“Where on Earth…?” I began to ask.
“Not Earth,” the Ageless said. “That is Cruor, a dead realm. It’s devoid of life, save for the hapless souls that have been kidnapped there. The Elders live like spirits within the bowels of the mountains.”
“What kind of evil are these creatures?”
“They have no physical form of their own. They are like parasites. Their very existence depends upon sucking life out of others. Blood is of particular value to them. They store blood and—even when they are not inhabiting a vessel and thus cannot drink it—they gain sustenance from it simply by remaining in close proximity. The blood of immunes is particularly potent…”
“Immunes,” I said suddenly. “How is Sofia a vampire?”
“Immunes on Earth are no longer immunes once brought to Cruor. They become too affected by the atmosphere of that realm to resist infection.”
“What are immunes? How did they come to be?” I opened my eyes briefly to see the witch shift in her chair.
“That is a long story… Close your eyes again.” This time the vision of a very different realm appeared. “Behold, Aviary, realm of the Hawks, or ‘Guardians’ as they like to call themselves.”
A harsh sun beat down on dense jungles. I’d always thought that our redwoods at The Shade were magnificent, but the trees of Aviary were three times the width. Swarms of bees the size of small birds buzzed around giant flowers. The place seemed larger than life, almost Jurassic. Wild four-legged carnivores the likes of which I’d never encountered before raced through the vegetation. Massive predatory birds crowded the skies. Finally, I spotted the Hawks themselves, muscular men and women whose features would have looked almost human, had it not been for their sharp beaks and black wings. I recognized them from when Arron had arranged for some to accompany us during the storming of The Blood Keep.
“Cruor and Aviary,” the witch continued, “have been enemies since time immemorial. Legend has it that the Elders of Cruor attacked Aviary to extract its life source. And the Hawks… well, they don’t forgive easily. They’ve been at war with Cruor ever since.”
“All right. But you still haven’t answered my question. What are immunes?” I said.
“There was a time, before I came to power, when Cruor posed its first threat to The Sanctuary. We… we didn’t want this looming over us. We struck a bargain with the Elders that we’d provide them with access to sustenance and in return they would leave us in peace. My ancestors used their magic to create gates between the vampire realm and Earth. To make the deal more attractive for the Elders, we also created ‘immunes’. We arrived at a potion that could be injected into a human’s bloodstream. It made their blood sweeter, but most of all, they were immune to being turned into vampires while on Earth. Their succulent blood could be consumed without fear of turning them. We created only a few thousand immunes, but with time those blood strands were passed on through the generations.”
My mind was beginning to reel at the sheer scope of the witches’ deception. Perhaps sensing my rage, the witch moved on. “So… now that we had pacified the Elders, we thought our problems had been solved. That was until Aviary turned on us and threatened to storm our realm for assisting their enemies. In their eyes, we had given Cruor an unfair advantage. Thus, to pacify the Hawks, we agreed to create their own gates to Earth, in order to maintain a balance between the two realms.”
At this point, I could no longer contain my anger. “Why the hell did you have to divert all this to us? Couldn’t you just have destroyed the gates linking to your own realm, the gates between The Sanctuary and Cruor and Aviary?”
“Between the supernatural realms, no gates are needed. It’s only when entering this mortal realm that we require special portals.” The witch continued as if I hadn’t interrupted. “Maintaining a balance has always been challenging, since one realm was always trying to gain more of a foothold than the other. But, since your discovery of the cure to vampirism and the arrival of numerous Elders, we’ve been forced to implicate your kind more and more in this struggle…”
“So let me get this clear,” I fumed. My palms felt like they were about to start blazing again. “This balance you’ve been harping on about is nothing but a way to save your own backsides from getting burned. Everything revolves around diverting the heat away from your realm toward ours. You stole my wife from me because Cruor demanded it and you were too scared to deny them. And to top it all off, you had the gall to try to persuade me to help you with all of this by collecting immunes for you!” I spat at her feet. “You’re nothing but conceited self-serving cowards. You don’t deserve the air you breathe.” I directed my palms to her and more flames erupted.
