She held up a mirror. My eyes were exactly as I remembered them. My face also looked the same as when I first discovered I’d been turned, back in the white chambers. No crooked expression. I certainly didn’t look like an Elder was inhabiting me.
I reached for a black box that was lying on the ground in the empty cell next to the witch’s. I withdrew a piece of dry bread and threw it toward her. She snatched it and began eating ravenously.
Then, without another word, I turned around and headed toward the exit. The second time we passed by the humans, they were far more subdued. Most didn’t bother calling my name. Instead I heard low mutterings. It cut me to the core to realize that they must have already accepted that I had abandoned them.
Once we’d exited The Cells, the Elder started speaking to me again.
“Now, help me understand where your lover could have gone.”
Memories flashed before my eyes; all of them involving locations. After a few seconds, it dawned on me. He’s accessing my memories. The flashing stopped, leaving a vision of a small beach hut. But I’ve never been to this place. This isn’t even my memory.
“Aha,” the Elder hissed. “He wouldn’t be fool enough to go running to the Hawks’ protection. He was with the witch on the night of the birth. This would have been the natural option.”
Then I remembered that the memories contained within my head were not all my own. Vivienne’s memory.
“Once we have arrived there, I will give you back control of your body. You are to follow my every command. And never forget, I’m right here with you.”
Chapter 6: Sofia
Not my husband… and my babies…
Panic set my mind on fire. I couldn’t think straight. Fear, despair and rage consumed me all at once. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs.
Instead, I rushed toward the port. Waiting for us there, peeking out of the hatch of a small submarine, was Liana. I climbed in and we both took a seat near the controls. I grabbed a map from the dashboard and hovered my finger over it for a few moments until I pointed to a coastal area in southern Costa Rica. I picked up a pen and drew a mark against it, then handed it to Liana.
“This is the location. If we wish to reach there before the next century, you must loosen control of your vessel so that she can navigate the ship. But keep close watch on her. She is loyal to the Novaks and we have no time for detours.”
You bastard. You snake.
I stood up and made my way to the back of the submarine. We had barely sat down on one of the benches when we lurched forward. The Elder’s mind must have been preoccupied with other matters since it chose not to respond to my insults.
My thoughts turned to Liana. The submarine is moving. My dear friend is back in control of herself again. I feared she’d risk her life by attempting to veer us off course, hoping that her Elder wouldn’t notice. She’d be a fool to even try; she’d be caught the moment she entertained the thought.
I wished that I could walk back into the control room and embrace her. It felt like an eternity since I’d come in contact with even a shred of humanity. I longed for a warm embrace, the squeeze of a hand, reassuring me that we would make it through this ordeal. I’d been frozen with fear and doubt for so long, I was desperate for anything that could help keep my fire alive. Darkness threatened to close in on me at any moment. Every second was a battle to prevent the haze from settling over me again.
The fact that I had no clue as to what the Elder planned to do with my family once we arrived caused my mind to spiral into a black abyss of terrifying possibilities. Do they want to turn my children too, or keep them for their blood? Will they bring them back to Cruor and make them grow up in the darkness of the storage chambers? What will they do to Derek? Will they harm him just to spite me, or will they find use for him as a vessel?
Several hours must have passed while I remained seated in the same spot, quivering slightly. The reason for my parasite’s silence dawned on me. The Elder is taking pleasure in my fear. My despair is its strength. I can’t give it that.
The thought of depriving the Elder of pleasure summoned a strength that I’d thought I had lost. I forced myself to imagine living happily with my family, sheltered from harm. Derek bought that beautiful beachfront villa. When I find my way back to him, he’ll be waiting on the porch. He’ll be holding our children, one in each arm. I’ll run up and shower them with kisses… I smiled internally. A warm feeling of peace spread through me.
My body stopped quivering and the Elder made me stand up and start pacing around the small compartment, as though trying to distract itself from my thoughts.
