“You mean like the humans voluntarily letting vampires suck their blood?” Yuri scoffed.

“I think what Sofia is saying is that we replenish the stocks by getting blood from the humans the way hospitals and blood banks do.” Eli glared at Yuri.

“Do you really think the humans would agree to that?” I asked Sofia.

“I don’t see why not…”

“One problem there…” Vivienne sat up. “The vampires will end up craving whoever donated blood to them.”

Sofia shrugged. “Well, it’s a temporary measure, is it not? If the cure works, then it wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Ah, yes… The cure…” Liana nodded. “That’s why we came here. So much seems to be hanging on to whether or not this cure works.”

“Well, if this cure is for real.” Cameron straightened up on his seat. “Then Sofia’s right. We really wouldn’t have to worry about blood supplies at all.”

“More than that,” Liana added, “we won’t need the protection of The Shade anymore. The other covens can attack all they want… It won’t really matter. They can even turn back into mortals if they please.”

“The hunters won’t have to hunt us down anymore.” Yuri leaned back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest, his brows furrowing in deep thought.

“A cure just might end all of this,” Liana concluded.

Finally, Cameron got straight to the point. “I guess what we’re trying to say is that we think we ought to look into the faintest possibility of this cure being real, because it is far better than a full-on war with both vampire covens and hunters.”

My jaw tightened. They were listing all the advantages of the cure being real, advantages I’d been mulling over since I had heard of the cure. Sofia and I exchanged glances and I could tell that she was feeling the pressure upon hearing how much was hanging on this cure the hunters claimed to have found.

“So I guess we’re going to let more hunters into the island? We’re going to risk that?” I directed my attention toward Vivienne. “What do you think, Vivienne?”

My sister shook her head. “I don’t know. I’d be lying if I said that I trust the hunters, because I don’t.”

“I don’t trust them either,” Sofia said. “But…”

“…the cure may be our last hope,” Eli finished for Sofia. “A war would end us.”

“How are they even going to do it?” I couldn’t help but blurt out. “I can’t even wrap my mind around how the other covens plan to attack us without being detected by humans. A war would definitely attract attention, perhaps end us all.”

Eli lifted his glasses over the bridge of his nose as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair, rubbing his neck as he did. “I can’t be sure, but…” he hesitated.

After it seemed he wasn’t going to continue, I narrowed my eyes at him. “But what, Eli?”

“I don’t know… It’s just… I don’t think we’re up against just the covens.”

At this, Xavier, who seemed unable to pry his eyes off of Vivienne the whole time, snapped to attention. “What are you saying?”

“The other covens wouldn’t dare risk something as big as this. That’s what kept us safe from them all these years. You forget that a lot of vampires who migrated to The Shade—coming from other covens—warned us that the other covens were, for decades, covetous of what we have here. A full-scale war isn’t something anybody would risk unless…”

“…unless there’s a greater influence backing them up.” Vivienne nodded.

“Exactly,” Eli said.

I froze, every part of my body seeming to tense at the implication. “You can’t possibly mean…”

Eli and Vivienne exchanged glances.

In her typical sage and serene manner, Vivienne said the words that sealed my fears. “Great darkness is behind this.”

I swallowed hard, realizing that I was against a power far above what I could possibly handle. I knew whom they were referring to, but it almost seemed impossible—utterly surreal.

“I don’t understand…” Sofia silently voiced out, searching me for an answer.

“They’re referring to the original.”

“The original?”

“The very first vampire.”

CHAPTER 45: SOFIA

As soon as the words came out of Derek’s mouth, someone began pounding at the front door. Derek and I stood in unison, worry creasing his face as sure as it was mine.

When the door swung open, we found Sam looking breathless and distraught. “You’re going to want to see this…the town square.”

“What’s going on?” Derek asked, wary of any more bad news being thrown his way.

“It’s your father.”

Derek immediately shot a look at Vivienne. “Stay here, Vivienne.” He then cast a commanding glare at Xavier. “Keep an eye on her.”

