A Castle of Sand (10 page)

Lily was trembling. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she suffered a heart attack then and there. Her face had drained of all color.

Gavin, on the other hand, still had a cocky smile on his face. He stayed calm as he gave Derek a look over from head to foot. “Don’t worry, your majesty. I’m not interested in your princess. Not in that way.”

“In
what way
are you interested in her then?”

“Not in any way that would be a threat to either her or you, your highness. She’s a friend—a sister even. Nothing more.”

Gavin said the words in a matter-of-fact way, as if he expected all of us to already know what he’d just explained. He sounded almost bored. Even I was intimidated by Derek’s disposition at that point, but Gavin didn’t even flinch.

I recalled the first time I had spent time with Gavin. It was right after Claudia took him from the farm and I helped stopped her from making a slave out of him. Claudia attacked him and left some pretty nasty gashes on his upper torso with her claws. I pleaded for Derek to give me a vial of his blood, so we could use it to heal Gavin’s wounds.

“You want me to drink
his
blood?” Gavin spat out, staring at the vial in disdain. “Are you insane?”

“It will help you heal…” I said meekly, unsettled by the anger blazing in his eyes. I wondered to myself why I was feeling guilty. It wasn’t my fault Claudia caught him and clawed her nails through him. Heck…he should be thankful that I intervened.

“Yeah? Well, duh…of course it will help me heal. Doesn’t mean I want vampire blood running through my veins…” He stared at me disgustedly. “Have
you
been drinking his blood?”

I shuffled my feet uncomfortably. “Several times…”

“Migrates…” He rolled his eyes. “No wonder the vampires treat you as pets. What are you doing here, really?”

We were in his small cell in The Catacombs and he was lying on one of the four cots belonging to his family. The drab setting and dimly-lit room proved to be rather depressing.

“I just wanted to check on you,” I responded to his query, wondering why he was throwing so much hostility at me.

“You think you’re some sort of savior, don’t you? Like you’re above us just because the prince of The Shade is professing his love to you?” Gavin, despite the bloodied bandages wrapped around his torso, sat up on his cot and glared at me.

“No…I just wanted to help.”

“I’ve been here all my life, girl. I know the vampires a lot better than you do. Do you think you’re the first Migrate these creatures have been infatuated by? You’re not. There have been others before you.” He snorted as he shot me a condescending look. “It’s the same old story. The vampire fell in love. The Migrate got special treatment. Then what? The human gets either turned or killed. If not, they end up with us Naturals—practically useless, because they’ve been so broken, both mentally and physically, by the vampire who claimed to love them. I could introduce you to one. Anna—stunning beauty, but degraded to nothing but a whimpering child. You’re nothing special.”

A lump formed in my throat as I searched my mind for a response
. You obviously don’t know what kind of person Derek Novak is,
was what I wanted to say, but it was clear that Gavin thought himself better schooled in the subject of vampires than I was. Thus, I just hung my head in surrender. It seemed       pointless trying to get my point through to him, at least at that moment.

The silence seemed to mellow him down, draining the fight out of him. “You have no idea what it’s really like to be a human at The Shade, living like every day could be your last. Don’t come here holding yourself high above everyone else.”

“I’m not holding myself above anyone! Is it so wrong to want to help, Gavin?”

He studied me carefully, assessing me, perhaps trying to figure out if I was being sincere. His eyes then once again found the vial containing Derek’s blood. “I’m not going to drink
that
. I don’t think you should either.”

“Why?”

“Because the last thing you want is to owe a vampire anything.”

Standing in the living room of my new quarters in The Catacombs, I couldn’t help but form a bitter smile as I realized the extent to which I had neglected to follow Gavin’s advice. It felt like I owed Derek
everything
.

Derek continued to study Gavin carefully. He then gave Gavin a nod. “Very well then.” He straightened to his full height, once again towering over the rest of us. “I will entrust her to your care. She seems to put a lot of faith in you, so I expect that you will look after her during her stay here in these caves. Do you agree with this?”

Gavin smirked. “How can I refuse? Sure. I’ll take her under my wing.”

“Gavin…” Lily muttered, her voice hoarse and dry. She still had that mortified look in her eyes. I was about to approach Lily and reassure her, when Corrine stepped into the room. Derek raised a brow upon seeing the witch.

“You told me to inform you once Ashley’s turning is about to commence,” Corrine said.

I felt myself go pale at what that implied.

“Wait here,” Derek instructed.

I shook my head. “I’m going with you.”

“Sofia…you don’t have to see this.”

“No.” I stood my ground. “I
want
to see this. I
have
to see this.”

Sadness filled his eyes as he nodded. I couldn’t place exactly what emotion was coursing through him. To me, for reasons I couldn’t entirely understand at that moment, it felt like my sandcastle had just been hit by another wave.

I didn’t want her to see anybody—much less Ashley—being turned into one of us. It wasn’t the prettiest of sights, neither was it a memory that one could easily purge out of the mind. I was afraid that the sight would haunt Sofia forever. I was afraid that seeing Ashley turn would forever remove from Sofia’s mind the option of becoming a vampire.

That’s when I realized that I was still hoping that she would agree to be one of our kind. I hated myself for being so selfish.

How could I wish my curse upon the woman I love?

We were taking the walk from the Black Heights all the way to The Sanctuary, Corrine’s home at The Shade.

The Sanctuary, befitting its name, was located southwest of the island. The white marble structure, with its large round pillars and domed roof, was originally built to honor and house Cora, the witch who made the Shade possible—a dear friend of mine. After her death, the Sanctuary became home to every other witch that succeeded her. One of its chambers also served as my mausoleum during my four-century slumber. Surrounded by lush gardens, complete with a labyrinth, a gazebo and a fountain, it was one of the most lavishly designed structures at The Shade.

