A Vial of Life (A Shade of Vampire #21)(50)

“All right… well, what would you like me to do next?” she asked.

Jeramiah folded up his note and placed the parchment in the witch’s hand. “First of all, you will deliver this to the hunters,” he said. “Take it directly to the captain of any one of those ships and make sure that he sees it. Then you’ll need to return to me as fast as you can.”

Amaya frowned. “But if I leave the boundary, how will I reenter the island?”

“Good point,” Jeramiah replied, raising a hand to his chin and stroking it. “I will swim to the boundary—in a straight line from the Port. Just make sure you’re visible, and I’ll spot you. I’ll reach out and hopefully I’ll be able to pull you back through.”

“Then you will travel with me now, I assume,” the witch said. “I’ll transport us by magic and drop you off in the water near the boundary.”

“No,” Jeramiah said. “I’ll head there myself… This could be my last run through the island. But don’t worry. I’ll make sure that you’re not waiting long—if at all—for me.”

She nodded, sliding the parchment beneath her sleeve. “And after that?”

Jeramiah paused before his voice lowered. “After that, we just need to ensure that the promised guests show up on time for their party.”

Chapter 17: Ben

Amaya recast the invisibility spell and vanished with the note, leaving Jeramiah and me standing alone in the room.

My eyes turned on the vampire. Anger welled within me. He moved to the duo of candles sitting on the ledge by the shuttered window and snuffed them both out, plunging the room into darkness. Then he left the living area and let himself out of the front door. I hurried after him, my eyes boring into the back of his head as he stepped outside and paused briefly, drawing in a deep breath of fresh air. He gazed around the dark, empty field—at least, it was empty for him.

The moment he stepped out, the crowd of ghosts’ attention shot toward him. They began to approach, keeping a distance of about five feet as they circled around him, and gazed at him expectantly. I guessed that they were all waiting for the “man with the pipe” to start playing again. As shrill as that tune sounded up close, they seemed to genuinely get pleasure from it. Perhaps I would too if I’d been a ghost as long as them.

Jeramiah ventured forward, away from the farmhouse and out onto the soil. He picked up speed and began sprinting toward the woods.

“Bastard,” I cursed, running in his wake.

“Hey! What are you doing?” one of the ghosts called to me—the air stewardess, Lucinda—as I caught up with Jeramiah, but I ignored her.

My arms outstretched, I motioned to grip Jeramiah by the neck. My fingers passed through him like air. I balled up my hands into fists and tried to punch him, push him, make him stumble, do anything to slow him in his deadly race, but I was as useless as vapor.

“You’re just the snake your father was,” I spat, wishing to God that he could hear me.

I leveled with him as he continued running at breakneck speed. He’d now entered the woods and was whipping through the redwood trees.

I didn’t know exactly how he was planning to drag my parents and grandfather out of the island. He would make the witch do it somehow. I guessed they’d catch my family when there were no other witches around. Amaya would swoop in and… I need to warn them! But how?

My entire being swelled with aggravation. What is the point of this damned existence? I would be just as useful to my family if I really were dead. The thought that I had the knowledge to prevent my parents and grandfather from becoming victims of Jeramiah’s deadly plan, while being utterly unable to warn them about it, was leading me toward the brink of insanity.

3 PM. Even that time was uncertain. Jeramiah had said that my family would be taken to the rocks before 3 PM. What time is it now? I didn’t even know. How long would Amaya take in delivering the message to the hunters? When would she be back, and when exactly was she going to attempt to steal away my parents and grandfather?

I attempted to bring some order to my frenzied mind, but being about two feet away from Jeramiah as he continued hurtling forward wasn’t helping. His presence was only aggravating me further and making it more difficult to think clearly. I hung back and let him continue without me. It wasn’t like I could do anything by following him anyway.

I had heard and seen enough. Now I had to rack my brain as to what I could possibly do. I kept moving forward, though at a slower pace as I tried to clear my mind of panic and make way for logic. But my thoughts were frozen on where Jeramiah and Amaya were right now and what they might be doing. Could Amaya have delivered the note already?

Then, as I passed by the Great Dome, a light switched on and blasted through my foggy mind.

I recalled what Jeramiah had tried to do in there less than an hour ago, before my parents and their council had caused an interruption. He had asked the witch to put him into a dreamful slumber, and he had been convinced that, if Lucas still roamed the earth as a ghost, he would be able to sense his presence.

A dreamful slumber. My cousin’s request played over in my head.

Thanks to my encounter with Ernest back in The Tavern, I already knew that ghosts could intercept others’ dreams. They could peer into the living’s bubbles of sleep as though they were peering through a window… But could that really be a two-way window? Was it really possible for a living, breathing person to communicate with a ghost via a dream? It seemed unbelievable but, as I reminded myself with a grimace, I wasn’t exactly a stranger to fantastical occurrences. Besides, I didn’t know how else Jeramiah had been expecting to be aware of Lucas’s presence.