A Shade of Vampire 16: An End of Night (9 page)

Then I rushed back toward the stormy beach. The next footprints I spotted were large—clearly that of a man. I stopped in my tracks, holding my breath and listening for any clue as to who this was.

A hand reached out and touched me. It was warm. “Rose?” It was Micah.

I hurried back over with him to Hermia.

“Has my mother returned with anyone since?” I asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “Quite a few. Your father, grandfather, and several others. She and your father are on the beach now searching for those remaining.”

“You remember Caleb, right?” I said. “You saw him with me that day you came for us on the boat. Has he returned?”

“I don’t think so,” she replied.

I backed away and moved back into the storm. I guessed that Mona must still be out here too causing this commotion. Perhaps she was keeping Rhys occupied.

It took me much longer to spot more footprints this time.
Caleb should have sensed my blood by now. Why hasn’t he made his way over to me?

Finally, I noticed indentations in the ground about five feet away. Again, they were large, as Micah’s had been. These could have been Caleb’s. Or they could have been…

My stomach plummeted as the footsteps approached me. I barely had time to stumble back before a hand reached out and grasped my arm. The moment it did, the warlock appeared before me and I realized that I too had been made visible again.

Instinct took over and fire coursed from my palms, forcing him to shoot back away from me. His eyes sparked with fury and he glared down at me.

“Rose Novak.” As he raised his palms, I was about to hurl myself in the opposite direction when a heavy weight crashed into my midriff, making me fly several feet away from the direct aim of the warlock.

Arms wrapped around my body and lifted me off the ground. I was whizzed across the beach with lightning speed. The fabric my mother had tied around me flew off and I was forced to cover my eyes with my hands. But I didn’t need sight to know that it was Caleb. I knew my fiancé too well by now. His scent, the way he breathed… I could recognize his presence even in the darkest of nights.

I cast a glance over his shoulder toward where we had left Rhys. To my horror, he had begun following us. He was so focused on the two of us that he didn’t notice a green ball of fire fly toward him from his left—from Mona’s palms, I could only assume—until the very last minute, when he flattened himself on the ground just in time.

“Mona?” I called out. “Come!”

Caleb reached the rocks with me and I guided him to the spot where we had left Hermia. To my relief, she was still standing there waiting for us. I didn’t understand why I’d been made visible on coming into contact with Rhys, but I was grateful for it because it helped Hermia spot us faster.

She grabbed hold of us and vanished us away from the spot. We reappeared again behind the boundary, in a clearing near the woods, when Hermia left us again. I looked around to see the rest of our companions. Mona, thankfully, appeared about a minute after us, Hermia and my parents by her side.

The invisibility spell over each of us had been lifted by now, allowing me to see the state of everyone. Mona looked in the worst state, her hair a disheveled mess, with cuts and burns all over her skin. Most everyone else just looked red raw from the sand, as I was sure I was.

Mona swallowed hard and turned her gaze on Hermia. “I don’t know what that warlock is going to do now. But mark my words, sooner or later, he will find a way to break into The Sanctuary. We need to head straight for the graveyard. And you must go to all lengths to make sure that nobody disturbs us.”

I
had
no idea how the white witches had managed to put such a powerful spell around The Sanctuary that even I was having difficulty breaking through it. I was on the verge of returning to get reinforcements when rocks crunched in the distance. At first I thought that someone from The Sanctuary must have been spying on me. Little did I know that it would turn out to be Mona and her companions.

Mona was smart to have figured out where I was headed. I couldn’t deny that about her. Now there was not even a shadow of a doubt that she was after Magnus just as I was. I could not allow her to reach him first. I did not know what she intended to do with him, but I assumed she meant to kill him.

I launched an attack, but as had happened too many times before in the past, Mona slithered out of my grasp. She was like a mosquito I never could manage to swat. But she had been lucky too often—partly due to my own weakness for her.

Now that she was posing a direct threat to Lilith, that luck would end soon.

After losing them, I forced thoughts of the witch out of my mind and focused on reaching our castle as fast as I could. Arriving outside, I stormed through the main entrance and searched for my aunt. I found her sitting in her room at her desk, a book open on her lap, though she did not appear to be reading it.

