An End of Night (A Shade of Vampire #16)(13)

“No,” I groaned in despair. I looked back at Mona and Kiev. “Mona? Kiev?”

No answer. They didn’t budge an inch.

Fear gripped me as I wondered if they were even still alive. They appeared to be tied up, like me, and that was the only comfort I had, for I could not see them breathing.

I lost track of how long I lay there. I had no idea what I’d been captured for, or what they were going to do with me. The wait was agonizing. I found myself wondering if anyone was going to come at all, or whether they just intended to leave me—us—here to rot. I looked across the floor at the pool. I even considered dipping back into the water. But that would be suicide. Whatever they had tied around me was incredibly strong and I couldn’t break free no matter how much I fought.

My head was beginning to feel light—perhaps from shock—and my eyelids were growing heavy. Although I was glad for the oxygen, it didn’t feel like there was much of it in here. It also felt humid and hot. I felt claustrophobic, despite the highness of the ceiling above me.

My eyes shot toward the entrance of the cave as I heard a splash. Green scaly hands gripped the sides of the hole and a mermaid with flaming orange hair and a pearl-studded tiara emerged.

“Please,” I said, before she could have a chance to do anything to me. “You must understand why we are here. We don’t mean to cause harm. We are—”

“I already know what you claim to be here for.” Her voice was much softer to the ear than I’d expected. It was smooth, almost melodious. Quite a contradiction to the screeching sound I was used to these creatures making. A smile formed on her thin lips. “It is insulting that you expect us to believe such a story. Don’t you think you have insulted us enough already by murdering one of our wardens?”

“It is the truth,” I said, as calmly as I could. “We’ve come here in search of a vampire named Magnus because we wish to end the black witches. You must help us. If you don’t, even your own realm could be at risk from them.”

“Enough,” she said, anger now sparking in her eyes. “I know that you are allied with the black witches. I won’t tell you where Magnus is, so I suggest you forget about that. I will, however, make sure the last hours of your life are as uncomfortable as possible.”

With that, she turned her back to me and slithered along the floor toward a raised platform in one corner that looked over the entire cave.

She reached down to the ground and picked up what looked like a thin tube. Placing it between her lips, she turned to face me directly and blew out in one sharp breath. The next thing I knew, something dug into my shoulder, and then a heat burned and spread through my shoulder to my neck, my chest, until my whole body was stinging. My vision shrouded and after a minute, all went black.

Chapter 9: Rose

Corrine and Ibrahim vanished and went back to check for my mother. When they returned unsuccessful, my father, grandfather and I were panicking.

“Take me back there,” my father demanded.

He stood next to Ibrahim. Before he could vanish, I hurried over to him and so did my grandfather. When Caleb approached too, I turned to him. “You don’t need to come,” I said.

“If you’re going, I’m coming with you.”

And so we all vanished and reappeared back in the area where the monster had smashed into the islet. There were no living creatures around now, from what I could see.

“Allow us to breathe underwater,” my father said, addressing the warlock and witch. “And also make us invisible.”

“We need a plan, Derek,” Aiden said. “If we are all invisible, how are we going to communicate with each other? How will we prevent ourselves from getting lost?”

“We should be tied together,” Caleb said.

“Yes,” Ibrahim said. He and Corrine went about casting the first spell over us—I couldn’t feel any difference once they had finished, but I assumed that I would feel it once I dove into the water. “Now,” Ibrahim continued, “if I am to tie everyone together, we need to decide in what order we are going to be swimming. Who will go in front?”

My father was already ordering us all into a line. He suggested that Aiden go at the back, then Caleb, me, Corrine, Ibrahim, and himself at the front. Standing in this order, I felt something thick wrap around my waist and tighten. It felt like a rope, though it wasn’t visible to the eye.

Next, the warlock and witch made us all invisible. I reached behind me and felt for Caleb’s hand. I squeezed it tight.

“This invisibility won’t help us much,” my father said. “We’ll still be disturbing the water currents and producing a scent and taste in the water. So we need to move as fast as we possibly can.”

My father tugged us all forward and we dove into the ocean. I trusted that Ibrahim and Corrine’s breathing spell had worked—and indeed it had. It was the strangest thing. I no longer felt the need to inhale. It wasn’t a strain keeping my mouth closed because I felt no desire to open it. I wondered how long a spell like this could last on a human body. Hopefully long enough.

I also wondered if Mona had placed this invisibility spell on herself when she had entered the ocean. Kiev should’ve had it done to him too. He hadn’t even given Corrine or Ibrahim the chance to suggest it; he had been in such a hurry to go after Mona.

As we swam deeper and deeper through the dark green weeds, Caleb’s hands rested at my sides. I was still terrified of what we were about to encounter, but his touch brought me at least some reassurance.