A Shade of Novak (A Shade of Vampire #8)(24)

Ben placed the bowl on the floor and I rested my head against his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer against him.

“I miss our parents,” Ben admitted.

“Me too.”

Chapter 12: Sofia

Under the questioning glares of all the vampires on the island, we made them all gather in the large clearing outside the Black Heights and wait in line as we called them into the mountain chambers for interviewing. Claudia, Ashley and Zinnia produced a particularly loud symphony of complaining, so we saw those three early. Eli, Derek and I each interviewed a vampire at a time, but it still took all day even though each interview didn’t last long.

We even interviewed those closest to us: Vivienne, Xavier and my own father, Aiden. Although there was no chance in hell they’d betray us, we had to do it.

Lastly, we asked ourselves the same questions and concluded that each of us had alibis.

As it turned out, every single vampire on the island had alibis for the night the Cancún kidnappings took place… except for Aiden and Abby.

Eli, Derek and I sat alone in one of the mountain chambers we now used for storing sacks of food for the human inhabitants of the island.

“Well, leaving aside my father and Abby for a moment, everyone else seems to be innocent,” I said. “Of course, unless this is a mass operation with multiple vampires going behind our backs and providing each other with alibis.”

“I suppose that it’s possible,” Derek said. “But that would be hard to orchestrate on such short notice. We asked detailed information and it would have been hard to not slip up.”

“So, we’re left with Aiden and Abby,” Eli said, frowning at the long list of names of vampires in front of us.

“Ludicrous,” I said. “Neither of them would do something like this.”

“So, since you’re convinced of that, we can cross everyone at The Shade off of our list of possible suspects,” Eli said, dropping the list on the table and leaning back in his chair, stretching out his legs.

I nodded.

“So we’re back to square one,” Derek muttered.

“I’m going to turn in now,” Eli said, standing up. “I’ll think more about all of this when I’m fresh in the morning.”

Derek and I returned to our own penthouse. We both sat at the dining table and sipped on some blood before heading off to bed. As we were both drifting off, a pounding on our front door sent us shooting up out of bed.

Derek swung the door open to see Eli standing at the door, covered in sweat, eyes alight with panic.

“I just tuned into the news before sleeping,” Eli said, panting. “There have been more kidnappings. Hawaii.”

He came rushing in.

“There were two incidents… some days apart from each other. The second incident,” he said, gasping for breath. “R-Rose and Benjamin Novak, both twenty-one years old. Staying with Kristal and Jake Palmer, eighteen and nineteen. They said on the radio. All four are missing.”

“What? But they’re not anywhere near Hawaii,” I breathed. “They’re in Scotland. And they’re seventeen. It must just be a coincidence.”

“Twins! They’re twins!”

Whatever blood I still had in my pale face drained out of me. I looked up at Derek. His jaw dropped open, eyes widening.

“Come! I’ll show you,” Eli urged. “They showed photos. I saw them. They’re your twins, goddamn it!”

Chapter 13: Rose

I must have drifted off in Ben’s arms, because I woke to the sensation of the submarine shuddering so violently both Ben and I were thrown to the ground. I groaned as my head connected with the wall. Then my stomach lurched—it felt as if we were surfacing.

Several minutes passed in silence, but then there were shouts and banging overhead. It sounded like a violent argument was going on.

“Do you realize who their father is?”

“Obviously. That’s why we took them.”

“Stellan, you’re a bloody fool.”

“For carrying out Annora’s orders?”

“Liar. Even she wouldn’t order something like this.”

“She did. As soon as you told her you’d almost taken the girl.”

“Liar!”

More crashing. Shouts. Screams. Then heavy footsteps descended the steps outside the door. Wood splintered and metal bent as someone kicked the door down in three violent motions.

A tall young man stood over us, a deep gash across his cheek, his face covered with dirt and sweat. His shirt was ripped, revealing his muscled chest beneath.

The vampire I’d danced with on the beach.

Caleb.

His deep brown eyes settled on us.

“Hurry,” he said, his chest heaving. “I need to get you out of here.”

Ben and I shot to our feet. Caleb gripped my arm and pushed me up the stairs in front of him, while Ben followed closely behind.

As I was about to step up onto the upper deck, Caleb jerked me back.

“Wait,” he whispered.

He climbed up on the same step where I was standing, his rock-hard chest pressing against me as he strained his neck to see what was happening on the deck above.

“Now!”

He almost lifted me off my feet as he pulled me up with him. I glanced back anxiously to check that Ben was still following us.