She looked up as I entered and shot to her feet.

“Rhys? What took you so long?”

There was relief in her voice, but also anger.

“There’s been a complication. Several complications.”

“What are you saying? We cannot afford complications.”

“Magnus was not where I left him,” I said.

“Then let’s just forget about Magnus and perform the ritual without him.” She gripped my shoulder hard. “We do not need that vampire. You even admitted it yourself.”

Ignoring her comment, I asked, “Has Lilith woken yet?”

“Yes,” my aunt replied.

“Where is she?”

I was surprised when Isolde hesitated. “I… I don’t know exactly. Lilith said that she needed more time to recover before the ritual. She left this castle, but she did not tell me where she went. Honestly, I was just relieved that she was not ready to start the ritual.”

This odd behavior from Lilith was further confirmation of my suspicion of Magnus’ whereabouts.

“When will she return?” I asked.

“She left hours ago,” Isolde replied. “She did not specify when she would return, but she said that she was unlikely to be more than a day… but Rhys, let’s forget about—”

“Listen to me,” I said, my voice a growl. “I need you to gather up ten other witches. We need to leave for The Sanctuary.”

“The Sanctuary?”

“The graveyard in The Sanctuary. We both know that Lilith has a second chamber beneath her tomb there that she never allows anyone to enter. I stored Magnus in the werewolf realm, and somehow she managed to find out what I’d done and retrieve him. I believe that she’s been keeping the vampire there all along.”

Isolde’s lips parted as realization dawned on her. “That certainly would explain why Lilith spent so little time in the chamber we had constructed for her… But why would she do this?”

“Why wouldn’t she do this? We both know her love for Magnus. I don’t know how she found out I’d imprisoned him, but I’m not surprised that she took him with her. His proximity must have added to her strength. We have all been surprised at how long she has managed to last. This must be one of the reasons—she has had Magnus so close to her all these years.” I pulled up the sleeve of my shirt and began healing a wound as I spoke quickly. “Lilith only ever surfaced on our side when we needed to speak with her. And she deliberately closed off the portal connecting to the cave whenever she was in her sanctum beneath her grave. We need to reach The Sanctuary and find the vampire.”

Isolde frowned. “What you’re saying makes no sense. If Lilith wanted Magnus to take part in the ritual, she would have said by now. She clearly doesn’t want that. We can’t force her.”

“Of course we can’t force her. All we can do is try to reason with her. But the ritual isn’t why we need to find Magnus any more. Mona is after him.”

Isolde scowled as soon as I spoke the witch’s name. She never had liked Mona even before the witch had betrayed us.

“We must stop her.”

I
got
chills every time I entered The Sanctuary’s graveyard, and this time was no exception. I led everyone straight to the back where the ancient tombs were located until we reached Lilith’s grave.

I turned to Hermia. “Station witches and warlocks around the graveyard to make sure we aren’t disturbed.”

Once she had agreed and left, Rose murmured, “So this is Lilith’s grave,” staring at the ancient tombstone with a mixture of horror and fascination.

I bent down and placed my hands over the stone lid. I’d probably been just feet above Lilith last time I had been here… if I’d just dug past her coffin I might have reached her.

I didn’t waste any more time and forced open the lid. A dark bed of soil lay beneath—the same soil I’d dug up last time I’d been here. Ibrahim and Corrine helped to dig up the earth faster and soon the lid of a mahogany coffin came into view.

I lowered myself into the hole and slid down the side of the casket. I placed my hands underneath its lid, gauging how loose it was. Before lifting it open, I looked up to see Corrine, Ibrahim and Kiev beginning to make their way down after me.

It was cramped enough as it was, so I told them to stay where they were. At least for now, only one person could take this journey. Any more, and we would just attract attention—something we could not afford. None of us would have a chance against her if she decided to wield her magic. I had to see what was down there first.

I popped open the lid. It was still empty. I stripped the coffin of all the fabric and linen that was lining it until I reached the wooden base.

