A Shade of Vampire 11: A Chase of Prey (14 page)

I
woke to banging
. My eyes shot open. My bare form still entwined with Caleb, I shook his shoulder. “Caleb, wake up.”

His eyes opened slowly. I was about to call out not to come in, but Caleb leaned over me and caught my lips in his. His kiss was strong, intense, demanding. He held my head in his hands, not allowing me to break free to gasp for breath. Although I could have stayed in bed kissing him all morning, the urgency of the knocking was beginning to worry me.

“Caleb,” I managed, when he finally allowed me to resurface. “The door… Micah?” I called out. “What do you want? Wait—”

But it was too late. The door swung open and Micah entered. I was surprised to see that he was soaking wet, his long hair dripping onto the fluffy cream carpet. He raised his brows and took a few steps back.

“Uh,” he said, pulling his eyes away from us and looking down at the floor. “I need to show you something.”

“What?” Caleb grabbed one of the sheets to cover himself and got out of bed.

“Just follow me.”

I picked up my bathrobe from the floor and wrapped it around me before following the two men down the corridor. Micah stepped out on the deck and beckoned. Caleb went into one of the bathrooms and grabbed a thick bath towel. Holding it over his head, he stepped outside with us, squinting.

Micah walked to the edge of the boat and pointed down at the waves. “One of you needs to jump in to see what I’m talking about.”

“I’ll go,” I said, tightening my robe around me. “Caleb will get burnt if he does.”

I gripped Micah’s shoulder and used him as support as I swung my legs over the barrier and dipped into the water. The waves were crystal clear and warm as they lapped against my skin. I swam forward a few meters, then looked back.

My heart leapt into my throat. The boat had vanished. In its place, nothing but empty waves.

“What’s wrong?” Caleb’s voice came from a few meters away. I looked up wildly toward his voice.

“Caleb?” I gasped.

“Rose, what’s wrong?” His voice was beginning to sound anxious, and a second later, I heard a loud splash and saw him surface in the waves a few feet away. He was wincing as the sun beat into his flesh. I pointed toward where the boat had been. His face contorted with shock as he looked at it.

“I told you, you needed to see this,” Micah called out.

I looked at Caleb, his skin beginning to dry out in the sun. Pushing my shock aside, I swam up to him and tugged at his arm. “Come on, let’s get back to the boat.”

I climbed onto his back and he quickly swam back toward the boat.

“I’m throwing down a rope for you,” Micah called.

A rope dropped into the water from nowhere. Caleb gripped the end of it as Micah pulled us back into the boat. Micah’s face came into view as soon as Caleb climbed over the railing. We retreated into the control cabin.

“What was that?” I breathed, staring back out at the waves.

“Somehow, overnight, someone put an invisibility spell over this boat,” Micah said.

“Who?” Caleb looked just as confused as me. “Could it have been Mona? Or one of the other witches from The Shade?”

I paused, considering the idea. “If any of The Shade’s witches knew our exact location, they wouldn’t have left us here.”

“Then who?” Caleb said.

I looked from him to Micah.

“Someone who wants to keep us safe.” Micah shrugged.

My stomach flipped as a sense of unease filled me.

“Someone was on this boat overnight,” Caleb said softly. He turned to Micah. “Have you checked all the cabins?”

“First thing I did,” Micah said.

I shuddered at the thought of this strange witch being so close to us during the night without us even realizing it.

“I guess this is a good thing,” Micah continued, running a hand through his long blond hair. “I mean, for now it suits us, doesn’t it? It can only make our journey back to The Shade easier…”

Neither Caleb nor I answered. If I could have been sure that this was the doing of one of The Shade’s witches, I’d be sighing in relief. But I didn’t see how it could be them.

“Why would someone do this though? If it wasn’t one of our well-wishers back in The Shade, what would their motivation be?”

Micah shrugged. “I’m no more comfortable about this than you. But I mean, if this witch or warlock wished us harm, she or he could have taken you already overnight. Maybe you have more well-wishers than you’re aware of, Rose… What’s the saying you humans have? Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

Micah’s words did little to calm my nerves. I couldn’t stifle the feeling that this was a gift horse we should conduct a full-on oral examination of.

