Growing impatient, I sat up straight and leaned forward to emphasize what I needed to know. “How many of them are there, Corrine?”

“As of our last tally, the island had seven thousand five hundred and thirty two Naturals, all crammed into the Black Heights, and two thousand three hundred and twenty nine Migrates living at the Residences along with their vampire masters. Of course, that number has most likely changed. Who knows how many of them have died since the last time we checked?”

The numbers Corrine uttered left me shell-shocked as question after question flooded my mind. How are we sustaining all these human lives? What are they all doing here on the island? How did their population get so large? What happens to the dead? I found the numbers absolutely staggering and unacceptable.

Then the reality hit me full force. They outnumber us at least five to one. If they ever realize their strength, we’re done for. I stared at the witch, whose loyalties I wasn’t certain of. All they had to do was get Corrine on their side for The Shade to meet its end.

CHAPTER 19: LUCAS

Claudia swung the door wide open and stepped beneath the doorposts of the bedroom she was keeping me in. Feet wide apart, hands planted on her hips, blonde locks cascading down to her waist, the little spitfire actually looked incredible.

I smirked. This is going to be interesting.

“Your brother is going to drive everyone at The Shade mad!” she exclaimed.

Oh yeah… this is going to be very interesting indeed. “What’s he done now?” Having just stepped out of the shower, I was still rubbing my hair dry with a towel.

“He asked for a census of all the humans in the island.”

“What an enormous waste of time…”

“That’s what I thought. Of course, the mighty Prince Derek won’t hear any of it.”

“Any of what?” I chuckled. “Your thoughts?”

She shot me a stern look of disapproval and I was almost certain that I’d just earned myself a fight, only to find her groaning loudly. Her shoulders sagged. For a moment, it seemed she totally forgot about my brother when she began complaining about how every muscle in her body ached. “He made us fight him in the arena. It was exhausting. I haven’t bled this much in a long time. Makes me hate Cora sometimes…”

“What does the great, dead witch have to do with Derek making the Elite fight him?” I found the idea quite amusing. I never thought Derek would go this far to satisfy his bloodlust and start using vampires.

She rubbed her palm against her neck as she walked toward my bed and let her curvy form drop over it. “She’s the reason he’s so powerful. Wasn’t it her that made sure Derek’s sleep would also serve to strengthen him over time? Damn that witch for falling in love with your brother.”

The recollection of Cora’s unrequited love for Derek re-opened old scars. “My brother and the strange effect women can have on him…” I bemoaned.

“More like the strange effect he has on women…” Claudia sighed, her face softening. I didn’t need to be a mind reader to figure out that a dozen daydreams about my brother just flashed through her demented head.

I threw the towel I was using to dry my hair on the floor. I was reminded of the many reasons I myself resented Cora. If it weren’t for her, Derek wouldn’t be ruling over me. I frowned. Hard as I tried to deny it, to say it was the reason I resented Cora was a lie. The uncomfortable truth was confronting me even as I leaned on a bedpost watching Claudia as she repositioned herself on my bed. The look she was giving me as she began to twirl the ends of her long blonde hair clearly indicated what she wanted from me. They keep choosing Derek over me. Even Claudia. I hated to admit it to myself, but I had to. I resented Cora because I had desired her, but her heart was Derek’s up until her very last breath.

Wanting to get my mind off Cora, I joined Claudia in bed when it seemed something sparked inside Claudia’s mind, effectively distracting her from her wily seductions. I inwardly groaned, because it seemed she was about to once again gripe over some crazy edict my brother forcibly put into place. For all her messed up mind games and her unabashed hatred toward human men, she still came off as a whiny little teenager sometimes, despite the fact that she was fifty years older than I was.

I was relieved when she made no further mention of Derek. Instead, she drew a breath and twisted her neck to the side in order to look at me.

“Why are you still here, Lucas?”

It was hard to keep up with her erratic behavior sometimes. I was about to throw her a suggestive quip when we heard several loud bangs on her front door. A scowl painted her face. “What now?” She made no move to get out of bed and I actually thought she was going to completely ignore the knocks when another set of loud bangs made her drag herself out of the bed. She paid me no attention and shut the door behind her.

Overcome with curiosity, I followed her. Claudia rarely had any visitors. Apart from myself, most of the other members of the Elite tolerated her, but generally looked down at her. It’s what made her penthouse such a great hiding place.