Xavier nodded, looking as if he would rather die than ever let Vivienne out of his sight. Derek took my hand and pulled my body against him in a tight embrace so he could speed from the Pavilion to the Vale where the town square was. The moment we arrived, I wished he hadn’t brought me with him. It took every ounce of my will power to keep myself from vomiting at the grotesque sight in front of me. Right in the middle of the town square was Gregor Novak’s corpse, impaled on a stick that went right through his heart. His heart, still beating was right at the tip of the stick.

I could barely stand on my own feet, so when Derek’s knees buckled at the sight, we both sank to the ground.

“Who would do this?” I muttered under my breath. That’s when I noticed that something was scrawled on his arm, which looked like it was already in the process of rotting.

Derek, who didn’t seem to have the stomach to approach his own father’s lifeless form, turned toward Sam. “What’s written on his arm?”

Sam hesitated before responding. “It says, ‘You chose the wrong side.’”

I couldn’t understand what that could’ve possibly meant. Whichever side Gregor was on, it certainly wasn’t Derek’s. Did Gregor somehow cross someone else other than Derek? I was certain that Derek couldn’t have had anything to do with this grotesque crime.

Corrine emerged among the gathering crowd in the town square. Her brown eyes locked with Derek’s, a grim expression marring her lovely face. From the very moment I first met Corrine, nothing seemed to shake her. She seemed unafraid of anything. I always saw her as some sort of strong tower, a refuge of calm. At this moment, however, she looked horrified.

Her olive skin seemed to pale and for the first time since I had met her, I was certain that we were up against a force that was more powerful than her.

Chills ran down my spine and dread unlike anything I’d ever felt before swept over me. I stared up at Derek, somehow knowing deep inside that both of us would break before we could be made whole again.

Alarm was in Derek’s eyes when he broke gaze with Corrine in order to look at me. “Sofia, you’re trembling.”

I wasn’t aware of how tightly I was squeezing his arm. I shook my head, not knowing how to articulate to him what was going through my mind. Even if I could, I didn’t know if it would be wise to voice out the fears I had coursing through me.

I once again caught sight of Gregor’s body—which was now being pulled from the pole it was impaled on. Despite all my apprehensions, I nodded my head resolutely. I needed to have faith. I couldn’t afford not to have it. “We’re going to make it, Derek.”

When he pulled me closer to him and pressed his lips against my temple, I took it as reassurance that I was right.

The rest of the morning wore on with Eli and Liana working with Gavin and Ian, trying to figure out how to make the blood drive among the humans happen. Xavier, Cameron and Derek saw to arrangements about Gregor’s body. Last time I caught a glimpse of Yuri, he was taking a walk with Claudia—something that I found delight in. On the other hand, I was left to deal with my father and all the questions he had about what went on between Derek and me throughout the night.

“You let him drink your blood again, didn’t you?” was the first thing he asked me the moment I had settled myself in the dining room of my chambers at The Catacombs.

Well, I didn’t exactly let him. I just kind of woke up to find that he was already having his fill. Of course, I wasn’t about to tell Aiden that. “Do we have to go through this again?”

Aiden’s lips shut tight and we ate breakfast in silence without a word being exchanged until he finally asked the question that had probably been burning through his thoughts all night. “Is he allowing the hunters to come?”

“Do you have any idea at all how much is hanging on the balance should this cure be for real?”

“You saw Ingrid turn back into a human, Sofia. With your own eyes!” he exclaimed. “I don’t understand how you could still hold so much doubt after witnessing something like that.”

“What if it only works on her? What if it doesn’t work on all vampires?”

“We won’t know until we try, will we?”

I couldn’t fight back the uneasy feeling I had over the whole matter. I wanted to believe Aiden. I wanted to trust him, to believe that he wasn’t going to screw us all over, but this dread inside kept nagging at me that something was amiss. “I hope you understand that Derek means everything to me. You betray him, you betray me.”

“I know that, Sofia. I also hope that you realize that you are my daughter and I will always fight for what I believe is best for you.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “I know I messed up big time. I know I wasn’t a good father to you, but I want that to change. I want you to trust me.”

I couldn’t bear the idea of shooting him down after what felt like one of the most sincere things he’d ever told me. Hesitantly, I nodded and gave him the go signal to something that could end us all.