A Shade of Vampire 11: A Chase of Prey (9 page)

M
icah
and I had much time to make up for. It could be as much as twelve hours. There was also the possibility that the witch might have gotten hold of my prey already. But I doubted it. If my guess about her identity was correct, her contact with me would have drained her. She’d need more time to recover before going back after a speeding truck.

Micah and I needed to make sure that we got to Rose and Caleb—if indeed the vampire was still alive—before she recovered, because we couldn’t afford more delays. I wondered if she would actually be foolish enough to come after us again. She should know better than that. I wouldn’t hesitate to kill her this time, now that I was wiser. I supposed it depended just how desperate she was to keep Rose away from me.

We took longer sweeps across the highway. I was too impatient to keep traveling at such a slow speed, stopping every mile to check for the scent. Since very few roads led off it, there weren’t many other ways the truck could have gone other than straight ahead.

The witch’s attempt had been successful at least in delaying me. But I wouldn’t allow it to do more than that.

It worried me that it was taking Micah longer and longer to detect the scent each time we stopped to check it. But, finally, he pointed to a side road. We were near the coast now. I breathed in deeply as we moved away from the pollution of the highway, the fresh sea air filling my lungs.

“It’s getting stronger again,” Micah said. “And I…” His eyes grew wide, his nose quivering. “I think I sense the vampire too.”

For the first time in weeks, I smiled.

I
looked
around the room again in horror as their footsteps disappeared. Now that I was standing, I noticed something in a shadowy corner. A boarded-up window. I rushed to it and placed my fingers around the edges of the board, trying to see if there was any give. It had rotted away so much from the humidity that it only took three hard pulls to dislodge it completely, revealing a window guarded by bars. Cockroaches and centipedes came scurrying out from beneath the wood as it fell to the floor, plaster and dust falling everywhere.

I grabbed the stool and placed it beneath the window. I climbed up on it and looked out at the sky. There was no clock in my room, but from the brightening horizon, early morning was approaching fast. Dawn. I craned my neck to look further up the shoreline. A ship was moored about a mile up.

Could that be Camilo’s ship?

I gripped the bars harder and pulled myself upward. It was still too dark to read the words painted onto the side of the ship. I eyed the containers on deck. They were large enough to contain circus equipment, scaffolding, animals… And then I spotted something that left me with no further doubt. There was a stack of German wheels propped up against one of the masts.

People milled about around the vessel, walking up and down the ramp, pushing carts. I wondered if Caleb and his cage had already been placed aboard the ship. I guessed the only way they’d managed to keep him caged all this time was by not opening those back doors. They’d have to open them sometime if he was going to be of any value, but I was sure that by the time they did, he’d already be long dead.

Despair overcame me as I pulled against the bars until my palms started to peel away. I climbed down from the stool and scrambled about the room. There was nothing that would be even remotely helpful.

I sank down on the floor and buried my head against my knees. I felt too drained to even cry. I just sat there, my eyes shut tight, imagining that ship sailing away before my very eyes in a few hours.

I lost myself to grief for God knew how long. Light began to trickle through the glass. I raised my head.

A shadowy figure crouched down on the floor on the other side of the room.

Black eyes gleamed at me in the light of the early dawn.

T
he warlock had finally caught
up with me. As if that wasn’t heart-stopping enough, another figure stirred in the shadows beside him. A werewolf. A chain was fastened around its neck, held by Rhys.

Rhys stepped forward, snaking an arm around my waist, and the room vanished.

When our feet hit solid ground, my back brushed up against a wall. I blinked, trying to see through the darkness. A humming filled my ears, and water dripped. The werewolf grunted. Rhys gripped my arm and pulled me toward him. The flicker of a fire appeared a foot away, hovering over his palm. It cast light around a high-ceilinged chamber filled with luggage and storage containers.
We must be inside a ship. Camilo’s ship.
Although I would have given anything to be on this boat less than half an hour ago, now my presence here with the warlock chilled me to the bone.

