,” I said.

“I know you’re going to try to find your family,” she replied, closing the hatch above her.

I stared into her light blue eyes.

“Well,” I said, after a pause, “if you want to take this risk, I won’t turn down your help.”

Chapter 22: Ben

Thanks to my uncle, Xavier, I knew almost all there was to know about operating a submarine. As a boy I’d been fascinated to learn how they worked. By the age of eleven, I was piloting one by myself. Although I hadn’t had much practice, I had all the technical knowledge to be able to travel long distances.

Abby still didn’t question me about our destination even as we both took seats next to each other in the control room.