A Vial of Life (A Shade of Vampire #21) (8 page)

I
lowered
myself closer to the ocean and began to run. I was weightless, floating. Even though my legs moved, my feet grazing the surface of the waves, they merely passed through them. It was as though I hurtled forward by sheer willpower alone. As I picked up speed, I realized that I traveled faster than I had when I’d been a vampire, for I no longer had a physical body to carry along with me.

The sun burst through the clouds overhead. Its rays fell upon me, and I instinctively braced myself to feel the pain, but of course, I felt nothing. The shafts of sunlight shone right through my form, beaming down and making the waves beneath me glisten.

Now that it could no longer harm me, I yearned to feel the sun’s warmth on my skin. I could hardly remember what it felt like as a human. And the sea spray that showered over me, I yearned to feel its coolness and smell the salt. Of course, I couldn’t. It seemed that the only senses that worked were my hearing and vision—although even my sight was different than it was before. I could see things clearly, yet the world surrounding me appeared washed out, its vibrant colors dulled and faded, like a watercolor painting left out in the sun.

Surging ahead, I still wasn’t sure where I should go. I just knew that I couldn’t stay in Cruor forever.

Now that I was no longer a threat to my family, perhaps I could find a gate and make my way back to The Shade. But how would I find a gate? When Aisha had first led me into the supernatural dimension, we’d come through a portal in a strange, black desert. Aisha hadn’t told me which land that was, so I had no idea how to return there.

Aisha.
What had happened to that jinni? Was she in that box still, perhaps back on Julie’s ship? I wondered where Julie was now. I was oblivious to how much time had passed since Julie had abandoned me in Cruor. But if the ship was being pulled by sea creatures who were even half as fast as the dolphins and sharks I’d had experience with since being here, I was sure that they would be far away by now.

I recalled the hours before I’d found myself in Cruor. We had boarded Julie’s ship, which had been floating near The Tavern. I didn’t know how long it’d taken to travel from The Tavern to Cruor because I’d been unconscious for much of the time. But something told me that if I made it to The Tavern, I would have a better chance of making it back to The Shade. There were many wanderers who passed by, and if I just listened in to conversations long enough, perhaps I would catch mention of a gate. Perhaps I might even be able to follow them to it, if the right person came along.

But how on earth did I find The Tavern? I hadn’t even the first clue as to which direction to head in. Right now I was just running straight ahead, with no idea where I might end up.

The past weeks merged together in a blur of urgency to solve my mystery. It took a while for it to sink in that I didn’t have that problem anymore. I had time now. I was no longer a ticking time bomb. There was no hunger in my stomach, and I wasn’t affected by the time of day. I doubted that I would even tire of traveling. As much as I wanted to return to my home to check that everyone I loved was all right, time wasn’t the issue it had once been.

And so I kept running, away from the land of the Elders, deeper and deeper into the ocean. By the time the sun set, I still hadn’t come across land. I wondered if I’d taken completely the wrong direction, but the increasing frequency of ships that I spotted sailing toward me gave me hope that there were shores nearby.

As night fell, I spotted the outline of an island far to the east. It was some distance away yet, but at least I’d found it. As I moved toward it, I caught sight of something that arrested me. A ship, perhaps three miles in front of me, also moving toward the island. Even from this distance, something about it struck me as familiar. From its size, shape, and the color of its sails, the closer I got to the vessel, the more certain I became that it was Julie’s ship. Whether it belonged to her father, I wasn’t sure anymore. For all I knew, she didn’t even have a father.

It surprised me that Julie would be headed back toward this area. And from the looks of it, she was intending to arrive at the harbor. The ship was on a direct course toward the shipyard, showing no signs of slowing down. Skimming along the waves beside it, I caught up with the ship. Jumping upward, I soared through the air and landed noiselessly on the deck.

When I cast my eyes around, it was clear that something wasn’t right. The floorboards were stained with blood. There was splintered wood scattered about, the canvas fabric of the lower sails was torn, and a table had been upturned and ripped apart. The trap door leading down to the lower decks had been ripped from its hinges.