My eyes fell on the werewolf, now in mid-transformation. I almost choked as his metamorphosis completed. As he straightened up, I found myself staring at Micah’s unshaven face. He stared back, and I could have sworn I saw a flicker of apology in his eyes.

He turned his attention to Rhys. “Where have you brought us now?”

“Just start sniffing,” Rhys hissed, tugging on the chain around Micah’s neck. It seemed to have shrunk to accommodate for his change of size. “We need to find the vampire.”

My stomach formed in knots. As much as I was desperate to find Caleb, I couldn’t bear to imagine what Rhys would do to him for his betrayal. I stared at Micah as his nostrils flared, taking in deep breaths.

Please, Micah, don’t pick up his scent. Don’t pick up his scent.

I wanted to reach out and throttle Micah as he began walking forward. Rhys followed, pulling me along after him. Anger boiled up within me, but I knew that it wasn’t right to blame the wolf. Rhys had him under his control. I wasn’t sure that Micah could refuse even if he tried.

We reached the end of the chamber, and Micah was still sniffing the air. He walked toward a door to our right and pushed it open. It led into yet another storage chamber. The musky smell of animals invaded my nostrils as we stepped into the room. Micah kept walking forward, past cages of lions, chimpanzees, a couple of zebras, until a black armored truck came into view at the end of the room.

“No,” I breathed. “Please.” I gripped hold of Rhys’ rock-hard arm and tried to pull him back. I might as well have tried to move a mountain.

He strode forward and gripped the heavy lock. He muttered an incantation, and a second later the lock snapped open. I hurried forward, holding my breath.

Caleb wasn’t there.

There was a thick splattering of dried blood on the floor, but otherwise, the dingy container was empty.

I didn’t know whether to feel relieved or devastated.

What could they have done with him? Could he have escaped? Where would he have gone?

Rhys turned around, grunting in frustration. Micah shrugged.

“Keep moving,” Rhys said, casting one last look inside the truck before turning away. We walked through a door to our left, leading into yet another storage chamber. If it weren’t for the blood on the floor, a clear reminder of the struggle here before the doors slammed shut, I would have suspected this to be a different truck entirely.

“Follow, Rose,” Rhys growled. “Don’t make me hold you the whole time.”

I was about to limp after him, but something made me look upward, at the ceiling.

My breath hitched. Caleb clung to a shadowy corner of the ceiling of the container like a spider. If his eyes had been closed—as they must have been when I’d first looked inside—I wouldn’t have noticed him. It was their gleam that had caught my attention. Our eyes locked for but a second before I whirled around and began walking toward Micah and Rhys. I was scared that they might have already seen my reaction, but their backs were turned to me. I hurried forward to catch up with them, even as my heart lifted.

He’s still alive.

I had to get out of this chamber. The doors to Caleb’s prison were open now. I’d have to lose Rhys. I couldn’t afford to let him give up his search and vanish me away somewhere, maybe to another realm. If that happened, it would be the end. Both for myself and Caleb. Even if Caleb managed to make it back to The Shade without me, he needed me to let him in and convince my parents to allow him to stay. I wasn’t sure that Mona’s word alone would be enough.

My mind was reeling as we entered the adjoining chamber. Like the last, this too was filled with cages of animals. We’d walked halfway across it when Micah stopped.

“I’ve lost the scent,” Micah mumbled. “I guess he was kept in that van, but now he’s elsewhere…”

I was tempted to suggest he might be upstairs, but was worried Rhys would find it suspicious I was so keen to reveal Caleb’s whereabouts.

“We’ll retrace our steps,” Rhys said, turning around.

What happened next was a blur. Caleb leapt from the shadows and brought a sledgehammer crashing down against Rhys’ head. A thud echoed around the chamber as Rhys’ scalp split, blood gushing from the wound. He collapsed on the floor, his limbs twitching before becoming still. My insides churned at how crushed his skull looked.

