Pushing away the blankets, I realized I was wearing a garment that was not my own—a silk, deep purple nightgown.
Then I spotted Tejus in one corner, standing in front of a mirror. He was bare-chested, examining one of his wounds on his upper arm. And leaning against the wall near the mirror was the silver and black sword.
“Wha-What’s going on?” I stammered.
I climbed to the edge of the bed and pushed myself off. I approached him from behind.
“Where’s my brother? Ruby? Julian?”
“I kept my word,” was all he responded, his voice terse.
“What?” I moved to his front so I could look him in the face. “What do you mean? Is my brother okay?”
“They are all ‘okay’. Zerus, my brother whom your brother was accompanying, lost himself in the forest with the nymphs. Your brother was left untouched, however. The watchers found him roaming the maze, lost. As for your other two friends, they came to. I sent them all back to the human realm.”
My throat constricted. “Wha-What? When?”
As much as I was relieved that Tejus was telling me they were safe and had all survived the maze, how could he have just packed them off like that?
“Less than an hour ago,” he replied stiffly, before turning away from me and stalking to the opposite end of the room to pick up his shirt and pull it on.
“How could you not have woken me?” I rasped.
“Your mind was drained. You were not ready to wake,” he replied. “But they came in to visit you before they left.”
I clutched at my throat, feeling choked up as I imagined them bending over my bed, my brother probably pressing a kiss against my cheek.
I hadn’t been able to say goodbye, and I had no idea when I’d be able to see them again.
I eyed the black sword with a sick feeling in my stomach. After everything I’d been forced to sacrifice for it, I’d never hated an object so much.
I flung myself to the window and looked out. Evening had fallen. The sun was setting, thin clouds of mist descending over the kingdom.
Then I looked once more around Tejus’ room before eyeing my night gown and asking myself again: Why did I wake up in here?
“How come you brought me in here?”
“It was convenient; I could keep an eye on your recovery.”
My eyes narrowed on him. “I need to go back,” I told him, my voice uneven as despondency began to slip into anger. “I helped you reach your stupid sword. You now have a shot at winning the crown and keeping kingship within your horrid, heartless family, as well as being eligible to compete for emperorship of your country—though I have no idea why anyone would want to be emperor of this bleak, hollow land so much. I can guarantee none of this chase for power will bring you happiness—if you’re even capable of experiencing such an emotion.” I honestly doubted that he, or any of these people, were.
Tejus had frozen at my outburst, his deep-set eyes trained on me. Then, in a voice that was as icy and devoid of emotion as his expression, he said, “I informed you of the situation.”
His words came over me like a harsh winter, squashing any fragile hopes I’d dared to seed and grow throughout our journey together that perhaps, out of gratitude or decency, he would change his mind by the end of it and let me return with the others.
“But why?” I pressed, hating that I was practically begging now. “Why can’t you let me go back? I don’t understand—”
“Because I am bleak, hollow and heartless!” he snarled, suddenly allowing his emotions to spiral. “Just like my father and brothers and country that you so despise!”
I stared at him as he brought a fist down against a dressing table. I hadn’t been expecting such an outburst from him… or perhaps a better way to describe it would have been honesty.
I wasn’t sure how to respond.
He spoke again after a pause. “Despite what you might argue, you are still of use to me.” His voice was quieter, his eyes averting. “I still need you, Hazel Achilles, and that is why I am keeping you… I am more selfish than you could imagine.”
As I scrutinized his pale face, something about his harsh assessment of himself didn’t ring true. He had let my brother and friends go, at least. I doubted Jenus or his father would have bothered to do that. Then again, I would have hated Tejus even more if he’d gone back on his word and kept them, been even less willing to cooperate with whatever else he needed from me. Letting them go was possibly just a cold, calculated business move.
Whatever the case, one thing was clear:
Unless my family found a way to reach me in this impossibly hidden realm, I was going to be a prisoner of this man and his kingdom for a long time to come.
Ruby
Being forced to leave Hazel in the clutches of Tejus Hellswan was one of the most harrowing moments of my life. Even more harrowing than when Jenus managed to force his way into my mind and almost cause me to murder Tejus—I still felt fragile, racked with nerves from that experience.
Julian and I gazed down at Hazel’s unconscious form, stiff-lipped and pale, while Benedict shed silent tears. We just had to remind ourselves that if we didn’t leave when the opportunity presented itself to us, Tejus might change his mind and we might all be stuck here, with no hope for any of us ever leaving.
I was still hoping that on our way out of Nevertide I’d be able to catch a glimpse of something that might help us decipher its location, or the location of its gate. That hope was crushed, however, after we’d been ushered out of Tejus’ room by a maid and led to the base of the castle. Three guards were waiting for us there, each carrying fabric sacks. Without asking for permission or even warning us, they approached and strapped the bags over our heads, fixing them uncomfortably tight around our necks. We could still breathe, but the world became dark and undecipherable. The sentries gripped us and led us stumbling down the steps to the courtyard beneath. I sensed that we were approaching the cage of vultures. I heard the clinking of metal, and then the drawing open of the cage door, followed by squawking and the shuffling of wings.
