CHAPTER 32: DEREK

Things were getting back to normal—or at least it seemed that way. After we heard what they had to say and what their demands were, we told the humans that we would look into their requests and that we would see that their living conditions were improved. With that settled, the humans were back at their posts. We were still hunting down Felix and the few men who still remained with him. Those who surrendered were given amnesty in exchange for their loyalty.

The only remaining threat was the attack of the covens—which we hadn’t heard anything from Natalie about.

“What if they actually agree to you sending Gregor?” Ashley asked. “I don’t really understand why you would send him in your stead.”

We were at my penthouse’s dining room with Eli, who just stepped out to get us some blood when Ashley broached the subject of the meeting with the coven leaders.

“Trust me. They won’t. They’re bent on declaring war on The Shade. Of that, I am sure. I won’t even be surprised if my father’s working with them.”

“It seems like a dangerous assumption to risk the entire island on.”

“I just know. I know Natalie. I could tell by the way she was acting. They’re going to declare war on us whether I go or not, and if there’s war, I think we all stand a better chance if I’m here at The Shade and not out of it.”

“Then what about looking for Sofia?”

I inwardly groaned. We’d been discussing everything we knew about the hunters and where we were brought and we narrowed down our search for their headquarters to a certain spot on the map.

Ashley had already made it clear that witches still worked for the hunters. Thus, there was a great possibility that headquarters could be hidden by a spell the same way The Shade was.

“I want more than anything to have Sofia back here, but maybe we’re wasting our time with all this… Maybe this is how it’s supposed to be.”

Ashley gave me a strong smack on the shoulder. “I can’t believe you! We’re at this again? Really? I know Sofia. The fact that you left her there is probably driving her insane! How could you do that to her?! I don’t care what you think things are supposed to be, I know for sure that Sofia belongs here with you and not out there as some sort of spoiled, rich princess to her father, the lord of the hunters.”

At that point, Eli stepped into the dining room, glasses of blood in hand. He began placing the glasses on the table in front of us. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“Do you think Derek should leave here and be looking for Sofia as soon as possible?” Ashley asked.

Eli first took a sip from his glass of blood before responding to the blonde. “I suppose, but I’m not sure about ‘as soon as possible.’” He directed his attention toward me. “I understand how important Sofia is, but I can’t help but feel as if we’re wasting time looking for her when there’s an imminent attack on The Shade. Should we not be focusing on our energies on fortifying our defenses and gearing up for war?”

I cast a triumphant look at Ashley, who ignored me and sent death glares at Eli. Truth be told, my heart sank at what Eli had just said. Though my brain was telling me the same things Eli was saying, deep inside, I was desperate to find Sofia—whether it was because of my love for her or my craving for her blood, I was no longer sure. When it came to Sofia, black and white always had a way of fading into gray.

A knock on the front door interrupted our conversation. I stood up to answer it despite Eli’s offer to get the door. I walked up to the front door and swung it open to find Xavier and Natalie standing at my doorstep.

“Look who’s back,” Xavier announced wryly, a weary look on his face. “Apparently, she can’t get enough of the chaos.”

“Or maybe she just misses you…” I shrugged.

Natalie stepped forward, rolling her eyes at both of us, before giving Xavier a glare that clearly showed there was little chance of her ever missing him. She then set her eyes on me. “You’re going to need a seat for what I’m about to tell you.”

I swallowed hard and waved toward my living room. Natalie seemed to be bracing herself for what she had to say. “I have two messages. One is from the vampire covens. The other is from Sofia Claremont. Which one do you want to hear first?”

I froze. I knew what to expect from the vampire covens. I had no idea what Sofia’s message would be. The unknown seemed to be a lot more fearsome than the immense threat that came with the known. “I’d like to hear what the other vampire covens have to say.”

Natalie cleared her throat. “Their message is simple. Three words. Prepare for war.”

“They sent you all the way here just to say that?” Xavier grimaced. “Not like we didn’t already know that.”

I straightened up in my seat and nodded. “Very well then. All I can say in response to that is another three words. Let them come.” I paused, surprised that war—something I feared would happen—wasn’t alarming me as much as it should have. I guess knowing that Sofia had me in mind was more rattling a thought. “The second message?”

