A Vial of Life (A Shade of Vampire, #21)

To my right was a large window—the same one I’d taken refuge at to get away from the scent of human blood. I looked out through the glass, able to see the ocean beyond the high wall that surrounded the island. The window was closed, but judging from how the trees were swaying, there was a gentle breeze. I wished that I could feel the wind on my face right then.

Tearing my eyes away from the window, I turned around. Then I stopped in my tracks. Someone was slumped on the floor at the opposite end of the hallway. A man with a long, bushy gray beard, his eyes closed. His head hung over his chest, as though he’d fallen asleep while sitting… or was dead. Wrapped around him was a tattered brown cloak. I wasn’t sure what creature this was exactly—a vampire, a human, or perhaps something else—but whatever he was, he looked like a tramp.

As I approached him, his head shot up suddenly. I was alarmed to find his faded brown eyes on me. I gaped at him, speechless. He could… see me?

Now that I was closer, his skin was of the same quality as mine, pale, ethereal and slightly translucent.

He didn’t look surprised to see me. He just looked me over from head to toe with mild interest before rolling his head back down and resuming his previous position.

“Can you hear me?” I found myself asking.

He grunted. “Yes, boy,” he said, his voice deep and thick with slumber.

Keeping a distance of a couple of feet between us, I bent down to his level. “Who are you?” I asked. “And what are you doing here?”

“I could ask the same of you,” he mumbled.

Coming across another ghost was something I hadn’t expected. I’d no idea who this stranger was, but somehow it was comforting to meet someone who was in the same position as me, and had likely been in it much longer. It was like coming across a compatriot in a foreign land.

Slowly, he turned his eyes on me again. They looked heavy, as though it was a struggle to lift them halfway.

It hadn’t occurred to me that ghosts needed sleep. I hadn’t felt any need for it, just as I no longer felt hunger… or anything, for that matter.

“You disturb me, boy,” he said, irritation now crossing his face.

“I apologize,” I said. “I only recently left my body, and I have questions.”

He pursed his lips, his jowls trembling slightly beneath his beard.

“What exactly do you want with me?” he asked, eyes narrowing.

“I’m seeking the location of gates leading to the human realm,” I replied. “That’s where I have come from, and that’s where my home is.”

Even up close to him, it was hard for me to say exactly what body he had once possessed before he became a spirit—ghosts were already so pale—but I guessed from the formation of his upper jaw that he had been a vampire.

The old man’s eyes drooped closed, and his head lolled once again.

“Is there any way that you could help me?” I asked, increased urgency in my tone.

“Hush!” he said. “You’ll scare away the dreams.”

My brows knotted. “Dreams?”

“I’d almost caught one! Just sit down and close your eyes.” He paused, waiting for me to slide down to the floor next to him, before continuing, “I will show you how to catch dreams. It is very easy. All it requires is for you to extend your mind…”

I looked at the man in bemusement. I realized that I hadn’t tried to close my eyes since leaving my body. For that matter, I couldn’t even remember if I had been blinking.

“Relax your head, and close your eyes,” the man commanded me again.

Assuming the same slumped position as him, I lowered my head downward and closed my eyes. There was just darkness. Which in itself was surprising. I’d expected that perhaps I would see right through the thin walls of my eyelids.

I was really in no mood for whatever game this ghost was proposing, but I didn’t know when or if I would come across another person who could hear and see me—another ghost. I didn’t see what other option I had but to pander to him in the hope that he’d be more likely to help me out afterward.

“I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be seeing,” I muttered. “I see nothing.”

The man breathed out impatiently. “You try too hard. Just loosen your mind and wait… the next one will come soon.”

I didn’t understand him, but I humored him all the same. I kept my eyes closed, and tried to “loosen my mind”… whatever that meant.

And then I saw something. A warm golden light trickled into my mind’s eye. A scene began to form, slowly, as if being painted in with brushstrokes, until I found myself beholding a beach. A beautiful white-sand beach. A glowing orange sun hung over the horizon, already halfway down in its descent. The shore was empty except for a couple walking hand in hand with the waves lapping around their ankles. The woman wore a wedding gown, while the man was dressed in a smart black tuxedo.