A Trail of Echoes (A Shade of Vampire #18)(33)

“Of course I’ll take you there,” Eli said. “You might want to climb onto my back though since it will be faster.”

I climbed onto the vampire’s lean frame and he began racing off into the darkness of the woods. He was so fast it was hard for me to see where we were going, but when he stopped, it was at the foot of a towering redwood tree. But I was confused. This part of the woods seemed just as bereft of vampires as the one that I had left.

“Where—?”

He pointed upward.

I gasped. “Oh, my.”

Benjamin had described something of The Shade to me, but he hadn’t described these. Stunning penthouses built atop the giant redwood trees.

Wow.

Eli took me to the thick trunk of the tree, and led me toward an elevator shaft that had been hidden round the back. He stepped inside with me, and we ascended the towering tree. It took my breath away to look down and I began to feel dizzy as we arrived at the top. Stepping out of the elevator, we emerged on a gorgeous veranda lined with pretty plant and flower plots. And the view from this height… it was unearthly. A sea of treetops spread out for miles. In the distance was the sparkling ocean and to my right was a sprawling mountain range.

Once I tore my eyes away from the heart-stopping view, we stopped outside a large wooden door.

Eli knocked.

“Sofia! Derek!” he called. “Open up!”

I heard the sound of a door opening inside, and then footsteps. The front door swung open a few seconds later.

Standing before me in the doorway, over six feet tall and wearing blue pajamas, was the spitting image of Benjamin Novak. Except for his eyes, the similarities were stunning.

Although there was something that struck me as odd about this man who could only be King Derek Novak… His skin had a light tan glow to it. He was clearly not the vampire Ben had described him as.

I felt shivers run down my spine as the king’s piercing blue gaze settled on me. He looked me over curiously, then back at Eli.

“What is all this? At this time of night?”

Eli looked at me, indicating that I do the talking.

I cleared my throat. “My name is River Giovanni and I’m a friend of your son. I need to speak with you and your wife urgently.”

“My son?”

“Yes.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s, uh, waiting near the island.”

Derek spun around, looking over his shoulder and called back into the apartment. “Sofia!”

A pretty redhead in her early to mid-twenties raced to the doorway. This was Ben’s mom. She was clearly a vampire.

Her green eyes—so similar to Ben’s—widened as she stared at me.

“This is River, a friend of Ben,” Derek said. “He’s near The Shade.”

“Where?” she gasped.

“By the boundary near the Port,” I said. “I can—”

Before I could finish my sentence, Sofia reached for my hand and pulled me toward the elevator. Derek followed a few feet after, and so did Eli. We all descended in the elevator, and as we reached the bottom, we began running forward, Sofia still holding my hand. I slowed her down considerably compared to the two men who were speeding ahead, but finally we all arrived at the Port.

They stared out over the waves toward the boundary, squinting. I stood at the end of the jetty, looking in the direction I had last seen Ben. At first I thought that he might have left already, and my heart sank, but then I noticed the submarine’s shiny roof above the water and the small bump of the hatch.

“Over there.” I pointed.

“Ben!” Sofia began to shout.

Derek was already in one of the boats that surrounded the jetty, and we all bundled in after him. We began speeding toward Ben’s submarine, which was rising higher above the water.

I knew that Ben would’ve preferred to leave quietly, but there really wasn’t a way around it. Of course they would want to see him. From what Ben was telling me, it had been a long time since they had last seen each other.

I looked nervously at Derek as we neared Ben’s submarine.

“Um, I’m not sure that it will be safe for you to go near him,” I said. “He still has a problem controlling himself around human blood.”

Derek didn’t slow down in the slightest, but he looked at me and nodded.

As we reached the submarine, the four of us climbed onto the roof. The hatch lifted and Ben climbed out of it.

“Ben!” his parents called.

The expression on Ben’s face was a mixture of tension and confusion. As Derek and Sofia moved toward him, he said, “Dad? You’re a… a human? Don’t come near me!”

Sofia had already reached him by now, and she embraced him.

I hurried up to Ben and stood right by him, hoping that my blood would help to diffuse the scent of his father.

Derek looked pained as he stared at his son, as though there was nothing more that he wanted to do than pull him in for a hug, but he seemed to know better than to draw too close.

He remained standing at a distance, watching his son.

Sofia had tears dripping down her cheeks as she finally stepped back from Ben. Tears of happiness. Tears of relief.

Ben reached for me, and pulled me closer. His body felt so tense—the effect that his father’s blood was having on him. Ben lowered his face to my neck, and breathed me in.