Page 26 of Fang Fiction

“No.” Callum gritted his teeth, and there were shocked reactions from the other vampires. “But I know exactly what happened. I know she’s dead.”

“She isn’t!” Tess protested. “I was just with her—she’s the one who took me to Bar Between and told me how to get to you. I work at a hotel in Brooklyn, she found me there and asked me to come here to tell you how she escaped the Isle. I was only supposed to go to the foot of the crystal bridge, she thought you’d smell the scent vial and come meet me there. Except…you didn’t. And someone grabbed me and brought me here.”

“Is this true?” Nantale demanded. “You know how to leave the Isle?”

“Yes, human. Tell us how to leave this island.” Tristan stepped toward them; Tess could see now he was tall and slender, with angular features and golden hair pulled back in a bun. “If it works, we go home. If it doesn’t, we feed on you. Either way, we get our first good meal in a decade.”

He gave her a chilling smile, and Tess’s pulse raced as the other vampires murmured in agreement.

“Silence.” Nantale held out her hand, and the vampires fell quiet. “Girl, tell us what you know.”

“Octavia doesn’t know exactly how she got back,” Tess explained, though she was so afraid, it was a struggle to keep her voice from shaking. “She told me as much as she could remember about where she was and exactly what happened, that she was in the graveyard in the forest when she was transported back to Central Park, but there’s no way to guarantee it would work the same way again.”

“When did she go back to New York?” Callum asked. “Did she tell you?”

“Eight nights ago—maybe nine now, I’m not really sure what day it is,” Tess answered.

“The same night you said she died,” Nantale said.

“She’s making this up.” Callum shook his head. “This could be a trap—”

“Callum, please. This island is the trap.” Nantale folded her arms. “We have to investigate the possibility that the girl is telling the truth, that there’s a way out of here for all of us. Do all of you agree?”

The vampires nodded, and Nantale turned to Callum. “Your sister spent years researching potential ways off the Isle, didn’t she?”

Callum nodded.

“Good,” Nantale went on. “Then you’ll work with the human—what’s your name?”

“It’s Tess.”

“Fine. Callum, you’ll work with Tess to determine how Octavia left the Isle and whether we can follow. And Tess, as long as you help us, I will personally assure your protection. No one in this clan will harm you, and no one outside this room will know a human has come to the Isle, understood?” She looked sharply at the group gathered around.

“Protect a human?!” Tristan spat. “If we feed on her, that’s not even harming her! There’s no reason to deny us blood.”

“Think, Tristan.” Nantale’s patience was wearing thin. “We have more than a hundred vampires living in this compound, and none of you has tasted human blood in more than a decade. If just one of you went too far, drank too much, our first real chance to leave this place could be over in an instant. Do you really think it’s worth the risk?”

Tess could see plainly that Tristan thought it was very much worth the risk.

“You’ve lost your judgment, Nantale,” he said quietly. “And if you aren’t careful, you’ll lose control of your clan.”

Nantale stood evenly, appraising Tristan.

“Perhaps you wish to challenge me right here?”

Tristan snarled, baring his teeth at Nantale. But he folded his arms and stepped back—the moment finished, at least for now.

“Good.” Nantale’s lips curved into the smallest smile. She waved her hand at a vampire standing in the shadows alongside the great room’s walls. “Sylvie? Untie our guest.”

An older woman whom Tess hadn’t noticed hurried forward to untie the ropes binding Tess’s wrists and ankles (she was older in human appearance, anyway—who knew how ancient any of these creatures actually was). Tess was relieved to be free of the ropes, but the whole time Sylvie was untying them, Callum never took his gaze off her.

“You really think this is a good idea?” Callum asked Nantale. “Letting a stranger into our compound?”

Nantale stood close to Callum.

“You are the only one I trust to do this,” she said, her voice so low that only he and Tess could hear it. “You saved us once before. Now you must do it again.”

Tess frowned—what did Nantale mean Callum had saved them? There was nothing like that in Blood Feud. If anything, Nantale’s clan were the aggressors, and Callum was the worst of the bunch.