An End of Night (A Shade of Vampire #16)(18)

Now that all three were clearly all right, I moved back over to Caleb sitting on the sand. Most of his cuts had closed up by now, but the gash in his leg was still having trouble healing. Corrine and Ibrahim were moving from person to person, and I was relieved when Corrine reached Caleb. It wasn’t long before his leg was patched up and he could stand normally. He headed straight for the ocean and dipped into the waves, cleaning off the bloodstains. Realizing that I too could use a wash, I joined him. Everyone else soon followed our lead. Once we were done refreshing ourselves as much as we could, we climbed out of the water and onto the sand.

Mona, Kiev and my mother had apparently already been filled in on what had happened since they’d lost consciousness.

“So,” my mother said, looking nervous, “we head to the Woodlands now?”

Mona nodded. “Hopefully Magnus’ trail will be hotter there.”

“You will need to make me invisible and also hide my scent,” Micah said.

“Why?” Ibrahim asked.

“Because I’m not welcome there.”

“What did you do?” I asked, raising a brow. I recalled the story that Rhys had told me about Micah—how he had been banished for falling in love with a chieftain’s daughter while she was betrothed to another. I wondered whether there was any truth in that at all.

“I clashed with the chieftain who ruled my pack. I didn’t agree with many of the decisions he made, and I was vocal about it. He thought that it would be easier to get rid of me. So I was banished from his pack. I moved to another, then another, but I couldn’t find a chieftain I could respect enough to submit to. In the end, I just left. I preferred a life of freedom.”

“I see,” Mona said. “Well, we will be sure to cover you up.”

“We should leave now,” my father said.

We gathered together and I braced myself for my stomach to lurch once again as we hurtled through the air at lightning speed.

When I opened my eyes, I was clutching Caleb tight. We were standing on a cluster of giant boulders, the waves lapping at our feet.

“Now would be a good time to disguise me,” Micah said. “Someone might have sensed me already. I also suggest that you all do the same. Vampires and witches are anything but welcome here, while humans”—his eyes fell on my father and me—“are considered a delicacy by wolves.”

Mona, Ibrahim and Corrine set about following Micah’s suggestion.

Once Corrine had finished with Caleb and me, I looked down at my hands. They had disappeared. It wasn’t long before everyone was invisible. I caught Caleb’s hand.

“Now, Micah, where would you suggest we start?” my father asked.

“Hmm. Well, let’s think,” the werewolf replied. “Unless Magnus had the help of witches to cover his scent, I’m sure that the wolves would have detected the vampire’s presence sooner or later. So if he stayed for a stretch of time, the wolves would have known about it. That brings two options. Either they caught him and threw him straight out—or perhaps murdered him—or they allowed him to stay. If we assume the second option, then Magnus would have needed permission from a chieftain.”

“So we need to seek out chieftains?” Ashley asked.

“Yes,” Micah replied.

“You can’t sense any vampires now?” Aiden asked.

“I can only sense you guys,” Micah replied. “It could be that we’re not close enough to Magnus for me to sense him yet. The Woodlands is a massive place.”

“So where do we go first?” Corrine asked.

“To the woods,” Micah said.

My eyes traveled past the rocky shore we were standing on, and toward the dark forest that lined it. Although day was close to breaking, the trees were so thick, I was sure that it would be almost as dark walking beneath them as if it were night.

We hurried away from the rocks and approached the entrance to the woods.

“It’s bizarre to be back here. It’s been so long,” Micah murmured.

We began walking along the winding forest path. The noises around us gave me chills—shrill chirping and the occasional grunting of an animal. Boughs creaked and the wind rustled the leaves of the trees.

Perhaps half an hour passed before it appeared that the trees were beginning to thin. I thought at first that it might just be my imagination, but then I could make out an opening in the distance. We reached it quickly and found ourselves stepping onto the edge of a cliff. The landscape before us took my breath away. The cliff dropped sharply downward toward a sea of trees and surrounding the area were endless mountain ranges. I realized that this place reminded me a little of The Shade, albeit on a much grander scale.

“Do you see that mountain far in the distance, directly in front of us?” Micah asked. “It’s probably the tallest in sight.”

There was a veil of mist in the distance, and since it wasn’t even fully daylight yet, I struggled to see what Micah was pointing to.

“I see it,” several vampires replied.

“That is where my pack used to live,” Micah said.

“How many packs are there in this realm?” Caleb asked.

Micah scoffed. “Too many to count. The Woodlands is a divided realm—centuries of disagreements have caused much discord and separation.”

“So how do we know which chieftain to approach?”