A Shade of Novak (A Shade of Vampire #8)(28)

The door swung open to reveal a tall, pale black-haired woman with cool grey eyes.

“And what have we here?” she said, looking down at me coldly.

Caleb gripped my arm and pulled me inside.

The room was rectangular, with an oblong table at one end and several silk-covered chaise longues at the other. The velvet curtains had been drawn.

“This,” Caleb began as he shut the door behind us, “is the Novak girl. Stellan kidnapped her and her brother.”

Stellan. That must be the ginger-haired bastard’s name.

“So what are you doing with this girl?” Annora said. “I instructed Stellan to bring both twins to his island. I never wanted them here.”

“You what?” Caleb’s jaw dropped as he stared at the young woman.

She smiled coldly and walked up to him, running a finger across his cheek. He flinched at her touch, but he didn’t back away.

“Yes, Caleb. I told Stellan to kidnap them.”

“Are you insane? Why would you do that?” Caleb fumed. “Our task is difficult enough as it is without—”

“When you told me you’d almost taken this Novak girl that night you went to the beach, it got me thinking…” She looked down at me, wrinkling her nose. “But now’s not the time.”

“Christ.” Caleb exhaled, lifting a hand to his forehead.

Annora looked him over sternly. “Did you try to ambush Stellan?”

Caleb nodded. “I didn’t think you’d give such an order.”

She chuckled and wrapped an arm around Caleb’s waist, while the other hand lifted his chin up to face her. Again, he flinched at her advances, but didn’t step away.

“Do you still have no faith in me, after all this time?”

He scowled. “Whatever your plan is,” he said through gritted teeth, “keeping these twins as prisoners is going to cause more mess than it’s worth. We need to return them both immediately.”

“No,” she said, the smile on her lips fading. “The Novak boy will remain with Stellan. And since you’ve brought the girl here, she may as well remain here under your rule. Come to think of it, it’s probably better that the two aren’t kept together.”

Caleb’s jaw twitched. “And what am I to do with her?”

“For now, you can treat her as a guest. Give her her own room. Of course, you’ll need to inform her of what will happen should she try to escape.”

“Wait, no. Please.” I stepped forward and got down on my knees in front of her. “Please, let us go.”

Caleb gripped my arm and pulled me away from her.

“Please!” I shouted, as he dragged me out of the room. “I need to see my brother! At least bring him here, or allow me to go there!”

Caleb slammed the door shut behind us. Once we were outside, he swore and smashed his fists against the stone wall.

I held my breath as I stared at him, tears welling in my eyes again.

“What’s going to happen to my brother?”

“Never try to plead with that witch,” he said, inhaling deeply as though trying to reel in his temper. “It will only make her more bent on her course of action.”

“She’s a witch?”

He nodded, grimacing.

“But you’re the ruler of this place? Just take us back home! Why do you have to listen to that bitch?”

He caught my hand and pulled me down the stairs with him. “For your sake, I hope she didn’t hear you call her that.”

“Answer my question,” I said, tugging on his hand as I struggled to keep up with his speed.

He ignored me and continued to drag me down the steps.

I stopped in my tracks, refusing to take another step. Letting go of my hand, he gripped my midriff and flung me over his shoulder.

“Put me down!” I gasped, winded.

When he finally put me down, we were standing outside an open door. He led me through to a bedroom. It was cold, just like the rest of the castle, although the room was comfortable—luxurious even—with its velvet curtains and thick duvets.

The vampire turned to leave.

“No! You can’t just walk out on me like this,” I yelled, running after him. “I need answers!”

He slammed the door shut, and the key twisted in the lock.

Chapter 17: Rose

After about an hour of screaming and bashing the front door, it was clear that nobody was going to let me out. My fists raw from pounding against the rough wood, I walked back into the bedroom and drew open the balcony doors. I stepped outside onto the balcony and looked around.

That witch never said anything about locking me in here. I’m supposed to be a guest.

First I looked out toward the sea—it appeared to be night now, since the sun no longer glistened against the waves outside of the boundary.

I shuddered. Below me was a steep drop of hundreds of feet, down onto jagged mountain cliffs. I was on one of the highest floors of the building. It would be suicide to escape this way. There was nothing to hold on to. Just rock.

There were rows of balconies, both on my level and also the level above. But the balconies were too far apart for me to jump safely from one to the other.

I left the balcony and looked around the bedroom. I headed straight for the closet and was relieved to see a warm, thick robe. I wrapped it around myself and felt a little warmer, though still frozen to the bone.