A Shade of Vampire 31: A Twist of Fates Read Online Free Page A

my chest as I directed her to climb onto my back. Then I soared back through the apartment with them, closing the front door firmly on the way out. I hadn’t inflicted too much damage on the men. They would wake up in an hour or so and wonder where on earth she had gone. They’d be in for some serious chastisement too, no doubt.
    The young boy gazed at the rapidly distancing ground beneath us with wide eyes and parted lips. I was sure that he thought he was still sleeping. The doctor’s grip around my neck tightened, so hard it was almost strangling.
    Spotting Ibrahim and my father in the sky, we joined them. They both looked as relieved as I felt to have found the woman.
    “Ibrahim,” I said. “Please transport us back to The Shade.”

    * * *
    W e headed to a room at the base of the hospital, where we could talk in quiet. I did not want to expose Dr. Finnegan to too many strangers at once. We needed her to feel as comfortable as possible so she could give us all the information we needed.
    “I still don’t understand what you’re doing with me—”
    “I’ll tell you exactly why we brought you here,” I said, seating her and her boy in a chair. “My daughter has been infected by Bloodless venom. She has already turned into a Bloodless. We need the cure… I know that you know what it is. You started giving it to Lawrence.”
    Her breath hitched. “They almost killed me for giving out that information. How do I know you will keep me and my son safe?”
    “I promise,” I told her, “if you help us cure my daughter, you will be able to stay on our island as long as you want… free of charge,” I added. Of course, everyone who joined The Shade paid no rent—although they were expected to contribute their fair share to the upkeep of the island—but I was aware that this was a novel concept to the outside world.
    Recalling the four unopened tubes I’d left up in Grace’s room, I said, “Wait here. Let me show you what we have already.” Placing the first four ingredients in front of her nose should make it easier for her to simply slip us the fifth one.
    I left my father and Ibrahim with her and her son and hurried upstairs to Grace’s floor. My gut was churning before I even entered. My daughter was as we had left her, curled up and snarling in the center of the cage created for her by Corrine, looking more agitated than ever.
    River rushed to me, gripping my arms. “What’s happening?”
    “I’ll explain,” I said, breathless. “But first, those tubes…” My eyes shot to the bedside table where I’d left them. To my horror, they were gone. “Where are they?” I demanded of the room.
    “Corrine took them,” my mother said.
    Leaving everyone with their questions tingling on their tongues, I hurtled to the Sanctuary.
    I couldn’t wait to knock. I just hurried through the door and yelled for the witch. “Corrine! You here?”
    A door opened to my right, and Corrine stepped out.
    “The tubes!” I exclaimed.
    “Yes, I have them. Come in,” she said, beckoning me inside her spell room.
    “Thank God,” I breathed as she removed the tubes from a drawer and set them on the counter. “What are you doing with them?”
    “Well,” she said, “I was trying to figure out what’s actually in them. I hoped that the missing ingredient might possibly be from the trees we hijacked.”
    “Well?” I urged.
    “Unfortunately, it looks like one of the tubes already contains some kind of extract from the trees—the orange one… Which has left me supposing that the last ingredient must be something else.”
    Great . If only things had been as simple as Corrine had hoped they might be.
    “Okay,” I said, sweeping up the tubes in my hands. “At least we found the scientist. We’re in the hospital, in the room opposite the dining hall.”
    Corrine accompanied me back to the hospital. We entered the room and I hurried to Dr. Finnegan and showed her the tubes.
    “These were the very ingredients that