A Shade of Vampire 23: A Flight of Souls (18 page)

S
ince our visit
to the oracle, I hadn’t been able to eat or sleep. I just wanted to be alone. Tired of my mother insisting that I eat something, I left the house, intending to go for a long walk. I found myself gravitating toward the least crowded areas of the island, away from the smooth, sandy beaches, and toward the shores that were lined with rocks. I began climbing over the boulders, my mind elsewhere as I gazed out at the dark ocean. I kept moving until I felt completely isolated, then sat down on the edge of a rock and slipped my feet into the mild water. The waves lapped around my ankles, providing some semblance of calm amidst my raging emotions.

I didn’t want to cry again. I was tired of it. All it did was drain me and make me feel even more desolate. I closed my eyes, and, panning my head up to the sky, desperately tried to drown out my fears that Ben was lost to us forever. Wishing there truly was a God above, I prayed that somehow, someday, my love would find a way back to us.

I opened my eyes after a few minutes of intense wishing. Roughly brushing aside an escaped tear, I focused on the rippling reflection of my red, puffy-eyed face. A breeze kissed my skin, and I breathed in deeply, allowing my eyes to glaze over.

However difficult it was, I had to focus on the positive.

Have faith in Ben. He’s survived until now, hasn’t he? At least, in a sense. Imagine how much worse if it would be if he had passed on like most other spirits do. Then he really would be lost forever. But he’s still here, in this mortal world. And he promised me that he’s doing his best to find a way back to us.

I fought furiously to pile good thoughts into my brain, one after the other, in spite of how little conviction I held. It was all I could do to keep myself from allowing depression to swallow me whole. But it was hard to light a fire in the rain. No matter how many pep talks I gave myself, my mind tossed them aside like trash, endowing my fears with free rein to once again rip through my tattered heart.

A warm glimmer in the water caused me to focus my vision. I stared down at it, and before I could turn around to discover its source, I felt something—someone—touch me. Arms slid around my waist. Then a kiss brushed my cheek. Twisting around, I found myself face to face with a beautiful, ethereal form I could only think to describe as an angel. An angel who was Ben.

I could hardly breathe, much less speak as Ben clutched me against him and stood me up. His dark brows knotted in a frown, his vivid green eyes intense as he examined my face. He trailed his gaze slowly from my forehead, to my eyes, to my nose, and my lips, as though he were cherishing every feature. His hands traveled up my back and rested at the back of my head before he leaned in and claimed my lips in a slow, tender kiss. My skin tingled at his touch. I kissed him more passionately, my own hands roaming him, relishing the contours of his body.

So lost was I in him, I couldn’t bring myself to part our lips for even a moment to ask him how and why he was here. All I wanted in that moment was to be as close to him as I could possibly be.

Too soon, his lips unclasped from mine and he stared deep into my eyes. Beneath his gaze, I felt that I was melting into him.

“Ben,” I managed. “You’re… an angel?”

At this, a small smile crossed his lips. His dimples reminded me why I had missed that smile so much.

“I’m more like… a fairy, actually.” His smile broadened, and it was infectious. I found my own lips curving.

“What?” I asked, my fingers tracing his jaw as I squinted, taking in his gorgeous face even more closely.

“How about I show you?”

His hands slid down my body, and the next thing I knew, he was scooping me up in his arms. My heart skipped a beat as he lifted us up in the air. The ground disappeared beneath us as we rose higher and higher into the dark sky, so high that the island stretched out beneath us in all its glory: the swaying sea of redwood trees, the regal mountains, the sparkling lakes, the lush meadows… but I could barely take in its beauty, for I was too enchanted by Ben, a far more beautiful sight to me.

As high as we were now, my heart was higher. It was up in space, turning somersaults in orbit. Closing the distance between our lips again, I whispered, “I love you, Ben. To the stars and back.”

His right hand loosened from its spot beneath my knees, and he guided me into an upright position. My arms wrapped tightly around his neck, his own arms engulfed my waist, keeping me flush against him, like we had been while still standing on the ground. Lost in his eyes, I soon forgot that we were hovering who knew how many feet above the ground. I’d never felt safer than in Ben’s strong grasp. Never more secure. Never more at home.

