An Empire of Stones Read online

  A Shade of Vampire 37: An Empire of Stones

  Bella Forrest

  Contents

  Also by Bella Forrest

  The “New Generation” Names List

  1. Rose

  2. Hazel

  3. Ben

  4. Hazel

  5. Tejus

  6. Ruby

  7. Hazel

  8. Ruby

  9. Tejus

  10. Ruby

  11. Rose

  12. Hazel

  13. Tejus

  14. Ruby

  15. Hazel

  16. Rose

  17. Ruby

  18. Hazel

  19. Tejus

  20. Hazel

  21. Tejus

  22. Ruby

  23. Hazel

  24. Ash

  25. Hazel

  26. Tejus

  27. Hazel

  28. Tejus

  29. Hazel

  30. Rose

  31. Sherus

  32. Hazel

  Read more by Bella Forrest!

  Also by Bella Forrest

  THE GENDER GAME

  The Gender Game (Book 1)

  The Gender Secret (Book 2)

  The Gender Lie (Book 3)

  A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES

  Series 1: Derek & Sofia’s story

  A Shade of Vampire (Book 1)

  A Shade of Blood (Book 2)

  A Castle of Sand (Book 3)

  A Shadow of Light (Book 4)

  A Blaze of Sun (Book 5)

  A Gate of Night (Book 6)

  A Break of Day (Book 7)

  Series 2: Rose & Caleb’s story

  A Shade of Novak (Book 8)

  A Bond of Blood (Book 9)

  A Spell of Time (Book 10)

  A Chase of Prey (Book 11)

  A Shade of Doubt (Book 12)

  A Turn of Tides (Book 13)

  A Dawn of Strength (Book 14)

  A Fall of Secrets (Book 15)

  An End of Night (Book 16)

  Series 3: Ben & River’s story

  A Wind of Change (Book 17)

  A Trail of Echoes (Book 18)

  A Soldier of Shadows (Book 19)

  A Hero of Realms (Book 20)

  A Vial of Life (Book 21)

  A Fork of Paths (Book 22)

  A Flight of Souls (Book 23)

  A Bridge of Stars (Book 24)

  Series 4: A Clan of Novaks

  A Clan of Novaks (Book 25)

  A World of New (Book 26)

  A Web of Lies (Book 27)

  A Touch of Truth (Book 28)

  An Hour of Need (Book 29)

  A Game of Risk (Book 30)

  A Twist of Fates (Book 31)

  A Day of Glory (Book 32)

  Series 5: A Dawn of Guardians

  A Dawn of Guardians (Book 33)

  A Sword of Chance (Book 34)

  A Race of Trials (Book 35)

  A King of Shadow (Book 36)

  An Empire of Stones (Book 37)

  A SHADE OF DRAGON TRILOGY

  A Shade of Dragon 1

  A Shade of Dragon 2

  A Shade of Dragon 3

  A SHADE OF KIEV TRILOGY

  A Shade of Kiev 1

  A Shade of Kiev 2

  A Shade of Kiev 3

  BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY

  Beautiful Monster 1

  Beautiful Monster 2

  DETECTIVE ERIN BOND (Adult mystery/thriller)

  Bare Girl

  Write, Edit, Kill

  For an updated list of Bella’s books, please visit her website: www.bellaforrest.net

  Join Bella’s VIP email list and she’ll personally send you an email reminder as soon as her next book is out! Tap here to sign up: www.forrestbooks.com

  Copyright © 2016 by Bella Forrest

  Cover design inspired by Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations LLC

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  The “New Generation” Names List

  Arwen: (daughter of Corrine and Ibrahim - witch)

  Benedict:(son of Rose and Caleb - human)

  Brock: (son of Kiev and Mona – half warlock)

  Grace: (daughter of Ben and River – half fae and half human)

  Hazel: (daughter of Rose and Caleb – human)

  Heath: (son of Jeriad and Sylvia – half dragon and half human)

  Ruby: (daughter of Claudia and Yuri – human)

  Victoria: (daughter of Vivienne and Xavier – human)

  Rose

  We had returned to The Shade as soon as we’d seen the air ambulance approaching. We’d ended up taking five of the less mindless, and more talkative, humans with us back to Meadow Hospital for the jinn and witches to heal, and to hopefully get some comprehensive answers out of them—though I wasn’t holding out much hope. Even the best of the bunch were so far gone they couldn’t even tell us their own names.

  We’d left them in the care of Corrine and her team of nurses overnight, but waiting was proving difficult—we all desperately needed answers. As soon as we got back to the island, Caleb charged Benedict’s dead phone, but it contained nothing helpful—the last message he’d sent was to Julian, asking him what assortment of games he’d be bringing along for the trip to Murkbeech.

  We were unable to get any rest. At ten in the evening, Claudia and Yuri had joined us at our home, along with Ashley and Landis. We had spent the night speculating what kind of creature could have distorted the minds of humans so thoroughly. My mom had come over to join us, and seemed equally baffled—we’d told her what the young English boy had said, about dark hooded beings appearing in dreams and leaving them ‘empty’.

