A Shade of Doubt (A Shade of Vampire #12)(10)

When she spread out her fingertips, a metallic liquid flowed from them. Heavier than water, it sank to the bottom of the pool and as she filled the pool with more and more, soon it had displaced the water. My mother stopped once it was filled to the top. She ran her fingertips over the surface of the pool and the surface hardened beneath her touch. As I peered over it, it took about three minutes for it to form a mirror. Both my mother and I stared at our reflections.

My mother smiled as she looked over her handiwork.

“Now, we wait,” she said.

“How long do you think it will take?”

“It all depends on when he deems it safe.”

I stepped away from the pool, manifesting myself something more comfortable to sit on rather than rocks—a reclining armchair. My mother did the same as she took a seat opposite me, and when it began to rain, she formed a gazebo over us along with an invisibility spell to prevent anybody from noticing us.

For hours we sat, watching the glassy substance, waiting for any sign of movement. As midnight approached, I began to wonder if something had gone wrong. I kept looking up at my mother. She remained calm throughout, no sign of the slightest bit of anxiety, so that calmed my own nerves. I knew if she suspected something had gone wrong, I would notice it in her countenance.

She was right to be calm, for as midnight struck, the pool finally stirred. What had previously been a reflection of ourselves was now a different vision coming into focus. Blackness at first, then a sliver of light forming around the lid of the jewelry box. As the lid opened further, a bedroom came into view. Mona and a male vampire lay together on a bed, wrapped in each other’s arms, sleeping.

My mother’s eyes gleamed as we crouched down closer to what was now our window into The Shade.

“Yes,” she breathed. “Now, we see through Silas’ eyes.”

Chapter 6: Csilla

As our view left Mona’s bedroom and glided down the stairs, toward the exit of the building, I couldn’t shake the worry that Silas might mess up.

Yes, we had access to his vision the whole time, but we were powerless to ensure that he actually obeyed the plan we’d discussed with him earlier. If he decided to be disobedient, we’d have to watch weeks of planning go to waste. My mother seemed to sense my nervousness.

“Silas would be a fool to fail this task. This is his last assignment. After this, his bond to us is broken and he is a free spirit.”

I breathed a little easier hearing this assurance from her. If she was not worried, I shouldn’t be either.

She was right of course. Silas would be a fool. I sat back on my chair and tried to relax a little more as Silas began zooming along a beach. Two thick hands pressed against his eyelids, blurring our vision for a moment, to wipe away the rain that was bucketing down.

His speed soon found us entering a dense forest. Silas raised his head upward, scanning the treetops.

“Good,” my mother muttered. “He remembers where to look first. We need not worry, Csilla. It’s in his interest as much as ours to complete this task successfully.”

I began to wonder how he wasn’t bashing into things since his focus was on the treetops the whole time and he never seemed to be looking where he was going. Although ghouls like Silas were subtle beings—they could fold into impossibly small spaces and manifest themselves at will—when they did manifest, as Silas had now, they were flesh and bone. I supposed he had extrasensory abilities, since he didn’t once smash into a tree. It helped that he was floating too—he didn’t need to look at the ground.

“He’s going too fast,” I murmured. “He’s going to miss—”

My mother looked up, throwing me a glare. “Calm yourself, girl, or your nerves will drive me insane. Have some faith in him. He will not do wrong by us.”

I bit my lip, and averted my eyes back to the ghoul’s vision.

My mother squeezed my knee as the ghoul stopped short suddenly at the foot of a tree. “See? Up there. Those are the Residences. He’s spotted them now.”

My stomach clenched as Silas rushed toward a tree and began zooming upward with breathtaking speed. I began to feel dizzy just witnessing it. When he arrived at the top, he cast his eyes about. He was on a wide veranda with flower pots and ivy growing up the sides of the walls of a magnificent treehouse. Silas scanned the building and then, on spotting an open window, he lurched toward it. Two pale hands with sharp black nails reached out and pried the window open wider before he floated inside it.

Now we found ourselves looking around a living area of sorts—comfortable seating and various types of human technology, which led through to an open kitchen area.

I wondered whose penthouse we had entered first. I was relieved that he’d found the Residences so effortlessly. I doubted by the size and lavishness of the penthouses that they could be anything but housing for the royalty of the island. Now, we just needed to find our targets.

Silas drifted quickly from room to room. I had to keep my eyes peeled. He moved so fast it felt like I might miss something if I blinked.

Finally, after what felt like the sixth room, Silas exited the corridor by drifting through another wooden door and this time we appeared in the largest bedroom we’d seen so far.

A dark-haired vampire lay in the center of the bed with a beautiful red-haired woman in his arms, sheets wrapped loosely around their bare bodies. They both slept soundly.