As much as I despised it, I lifted myself into the container. Crouching on all fours, I pressed my ear against the wood, listening for any kind of sound coming from below.

There was nothing. No indication of any life beneath. Just silence.

But I knew better than to give up. Perhaps it was covered over now, but I knew that there was a portal somewhere around here. Lilith had once pulled me through it the same night I’d murdered the Ageless in her sleep.

“What are you doing?” Kiev asked.

I ignored his question. I didn’t know what I was doing.

Using my magic, I drilled a hole through the base of the coffin. It was large enough to put my whole head inside. To my dismay, there was only soil beneath. I began digging deeper into the earth and when I found that I was digging up nothing but more earth, a nagging doubt entered my mind that perhaps I had gotten the wrong end of the stick yet again. But the knowledge that Rhys had headed to The Sanctuary too reminded me that I couldn’t have.

This place must hold the answer.

I spent the next few minutes in silence, ignoring questions called down toward me by Kiev, Derek, Sofia and others. Finally, I reached my first glimmer of hope—a dark, shiny substance. Thick liquid.

I looked back up and nodded at Kiev and the rest of my companions. “I’m onto something now,” I said. “But you must stay up there. No matter what happens, no matter what you think might be happening, don’t come after me. It will only make the situation worse.”

The look on Kiev’s face pained me. I’d given him cause for grief on so many occasions recently, I had lost count. I just hoped that this would be one of the last.

Still using my magic, I expanded the hole in the floor of the coffin enough for my whole body to fit through. I dug away more of the soil underneath until I could slide right through and dip my feet into the glistening substance beneath. But before I lowered myself down, I stripped down to my underwear. I didn’t want to have any extra weight. I remembered how dense that liquid had been.

Casting one last glance upward, I dropped myself down.

I winced as my feet made contact with the substance. It began pulling me downward immediately, like quicksand. It reached my waist, my chest, my neck… I barely had time to utter a spell that would allow me to survive for an extended period of time beneath it before it engulfed me completely.

At first I was pulled down slowly, but then I began to gather speed. After what felt like a minute of sinking, I began to wonder how deep this liquid really was. After three minutes, a fear took hold of me that perhaps the only way to successfully travel along the portal was with Lilith’s permission.

What if this liquid leads nowhere? What if it’s never-ending? Just an abyss of endless slime?

I shook myself.
Get a grip.
It’s only been a few minutes.

Still, the thought haunted me.

My tension eased only slightly when I realized that the liquid seemed to be getting less thick, and I was beginning to pass through it much faster. It also felt less grainy and abrasive against my skin. Then my feet hit something solid, and my whole body bent as I passed along some kind of rounded tunnel. I emerged against a flat surface. I stretched out my hands to feel around—it felt like stone. I gathered my legs beneath me and kicked up hard—though I was still too afraid to open my eyes in case they stung. Although this liquid felt much lighter, I didn’t know that it was any less toxic.

Only daring to open my eyes once my head poked above the surface, I wiped my face with my hands and looked around.

I was shocked to see that not only was I in water, it was the clearest, most pristine-looking water I had ever seen in my life. It looked purer than even the lakes of The Sanctuary, and there was not a single trace of the dark muck I had just passed through.

I kept my head low as I took in the magnificent chamber I’d emerged in. There was a fragrant smell of incense. Soft light emanated down from the ceiling, and exotic-looking plants and flowers decorated the walls. Lining the floors were luxurious carpets and in the center of the room was an elevated platform upon which stood a large four-poster bed. I almost swallowed my tongue as I realized that I was not alone. I dipped down back into the water as quietly as I could, the vision I had just witnessed etched in my mind’s eye. Although the curtains had been drawn around the bed, they were thin enough for me to make out a man and a woman, wearing nothing but sheets, wrapped in each other’s arms. For a moment I feared that they might have heard me, but they had looked so absorbed in each other, I realized that the fear was likely unfounded.

Lilith.

She had her youthful form back.

I wondered what the meaning of that was. It didn’t take me long to form a theory.

My heart hammered in my chest as I sank down as low in the liquid as I possibly could.

I have to talk to Magnus.

But first, I need to get him on his own.