A Shade of Vampire 10: A Spell of Time (5 page)

I
ended
up staying the night in the Sanctuary. I’d had to ask Corrine to pay a late-night visit to Derek. She explained to him that I’d decided to have dinner with her and we’d ended up having a little too much to drink. She said I’d already fallen asleep on her sofa and would return tomorrow. It wasn’t the most plausible of stories, since Derek knew it wasn’t in my character to get drunk, but it was the best I could come up with in my panicked state.

To my dismay, as the clock struck half past three the next day, I still hadn’t turned back.

“Corrine,” I said, my voice shaking, “you and Ibrahim need to step in for me.”

“Hey, I didn’t sign up for this.”

“I know. I know. But all of this will be for nothing if they don’t at least have one meeting together where they behave civilly, as themselves—”

“That’s all very well said, but what do I tell Derek? He’s going to wonder where the hell his wife is.”

“Just…” My voice trailed off as I desperately racked my brains. “Just tell him I’m at Anna’s place. I left the Sanctuary and decided to visit her and Kyle.”

Corrine stared at me, her eyebrows raised. “That’s ludicrous. Derek’s never going to buy this. He was doubtful enough about the story I told him last night. Besides, he’s going to wonder why Kiev turned up on his doorstep.”

“Just tell Derek that I invited Kiev round for lunch without telling him, hoping they could both make amends. In preparation and without my knowledge, Kiev came to apologize yesterday, to make sure things weren’t awkward over lunch. Tell Derek I invited you too. He’ll have to assume that I’ve gotten held up with Anna and you can suggest that I’ll probably be back home soon.”

“But—”

I crossed the room and gripped Corrine by the shoulders… a little too hard.

“Ouch,” she said irritably, wriggling away from my grasp.

“Sorry. But look, please Corrine, I’m begging you. You have to step in for me. I know it’s a stupid story. But we just need to get them together, okay? Ibrahim can go with you.”

She paused, biting her lip. “Ibrahim!” she called.

I breathed out in relief.

He appeared in the room.

“What?”

“As you can see, Sofia still hasn’t turned back, so she’s going to have to stay here while we go and help Derek with his lunch guests.”

Ibrahim looked less than enthusiastic at being roped into this.

He opened his mouth but I bulldozed over him. “Just try to keep the conversation away from the visits they made to each other yesterday—by any means necessary. They won’t be very talkative, so you two must take the bull by the horns and lead the conversation places where the subject won’t crop up. Remember, Mona will be there too. She’s smart enough to realize what might have happened and she’ll help in keeping the conversation on other topics.”

Corrine looked less tense at mention of Mona. “All right. I’ll do my best.” She looked again at Ibrahim. “So, will you come with me?”

He sighed. “All right.”

“Good job vampires are easy to feed,” she muttered. “I suppose I’ll have to cook something for us witches though, and the twins.”

“You’d better hurry,” I said glancing back up at the clock to see ten more minutes had passed. I prayed that Kiev and Mona wouldn’t arrive early.

Corrine grabbed Ibrahim’s hand and they vanished.

I sighed heavily and sat back down in a chair. I drummed my fingers on the table, watching my hands closely, hoping to detect any sign of change.

But another hour passed, and Derek’s large hands showed no signs of shrinking even in the slightest. I stood up and started walking around the chambers of the Sanctuary, trying to distract my mind. But it was impossible to stop thinking about the time.

A second hour passed. And then a third.

I was surprised that Corrine and Ibrahim hadn’t returned by now. I had expected the lunch to last one to one and a half hours at most. This could mean only two things: either the lunch party was going exceptionally well, or most horribly wrong.

Sweat formed on my brow as I made my way back into Corrine’s dining room and resumed my seat at the table.

Leg hair. I should have pulled a damn leg hair.

Finally, Corrine and Ibrahim reappeared in the kitchen. My stomach dropped on seeing the expressions on their faces.

“What happened?” I said, leaping to my feet.

Corrine walked up to me and held my hand.

“Vivienne’s had another vision. I tried to delay this as long as possible, but you need to return to Derek now.”

“But—”

Corrine ignored my protests. She gripped me and we both vanished.

“
W
e’ll take
the leader down last,” Anthony said. “It’s only right that his pain be prolonged.”

The five men resumed aiming their guns as Anthony once again entered the cage. He dragged out Demarcus. I couldn’t bear to watch this time, but Demarcus’ cries were enough to tell me that they were no less merciful to him than they had been to Frieda. I winced at the sound of gargling, and the final tearing of flesh.

