A Shade of Novak (A Shade of Vampire #8)(23)

I turned on Eli and frowned at him.

“But how would they survive? All those other covens were wrecked by the Elders and they deliberately sucked all the vampires they could out of there. And where would they be keeping all these humans? How would they transport themselves there and back?”

Eli shrugged.

“I have no idea,” he said. “I’m just saying that we don’t have evidence that there aren’t other vampires existing on Earth outside of The Shade.”

“I don’t know,” I muttered, stretching my palms out on the table. “Everything points back right here to The Shade. I mean, it’s a large island. And we know how hard it is to live exclusively on animal blood. Hell, I find myself craving my own children’s blood sometimes.”

I locked eyes with Derek. We both shared the same expression. Neither of us wanted to believe that anyone could be betraying our trust and breaking a law of The Shade that we’d instituted two decades ago.

But most of all, neither of us wanted to be the ones to make an accusation like this of our own people.

“Maybe we should investigate,” Eli said finally, breaking the silence. “Then we can at least rule it out as an option.”

Derek nodded reluctantly.

“All right,” he said, clearing his throat. “I guess we’ll start once we’ve had some rest.”

“You are aware that our law calls for expulsion if someone here was found guilty?” Eli said, eyeing me.

I nodded, gulping.

Derek and I left Eli and returned to our penthouse. We undressed and got into bed. I snuggled against Derek beneath the sheets.

“Who do you think it could be?” I asked quietly, resting my head against his chest. “I mean, if it was somebody here, who do you think would be behind it?”

Derek shrugged, running his hands along my back.

“I can’t answer that. I just know that no matter who is behind this, we can’t allow ourselves to go back to our old ways.”

Chapter 11: Rose

I woke up to a searing pain in the back of my head. I reached for it and felt a round bump. I was lying on a hard metal floor. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Ben lay a few feet away from me. I scanned the room for Kristal and Jake, but they were nowhere to be seen.

I was sitting in a dark, damp room. And it felt like we were in some kind of vehicle or vessel, because we were moving forward. The lower deck of a boat, or perhaps the storage chamber of a submarine.

Memories flooding back, I scrambled over to Ben and shook him. He didn’t budge at first.

Oh, God.

I turned him over onto his back and placed my ear against his chest. I exhaled sharply when I heard his heartbeat.

“Ben!” I whispered, shaking his shoulders. “Ben, wake up!”

I shook him more violently. When he still didn’t open his eyes, I gave him a slap across his face.

That woke him. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes. “Wh-where… what happened?” He sat up, wincing as he rubbed the back of his head.

“I don’t know. I just woke up a few seconds ago.”

“Where are Kristal and Jake?”

“I told you, I don’t know.”

He pulled himself off the damp ground and we both sat on the bench.

“I don’t understand why these vampires want us,” he said. “I thought that vampire left you on the beach, even though he could have easily taken you?”

My brain was throbbing. “Yes,” I said. “He let me go. He even seemed scared to come near me.”

“Then what the hell are we doing here now? Who are these vampires? Where have they come from? They shouldn’t even exist.”

I paused and ran a tongue over my parched lips as a more disturbing question entered my mind. What will they do—or what have they already done—with Kristal and Jake?

“Some supernatural powers would come in handy now,” Ben muttered.

My throat was so dry, I was dying for water. I scanned the room, but there was nothing down here except a few dirty blankets in the corner. I buried my face in my hands and breathed deeply.

If anything happens to them, it will be all our fault.

We should have just gone to that stupid Scottish island.

“Ben,” I said suddenly. “Check your pockets. Is your phone still there?”

He reached into his back jeans pockets and shook his head.

“They must have searched us and confiscated it.”

I swore.

Ben got up and walked over to the metal door of the chamber and banged his fists against it.

“We’re awake, you *s!” he yelled, his voice as hoarse as my own. “Some water would be appreciated.”

Ben returned to his seat. Several minutes later, footsteps sounded outside and the door creaked open.

A tall ginger vampire stepped in and placed a tin bowl filled with water down on the floor. I recognized those light blue eyes of his instantly.

“What have you done with them?” I hissed, jumping up and running toward the door.

He slammed it shut before I could reach it.

I shouted in frustration and kicked the door. I looked down at the bowl and brought it over to the bench.

“You have some first,” Ben said.

I took a sip, then passed the bowl to him. We alternated until we’d drunk it all up. It tasted stale and metallic, like it had been stored in some kind of old rusting container for too long, but at least it wasn’t sea water.