In spite of everything Ben was doing for me, Derek was still the last person on my mind before I drifted off to sleep at night and the first person I thought about when I woke up. I wanted to get him off my mind, but he haunted my every waking moment, and every time I kissed Ben, guilt over the fact that Derek was on my mind would begin eating at me.

That same pang of shame and guilt caught up with me as I watched my boyfriend run to the center of the field. I was the envy of the whole cheerleading squad and a bunch of other school girls pining over him, but gone were the days when that actually mattered to me.

I’d now finally got what I wanted all throughout high school. I was with Ben and yet something about being together as a couple didn’t feel right and I wondered if he sensed it too.

The games began and I checked on Abby to make sure she was okay. She was seated on Lyle’s lap, clutching Colin the Elephant in her small arms. She seemed to be having the time of her life, her bright eyes sparkling as she watched the game. Amelia looked a lot more relaxed too. I thought it did her well to see Ben back in his game, back in his element.

I leaned back in my seat, not quite sure about what was happening on the field, but a quick look at the scoreboard revealed that no one was winning – not yet.

“Hello, Sofia. May I have a word with you in private?”

I turned my head to the side. I felt my face drain of all blood. Sitting on the seat to my right – Abby’s spare seat - was Vivienne Novak.

I wasn’t able to fight the urge to scream, but my reaction was drowned out by a loud cheer suddenly erupting throughout the bleachers. The scoreboard revealed that Ben’s team was now in the lead. I had reason to rejoice, but how could I when a vampire was sitting right beside me?

I completely froze. Try as I might, I couldn’t pry my eyes away from her. My ability to breathe seemed to have stopped, I could neither inhale nor exhale. The crowd began to settle down all around us.

She grabbed my hand and I flinched at her coldness. “Don’t be afraid. I mean you no harm, Sofia. I don’t have much time… Please. May we talk?”

Beyond the sincerity in her blue-violet eyes, I was moved by an emotion I never thought I would see in the princess of The Shade. It was betrayed by how her hand was trembling over mine and how her lower lip had the slightest quiver. Fear. She was afraid, and I couldn’t help but wonder what force someone like her could possibly be afraid of.

For some reason, her fear calmed me, enabling me to breathe again. She was in human territory, my turf. She had no power over me here. I shook my head. “I’m not going anywhere alone with you, Vivienne.”

“Sofia, is everything alright?” Lyle spoke from behind me, his hand resting on my shoulder.

“Please…” Vivienne’s hand clasped tighter around mine and her facial expression gave way to a whole new emotion: desperation.

I slightly turned my head in order to address Lyle. “It’s fine. She’s a girl from school. She came to ask about college applications.”

Lyle eyed Vivienne warily, but nodded. “Okay.”

I returned my focus on Vivienne. “There’s a coffee shop right outside the west exit. I’ll meet you there in five minutes.”

She nodded and quickly let go of my hand before leaving. It was as if she couldn’t wait to get out of there. I watched as she left, observing how she was able to make a pair of jeans, a loose checkered button-down blouse and a baseball cap on her head look sexy and feminine.

A modeling agency could make a fortune out of her. I shook the thought away before giving way to concerns of greater matter. What is she doing here and what could she possibly want from me?

Five minutes later, after begging a quick leave from Lyle and Amelia, I was fully expecting to get an answer to that question as I sat across Vivienne inside a crowded coffee shop. I held the cup of latte with both my hands, savoring the heat, before taking a sip. I just agreed to have coffee with a vampire. Do you have a death wish or something, Sofia?

I found it unnerving how strange Vivienne was acting. Her eyes were darting from one corner of the room to the other, as if she suspected that someone was following her. She eventually managed to stop fidgeting – enough so that she could speak to me. “Thanks for agreeing to have a word with me.” Her voice was hoarse, almost as if she hadn’t had a drink for a while.

The thought that she was thirsty did little to bring me comfort. I laid down my mug of coffee on the table between us. “What’s going on, Vivienne? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

She clasped her palms together and laid them on her lap. She shut her eyes for a few seconds and took a couple of deep breaths before opening them again. She appeared to be a lot calmer after that. “It’s nothing. It’s just that I haven’t been out of The Shade for hundreds of years. I’m a little on edge. Anyway, I don’t know how much time I have, but I’m going to answer all the questions you may have for as long as I am able.”