What happened here?

There was nobody navigating the ship, yet the vessel continued speeding ahead. I swept my eyes once more over the deck. Thick reins hung down over the bow of the boat and had been fastened to a mast. Whatever sea creatures served as the engine of this ship were leading it forward of their own volition.

I approached the open trapdoor. Descending the narrow staircase, I found myself at the end of a long, dim corridor that connected all the numerous cabins on this lower deck.

“Julie?” I found myself calling, my voice echoing in my ears.

No reply.

I moved further down the corridor, looking into the first room on my left. Like the deck above, this cabin also looked distressed. Bloodstains tainted the floor and walls, and the door was wrecked. It looked like someone had punched a fist through the wood.

The corridor wound to the right. As I turned the corner, my eyes were drawn to the ceiling.

Three naked figures—men?—were hanging from it. I moved closer, gaping up at their starkly pale skin, hairless heads, and emaciated limbs. I couldn’t make out their faces, only the backs of their heads, but as I walked directly underneath them, I caught a glimpse of their hands and feet, stretched out and gripping the walls on either side of them. Gnarled claws extended from their fingers, and their white cuticles were stained with red.

Although nothing could injure me anymore, I felt hesitant to move any closer to them. They were just so… strange. What were they exactly? Apparently yet another species of supernatural creatures to blow my mind. But what were they doing on Julie’s ship? And the blood staining their fingers… could that be Julie’s blood and that of her companions? Perhaps these creatures had hijacked their ship as they’d navigated away from Cruor.

I backed away from the pale creatures clinging to the ceiling, and cleared my throat. “What are you?” I spoke up.

They remained still, silent and barely breathing—as though I hadn’t spoken at all.

I backed further away from them, deciding to abandon my curiosity about them and focus on finding the box I feared Aisha was still trapped in. It was nowhere to be found on this level, so I took the staircase down to the deck beneath.

The last I’d seen of the box had been on the rocks beneath the mountain where I’d encountered Basilius. As a spirit I’d roamed that whole area during the time it had taken me to build up courage to abandon my physical form on the cliffside. I would’ve noticed the box if they’d left it there. So I could only assume that they’d carried it back to their ship. And as it turned out, I was right. Moving from room to room, I discovered the white oblong box in a small storage room near the galley.

I lowered my hands over the lid of the box. They didn’t pass through it, as my form did with other hard objects. Instead, I felt resistance, the same kind of resistance I’d felt while pressing my hands against The Oasis’ invisible barrier. I found myself relishing the illusion of solid contact. The feeling of touching something gave me a sense of grounding. I continued to press my palms down against it for several moments before calling, “Aisha?”

There came no reply. My hands instinctively roamed down the side of the box, searching for the lid’s ridge. The box was locked with a padlock, but as I moved to grab hold of it, my fingers passed right through it. I could feel resistance with the box’s surface itself, however. Did I have any strength to force the lid open? I curled my fingers around the curve of the lid and tried to heave upward, but the effort caused my feet to sink into the floor.

Even if I was able to stand on a solid surface, this box was clearly magical. I doubted that anything but its key could open it.

“Are you in there, Aisha?” I asked again.

I cursed in frustration. It was torturous to be less than a foot away from the jinni and yet completely unable to help her.
What do I do now?
I was certain that Aisha was in the box. I couldn’t imagine for the life of me what reason Julie and her companions would have for releasing her—they would know full well that Aisha would unleash her wrath on them the moment she got free. Aisha had already threatened Julie’s life once back on the island where we met Arron, and I’d seen how shaken the vampire was by her.

I’d stopped Aisha from murdering Julie that day. Now I thought bitterly to myself that I should have just let the jinni drive a knife through her.

I heaved a sigh, staring down at the stubborn box.
There’s nothing I can do to open this.
I just had to hope that somehow Aisha would find a way out. If she did manage that, I wouldn’t worry about her. She was powerful and she would be able to find her way back home… although after what Bahir had said about Nuriya being in grave danger, and Aisha having feared The Oasis was under attack, I wasn’t sure what kind of home she’d return to.

