A Bond of Blood (A Shade of Vampire #9)(29)

Without hesitating for a second longer I pressed both of my palms against the ceiling. I wasn’t expecting my hands to push through so easily. It felt like brushing through smoke, and were it not for Abby grabbing me, I would have toppled into the hole with them.

Abby leant down and took the baby from Anna’s arms while I helped pull Anna out. She gasped with relief, tears spilling down her cheeks.

“Ben, oh, Ben.” Anna gripped the back of my neck and kissed my cheek. She turned to Abby and wrapped an arm around her, kissing her forehead. Abby kept hold of the baby for now, since Anna seemed so feeble.

I turned back to the hole. The two figures who’d remained in there had now climbed out. I’d been so preoccupied with Anna, I hadn’t paid any attention to the male who’d come down with her. He was a tall, dark-haired vampire with bright green eyes. I found the expression on his face odd as he looked me over, as though he was sizing me up, or perhaps recognized me from somewhere. I was certain that I’d never seen him before.

I turned back to the witch. “Who are you people? Where have you come from? And what the hell is this?” I asked, pointing down at the hole.

The witch held up a hand and said, “Yes, there will be time for that.” She looked back down into the abyss and yelled, “The rest of you, come now!” She shot Anna, Abby and myself a look. “Uh, you three may want to stand back.”

“Huh?” We took a few steps back and were grateful to have heeded the witch’s words as vampires began shooting out of the hole and landing on the floor. We had to keep retreating until our backs were against the wall to make room for them. Soon the whole room was piled up with vampires… and then wolves. Giant wolves. I gasped and instinctively stood in front of Anna’s baby as the beasts raised themselves from the ground.

“What are these monsters?” I asked.

“Werewolves… We’ve all been trying to get out for days.”

“Anna,” I said, turning to her in shock, “how on earth did you end up with these people?”

“That’s a long story—”

She was interrupted by the witch walking over to us.

“My name is Mona, by the way,” the witch said, reaching out a hand.

I shook it. Then I stared at the green-eyed vampire who stood behind her. “And who are you?” I asked him.

Mona stepped aside as he walked in front of me. He cleared his throat, staring at me intensely. “Kiev Novalic.”

My heart skipped a beat.

Kiev Novalic?

The monster who’d kidnapped me at birth?

I stared at him, my mouth hanging open. The Kiev Novalic my mother had told me about was notorious for having red eyes. Not green. Could there be two Kiev Novalics?

As if reading my mind, he said, “Yes, Novak. We have met before.”

My fists clenched and I took a step back, my back hitting the wall of the cave.

Anna reached for my arm and squeezed it. “It’s all right, Ben,” she said. “Kiev is… different now. I promise, you can trust him.”

I looked down at her in disbelief. My mind reeled as I looked from her to Kiev.

Trust Kiev Novalic. It felt like she was asking me to trust the devil himself.

“We should get a move on,” Anna continued, longing in her eyes. “I need to get back to my family. Mona will transport us all there…”

“What?” I couldn’t disguise my shock.

“They need somewhere to stay, just for a few days,” Anna explained. “Just to find their feet and work out where they’ll go next. We’ve been through hell to get here and we all need rest.”

I looked at Kiev again. He was the most hated man in all of The Shade’s history. One of the first children of the Elders. Evil personified. Inviting him back in our midst seemed like insanity.

I caught hold of Anna’s arm and pulled her out of the chamber with me. Abby followed us with Anna’s son. I led them along the passageway until we were a fair distance away. I hoped that all the chattering going on in the main chamber would be enough for our conversation to not be too audible.

“How can you trust him?”

Anna looked up at me and smiled faintly. “I don’t know what happened to him during his time away from Earth. He hasn’t told me and I haven’t asked. But it doesn’t matter because something has changed in that vampire. Neither myself nor my baby would be here now if it weren’t for him and that witch.”

I still didn’t understand how she’d ended up in the realm of supernaturals with Kiev Novalic of all people, but it was clear that now wasn’t the time she was going to answer my questions.

“Ben, I-I need my family. Kyle, Ariana and Jason. I’ve been away from them for so long…” Her voice broke as she reached a hand to her face, swallowing back a sob.

“Of course,” I said, forcing myself out of my stupor. “All right. We’ll return now.”

“You can allow Kiev to return with us,” she said. “I promise, it will be fine.”

Although every fiber of my being was screaming at me to just refuse—take Anna and run, while leaving behind all these strangers—I couldn’t ignore the conviction in Anna’s eyes.

We returned to the chamber. Mona and Kiev still stood in the same spot we’d left them.