“I can imagine,” I said.

Jeramiah’s eyes glazed over as they fixed on the sky. He ran a finger slowly around the edge of his wine glass. “Life is good here,” he said. “No hassles. No responsibilities. We live like kings and do what we want, when we want. I’m sure you won’t want to leave.”

I nodded stiffly.

“So why don’t you tell us your story?” Jeramiah said.

I drank again from my glass, buying myself some time as I thought about what I should say. “Well, as I mentioned, I was taken in by the black witches. I stayed on the island that was governed by Caleb Achilles. I imagine my story is pretty typical amongst most vampires. I stumbled upon a bloodsucker one night and then got pulled into this crazy world. I haven’t been turned long, so there’s not much more to tell.”

Jeramiah watched me intensely. It looked like they all wanted to hear more from me, but I wasn’t going to offer it. The less said, the better.

I took another sip, and as I did, a light feeling began to form in my head. I looked down at the blood, wondering if it had been accidentally, or perhaps purposefully, laced with something. I placed the glass down on the ground and stared at Jeramiah.

“What exactly did you bring me here for?”

Everyone else looked curious to hear Jeramiah’s answer—except for Michael, who was now engrossed in conversation with the girl next to him.

“Well, it’s not often we come across a rogue vampire. Especially not a newly turned one. You had nowhere to go. We have room for you. I didn’t see a reason not to take you in.”

I was about to inform him about my inability to half-turn healthy humans, but I held my tongue. I would wait until he actually asked me to turn one before informing him of this. There was no point before then—for all I knew, the occasion might not even arise.

Jeramiah placed his now empty glass down on the sand and stood up. He walked over to where Marilyn was dancing. Catching her hands, he placed them around his neck and slid his hands down to her hips. He led her toward the main dance area.

I took that as my cue to leave. At least for now, Jeramiah appeared to have had enough conversation. And my head was feeling lighter and lighter. I couldn’t be sure if it really was something in the drink. Perhaps it was something about this desert air making me react like this. Whatever the case, I stood up.

“Excuse me,” I said. “I’m not feeling my best at the moment.”

Most of the crowd nodded understandingly. Jeramiah called to me as I passed him. “Leaving so soon? The party hasn’t even started yet.”

“Yeah,” I called back. “I haven’t managed to sleep since I got here. I’m going to try now.” To my surprise, a yawn escaped my mouth as I finished the sentence.

“Catch you later,” Jeramiah said.

I entered the trap door and climbed back down onto the platform overlooking the atrium. Descending in the elevator to my floor, I headed straight for my apartment. I locked the door behind me, my feet now strangely heavy. What is wrong with me?

Dropping down on the bed and closing my eyes, I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

When I woke up several hours later, it was to a burning feeling in my right bicep. My head pounding, I sat upright and looked down at it:

A black cross etched into my skin.

It seemed that whether I wanted to become a member of this coven or not, I’d just been marked.

Chapter 20: Rose

I woke the next morning to find myself alone in bed. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and looking around the room.

“Caleb?”

I slid out of bed and exited the room. He wasn’t in the bathroom, or in the living room. I caught sight of him standing outside on the veranda, leaning against the railing and staring out toward the ocean.

I opened the front door and joined him outside. I walked up behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist and burying my head against his back. His hands closed around my arms, holding me against him.

“Something has happened, Rose,” he said quietly.

He turned around to face me, looking down at me with a serious expression on his face.

“What?”

“The black witches. They’re now on a rampage like never before. They’re stealing masses of human teenagers.”

My breath hitched. “What? How do you know?”

“They’ve been caught on camera. Your father called a meeting in the Great Dome last night and requested that I was present.”

“Oh, my.”

“The first victims we know of were a group of adolescents in a schoolyard. Your parents have left the island with Corrine. They’ve gone to try to warn the humans on the neighboring shores. In the meantime, Mona is trying to figure out if there’s any way we can end Lilith. Mona believes that she is the key to our problems.”

My mind was still fixed on my parents. “But how would warning humans do any good? Even with the warning, there would be no stopping those black witches.”

“Correct. But we need to make this as difficult for the witches as possible. We need to delay them in this ritual they are trying to carry out.”

“So they are meeting with the police?”

Caleb nodded.

“When will they be back?”

He shrugged. “We don’t know. Your parents hoped they would be able to return within a matter of days.”

My head was beginning to reel. So much had happened since I had fallen asleep several hours ago.