Derek stared him down. The presence and power he exuded reminded me of what he looked like just before he ripped the heart out of the vampire guard who tried to feed on me. I wasn’t exactly up for seeing my best friend die before my very eyes.

“Derek,” I managed to choke, “where are we going? Those are boulders straight ahead.”

Derek kept his eyes on Ben. I wasn’t even sure if he heard me. A dozen prayers were going though my head. The last thing we needed was a fight – if we could even call it that. Relief washed over me when Derek’s eyes fell on me. Completely ignoring Ben and the rather tense encounter that just occurred, Derek took hold of my hand, pulled me closer to him and replaced his hand over my waist. Apparently, he didn’t feel obliged to offer either of us an explanation.

“Stop resisting, Sofia. Just follow my lead. And make this idiot friend of yours shut up, or I swear…” He paused to reel in his anger. “You have no idea how close I am to maiming him.” His grip tightened around me.

Derek. Ever the authoritarian. I didn’t bother to look at Ben’s reaction. I knew he would be seething after being brushed aside like that.

I was practically being swept forward by Derek. Our destination? Well, as far as I could tell, we were headed directly toward a solid rock wall. Derek didn’t look like he was going to slow down any time soon. I looked at him several times to check if he had somehow gone insane, but he kept his focus ahead, not a single sign of him slowing down as we got closer and closer to walking right into a rock wall.

All I could do was gasp when we finally hit the wall … only to find myself shocked when it enveloped us, feeling a lot like Jell-O. After a split second, we emerged on the other side of it and found a staircase winding downward. We’d just moved down a few feet when Ben stepped out of the wall. He seemed fine, save for the scowl on his face. He wasn’t used to being ignored.

We eventually reached the bottom of the staircase and stepped into a cavernous hall enclosed by huge glass windows revealing that we were underwater. Had it not been dark outside, I’m sure I would have marveled at the sight of sea creatures and various types of flora and fauna. In the center of the room was some sort of control panel where Sam and Kyle stood, two of Derek’s most trusted guards.

Having managed to develop a bond with each of them over the time I stayed at The Shade, the glances – both fond and curious – they sent my way didn’t come as much of a surprise.

Derek didn’t even bother to look at Ben. He fixed his eyes on the vampire guards. “Kyle, take the boy to the submarine. Make sure all the preparations for his departure are in order. Sam, take Sofia to one of the holding cells. She apparently needs to rethink her stay here.”

I frowned. “Holding cells?”

“Wait. What submarine?” Ben asked. “I’m not gonna go anywhere without Sofia.”

Derek completely ignored him and set his eyes on me. “You said you need time to think. A cell is the safest place to do just that. Meanwhile, he will wait for you in one of the submarines. He will be sedated, just like you will be should you decide to leave. We can’t afford for you to remember anything about your journey out of the island.”

The thought of never seeing Derek again made me ache inside and I was fighting the urge to cry as I looked into his eyes. How dare you kiss me, Derek … Tonight of all nights … As if this decision isn’t already hard enough, you had to claim my first kiss from me. He must have mistaken my silence for concern over Ben, because he began doling out an assurance.

“I won’t send him off until you’ve made your decision,” Derek promised. The look he gave me was so intense, I was sure I would melt. I just nodded.

“What?” Ben began to protest. “Sofia…”

Before he could say any more, Sam stabbed him in the neck with a needle and he immediately fell unconscious. Sam met my questioning glare with relative ease.

He shrugged and said, “What? He was going to get sedated anyway...”

He then picked up Ben and carried him over one shoulder. Kyle tugged on me to follow him, effectively distracting me from my unconscious best friend. “Looks like you’ve got some thinking to do.”

I heaved a sigh. Understatement of the year.

CHAPTER 3: DEREK

We kept her in one of the rooms that was normally used for holding human captives before transporting them to the Black Heights, where humans were then either placed in the Cells - the island’s prison system - or were assigned their own quarters at the Catacombs, home to all humans who were not assigned to a harem.

Sofia, being a part of my harem, stayed at my penthouse at the Pavilion which was comprised of lush tree houses atop a network of giant redwoods. Ever since my brother, Lucas, attacked Sofia and killed Gwen, Sofia had been sleeping with me in my bedroom. The idea of her possibly not being in my arms later that night made my gut clench.