I put my ear to the closed door and listened.

“Hello there, gentlemen,” Claudia seductively purred.

“Geez, Claudia. You’re no longer a whore. Stop acting like one.”

I tried to place the voice. Yuri Lazaroff.

“We’re here to ask you a few questions. Do you mind?”

Scottish accent. Big Ol’ Hendry no doubt.

“I don’t mind.” Her voice was now straightforward and flat. I didn’t know why, but Yuri always did have a way of getting to her. “Please make yourself comfortable, Cameron. Go to hell, Yuri.”

“That’s exactly where I am now, Claudia.”

“You two… behave…” Cameron sounded like a bedraggled father trying to keep his teenagers in line. “Have you had any contact with Lucas Novak over the past few days?”

“No.”

“Sure, you haven’t.”

Two voices responded. “Shut up, Yuri.”

“You don’t mind if we search your home then?”

Panic gripped me and I knew then that I was done buying my time. I’d always known that I couldn’t hide out at Claudia’s forever. I just didn’t think it would be such a close call. I tried to be as quiet and as quick as possible as I made my way back to my bedroom, still just wearing the towel wrapped around my waist. I made haste getting dressed. I’d barely finished buttoning my jeans when I began to hear footsteps and doors being pushed open.

Claudia was throwing a full-blown outburst. “I’m still part of the Elite. You can’t just barge into my home like this.”

“Sure we can,” Yuri responded flatly. “If you have a problem with this, go ahead and take it up with the prince.”

A slew of curses escaped my lips. I took a black hooded jacket from a clothes hook near the door and put it on. From under my bed, I grabbed the backpack I had prepared in case a situation required me to make a quick escape.

From the sound of their rather noisy inquisition, it was clear that they were seconds from opening the bedroom door. I threw the windows open, no longer caring if they overheard, and jumped right out of the window. I landed flat on my feet. I then began to rush toward the port. I groaned as I ran, realizing that I couldn’t have picked a worse time to leave the island, because no matter where I decided to go, chances were that the sun would rise to its peak before I could seek shelter. Still, I wasn’t about to place my life at Derek’s mercy.

I knew my brother, and I knew the darkness that was within him. I didn’t know what Sofia did to have such an impact on him – enough to appeal to his humanity, but I wasn’t going to stick around and wait for her effect on him to wear off. I knew that darkness was sure to eventually overtake him. It always did and when it did, I had no doubt in my mind that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill me.

As I ran full speed toward escape, it was clear that I would sooner choose to die under the sun’s rays rather than die under my brother’s hand. After all, it seemed far nobler to give up one’s life to the light than to the dark.

CHAPTER 20: DEREK

The darkness is coming.

Even as the words echoed in my head, it felt like a dark mist was already stirring from the depths of my soul, overtaking all that I was. It triggered so many unwanted memories that the guilt had once again become overwhelming. I wanted to shut it out and I had the ability to do so, but after the council meeting at the Great Dome was dismissed, Vivienne reminded me why I simply couldn’t. I remained in my seat long after the Elite Council left and Vivienne stayed with me.

“It’s killing me,” I confessed.

She nodded knowingly. I rarely had to explain myself to Vivienne. She understood. “I can see that. Guilt can be quite an adversary, but it’s also your ally.”

“How can that be so?”

“It’s the only thing that keeps the darkness from completely taking over.”

Her words, as they often did, haunted me.

Before she left me on my own, she turned to say, “You need her back. You won’t be able to handle all of this without her.”

I grimaced, knowing who she meant, but I doubted thinking about Sofia would help. Sofia’s made her choice. Now we both have to live with it. “I don’t want any mention of her. Ever again. She’s not coming back. That’s it. We have greater things to worry about.”

I returned to my penthouse shortly afterwards, my mind consumed by my sister’s admonitions. She was the Seer of The Shade. It was hard to simply ignore the things coming out of her lips. On arriving back at my penthouse, I found everything about it just pointed me right back to the girl who made waking up at The Shade after four hundred years bearable.

Stepping in through the front door, the first sight that welcomed me was that of Ashley playing a round of cards with Sam and Kyle at the living room. Somewhere in the kitchen, I could hear the clinking of plates and I caught the scent of dinner cooking. I figured Paige and Rosa were in the kitchen.