Whatever the case, my hovering over this box any longer wasn’t going to help her. I stood up and was about to leave the room when I caught sight of a mirror hanging directly in front of me. Yet as I stared into it, my reflection didn’t stare back. All I could see was the empty wall behind me.

I’d become invisible. And, given the lack of movement from those creatures out in the hallway when I had spoken, I suspected that I was inaudible to the outside world, too.

I staggered backward, half of my back disappearing into the wall, my eyes still locked on the mirror.

It’s like I don’t exist.

I didn’t know what I’d been expecting—that ghosts were visible to people? I hadn’t thought much about it. Now I realized that even if I made it back to The Shade, nobody would even know. They couldn’t see or hear me, I couldn’t touch them… heck, I couldn’t even pick up a pen and write them a note. I was trapped in this… half-existence.

I would be nothing but a shadow, roaming the woods, trying to reconnect with my former life. It took a while for the notion to fully sink in.

But still, I needed to return to The Shade. Even if I couldn’t communicate with them, I needed to know that everyone was all right, if only for my peace of mind. Besides, that island was my home. If I didn’t return there, where would I go?

Pulling myself together, I tore my eyes away from the empty mirror and moved back out into the hallway. I climbed back up the staircase, intending to return to the upper deck, but on arriving at the level beneath, I found myself face to face with one of the ceiling-hanging creatures, all the more alarming now that it stood directly in front of me.

For the first time, I took in its face. Its lips were withered and two long, razor-sharp fangs—sharper than I’d ever seen in a vampire—protruded from its mouth. Its nose was partially receded into its skull. It was staring straight at me, or rather, straight through me. It lurched suddenly, and although my instinct was to duck, I should’ve remembered that there was no need. It passed right through me, as though I was nothing but a cloud of mist, and continued down the corridor. Its movement was strange. It almost shuffled, as though it had injured one leg, and yet it possessed an alarming speed and agility.

I’d never seen any creature like this before. Certain features reminded me of vampires—like its fangs, claws, and pale skin—yet it was like no vampire I’d ever seen.

Shuffling came from my left, and I turned around to see another creature moving toward me. It appeared to be in a hurry and whizzed right through me, followed shortly by a third creature. They scurried to the end of the corridor and raced up the stairs toward the upper deck.

I wasn’t sure where they were going or what they intended to do. But there was nothing else I could accomplish by staying on this boat. It seemed that Aisha would remain trapped here until fate decided to free her.

I followed the creatures to the upper deck, where I found all three standing near the bow of the boat. One of them had taken the reins and was apparently slowing the animals to a stop. Looking around, I realized that we had already reached the harbor.

I didn’t know what the trio wanted to do in The Tavern—perhaps stop over for the night and rest until morning. Somehow, I found it hard to imagine them booking a room in the Blue Tavern’s guesthouse. For that matter, they didn’t appear to be the type of creature that would be welcome in The Tavern at all.

Pushing aside thoughts of them, I floated off the ship and drifted down toward the moonlit shipyard. I turned my mind to thinking about how exactly I was going to glean information about the nearest gate.

Heading to the pub ought to be my first option. That was the hub of this island, where most travelers passed through. In theory I could just hover around there for as long as it took to overhear something.

When I arrived outside the building, it was packed, as it always seemed to be. Although I hardly needed to worry about finding a seat anymore—which was a good thing, for there were none. I wandered around the tables, getting as close to the patrons as I wanted, and listened to their conversations. I saw no familiar faces other than the man tending the bar. He’d been here the night I’d arrived in the guest house, the same night I’d met Julie.

As I glanced over to the same table where I’d first spoken with her, a memory flooded back to me. That same night, sitting around the table next to us, had been four hooded vampires. I hadn’t paid attention to their faces much, and now I wondered if they had been the same four companions who had accosted me on Julie’s ship.