“Understand that there was no way for me to meet with her,” Natalie explained. “It was too dangerous to see her personally, with her being in the hunters’ hands, so we had to communicate by phone.”

I understood the implication of that. If Natalie was somehow bugged by the other covens, then they had most likely heard what Sofia had said.

“Sofia says that she might have found a way for you and her to be together. She wants to meet with you at a hotel in Cancun.” Natalie handed me a small note. “Those are the details of the time and place.”

I took the note and drew a breath at what was written: They know the time and place. It’s too dangerous. Sofia is talking about the hunters having found a cure to vampirism.

It felt like a rock was somehow able to lodge itself in my throat as I read the last phrase over and over and over again. A cure to vampirism. Not once since I had turned into a vampire did it ever even cross my mind that there could be a cure. How is that possible?

I raised my eyes to meet Natalie’s. She tightened her lips almost as if to warn me to tread very, very carefully. The possibilities that came with a cure began to whirl around my mind. A cure. A cure! If I turned back into a human, I would be mortal. Sofia and I could get married, have children, grow old together… The deepest desires of my heart made possible.

Hope unlike anything I’d felt before surged within me. Could she have really done it? Could she really have found a way for us to be together?

“Well?” Natalie broke the tense silence, her eyes set on the piece of paper she had handed over to me. She noticed how much I was shaking as I held it in my hand. “What do you want me to tell her?”

“Tell her to come to The Shade. I can’t risk leaving The Shade. Not with an impending war. If I’m going to meet with her, then it would have to be here.”

“You do realize that she doesn’t plan to meet with you alone, right?” Natalie clarified. “The hunters will be with her—most likely her own father.”

“Derek…” Xavier was shaking his head, clearly about to object. “I know how much Sofia matters to you, but for crying out loud…she’s with the hunters. Is now really the best time to accommodate hunters here at the island? We can barely keep things together!”

A thousand possibilities crossed my mind all at once. Threatening. Overwhelming. Disturbing. I shook the thoughts out. There was no point in succumbing to the fears. “I need Sofia to find true sanctuary. The prophecy makes that clear. If the only way she can get back here is with the hunters, then so be it. Let them come. Let them all come.”

If war has to happen, I can’t stop it. I just know that I need Sofia by my side. If this is the only way, then so be it.

CHAPTER 33: CLAUDIA

I was their gift to him.

Yuri was celebrating his twenty-first birthday and his newfound friends wanted to give him a woman as a gift. The Duke decided that I would be the perfect gift for the young man who was already being acclaimed as an artist of great genius. Of course, my master also knew that Yuri meant so much more to me than that.

When I was presented to Yuri, I could tell that he was uncomfortable with the idea. I’d seen the same look in his eyes with countless other men before him. The uncertainty…that gut feeling that what they were doing was wrong. Still, most of the time, the gut feeling never actually stopped them.

Both of us were practically jostled and shoved into a room, with hoots and cheers for Yuri to enjoy himself. I could tell that he would be pressured to tell them what had gone on inside the bedroom. I stood there, trying to control the way my body was trembling. I often shook before the Duke, but in front of Yuri, it was for very different reasons. With Yuri, I never felt more vulnerable than I did at that moment.

“Could you please take off the mask?” he asked.

“I can’t. I’m not allowed to.” I hoped that he wouldn’t recognize my voice. I hoped that I would never have to remove that mask and reveal myself to him, but I also understood why the Duke instructed me not to remove it until Yuri was finished with me. The Duke relished the idea of Yuri finding out that he’d been pursuing a whore like me. I swallowed back the tears at the thought of Yuri seeing me in a completely different way after that night.

He approached me and raised his hand. I flinched from his touch, afraid that he would take the mask off. Instead, he just brushed a thumb over my exposed collarbone, the flimsy dress I was wearing leaving little to his imagination.

“Should we begin?” I asked, motioning to get on the bed. I was slightly curious about what he was going to do. I was half-expecting him to stop me, to tell me that this didn’t feel right and that he really shouldn’t do this considering how he was pursuing another woman. I wanted to believe that he was a decent man, but I should’ve known that he was what he was: a man.