A Shade of Vampire 13: A Turn of Tides

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Prologue: Micah

I
didn’t know
what had become of Rose and Caleb. I just hoped that, unlike me, they’d managed to get away.

After the white witch had emerged from the lower deck of the yacht, Caleb, Rose and I had managed to leap into the water. Shortly after that, my limbs froze and I lost sight of them. Beneath the waves, unable to even kick up toward the surface, I was sure that I would die in those waters.

The waves began to suck me backward, closer and closer to the yacht again, until my head knocked against the underside of the hull. No longer able to hold my breath, I swallowed my first mouthful of seawater. Even though the sea water stung my eyes, I forced them open. Staring up at the lightening sky through the dark waters, I was so sure that would be my last vision as I felt myself sliding deeper and deeper toward the sea bed. A second gulp of seawater. It wouldn’t be long now.

But then, in a wave of energy that rushed from the tips of my toes to my fingertips, whatever spell that white witch had cast on me lifted suddenly. I regained control over my limbs. Kicking furiously, I managed to reach the surface before swallowing a third gulp. Choking and wheezing, I grabbed hold of the closest solid thing to me—a rope hanging near the base of the boat. I was feeling too queasy to consider the consequences of heaving myself onto that vessel. I just needed solid deck beneath me.

Hauling myself up over the railing, I rolled over and landed on the deck. Keeping low against the floor, I crawled toward the steps leading down to the lower deck and, tumbling down them, climbed into a long, narrow storage cupboard beneath the tub in the bathroom and locked myself inside. Trying to steady my breathing, I hoped that the dizziness in my head would go away as I coughed up yet more seawater.

I remained still, clutching my stomach with my hands as I stared up at the dark ceiling of the closet. I took deep, steady breaths, and finally as the faintness in my head began to lift I turned my thoughts to what I should do next.

I sniffed the air, trying to detect the scent of the witch. While I detected it still, something told me that it wasn’t strong enough for her to be on this boat. I sniffed the air again. On the other hand, I sensed two new scents that I hadn’t experienced before. It was hard for me to pinpoint exactly what they were—certainly not human, vampire, or werewolf. But something told me that I ought not remain on this boat long enough to find out.

Shifting onto my side in the narrow container, I motioned to open the closet door when a tremor ran through the vessel. Its force knocked me backward, slamming my head against the wooden panel behind me. For what felt like the next ten minutes, I was thrown back and forward against the sides of the closet. Then, as though the boat had plummeted into a free fall, the front of my body smashed against the roof. My stomach lurched.

What the hell…

I was about to attempt to open the door even as I was being thrown around when the boat finally became still again. Rubbing my head, I groaned softly.

Reaching for the latch, I opened the closet door and rolled out onto the floor. I stood up and walked to the door. About to step into the corridor outside, I froze as I heard a female voice above deck.

“You can tell him.”

There was a deep sigh. “All right,” a second female snapped. “But you will come with me. You’re just as responsible for this mess as me.”

As footsteps sounded overhead, I crept back into the closet and closed the door. Holding my breath, I waited until they neared the edge of the deck, and then they disappeared entirely.

I waited another five minutes, just to be sure that they had indeed left the boat, and when I detected no further movement, I climbed out of the closet and walked into the corridor outside. Cautiously, I walked to the end of it and climbed the stairs leading up to the deck.

Goosebumps ran along my skin as a blast of ice-cold wind hit me. I stared out at the scene before me in shock. The boat had been moored in a snowy harbor lined with trees, and in the distance were white-capped mountains.

I knew this place.

Last time I was here, I’d been kept in the dungeons as Rhys’ prisoner. I shuddered at the memory. I couldn’t let that happen again. If he found me after I’d betrayed him…

I backed into the control cabin and gripped the wheel. It was locked fast. I tried to start the engine, but it was out cold. I realized even if I was able to navigate the boat away from the jetty, I didn’t know if I’d be able to leave this island’s boundary. There had been a spell over this Godforsaken place when I’d last been here, keeping everyone trapped inside. I didn’t know if that was still the case.

