Derek and I had stayed up with Eli all night, helping him pore over maps in his study. We had made mark upon mark on the maps and taken copious notes, but we'd completely failed to make any sense of the targets.

"I'm just not seeing anything," Eli muttered, rubbing his temples.

"Maybe that's because there is no pattern." I sighed. "We're trying too hard to see something that's not there because it's the only thing we have to cling to right now."

I got up from my chair and paced around the room.

"Mexico... The West Coast," I muttered slowly. "Hm..."

Derek looked up at me.

"I know what you're thinking," he said.

"And it's crazy, right? n.o.body here could be doing this."

Derek shook his head.

"I just can't believe any vampire on this island could betray our trust like this on such a ma.s.sive scale," he said. "I mean, Sofia, we're talking decades! How could any of them pull something like this off for so long? Even leaving aside the inconceivable betrayal, just think about the logistics of it all. Somebody around here would notice."

"It's just that these are all the exact locations The Shade targeted for stealing humans," I said.

Derek rubbed his face in his hands and sighed heavily.

I continued. "And we know that all the vampires who weren't living here when the gates were shut were taken back to Cruor-all those who remained came here."

Eli twirled his pen between his fingers.

"Of course," he said, "it's not like we had any way of verifying that. In theory, there could be other vampires out there that we don't know about."

I turned on Eli and frowned at him.

"But how would they survive? All those other covens were wrecked by the Elders and they deliberately sucked all the vampires they could out of there. And where would they be keeping all these humans? How would they transport themselves there and back?"

Eli shrugged.

"I have no idea," he said. "I'm just saying that we don't have evidence that there aren't other vampires existing on Earth outside of The Shade."

"I don't know," I muttered, stretching my palms out on the table. "Everything points back right here to The Shade. I mean, it's a large island. And we know how hard it is to live exclusively on animal blood. h.e.l.l, I find myself craving my own children's blood sometimes."

I locked eyes with Derek. We both shared the same expression. Neither of us wanted to believe that anyone could be betraying our trust and breaking a law of The Shade that we'd inst.i.tuted two decades ago.

But most of all, neither of us wanted to be the ones to make an accusation like this of our own people.

"Maybe we should investigate," Eli said finally, breaking the silence. "Then we can at least rule it out as an option."

Derek nodded reluctantly.

"All right," he said, clearing his throat. "I guess we'll start once we've had some rest."

"You are aware that our law calls for expulsion if someone here was found guilty?" Eli said, eyeing me.

I nodded, gulping.

Derek and I left Eli and returned to our penthouse. We undressed and got into bed. I snuggled against Derek beneath the sheets.

"Who do you think it could be?" I asked quietly, resting my head against his chest. "I mean, if it was somebody here, who do you think would be behind it?"

Derek shrugged, running his hands along my back.

"I can't answer that. I just know that no matter who is behind this, we can't allow ourselves to go back to our old ways."

Chapter 11: Rose.

I woke up to a searing pain in the back of my head. I reached for it and felt a round b.u.mp. I was lying on a hard metal floor. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Ben lay a few feet away from me. I scanned the room for Kristal and Jake, but they were nowhere to be seen.

I was sitting in a dark, damp room. And it felt like we were in some kind of vehicle or vessel, because we were moving forward. The lower deck of a boat, or perhaps the storage chamber of a submarine.

Memories flooding back, I scrambled over to Ben and shook him. He didn't budge at first.

Oh, G.o.d.

I turned him over onto his back and placed my ear against his chest. I exhaled sharply when I heard his heartbeat.

"Ben!" I whispered, shaking his shoulders. "Ben, wake up!"

I shook him more violently. When he still didn't open his eyes, I gave him a slap across his face.

That woke him. He groaned and slowly opened his eyes. "Wh-where... what happened?" He sat up, wincing as he rubbed the back of his head.

"I don't know. I just woke up a few seconds ago."

"Where are Kristal and Jake?"

"I told you, I don't know."

He pulled himself off the damp ground and we both sat on the bench.

"I don't understand why these vampires want us," he said. "I thought that vampire left you on the beach, even though he could have easily taken you?"

My brain was throbbing. "Yes," I said. "He let me go. He even seemed scared to come near me."

"Then what the h.e.l.l are we doing here now? Who are these vampires? Where have they come from? They shouldn't even exist."

