A shrill scream burst out—a woman’s scream, coming from the direction of the town. Seconds later, more screams sounded, and also shouts—male and female alike.

“What is happening?” Arletta gasped.

Still, I wasn’t sure if it was wise to tell her. I didn’t know if her nerves could take it, if her brothers were once again within close proximity of us.

With all the screams and shouts echoing in my ears, I didn’t need to ask myself why they’d come here. But I wondered how they’d gotten here. Had they really managed to navigate the ship all that way? Navigating a ship required skill, intelligence, attentiveness. And in an attempt to numb the pain, I’d been telling myself that there was nothing left of Hans’ former self at all. That the monster I’d seen standing before me back in that cave was not my Hans—that my Hans had left this world and moved on to someplace better. That the monster was just an intruder. But the thought that they weren’t just mindless creatures—that they possessed intelligence enough to navigate a ship—weakened my desperate theory.

I didn’t know what had happened to Hans, but his condition was clearly contagious. While it likely would’ve taken Hans years to get to the stage we’d found him in, when Hans had bitten into his brother, his brother had transformed within a matter of hours. Now, after the crowds I’d just witnessed rushing through this small forest, their numbers were expanding. Fast. I wondered if the brothers had returned to Cruor to release the others who had been trapped there, Hans included, and now they all ran amok on this small island.

I shoved aside my jumbled thoughts and forced myself to concentrate. Whether or not Hans was here, we had to get out of here without bumping into one of those monsters.

“What is going on, Julie?” Arletta whispered, her voice choked with fright.

I cast her a glare and shushed her before pursing my lips.

I dragged her through the woods, away from the small barn, until we arrived at the beach. I scanned the length of it and then spotted… my ship. Looming over the shoreline. Yes, they had remained in it all this time, and wherever they had gotten their new recruits, they traveled with them too. Judging from the cries of pain only growing louder behind us, that ship was about to become a lot fuller.

On seeing the vessel, it finally clicked for Arletta what was going on. “Oh my God,” she wheezed. “They’re here. My brothers.”

I nodded grimly. “We need to find a boat and get out of here,” I whispered.

I cast my eyes around desperately for any sign of a small boat along the shoreline. I caught sight of a little harbor further up. Yes. There must be something suitable there. The two of us raced across the sand toward the harbor and scoped it out quickly to see what would be the best vessel to steal. Something told me that most of the owners of these boats would not be returning for them any time soon.

We picked the smallest boat with the largest engine; three racing sharks, dark teal in color. This type of shark was rare in the supernatural realm—and nonexistent in the human realm—for they were bred by ogres, who made a sport out of shark racing. This boat, however, was too slight of build to belong to an ogre, so I could only assume that a witch, vampire or some other kind of supernatural had found a way to procure these valuable creatures.

I gathered the reins in my fists and tugged hard, stirring the sharks from their resting state. I was about to urge them forward when Arletta let out a gasp behind me.

“Julie! Look!”

I whirled around to face the beach again, straining my eyes to catch what she was looking at. Then I saw, emerging from the line of trees bordering the sand, one of the pale monsters. He was clutching what appeared to be a young woman. Apparently unconscious, she hung limply in his arms as he feasted on her neck.

“What is that woman?” Arletta whispered. “A vampire?”

I tried to make out what the woman was exactly but it was hard from this angle. Although I was quite sure that it wasn’t a vampire. Her flesh wasn’t nearly pale enough and in fact had a bronzed tone. Perhaps she was a human? Though the chance of there being humans—quite a rare species in the supernatural realm—on this tiny island was slim. As the creature drew closer to the waves with her, I realized that the woman was wearing a wedding dress. Could that be the same happy bride Arletta and I had spied arriving earlier on the island with her entourage? Yes. I was sure that it was.

“Duck down!” Arletta hissed, grabbing my shoulder and yanking us both down further in the boat. She was right. I had been careless. We should have ducked down the moment we saw that thing arrive at the beach. Both of us dropped lower in the boat, but I kept just high enough to be able to watch what was happening.

Although my brain screamed at me to send the sharks lurching forward, away from this deadly island, my eyes were glued to the pale skeletal figure and his victim. He was surprisingly strong for something so emaciated, who looked like nothing but skin and bone. He held her securely, without her feet even dragging on the ground, even as his fangs continued to tear into her neck, causing a trail of blood in the white sand behind them. They reached the ramp leading up to the Mansons’ and my old boat and he boarded it. Is he turning her into one of them? A witch? No. That would be preposterous. He must just be drinking her blood. Witch blood wasn’t even delectable to vampires, although these creatures were unlike any vampires I’d seen before.

Tears blurred my vision as I thought back to the event that started all this; our encounter with Hans back in the cave in Cruor.