A Vial of Life (A Shade of Vampire #21)(53)

“You must listen to me,” I said, my eyes boring into hers. “My parents and grandfather are in danger. Jeramiah is on the island with the witch, Amaya. He’s planning to round up all three, take them to the cluster of rocks—near The Shade’s port, but outside the boundary— and hand all three over to the hunters. You need to warn them urgently. He could strike anytime between now and 3PM.”

Her eyes filled with fear as they shot back over her shoulder toward the dark island.

I forced her attention back to me. “You must tell them to stay near witches at all times, and they need to smoke Jeramiah and the witch out of The Shade. His base was in the old farmhouse near the potato fields. I don’t know if he’ll return to that house, but there is a chance that he might. The two have been roaming the island beneath the protection of an invisibility spell, but you’ve got to find them.”

River nodded fiercely, even as she looked panicked. “O-Okay,” she said. “I’ll go right now! You should come with me, too!”

“You need to wake up, River,” I said. I pushed my mouth against hers in a short, passionate kiss. “Wake up. Wake up now.”

“But your parents!” she exclaimed, glancing again at the island. She took a step back and, gripping my hand, began attempting to race toward the Port. “There’s no time to lose.”

“Yes, but you have to wake up first.”

I reeled her in and pulled her against me, even as she tried to keep moving forward. I clutched her shoulders and shook them hard, harder than I would have liked to, but I reminded myself this was just a dream. And I had to jolt her into wakefulness. If I let her go wandering off, she would only keep dreaming.

Finally, my firmness worked. The scene around me faded away, along with River, and the feel of her shoulders in my hands. Now, with my eyes still closed, all I saw was blackness. River’s dream had ended.

Chapter 20: Ben

My eyes shot open. I looked around, my consciousness returning to the dark forest surrounding me.

Now that River was awake, I had to pray that firstly, she would remember the dream, and secondly, she would find it in herself to act on it. Sane people didn’t act on dreams. Why would they when dreams were, for the most part, nonsensical fabrications of the subconscious? I had to hope that, somehow, River would be able to sense that this dream was different. That I had infected her with my urgency.

I left my spot beneath the tree and began to race toward the Vale. Dashing along the streets, and arriving outside River and her family’s townhouse, I walked through the closed front door. As I entered the hallway, I heard voices coming from the kitchen at the end of the corridor.

I hurried through a second closed door to see Jamil and Nadia— who looked much better than when I’d seen her earlier— sitting around the kitchen table, bowls of pasta in front of them, while River stood leaning against the counter. She wore the same day clothes she had changed into earlier. Were it not for her mussed hair and bleary eyes, I wouldn’t have been able to tell that she had just taken a nap. She had dark circles under her eyes, and she barely looked more refreshed than the last time I’d seen her.

I walked up to her and tried to take her hands in mine, as I would’ve been able to do in the dream. As my fingers drifted right through her, I stared down at her, watching every expression that crossed her face intently.

Come on, River. Come on. Remember what I told you.

She reached a hand up and clamped it around her shoulder before rolling her neck slowly. There was a restlessness about her demeanor, and that gave me hope.

“I didn’t mean to doze off, actually,” River murmured.

“You needed it, honey,” her mother said, eyeing her with concern. “Go sleep some more if you’re tired.”

River shook her head. “No,” she said. She left the counter and took a seat at the table, opposite Jamil.

“Won’t you eat something?” Nadia asked.

“Maybe a bit later,” River replied vaguely. She breathed out, leaning her elbows on the table and rubbing her fingers against her forehead. “I had a strange dream,” she admitted finally.

That’s it. Come on, River.

“What was it?” Jamil asked, glancing up curiously from his food.

“I saw Ben again… two Bens actually. One of them arrived back on the island in a submarine, and assured me that he was fine. But the other… he looked so pale, so ethereal. He told me that Jeramiah was on the island. He said that Jeramiah managed to get through the boundary with his witch companion, Amaya. And he said that Derek, Sofia and Aiden are in danger from the duo.”

She paused, looking from her brother to her mother for their reactions.

“That was the whole dream?” her mother asked.

“That was the gist of it… it ended with Ben shaking me and urging me to wake up. And then I did.” She released another breath, looking unnerved.

“Dreams can be the strangest things,” Nadia muttered, spooning pasta into her mouth.

“Come on, River!” I said, out loud this time.

Silence fell between the three of them.

“I mean,” River continued, “it was just a dream, but… isn’t it strange how I woke up just when he told me to? It was like I actually felt his urgency. I woke up in a panic, and I was sweating.”

“Why don’t you go talk to Derek and Sofia?” Jamil suggested, eyeing his sister, his fork paused mid-air. “Since they returned from their journey, you’ve wanted to go see them anyway, haven’t you?”