A Chase of Prey (A Shade of Vampire #11)(12)

We went back and forth, discussing the situation for hours in the Great Dome. While some were convinced that Micah had just given into temptation and stolen Rose away, others—particularly those who had known the wolf—concluded that something must have happened to him while he was outside the island, and the Micah who had returned was an imposter.

The latter, of course, dug up a whole new plethora of questions.

Mona concluded that the most likely person to pull something like this off would have been one of the black witches. Being unable to penetrate Mona’s spell, they’d had to find another way around it. But if this was the case, we didn’t understand why they would go to all that trouble to get Rose and then leave the island. Why not take Anna, our immune, whom they’d seemed so bent on having before? It was as if they’d lost interest in Anna, because I was sure they could have easily swept her away along with Rose. And what about Mona? Surely, if they’d wanted to take over The Shade and its supply of humans, the best way would be to take down Mona—then it would be no trouble taking over the island.

Although we’d come to some theories, they were just that: theories. And with them came dozens of other questions we had no answers to.

Then Vivienne had another vision, which confirmed that the black witches were behind this. Vivienne had difficulty telling us exactly what she’d seen, but she was convinced that our twins had something that the witches wanted.

I was doubtful about this. Vivienne’s visions had been known to be misleading in the past. If it was my twins they wanted, why wouldn’t they have taken Ben too while they’d had access to the island?

Vivienne had pointed out that there could be an explanation as to why they only needed Rose first. The fact that they’d taken Rose didn’t preclude that both twins had something the witches desired. It just meant that they wanted Rose first.

Whether or not Vivienne was right, it seemed that the only thing we could do while Ibrahim and Corrine were gone was to try to figure out what the twins could possibly possess that was so special.

After a particularly grueling day, attempting to continue running the island as normal while suffering under the weight of Rose’s absence, Derek and I sat together at our dining table with Mona and Kiev. I’d requested them to visit because I wanted to discuss further with Mona what Rose might have that was of so much interest to the witches. Since Mona was a black witch herself, or used to be, I figured that if she didn’t know, nobody would.

As I looked at them across the table, it was still bizarre to think that we were holding a meeting with Kiev about how to save my twins when not too long ago he’d been the primary threat to them. I shook away the thought, and focused on Mona.

“Before I try to answer this, Sofia,” she said, “you need to understand that I was never fully involved with the workings of those witches. I shut myself out as much as possible because I didn’t agree with what went on. My involvement was mostly perfunctory. So what I say is based on guessing.”

“A guess is better than nothing,” I said.

She cleared her throat and sat forward in her chair, casting a worried glance at Kiev before beginning. “When the twins were conceived, you were a human, while Derek was also a human, with powers bestowed on him by Cora…”

“Yes,” I replied. “And I was still an immune since it happened before my visit to Cruor.”

Mona slunk back in her chair. “Human, vampire, witch,” she muttered.

“What?” Derek said.

“A confluence of three.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You know how immunes first came into existence. You, Sofia, as an immune, were essentially a by-product of the witches’ meddling with the human race. A creation of the witches. Derek was an ex-vampire, also endowed with the powers of a witch, and both of you were also human of course. Three species combined. A meeting of three life forces.”

“But what does it mean? So what?”

“I remind you again that this is all my speculation,” she said, looking at me sternly before continuing. Derek and I nodded. “I worked in the spell room for many years under Rhys. While I wasn’t invited in to take part in higher-level plans because they didn’t trust me, I remember the types of potions they asked me to make, and for what purposes. Which ingredients were more potent than others. You see, the reason they are so keen on having a constant supply of human blood is that it is a key ingredient of so many rituals they carry out. Most I don’t want to describe to you, so don’t ask. But human blood is key in most of them. The twins’ blood is more than just ordinary blood. It’s more potent. And it’s rare—I’ve never come across such a combination throughout my years of potion-making… And believe me when I say I’ve dealt with almost every ingredient imaginable.”

“Then wouldn’t Anna’s children be at risk too?” Kiev said suddenly.

Mona paused, staring at him in thought. “They could be. Although Kyle used to be a vampire, he wasn’t endowed with powers like Derek was. But Anna is an immune—the witches’ influence runs in her blood. Vampire, witch, human. The confluence is still there.”

“And for whatever reason, they only decided to take Rose, when there were five children in total to choose from,” Derek said, rubbing a hand over tired eyes.

“It’s possible they aren’t aware that Kyle was a vampire, and so aren’t aware of the confluence,” Mona said. “Remember, Derek Novak has a much higher profile, not just in this human realm, but also in the supernatural realms. The Shade is practically a legend there too. Before I came here, I’d lived my whole life outside of the human realm and even I had heard rumors of The Shade.”