  We had gone around in circles till dawn, mostly waiting for a word from Corrine that we could visit the hospital and ask the humans more questions. Without them it was all just guesswork—and we had very little conclusive evidence to go on.

  Eventually the group disbanded, and Caleb had gone off to speak via phone to the human hospital officials, who were as clueless as we were about what happened at the camp.

  I found my mom sitting on the porch, overlooking the tops of the trees, deep in thought.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked.

  She took my hand, drawing me down to sit with her, and sighed. “I delayed telling you because you’ve got so much on your plate, but… it’s your father and Ben. Sherus showed up on Ben’s doorstep a few hours ago, requesting he and Dad travel to the fae realm for a meeting soon. Sherus didn’t say why he needed them; I’m not sure of the reason for his sudden appearance.”

  Sherus. That ginger-haired fae who was responsible for giving my brother a living body. I felt quite stunned that he had visited after so long… and concerned. What did he want?

  “You have no idea at all what he came for?” I asked.

  “Sherus said that there’s something coming—something that we should all be afraid of… he just doesn’t know what. Or he does, and is keeping information from us.”

  “River must be worried,” I murmured, thinking of my sister-in-law. She had almost lost Ben because of Sherus and the stupid deal he’d made with the ghouls to keep feeding them a fresh supply of ghosts.

  My mom nodded. “Ben’s at home with her now, trying to reassure her I think. They’ll leave tomorrow.”

  “Well, I suppose there’s no point in worrying till we know more,” I muttered. I couldn’t see any reason why Sherus would attempt to harm my father and brother.

  “You’re right,” my mom replied, trying to be reassuring, but her pal
er-than-usual skin indicated just how deep her worries ran. “The priority is your children and Julian and Ruby…” She squeezed my hand. “I don’t doubt that we’ll find them, Rose. They take after you and Caleb—smart, resourceful and strong.”

  I hugged her, privately thinking that at least half of those qualities most definitely came from her. We didn’t talk about the kids again, or Ben and my father, but quietly sat in silence—both turning over possibilities and outcomes in our head, desperately searching for solutions and impatient to know more.

  The next morning, Caleb and I were anxiously looking through local police reports in Scotland and the rest of the British Isles to see if there had been any news of events similar to what happened in Murkbeech. Before we could find anything of interest, Corrine knocked on the kitchen window, beckoning us outside onto the veranda.

  “One of the patients has started to make a bit more sense,” she informed us. “Nothing much to go on, but you should come and hear what he has to say. Honestly, I’ve never heard anything quite like it,” she added grimly.

  She vanished us to the hospital, where we met up with Mona and Shayla, who’d apparently fetched Claudia, Yuri, Ashley and Landis.

  Corrine led us into one of the rooms; the boy Caleb and I had spoken to on the island—the blond, British boy—was sitting up in bed, looking around the room in dull surprise. He focused on us as we entered, and once more his gaze zoomed in on mine. He furrowed his brow, as if he half recognized me, but couldn’t quite place where he knew me from.

  “Hazel?” he asked.

  My heartbeat quickened as I walked slowly toward his bed, careful not to startle him.

  “That’s my daughter,” I replied. “Do you know her?”

  “I think I scared her,” he said sadly. “But I don’t know…I don’t remember much.”

  “Can you tell us what you do remember?”

  The others waited behind me, leaning in toward the boy, but careful not to crowd him. I glanced at Corrine and she gave me an encouraging nod.

  The boy was silent for a moment, and then began to speak.

  “I suppose first it was the camp organizers…I remember them being weird—nice one minute and then angry the next. Then people started getting headaches. We thought it was the weather, and sleeping outdoors…but then it got even stranger, and I had a horrible dream. These huge men with dark eyes, dark hair…pale faces, really pale.”

  Everyone looked at one another. Pale faces? That usually indicated vamps.

  “I got angry. Furious. Like I wanted to destroy things. Everyone was running wild, smashing stuff up — it was mayhem. But I don’t remember Hazel being like…us. I think she and her friends—she had a brother with her—they ran. I never saw her again. I hope she’s okay…”

  He trailed off.

  “Do you remember more about what these creatures looked like?” I prompted. “Or where they came from?”

  The boy shook his head and looked blankly around the room again.

  “I don’t remember a boat or anything. It was like they appeared out of thin air.”

  We had found the footsteps by the jetty. If they hadn’t come by boat, then maybe there was a portal nearby?

  “They could have come from further along the coast,” Corrine said. “The ground was muddy—if the humans had run over their tracks, it would be difficult to find the trail.”

  She was right. The ground had been stampeded by the mindless humans; if there had been clues there, they were now destroyed.

  “We need more to go on,” Corrine sighed as she escorted us out of the room. The boy had started to stare blankly at the wall again, and it looked like he was starting to revert to his mindless state.

  “What’s the likelihood of him having his mind restored?” I asked Corrine as soon as we were out of earshot.

  “I think eventually we’ll manage to fix him—he needs rest and quiet. It looks like their minds were drained almost entirely of energy. It weakened the frontal lobes and the connectivity between the left and right sides of the brain. In that weakened state, their minds were far more susceptible to ‘pack mentality’, which might be why they attacked us… I want to make a brief visit to The Sanctuary and tap into their larger pool of knowledge, see if anyone there has any ideas.”