The witch’s eyes widened before she once again manifested water to extinguish my fire. “If you were in our position, wouldn’t you have done the same to protect your own kind?”
“Deliberately direct such evil toward vulnerable people who’d never done my kind any harm? Do you really need me to answer that?” I stormed out onto the verandah. “And why are you even here telling me all of this? Out of the goodness of your heart?” I sneered at her.
The witch followed me outside. “You must understand that my role as leader has always been to follow in the footsteps of my ancestors, the Ancients. For the protection of our kind, they set down rules that I and my council have always abided by… but Ibrahim has opened my mind to another possibility.”
“Oh, and what is that?”
“Working together might serve our realm better.”
“Again, your realm! Your safety. Your peace of mind. Let’s ignore the countless innocent lives you’ve ripped apart and the many more you’re about to destroy. Can we please spend more time thinking about how we can keep you comfortable? Because I honestly don’t think enough effort has been put into that already.”
It was hard to find words to express my exasperation and disbelief. I stared at her, struggling to comprehend that any creature could be so incapable of conscience. I recalled the flash of guilt in her eyes. Is this just an act she is forced to put on to retain her status as leader to her kind? Or perhaps that look of guilt was meant to manipulate me, and the inhabitants of The Sanctuary do indeed have hearts of stone… or no hearts at all.
“Our realm is called ‘The Sanctuary’ for a reason,” she said coolly. “As leader, I must abide by our code which is, first and foremost, to ensure the serenity of our kind.”
My eyes narrowed. “So, given that you are the only beings in the universe whose existence matters, why would you want to risk upsetting your balance? You seem to be managing just fine. Why do you even want our cooperation?”
“Since the discovery of the cure—something even I didn’t foresee—and the influx of Elders through the portal, tension between the Elders and Hawks has been growing rapidly. Each side is becoming more and more demanding and it’s becoming impossible to satisfy them. Recent demands that we could not reconcile have led to direct threats to our own realm, something that hasn’t happened since I began my rule.”
“I see,” I said. “Now that using us as your pawns has become troublesome for you, you’ve realized that removing us as bait from the table is going to make life easier for you… because?”
“They won’t have as much to fight over. If we seal off their entries into this realm then, yes, their attention will be on us. But that is already starting to happen. When you’re drifting in a sea of sharks, having two sacks of raw meat will produce more of a signal for attack than having just one.”
I nodded slowly. At least the witch now seemed to have decided to be honest with me about the level of their narcissism. “If you want cooperation, first tell me where my wife is.”
“I don’t know that we want cooperation yet,” she said. “I must call a meeting back in my realm with my council. Until I’ve done this, I can’t reveal anything to you about Sofia. That would be a signal to the Elders that we are no longer neutral.” Then she paused and looked intensely
into my eyes. “But I will call this council, Derek. You have my word. And if this plan meets with approval, I will return to you.”
Before I could open my mouth, she had vanished just as suddenly as she had appeared.
“Curse you!” I yelled, stamping my foot. Sofia could be dead by the time you’ve finished with your damn meeting. I climbed off the terrace and ran to the ocean. When I dove in, my body hissed like a hot pan splashed with water.
I floated on my back and reflected on the witch’s proposal. Even if the council agreed that it was indeed in their best interest to eliminate the portals, how did I know that, once the Elders and Guardians had been banished, the witches wouldn’t have some other hidden agenda for us?
When you’re drowning and all you’re handed is the end of a sword to pull you up above the waves, do you take it?
But at that moment, I had no idea whether the witch would keep her word to call a meeting. And even if she did, how long would that take? Every second that went by was a second that Sofia could be suffering somewhere, in need of rescue. What aggravated me most was the fact that the witch hadn’t denied knowing where Sofia was. My gut instinct told me that she knew very well what had happened to Sofia during her initial time in Cruor, and why Sofia had been taken again. Yet the witch refused to give me even that much relief. After everything she’s done.
