Great. So I’ve got some kind of runaway princess on my hands.

“So you’re Chinese?” I said.

“My mother is… was… Japanese. But my father’s birthplace is China.”

I hadn’t been too far off in guessing her roots.

“And you came to The Tavern because you thought you would be safe there, I assume,” I said.

“Yes,” she replied. “I hoped I could keep my head down and live there inconspicuously. But I was stupid to think that my father wouldn’t find me. Those guys who broke in, I’m sure that they were my father’s two right-hand men… Ling and Zhao.” She seemed to sense my tension. “Look, as I said, I really don’t want to be a burden. You can drop me off wherever you’re planning to go.” She looked around the boat. “Where did you get a boat like this?” she wondered. “I noticed you weren’t exactly proficient in leading your sharks…”

That’s one way to put it.

I didn’t see much of a reason to lie. This girl seemed harmless enough and clearly had more than enough of her own problems.

“I stole it,” I said bluntly.

She frowned. “Oh. So you don’t actually own a boat?”

“No.”

“You told me that you travel alone, so then how did you get to The Tavern? And what is your name, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“My name is Benjamin. I got to The Tavern with… someone else’s help.”

“And where do you plan to go now?”

“Just far away enough from The Tavern to be safe. And then I plan to float on the water until my companion returns for me.”

“Oh. So your companion has a boat?”

“Not exactly… My companion is a jinni.”

“A jinni?” Her eyes bulged. “Oh, my goodness. I never even knew there was such a thing.”

“Well… there is. She’ll appear on this deck. I expect her to find me within a few hours. And when she does come for me, you can have this boat and go wherever you want.”

Julie paused. “Where do you come from, Benjamin?”

From the depths of hell, I thought grimly to myself, but replied, “Egypt.”

“You’re not Egyptian though.”

“No.” I heaved a sigh. “Originally, I’m from an island in the Pacific Ocean.”

I would have been stupid to not expect her to instantly respond with: “You mean The Shade?”

The Shade was a legend to almost all vampires. That much my parents had told me.

“Yes,” I said heavily. “The Shade is my home.”

“Then why on earth did you come here? Who in their right mind would leave that island?”

I wasn’t exactly in the mood to dig up my whole horror story. But seeing that there wasn’t much else to do while I waited for Aisha to return, I found myself giving Julie a brief history. I could see from the look on her face that much of my story was blowing her mind. She had apparently grown up in a coven of vampires, but I supposed that she had been fairly isolated from the rest of the world in those Chinese mountains. And then when she’d arrived in the supernatural world, she appeared to have been living in her parents’ shadow, or more specifically, her jerk of a father’s.

Inevitably, my recount also involved revealing that I was a Novak, and Prince of the island, at which point she looked at me with awe.

As hours passed, and Aisha still had not returned, I came to the brink of telling Julie the real reason why I had entered the supernatural world. I hesitated, wondering whether I really wanted to go down that rabbit hole with her. In the end, I did. Partly to pass the time, and partly because I’d already told her the rest of my story. I didn’t see much point in holding back the last piece.

She gaped at me. “Imprinted by an Elder. That’s… horrifying. W-What are you going to do?”

I shrugged. “That’s what I’m here to figure out. Aisha, my jinni companion, has gone to find Arron. And I’m expecting her back anytime now.”

I blew out in frustration. I wished I had a watch so that I could keep track of the time. Then again, perhaps I should have been grateful that I didn’t have one. Watching the minutes go by might have just made me more tense.

“So you’re basically on your own here, except for the jinni who is helping you?” Julie asked.

“Yes,” I replied. “And of course I have Bahir who’s still within me… somewhere.”

Julie’s eyes were filled with concern. She chewed on her lower lip. “What… What would happen if you weren’t successful in breaking the bond the Elder has with you?” she asked.

I looked at her. It should’ve been obvious to her what would happen. “I can’t afford to think about not being successful.”

CHAPTER 15: BEN

T he sun had already risen by the time Aisha finally returned. I was infinitely grateful that the boat had a wide covering over it, allowing us to remain untouched by the sun’s rays. I breathed out in relief as the jinni appeared on the deck. But a second later, when it registered that she was alone, alarm gripped me.

I shot to my feet. “Where is he?”

Aisha looked a little flustered, her hair disheveled. She glanced curiously at Julie, who was gaping back at her, before fixing her focus on me.

“I found him,” she said.

The knot in my stomach loosened a little. “Then where is he? And what took you so long?”