I looked out at the sea and gauged the distance between the boat and the sun hitting the waves, just beyond the boundary.

I climbed out of the yacht. My bare feet touched down on the snowy jetty. I scanned the area for submarines or any other vessel that I could use to at least test my assumption. There were none. That left me with only one option.

Taking a deep breath, I braced myself before diving into the freezing ocean. The water hit me like a hundred knives stabbing my body. I wanted nothing more than to leap back out, but I began swimming forward with as much speed as I could muster.

I could no longer feel my hands and feet once I reached the halfway mark, and once I arrived at the boundary, my teeth were chattering and my body trembling uncontrollably. As it turned out, it was all in vain. I hit up against an invisible force field.

Exhaling sharply, I grimaced as I looked back at the harbor. I had no choice but to return to the beach of this dark island, because I wouldn’t survive much longer in these waters.

By the time I reached the harbor, it was hard to even breathe and I could barely find strength in my limbs to haul myself up onto the boat. I rolled onto the deck, then descended back to the bathroom where I stripped out of my ripped clothes and wrapped myself in towels. I rubbed my skin, trying to stimulate blood flow. Once I was finally able to feel my toes again, I walked into the room next door and pulled on fresh underwear, a shirt and pants I found in the closet. Then I sat down on the bed and gazed at the door.

I could no longer deny it: I was trapped on this island.

Now I had to decide how to best keep myself from getting caught. I didn’t feel comfortable staying on this small boat, but trying to enter the island seemed like suicide.

For now, I had no choice but to stay where I was. I had to hope that they’d take this boat on an expedition outside, and I’d be able to leap off into the sea, and somehow find my way back to The Shade.

I walked over to a shadowy corner of the room, with a clear view of the door, and sat down.

Drawing my knees against my chest, I thought of Kira. The beautiful blonde werewolf who doubled my heartbeat every time she laid eyes on me. And I remembered the promise I’d made Rose just before we were separated. I’d promised her that I’d finally profess my love for Kira as soon as we returned home.

I just hoped that I’d live to fulfill that promise.

Chapter 1: Ben

I
left
The Shade without the slightest idea of where I would go. I just needed to get away from the island. Away from our people.

I put the vessel on autopilot after what felt like a couple of hours and sank back in my chair. Hunger ripped through my stomach as I sat in the control cabin, staring out through the window at the dark expanse of water ahead of me. I didn’t know where I was going, and I wasn’t paying attention to the map. I was just speeding forward, hoping to lose myself in an oblivion where I would no longer feel hunger. Where my cravings would subside.

I tried to distract myself with thoughts of my parents, hoping that the pain of thinking of them might distract me from the physical pain, at least for a few moments. I supposed they would have seen the note by now. They might be wondering why I couldn’t have just stayed. Why I couldn’t have tried to drink the blood stored in the chilling chambers which vampires used while taking the cure. That blood was tinged with Anna’s blood, after all. But I hoped they’d understand that I simply couldn’t risk killing one of our people again. I also hoped that they’d do as I’d requested and not come looking for me. They’d already lost Rose, and now to have me leave so unceremoniously… it would crush them. But they would have to get over it. Our people depended on them.

Besides, I might not need to stay away too long. I just had to take a timeout. I was desperately hoping that my reaction to being fed animal blood was temporary. That for some reason, my body had demanded human blood on waking, but given time, it would adjust to animal blood just like the rest of the vampires in The Shade.
Why should I be any different?

Although I tried to convince myself of this, I couldn’t shake the memory of the look in my father’s eyes as he’d watched me expel the animal blood. Even he’d said, in all his centuries of experience, he’d never seen a vampire react to animal blood as I had.

But hope was the only thing I had. I wondered how long a vampire could starve himself of blood. I realized that I didn’t even know whether a vampire could die from lack of blood.