What am I to do in the meantime? I floated for hours. But once the sun had ducked beneath the horizon, I decided that there was simply no way I could stay in that place any longer. I’d be of far more use travelling back to Headquarters and working with Aiden. I’d leave a note for Sofia telling her where I’d gone and I’d travel back to the cabin every two days to check if she had returned.
On arriving at my bedroom, it turned out that leaving a note wasn’t necessary. For there lay Sofia, sprawled unconscious on the bed, her skin covered with blisters and blood seeping from a deep wound near her abdomen.
Chapter 15: Sofia
As the blackness gave way to fluorescent white lighting, the first thing that came into focus was a set of bright blue eyes. A warm hand brushed against my cheek. Derek. Relief overwhelmed me, but as I came further to consciousness and realized what a danger I was to my loved ones, it transformed into horror.
Derek’s face lit up as soon as I stirred. He bent down and his lips pushed against mine. I wished I could have returned his embrace with as much passion. Instead my lips and arms remained stiff. The Elder retained full control of my movements.
“Sofia!” my father gasped.
Oh, no. Not you too.
I turned my head to see Aiden on the other side of my bed. He clutched my hand, leant down and kissed my forehead. Pain was etched in his eyes. He’d already lost his wife to the curse. Now he was watching me suffer under it. Thank God he doesn’t know my situation is even worse than Ingrid’s was. I don’t know how he would survive it.
“You’re going to be okay, my darling,” Aiden said. “We’re going to find a cure for you, just as we did for Derek. And then we’re going to bring your beautiful baby boy back to your arms. How does that sound?”
I was desperate to ask about my son, but my lips remained tightly sealed. I looked around for the first time. We were in the emergency room at Hawk Headquarters.
Why does it want me here?
A nurse walked over to me and helped me into a sitting position. It was then that the remains of a mouthful of blood trickled down to the base of my tongue. Sweet. Succulent.
“You’re lucky we retained some of Anna’s blood from the lab when we were doing tests on her.” The nurse smiled.
Anna’s blood. Although I couldn’t deny my craving for more, I felt disgusted. Whatever did happen to Anna? And what about Kyle who accompanied her here all those months ago, just after he became a human?
Aiden must have guessed such questions would have been running through my mind. “Anna and Kyle are okay, Sofia. They’re in Aviary right now. Arron brought Ian there too. But they will be returned unharmed. They are just assisting the Guardians with some testing.”
Aviary? Guardians? Testing? I had no idea what he was talking about, but none of it put me at ease for my friends’ safety.
His face betrayed realization that he’d implicated himself in a longer and more complicated discussion than he had intended. “But all that, my dear, is a topic for another day. We need to get you better first.”
“How long before I can leave this bed?”
“Immediately,” the nurse said. “Take a look, you’re all healed.”
The blisters and all traces of my wound had vanished. I shivered internally as I recalled my trip to the witch in The Cells who, in exchange for some more dried bread, had carved the wound into my body and covered my skin with blisters as soon as we had returned from our… expedition.
“Where did you go, Sofia?” Derek must have been burning to ask.
“I-I don’t know, Derek.” I felt myself frown. “The last thing I remember was you leaving me in the bedroom. I was upset that you were refusing to bring me to see everyone here at Headquarters… I probably ran outside into the daylight. I suppose I worked myself up into a state and didn’t know what I was doing. But I think that what we can learn from this is: don’t make me upset again and I won’t go anywhere.”
Disappointment shrouded his eyes. He knew this wasn’t his Sofia he was talking to. He wanted me back. I wanted me back.
“How did you get back to the cabin?” he pressed.
How did I get there?
The truthful answer was that I didn’t know myself. After creating my wound, the witch had put me into unconsciousness and after that I remembered nothing. I guessed that Liana and her submarines must have had something to do with my journey.