I remained pacing for another hour until the submarine thudded to a halt. Liana appeared through the door and said, “We’re about half a mile from the location you marked. It’s best we keep our distance and you travel by foot from here.”
I nodded. Then I reached up for the hatch, pushed it open, and slid myself out, dropping into shallow waters. It ached to leave Liana behind with no assurance that I would ever see her again. And what would become of Ashley, Yuri, Xavier and all the other vampires and humans of The Shade? I felt myself in danger of sinking again.
Stay strong, Sofia. You’re no stranger to storms. The waves may rage, but you can rise above them.
As we approached within ten feet of the hut, the Elder finally spoke to me.
“Remember my warning. There will be moments when I will release you from my grasp, but when I issue a command, whatever it is, you obey.”
Then he made me start banging on the door frantically.
“Please, open the door!” I heard my voice shout.
After a few moments, footsteps hurried closer and a familiar face appeared. Corrine. On seeing me, she let out a small scream and her eyes widened with shock.
“Sofia! What? How?”
“I’ll explain! Please just let me inside!” Cold tears streamed down my face, forced out of me by the Elder.
Corrine swung the door open. She led me to a small sitting room and pushed me down into a chair. I was breathing quickly.
“I managed to escape Cruor!”
“How?”
“A vampire. I don’t know who he is. All I know is that he was a rogue, a traitor to their kind. He took pity on me when I told him I had young children. He helped me back through the portal.”
“You’re a…”
“They turned me. I don’t know how. When I came to consciousness, I’d been turned already. I was craving blood.”
As Corrine stared into my eyes, I wished that she could see them for what they were: hollow sockets, gates to a prison, behind which my soul was crying out for her to understand.
“How did you get here?”
I stood up abruptly. “Where’s Derek?”
“He-he left for Hawk Headquarters just recently.”
A dark-haired man with a goatee stepped into the sitting room and eyed me. The Elder made me ignore him.
“My babies. I want to see my babies!” I said.
When Corrine cast her eyes to the ground, my heart sank to my stomach.
“Sofia, your baby daughter—Rose, Derek named her—is sleeping in the bedroom next door.” Corrine paused, tears welling in her eyes. “Your son, Ben. We… I-I lost him.” She sank to the floor, weeping. “I don’t know how you’ll ever forgive me.”
I gasped—this time audibly. The Elder had now released his control of my body to allow me to show a mother’s grief. I fell to the ground alongside Corrine and begged her to explain.
“The vampire with red eyes. He came so fast, I couldn’t fight him off,” she choked. “He snatched Ben right from my arms. We still don’t know where he took him.”
Corrine wrapped her arms around me. This time, my own tears were allowed to flood. I sobbed and trembled against her. I was now desperate to see my daughter. But I knew I needed to stay as far away from Rose as possible, so when Corrine led me to Rose’s bedroom, I stepped back.
Move forward! The El
der’s hissing voice echoed in my head.
I refused. I stepped back toward the exit of the hut, forcing the Elder to jolt me forward toward Rose’s bedroom.
Corrine paused, eyeing me closely. I prayed to the heavens that she had become suspicious.
“Please! I need to see my daughter!” my voice said.
We entered the dark bedroom and stood around my baby’s cot. So this is you, Rose. My beautiful baby girl. So peaceful.
Isn’t she beautiful, Sofia? the Elder asked. She will soon regret the day her mother crossed the Elders.
To my horror, my arms shot down into the crib, picked Rose up, and began cradling her.
Chapter 7: Derek
I couldn’t believe my ears.
“What?”
“Sofia. She’s here. She arrived about an hour ago,” Corrine repeated.
“How?”
“Just get back here. You can ask her yourself.”
When Corrine hung up, I pinched my arm to check that I hadn’t fallen into some kind of cruel daydream. Then I looked wildly around the room until my eyes found Aiden’s. His face mirrored what I was feeling. He grabbed the phone from me and within a few seconds was shouting for a helicopter. Then he turned to me and croaked, “Bring her back here, Derek. I need to see her.”