Micah lost no time in yanking the end of his chain away from Rhys’ loose grip. Caleb’s arms slid around my waist as he grabbed me and held me to him. I wrapped my legs around his torso, my hands around his neck, and held on like a monkey as he raced toward the exit. I looked back to see Micah following closely on our heels. Tears of relief spilled from my eyes, running down my cheeks and wetting Caleb’s bare shoulder. I’d almost forgotten what it felt like to be in his arms. I found myself kissing his cheek, neck, shoulder blade, any part of his parched skin I could reach. I hated to think how long he’d gone without blood now. But even in his weakened state, he raced forward.

Caleb was practiced at shutting out pain. If I knew anything about him after all this time, it was that.

“How many days have passed?” I croaked.

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“You were locked in that thing the whole time?”

Caleb nodded grimly.

We reached the exit, but as Micah reached out to open it, it wouldn’t budge. He swore, wiping sweat from his brow. Caleb brushed him aside and, putting me down, barged into the door. He made no more of a dent than Micah. Both men tried together, but their efforts were in vain. We shared the same panicked expression as we looked at each other.

“The other door,” Micah whispered.

“Hand over the girl.” Rhys’ voice rumbled through the chamber. His towering form had appeared on top of the lions’ cage fifteen feet away. His wound had closed, though the stains of blood remained.

Caleb lurched into me, making us both fall to the floor. Balls of fire bounced off the wall where we’d been standing. I hoped Micah had been fast enough to dodge Rhys’ curse. “Hold on,” Caleb breathed into my ear. He’d crawled over me as I lay on my back. He lowered himself so I could wrap my legs around his midriff and lock my arms around his neck. He placed a hand on my back, pulling me closer until his heaving chest was flush against mine.

I felt like a monkey, clinging on to him as he darted for new shelter behind the zebra cage. More balls of fire ricocheted around the chamber. The caged animals were beginning to panic at the disturbance. Shrieks, whinnies and growls echoed off the walls.

Caleb moved from cage to cage, but even as we kept dodging Rhys, my hopes of escaping were fast evaporating. There was only so long we could play cat-and-mouse with the warlock. He would burn the whole chamber down if that’s what it took to smoke us out.

“Hand her over, vampire,” Rhys boomed. “I won’t ask you again.”

Where’s Micah?
There was still no sign of him.

As we reached a cage containing three restless rhinos, Caleb broke open the gate and let them loose. I wasn’t sure what good this would do. We already had Rhys to dodge, and now these rhinos… but I wasn’t about to question him. Next, Caleb moved to a cage filled with half a dozen leopards and let them loose too. He continued from cage to cage, until the floor was swarming with animals.

Caleb’s plan seemed to have worked. At least, there were more distractions for Rhys. But there were also more distractions for us.

“Caleb.” A whisper came from behind us. Micah stepped out of the shadows and hurried toward us, clutching a gun. “I found it in the vehicle. We need to shoot through Rhys’ palms. It won’t kill him, but it will disable his powers… at least temporarily. If you—”

Balls of fire erupted feet away from us. Micah dove for shelter beneath a car, while Caleb crept further round the chimpanzee cage with me.

Caleb and Micah locked eyes and began communicating silently with their hands. I was petrified by what they seemed to be planning. When Caleb looked back down at me, he had resolution in his eyes. He set me down on the ground and pointed to Micah beneath the car. “Go to Micah.”

“Wh-what?”

His eyes blazed into mine. “Just do it,” he said through gritted teeth.

Trembling, I threw myself across the floor and scrambled beneath the car next to Micah. He placed an arm over my back, drawing me closer to him until his mouth was next to my ear.

“He needs to cause a distraction,” the wolf whispered.

I stared in horror as Caleb caught the side of the empty cage closest to us and with one mighty push sent it sliding across the floor. It smashed into another empty cage. Micah pulled me back further beneath the car. Caleb ducked behind a pile of luggage on the other side of the newly created clearing just before Rhys landed in its center a few seconds later. Rhys’ fists were clenched as he looked around. Micah placed his hand over my mouth to stifle my uneven breathing. Then he reached for the gun, slowly, silently, and began to position it.

