A Shade of Vampire 8: A Shade of Kiev (17 page)

His deep voice rumbled through his chest as he finally broke the silence.

“Mona.”

I shivered as he said my name.

“Look at me.”

Trembling, I looked up.

The heat of his gaze left me struggling to breathe.

He reached his hands to my face, his thumbs brushing against my cheeks, and before I could stop him, his lips were on mine. Unlike how I’d imagined a first kiss might play out, I didn’t need to think. I didn’t need to wonder. But perhaps that was just because Kiev was a man who didn’t leave room for doubt.

What he wanted, he took.

I let out a soft moan as his tongue pushed through my lips. His mouth pressing against mine, he claimed all of me, not allowing me to surface even to gasp for breath. His hands slid down to my lower back, pulling me flush against him.

My lips danced to the rhythm of his kiss, my body in beat to his drum.

When he finally released me, I lay breathless, my hands flat against his chest. I stood up and stumbled back, staring at him in a daze, reaching up a finger to touch my lower lip.

His eyes still blazing, he stared back.

I suddenly realized how long we’d been out. The sky was beginning to lighten through the cracks in the rocky enclosure. Although neither of us spoke, we both understood that we couldn’t remain there alone any longer.

I slid back into the cool water, as did he, and we both made our way out of the cave. I ducked my head beneath the waves and called to the dolphins.

Shaking, I climbed onto Evie’s back and gripped on tight. I looked back to see Kiev do the same with Kai.

We didn’t exchange a word as we hurried toward to the shore. Evie rushed forward, and I didn’t look back again until the sounds of Kai swimming became oddly quiet.

I turned around to see that Kai had stopped, leaving Kiev floating in the water.

“What’s going on?” I called back, my voice hoarse.

“Kai,” Kiev said. “He… doesn’t seem well.”

Panic gripped me.

I urged Evie back toward them but as we approached, Kiev and Kai moved forward again, although much slower than before. I wanted to stop and check Kai, but the sun was dangerously close to the horizon and we had to get back. We still had some way to travel.

I kept Evie going at the same speed as Kai, traveling at half their usual speed.

I was relieved when I felt sand beneath my toes. We’d entered the shallow waters just before the main beach. As I was about to jump off Evie, Kiev swore. I whirled around to see they’d fallen behind again and this time it looked like Kiev had dismounted Kai.

I rushed over to them, and as I got nearer, my heart leapt into my throat. Kai was floating motionless in the water. His eyes had closed, his mouth hanging slightly open. I gripped the large animal’s sides and rocked him.

He didn’t respond.

“No. No. No!” I breathed frantically.

My entire body trembled as I continued to shake him, hoping that Kai would magically start moving again.
Magic. That’s exactly what won’t happen thanks to me. The ogres were right, I don’t deserve to be called a witch.

I broke down. Kiev grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into an embrace, trying to dry my eyes and calm me down. But I could no longer draw comfort from him. His actions only made me panic further. I pulled myself away from his arms.

“Just leave!” I screamed at him.

He stood there, frozen, his eyes wide.

“Leave me! LEAVE ME NOW!” I bellowed at him until my voice broke.

He stared at me for another few seconds before stumbling back and moving toward the wall, casting confused—perhaps even hurt—glances back at me as he left.

Now that I was alone, grief took me. I caught hold of Kai’s fin, and, mounting myself once again on Evie, travelled into deeper waters, dragging him along behind us.

I only stopped Evie once we were a mile away from the shore. Then I kissed Kai’s head, my body racked with sobs, and let go of him, watching his motionless body disappear into the darkness of the ocean’s depths.

Kai was just a baby in dolphin years. There was no reason for him to leave me now.

I took Evie back to shallow waters and got off her.

Still sobbing uncontrollably, I kissed her head too.

“And this is where we part, my baby girl. You need to leave me now and never return. Don’t ever wait for me or try to find me again.”

Although I wasn’t speaking her language, I felt that she somehow understood what I was trying to communicate because she nuzzled her head against my waist.

“No, Evie. You need to be a good girl and leave me now. L-leave me.”

