It was Kiev who spoke next. His eyes traveled from me to Derek. “Perhaps we all need to accept that supernatural creatures will always be drawn to this realm. So long as they are, they will find ways to break through. Perhaps there never will be a safe Earth, and rather than putting effort into preventing their entrance, we need to adapt to survive alongside them.”

Ah, Kiev. Always the ray of sunshine.

The trouble was, it seemed that living alongside us was the last thing these witches had in mind.

Chapter 17: Caleb

Lilith.

The name played over and over in my mind as I navigated back to my island. I racked my brains for any mention of her throughout the time I’d spent with these witches, but drew a blank.

I just knew one thing: she was the person I had to seek out if I ever wanted to understand how Annora had lost herself, and whether there was any chance of recovery.

The boat was considerably slower than the submarine and it wasn’t until the following evening that I finally arrived back on the island. I’d dropped the dead body in the ocean hours ago, but its stench still lingered in the cabin.

I left the boat moored in the harbor and made my way back up to the castle. I was glad to find the entrance hall empty. I was in no mood for answering questions now.

I had almost made it back to my room when I came across Annora on the staircase.

“Caleb!”

I groaned internally, lifting my eyes from the stairs to look at her.

“Frederik and the rest told me you were lifted up into an aircraft.”

“We came across a group of hunters,” I grunted.

“Hunters,” she said, wetting her lower lip, eyes glazing over as she considered my words. “Where are the others?”

“Dead. The hunters murdered them.”

There was no sadness in her eyes at the news, just irritation. “How did you survive?”

“By turning into a madman. I leapt from a cliff. Almost died in the process. I managed to come by a fisherman at sea and… here I am.” I looked at her impatiently. “And now, if you’ll excuse me…”

Her eyes scanned the length of my dirty, almost naked body, and she stepped aside for me to continue on my way.

I locked myself in my apartment and the first thing I did was take a shower, soaping myself from top to bottom, trying to get rid of the sand and salt water. When I looked in the mirror, my skin had mostly healed itself of the burns and blisters, but areas of my back which had been particularly exposed to the sun were still sensitive.

I dried myself and climbed into bed, stretching out my aching limbs and closing my eyes.

Memories of the hunters came drifting back. The sick torture, the loss of several companions I’d spent decades with… I just felt numb to it all. I’d become desensitized. I realized that was partly Annora’s influence on me, and in that way, I’d become like her.

Now that I had time to think in the silence of my own room, and pushing aside thoughts of my encounter with Mona for the time being, the true implications of what had transpired dawned on me.

Annora wouldn’t want to risk losing more of her vampires. If this type of ambushing was going to become a more regular occurrence, we needed The Shade’s humans more than ever.

Chapter 18: Rose

The whole island was shaken by what had almost happened to my parents. It just reinforced how dependent on Mona we were now. In the face of Annora’s cunning, it seemed that only Mona could protect us. Goosebumps ran along my skin to think what would have happened if Mona hadn’t figured it out in time.

I remembered asking Caleb what happened to vampires bound by Annora’s curse who stayed away longer than seven days. He had refused to tell me.

Caleb. The memory of him disappearing with Mona, not even looking up to say goodbye, still haunted me.

I supposed I should have been thankful to him. He’d made the break quick, clinical. I understood why he’d done it. There was no way that we could be together now.

I put thoughts of Caleb aside as I approached the foot of Zinnia and Gavin’s tree. I went up in the elevator and walked onto their balcony, knocking on the front door.

Griffin opened the door and smiled.

“Hey, Rose. How are you?”

“I’m fine.”

“Do you want to come in?”

“No,” I said, “I wanted to talk to you, Griff. Could we go for a walk along the beach?”

I couldn’t miss the excitement in his eyes as he grabbed a sweater from the back of the door and pulled it on.

“I’m going out,” he called into the apartment before stepping out onto the balcony with me and shutting the door. We descended in the elevator and it wasn’t until we had hit the forest floor that I felt comfortable enough to begin.

I caught Griff’s hand and squeezed it, looking up at him in the eye.

“I owe you an answer,” I said. Griff stared at me intently, barely breathing, even though I could tell he was trying to be cool. “I’m just going to be honest with you, okay?”

“I wouldn’t expect you to be anything but,” he said.

I held Griff’s hand tighter. “I love you, Griff. And I hate to say but, but there is a but. I think my love for you is strongest as my friend.”

I looked up at him. His eyes were on the forest ground. He was quite expressionless. He nodded slowly. But didn’t answer.

We walked the rest of the way in awkward silence as we reached the beach.

“Are you all right?”