twisted them around, breaking the vampire’s wrist. Caleb then rolled over, grabbed his spear, and punctured the vampire’s heart. It died with a horrible shriek.
After minutes of heated battle, finally, they were the victors. The few convicts who survived took off into the streets, while the rest of them were dead in the square. The vampires, too, all lay dead.
Caleb surveyed his coven members, and saw that, while several of them were bruised and beaten, none had died.
Caleb felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned.
Samuel pointed at the sky.
“The smoke,” Samuel said. “It’s coming from our island.”
Caleb and Samantha exchange a worried look at the same moment. With a running start, they leapt into the air, their coven members close behind.
Caleb felt his heart pounding in his chest, more disturbed now than he had ever been during battle. His island was on fire. And his son was all alone.
Caleb landed back on his island with all his coven members, and quickly searched for Jade.
“Jade!” screamed Caleb.
He ran to and fro, as Samantha ran to the church, and Samuel ran to the cloisters. They covered all their bases, looking in every direction as they fanned out.
Fires raged everywhere, lighting up the night, and Caleb knew that someone had attacked. He realized now that what had happened on Venice was just an elaborate decoy; that the real target was his island. That they had been tricked.
Caleb scoured the docks, looking everywhere—and finally, he stopped.
And his heart stopped within him.
There, lying before him, was Rose.
Dead.
There was no way, he knew, that Rose would have ever left Jade’s side. Unless something had happened to Jade.
Caleb searched again, and there, in the darkness, he saw the outline of a body. The body of a small boy, lying on the stone.
He felt his entire world collapse around him. He felt himself die inside.
He was unable to move, unable to breathe, to think. He felt himself in utter denial, screaming to himself that it could not be Jade.
But even as he began to approach, he knew it could be no one else.
He knelt by the body, and slowly turned it over.
Caleb leaned back and let out a horrible wail, one of an animal that would never recover. It was a wail that filled the night, that stopped the entire coven, and that rose up to the very heavens themselves.
Caitlin flew, the sky streaked with a million colors in the sunset.
After her heartbreaking goodbye with Caleb, she had lifted into the sky and had not stopped flying since. She had cried for hours, but now, finally, the tears subsided, hardened on her face. She was slowly coming to a new, steely resolve. As she had always been in life, she was on her own. She had never been able to rely on the comfort and safety of a father, or brother, or boyfriend.
She had wanted to say goodbye to Polly, and to Aiden and the others. But she couldn’t bring herself to. She felt that she had to get as far away from Venice as possible. She couldn’t stand the thought of being anywhere near Caleb when he couldn’t even remember her. It hurt too much.
She knew she had to get to Florence—she had known that since she’d arrived—and while she hadn’t set out for any particular place, she found herself heading in that direction. South. Hundreds of miles away from Venice.
After hours passed, after she had stopped crying, she’d slowly started to ask herself where exactly she was going—and that was when she realized that it was, indeed, Florence. It felt right to her. She had followed her heart, and it had led to heartbreak. Now she needed to fulfill her mission.
She regretted that she had not done it sooner. She had been selfish. Clearly, she was an important person, and she could be of some great service. And the more she thought about it, the more the idea of finding her father stirred in her a new type of resolve. Finding him was something that she had always wanted, and if going to Florence held the answer, she felt no need to hesitate.
The only person in Venice she truly regretted leaving behind without saying goodbye, was Blake.
Now that Caleb was clearly taken, she thought more and more of her night with Blake. Their dance.
Their gondola ride. There had been something real between them. And she had just thrown it away.
He would probably never forgive her, and she’d only wish she’d had a chance to explain it all, to say goodbye properly. But in her current emotional state, she couldn’t trust herself to talk to him.
Boys were too hard for her, too confusing. They overwhelmed her emotions, made it hard for her to think clearly. They always seemed to distract her. She had a mission to fulfill, and she’d have to focus. Being on her own would make it much simpler.
Caitlin also felt sad at leaving Rose behind, but before she left, she felt how strong Rose’s connection was with Jade. She was in good hands with him. The two of them were clearly meant for each other, and at least it would keep Caitlin connected to Caleb in some small way.
Caitlin cleared a mountain range, and as she lowered, she saw before her, in the distance, a startling site: the massive, sprawling city of Florence.
She dove further, and found herself circling it. It was magnificent, unlike any city she had ever seen. Nestled in a valley, surrounded in the distance by a small mountain range, Florence was flanked by rivers, over which spanned small, beautiful arched bridges. The last light of sunset lingered in the air, and it was just enough to afford Caitlin a magnificent, bird’s eye view.
Everywhere were red, shingled rooftops, sloping gently downward, making it look like the city was aglow in red and orange. The buildings were low, most of them not more than a few stories high, and the skyline was punctuated with a plethora of church steeples. Some churches had domes, others, square towers. The grandest church of all towered over everything else, its massive orange, tiled dome seeming to rise up from the center of the city itself.
As she flew close to the city center, she saw huge mansions and palaces, the massive buildings towering over the smaller ones around them. Amidst the buildings, every several blocks, were open squares. She could already see that the city was not nearly as crowded as Venice. Thankfully, there seemed to be plenty of breathing room down below.
Caitlin circled the city a third time, taking it all in. The architecture was beautiful, so clean, so ancient. There were statues in all the squares, and people strolled leisurely, at ease, while others rode on horses. The rivers surrounding the city were aglow in red from the sky, and people casually crossed the many footbridges.
Caitlin had no idea where to begin her search. She had never been to Florence, and the city was so spread out. As she flew, she hoped for some hidden sense to kick in, some intuition, a message, perhaps, from her father. But nothing came.
She decided to approach the city from the outside, to get the experience of entering it for the first time. She also thought it wiser not to land right inside the city, in case she was detected.
She crossed over the river, just as it was getting dark, and landed in the woods on the other side.
Caitlin walked down a dusty dirt road, heading towards the river bank. Her immediate concern was finding shelter, and food. She was hungry. Not for food, but for blood. Being in the forest, and in the thick woods, stirred up her hunger. She could smell deer close by.
Caitlin heard a rustling in the branches, and she turned and saw a family of deer standing there, not more than 30 feet away, staring.
She jumped into action, choosing one, and chasing it down.
