A Shade of Kiev 2(13)

I nodded, composing myself. I hoped that he hadn’t noticed that I’d been sleeping.

“Where’s my sister?” he asked.

His words alarmed me. I looked over at the empty bed.

“I… I don’t know. She was just in here…”

He rolled his eyes at me and walked through a door at the back of the room. I followed and stopped just outside what appeared to be a bathroom, peeking through the crack in the doorway.

Elsbeth was curled up in a corner while the boy towered over her.

“What are you doing in here?” Dorian’s voice was aggressive. “I told you to wait in your room until I got back. I told you to stop hiding from me.”

The girl whimpered. He clenched his fists, and for a second I thought he was about to strike her. Instead he gripped her jaw. She struggled as he lifted her up the wall by the neck and stared into her eyes.

“Why weren’t you waiting for me in there?”

She whimpered more. Anger bubbled up inside me and I was about to burst in when he let go of her. She sank to the ground, sobbing.

“How many times do I have to warn you? How will we ever be ready in time if you keep disobeying me?”

He swung the door open before I had a chance to return to my seat. He stared at me.

“What are you looking at?” he asked, his eyes narrowing on me.

I said nothing. I just stared back at him until he stormed into his bedroom, which was connected to Elsbeth’s by another door the other side of Elsbeth’s bed. I went into the bathroom and approached the girl. She had her head buried in her arms. I tentatively brushed a hand over her hair.

She fell silent and flinched as soon as I touched her.

“Are you all right, Elsbeth? Elsbeth?”

She lifted her head and stared blankly at the opposite wall. I dared bend down to grip her arm and pull her up, but she resisted me.

“Leave me alone!” she screamed.

I jumped back in shock. Taking one last look at her trembling form, I left.

I need to find Mogda. I need to tell her what’s going on in here. Elsbeth’s parents need to know how her brother is treating her.

As I approached the exit, something rammed into me, sending me crashing against the cold stone floor. My head reeling, I looked up to see the young boy on top of me, his strength terrifying. He reached for my neck and gripped it hard.

“What did you just do to make my sister scream?” he hissed, his pupils dilating with rage. “What did you do?” He spat in my face. “Know your place. Know that I will have you thrown out—or worse—if I catch you interfering again. And don’t even think about going to my parents. I’ll warn you only once.”

He released his hold on my neck and gave me one last glare before returning to his room, slamming the door behind him.

My whole body trembled as I pushed myself back against the wall. Clutching my windpipe, I breathed in heavily. Once I’d calmed down, my shock was replaced with outrage and frustration at the hold this boy had over the young girl.

What is this place?





Chapter 7: Kiev





After hours of searching, I concluded that the castle was the only building on the island. Unlike The Shade back in the human realm, this place was covered entirely by forest, with the exception of a few clearings. There were no mountains, and the hub of all activity seemed to be the castle. I assumed that the witches must be somewhere inside there too.

Narrowing my list of places to search down to the castle helped somewhat, but the castle was so big for such a small number of vampires that it was still a task to look through.

I ran from room to room—even searching in closets and under beds—but I didn’t find them.

The only place left for me to search was the top floor—the Lord and Lady’s chamber. These were the most spacious and comfortable of all the living quarters, but still I found no sign of any witches.

As a last resort, I ran down to the dungeon from which the vampire had retrieved my meal. The dungeon was huge, and the humans—men and women—were kept in cages in the dark. As soon as I opened the trapdoor, light flooded down and they screamed, crawling to the back of their cells.

As I scanned the underground chamber, I couldn’t fathom where they got all these humans from. I had been told before that there weren’t many humans in this world of supernaturals that Cruor hadn’t already snatched up for themselves.

Brushing the thought aside, I finished searching the dungeon and, still not finding anything, I decided to head back up. It seemed that I might have to ask the vampire after all. I had wanted to avoid this in case he became suspicious. But time was running out.

I decided to go back outside and walk around the island one more time, in case I had rushed my search too much before and missed something. Then, if I still haven’t found them, I’ll just have to ask the vampire.