Questions about what? I had no idea what she was talking about. She’s speaking like she’s going to keel over and die any time now… Back at The Shade, Vivienne always seemed calm and poised. She had this all-knowing look about her that made me feel antsy around her, like she could see right through my soul. Seeing her act like a basket of nerves was definitely an interesting sight to see.

“Could you just tell me why you’re here? Get straight to the point. You’re acting weird and it’s making me nervous.”

A flicker of interest crossed the stunning hues of her eyes. “No wonder he was so enamored by you…”

The statement took me aback, but I had no chance to respond because she then paid heed to my request and got straight to the point.

“I came to ask you to come back to The Shade.”

My jaw dropped, a dry chuckle coming out of my lips. It was madness. “You have got to be joking…" I exclaimed before motioning to rise from my seat.

“Wait… Please… Hear me out.”

Vivienne had something about her that caught my attention… She still reeked of fear and desperation, but there was something more… something I couldn’t place.

I settled back on the couch, but not without letting her know that I was keeping her on a short leash. “This better be good.”

She fidgeted on her seat and wrinkled her nose as if she was weighing her words very carefully. I began drumming my fingers over the table as I waited for her to say something. She certainly was taking her precious time.

“Well? I’m waiting…”

She blew out a deep sigh before finally finding words. “I didn’t expect you to live, Sofia.”

My eyes widened. “That’s not exactly a great way to start, Vivienne…”

“Maybe so…” she agreed “but it’s the truth.” She then lowered her voice so that only I could hear. “That night… when you and the girls were brought to Derek, just after he woke up, I wasn’t expecting him to be able to command enough self-control to keep himself from devouring each and every one of you.”

I remembered that night well. How scared I was… How I held Gwen’s hand in hopes of both giving and drawing comfort from her… How I somehow caught his attention… How he pinned me against a marble pillar…

“If that’s what you thought, why then would you have brought us to him? You just led us to our slaughter… That’s sick, Vivienne.”

“It’s the way of The Shade.”

“Again… not a very convincing argument for me to go back. What’s your point?”

She stared at me for a few seconds before speaking. Desperate. “A prophecy has been spoken about Derek a long time ago. The prophecy says that he will rule and that he will bring our kind true sanctuary.”

“Your kind? You mean vampires?” I didn’t care to lower my voice. It didn’t matter to me who heard. Vivienne really wasn’t giving me much reason to feel a need to protect her.

The surprised expression on her face showed that she was nowhere near used to my audacity, but she quickly recovered. “Yes. Our kind. Derek asked Cora, a great witch – Corrine’s ancestor – to put him under a sleeping spell. He wanted to escape all the things we did in order to keep The Shade safe. The guilt was killing him.”

“Why? What exactly did your kind do to make him feel so guilty?” I interrupted.

Vivienne shifted in her seat, showing her discomfort. Still, she maintained her posture and set her eyes on me. “That’s a question you’d have to ask him yourself.”

My shoulders sagged. It took me by surprise how much her statement made me ache with longing. I smiled bitterly and slightly shook my head. “Go ahead. What were you saying?”

She gave me a lingering gaze, before proceeding with her story. “Derek thought he’d already fulfilled the prophecy when we established The Shade. The island, he thought, was our true sanctuary. Cora knew otherwise. She knew that he wasn’t done, so without his knowledge, she tacked on an end to her spell. Derek was to wake once it was time to find the girl who would help him fulfill his destiny.”

She paused and looked to me for a reaction, but the words were still sinking in and I couldn’t find a proper way to respond.

Thus, she continued, “It was Corrine who signaled that he was about to wake and she made it very clear that the girls taken on a certain night were to be reserved for him.”

“My birthday…” I threw the words out there, remembering the way I felt that night. Ben forgot my birthday and spent most of the day wooing Tanya.

“Yes… Your birthday…” She said the words as if she found it amazing that Lucas abducted me and brought me to The Shade on that particular day. “Derek hadn’t fed on human blood for four centuries. You couldn’t possibly understand how difficult it was for him not to feed on you. When he slammed you against that pillar, I thought you were done for.”

I remembered what it felt like to have Derek’s large, virile form pressed against mine, his strong arms holding me up against the pillar, his breath chilling the skin on my neck… I was terrified.