I just had to hope I wouldn’t be too late by then. I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t propose we left earlier without arousing suspicion from Annora once she discovered Derek and Sofia had survived the curse.

I spent the rest of the day trying to distract myself with books in my study, but all I was really doing was thinking about Mona, and how I would go about this without her blasting me out of the water the moment she saw me—that was, if I even managed to catch her attention.

I knew it wasn’t as impossible as it sounded though. Even though I had no idea where she was staying on the island, I’d spent enough time around witches and this island to know that there were ways of calling attention to the caster of a protective spell. If Mona was the same breed of witch as Annora, which I was confident she was, the spell she’d put around the island would be similar.

I recalled a time, soon after we’d first arrived on this island, when we hadn’t had the systems in place that we did now. Annora had still been getting used to the spell as a newly turned witch, and she hadn’t yet set up a system whereby we could enter and leave the island without her assistance. I remembered we’d had to attract Annora’s attention first to be able to gain entrance. I was willing to bet that the same method could be used to call Mona’s attention.

An hour before we were due to leave, I climbed the stairs to Annora’s apartment. I eased the door open. She wasn’t due to be around at this time. I had to hope that her plans hadn’t changed. Hurrying from room to room, I stopped in her study. In the far end of the room was a chest of drawers. I bent down and opened the bottom drawer. I breathed out in relief on seeing its contents. Apparently untouched even after all these years, the drawer was filled with small conch shells. But no ordinary conch shells—a charm had been cast on these. Once blown, they emitted a sound audible to any witch within a hundred miles.

I pocketed one and hurried out of the study. Annora wouldn’t notice it was missing. I’d just have to find a way to discreetly replace it once she’d returned.

I returned to my apartment and, after making final preparations for the excursion, I descended the stairs to the entrance hall. A dozen vampires already waited for me there.

“Let’s go,” I said.

I pushed open the main doors and we all hurried down the steep mountain slope, through the forest until we reached the harbor. I slipped through the hatch of the largest submarine and headed straight to the control room. Frieda entered and sat in the seat next to me.

I prepared the submarine for departure.

“Is everyone ready?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I backed the vessel out of the port and began speeding ahead.

I’d picked the beach nearest to us, even though we’d hit it many times before. Beach parties were harder to come by, but I was sure that we’d find enough tourists taking strolls to collect enough humans to keep Annora satiated at least for the next few days. I needed to get this job out of the way as soon as possible and didn’t have time to go further afield.

“Hopefully soon, there will be no more need for these trips,” Frieda muttered. “I know the first thing that I’m going to do once I get on that island. Wring that little wench’s neck.”

“I’m not sure that Annora would want you doing that,” I said, careful to keep my voice free of emotion. “They may have other plans for the twins.”

Frieda scowled. “Well, if I can’t wring her neck, I’m going to at least take a bite out of her.”

We passed the rest of the journey in silence. I breathed out in relief when we arrived at our destination.

I stopped the submarine near a remote part of the beach.

“Let’s go.” I jumped to my feet and Frieda followed me out of the cabin. Vampires rushed along the passageway toward the hatch. We climbed out and slipped into the ocean. I scanned the length of the beach as I swam toward it. There were no large groups of people in sight, as I’d expected, but there were couples and individuals walking along the beach.

We climbed out of the water and rushed toward a patch of shrubbery bordering the sand. We couldn’t afford to be seen in plain view anymore on this beach. We’d simply hit it too many times before.

I was the first to creep out from the bushes. I ordered Demarcus, a tall wiry vampire, to follow me. We ran up behind a couple and, withdrawing our syringes, injected them both at once. Two more vampires ran out of the bushes, grabbed the humans we’d tranquilized and began swimming back to the submarine. In this way, over the next hour, we poached humans who passed by our stretch of the beach until we’d caught about a dozen. Enough for now.

I turned to the vampires crouching in the bushes beside me.

“Back to the sub.”

“Are you sure we have enough?” Demarcus asked.

“Yes, enough for now. I don’t want to take too many from this beach.”

“We could go to another beach,” Sabine, a vampire to my left, said. “I’d rather just get a whole bunch at once rather than making so many separate trips. We’re already halfway to Hawaii. It makes no sense turning back now when—”

“Who’s in charge here?” I glared at them.

Sabine and Demarcus bowed their heads.

“Just keep silent and obey.”

I checked the beach again. It seemed to be all clear.

“Okay,” I whispered. “We make a run back in three, two, one…”