Chapter 20: Aiden
I held Ingrid’s hand in mine as we walked toward the garden where we had our now regular midnight rendezvous—the same garden Sofia had discovered and tried to escape from. I was silent until we reached the garden, lost in my thoughts, relieved that Ingrid wasn’t trying to make conversation.
I knew the risk I was putting myself in by being in a relationship with her. I knew that the higher-ranking officials of the hunters had their eyes on me. The pressure I’d been getting for losing Derek Novak and for keeping vampires alive at headquarters was intense, but I couldn’t do what they wanted me to do. I couldn’t kill Claudia out of honor for Ben. I couldn’t kill Ingrid because the thought of my daughter suffering another death was beyond what I could handle. Stop lying to yourself, Aiden. Ingrid is still alive because you can’t stand the idea of losing your wife.
I let go of her hand, fully aware of how tightly I was clinging to our past. The nights I’d spent with Ingrid had been pure ecstasy—Ingrid was a passionate lover in bed in a way that Camilla never was.
That night, however, I had to shove away any wanton thoughts of having her in my arms and focus on the questions and doubts weighing in my mind. The moment we reached the garden, Ingrid motioned to kiss me, but I quickly pushed her away. I stepped back, keeping a safe distance between her and me, so we could have a conversation.
“How did Sofia know how to get to the garden?” I asked Ingrid.
Her shoulders sagged and she heaved a sigh. “She wanted to escape, Aiden. She asked me for help, so I helped her. My conscience couldn’t stand it though. It felt like I was betraying you, so I had to tell you…”
If she was putting on an act of a conscience-ridden woman, she was good at it. I couldn’t help but still draw a breath at the sight of her. She will always be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.
I clenched my fists, my recent conversation with Sofia still stuck in my mind. “She’s talking crazy. Sofia.”
That statement seemed to spark delight in Ingrid’s eyes, but she quickly covered that up. “Why do you say that?”
“She’s talking about being immune to vampirism. She’s talking about a cure to the curse.” I looked at Ingrid, not missing how ironic it was that I was discussing this with a vampire. I’m such a hypocrite. I’m condemning my daughter for loving a vampire, when I myself am in love with one. I gave Ingrid a lingering look, hoping that she couldn’t see the disgust in my eyes when I thought: it’s your curse too. How on earth could I allow myself to still love you?
Conflicted was a word that did little justice to the war raging within me ever since Ingrid and I first slept together.
“Sofia and her delusions…” Ingrid said, sounding melancholic, almost as if she felt sorry for Sofia. “She actually thinks that because she’s immune, there’s some sort of cure that will make a lifetime of bliss possible for her and her beloved. Delusional darling...”
“Immune? She is immune?”
“Yes.” Ingrid stared straight at me before quickly reminding me why I should be revolted by her very being. “Borys tried to turn her the night I gave her to him. She didn’t turn. She’s immune to the curse, if we could even call it that.”
I stood there, unable to wrap my mind around the idea that she could speak so nonchalantly about offering her nine-year-old daughter to a century-old vampire and allowing him to try and turn her. How many times must I be reminded that she is not my Camilla?
“Don’t look at me like some monster, Aiden.” She shook her head. “It’s not like you didn’t know that I wanted Sofia to end up with Borys all those times we made love. Does it really make a difference now?” She drew close to me, pressing her body against mine.
This time, however, I found myself repelled by her. I pushed her away. “This ends now, Ingrid. No matter what we’d been doing these past days, my loyalty remains with our daughter. You were right all along. You lost me to Sofia, and make no mistake about it… If she ever asks it of me, I wouldn’t think twice about killing you.”
Fury unlike anything I’d ever seen before sparked in her eyes as she bared her fangs, poised to attack me, not quite remembering that I was a formidable hunter and compared to other vampires I’d fought before, a decade-old vampire like her was no match for me. As she was about to sink her teeth into my neck, I grabbed her head with both my hands and used all my strength to twist her head and snap her neck in two.
Quickest way to maim a vampire. I thought as she dropped to the ground. She was still alive, but once I instructed someone to snap her neck back into place, she would realize that she had just lost all leverage she had gained from my renewal of love for her—or perhaps lust.
She was going to wake up in a dungeon, her fangs ripped from her mouth, regretting the day she had ever tried to harm my daughter.