A Bond of Blood (A Shade of Vampire #9)(24)

Once we’d started moving, I reached into my pocket and showed her the map.

She spread the paper out in her lap, tracing a finger over Corrine’s mark.

“Waianae,” she murmured. “And what do you expect to find here?”

It was only once I had explained my theory out loud to her that I became fully aware of what a hair-brained idea this really was. It could all turn out to be a wild goose chase. But this map was the only thing I had to cling to.

“You know that this might just be the last straw for Corrine,” Abby said. “The two of us disappearing. The fourth lot of people she’s lost.”

I drew in a breath thinking about it. Corrine was at the end of her tether already. I wasn’t sure that there was much more of her to break.

“So,” Abby continued, still staring at the old map, “according to you, they’ll be somewhere in this cave.”

“Mikau Cave,” I said.

“And what makes you think we’ll get out alive?”

“Nothing makes me think that. And I suggest you return now if you’re not comfortable with it.”

She paused. “No, I’m with you, Ben,” she said softly.

I cast another glance at her, frowning. I wasn’t sure what had made her place so much confidence in me. I supposed that, like me, she too was desperate. She also felt the loss of my family.

“What—or who—do you think is behind this?” she asked.

I shrugged. “Absolutely no idea. But whatever it was, Corrine looked petrified by it.”

“Why would whatever this force is even want Corrine to go there? Why would it reveal its location?”

“It’s likely a trap,” I said grimly, my eyes fixed on the dark waters ahead. “But it’s not like we have much choice. We’ve got to find out what’s behind this.”

Abby unfastened her belt and stood up. She walked over to my backpack and began rummaging inside it. She pulled out the weapons I had packed and placed them on a small table in the corner of the room. Then she left the cabin and returned several minutes later with a much larger bag made of thick black fabric. She emptied its contents onto the table—an assortment of guns and a handful more stakes. She breathed out, staring at what we had there.

She returned to her seat and looked straight ahead out of the screen, a determined look on her face. “There are also some tins of human food down there,” she said.

Food was the last thing on my mind right now, but she was right in thinking about that. We had no idea how long we’d end up at sea. And whatever was up ahead, I needed all the strength I could muster.

I glanced at Abby again. It was a strange feeling to have grown up around someone, yet feel like you’d never really gotten to know them.

My mother had told me enough about the Hudsons for me to know what a tragic childhood Abby had been dealt. But other than Abby being the girl who lost her family, the girl to be pitied, I didn’t know much about Abigail Hudson.

This trip would be the longest time I’d spent with her alone over all my seventeen years combined.

But she’d always struck me as the shy type. Dedicated to her work at the school, she mostly kept to herself. Which was why her behavior in coming with me was so surprising. Here she was, volunteering to embark with me on this crazy mission. I could be leading us both to our deaths for all either of us knew.

Perhaps my mother and sister wouldn’t have been so shocked because they knew her better, but to me she was a familiar stranger.

I cleared my throat. We still had a long journey ahead of us. Now was as good a time as any to start changing that. To my surprise, she was the one to break the ice.

“I don’t find it strange that you’re named after my dead brother, by the way.” She gave me a small smile. “Just thought I’d let you know. I get asked that a lot by the girls on the island. Ben’s a common name in any case.”

“Uh, good,” I said, giving her a sideways glance.

An awkward silence followed—mainly on my part. Abby had spoken matter-of-factly, without emotion.

I had wondered for a long time whether she’d ever held resentment toward my mother and father. After all, if it weren’t for them, their family wouldn’t have gotten implicated in the crazy world of the vampires and hunters, and her parents and brother would likely not be dead. My mother hadn’t given me details of how Abby’s parents had died, but I knew that it was in some horrific way due to the very fact that my mother hadn’t wanted to describe it. I also knew that Abby’s brother had been in love with my mother… and had she not chosen my father, there was always the possibility that Benjamin Hudson would have married her.

I decided to see how far she was willing to go to satisfy my curiosity. “I’m sorry for… everything that happened,” I said.

She nodded, her eyes now fixed ahead on the dark ocean.

“And I, uh, hope this topic doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable.”

She shook her head and gave me a smile. “It’s all right.”

“I’ve always wondered whether a part of you feels resentful of me, of my father… considering the love your brother had for my mother…”

“Seriously? Do others think that too? Does your mom think that?”

“I can’t speak for others,” I said quickly. “But I guess it’s just something I’ve always wondered.”