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

I pulled up one of the lower chairs from around the table and sat down at the same level as the council members. Sofia followed my lead. It wasn’t that I was power-hungry and required a special throne to lord it over all my subjects. And neither was Sofia. But when the two of us were leading a conversation, being on a raised platform allowed us to better communicate with a room full of people. We could see each person clearly as they talked, and it aided understanding. Besides, elevated seats were a sign of respect, and there was nothing wrong with that when the respect was genuine. I liked to believe that Sofia and I had done enough to command respect, rather than demand it.

Xavier started asking questions—questions he couldn’t ask us back in the Sanctuary because Corrine had forbidden talk of anything but Vivienne’s recovery. Even though Xavier knew that the reason I’d called this meeting was to recount everything in one go rather than having to repeat it multiple times to dozens of people, he apparently couldn’t help himself. He was too anxious to hear what had happened and why we had returned without Benjamin.

I gave in and started explaining, but I didn’t get far before the door opened again and about fifty people piled in, mostly curious vampires and witches—excluding Corrine but including Ibrahim—who had not accompanied us on the excursion. Surprisingly, there were also many present who had come with us. Neither Rose nor Caleb were among them—I assumed they had retired to bed—and the dragons were also notably absent, not that they attended many meetings anyway. They would’ve returned to their mountain apartments, no doubt eager to be reunited with their lovers.

The newcomers gathered around the table, and surprise registered in some eyes as they noticed Sofia’s and my missing seats. Before we could be hit with a wave of questions, I cleared my throat and spoke up, “I don’t know what happened here. It is something that I must investigate later.”

I was about to begin recounting our voyage when the door blasted open. Saira’s huge werewolf form bounded inside and skidded across the floor. Riding on her back were River’s two sisters, brother and mother. River entered the room after her. She was soaking wet and shivering.

“Merfolk,” she gasped. “There is a whole swarm of them on the beach! One almost kidnapped my mother just now!”

“What?” I breathed. My eyes shot to Ibrahim. “Did you not get rid of those two merfolk Ben and River brought in on the sub?”

“A lot’s been going on, Derek,” Ibrahim replied. “It’s only since you left that I even had an opportunity to see to the task. I got the help of two other witches, but searching the water, we found neither the mermaid nor the merman. I thought that perhaps they’d grown tired of these shores and left the island for deeper waters. Otherwise, they were sneaky enough to avoid our detection. Whatever the case, we were unable to find them.”

“There are way more than two now!” River urged. “There’s like a whole wave of them, and they were surging toward the island.”

“This meeting is postponed.” I looked around at the witches present in the Dome. “We must all head to the beach at once. Which beach exactly?”

“Near the Port,” River replied, shakily.

“I killed one of them,” Saira growled. “It was the quickest way to free River’s mother. That seems to have angered them greatly. I haven’t the first clue as to what they’re doing on this island, but they are not happy. Really not happy.”

“My mother cannot walk well,” River said, looking anxiously back at Nadia. “Her back was injured in the attack. She needs—”

“Shayla,” I called, stalling the short witch as she was about to vanish to the beach with a group of vampires. “Please stay with River’s mother and tend to her injury.”

Shayla nodded and, leaving the group of vampires, approached Nadia, who was still perched awkwardly on the back of the she-wolf.

“You stay with your mom, River,” Sofia said, eyeing the girl. “And here…” She reached around her shoulders and removed her shawl before handing it to River. “You’re freezing, put this on.”

“Thank you.” River looked at her gratefully.

I turned to Ibrahim, who was still standing beside me, waiting for my order. Except for Xavier, the rest of the room had emptied by now, witches having transported everyone to the beach. Now it was time for us to leave.

Vanishing from the Great Dome and arriving at the beach, I was shocked at the sheer number of merfolk arriving at the beach. There must have been over a hundred. And surprisingly, they didn’t stop at the border of the ocean. On reaching it, they dug their hands into the sand and began crawling out of the water, their long, heavy tails trailing behind them like snakes. I was amazed by the speed at which they were able to travel, almost as though they were amphibians. I didn’t know how long they could survive out of water, and strangely—although many of them had started wheezing—they maintained their pace. It appeared that they were heading for the woods that lined the beach.

No. We can’t have an infestation of these monsters. I’d seen how devilish these creatures were—my wife had firsthand experience during our quest to vanquish the black witches.