“Again, I don’t remember anything. My guess is that some humans from the local village spotted me and brought me there.”
Derek was about to interrogate me further, but Aiden came to the Elder’s rescue and interrupted him. “There’ll be time for more questions later, Derek. Sofia has been through an ordeal and, although her body is looking better now, she clearly still needs some mental rest.”
“Rest is exactly what I need. Thank you.” I put my arms around my father’s neck and kissed his cheek. Then I turned to speak to the nurse. “Where will I sleep?”
“What? With me in my quarters, of course.” Derek didn’t even give the woman a chance to answer. “I’m not letting you leave my sight after having you slip from my grasp twice already.”
“No, D-Derek,” I stuttered. “I c-can’t sleep anywhere near you. I don’t want to risk doing more harm to you than I’ve done already.” I placed a hand underneath his shirt and traced my fingers over the scars I’d created on his torso. Then cold tears started to fall from my eyes. “P-please, I can’t sleep anywhere near you.”
Again my loving father came to the aid of the Elder. He gathered me in his arms and said, “Derek’s not going to make you stay with him if you don’t want that, honey. You can sleep wherever you want.”
“No, she can’t!” Derek hissed. “Aiden, are you mad? I am not going to let her out of my sight. Especially not during the long hours of the night. That’s when she’s most vulnerable! She needs supervision.”
Aiden placed a hand on Derek’s shoulder. “As long as she’s within the boundaries of Headquarters, she’ll be fine. I’ll have security positioned at all exits to the main building during the day so she won’t be able to go out into the sunlight, and around the outskirts of the entire grounds at night so she won’t leave the campus even once it’s dark. There was nothing stopping her leaving that little hut. You’re forgetting that it’s different here at Headquarters.”
“I still don’t trust…” Derek began, but Aiden cut him off.
“And,” Aiden said in a low voice, “you know very well that there are other reasons why it’s better that Sofia is kept away from everybody… why it’s better that as few people as possible realize that she’s back here.” r />
At that, Derek remained silent. Then Aiden turned to me once again. “You can stay in whatever apartment you want while you’re here, okay, darling?”
“Thank you, Dad,” I piped up, giving him a cuddle. “I’d like to be in the quietest part of the building. I just feel that I need time alone to recover. I can move in with Derek when I’m ready.”
Derek scowled, but he decided not to argue with Aiden in front of me. I was sure that a heated discussion would take place between the two men as soon as they were alone.
I hoped that Derek was now beyond taking my words and behavior seriously. I hoped that he simply accepted that I was deranged and needed some kind of psychiatric doctor. Or do I dare hope that he might have guessed by now that I’ve been possessed?
As the nurse guided me out of bed and set me on my feet, I felt relieved that this time, the Elder had decided to keep me apart from Derek. But a darker question entered my thoughts. The Elder had never had any qualms about hurting my husband before. Indeed, the Elder had willfully made me inflict suffering on him and I had felt the Elder shiver with pleasure.
Why does the Elder want to keep me completely isolated?
Chapter 16: Sofia
Aiden took hold of my hand and led me out of the emergency room, Derek following behind us. In the hallway, I was met with a group of familiar faces: Vivienne, Cameron, Claudia, Gavin, Eli, Shadow and Landis.
“Sofia!” they exclaimed and rushed forward to greet me.
They all looked delighted to see me, except for Shadow. His first instinct was to arch his back and snarl. Eli tugged on his leash.
“Come on, boy. Stop that. Don’t you remember your friend, Sofia?”
Shadow’s snarls turned into barks, then whimpers. He dragged Eli away from me.
Eli glanced in Vivienne’s direction. She too looked perturbed by Shadow’s restlessness. Then Vivienne’s eyes fell on me again.
Vivienne, if there’s anyone in this place who can see through me, it’s you. Please, Vivienne. Understand, I thought, hoping that she’d somehow read my mind.