Riding on these giant vultures with my eyes open had been terrifying enough. I was positively trembling as I was forced to mount the bird. I gripped hold for dear life on the sentry who seated himself in front of me.
“Hold on tight, guys,” I said nervously to Julian and Benedict.
Then we rose with a lurch that sent my stomach plummeting. We soared higher and higher, the cool evening air swirling around us. The vultures picked up speed, circling several times before diverting in a straight line. How I wished I knew which direction we were headed in. I waited for ten minutes before I could bear it no longer. I dared to remove one of my hands from the guard in an attempt to loosen the sack over my head. But I didn’t get nearly that far.
“Keep both your hands around my chest,” the sentry barked. “I know your games.”
I was forced to replace my hands. I comforted myself that at least when we arrived on the other side of the portal, wherever that was, we would know its location. I doubted that the sentries would bother to take us any farther than the portal. Once they dumped us in the human realm I guessed that they would return immediately.
My heart raced faster as we began to descend, much sooner than I had anticipated. We soared lower and lower until we had to be almost at ground level.
“Are we almost there?” I heard Benedict ask.
“Hush,” his sentry muttered.
The vultures landed with a shudder. My sentry pulled me off, my feet touched down. Gripping my wrist, he pulled me along what felt like a dusty track.
Given the fact that they’d left their vultures, I could only assume that we had reached the portal already and they were going to drop us through it. I could hardly even bring myself to be worried about where we might land on the other side. We’d figure out a way to get back to our families. After our spell of captivity in Nevertide, anything felt surmountable back on Earth.
As the man began to slow our pace, I
was preparing myself for the leap.
But then the sound of rapid galloping came behind us—horse hooves hitting the ground—as well as the sound of creaking wheels. Then the galloping stopped. Hurried footsteps started, drawing closer and closer until… a second man gripped my arm.
“My Lord,” my sentry said, “we are on orders from your brother to send these humans back to their realm.”
My breath hitched as the seething voice of Jenus Hellswan replied, “My brother is not king yet.”
“No!” I rasped, now desperately moving to tear off my sack. I didn’t understand what was happening. Had we reached the portal? Or had we only descended at Jenus’ beckoning? I tugged at the rope that fastened it beneath my chin before strong hands secured my arms behind my back. I kicked and fought and cried, but it was no use. I was not strong enough. I was dragged away from where I sensed the portal was, toward the horses and cart. A door creaked open and I was thrown onto a hard wooden floor. Julian and Benedict were thrown in straight after me—their sentries must have decided to side with Jenus and escort them—before the door slammed shut. Finally free to remove our sacks, all of us untied them and pulled them off. We were indeed in a small rectangular wagon. We rushed to the door that had closed and banged and kicked against it, but it wouldn’t budge.
Then the carriage began to move again, the horses continuing on their way, bumping us over the uneven road.
I ran to the opposite end, toward where the driver’s seat must be. I banged hard against the wall so hard that my knuckles ached.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” I screamed.
A small sliver of evening light suddenly appeared near the roof. A small shutter had slid open sideways, just high and wide enough to reveal a pair of dark eyes.
Then came Jenus’s voice again:
“I am not finished with you humans yet.”
Rose
It was baking hot when we arrived in Crete. While stepping out of the helicopter we’d landed near the archeological site, it was like a tidal wave of dry heat crashing over us, with barely any breeze to counteract it. Not the best climate for a vampire.
Caleb and I broke out in a sweat as we debarked from the aircraft. I had been holding his hand, but was forced to let go because of the discomfort. Ibrahim settled a spell of shadow over us as we all gathered outside. We gazed around the dusty, rocky landscape. One of GASP’s agents was here to greet us—Mr. Tulios, a tall light blond-haired man with deep tan skin. He shook my parents’ hands before inviting us to go on a tour with him of the area so he could show us all the recently observed peculiarities.
He took us first to a small, cordoned-off lane which was lined with five trucks. Their roofs had been systematically dented deep in the center, as though some very heavy weight had trodden atop them. Next, he took us to a dirt track where a large hoof print had been embedded in the sand—larger than a horse’s or any other animal one might find roaming naturally around here. Clearly this was what was fueling speculations among the locals that there was a minotaur on the rampage. GASP’s team in Greece had already spent countless hours on site, trying to get to the bottom of the mystery, but nothing had come to light yet.
After Mr. Tulios gave us detailed profiles of the humans who had gone missing around the area, he departed and left us to begin our own investigations.
The first thing we did was gather around and discuss.
“I guess to address the elephant in the room first,” my father said, clearing his throat as he eyed a Polaroid of the hoof print dubiously, “do we completely rule out a minotaur?”
Most of us looked to the witches present among us. They were typically more knowledgeable about the existence of other supernatural creatures than the rest of us.