I dashed outside to the launch pad and hurled myself into the aircraft, whose engine was already humming. Discarding all caution, I gave the coordinates of the beach hut to the pilot and we took off.
A hundred questions crowded my mind, but most of all, the most intense sense of relief I’d ever felt in my life flooded through me. My Sofia, my light. You’re alive. I wondered if they’d already told her about Ben. I felt sick imagining how she would have reacted. But somehow, now that she was back, the task of finding Ben seemed more surmountable than just a few minutes ago.
I could barely sit still throughout the flight, fidgeting and asking the pilot how much longer until our arrival. I felt paranoid that somehow she’d be snatched away again during the time it took me to travel to her. Ibrahim was the Ageless’ ally. What if he decided to alert the witch and she came to reclaim Sofia? I closed my eyes and tried to breathe deeply. My whole being ached to hold Sofia in my arms, run my fingers through her long hair and feel her soft lips against mine.
When the helicopter started its descent, I could barely contain myself. As soon as it touched down on the beach, I jumped out and raced to the hut. Corrine opened the door. She looked exhausted and her face was filled with concern. I barely greeted her as I pushed past her and entered the sitting room.
“Sofia!”
My vision blurred when Sofia whispered my name and rushed toward me, placing her arms around my neck. I had to fight to hold back the tears as I held her waist and pulled her shaking body against mine. I wondered why she was so cold. I ran my hands up and down the length of her back, hoping my rubbing would warm her. I placed my lips on her collarbone, then her neck, her cheek, and finally her mouth. Her tears wet my face as I kissed her hungrily, my tongue pushing between her lips. I had been starved of her for too long. My body was now coursing with levels of passion I could barely contain.
I knew that she would still be very sensitive from the birthing. I had to be careful with her. But it was clear she felt the same passion when she put her hands beneath my shirt and ran them up my torso. I was about to pick her up and carry her into the spare bedroom for some privacy when I felt it: a sharp stab in my lower lip. I let go of her and took a step back, confused. I touched my lip and saw blood on my finger. Then I looked more closely at Sofia’s pale face.
“Sofia?”
Her eyes still filled with tears, she opened her mouth and bared fangs.
“I’m so sorry,” she sobbed.
“You’re… how?” I gripped her shoulders and looked at her desperately, praying that my eyes were deceiving me.
“I-I just woke up and saw the fangs. I craved blood. I don’t understand how. I thought I was an immune!”
My head started reeling. Doubts assailed me about what her transformation would mean for her, our family, our future. Will the cure work on a vampire created directly by the Elders? Is that even a risk I would allow her to take?
“How on earth did you escape?”
“A rogue vampire, one of the vessels—he helped me. He was a servant to the Elders and had their trust. Whenever he came to my cell to feed me, I begged him to have mercy on me. Eventually I guess I got through to him and he smuggled me back through the gate into The Shade.”
“The Shade? But that place is swarming with Elders! How could they not have noticed you?”
She looked up at me wearily. “Please, Derek, no more questions about what I’ve been through. I don’t want to think about it any more. I’m here now. Isn’t that enough?” She placed one cool hand on my face and tugged at my shirt. Then she whispered in my ear. “I can’t stand it any more. Can’t you see I’m dying for you? Our time together was much too short.”
Although my mind was still burning with questions and anxiety, I gave in to her request. I determined to shut everything out and just focus on Sofia, my beautiful wife who had returned to me. I tried to pretend that at that moment in time, nothing else existed except our two beating hearts.
I picked her up and walked to the bedroom. Placing her feet gently down on the ground, I undressed her, kissing any part of her body my lips could brush against. When I hesitated, she said, “You won’t hurt me, Derek. Remember I’m a vampire now.”
Then she pulled off my clothes, lay on the bed, and, gripping my hair, pulled me down toward her.
