A Fall of Secrets

Ibrahim vanished the ropes that had been fastening us all to the humans and we helped them down off the backs of the dragons as fast as we could. I was glad to see that the two girls Gavin and Griffin had been looking after had come to by now. They were looking around wide-eyed and anxious.

“Gather round,” I called to the humans, beckoning them toward me.

“We need to contact the police,” Aiden said.

“Why don’t you, Ibrahim and Caleb come with me,” I replied. “We’ll take these people and the rest of you can wait here with the dragons.”

Since there were no objections, we set off. Sand soon gave way to concrete, and we found ourselves standing at the side of a busy road. I looked straight ahead on the opposite side. There was a line of restaurants.

We crossed the road carefully while herding all the teens and reached the other side. Aiden led us into the nearest restaurant to us. It was packed with diners. There was no way that all the humans would fit in here, so I suggested that I go in while the men waited with the teens outside. I pushed open the double doors and headed straight for the welcome desk.

“I need to contact the police urgently. May I use the phone?”

The woman behind the desk parted her lips in surprise, then nodded and handed me a phone. “Of course.”

I dialed the emergency code. As soon as I was connected, I explained that I had with me over twenty missing people. I gave the name of the restaurant, then hung up.

“Thank you,” I said to the woman.

She was still gaping at me as I hurried out of the restaurant.

“Well?” Caleb asked as I emerged outside.

“They’re coming.” I turned to the teens. “It won’t be long now until you’re back with your parents. The police are coming.”

The teens already looked much more relaxed being in this familiar environment, and now they were positively beaming.

I was impressed that we had to wait barely five minutes. Cars pulled up all around us and uniformed police officers hurried toward us. They headed straight for the teens, except for one—a tall caramel-skinned woman with short cropped hair. Her eyes traveled from me to each of the men, then back to me.

“You are the person who called?” she asked.

I nodded.

“Your name?” she asked.

I was about to blurt out my real name, but I wondered whether that was wise. Of course, it wasn’t like these police knew about the Novaks, but all the same, I decided I preferred anonymity.

“Alice Jenkins,” I said, offering a hand to her. She shook it firmly.

“Ms. Jenkins, we’re going to take you and these gentlemen in for questioning. Please step this way.” She pointed back to her vehicle.

I shot Ibrahim a glance, and he nodded. None of us wanted to get entangled in a lengthy interview process, so we all huddled closer to the warlock. I cast one last lingering glance over the teens just before we all vanished.

We reappeared again on the beach. I was shocked to see how quickly the situation had escalated. Swarms of humans were now surrounding the dragons, although they were keeping a fair distance. They all had their phones out as they took pictures and recorded footage.

Micah and the three vampires looked relieved to see us as we approached. The dragons, still in their giant forms, were looking irritated by the flashing. Before more people could arrive, we climbed back onto the dragons and they took off again into the sky. Gasps of awe erupted from the beach below. Climbing closer to Caleb on the dragon’s back, I wrapped my arms around his waist and looked back at the glimmering shoreline. Although my heart was warmed to imagine those teens returning to their parents, I couldn’t help but feel grief for those we had left behind. And for those the witches had yet still to make victims out of. For those we couldn’t save.

The work we had done tonight was just a drop in the ocean.

“We have to end Lilith,” I whispered.

Chapter 28: Derek

After letting the hunter go, I left the alleyway and walked back toward the beach. I found Corrine with Sofia beneath the shade of a cluster of trees, where I had told them to wait.

“What happened?” Sofia asked, looking me over anxiously as I approached.

I gathered her to me, holding the back of her head and placing a kiss on her forehead. “I dealt with him.”

“So it really was a hunter?” she asked.

I nodded. Caleb had told us about the fracas he’d had with the hunters on his way to try to rescue us from Annora’s curse. It really was no surprise that an organization had formed again after Aiden had shut it down about two decades ago. There had been too many victims since then thanks to the black witches’ vampires.

“Did you kill the bastard?” Corrine asked.

“No. I just gave him a good shaking. He won’t shoot so carelessly next time he sees a vampire.” I placed an arm around Sofia’s waist and looked at the witch. “Let’s return now, before there are any more distractions.”

Corrine grabbed hold of the two of us and barely three seconds later, we were gone. Once the air stopped rushing around us, the familiar sight of the Port came into view. “Let’s hope that by now Mona has come up with something.” I imagined that the black witches might be stealing more teenagers as I spoke.

“Why don’t we visit Xavier and Vivienne first?” Sofia said. “It’s on the way.”

But when we arrived at my sister and brother-in-law’s apartment, nobody was at home. Since Aiden’s tree was the next one along, we checked in there. He wasn’t at home either. We were about to head for Mona and Kiev’s after that when someone shouted down at us. We looked up to see Zinnia waving from Eli’s balcony.