A Shade of Vampire 30: A Game of Risk Read Free

and in love. Deep down, I’d always hoped I’d be able to have a relationship that was as strong and long-lasting as theirs.
    “If I took a drop of that stuff,” I went on, since they had gone quiet, “I wouldn’t go to The Woodlands alone. I would most likely go with Mona. So I would be in no danger, just as I was in no danger when I went there with Aisha. She’ll be perfectly capable of protecting me.”
    My father rubbed his hands over his face.
    “I want to speak to Mona,” my mother said. “I want to ask her some questions myself about this potion. Our nurse said that we shouldn’t leave the hospital yet—that we should stay a few more hours. So please go find her and ask her to come here.”
    “All right,” I said, glad that I had made at least some headway.
    I left the room and headed down through the levels of the hospital toward the exit. Before stepping out into the sunflower meadow, I came across a jinni—one of Aisha’s cousins. I asked if she would give me a lift to Mona’s house, since it was quite a distance from here. She agreed and left me on Mona’s balcony.
    I approached the door and knocked. It was Brock who answered, wearing sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt.
    “Oh, hi, Vicky,” he said, inviting me inside. “What are you doing here?”
    “I came to speak to your mom, actually,” I said, moving into the penthouse.
    “She’s not here,” he said. “I’m not sure where she went.”
    Great .
    “And you don’t have any idea when she’ll be back?” I asked.
    Brock shook his head. “Nope. Sorry.”
    “Okay… well, I’ll just have to wait.” Though, in the meantime, I wanted to show my parents what this strange elixir stuff actually looked like, so that they could see it in front of them—see that it was a real thing. “Could you… take me to your mom’s potion room?”
    Brock looked hesitant. “She hates me messing around in there… That’s why she cleared out the spare room for me to have my own space for my experiments. Why do you want to go in to her potion room?” he asked.
    “Well, there’s this vial of liquid,” I began to explain, giving him a brief summary of his mom’s and my trip to the black witches’ old island in the supernatural dimension. “She said that I could have access to it if my parents agreed. Well, they almost have… kind of. They want to speak to her, but in the meantime I want to show them the vial.”
    Brock considered my request for a moment longer before shrugging. “Okay. Just know that if my mom gets mad, I’ll be piling all the blame on you…”
    “Yeah, well, I’m sure I’d get a lot milder punishment than you would.”
    “You got that right,” he muttered.
    He led me to Mona’s spell room. This was the first time I’d ever visited it. It was a fairly small room at the back of the apartment, overlooking the redwoods. It was neatly organized, definitely neater than Corrine’s—everything labeled and color-coded, the tables freshly wiped and cauldrons washed and lined up in a row to dry by the sink.
    I scanned the shelves, looking for the vial. I spotted it on one of the higher shelves, near the back. Carefully parting the bottles in front of it, I lifted it and held it in my hands. Brock stood behind me, peering over my shoulder.
    “Looks weird,” he said.
    “Believe me, it is.”

    * * *
    B rock escorted me back to my parents’ room in the hospital. Their eyes immediately shot to the vial I was clasping in my hands. Trepidation filled my mother’s eyes. She took the bottle from me and gazed into it.
    “Mona wasn’t around,” I explained, hating the idea of waiting an indefinite amount of time for her to return. I had this unshakeable feeling deep inside me that time was running out, that I needed to hurry up and make a decision. I had already delayed taking action by hours. “Brock isn’t sure when she’ll be back. But her instructions were quite clear. I just need to take a tiny drop of it…”
    “And if