A Shade of Doubt (A Shade of Vampire #12)(34)

“How could there be no skeleton at least?” I breathed.

He clenched his jaw. “Either this predator is swallowing them whole, or we aren’t looking hard enough for the remains.”

“Then we need to double our efforts in searching this island,” I said.

Derek nodded, running a hand through his hair as he took in the ghastly sight once more before heading toward the exit. “And from this moment on, a vampire must be appointed to guard each human residence,” he said while we descended the stairs. “No human home can be left unprotected until we get to the bottom of this.”

As we walked out the front door, back onto the street, the crowd assailed us with question after question. Derek looked in my direction. I nodded, indicating that he should leave to make emergency arrangements while I remained to try to pacify our people.

I looked around at all the terrified and confused faces. I did my best to answer their questions. Most of all, they just wanted to be reassured that their children would be able to sleep safely at night.

“Derek has just left to make sure this place is swarming with vampire guards. They will camp out here and will not leave until we have found the killer.”

“But what if it’s a vampire who’s the killer?” a high-pitched voice called out.

I looked toward the source of the voice, a young boy with jet-black hair. Cal was his name, if I remembered correctly. The youngest of the Anderson family. I walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, bending down to his level so I could look him in the eye.

“No guard has touched a human on this island for almost twenty years, honey. Do you really think that one of them would have done this?”

He shrugged.

I looked around at the crowd again. Everyone surrounding me was also looking at me questioningly. It shocked me that this doubt could have entered so quickly into their hearts after we’d lived together in harmony on this island for so many years.

“What if it’s Shadow?” a high-school student named Emily asked.

“Adelle has already confirmed that he was locked up in Eli’s apartment during the time of the first attack. And both of these attacks were clearly carried out by the same killer. Besides, Shadow has been trained by Eli to be of no harm to humans. Like the other vampires, he hasn’t touched a human in recent history.”

“What if it’s a werewolf?” Hector, an elderly man, spoke up. “Would you sentence it to death or banish it from the island?”

It. I winced at the way he referred our new residents.

I looked Hector right in the eye. “Whoever it is—werewolf, vampire, or something else—will be thrown off the island, never to return.”

The werewolves were dear to Mona, but if one was proven to be a killer I was sure that even she would agree that he ought to be expelled.

“Will Benjamin be thrown out for murdering Yasmine then?”

My eyes shot toward the thirty-something brunette to my left, dressed in black. Angelica, Yasmine’s aunt.

My voice caught in my throat. Several awkward moments of silence passed before I found my voice again.

“Angelica, the incident with Yasmine was a tragic accident,” I said, fighting to keep my voice steady. “As you know, Benjamin had just come to after being turned and Yasmine showed up right on his doorstep—”

“So you blame Yasmine?”

I stared at her, horrified at the way she was twisting my words. “That’s not what I said. I said that it was an accident. Yasmine was excited to see my son, who was not in control of himself. The deaths of Caroline and Thomas, and now Lucinda and Izmael, are clearly in a league of their own. They were no accident. They were cold-blooded murders.”

“So if Ben was indeed found to be responsible for Caroline, Thomas, Lucinda and Izmael’s deaths, you would classify him as a cold-blooded murderer?” Angelica shot back. She looked around at the crowd. “Remember our queen’s words, people. We have this from her own mouth.”

“My son did not kill them,” I said through gritted teeth.

Angelica looked like she was about to throw another bitter retort, but, apparently satisfied that she’d done enough damage, she pursed her lips and began walking in the opposite direction.

“When will the guards arrive?” Hector asked after a pause.

“Within half an hour,” I replied, relieved for the change of subject. “My husband is seeing to it as we speak.”

The crowd mumbled among themselves and after answering the rest of their questions, I took my leave.

As I exited the Vale, my mouth was dry. The encounter with Angelica had shaken me, and I still hadn’t recovered from it.

Ben couldn’t have done this… could he?

I stopped in my tracks, shocked to realize that her words had instilled even the slightest bit of doubt in me about my son.

If even his own mother can’t have complete conviction in his innocence, where does that leave The Shade’s prince?

I shook the thought away, trying to dismiss all doubt that it could have been my son. I had almost reached the Residences when Patricia appeared out of thin air in front of me.

“We’ve found the killer.”

My mouth dropped open. “Who?”

“The ogre.”

Chapter 23: Sofia

“Brett?” I gasped, staring at Patricia in disbelief. “How would he even fit in those small human houses? He’s far too big. It would have been imposs—”