A Shade of Kiev 2(32)

“I’m already Lord of The Shade,” I slurred, as Helina escorted me out of the entrance.

Helina ignored my last proclamation as she led me across the courtyard and into the woods. I asked more questions of her, and she ignored them all. In fact, she didn’t speak again until we arrived at the beach.

“Where are we going?”

“We’re almost there,” she said, pointing to the entrance of a large cave about a mile away.

As we stepped inside, several lanterns lined the jagged walls. The floor was covered with straw and in the centre of the cave was a large circular rock. Carved into it were words of some ancient-looking language I wouldn’t have been able to recognize even if I was sober, let alone drunk out of my mind.

I motioned to sit down on the rock, but Helina grabbed me and pulled me away from it.

“Sit on the floor if you have to. But don’t ever sit there unless you’re instructed to.”

A few minutes later, all three witches arrived. All three of them were dressed in long black robes.

“You need to change first,” Arielle said, eyeing me and my sister.

She handed two robes to us. Helina helped pull one of them over my head, while she donned the other.

I’d gotten past the point of asking questions since nobody seemed to be paying any attention to them. I just kept quiet and watched as the scene unfolded.

“Erik?” Helina asked.

“He’s coming,” Julisse replied.

Helina sighed and looked down at me. “Okay, Kiev. Now you can sit on the stone.”

I sat down and watched as all four of them gathered around me, holding hands to form a circle around me.

What the hell is going on? My muddled brain toiled to make sense of the situation. It wasn’t clear any more what was my imagination and what was reality. I really shouldn’t have had that drink.

Erik arrived a few moments later, and with him, a human girl attached to him by a chain. Her blood agitated my senses and my first instinct was to stand up and launch myself at her. But Helina caught me and, with the help of the witches, pushed me back down.

“All in good time.” Erik smiled down at me. “You’re going to enjoy this, Kiev. Trust me.”

The gagged girl struggled more violently as he tied her to a corner of the cave. Then Erik took his place in the circle between Julisse and Helina, linking hands with both of them.

And then began the strange chant. I was surprised to see that it wasn’t only the three witches chanting in this strange tongue. My sister and brother also joined in. Each verse rhymed and grew louder by the minute. They reached a crescendo and stopped all at once. They looked down at me.

“Now,” Julisse whispered. “Turn the girl into a vampire.”

Turn her?

I had turned many a human into a vampire during my time. It wasn’t as pleasurable as just drinking their blood, but it certainly wasn’t disagreeable.

I looked over at the petrified girl. She screamed beneath her gag and kicked the ground, struggling to break free.

I looked from the witches, to my siblings, to the girl, and back again.

Clara’s taunting voice echoed in my head.

“What are you waiting for? Dance, Kiev.”

My mind was so muddied with alcohol, my conscience lost so deep in its fog, that I didn’t need to give it a second thought.

I stood up and, breaking through the circle, dug my fangs into her neck. I released the venom as soon as her blood seeped into my mouth.

“Now stop.”

I didn’t want to stop. So I carried on. Helina and Erik grabbed me and pulled me away.

We all watched as the girl twitched, her transformation under way. One she was jerking more violently, Julisse issued me another order.

“Now her blood is neither that of human nor vampire. It’s time to drink.”

I didn’t remember ever drinking the blood of a vampire in mid-transformation. It had normally become bitter from the vampire venom taking over at that point—the human blood diluted, losing its sweet taste.

Still, I did as Julisse asked and gulped deep from the girl. Although it was indeed bitter, there were still a few pockets of sweetness left. I kept sucking and let go of the girl, the corpse, once it had become dry.

Then I lifted my head and looked up at the faces surrounding me, their eyes shining against the glow of the lanterns.

Julisse smiled.

“Welcome to The Shade, Kiev.”





Chapter 18: Mona





“When will you return my powers to me?” I asked Rhys the following morning once he had woken.

He got out of bed and wrapped a robe around himself. Walking over to my side of the bed, he gripped my arm and pulled me up.

“Sit there.” He pointed to the center of the room. “Cross-legged.”