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

“Stay close to the floor,” Caleb said. His grip around the back of my neck tightened and he pushed me closer against the floorboards. He crawled toward the bed and snatched up our nightclothes from the mattress. He draped my nightgown around me, slipping my arms through the sleeves, while he put on his own robe and fastened the pull string tightly around his waist.

“Try to breathe into the hem of your gown,” he said. “Or better still, try not to breathe at all.”

As a vampire, I could hold my breath for a long time. I couldn’t have been more grateful for this ability as Caleb pushed open my bedroom door and we crawled out into the corridor. The smoke was so thick that it stung my eyes and made them water.

To our right, at the far end of the hallway, was a tall window, its Venetian blinds drawn. Caleb nodded in its direction, and we scrambled toward it. He made me stay on the floor while he reached up to pull open the blinds. But then he stalled. I gazed up to see what the matter was, and, to my horror, found myself staring through the glass at a wall of flames. The apartment was being consumed by fire from within and without.

Caleb grabbed my arm and pulled me back into my bedroom. We moved to the window in here. When we drew aside the heavy curtains, this window too was being licked by flames.

“What happened?” I breathed.

I didn’t have the first clue as to what could have caused the fire. Fires were a very rare occurrence in The Shade. Even though we lived in trees, the witches had designed the penthouses to be fire-safe. I couldn’t even remember the last fire that we’d had—other than when the dragons had stormed the island, though that hardly counted.

Fire inside the apartment, I could more easily wrap my head around. Perhaps there had been a gas explosion or something. But coming from the outside as well? What on earth had caused this inferno?

A coat of sweat broke out on my cold skin, and Caleb’s forehead shimmered too.

“What do we do?” I gasped. “We’re trapped.”

If we took a left down the corridor and headed toward the exit of the apartment, we would meet with the fire within the penthouse, yet it seemed that we couldn’t escape through the windows either without meeting with the blaze. We moved from room to room until we’d checked every single one on our side of the apartment, still untouched by fire, though becoming more and more choked with smoke each moment that passed. Each of the windows in these rooms looked out at the same flames.

I had been holding my breath as much as I could, but the fright and panic made it hard to regulate my breathing.

“We’re going to have to brave the flames,” Caleb said, his jaw set in a grimace.

The fire was encroaching both inside and outside the building, and we had to be quick. We checked the windows that we had access to once again, trying to find the window with the least amount of fire outside, but all looked just as deadly as the other. If we delayed any longer, we’d only make things worse for ourselves.

“Tie up your hair tightly,” Caleb ordered as he tore the blanket from my bed. I didn’t have a hair tie, but my hair was long and I managed to wrap it up in a tight bun. Spreading out the blanket, he began wrapping it around me, cocooning me in it. He grabbed three scarves from one of my open clothes bags and wrapped them around my legs and upper chest, securing the blanket against me, so securely that I was practically suffocating. He left enough of the blanket for me to pull over my head.

I gazed at him in alarm. All he wore was his thin robe. “What about you?”

Ignoring my question, he scooped me up and flung me over his shoulder. I felt useless, unable to move because of how tightly he was holding me. I couldn’t see where he was going either with a blanket flapping in front of my face. But I sensed him hurry out of the room and back into the corridor. He moved along until he reached the window. The smoke had become so thick, I could barely see a foot in front of me.

Glass shattered, and then came a sharp spike in temperature. I held my breath and shut my eyes tight.

“Cover your head!” Caleb hissed.

“Wait,” I gasped. “What about you—”

It was too late. I only just managed to pull up the excess cover over my face and head before he leapt onto the window ledge and then took a dive off the building.

A wave of heat permeated my skin even through the thick blanket. I was terrified to think of the damage Caleb had just endured, and my chest ached for him as he let out a groan. We lurched into a freefall, Caleb’s hold tightening around me, so tight that it felt like my ribcage would snap. My gut turned in somersaults until Caleb’s feet hit solid ground with another painful jolt to my stomach.

He immediately lowered me to the ground and gripped my sides, freeing me from the flaming blanket. I staggered to my feet, away from the blanket, and gazed at Caleb in horror. Every part of his skin that was visible was raw and blistered, and his robe was flaming. I lunged for him and ripped away the burning robe, even as I tried to be careful not to touch his skin and cause him any more pain.