A Trail of Echoes (A Shade of Vampire #18)(12)

Caleb remained staring at me, waiting for me to continue. Detaching myself from him, I rolled onto my back and gazed up at the ceiling. “When Ben and I were newborns, we got separated. He was taken to Aviary… by none other than Kiev. I just wonder if the Hawks could’ve done something to him that even Kiev wasn’t aware of. Or if the atmosphere affected him somehow. I already mentioned the idea to my parents, but of course, there is no way that we would know for certain… unless you tried turning me.”

Caleb sat upright. I could see from the expression on his face that he didn’t like where I was going with this. But I continued all the same. “If you tried turning me, one of two things would happen. I could turn out exactly like my brother, or I could turn into a normal vampire. If it was the former, we’d know for sure that there’s something strange about our blood that causes this reaction, and we could eliminate the Aviary theory. But if I turned out all right… we’d be a step closer to understanding what’s wrong with my brother, however small a step that might be.”

“Why don’t we save this talk of turning for when we return from our honeymoon? We’ll have plenty of time to discuss this then with your parents and family.”

I bit my lip. “The thing is… if we’re going to try this, it would make sense to do it while we are away from The Shade, away from our humans, floating on a boat where you can control me…”

Caleb shot to his feet, wrapping a sheet around his waist. He stared down at me incredulously. “Is this supposed to be a joke?”

I shook my head.

He breathed out sharply. “What if you turned out exactly like him? Then what?”

“Then we’d have the opportunity to experiment on me, and figure out how to make me normal.”

He looked at me in disbelief. “Rose, this is supposed to be a honeymoon. Honeymoon. Do you know what that word means? I’ll tell you what it doesn’t mean. A crazy, dangerous experiment in which neither of us understand what the hell we are doing and which could end up with you turning into a rampaging bloodsucker for all eternity.”

Despite the seriousness of the subject, I couldn’t help but find amusement in Caleb’s exasperation.

“If things got really, really bad,” I said, “we could return to The Shade and I could just take the cure.”

Caleb scoffed. “‘Just take the cure.’ You speak of it like it’s popping a pill. You have no idea how painful it is.”

“I do have an idea. My parents told me how much it hurts.” I got up from the bed and walked over to him. Reaching for his hands, I held them gently and stopped him pacing.

He looked down at me, concern filling his eyes. “But just like turning into a vampire,” he said, “it doesn’t matter how much people have told you about the experience. There’s no way to prepare for the agony.”

“Maybe, Caleb,” I replied softly. “But please understand… I need to try this, for my brother’s sake and mine.” I reached up to kiss his jawline. “And for our peace of mind.”

He wet his lower lip. “And what about our children?” he asked, his brown eyes boring into mine. “Say for the sake of argument the turning did go fine, then what? If we want children, I would have to become a human in a few years anyway. What’s the point in your becoming a vampire now when you would have to turn back soon? You’d be putting yourself through an unnecessary amount of pain—and risk.”

“Because I don’t want to wait that long. I’m fed up with living in uncertainty about our future and about my brother. I just want to at least do what’s within our power to try to understand the situation.”

Caleb turned his back on me and faced the window, leaning an arm against the frame. I remained in my spot a few feet away from him and didn’t say a word. I needed to let him think.

When he finally turned back around to face me, I was relieved to see a look of resolve in his eyes.

“I understand what this means to you, Rose. I understand how hard it must be for you to have your twin go through what he has and to be living in such uncertainty. But it comes down to this: I’m not willing to inflict unbearable torture on my new bride during her honeymoon.” He paused, a spark of sarcasm in his eyes. “Call me old-fashioned…”

“Then do it right at the end,” I shot back, “just before we return.”

He narrowed his eyes on me.

“That way,” I continued, “we can enjoy a long, peaceful honeymoon with no hurry to return. You can turn me when we come back, just a few miles from The Shade. So if things get really bad, you can take me back there quickly.”

He still looked wary, but apparently he was struggling to find an argument against this compromise.

I walked up to him again, wrapping my arms around his waist and pressing my bare form against him. I kissed his chest, letting my tongue graze his skin. “Please, baby,” I whispered.

He looked down at me, until finally he muttered:

“Your father is going to skewer me.”

Chapter 9: Derek

I stood in the Armory with Xavier and Ibrahim, eyeing the walls covered with weapons. Some had been newly developed by the witches, while others were as old as The Shade itself. I still remembered some of the stakes from the Battle of First Blood. They had aged well.