A Shade of Vampire 40: A Throne of Fire(10)

“Are there any other ways in which we might be able to contain the stones?” my father asked again, looking at the witches.

“If we knew what was coming out of them, maybe,” Ibrahim replied. “But if we don’t know what we’re up against…”

Suddenly, I had an idea. “Wait, surely if there are stones here, then the jinn that locked up these creatures can’t be far away? Perhaps there’s another group of jinn living in this dimension? Nuriya, is that possible?”

She shrugged, her jet-black hair bouncing in the moonlight. “It’s possible, but if this land is as hostile as it seems, they would have wanted to leave – as your father says, perhaps somewhere across the ocean like The Dunes… assuming this really is the supernatural dimension. But still, there might be a chance they’ve remained here. I can’t sense any, but that doesn’t mean they’re not around. Jinn are good at concealing themselves if necessary.”

“But if there were jinn here, don’t you think they’d be trying to close the stones already?” my mom asked. “It seems like a bit of a long shot.”

“But perhaps the only chance we have,” my father observed.

“And if there are jinn here, then the best way to find out would be getting to the castle…so let’s get going.” It was Claudia, riling my father yet again.

He sighed. “All right. We move out in an hour. Everyone get your packs ready. Leave whatever’s not necessary, we need to travel light.”

I nodded, hearing the unspoken implication that if anything went wrong we might have to run for our lives.

The group dispersed, and I was left standing with Caleb.

“Are you okay?” he asked, lifting my chin up to meet his gaze.

“Tired, worried, anxious…the list kind of goes on… You?”

“The same. I’m glad Claudia’s pushing your father to get to the castle. It’s the not knowing that’s driving me crazy.”

I nodded. “I get why he’s being cautious—if Sherus is right then this enemy’s going to be unlike anything we’ve faced before…but all I can think about is Hazel and Benedict. Were they in this castle when it came crashing down?” I shivered. They left here alive, according to the werewolves, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t been wounded or afraid.

“Let’s try not to think about it,” Caleb replied softly.

“I know, but I can’t help it.”

“We have to keep believing that they’re fine, Rose, or we won’t make it through this.”

My husband was right. I grasped his hand in mine, squeezing it gratefully. We were getting closer all the time. I shouldn’t be giving up hope now.





Julian





“All I can think about is how we’re being left out, again,” Benedict huffed, trying to get comfortable on the stone floor. “I think we would be good on a recon mission—we’re smaller than the sentries, so we could get closer without being seen. Which I would have pointed out if we’d been invited.”

We’d listened in secretly to the meeting that Ash and Tejus had held, knowing that they’d be making plans for our next attack. Now we’d found a corner of the castle where we could remain undisturbed. I had just wanted to get away from the craziness of the close-to-bursting castle, but Benedict saw it as an opportunity to plot our way into the action.

“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” I asked. “I mean—all those stones opening? We don’t even know what’s in them…and the entity? Not sure I want to come face to face with that.” I felt queasy at the thought. I didn’t understand how Benedict was so up for reuniting with the power that had possessed him. Maybe he’d conveniently forgotten how scared he’d been? How scared we’d all been? From the days of our short-lived Hell Raker group, I’d definitely had a change of heart about blindly going off to battle the beasts and evils that Nevertide had lurking in every corner. I’d learnt my lesson after a stint in Queen Trina’s dungeons. Clearly Benedict still hadn’t.

“It’s just a recon mission, Julian. We won’t actually have to fight them or anything. I want to know what’s going to come out of those stones.”

“Well, I don’t think we can.” I sighed. “We can’t get out of here—the barriers are going to be heavily guarded and watched the whole time. And if you think Hazel and Ruby will let us go, then you’ve gone mad.”

Benedict tugged on a leaf of the nearest potted plant, his face gloomy.

“This sucks,” he moaned.