“I love you to the moon,” he whispered back, tasting my lips. “There was barely an hour that passed when I didn’t think of you… You’ll never know how hard it was to be so close to you, yet unable to touch you. To only be capable of reaching you in dreams.”

I closed my eyes, remembering my own pain.

His lips caressed the side of my face and then moved down to my neck before creeping up to my ear. I felt his Adam’s apple move as he gulped. “And I… if I could find a way to keep this body forever… God knows, I would ask you to marry me right now.”

His words left me winded. They sent my emotions into a tailspin. I barely even knew what to feel in that moment. The thought that he was proposing was a shot of ecstasy to my brain, but then a surge of fear washed over it.
What does he mean, if he could find a way to keep his body forever?

“What?” I breathed, staring into his eyes.

Ben’s gaze was more intense than ever as he began, “This body is that of a fae. I don’t even know much about fae myself other than that they are elemental creatures who inhabit the ether in between portals, and their constitution is similar to jinn; they can switch between subtle and physical forms. But I don’t have this body forever… yet. It is on loan from another fae, and I have less than three days to meet his demands before I am stripped of it again.”

“What?” I stammered again.

As he went on to explain all that had happened to him since he left the oracle’s cave, I could hardly believe my ears. My head was spinning as I absorbed his words. How were we ever going to pull this off?

Then, slowly, my worry gave way to the other thing he’d said to me. “And you… you just asked me to marry you.”

I’d never even thought that I would consider marriage at my age. Heck, it wasn’t all that long ago that I had never even had a real boyfriend. But then circumstances had caused Ben’s and my life to entangle and, although I still hadn’t even been close to considering it, now that he’d mentioned it, exchanging vows seemed like the most natural thing in the world.

Ben tucked a stray strand of my hair behind my ear as he gazed down at me, emotion burning behind his green eyes. “I said I would, if I knew that I could keep this body forever.”

“And… what if I said that I don’t care?”

He furrowed his brows. “What?”

“Whether or not you manage to meet the fae’s demand, I don’t care.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying, River. You can’t marry a ghost.”

At this, I couldn’t help but grin. If Ben failed to meet his end of the bargain with the fae, I would indeed find myself engaged to a ghost. As strong as our love was, even I couldn’t see how such a relationship could last. But with the euphoria of seeing him again now, the feel of his body pressed against mine, the taste of his lips on mine, I couldn’t bring myself to think about the consequences. If he indeed became a ghost again, we would have to cross that bridge when we came to it.

There was no way I could think to answer other than, “Ben, I accept your proposal.”

He began shaking his head and even scoffed. “You’re crazy, River.”

“You were the one who asked.” I paused to raise a brow. “And don’t try to pretend you weren’t asking.”

At this, he stalled, even a look of regret crossing his face. “I shouldn’t have. It just… it just came out.”

“Well, my answer just came out, too.”

Seeing his lips part to respond again, I quickly smothered them with my own, drawing him into a series of deep, passionate kisses. By the time we broke apart, he was no longer frowning, and his eyes positively sparkled. Our foreheads pressed together, I ran my nose along the bridge of his.

“Accept my love, Ben,” I breathed. “I’m giving it to you.”

“I don’t even have a ring to offer you,” he replied, his voice husky.

“You’ve run enough rings around me already.”

His eyes surged with warmth as he engulfed me in another kiss, and then without warning, he bolted us both upward, even higher. Soon we had shot out from the island’s boundary completely and emerged in a brilliant sun-streaked sky.

Making out like we were drowning, our legs twining in the air, neither of us could care that we would have to call the attention of The Shade’s witches to be let back inside.

Because it didn’t matter what happened when we returned to the ground.

We’d find a way. I knew it.

My Hero and I.

I
couldn’t believe
I’d let the little nit escape.

After one of the crabs speared Uma the witch through the gut, Julie slipped from my grasp and I lost sight of her on the ship. She must’ve slid into the water. I scoured the surrounding waves before it occurred to me that perhaps she would be so mad as to return to the witch surgeon’s island for her other beloved Bloodless. The one Uma had supposedly been experimenting on.