  “Okay,” I said, swallowing. “Well then, we’ll continue looking at police reports—we should spread the search as wide as we can.”

  “We’ll help,” Claudia replied, and the rest of the parents agreed. We divided up the search locations, and then Caleb and I started to make our way home from the hospital. When we reached our treehouse apartment, my mom was waiting on the balcony.

  “Any news?” she asked.

  I filled her in on the little information we had, and she nodded.

  “I doubt our kids were an isolated incident,” she murmured. “If these creatures were feeding off mind energy, then they were successful. They’ll probably try again, if they haven’t done so already.”

  “Have Derek and Ben returned yet?” Caleb asked. I’d filled him in on their visit from Sherus, and he’d been just as surprised as I was at the request from the fae.

  “Not yet.” My mom shook her head with a worried frown. “Though I expected them back by now.”

  I recalled the description my brother had given me of the fae realm—consisting of four elemental stars that were situated in the In-Between, the strange, dark, vacuum that we had all passed through via portal countless times when travelling between the human and supernatural dimensions. None of us ever ventured into the In-Between—GASP hadn’t had reason to—and consequently it remained shrouded in mystery. Other than the fae, we had no idea what creatures lived there, if any.

  From the strange figures appearing at Murkbeech to the motivations of Sherus, it felt like we knew too little about everything right now.

  Hazel

  I stood staring into the darkness of the passageway.

  My brother had just been sucked back into whatever was at the end of its cavernous depths, while I had struggled in Tejus’s grip, totally helpless to do anything other than scream. The image of Benedict scrambling around to get a grip on the stones of the wall to stop himself from being dragged backward, his eyes wide with fear, would stay with me forever.

  Tejus had loosened his grip on me, but his arms still created a barrier, stopping me from running headlong into the passage after my brother.

  “We need to follow him!” I cried out, twisting my body around to face Tejus. I looked up into his eyes, pleading.

  “We don’t know what’s down there, Hazel,” he replied firmly.

  “Yes, we do! Benedict is down there, and we need to go after him! It’s my brother. I know that doesn’t mean much to you, but it means something to me.”

  I regretted the words as soon as I said them. Tejus frowned, his mouth tightening. I had hurt him, that was obvious, and it only served to show how reckless I was feeling.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, “but we don’t know if the barrier around the castle is going to stay down. Let’s follow him now, before it’s too late.”

  Tejus’s jaw twitched, but I could see he was about to relent.

  “I’m coming with you,” he snapped.

  “Okay.”

  “What?” exclaimed one of the ministers. I thought it sounded like Lithan. “It’s sheer madness—”

  “Silence,” Tejus retorted, holding up a hand to stop the ministers from all chattering in support of Lithan. “Our lack of knowledge on this entity is starting to infuriate me. This human boy may well be the only one among us who knows more than next to nothing about what it wants or what its plans are.”

  Tejus released me fully from his arms and leaned down to get a better look inside the passage. The torches that I had laid down along either side of the wall had blown out, and Tejus ordered one of the guards to fetch us more. The guard returned a few moments later, carrying two large torches. Tejus handed one to me.

  “Stay behind me,
” he ordered, and took the first step into the narrow passage. He practically had to bend double to walk through it, and I wondered who had built this castle originally—was it sentries as I had originally assumed? There were so many parts of it that seemed more fitting for humans, with narrow arches and small doorways running throughout the servant quarters. I tucked the question away to ask Tejus at a later date—right now I wanted us both focused on bringing Benedict back where he belonged.

  The torches threw shadows along the passage, and soon the light from the hallway behind us dimmed completely and only darkness lay ahead. Other than the sound of our footsteps, and the short exhales of irritation from Tejus as his back scraped along the damp stone, there was silence.

  “How long do you think this thing goes on for?” I asked, more to break the oppressive silence than anything else.

  “I’m not sure,” Tejus replied. “The passage isn’t included on any of the castle blueprints I found. Either it originates from before the castle came into existence, or it was kept secret for a reason. Possibly both.”

  “Is there anything the ministers here don’t keep secret?”

  Tejus grunted in agreement. “They have been given far too much power by my father and the rulers before him. I intend to put a stop to that. Eventually.”

  When I become emperor, was the unspoken implication. I hoped that he would put a stop to the ministers’ secrets. They had caused enough damage already.

  We walked a little further in silence, and soon I could see light coming from up ahead.

  “What’s that?” I breathed. It wasn’t the yellowish glow of torchlight that I might have expected. Instead, the lights were piercingly bright, and reflected off the walls of the passage in a myriad of different colors: reds, golds, pinks and greens, all dancing in the darkness.

  Tejus didn’t answer me, but we simultaneously picked up the pace. The lights grew brighter, almost blinding, until Tejus came to an abrupt halt in front of me. I peered around him with difficulty—the passage was so narrow I could barely see past his broad frame. In front of us was a stone wall, a single piece of granite that held an elaborate pattern of stones. They flickered at intervals, creating a hypnotic swirling form of bright colors. I stared at it, dumbstruck.