Still, I never did quite like going there. This time, in particular, I dreaded reaching the witch’s temple. As we walked along the rocky path and past the giant redwoods, I found myself grabbing Sofia’s hand.

“You really don’t have to see this, you know…” I repeated, a plea for her not to take part in the turning.

“Ashley’s my friend. She’d want me there.”

“Paige and Rosa are her friends too…you don’t see them tagging along.”

She squeezed my hand reassuringly. “I’ll be alright, Derek.”

My gaze focused on what lay ahead. I could already see the Sanctuary coming into view. The sight of the pure white marble façade, seeming to glow under the light of the full moon, should’ve taken my breath away. It was quite a sight to see. Should I dare look at her, I could almost picture the spark of delight in Sofia’s eyes—one that never failed to grace her face whenever we went to the Sanctuary. Corrine, after all, was one of her treasured allies at The Shade. I was never really a fan of the Sanctuary, truth be told. The price paid for such a lavish structure lessened its value in my eyes. I knew what it took for it to get built, but that was only one of the reasons the sight of it made me sick to my stomach. That night, I feared that the sight she was about to witness would lessen my value in Sofia’s eyes.

I squeezed her hand tighter. She looked up at me, stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against my cheek. “I love you, Derek.”

Those words would’ve been healing balm—hearing them from her always did make all the difference, but not that night. I wondered if she could tell me the same thing after witnessing Ashley get turned.

I kept my silence as we reached the Sanctuary. Corrine, Ashley, Kyle and Sam were already there. Ashley was wearing a skin tight red dress that made her look absolutely stunning. I would’ve normally been amused at how Kyle and Sam both gulped at the sight of her, but all I could think about was Sofia. Upon seeing each other, Sofia and Ashley embraced.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” Sofia whispered.

Ashley nodded. “Yes. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

The expression on Sofia’s lovely face made me ache inside. She looked like she was about to lose a friend. I didn’t know if I was being paranoid, but it was almost as if she was already grieving Ashley.

“Are we ready to begin?” Corrine asked.

Awkward and unsure glances were exchanged across the hall, before Ashley stepped forward and nodded. “I’m ready.”

I watched Kyle carefully. I knew for sure that he’d never turned a human before. I wondered what was going through his mind. At that point, however, there was no time to ask. I’d been spending all my free time preparing Sofia’s quarters at The Catacombs, I barely gave Ashley’s turning much thought.

Corrine nodded for us to follow her and we made our way to the chambers where I’d been kept asleep for four hundred years. The giant round pillars, the stone slab in the middle of the room—each feature triggered unwanted memories from the past.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” Cora’s big brown eyes were moist. It was clear that she’d just hurriedly wiped tears away before I came in.

I couldn’t look into her eyes. I knew that she loved me. She’d told me many times before. More than that, she’d shown me in more ways than one that I meant more to her than she did to me. I could still remember how she broke into tears when I told her that I wanted to end it all. I wanted to escape The Shade and all the memories that came with it.

“You can’t leave me here,” she sobbed.

“I’m sorry” was all I managed to say. She was my best friend and, other than Vivienne, she was the most important woman in my life, but I couldn’t stay. Not for her, not for Vivienne. I couldn’t bear the guilt anymore—the price I had paid in order to make The Shade what it was, was simply far too high. I couldn’t live with myself, yet the thought of dying left me terrified.

“You have no idea how hard it is to have someone you love leave you this way.”

The strongest woman I’d ever known was sobbing right in front of me, a broken, beautiful being I had no idea how to console. She did everything to convince me not to push through with it. She tried to make me see reason, tried desperately to make me realize that there was still something worth living for, but I had made my decision.

Thus, we stood there that night, with me entrusting my entire life into her hands. Though she fought tooth and nail against my decision to escape to deep slumber, I knew that she would never do anything to harm me and that she would be true to her word that my sleep would last for eternity, without dreams or nightmares to contend with. Just peace.

I never expected her to go back on her promise, because even though no harm did come my way and though the sleep was as peaceful as any slumber could be, I found myself awake four centuries later, madly in love with a girl I feared I would someday lose—the same way Cora lost me.

Sofia clung to my arm and this motion snapped me out of my memories. My stomach twisted into a tight knot when I realized that Ashley was already lying on the stone slab. As she usually did, Corrine stood nearby—overseeing the ceremony, making sure that no harm would befall the human being turned. This used to be Cora’s role. I found myself missing my best friend, but knew that she was long gone. The thought added another weight to my already heavily burdened chest.

I could sense Sofia’s slender form tremble next to mine as Kyle approached Ashley.

“This is going to hurt a bit…” Kyle’s croaked.

“It’s ok.” Ashley gave me a half-amused, sideways glance. “I’ve been bitten before.”

It was obvious from the tone of her voice that she was trying to make light of the situation, but the tremble that came with her words made it clear how nervous she was.

Who could blame her? This decision of hers will change her life in more ways than she can imagine.
I stared sadly at the annoying little twerp that was Ashley and truly felt sorry for her. Kyle gently brushed strands of her hair away from her neck. Light scars were still present on her skin—my bite marks.

I carefully studied Kyle as he lifted Ashley up into a sitting position. Every move he made was gentle and was meant to keep the young beauty at ease. I could almost see the horrifying memories of the day he was turned flash behind his eyes.

“I can’t believe she’s really doing this…” Sofia muttered in a low voice that wasn’t meant to be heard, but she was close enough for my sensitive ears to hear.