I cursed myself for not thinking of this before and hurried to the island. But when I arrived, it was to find the operating table the Bloodless had been strapped to empty. I searched every other room in the witch’s castle, but could only reach the infuriating conclusion that Julie had gotten here before me.

I searched the waters surrounding Uma’s island, trying to spot a boat. Finally I spotted it, but it was where I’d least expected to find it. On the shores of the ogres’ kingdom.

The vessel was far too small for any ogre, and based on my memory of the boats that had been moored in the witch’s harbor, this was of a similar build. I was convinced that it must’ve been Julie’s and for whatever crazy reason she’d decided to stop over on the ogres’ island. But entering the ogres’ kingdom would be suicide for her and probably also her skeleton friend. Maybe she’d just abandoned the boat on the beach, but then where else would she have gone?

That was when I remembered that there was a portal to the human realm on the ogres’ beach. Perhaps the two had traveled through there…

The thought that she could have done this gave me chills. She was certainly selfish enough to bring the toxic creature into the human realm. Perhaps she’d thought that was the best place to hide from me, for I was sure that she knew that I would not let her go lightly.
Well, she was rather stupid to leave her boat so visible
. I roamed the beach until I arrived at the portal. Lowering myself, I shot into the swirling tunnel and through the starry abyss. Arriving on the other end, I burst out through the opening of an old, dilapidated well.

Gazing around, I was in a jungle. A hot, sticky jungle. I drifted upward through the canopy of leaves and arrived out in the open, where I had a bird’s eye view of a small tropical island.

Hmm… Now, vampire, where should we start our game of hide-and-seek?

In spite of the heat, I moved back down to the undergrowth and began my search. A search that proved fruitless. Either they were both exceptionally good at hiding, or they weren’t taking shelter in the shade of the mainland and were instead somewhere along the beaches.

I roamed the shores, and as I’d almost finished circling the entire island with still no sign of the couple, I began to think that maybe Julie had been smarter than I’d thought. Maybe she’d left her boat on the ogres’ beach as a red herring. Just as annoyance was boiling up within me, I spotted something strange on a stretch of sand, about ten feet away and close to the water’s edge. This trip had not been fruitless after all…

The white sand was stained with large patches of blood. There was also hair. Long, fine black hair, strewn about near the blood, and then nearby were shreds of clothing. Clothing that resembled the tattered outfit Julie had been wearing when I’d last sighted her.

It did not take a genius to work out what must’ve happened to the girl. She’d lost control of her friend, and gotten turned into a Bloodless. I couldn’t help but smirk at the irony of it all.
Oh, karma. You and I should be friends.

I allowed myself to indulge a little in this precious discovery before turning my thoughts to more serious matters.

Where is she now?

I had already scoured the island thoroughly and found neither of them. The remnants of Julie here on the sand were disturbingly close to the water. For all I knew, they could’ve both leapt in and swum away… but where to? What would happen if they reached a land inhabited by humans? I hardly needed to answer the latter.

I supposed I had to hope that a shark or something would swallow them before they reached another shore, because I wasn’t in the mood to go on an endless chase for them. They could be anywhere by now. It felt like I’d done nothing but hunt for the last twenty-four hours, and I was still feeling weak from the grief of losing my family.

I lowered myself to the sand and gazed out toward the waves, the sun beating down over my head. Then I turned my thoughts back to myself.
Never mind Julie, where will I go next?

I despised the idea of returning to The Oasis. Although it was my home, staying there all alone surrounded by memories would drain me completely.

But where else?

Who do I have left in the world?

As I rubbed my temples wearily, I realized that Benjamin was the only non-jinn friend I had.
Benjamin
. I wondered where he was now. Then I thought of his home, The Shade. It was not that far from here. Perhaps I could visit and see if anyone there knew what had become of him. The more I mulled it over, the more appealing the idea became.

It’s about time I saw the legendary island for myself, anyway.

D
earest Shaddict
,

I hope you enjoyed
A Flight of Souls
!!

Now it’s time to fasten your seatbelts and pre-order the breathtaking FINAL book of Ben & River’s series:
A Bridge of Stars (Book 24)
!

A Bridge of Stars
releases March 15th, 2016.

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Thank you once again for reading and I’ll meet you again very soon, back in the world of The Shade… :)

Love,

Bella x

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