A Shade of Vampire 22: A Fork of Paths Read Online Free PDF Page A

came to pass. We got stranded at the mercy of the sun’s piercing rays. Though we were lucky that it was the middle of the ocean and not the middle of some sprawling landmass. As vampires, we were able to hold our breath for a long time. This ability was the only thing that saved us. We swam deep beneath the waves and stayed there for as long as we possibly could. Although particles of light still reached us through the water, it wasn’t nearly as bad as being out in the open. This of course made traveling all the more difficult, because I could hardly bear to do what was required to gain a sense of our direction: rise to the surface.
    I couldn’t have known how far we were from The Tavern, but when I finally caught sight of a ship in the distance, I heaved a sigh of relief. We sped up and swam closer. The ship was of unusual appearance—far too beautifully decorated with drapes and flowers, and the wood too intricately carved, to belong to any normal wanderer. And it didn’t appear to be steered by vampires, due to the lack of covering over the deck. I didn’t know who was in the vessel, or whether we would be welcome aboard, but it didn’t matter. We just needed shelter from the sun, and we found that beneath the wooden figurehead of an angel at the bow of the ship. We clung onto the rope fender around the hull and huddled together beneath the shade.
    We kept quiet and remained unnoticed. Toward the end of the day, a small island came into view—an island that I had never come across before, nor even heard of. It was clear that this ship was headed right for it. It traveled the last stretch of ocean and arrived in a small harbor. There was a clank. It sounded like a ramp being lowered. Arletta and I had to lean further into the shadow to make sure that we weren’t spotted as people began piling off the ship. I soon realized that they were witches, and from the conversations I caught snippets of, they were celebrating a wedding. They were certainly dressed for it. Both men and women were dressed immaculately as they levitated suitcases and bouquets of flowers above their heads.
    I couldn’t help but wonder why these witches were even traveling by ship when they could easily magic themselves to any destination in an instant. From the way they had decorated the boat, I guessed that the voyage must have been more of a leisure ride than anything else, and now it seemed that they would be continuing the festivities on this little island… It was certainly very picturesque and being quite out-of-the-way—perhaps even unknown to a lot of supernaturals—I couldn’t deny that it was a beautiful venue for a wedding.
    Arletta and I waited until they had all left the boat and trickled into the line of trees that bordered the beach, and then we waited a bit more until sundown came. Now we could leave the ship without getting burned. We were both starving as we hurried over the beach toward the mainland. We kept to the trees at first, looking all around us, trying to scope the place out.
    Once out of the small forest, we hurried along cobbled streets, winding in and around quaint thatched cottages and square, stone buildings. We kept to the shadows as much as possible. We soon realized that there was quite a mixture of residents here. We spotted some vampires, witches, werewolves, and even a few foul-mouthed harpies. Arletta and I ended up finding refuge for the night in an old shed filled with hay. From the state of it, it appeared to have been abandoned. Our exhaustion drowning out our hunger, we both flopped down against the straw and fell asleep.
    The next morning, we had to seriously think about what we were going to eat. Those hours we’d spent fighting to avoid the sun had taken a lot out of us. We managed to find several snakes writhing in the bushes nearby, so those became our meal—our disgusting, but sustainable meal.
    In the days that followed, we continued sleeping in the barn. We passed the nights roaming the