Chapter 10: Sofia
Derek and I had stayed up with Eli all night, helping him pore over maps in his study. We had made mark upon mark on the maps and taken copious notes, but we’d completely failed to make any sense of the targets.
“I’m just not seeing anything,” Eli muttered, rubbing his temples.
“Maybe that’s because there is no pattern.” I sighed. “We’re trying too hard to see something that’s not there because it’s the only thing we have to cling to right now.”
I got up from my chair and paced around the room.
“Mexico… The West Coast,” I muttered slowly. “Hm…”
Derek looked up at me.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said.
“And it’s crazy, right? Nobody here could be doing this.”
Derek shook his head.
“I just can’t believe any vampire on this island could betray our trust like this on such a massive scale,” he said. “I mean, Sofia, we’re talking decades! How could any of them pull something like this off for so long? Even leaving aside the inconceivable betrayal, just think about the logistics of it all. Somebody around here would notice.”
“It’s just that these are all the exact locations The Shade targeted for stealing humans,” I said.
Derek rubbed his face in his hands and sighed heavily.
I continued. “And we know that all the vampires who weren’t living here when the gates were shut were taken back to Cruor—all those who remained came here.”
Eli twirled his pen between his fingers.
“Of course,” he said, “it’s not like we had any way of verifying that. In theory, there could be other vampires out there that we don’t know about.”
I turned on Eli and frowned at him.
“But how would they survive? All those other covens were wrecked by the Elders and they deliberately sucked all the vampires they could out of there. And where would they be keeping all these humans? How would they transport themselves there and back?”
Eli shrugged.
“I have no idea,” he said. “I’m just saying that we don’t have evidence that there aren’t other vampires existing on Earth outside of The Shade.”
“I don’t know,” I muttered, stretching my palms out on the table. “Everything points back right here to The Shade. I mean, it’s a large island. And we know how hard it is to live exclusively on animal blood. Hell, I find myself craving my own children’s blood sometimes.”
I locked eyes with Derek. We both shared the same expression. Neither of us wanted to believe that anyone could be betraying our trust and breaking a law of The Shade that we’d instituted two decades ago.
But most of all, neither of us wanted to be the ones to make an accusation like this of our own people.
“Maybe we should investigate,” Eli said finally, breaking the silence. “Then we can at least rule it out as an option.”
Derek nodded reluctantly.
“All right,” he said, clearing his throat. “I guess we’ll start once we’ve had some rest.”
“You are aware that our law calls for expulsion if someone here was found guilty?” Eli said, eyeing me.
I nodded, gulping.
Derek and I left Eli and returned to our penthouse. We undressed and got into bed. I snuggled against Derek beneath the sheets.
“Who do you think it could be?” I asked quietly, resting my head against his chest. “I mean, if it was somebody here, who do you think would be behind it?”
Derek shrugged, running his hands along my back.
“I can’t answer that. I just know that no matter who is behind this, we can’t allow ourselves to go back to our old ways.”