An End of Night (A Shade of Vampire #16)(9)

“No!” Matteo, Kiev and Erik yelled at once.

The three men were a blur as they raced toward the edge and dove into the water after Helina.

“No!” Mona shouted. We all rushed to the edge and looked down. None of them were visible—all we could see were ripples in the murky water where they had disappeared.

Biting her trembling lip, Mona faced Corrine and Ibrahim. “Hover over the water with me and help me create a whirlpool.”

The three witches floated off the rocks with their palms facing downward. The sea beneath them began to churn, slowly at first, but quickly gathering momentum until a swirling vortex of water had formed. We all stared down into the eye of the whirlpool. I spotted the redness of the squid showing in the wall of water. Then Helina’s scream echoed upward. The tentacle was still wrapped around her waist, and no matter how much she clawed at it, it wouldn’t let go. I caught sight of the shadow of the three men in the water, about ten feet above Helina. They were closing in on her fast, even through the force of the whirlpool.

“Pull back!” Mona screamed down at the men. But it was too late. They reached the squid and began attacking it in the water, even as they continued to swirl around and around. “No! They shouldn’t be attacking it! It will only strengthen its grip around her. Corrine and Ibrahim, keep up the whirlpool while I go down there.”

She began drifting downward into the eye of the swirling mass of water. A burst of white-blue fire shot from her palms, aimed directly at the squid’s giant head. It took about ten bouts of fire from Mona before it finally exploded. Bright red liquid stained the water, and finally Helina was free from the tentacle.

Mona swooped down and lifted up Helina from the waves. She rushed up to us and laid her down on the rock before returning for the three men. We gathered over Helina. Her face scrunched up in pain, she was gripping her abdomen. Blood soaked her hands—at first I thought it might just be the squid’s blood, but as Corrine bent down and loosened Helina’s hands around her waist, there was a nasty-looking gash near her navel.

“I would rather use magic to heal this,” Corrine said, looking at her husband. “It will be faster than waiting for Helina’s natural healing capabilities to kick in. This is a deep gash.”

Ibrahim bent down next to her and they began working on healing the vampire. Mona appeared on the rocks moments later with Erik, Matteo, and Kiev.

“Is she okay?” Matteo panted.

“She will be okay,” Corrine said. “Just… don’t come too close. We need space.”

Silence fell among us as we stared down at the waters. The waves were settling and the corpse of the giant squid had bobbed up to the surface.

“Well, I’m sure we’ve attracted the merpeople’s attention now,” Mona said, her forehead creased with worry. “Just not the type of attention we want…”

Chapter 7: Rose

“What do you mean?” my father asked Mona.

“We just killed one of their pets,” the witch replied. “We came here to get information about Magnus. The odds of getting that from them were slim to start with… Now, I’m debating whether we should just leave. I have a bad feeling about staying in this place even a minute longer.”

“We can’t just leave,” my mother replied. “That would be giving up. The Cove is the only thread we have to cling to.”

Mona looked toward Matteo. “What are your thoughts?”

Matteo didn’t look any less worried than Mona. He shrugged. “I’m not sure we have a choice but to take this risk. As Sofia said, if we leave now, then what?”

Mona gulped as all eyes turned to her again.

“Okay.” She walked back over to the edge of the islet. The corpse of the squid was still floating above the waves, lapping against the rocks. Outstretching her palms, she uttered a spell. The monster’s body vanished in an instant. “Let’s hope nobody witnessed what just happened.”

We gathered around the witches and traveled to the next islet.

“We should get down on the ground this time,” my father said. “It will make it harder for squids to take aim at us.”

Despite the crabs, I got down on all fours along with the others. Crawling to the edge and looking down at the water, I was surprised to see that it was tinged with a darker reddish color. “The squid’s ink,” Caleb said, following my gaze. “It’s spread through the waves.”

Great.

I almost leapt out of my skin as a high-pitched screech pierced the air. Mona swore beneath her breath. “Gather around,” she hissed. “We’ve got to move to a different area.”

I hurried toward Mona. Just before we vanished, I was able to catch sight of the source of the noise. Shooting out from the ocean fifty feet away, seated atop a giant horned seahorse, was a creature unlike any I had seen before. Half woman, half fish, she had skin consisting of green scales. She had a head of thick purplish hair, and her tail was long and slimy. Baring her teeth, she revealed a sharp set of black fangs.

Wow.

That is no Little Mermaid.

My heart was pounding in my chest as we reappeared in a different location. I could no longer hear the screeching and there was no tint of red in the ocean nearby, so I could only assume that Mona had taken us far away.

“Okay,” Mona said, wiping sweat from her brow. “They know. It’s only a matter of time before word spreads. We must find someone to speak to before that happens. I’m going to go down and try to find someone myself,” she said, even as she looked terrified at the notion.