A Fall of Secrets (A Shade of Vampire #15)(26)

I headed into the en suite bathroom, turning on the golden taps and relishing the cool water. I raised my head and stared at myself in the mirror. My eyes weren’t pitch black as they had been, but they were still a much darker shade of green than usual. Hopefully, if I was able to abstain from killing, they would return to their usual lighter color.

Jeramiah was right about me looking like I needed rest. Still, I had no desire to even try sleeping. I stripped out of my soiled clothes and stepped into the shower. The water gushed down onto my back, soothing me like a massage. I still couldn’t get over the facilities of this place. How lush it felt. I never would’ve dreamed in a million years that we were in the middle of the desert. They certainly wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without the witches. I wondered how they had gotten them on their side to begin with and how many were here altogether. I had only seen one so far—Amaya.

I reached for one of the soft white towels hanging on the rack and dried myself. Wrapping the towel around my waist, I headed back into the bedroom. Opening one of the cupboards, I found a pile of clean cotton pants and shirts. I pulled one of each off the shelf and dressed, then sat down on the bed directly opposite the mural. I stared at it, my vision unfocused.

I just have to keep my head down and wait this out. At least I won’t cause any more harm to anyone while staying here.

Chapter 19: Ben

I passed the next several hours lying on my back, staring up at the ceiling.

I replayed everything that had happened since I had left The Shade over and over in my mind, trying to make sense of my behavior—why I couldn’t have just transformed like every other vampire in The Shade.

It was a relief that at least I was able to think straight. Those hours I had spent in the submarine, submerged in darkness, had been one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. It had been like being on a trip I’d feared I would never come down from.

It had been a while now since I had killed someone. I could only assume that my theory was correct—blood in itself didn’t bring about that extreme reaction in me. It was the actual killing, giving into my urge to claim life. To consume. To devour.

I wondered what was going on in The Shade now, whether Rose had returned, and what was happening with the black witches. Whatever the island was going through, I knew that my parents and my people were better off without me. I would only be adding risk to an already treacherous situation.

I still didn’t know exactly what Jeramiah wanted me for. He had said that I would be useful in half-turning humans. I would have to explain to him that the only way I could half-turn a human was if he or she was sick. There was no way I would agree to touch a healthy one. I didn’t trust myself to not kill the human in an instant.

Yet I wasn’t sure that half-turning humans was truly why Jeramiah had shown interest in me. Michael, Jeramiah’s comrade whom I’d met back in Chile when I’d first come across them, had said that if they needed newly turned vampires to create half-bloods, they could just create a new vampire themselves. Besides, I wouldn’t be newly turned for long. A fair amount of time had already passed.

But whatever Jeramiah’s true intentions were, there was no point in reading too much into them now. I just had to watch my back and keep to myself as much as possible. Hopefully I would feel in a fit state to return to The Shade sooner rather than later.

* * *

As midnight approached, there was a knock on my door. Opening it, I found Jeramiah standing on my doorstep. He held a glass of wine in one hand. He was shirtless and wore dark pants, similar to the ones I was wearing. I noticed the tattoo of a black cross etched into his right bicep.

“I hope you weren’t sleeping?” he asked, a slight slur to his voice.

“No.”

“Good. I wanted to introduce you to some of the others. They are awake now.”

The last thing I felt like doing was going down to meet a crowd of people, but I couldn’t just refuse. They were letting me stay here. I had to put at least some effort into being sociable.

“Sure,” I said.

I followed him out the door. We walked along the open veranda toward the glass elevator.

“We’re out in the open tonight,” he said.

We ascended one level in the elevator and stepped out onto the glass-walled platform that overlooked the entire atrium. I looked up to see that the trap doors in the ceiling were wide open, the light of the moon streaming in. As we climbed the stairs toward the exit, the temperature became warmer, although as we stepped onto the sand it wasn’t as hot as I had expected. There was a cool desert breeze.

Looking around, I was surprised at how many men and women I saw—vampires, half-bloods and a few whom I guessed were witches. Exotic music filled the air from a corner where four women sat playing stringed instruments I didn’t recognize and a tambourine. To their left was a long table filled with containers of blood and alcoholic beverages. Men and women were dancing, and scattered loosely around the dance area were large cushioned chairs. Dozens of vampires shot glances toward Jeramiah and me as we began making our way toward the drinks table. Five men and women—half-bloods—stood behind it, serving drinks.

“What do you want?” Jeramiah asked me.

“Nothing, thanks.”

“Oh, come on. You need something to hold in your hand.”

“A small glass of blood then,” I said. “But don’t add alcohol. I don’t drink.”