But there wasn’t much we could do other than accept the situation. We were in the middle of the ocean. It wasn’t like there was an abundance of vessels we could swap ours with. Whoever had done this, we had to try to make the best of it and return to the safety of The Shade as soon as possible.

I
stood
at the front of the boat with Micah, watching the Panamanian shore come into view as Caleb navigated the boat. The day had been overcast, which had been a boon for him.

It was early evening now, and the protective shield was still upon us. We’d stopped every few hours to check.

I’d hoped that we could have avoided stopping for fuel, but it was too risky, even with the extra tanks we had on board. If we got lost on our way back to The Shade, or delayed for some reason, we had to be sure we wouldn’t get stranded.

As we entered the Gulf of Panama, we drifted along, trying to decide where to stop. Since we were invisible, it shouldn’t be too difficult mooring up somewhere without drawing attention.

“Over there,” Micah said, pointing toward a cluster of masts rising into the sky a few miles ahead of us.

“It will have to be good enough,” Caleb said. He sped up the boat and navigated toward the marina. We couldn’t occupy a regular berth in case another boat tried to moor up while we were stopped there and smashed into us.

“I might as well go looking for fuel,” Micah offered, once we’d found somewhere to stop.

“Okay,” Caleb said, before turning to me. “We need to find you something to eat.”

I hadn’t thought about food since the morning. My mind had been too preoccupied with what had happened to our boat overnight to think much of food. But now that Caleb mentioned it, I realized I was famished. There were some dried snacks on the yacht and plenty of bottled water, but I couldn’t deny that I yearned for something more substantial to eat. The last proper meal I’d had was more than a week ago—and I’d vomited most of that out in the rainforest soon after Caleb had rescued me.

Not waiting for my answer, Caleb turned to Micah. “If you’re going to sort out the fuel, I’m going to go with Rose and look for food. Do you want us to bring something back to you?”

“Yes,” Micah said. “I’ll be grateful for anything that’s not packaged in plastic and overly salted.”

“We’ll do our best,” Caleb said. “I suggest we meet back here in an hour.”

“Can we make that two?” Micah said. “I’d like to have time to stretch my legs a bit too once I’ve tanked up.”

Caleb looked down at me. When I didn’t protest, he said, “All right. We’ll meet back here in two hours. But not a minute later.”

Two hours seemed like a long time to delay our journey back, but the thought of taking a break from the water and walking around on solid ground for a while was too appealing for me to object.

Caleb scooped me up in his arms and jumped off the boat. We landed on the jetty and looked back toward our boat, invisible as ever. I looked around at the ships moored next to us, trying to commit their details into my memory.

Caleb set me down on my feet and pulled me forward. “Don’t worry. I’ll remember where it is.”

I was glad that Caleb had put me down. I could stretch my legs for the first time in days. I’d barely walked at all—I’d spent most of the time being carried by Caleb, cooped up by South American thugs, or stuck on a boat.

We exited the port and headed toward the town center. It was a beautiful evening. A warm breeze kissed my skin as we walked, the smell of fresh food wafting out from the outdoor cafes we passed by. The smells made my stomach grumble. The streets were teeming with people—tourists mostly, it seemed.

My heart sank as I remembered that we had no money. I didn’t think I could stand watching Caleb steal for my sake yet again.

“How are we going to get food?” I asked, dreading his answer.

Caleb pulled out a handful of notes from his pocket. “I found these in the control room.”

This hardly made me feel better about the situation. We’d already stolen that family’s boat and now we were spending their money. I swore to myself that we would find a way to pay them back anonymously once we were back in The Shade.

“Okay,” I sighed. “Let’s just get this over with.” I pointed to a pizza joint at the other side of the square. “That place doesn’t look too busy. Let’s try there. I’m sure Micah won’t mind pizza.”

As we approached, I realized that the place was busier than I’d thought. There were three different lines leading up to the order counter. They were all the same length. I pointed to the line in the far corner. “We should both stand in separate lines and see which one goes down fastest. You go stand in that one. I’ll wait in this one.”

