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

“Sometimes stupid pays off.”

He let out a weak chuckle. “Sometimes.”

“Let’s just hope it pays off for my father…”

I walked to the edge of the rocks we were standing on and looked down at the water.

Come on, Ibrahim, what’s taking you so long?

I heaved a huge sigh of relief when the two men finally appeared on the island. My father had more cuts than when I had last seen him, but he seemed to be all right. I hurried up to him and flung myself into his arms.

“What happened?” I asked.

He looked around at everyone grimly. “I waited in a corner to trick the mermen into believing that we had all gone. As soon as they pulled themselves up out of the water, I managed to grab hold of one and coerce him into speaking to me. The long and the short of it is, Magnus is no longer here in The Cove.”

Everyone’s faces dropped.

Oh, man.

“Then where is he?” Aiden asked.

“The merman didn’t seem sure of the vampire’s whereabouts,” my father replied. “Apparently he hasn’t been seen in these parts for at least a century. The merman advised to try searching for him in The Woodlands. I wasn’t able to stay long enough for him to explain what The Woodlands is. Does anybody know?”

“The werewolf realm,” Micah said instantly.

We all eyed one another.

“Well,” Ashley muttered, scowling as she stood next to Landis and nursed a wounded elbow, “looks like this has officially become a goose chase.”

Chapter 10: Rhys

We took Lilith’s unconscious form up to a bedroom. Isolde and Julisse bathed her, then laid her down on a bed. We all looked on as she breathed gently, her eyelids still shut. It was bizarre seeing Lilith in this youthful form. I was so used to seeing her as a corpse. Of course, she wouldn’t remain like this forever. But it would be long enough to complete the final part of the ritual.

“Aunt,” I said, “would you step out of the room with me for a moment?”

Isolde looked confused at my request, but she turned to Julisse and said, “Stay here with Lilith.”

I led my aunt out of the bedroom and along the corridor outside until we were well out of earshot.

“What is it?” she asked.

“About the final step,” I said, bracing myself for her reaction. “Our plan needs to be modified slightly.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I have a way to make the ritual less prone to failure. We both know how fragile Lilith’s existence is, even in her young form. It’s possible she won’t make it through to the end—and that is a possibility that we can’t afford to entertain. The bond she had with Magnus… it has been enough to sustain her until now, but this ritual will put levels of stress on her that she has never had to bear before.” I paused, studying my aunt’s face for a moment before continuing. “Isolde, I went against Lilith’s wishes.”

“What?” she whispered.

“I imprisoned Magnus.”

My aunt’s jaw dropped. “What? How?”

“When we first came into contact with Lilith and I learned about her secret, I confronted her about Magnus. I told her that we couldn’t afford for anything to happen to him. Even as a vampire, he was and is not invulnerable. I knew that we needed to keep him alive for a long time. Anything could happen to him before we were ready to carry out the ritual. But Lilith refused to even entertain my suggestion. She wouldn’t tell me why, she just rejected it outright. She said that nothing would happen to him and imprisoning him wasn’t necessary. I tried to press at the time, tried to make her see reason, but she wouldn’t hear me out.” I shot a look down the corridor to check that we were still alone. “So I took matters into my own hands. I tracked the vampire down and placed him somewhere… secure.”

My aunt looked dumbstruck. “All this time,” she breathed, “you never told me. Why?”

“I didn’t tell anybody,” I said. “Not even my sisters. There was no point until we were ready to call upon him. I didn’t want to worry you. You had enough on your shoulders already.”

“But… We can’t just bring him in front of Lilith. If she finds out about your deception, your disobedience, she will be furious. God knows what she might do.”

I gripped my aunt’s arm and led her further along the corridor, lowering my voice even more. “She will thank me for it. It will be a shock, no doubt about that. But having Magnus present with her in the flesh will make the bond she has with him as strong as it can possibly be.”

“All this is just your speculation. You have no idea how she will react.”

I breathed out impatiently. “We won’t reveal Magnus until the ritual has started. Do you really think that she would interrupt it?”

Isolde still looked doubtful.

“Look,” I said. “This is just a risk we have to take. And I need you on my side.”

She swallowed hard, then said, “All right. Where have you kept the vampire?”

“I will explain later,” I said. “Now, while Lilith is still recovering, I am going to fetch him and bring him back to the castle. We’ll keep him locked in a room until we are ready to begin.”

“I hope you are sure about this, Rhys.”