Although Sofia had lost her warmth, she was still as beautiful as I had remembered her. No matter how long I lay there with her, her body intertwined with mine, it felt like my appetite for her would never be satiated. And it appeared that she felt the same way.
Until a strange darkness flickered in her eyes, and she began to draw blood.
I thought back to when I was a vampire, how much control it had taken to not force blood from her whenever we slept together. But, although it had been a herculean task, I had managed it. Surely it should be easier for Sofia to not give into the darkness. After all, she was the one who had trained me to control my cravings.
Why are you doing this, Sofia?
Chapter 8: Sofia
As soon as I woke the next morning, I found myself getting out of bed and walking to the window to pull down the blinds, blocking the rising sun from streaming into the room. Then I turned to look at Derek, who was still asleep in bed. His body was covered with bruises and bite marks. Horror and guilt surged through me.
The Elder had released me from his control a number of times since Derek had entered the hut, allowing me to display my own emotions. But once my teeth had started sinking into Derek’s flesh, his blood seeping into my mouth, I knew the Elder had taken back full control. I’d seen the pain in Derek’s face. His eyes had betrayed that I was hurting him on a much deeper level than merely physically.
I had tried to cry out on several occasions. Each time, my voice had been choked back. All I could do was pray that the evil inhabiting me would find some speck of mercy and make me leave the hut, disappear to some place a thousand miles away. I might as well have prayed for my best friend Ben to come back to life.
Derek stirred on the bed and groaned. He opened his eyes and when he saw me standing by the window he managed to smile as though nothing had happened.
“Good morning, beautiful.” He beckoned me over to the bed. I lay down next to him and he pulled me in for a cuddle. Kissing the top of my head, he asked, “Did you see Rose? Her eyes, they’re just like yours.”
“Of course I saw her. She looks so healthy. You and Corrine have been taking good care of her.”
“Corrine has some friends in the village down the road. One of them has a baby of her own and she offered to breastfeed Rose. Corrine and Ibrahim have been taking her daily—Ibrahim is… well, that’s a long story.”
It pained me to think that I’d never even experienced the simple pleasure of feeding my own children. And I never would so long as I remained a vampire.
Derek began explaining to me everything that had transpired since I was first taken to The Blood Keep: how he’d escaped The Keep himself, his stay at The Sanctuary with Ibrahim and the Ageless, the Guardians… His story blew my mind. He was talking fast and I wanted to stop him and ask questions, but frustratingly, my mouth remained sealed. He’d been talking for over an hour until his story reached the part where I was taken by the witch, at which point he paused. He tilted my head up with his hand and his bright blue eyes bored into mine.
“I thought I’d lost you, Sofia. I can’t tell you how scared I was.” His arms tightened around me and he placed a tender kiss on my forehead.
You did lose me, Derek. I’m not your Sofia.
After a moment of silence, he cleared his throat and continued. “Aiden asked me to bring you to Headquarters. He desperately wants to see you. But at the time he made this request, he was too overcome with emotion to realize what a terrible idea that is… especially now you’re…” Derek’s voice trailed off. “We don’t yet understand what the Guardians’ true motives are. I don’t know how Arron would react to seeing you as a vampire and I’m not about to take any risks with you. Even staying in this hut is dangerous now the hunters know its location. We need to find a new place to stay on a different coast as soon as possible.”
“Derek.” I heard my voice interrupt him softly. “I really, really want to go to Headquarters. I want to see my dad.”
Derek brushed the back of my head with his hand.
“Sofia, of course I understand that. But there’s no reason to risk going to Headquarters just to see your father. Aiden’s busy trying to locate Ben, but I’m sure he can fly here for a few hours to see you.”
“No, Derek.” I pulled away from his arms, sitting upright on the bed. “I want to go to Headquarters. It’s not just Aiden I want to see.” Memories of people I’d seen at Headquarters during my stay there whirred through my brain. “There’s also Zinnia, Craig, Julian…”