We split and took our positions in the line. I kept looking at him from across the room while we waited to be served. Five minutes passed, and the lines had hardly shrunk at all. But I didn’t mind too much. I was quite happy to have this view of Caleb. We hadn’t talked about last night, but my skin tingled at the prospect of sleeping in his arms again tonight, feeling his lips against my skin, keeping me cool throughout the night…

My daydream was interrupted by a snort of laughter. I turned around to see two tan boys wearing shorts and tank tops standing behind me. They were clutching bottles of beer and looked about my age. They winked at me as I looked them over. I rolled my eyes and turned my back on the boys. I looked across the room to see Caleb glaring daggers at them.

“It’s okay,” I mouthed. The look in his eyes made me worried that he might come over.

I craned my neck over the line in front of me. There were still about five customers to serve before me, and Caleb’s line still wasn’t looking any shorter.

I sighed, trying to return to my daydream. But the boys’ sniggering kept disturbing me. And then they began talking to each other in Spanish. They must have realized I was a foreigner and thought I couldn’t understand what they were saying.

But oh, I understood. Every vulgar word.

They were daring each other to slap my backside.

I turned back around slowly to face them again. I looked at them witheringly.

“Donkeys have more charm than you,” I said in Spanish.

It wasn’t the most satisfying of comebacks, but I didn’t know many Spanish insults, and the ones I had discovered while browsing through my dictionary were far too strong for me to dare use.

Their faces dropped as they realized I’d understood their every word. But then they started guffawing even more loudly.

“And my dead grandmother is warmer than you.”

“What’s stuck up your ass, bitch?”

I stared at them in disgust.

“Desgraciados,”
was all I could think to mutter as I faced forward again.

My eyes shot once again toward Caleb. He was on the verge of walking over to me. I held up my hands and mouthed again, “It’s okay.” I pointed to the line in front of me—now only three people. “We’ll be out of here soon.”

The rest of the orders went quickly and I had to endure the boys’ vulgarity for only five more minutes. Once I’d reached the counter, Caleb walked over to join me. We ordered two extra large margherita pizzas and two large salads.

We were lucky that we didn’t have to wait more than a few minutes before they handed the boxes over the counter. I took the money from Caleb’s hand and paid for them.
“Gracias.”

Caleb took the boxes and we headed toward the exit.

I should have thought to swerve away from the boys as I walked past. I felt two sharp slaps against my backside. Barely a second later, Caleb had placed the boxes on the ground and was hurtling toward the boys. I threw myself against his chest before he could reach out and grab them. Holding his head between my hands, I forced him to look down at me.

“Don’t do this. They’re not worth it.”

Caleb’s nostrils flared as he forced his eyes away from me and glared back at the boys. The fools had jerked back in terror as Caleb had launched at them, but now that I’d restrained him, they were laughing and jeering again.

“Hey, friend. Relax. We just wanted to know if your bitch feels as cold as she acts.”

Their jeers continued as we left through the door.

The boys were lucky that Caleb didn’t understand Spanish. If he had, I doubted they would have made it out of that pizzeria with their throats intact.

“Dogs,” Caleb growled.

His chest was still heaving. I couldn’t help but smile at his agitation. I supposed that he came from a time when men behaved more conservatively around women.

I slid my arm around his waist and reached up to kiss his cheek. “Thank you,” I whispered.

He glanced down at me and frowned. I thought he was about to respond when Micah’s voice sounded out from the other side of the square.

“Rose. Caleb.”

He ran over to us. Too fast. I winced, looking around the square and hoping nobody had noticed his speed.

“What did you get?” he asked, staring at the boxes Caleb was carrying.

“Pizza,” I said.

“What?” He flipped open the boxes.

“Pizza. It’s a type of bread covered with cheese and other tasty things. Just try it. I think you’ll like it. Oh, and also some salad.”

“Hm. All right. Thanks.” He walked away with the two boxes—I assumed he was heading back to the ship to eat.

I supposed that we could have followed him, but we still had more than an hour left, and I wanted to spend this time outside, alone with Caleb.

I pointed to an empty bench opposite a guitar player who had set up in front of the fountain in the center of the square. Caleb and I walked over to it and sat down. I began munching on a slice of pizza. I’d almost forgotten what real food tasted like.