“Just keep in mind,” Rhys said, “the longer you drag this out, the longer your punishment will be.”

I almost cried out as Caleb sprang from his hiding place and leapt upward to the ceiling, out of sight. Rhys’ eyes shot upward to the vampire. Micah pulled the trigger. The bullet lodged deep into Rhys’ ankle. Rhys grunted, staggering a little. As Micah motioned to pull the trigger again, he yelped suddenly and let go of the gun. A deep growl came from behind us. I looked back in horror to see that a leopard had closed its mouth around Micah’s leg and was dragging him out from beneath the vehicle.

“Keep shooting, Rose! Just shoot!” Micah grunted as the feline began to shake him.

My whole body quivering, I snatched up the gun. I didn’t even have time to consider the fact that I didn’t know how to work the thing. I just aimed as best as my trembling hands could and pulled the trigger. Again. And again. I kept firing until Rhys fell to the floor. Scrambling out from beneath the car, I was almost trampled by a panicked rhino in my hurry to get to Rhys. I flattened myself against the side of the vehicle, relieved when the animal charged past me. As I rushed forward again, I scanned the ceiling. Caleb was still hanging from one of the metal beams. On seeing me, he dropped down and rushed over to Rhys. Headbutting the warlock, Caleb pinned down his arms before he could aim his palms at him.

“Shoot!” Caleb grunted.

Standing as close as I dared to Rhys’ right palm, I fired three times. The warlock cried out as thick black smoke emanated from his hand. I fired into his left palm, five times. His screams intensified, his face contorting with agony as he rolled around on the floor.

“To your left!” Micah’s voice echoed around the chamber—from where, I didn’t know.

Caleb and I whirled around to see two elephants charging toward us. Caleb swept me up in his arms and leapt onto the roof of the cage nearest us. That was when I finally saw Micah. He lay on top of the cage next to us, flat on his back as he nursed a bloody wound in his right leg. Scrambling to his feet, he gasped, “We need to get out of here. Now.”

Despite his injury, he leapt across to our roof. We didn’t know if they had trampled over Rhys, but Micah didn’t give us an opportunity to find out. He pulled us away from the clearing as we jumped from roof to roof, making our way toward the opposite end of the chamber. The chamber had descended into utter chaos by now. With all the animals running loose, it was like being in a jungle.

As we jumped back down to the floor and reached the door, Caleb breathed out in relief as it opened without difficulty. We hurried through to the other side and Micah bolted the door behind us. We found ourselves at the foot of a narrow staircase leading upward. We climbed to the top and reached the deck above, the sun blinding us. Caleb staggered back as we burst out into the open. The ship’s crew gaped at us as we darted toward the edge of the boat.

I could feel Caleb’s skin beginning to fry beneath me as we leapt off the ship and dove into the water. The force of our contact with the water made me break loose from Caleb. I fought my way up to the surface, gasping, and looked around. Micah had resurfaced, but Caleb hadn’t yet. I scanned the waters.

“Caleb?” I couldn’t find his shadow. “Micah, help me—”

“I’m here,” Caleb called.

I spun around to see that he had resurfaced within the shadow the ship cast over the water, a few meters away from us. Micah and I made our way toward him.

“We need a boat,” Caleb said, scanning the water and looking back in the direction of the shore. It was a few miles away. But there were no other boats bobbing in the water that I could make out. Now that I was looking back at the shore for the first time, I also spotted what I suspected to be the grimy house Marisa and Jorge had taken me to. It looked like a derelict block of apartments from the outside, with its tiny balconies and boarded-up windows.

I shivered, remembering the horrors that lay within those walls.

“So what do we do?” Micah asked, brushing back his long blond hair. “This circus ship is the only vessel for miles.”

Caleb began swimming toward the edge of the ship, examining its exterior. He stopped as he reached the end of the shadow. Micah and I swam over to him and stared up at where he was pointing.