I ducked my head underwater and let out a noise that I knew Evie would understand without doubt to mean that she was now set free—a noise taught to me by a mermaid when I’d first learned to train dolphins all those years ago.

I pulled my head back above the waves and watched as my beautiful girl took one last look at me. Her eyes were endearing as she gazed up at me. I felt my battered heart split in two. I knew she loved me and didn’t want to leave.

And it was precisely because I had let myself love her back that she had to. I hoped that I hadn’t waited too long. I hoped that I hadn’t left it too late. I hoped that she’d still be able to live a full and healthy life, unlike Kai.

Evie slowly turned away and sped off into the horizon.

I beat my fist against my thigh until I caused a bruise.

If I had only let Kai go sooner, he might have been able to accompany her.

I crawled out of the water, and barely able to support my own weight, stumbled forward along the beach. I staggered beneath the morning sun until I reached the rock pools I’d once sat near with Kiev, and found somewhere to sit out of view of the beach.

I didn’t want to be found by anyone.

I just need to be numb.

“Numbness
.”

Kiev’s voice echoed in my ears.

My vision blurred as the sea spray whipped against my face, mixing with my tears. I lost track of time as I sat staring out at the waves. Closing my eyes and attempting to shut down my mind, I forgot all about Saira’s warnings to not stay out alone for long periods of time.

Merciful sleep must have stolen me away at some point, for I was woken by a harsh tugging against my wrists. Both of my hands were tied behind my back. I felt a gag being stuffed into my mouth.

A sharp pain spread through the top of my head, and I lost consciousness.

The werewolf at the gate looked at me suspiciously and asked, “Where’s the witch?”

I turned and pointed to her figure floating in the distance above the waves.

“She wants to stay out longer.”

I retreated to my room in the tunnels, and, locking myself inside, lay down on my bed. As I gazed up at my ceiling through the darkness, I couldn’t shake the glare Mona had given me. She’d looked at me like it was my fault her dolphin had died. I didn’t understand why she’d thrown herself into such a fit over an animal.

I’d had to fight the urge to pick her up and force her to come back to the island with me. I’d wanted to take her back to her cabin and, surrounded by the silence of the lake, refuse to leave until she told me what was wrong with her. Until she made me understand her. But instead, I’d given into her request and let her mourn alone.

Now that the heat of the moment had passed, I realized that I should have seen Mona’s wish to distance herself from me as a wake up call.
You’ve gotten yourself far too carried away with Saira’s task.
You’re forgetting what you are, Kiev. Mona is safer without you. Continuing on this course now that you’ve kissed her would be like boarding a train knowing it’s moving along a broken track. The missing rail might not come for this mile, or even the next. But it will come.

I lay alone in the darkness for hours. By the time night had fallen, I found myself craving fresh air and a stretch of my legs. I exited the tunnels and walked through the forest. I passed by the occasional werewolf climbing down from a tree house, but otherwise I was in my own company. Perhaps it was my subconscious, but after about an hour I arrived at a pathway close to the lake. I looked out toward the witch’s cabin. It was dark. Even the lantern hanging outside her porch wasn’t lit. I’d never seen the lantern left unlit at night.

Worry clouding my better judgement, I slid into the water and swam toward the house.

I’ll go up and listen at the door just to check she’s inside. Then I’ll leave without a word.

I climbed onto the porch and walked along the balcony that ran around the circumference of the cabin. All her curtains had been left wide open. I could see no sign of the witch’s presence.

“Mona?” I called.

No answer.

Impatience and anxiety taking over me, I kicked the door open. I gazed around the dark empty room. I ran to the bathroom. Also empty.

No. She can’t have been on the beach all this time.

I sped to the wall.

“Has the witch returned yet?” I demanded of the werewolf still guarding the gate.

He shook his head.

I stepped outside and cast my eyes up and down the beach. And then I started running with all the speed my legs could muster.

“Mona! Mona!” I shouted against the wind until my voice grew hoarse.

Guilt tore through my chest.
This is my fault. If I hadn’t left her, this never would have happened.
I ran around the entire circumference of the island. I searched every corner of the beach, but it was in vain.