The sun was now treacherously high. Its rays singed my right shoulder. I tried to huddle closer into the shade, but all of us vampires remaining had the same idea.

One by one, Anthony came in and pulled out the rest of them. Someone from the crowd kept insisting that Anthony was ending them too soon, and since Anthony obliged, my wait was prolonged.

By the time my last companion’s head had been mounted on a stake, my skin was on fire. I’d torn off my shirt, trying to cover myself with it. But the fabric was torn and thin.

The gate creaked open for a final time as Anthony stepped inside, his heavy boots thudding against the cage’s metal floor.

He reached down and gripped my hair, placing the barrel of his gun against the base of my neck. He dug the metal in hard, forcing me into standing position. As I stepped out of the cage, the morning sun blinded me. I had to squint, and even then it was all a blur. Anthony tore away the shirt from my hands, and now the sun hit my bare chest. My body erupted in agony, as though a thousand daggers were piercing me all at once.

He pushed me down on my knees. A chain tightened around my neck like a collar. They were going to humiliate me before killing me, watching the life drain out of me as I lay helpless as an animal.

No.

I may die this morning, but not like this.

I forced my eyes open and scanned the edge of the cliff. I couldn’t imagine I’d survive the fall. But I preferred to take my own life rather than have these hunters take it from me. Of course, I might end up with a bullet lodged in my back before I ever made it off the cliff. But it was worth trying. It wasn’t like I had anything to lose.

I didn’t have any semblance of a plan. My adrenaline took over.

I took a deep breath, my heart hammering in my chest. Just as Anthony had finished sharpening the stake and the men had begun to approach me to pin me down, I sprang up, slamming my elbow backward and catching Anthony square in the jaw. My sudden motion knocked him off his feet. I had a few split seconds before they started firing bullets. I reached Anthony just in time. Gripping his neck, I held him before me as a shield as I backed away, closer to the edge of the cliff.

Men tried to run up behind me but I was too fast. I’d reached the edge of the cliff too quickly. There was no way they could fire a bullet without hitting Anthony. Anthony tried to struggle against my grip, but without his weapons, he was no match for my strength—even with the sun’s torture. I extended my claws and dug them against his neck.

“Stop struggling, or I’ll slit your throat,” I growled into his ear.

He chuckled dryly.

“So what’s your game plan, vampire? Pray tell. Once you kill me, there will be nothing stopping these men shooting at you. And even if you don’t kill me, there’s only so long you can stand here with me before the sun cooks you alive.”

He was right, of course. I doubted I’d last more than an hour, at most, standing here with the sun beating down on me. Ten men now stood armed and ready to shoot the moment I gave them a chance.

Attempting to calm my racing heart, I pushed Anthony to the ground in front of me. A symphony of bullets erupted. Facing the sun and the edge of the cliff, I kicked with all the strength my legs could muster and dove. Bullets grazed my skin just as I fell.

My limbs knocked against overhanging rocks, bone splintering, as I spiraled down in a free fall. I was sure I’d broken my leg. The wind rushing past my ears deafened me. I didn’t know where I would land, whether I would hit water deep enough to survive. I hadn’t had time to calculate before I jumped.

The hunters had taken us to such a height because they’d thought not even a vampire would be so insane to jump from it.

They had grossly underestimated the insanity of Caleb Achilles.

W
e reappeared in the penthouse
. I was afraid to open my eyes as I felt the soft living room carpet beneath my feet. Gasps erupted around the room.

Derek sat on the couch, an arm around Vivienne, who was trembling uncontrollably in his arms. His jaw dropped to the floor as his eyes fell on me. Xavier sat next to them, equally stunned. Ben and Rose, also hovering over the couch, stared in my direction with a mixture of horror and bewilderment. Their eyes travelled from their father to… their father.

I expected to see Kiev and Mona. But neither were in the room. I supposed that I should have been grateful that at least Kiev wasn’t here to witness this second Derek.

“What the—?” Derek swore. He looked like he’d just seen a ghost. I imagined how bizarre it would be to see myself across the living room floor.

“You asked for Sofia,” Corrine said, nudging me forward.

I stepped forward, wincing as I looked at my husband. “It’s me,” I said in Derek’s baritone voice.

“Wha—How?”