Being on the subject of blood again, my consciousness became aware of the pain. The fire in my stomach raged on. I clenched my jaw, closing my eyes and wincing. My hands were beginning to tremble. I gripped the edge of my seat.

I didn’t know exactly how much time had passed since leaving The Shade. I deliberately hadn’t been looking at the time. It only made the hours pass all the more slowly, the situation more unbearable.

I left the control cabin and stumbled along the passageway into the vessel’s galley. I opened one of the cupboards and scanned the shelves—long-life milk and packaged foods mostly.

I ripped open a carton of milk and, without thinking, began to chug it down. At this point, I’d drink anything to fill the void in my stomach. I held my nose as I drank, trying not to taste the milk, since I was well aware that human food tasted foul to vampires.

At first I thought that it might have even worked. As the liquid settled in my stomach, it at least felt less hollow, even if it didn’t relieve the burning. But then I doubled over and retched it all up.

I tore open a packet of biscuits and began stuffing them into my mouth, chewing forcefully, as if willing my body to accept them. No chance. Soon the floor was covered in a blood-traced soup of milk and biscuits.

I slammed my fist against the side of the door, denting the metal. Cursing beneath my breath, I staggered to the bathroom and gripped the edges of the sink, breathing deeply and staring at myself in the mirror. I looked paler than I’d ever seen myself before. My green eyes looked darker somehow. I was used to vampires’ eyes being brighter and sharper in color. Not mine. If anything, they had dulled. It was as if a haze had misted them.

I was frightening myself with my own reflection. I ducked my head over the sink and splashed cold water onto my face before drying myself with a towel.

I’ll feel better if I can just hold out a few days. Maybe this is something to do with my mixed blood, and I just need more time to adjust than others.
I repeated this hope to myself in my head over and over as I resumed my seat in the control room.

A flashing on the navigation board caught my eye. We were approaching the shore.

No.

I slowed the submarine and, turning it round in the opposite direction, headed back toward the open sea.

I tried to push aside thoughts of the humans who might have been walking along the beach, their sweet blood so easily accessible beneath their swim suits…

I shook my head vigorously.

Thinking about it only made the hunger in my stomach roar louder. The memory of Yasmine lying in a pool of blood on our living room floor was still fresh in my mind. As much as the beast within me was screaming to kill again, I wasn’t sure that I could take another aftermath of guilt. And I feared that, if I allowed myself to make a habit of this, my body might never learn to accept animal blood.

I wondered if it might be possible to train my body. If I starved it to such an extent that it would consume literally anything I put in my mouth just to survive…

I kept trying to reassure myself that things would work out. That I wouldn’t spend the last of my days alone in this submarine. That I would learn to stomach animal blood. But as the hours passed, I found myself less and less in control of my thoughts. The only thing I could think about was the humans I imagined walking along the nearby beach. Until finally my body took on a life of its own. My brain shut down, and instinct took over. I felt barely even conscious as my hands reached for the controls and turned the vessel back toward the shore.

The next few hours were a blur.

I was only vaguely aware of the sun burning into my skin as I beached on the shore. My senses were too overwhelmed by the feel of soft skin beneath my fangs, and then the hot rush of blood gushing down my throat. Pure, sweet blood. The screams surrounding me, the hands trying to pull me off, all of it faded into the background. The only thing that existed in the world at that moment was the human trapped in my arms and the ecstasy coursing through my veins. The feeling of complete satisfaction. Of strength so great that I might lift a mountain. Strength that I could barely contain.

I didn’t even recall how I broke away from the crowds on the beach and made it back to the submarine.

Nor did I recall speeding away from the shore.

It was only hours later, once the sea had darkened, that the fog in my brain began to lift, the darkness in my eyes fading. And I realized what I’d done. I relived all the horror I’d experienced when I’d killed Yasmine. And now I had the weight of two lives on my shoulders. I couldn’t even remember, in my mad frenzy, whom I’d killed. Whether it was a man, woman, perhaps even a child.

If I can’t even trust myself floating in a submarine in the depths of the ocean, what is to become of me?

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