A Fall of Secrets (A Shade of Vampire #15)(28)

I was about to inform him about my inability to half-turn healthy humans, but I held my tongue. I would wait until he actually asked me to turn one before informing him of this. There was no point before then—for all I knew, the occasion might not even arise.

Jeramiah placed his now empty glass down on the sand and stood up. He walked over to where Marilyn was dancing. Catching her hands, he placed them around his neck and slid his hands down to her hips. He led her toward the main dance area.

I took that as my cue to leave. At least for now, Jeramiah appeared to have had enough conversation. And my head was feeling lighter and lighter. I couldn’t be sure if it really was something in the drink. Perhaps it was something about this desert air making me react like this. Whatever the case, I stood up.

“Excuse me,” I said. “I’m not feeling my best at the moment.”

Most of the crowd nodded understandingly. Jeramiah called to me as I passed him. “Leaving so soon? The party hasn’t even started yet.”

“Yeah,” I called back. “I haven’t managed to sleep since I got here. I’m going to try now.” To my surprise, a yawn escaped my mouth as I finished the sentence.

“Catch you later,” Jeramiah said.

I entered the trap door and climbed back down onto the platform overlooking the atrium. Descending in the elevator to my floor, I headed straight for my apartment. I locked the door behind me, my feet now strangely heavy. What is wrong with me?

Dropping down on the bed and closing my eyes, I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

When I woke up several hours later, it was to a burning feeling in my right bicep. My head pounding, I sat upright and looked down at it:

A black cross etched into my skin.

It seemed that whether I wanted to become a member of this coven or not, I’d just been marked.

Chapter 20: Rose

I woke the next morning to find myself alone in bed. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and looking around the room.

“Caleb?”

I slid out of bed and exited the room. He wasn’t in the bathroom, or in the living room. I caught sight of him standing outside on the veranda, leaning against the railing and staring out toward the ocean.

I opened the front door and joined him outside. I walked up behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist and burying my head against his back. His hands closed around my arms, holding me against him.

“Something has happened, Rose,” he said quietly.

He turned around to face me, looking down at me with a serious expression on his face.

“What?”

“The black witches. They’re now on a rampage like never before. They’re stealing masses of human teenagers.”

My breath hitched. “What? How do you know?”

“They’ve been caught on camera. Your father called a meeting in the Great Dome last night and requested that I was present.”

“Oh, my.”

“The first victims we know of were a group of adolescents in a schoolyard. Your parents have left the island with Corrine. They’ve gone to try to warn the humans on the neighboring shores. In the meantime, Mona is trying to figure out if there’s any way we can end Lilith. Mona believes that she is the key to our problems.”

My mind was still fixed on my parents. “But how would warning humans do any good? Even with the warning, there would be no stopping those black witches.”

“Correct. But we need to make this as difficult for the witches as possible. We need to delay them in this ritual they are trying to carry out.”

“So they are meeting with the police?”

Caleb nodded.

“When will they be back?”

He shrugged. “We don’t know. Your parents hoped they would be able to return within a matter of days.”

My head was beginning to reel. So much had happened since I had fallen asleep several hours ago.

Frustration filled me that my parents had left without me. I didn’t want to just sit here on this island. I wanted to help do something to combat this situation.

Caleb seemed to notice my restlessness. He frowned as he looked down at me. “What are you thinking?”

“I hate sitting still.” I began pacing slowly up and down the floorboards. “Has Mona made any progress since they left?”

“I’ve heard no news.”

Caleb’s words replayed in my mind.

We need to make this as difficult for the witches as possible.

More difficult…

“My parents have left, but is everyone else still here?” I asked.

“To my knowledge,” he replied.

There were so many more of us on this island, just sitting here. It seemed a waste of time for us to just be sitting here doing nothing.

I sat down on the bench, dropping my head into my hands as I racked my brain.

Think, Rose. Think.

Caleb crouched down in front of me, placing his hands either side of me on the bench. “Your parents wanted us to stay put until they returned.”

But we didn’t know when they were returning.

As I looked up into Caleb’s eyes, an idea struck me. Now that I’d thought of it, I wondered why it hadn’t occurred to me immediately.

Placing my hands on Caleb’s shoulders, I stood up. “Wait here for me. I’ll be back soon.”