“Well,” Corrine said, loosening the collar of her shirt while wiping her brow with a tissue, “my belief has always been that the Minotaur is human-concocted mythology. There has never been any actual evidence that it existed… until this, supposedly.” She pointed to the Polaroid. “Assuming for a moment that it does exist—and leaving aside questions such as how and from where in the supernatural realm it could originate—why would evidence come to light only now? Why would it only suddenly start being active, after centuries of being believed in? More likely, I suspect, we have some other supernatural on our hands who is using the Minotaur as a cover to fool the locals and go undetected by us.”
That definitely made a lot more sense in my eyes. Supernaturals had to tread much more warily these days on Earth with our worldwide organization on the watch. Something—or maybe a group of creatures—who were aware of the general mythology of this area could be using it as a front and… creating artificial hoof prints in the ground? Hm.
This proposal was also strange. And I wondered what kind of supernatural would have the slyness and wherewithal to pull something like this off—and what the point was of going to the effort in the first place.
“Well,” my brother Ben spoke up, “whatever the case, I guess that our first step is to set up camp and keep watch. Try to spot or gain some sort of clue as to what is frequenting this place.”
“Agreed,” my father said. “I suggest that we camp outside the helicopter tonight—scatter ourselves in tents about the site—in order to spread ourselves out and cover as much area as possible.”
Nobody had any objections, though I could tell from people’s expressions that there weren’t many who were looking forward to spending the night in a warm tent as opposed to our comfortable bunks within the chopper.
We spent the rest of the day roaming the place, looking for any more clues that could possibly help us, as well as scouring the area for a hidden gate. We didn’t uncover much except for a couple more hoof prints that we found on a road leading to the nearest village. It did seem that the hoof prints were placed deliberately where humans were more likely to frequent and see them. And the fact that there were only the random one or two in any one space was also inconsistent—if this really was a Minotaur, or indeed some other kind of hoofed supernatural in the guise of one, there would have been a trail of prints leading in whatever direction it was heading. Not just two or three scattered randomly on the ground in any one location.
By the end of the day, we were all ready to unwind with some chilled drinks. Vampires might not be able to eat food without feeling sick, but we could consume beverages other than blood—not for nutrition (our bodies could only gain actual sustenance from blood) but to help ourselves feel cooler.
Caleb and I dropped down next to Ben and River among the cluster of rocks where we’d all settled for a rest before it was time to set up our tents, while Shayla came around serving iced tea. We sipped from our straws and stared out at the dimming horizon, while listening to the conversations and speculations going on around us. Mona even suspected that we could have centaurs on our hands. Centaurs. That was yet another species of supernatural I had absolutely no experience with or clue about.
“Let’s see if things are clearer by the morning,” my mother muttered.
Ibrahim lit a bonfire in the center of our circle while everyone who could consume dinner did. Then we returned to the chopper to gather our camping equipment and set up—something that didn’t take long. The tents we had (as well as being camouflage-colored) were pop-up tents, which were quick and pain-free to put up and take down. They were also extremely thin, which meant that by the time we had all settled down for the night—although we’d set up at fair distances from each other to cover as much ground as possible—we could hear what everyone was saying or doing as clear as a bell. Most noticeable were Kiev and Mona having some kind of minor tiff… as well as some noises I’d rather not hear coming from Claudia and Yuri’s direction.
I groaned, turning over on Caleb’s and my mattress while stuffing earplugs into my ears.
“Congratulations for remembering.” Caleb chuckled, his voice sounding more muffled to me as he stuffed his own plugs into his ears. Usually I always forgot to bring ear plugs
when we went traveling and ended up leeching off of his stash.
I faced my husband and grinned. “I remembered because I was packing some in Hazel’s bag just before we left.” I paused, thinking of our children. This summer trip was the first one they’d ever been on. Of course, for most of their lives, time away from The Shade was simply too dangerous with all the Bloodless and mass infestation of other supernaturals. But as soon as we felt that the risk was tolerable, we’d wanted them to experience some time away from our island, experience what it was like to mix with “normal” kids. Ashley and Landis and Claudia and Yuri had wanted the same for their son and daughter too. This was exactly what my parents had wanted for Ben and me, too.
“I miss them,” I said.
“We’ll be seeing them again before you know it,” Caleb said, rubbing my back. “I guess that with all of us on the job, it won’t take us long to get to the bottom of this Greek mystery. And then we’ll be back in The Shade. The rest of the two weeks will pass in no time.”
“Yeah,” I mumbled, snuggling closer to him. “I know… and then I’ll be booking their next trip.”
Caleb smiled wryly.
I relaxed in his arms—it was cooler now, at least—and let my earplugs do their job.
As I drifted off to sleep that night, it was to the pleasant dream of Benedict and Hazel frolicking about on a sunny, windswept hilltop, plucking grass and gathering daisies… all safe and tucked away on their little Scottish island.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Dearest Shaddict,
Here are 2 releases to mark in your calendar!
1st Announcement:
The Gender Game
If you haven’t already, check out the amazing cinematic trailer for my new novel The Gender Game on Youtube by clicking here.
The Gender Game releases September 24, 2016.
Here is the blurb:
“A toxic river divides nineteen-year-old Violet Bates's world by gender.
A Shade of Vampire 33: A Dawn of Guardians Page 15