It felt like an eternity before Sofia emerged from the room. When she did, the greater part of me wished that I could just shove her back in and force her to rethink her decision. One look at the apologetic expression on her face was all it took to let me know that I had lost her.

She walked toward me and placed her arms around my neck, pulling me close, pressing her lips against mine – returning the passion, the urgency, the hunger that I poured out on her when I first claimed her lips back at the woods. It was strange how I both loved and hated every moment that kiss lasted. I loved it because it hinted so much about what she felt for me, yet hated it because it was clearly a kiss goodbye.

When our lips parted, her delicate fingers brushed over my hair, her green eyes fixed on me. She then wordlessly walked away, off to find the guards, both of whom she had effortlessly befriended and whose loyalty and respect she had undoubtedly gained.

Her choice was clear. She was leaving me. I knew I could stop her. I could’ve used my power and influence to keep her with me, but I didn’t. I chose to respect her choice to leave. I watched Kyle carry her unconscious form toward the submarine. Both guards would take them to the mainland where their bodies would be left on the same shore they were first found.

I watched the submarine fade off into the distance. Just like that, she was gone. My one ray of light amidst the eternal darkness of The Shade was gone forever, leaving me with nothing left to do other than retreat right back into the black night I’d spent my immortality failing to escape.

CHAPTER 4: SOFIA

I was surrounded by darkness and the loud and steady drumming of a beating heart. It got increasingly loud; so loud that I was certain my head would explode from the bass beat resounding… continuously echoing… I couldn’t understand what was going on. I couldn’t see, feel, taste or smell anything. My one active sense was my hearing and it was overwhelmed by the noise of that mysterious heartbeat.

I was certain it was driving me right to the brink of insanity, when a sudden burst of light distracted me, threatening to blind me. It took a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust to the light. That’s when I saw him. Derek. He was staring at me, face pale and eyes listless. He fell to the ground, piercing blue eyes open and completely blank. I realized what caused his demise when I saw the gaping hole where his heart used to be.

I realized that the echoing heartbeat was coming from behind me … coming closer and closer… then came the sound of a chuckle and the feel of a cold, menacing air breathing down my neck. It was followed by a whisper – no, a hiss – barely audible. Yet fear began to envelop me and panic ran through my veins, because I heard the snake’s words loud and clear.

“You’re next.”

Then came the sound of crashing waves.

It was the high tide that woke me up and rescued me from the deafening sound of Derek’s heartbeat and the foul sound of the words that came out of the snake’s mouth. My pulse was double its normal rate and I could barely breathe. At first, I thought my face was wet only due to the warm wave of salt water that had just washed over me. I was mistaken, because I quickly realized that tears were streaming down my face.

One name was echoing through my mind: Derek.

I’d been so used to waking up in his bed that I found my surroundings alarming. I blinked several times before I realized that the sun was just about to rise over the horizon.

The sun.

It was enough to jolt me into the reality that I was no longer at The Shade, because back at the island, the sun never rose. It was an endless night. Had it not been for my nightmare, I would’ve adored that sunrise. However, my anxiety about Derek stole all the joy away from my reunion with the sun.

Although the sun failed to ease my nerves, it did succeed in deadening my initial confusion and bringing me back to my senses. It returned to my usual state of being: excruciatingly aware.

Back at The Shade, Corrine, the witch maintaining the island’s protective spell, began to take a special interest in me after Lucas first attacked me and killed Gwen. Having been a psychology major before the vampires whisked her to The Shade, she diagnosed me with low latent inhibition, or LLI. I was unable to filter out most external stimuli. It meant that I could sense everything, feel everything. I wondered if that was the reason my mother went insane and was taken away from me – apparently, only people with a certain level of IQ could handle LLI without going mad. I was used to my condition now. It wasn’t as overwhelming as it used to be when I was younger.

The sight of the sun’s oranges and yellows slowly rising over the ocean’s blues and greens; the sound of seagulls cawing and the waves crashing against the shore; the salty aftertaste of sea water mixed with tears; the feel of the soft sand beneath my feet and the cool breeze blowing against my skin; the scent of the ocean mixing with the fresh morning air; I was aware of it all.

I was aware that someone was approaching me from behind.

Ben, I’m sure.

Sensation after sensation assaulted me, and yet my mind was still predominantly fixed on the way Derek had looked in my dream – pale, distant… heartless. Trembling, I pulled my knees against my chest, gathering the beach sand beneath my heels.