Chapter 44: Derek
She was silent. She was soothing calm amidst a raging tempest. She peered at me through her long lashes and I found myself breathless.
Suddenly, the waves crashing over me seemed less threatening, the winds blowing at me seemed a little gentler. The storm surrounding me ceased to matter. Sofia was once again in my arms, serving as my calming center.
Her lips moved to press against mine, and I knew that if I wanted to, I could take it further. I knew her well enough to sense that she would happily give in, but I didn’t want that. Not with her. I was determined to stay true to my vow that I would not make love to her until after she’d become my wife. It was my way of setting her apart from all those other women who came before her. It was my way of honoring her.
The idea that she could be my wife—in light of the hunters’ newfound cure—thrilled me. To live a lifetime of this, being with Sofia, tasting her, loving her… It was far more than I could ever dream of, far greater than my deepest wishes even as a human. It took centuries to finally find her, but it happened… I found the woman I loved and if it was all my immortality was good for, then it was worth it.
When our lips parted and I saw her blush the moment our eyes met, I could swear my heart stopped. I had no idea how I could’ve convinced myself that I could ever stand being apart from her.
“I was a fool to leave you,” I admitted.
She slapped my shoulder. “Damn right you were. I was going crazy trying to understand why you left.” Her voice broke. “You didn’t even say goodbye.”
“You wouldn’t have let me go if I had.”
“That’s because we belong together, Derek.” She paused and looked at me like the big fool that I was. “I can’t believe you still don’t know that.”
“I couldn’t stand the idea of preying on you, Sofia.” My heart sank as I recalled my need to have a taste of her blood the moment I had woken up. I didn’t even ask her anymore. I just took what she was clearly offering.
“Does it hurt when I drink from you?” I asked, wondering why I even bothered to ask the question. Of course it hurts.
“The bite stings at first, but it’s not like I’m not used to it…” She sat up on the bed and began pulling her hair up in a high ponytail.
I breathed out a sigh, hoping that we could freeze that moment and just stay cocooned in my bedroom. I hoped that we could just forget all the concerns that I needed to deal with. Of course, I knew that was impossible. Right at that very moment, I could hear people shuffling outside my room, waiting for me to emerge. I guessed that it was some of the Elite—perhaps present to discuss our severe lack of blood supplies. Just the thought of having to deal with all the drama going on made me groan out loud.
Sofia, who was already up and about the room, getting herself ready for the day, looked my way and chuckled, seeming to already know what was going through my mind. She leaned over my side of the bed and kissed my cheek. “We’re together again, and that’s all that matters right now.”
I didn’t know how to respond as I watched her step into the bathroom and close the door behind her. I loved that about Sofia. I loved how she seemed to take the heaviest of situations and somehow make it feel lighter.
My ray of sunshine was back and I wanted to kick myself for allowing things to go any other way.
By the time we both got ready and stepped out of the bedroom, we found a group of people waiting for us in the dining room—Cameron, Liana, Xavier, Eli, Yuri and to my surprise, Vivienne.
“Aren’t you supposed to be resting? Sofia and I were just planning to visit you…” I asked my twin.
“Liana came over and told me about the dilemma regarding the island’s blood supply. What are we going to do about that?”
I gave Liana a cold glare for worrying Vivienne over matters of the island. “That’s what we’re about to figure out today, Viv.” I pulled out a chair for Sofia beside mine before taking a seat at the head of the table. “Before I ask to what I owe the pleasure of this invasion, do you have any suggestions regarding how we’re going to fix this mess?”
I was greeted by a tense silence. There was a time when the answer would’ve been to abduct humans to feed on or to hold a culling—killing off all the weak and useless humans and draining them of blood that we could preserve at the chilling chambers. Now, none of us had any idea how to replenish the blood supply at such short notice. Until Sofia stated the obvious as she stared into space and shrugged. “I don’t see what the problem is.”
All eyes turned to her.
Xavier seemed irritated. “Do you have any idea how thirsty I am, Sofia? I only had one packet blood left and I had to give it to…” He bit his lip and caught his words as he glanced at Vivienne “…Not that I regret it of course, but not all of us have a fresh supply of blood like Derek seems to enjoy since you came back.”
My gut clenched as I followed the direction of Xavier’s eyes on the bite marks on Sofia’s neck.
“What Xavier’s trying to say is that if the vampires don’t get their blood, we won’t be able to keep them from attacking the humans at The Catacombs. We’re going to have another riot and considering that the hunters are coming and so are the other covens, we can’t afford that,” Liana summarized before taking in a deep breath.
“Yes. I get the dilemma,” Sofia said. “I just don’t know why you can’t see the solution when it seems pretty obvious.”
“Just tell us what you have in mind, Sofia. We’re all ears,” I said.
“For one thing, you could always live on animal blood. Vivienne has survived all these years on that.” Sofia raised her hands in the air before anyone could object. “Yes, yes. I know what you’re going to say. Not everyone can do what Vivienne is doing. I get that. I do have another idea. I’d like to believe that through the past year, we’ve already established some sort of rapport between the humans and the vampires. I don’t see why the humans wouldn’t agree to donate their own blood to feed the vampires.”
“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.”