I looked up to see Caleb watching me eat. I felt bad that he couldn’t try some. As I continued munching through the pizza, I was reminded of a prank my mother had once pulled on my father, involving a piece of toast. Smiling, I lifted my eyes to Caleb. He’d stopped watching me and was now looking out across the square at the guitarist.

“Caleb,” I said, finishing my mouthful. “When was the last time you tried real food?”

“I don’t remember.”

I was half tempted to try out my mother’s prank and feed him a piece of pizza, but I didn’t. It would just taste like sawdust to him.

“Why are you smiling?” he asked.

“I just remembered a joke my mother once played on my father.”

Caleb looked away, his jaw tensing.

There was an awkward silence as I began munching on my salad. We still hadn’t talked much about him returning to The Shade.

“You’re worried about my parents.”

“Well, your father and I didn’t exactly part on the best of terms,” he said bitterly.

Caleb still hadn’t answered my question whether he even wanted to return to The Shade with me. I had assumed he would, to get his curse removed. But even then I hadn’t known for sure that he would want to stay with us. Perhaps now his curse was no longer on him, he was only returning to The Shade to drop me off. I sensed he’d been deliberately avoiding the question. My mouth felt dry at the thought of him not wanting to stay with us.

Having finished my meal, I moved the empty boxes aside and reached out to touch his hand. “Caleb, you don’t need to worry about my parents. It will be awkward at first, but I promise you they will understand. The real doubt I have in my mind is, do you even want to live with us in The Shade? You haven’t exactly been enthusiastic about it.”

He breathed out slowly, the sunset reflecting in his deep brown eyes.

“Because if you don’t,” I continued, “I understand. I… I mean, I want you to stay with us. With me. I just don’t want to pressure you into something you don’t want to do. If you don’t, I’m not sure where you’ll go. B-but I hope I’ll still be able to see you—”

Reaching forward, he laid a finger over my lips.

“You talk too much sometimes.”

“And you talk too little.”

He stood up. Hands in his pockets, he paced the ground in front of me, kicking at stones with his feet.

“I can’t pretend that I’m not uncomfortable about it,” he said. “I can’t help but think I’ll feel out of place there. But if your parents invite me in… I’ll try it.”

I smiled, tears brimming in my eyes. He didn’t know how happy he’d just made me.

He reached down and held my head in his hands, placing a gentle kiss over my forehead. Then he looked up at the clock in the middle of the square.

“We should return to the boat now.”

I couldn’t have been more enthusiastic to agree. Caleb’s decision ringing in my ears, we couldn’t return to The Shade fast enough.

We left the square and headed back toward the marina. Walking hand in hand, I could barely contain my excitement any more.

“The first thing we’ll do when we arrive back is go to visit Mona,” I said. “We’ll convince my parents together about what happened. My brother’s always been on your side. He saw how you first rescued us from Stellan’s people… We’ll need to find you a home on the island. I’m not sure my parents will allow you to stay in my room. But we have plenty of spare rooms in our apartment. And I’m sure we can ask the witches to create a home of your own, so you have your own space…” My voice trailed off.

Caleb was being disconcertingly silent again, and I began to grow worried again that I might be overwhelming him with my ramblings. I realized he might not have lived anywhere but that frozen island and in that bleak castle for centuries. It would be a shock to his system coming to live with us rowdy lot in The Shade.

I reined myself in and stopped bombarding him with so many thoughts at once. We reached our boat and climbed on board. Micah was resting in a corner, an empty salad and pizza box by his side. Night had fallen, and he was back in his wolf form.

“How did you like the food?” I asked.

“I finished it before I transformed, so it was all right. I wouldn’t enjoy it as a werewolf though. Not after Rhys fed me human flesh. I don’t think anything will be able to beat that.”

I gasped. “He fed you human flesh?”

“Yes. To give me strength for the journey.”

I gulped, feeling wary of Micah for the first time. I hoped that once we got back to The Shade he wouldn’t be craving to satisfy this newfound taste. Rhys had told me the moment they tried human flesh, they craved it nonstop. Micah must have noticed my discomfort.

“Don’t worry, it’s not the type of urge Caleb would get if he drank your blood. It won’t be too much of a struggle to control. I’ll just have to suck it up.”