I paused and ran a tongue over my parched lips as a more disturbing question entered my mind. What will they do-or what have they already done-with Kristal and Jake?

"Some supernatural powers would come in handy now," Ben muttered.

My throat was so dry, I was dying for water. I scanned the room, but there was nothing down here except a few dirty blankets in the corner. I buried my face in my hands and breathed deeply.

If anything happens to them, it will be all our fault.

We should have just gone to that stupid Scottish island.

"Ben," I said suddenly. "Check your pockets. Is your phone still there?"

He reached into his back jeans pockets and shook his head.

"They must have searched us and confiscated it."

I swore.

Ben got up and walked over to the metal door of the chamber and banged his fists against it.

"We're awake, you a.s.sholes!" he yelled, his voice as hoa.r.s.e as my own. "Some water would be appreciated."

Ben returned to his seat. Several minutes later, footsteps sounded outside and the door creaked open.

A tall ginger vampire stepped in and placed a tin bowl filled with water down on the floor. I recognized those light blue eyes of his instantly.

"What have you done with them?" I hissed, jumping up and running toward the door.

He slammed it shut before I could reach it.

I shouted in frustration and kicked the door. I looked down at the bowl and brought it over to the bench.

"You have some first," Ben said.

I took a sip, then pa.s.sed the bowl to him. We alternated until we'd drunk it all up. It tasted stale and metallic, like it had been stored in some kind of old rusting container for too long, but at least it wasn't sea water.

Ben placed the bowl on the floor and I rested my head against his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer against him.

"I miss our parents," Ben admitted.

"Me too."

Chapter 12: Sofia.

Under the questioning glares of all the vampires on the island, we made them all gather in the large clearing outside the Black Heights and wait in line as we called them into the mountain chambers for interviewing. Claudia, Ashley and Zinnia produced a particularly loud symphony of complaining, so we saw those three early. Eli, Derek and I each interviewed a vampire at a time, but it still took all day even though each interview didn't last long.

We even interviewed those closest to us: Vivienne, Xavier and my own father, Aiden. Although there was no chance in h.e.l.l they'd betray us, we had to do it.

Lastly, we asked ourselves the same questions and concluded that each of us had alibis.

As it turned out, every single vampire on the island had alibis for the night the Cancn kidnappings took place... except for Aiden and Abby.

Eli, Derek and I sat alone in one of the mountain chambers we now used for storing sacks of food for the human inhabitants of the island.

"Well, leaving aside my father and Abby for a moment, everyone else seems to be innocent," I said. "Of course, unless this is a ma.s.s operation with multiple vampires going behind our backs and providing each other with alibis."

"I suppose that it's possible," Derek said. "But that would be hard to orchestrate on such short notice. We asked detailed information and it would have been hard to not slip up."

"So, we're left with Aiden and Abby," Eli said, frowning at the long list of names of vampires in front of us.

"Ludicrous," I said. "Neither of them would do something like this."

"So, since you're convinced of that, we can cross everyone at The Shade off of our list of possible suspects," Eli said, dropping the list on the table and leaning back in his chair, stretching out his legs.

I nodded.

"So we're back to square one," Derek muttered.

"I'm going to turn in now," Eli said, standing up. "I'll think more about all of this when I'm fresh in the morning."

Derek and I returned to our own penthouse. We both sat at the dining table and sipped on some blood before heading off to bed. As we were both drifting off, a pounding on our front door sent us shooting up out of bed.

Derek swung the door open to see Eli standing at the door, covered in sweat, eyes alight with panic.

"I just tuned into the news before sleeping," Eli said, panting. "There have been more kidnappings. Hawaii."

He came rushing in.

"There were two incidents... some days apart from each other. The second incident," he said, gasping for breath. "R-Rose and Benjamin Novak, both twenty-one years old. Staying with Kristal and Jake Palmer, eighteen and nineteen. They said on the radio. All four are missing."

"What? But they're not anywhere near Hawaii," I breathed. "They're in Scotland. And they're seventeen. It must just be a coincidence."

"Twins! They're twins!"

Whatever blood I still had in my pale face drained out of me. I looked up at Derek. His jaw dropped open, eyes widening.

"Come! I'll show you," Eli urged. "They showed photos. I saw them. They're your twins, G.o.dd.a.m.n it!"