Perhaps she returned to the cave she showed me last night.
My nerves settled a little at the thought. But before I could start planning how to get back there, a horn sounded in the distance. I looked out at the waves to see a large ship with deep red sails looming toward the island. Torches hung from the sides of the wooden ship, giving it an eerie glow. Two were particularly bright at the front of the ship, shining light over the words carved into its mast.
The Skull Crusher.

Jeers and shouting broke out across the waves. On the ship’s deck was a crowd of ogres. Outside the wall’s gate, a crowd of the island’s inhabitants gathered on the beach. Matteo and Saira stood at the forefront.

And then I saw her. Mona. Still in her underwear, cuts and bruises covering her body, she had been hoisted up into the mastheads of the ship. Thick ropes were tied to her hands and feet. She hung motionless, her eyes closed, and I feared for a moment that they had killed her already. But then her feet and arms stirred and I breathed a sigh of relief.

She is still alive. For how long, we have no assurance.

“Release her!” Matteo bellowed across the waves.

I dove into the water. Since I’d approached from a direction the ogres didn’t seem to have their focus on, I hoped that they hadn’t seen me.

“Hand over Brett,” one of the ogres called back. “And then you can have this useless witch.”

“Even if we did, what assurance do we have that you’ll hand over Mona?” Saira shouted, panic in her voice.

Howling laughter echoed down from the ship.

“Just hand over Brett. Then we’ll see about this girl of yours.”

I’d dealt with enough creatures as vile as these ogres in the past to know not to trust them. They could lose their temper and kill her before our eyes at any moment.

It was what I would have done.

I ducked beneath the water, swimming toward the ship. I surfaced now and then to check that the ogres were still being distracted by Matteo and his crowd. As I arrived barely twenty feet away from the ship’s stern, I swore. A sharp pain set my nervous system on fire. I looked into the water, reaching down to my leg.

Blood. Mine.

A thick black fin protruded from the waves less than five feet away. I’d been so focussed on my destination, I hadn’t been paying attention to the waters around me. Now, as I gazed around, ten other fins closed in on me.

Beneath the clear waves, I caught better sight of my attacker. A giant shark. Its white teeth were stained with blood as it launched to attack me again. I kicked away from it, narrowly dodging its jaws.

I realized then how savage these sharks were. As a vampire, my blood should have disgusted them. Yet here they were, circling in on me, more and more being called by the scent of my blood in the water with each second that passed.

All right. These sharks want a bite. I’ll give them a bite.

Clenching my jaw against the pain, I extended my claws. As the shark nearest to me hurtled toward me once again, I used both hands to slash out its eyes. Jerking wildly in the water, it swam round and round in a frenzy. I grabbed hold of its fin and pulled myself onto its slimy back, digging my claws into its sides so as to not slip off. When it tried to retreat beneath the waves, into the depths of the ocean, I slid my fangs deep beneath the skin above its head and yanked upward, tearing through its flesh. I did this repeatedly until the shark stopped its downward descent and drifted upward.
That’s it. Obey your new master.
I gasped for breath as I was lifted above the waves.

With this vantage point, it was easier for me to take aim at the other sharks poising to attack me. I slashed out their eyes, one by one, until the remaining sharks seemed to recognize the risk of approaching me and retreated.

I repositioned myself on the blind shark, and, jerking my claws in a forward motion through its flesh, urged it to move toward the ship. As soon as we approached close enough, I leapt off it and grabbed hold of the base of the carved wooden shark beneath the stern. I winced as my body made contact with the hard wood. The wide gash in my upper leg still hadn’t come close to healing, and it burned from the salt. As I edged my way around the hull of the ship, I just hoped that no ogres had heard any of the splashing I’d caused during my battle with the sharks.

Once I was directly beneath the spot where Mona hung—her eyes still closed—I caught hold of a rope hanging over the deck’s railing. I lifted myself slowly until I was level with the deck. I looked up, measuring the distance between me and the ropes Mona was hanging from. I outstretched my claws in anticipation. Then in one forceful motion—my uninjured leg taking on most of the strain—I leapt up and landed against the ropes Mona hung from.