“It’s a long story,” I said. I was about to cross the room and place a hand on Derek’s shoulder, but I held myself back. Touching my husband would hardly make him feel more comfortable. “I’ll explain it all to you, I promise. But…” I walked closer to the sofa, looking down at Vivienne. “What happened?”

Since everyone still appeared to be recovering from the shock of seeing me, Corrine answered. “Vivienne came a few minutes after Kiev and Mona left. She’s had a vision. It seems she’s still having one now.”

I approached my sister-in-law.

“What’s wrong, Vivienne? What did you see?”

She moaned and continued shaking in Derek’s arms. Vivienne was so in a world of her own, she didn’t seem to have noticed that Derek’s double had just appeared in the room. I reached down and brushed her cheek gently with a hand.

Her eyes flickered open, though they were glassy and distant. Her lips trembled as she parted them.

“Time is slipping,” she said in a voice barely louder than a breath.

“What do you mean?” I urged.

“It’s drawing close. Too close.”

“What is?”

I looked at Derek, who was still staring at me in bewilderment.

“What do you see, Viv?” Xavier urged, forcing his eyes away from me to look back at his wife.

“Derek and Sofia,” she murmured. Her eyes rolled and she closed them again. Her lips moved, but no more words came out.

Xavier stood up, carrying Vivienne in his arms. “I think she needs to rest.” His voice faltered as he looked at us.

“Stay the night with us,” Derek said, “I want to be able to check on her.” He stood up and led them to the spare bedroom.

Now I was alone with my twins. They stared at me, their mouths agape.

“Mom?”

“Yeah,” I sighed, running a hand through Derek’s hair.

“How? Why?”

I was about to answer when Derek reentered the room. Glancing at Corrine, he gripped me by the arm and pulled me out of the living room into our own bedroom.

He closed the door behind us and glared at me.

“Explain.”

I sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed.

“I wanted to break the ice between you and Kiev,” I said. “So, I initiated apologies from both of you. I took a potion, two potions, one to turn into Kiev—”

“You turned into Kiev?”

“Yes,” I said, steeling myself. “I came to visit you in your room and apologized. Likewise, I visited Kiev as you and invited him round to dinner…”

Derek gaped at me. “I can’t believe you would do that.”

“Really?” I said, my blood pressure rising. “If you hadn’t been so stubborn, I wouldn’t have been driven to such desperate measures. You think I enjoy being a hairy man? Huh? And now the spell’s not even wearing off—” My voice broke. It was disturbing, hearing Derek’s voice get all sentimental like a girl’s.

“What? What do you mean it’s not wearing off?”

“It was supposed to wear off yesterday,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady and swallow back my tears.

“What does Corrine say?”

“She says it will wear off… Look, I’m probably just overreacting, okay? It’s been a long day. It will wear off.”

He bent down and motioned to touch me, I guessed in comfort, but then stepped back.

“Agh, I can’t do it.”

“Don’t. It’s weird.” I breathed out and looked up at him, wanting to change the subject. “How did dinner go?”

“It went all right,” he muttered, averting his eyes to the floor. “Kiev and I talked.”

“Good.”
At least it wasn’t all in vain.

My thoughts drifted back to Vivienne. It had been a long time since Vivienne had experienced such an intense vision. The last had been when this island was riddled with darkness and the Elders’ influence. We’d lived without her ominous visions for almost two decades now. Her having them now again was perhaps the most discomforting thing that had happened since the twins were first kidnapped from Hawaii. Because Vivienne’s visions, although not always accurate, were rarely far off the truth.

Derek too seemed lost in thought. I was sure that he was also feeling disturbed about Vivienne.

The stress of the day was taking its toll on me. I yawned, rubbing my face with Derek’s big hands.

“Maybe things will be clearer in the morning.”

“Maybe,” he said.

“Let’s get some rest,” I said, removing Ibrahim’s shirt from Derek’s chest and lying back in bed.

Derek remained frozen to his spot in the corner of the room.

“What?”

“As much as you might think me a narcissist, Sofia, sleeping with myself is something I have never felt the urge for. I’ll rest in the spare bedroom next to Xavier and Vivienne.”

He turned to leave the room. Despite the heaviness surrounding us, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the horror on his face at the notion.

Grabbing his pillow and laying it on top of my own, I nestled Derek’s heavy head down against it. “Suit yourself,” I mumbled as he closed the door. “Just be grateful Mona stole a leg hair. Or it could have been Kiev dribbling on your pillow tonight…”