A Dawn of Strength (A Shade of Vampire #14)(15)

“Their weakness is in their palms.” All eyes shot toward Caleb as he spoke. “Damage them, and they’re stripped of their powers—at least, temporarily.”

“But after we injured Rhys,” Rose said, “I doubt they will fall for the same trick easily.”

“Oh, not easily,” Mona said.

“At least we have Corrine and Ibrahim returned to us,” I said. “After you, Mona, they’re our two most powerful witches.”

“Their powers won’t be a lot of use against the likes of Rhys’ kind,” Mona replied. “Though of course, we need all the help we can get…”

“Caleb and I can start alerting and rounding up the humans,” Rose said, shooting to her feet and catching Caleb by the hand. “As soon as we’re done, we’ll meet you in the Great Dome.”

She didn’t wait for our answer. The two of them slipped out of the cabin, closing the door behind them. I considered going with them to help out, but I trusted my daughter could manage it with Caleb. Besides, Derek needed me by his side now.

“Let’s head to the Dome,” he said. Everyone stood up and motioned to follow him out the door. But he stopped just as his hand closed around the handle. He turned round to look at Vivienne and Xavier. “I suppose the two of you weren’t away long enough to… accomplish what you set out for.”

To my surprise, Vivienne’s and Xavier’s ashen faces lit up.

Vivienne bit her lip, blushing. “You suppose wrong, Derek,” she said.

Derek’s eyes widened. “A-Are you sure?” He moved closer to her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

She nodded. “We’re both quite sure. You’re going to be an uncle.”

Derek pulled Vivienne into an embrace, joy filling his eyes.

“Oh, Viv!” I gasped.

I hugged her once Derek had let go of her. Beaming, Derek slapped Xavier on the back. “Thank you, my friend,” he said. “You’ve just improved my day considerably.”

Xavier grinned. “Really, Derek. The pleasure was all mine.”

Chapter 9: Micah

Once the conversation with Rhys had finished, I didn’t have long to decide on my next move. They were gathering vampires and witches to join them, that much I knew. But how exactly were they going to travel to The Shade? Would they just vanish themselves there or would they pile into vessels and travel? The latter made more sense to me. After all, the vampires would need some place to stand while the witches worked on penetrating Mona’s spell.

But I couldn’t be sure. And I only had one shot at making it out of here with them. I couldn’t mess this up. So I bet on the latter, and began to race back down the mountain toward the island’s harbor with as much speed and stealth as I could manage.

On reaching the jetty, I noticed several submarines that hadn’t been here when I’d left for the castle. I looked from the submarines to the boat I had travelled here on. A boat was clearly easier to escape from. If I got detected hiding in one of the submarines, I’d be trapped inside the metal container, whereas at least boats were above water and I could smash my way out without too much difficulty. But would they choose to take a boat over a submarine?

I had no idea. As my body began to transform back into my humanoid form, the trees rustled behind me. I was running out of time. I didn’t have time to wait and see which vessels they chose, or I would end up being left behind. So I leapt into the nearest vessel to me—the yacht. I hurried down beneath the deck, hoping the witches had brought it back here because they intended to use it. I entered the bathroom and, closing the door behind me, slipped into the narrow closet beneath the bathtub where I’d hidden before.

Now all I could do was wait.

I breathed out a sigh of relief when footsteps sounded on the deck above. The yacht sank slightly as more and more people boarded the yacht. My breath caught in my throat as I heard people descending the stairs. I barely dared breathe as they passed outside the bathroom door.

I was beginning to relax a little as the footsteps disappeared down the corridor when the doorknob rattled. I clasped my hands over my mouth and nose and remained deathly still, trying to avoid making even the slightest noise.

The door creaked open and steps sounded on the floorboards a few feet away from me. There was a sharp burst of water as the tap turned on and off. Then cupboards began to open and close.

“Roman,” a male voice called. There were more footsteps as another person entered the room. “Do you smell that?” he asked.

The two men sniffed the air. “I smell… wolf.”

Oh, no.

I guessed that these must be vampires to sense me locked up in a cupboard… or perhaps they were sensing me when I’d stayed down here before, even in my wolf form. To my horror, the door of my closet banged as someone kicked against it. I gripped the handle and pulled it toward me, even though I had locked it. It was a flimsy lock by any standards, and wouldn’t last five seconds with any real pressure from a vampire.

I grabbed the handle and pulled it toward me. He tugged again, harder. My grip loosened. One more tug from him, and it would pop right open.

“What are you doing down here?” a shrill female voice called. It sounded like Julisse. “Everyone is supposed to be above deck.”

The vampire trying to break into my cupboard loosened his grip and stepped back.