Free A Shade of Vampire 9: A Bond of Blood by Bella Forrest

away from here. I don’t know what happens to them.”
    “Where are they taken to, do you know?”
    “I have no idea. But once they fall through the hole, they never come back.”
    Hole? “What hole?” Derek urged.
    “I-In one of the dungeons… one of the dungeons where prisoners aren’t kept. There’s a hole in the floor. An abyss.”
    Derek and I exchanged shocked glances.
    “How is it that you know this, and you’re still here?” I asked.
    “I’m… not well.” She held up a weak hand to reveal several scabs. “They noticed I was sick just before they pushed me into the hole. My blood is infected and they decided they didn’t want me. So that’s why I’m back here. I don’t know how long it will be b-before they end me.” She swallowed back a sob.
    So it’s true. After all this time, there are gates to other realms still open.
    What else could this hole be?
    “Have you seen a pregnant woman? Black hair, green eyes?” I asked. “Anna, her name is.”
    “No. Not seen a pregnant woman here. Then again, there are a number of dungeons in this castle. But you’re probably wasting your time. My guess is they already took her though the hole.”
    “Where is this hole you speak of?” Derek asked, gripping the bars and staring at her intensely.
    “It’s not far from the kitchen. A few hallways along.”
    “So it’s near this dungeon?”
    She nodded. “Quite near.”
    The problem was, even if by some miracle we managed to break free from this dungeon and reach the gate, we had no idea where it would lead to and whether we would ever find Anna and her child in the limited time we’d have… assuming they were still alive.

Chapter 18: Sofia
    D erek paced up and down the cell for what felt like hours. His demeanor was doing little to calm my own nerves as I sat next to Rose and my father. The other vampires had stopped talking. We were all weak—we hadn’t had blood for too long. As for Rose, I didn’t know when she’d last had a meal, but she looked pale.
    Derek and I offered her some of our blood for strength, but she refused. Which came as no surprise. Even when she was ill she refused to drink it.
    I suspected that we’d have to force her to drink it if we were trapped here much longer.
    The other vampires in our cell huddled as far away from my daughter as possible. We were all starting to suffer from lack of blood and with our stomachs grumbling, the smell of Rose’s sweet blood wasn’t helping.
    I leant my head back against the stone wall and shut my eyes.
    “What in the world…”
    I looked up to see Ibrahim shoot to his feet, flexing his fingers. A few seconds later, the lights fixed to the walls in the dungeon flickered and went out, plunging us into darkness.
    “What?” Derek asked, staring at Ibrahim.
    The other witches also rushed to stand up.
    Ibrahim looked from me to Derek. “I feel my powers returning to me.”
    “Huh?”
    He turned to the gate and, gripping the bars, uttered a spell. It blasted open, sending pieces of sharp iron flying everywhere.
    I scrambled to my feet, staring at the open gate, dumbstruck. We had no time to try to make sense of the situation. Somehow, Annora’s control over us had loosened. How long this would last, we had no idea.
    Shock gave way to urgency. The rest of the witches hurried out and began breaking down the gates surrounding us, freeing the rest of the vampires.
    Everyone paused in the hallway outside the cells, looking to Derek and I for instructions. Derek locked eyes with me. We had a split second to decide whether we would escape with the rest of them, or run the risk of seeking out Anna.
    No words were required. We read each other’s expressions.
    Derek turned to Ibrahim. “Lead everyone back to The Shade. Hurry!”
    Ibrahim nodded and began leading everyone toward the exit.
    Rose reached out and grabbed Derek’s arm. “Wait! What about you two?”
    “We’ll be following soon after you, darling,” he said.
    Before Rose could