Part 22 (1/2)

He ignored my question. He pushed open the door and hauled me into the witch's apartment.

I breathed out in pain as he yanked my head upward. As he forced me to my feet, I found myself face to face with the witch.

Chapter 34: Caleb.

The witch's cold eyes settled on Rose's distressed face. Then she looked up at me, frowning. ”What are you doing with her? I told Stellan-”

”I know what you told Stellan,” I said coolly. ”But he wants some rest after his last task. I'm doing this instead.”

She looked from me to the girl. I made sure to keep my face devoid of emotion-something I'd gotten good at over the years.

Finally, she nodded. ”Very well. You have my permission. You know what must be done?”

I nodded and took Rose by the scalp. Pulling harshly enough so that Rose moaned in pain, I dragged her back out of the witch's chambers.

As soon as the door shut, I scooped Rose up in my arms and carried her down the steps. Rose tried to ask me what the h.e.l.l I was doing, but I ignored her until we'd exited the castle, run down the mountain and reached the port. I set her down at the edge of the frozen jetty while I opened up the hatch of a submarine.

Only once I'd lowered us both inside of it and locked the hatch did I bend down and examine her wounds closely. I swore as I saw how much blood was still oozing from the gashes Stellan had made.

I took her hand and led her into the control room, where I sat her down in one of the seats. She continued to glare at me, her expression full of pain and accusation. I rummaged around in the overhead cupboards until I found a first-aid kit-something we always kept on board, since we transported humans regularly in these vessels.

I bent down next to her and began treating her wounds. I salivated as I wiped up her succulent blood and disposed of the tissues. Once I'd fixed bandages over them, I stood up and looked down at her.

”Rose,” I said quietly. ”I'm sorry.”

She looked up at me, her eyes still wide.

”I had to scare you. The distrust in your eyes helped convince her to let us go.”

Her soft lips parted as realization dawned upon her.

”And now?” she asked, her voice hoa.r.s.e. ”Where are you taking me?”

”I'm taking you home.”

Chapter 35: Derek.

We'd been at a loss for what to do. We had no idea where to even begin looking. And of course the police were even more clueless than us.

We had searched the condo. There had been clear signs of a struggle-the sofa was in disarray, water splashed all over the kitchen, the kettle on the floor along with a knife. A mirror smashed, several paintings fallen off the hooks. The windows had been left wide open-and since there was no record of them leaving the apartment on the CCTV cameras outside of the room, the only conclusion we could come to was that they must have escaped with the four teenagers out of the window. Given the height of the building, unless they had parked a crane alongside it, this wouldn't have been possible for humans.

We saw no choice but to return to The Shade. Hanging around in Hawaii wasn't going to solve anything. We called an urgent meeting in The Great Dome with our closest friends and family. But none of us could figure out what our next step should be. They'd just vanished without a trace.

Now, I was beginning to lose track of how much time had pa.s.sed since their disappearance. Days merged into a blur. We continued having meetings, but it felt like we were going round in circles.

We'd received no calls from their phone, and whenever we tried calling it, we reached voice mail.

”So we're sure it's vampires behind this, Derek?” Vivienne reached out and clasped my arm.

I looked up into her worried eyes.

”That's the only conclusion we can come to. It's hard to make out their features from the CCTV, but you can see the pale skin beneath their gla.s.ses-they definitely look like they could be vampires.”

”But why?” Anna sat forward in her seat. ”Why would they want the twins?”

”I don't know.”

”If they are vampires,” Xavier said, ”it's possible they targeted the twins on purpose. They may want something from The Shade.”

”But what? And how can we even give it to them?”

”Maybe-”

Eli's speculation was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing.

Sofia reached into her pocket and pulled out our phone.

We all stared at it, dumbstruck.

”Put it on speaker!”

Sofia flipped it open and pressed the speaker b.u.t.ton, her hand trembling.

”Rose? Ben?”

No response.

”h.e.l.lo?” I shouted into the phone.

”My name is Stellan,” a deep male voice replied. ”And I suggest you listen carefully to what I'm about to say.”

My heart leapt into my throat. Sofia gasped and almost dropped the phone. I took the phone from her and laid it down on the table, staring down at it, trying to steady my racing heart.

”We have your twins,” Stellan continued. ”And they are still alive. How long this will be the case depends entirely on your cooperation.”

I wanted to grab the phone from Sofia and shout down the line at this son of a b.i.t.c.h. It took all that I had to stop myself from doing it. Showing emotions would only reinforce their sense of control over us.