B00C8324IS EBOK (32 page)

I nodded. “We were best friends for years.”

“What could’ve caused her to fall for a monster like Derek Novak?”

Seeing the heartbreak in his eyes, that moment was the first time I could remember really seeing Reuben as Aiden Claremont, someone who actually did care about
Sofia. It hurt to know that I didn’t have the answer to his question. “I don’t know. Hopefully, someday, you’ll get to ask her.”

His eyes darkened. “Find out what Vivienne did to her. I want her back.”

I nodded. It took several more minutes before we finally arrived at the most secured and heavily guarded area in the mansion. Vivienne’s holding cell. We first entered what looked like an interrogation room. From our side, we could see Vivienne in an adjacent room through a tinted one-way window. She was chained to the wall, her back against it, her legs sprawled on the ground. Her gaze was distant. Bloody cuts – very similar to the ones Claudia inflicted upon me – were all over her arms, neck and face.

“She was being tortured…”

“As I said,” Reuben took a deep breath, “It’s not easy to break a vampire.” He pointed toward a door that would lead me to her. “Go ahead.”

I swallowed hard, not exactly sure what I was supposed to say or do to the vampire. I made my way to the room and shut the door behind me. On one corner of the room, a metal chair was set up. I pulled it toward her and sat in front of her. Only when I was already seated did she raise her eyes to me. Horror filled those blue-violet eyes the moment she recognized me.

“Ben?”

“Hello, Vivienne.” I
was surprised to be met with such fear.

“What are you doing here? Where’s
Sofia?” Worry creased the lines in her face.

I immediately noted how her mouth was bleeding. I looked closer as she spoke and realized that they’d pulled out her fangs. I wondered to myself why she wasn’t healing. Claudia always did heal instantly whenever she accidentally cut herself during times she was tormenting me.

“Ben… You have to tell me where Sofia is.”

The worry she had over my best friend was unnerving. “
Sofia is of no concern to you.”

“She’s supposed to be with Derek.” Her voice was childlike and vulnerable, but what she said was the last thing I wanted to hear.

I lunged her way and gripped her chin, forcing her to look me in the eye. The light blues and purples of her eyes turned into a deep violet and I was taken aback when I saw fear in their depths. “What do you mean she’s
supposed
to be with Derek?”

I wanted to see a spark of Claudia in her. I wanted to find the madness that I saw in my captor’s face – when she would be a cold, heartless bitch one moment and a broken, whimpering child the next. Looking straight into Vivienne’s face, however, not a single trace of Claudia could be found. Instead, I found purpose and a deep, mysterious sorrow.

“I never thought I would see my brother fall in love. He was too broken, too jaded... but he loves her and she loves him… And I don’t think they even fully realize it yet…”

Her words were acid to my still fresh wounds. Before I could think straight, I slapped her right across the face with the back of my hand. I was surprised to find her crashing
to the floor. All those times I hit Claudia in an attempt to fight back, she barely even budged. She just laughed at me.

I rose to my feet and stood over Vivienne as she began coughing blood. Guilt took a hold of me and I began mentally justifying my actions. I reminded myself that she was a vampire. She wasn’t some random innocent. I had every right – even a responsibility – to break her.

I tried to shut away Sofia’s words.
Please find Vivienne. And make sure they don’t harm her.
I steeled myself against my own conscience. Vivienne had information I needed and I was going to do everything possible to get it from her.

“How do we get to
The Shade, Vivienne?”

“Why don’t you just ask
Sofia? I showed her the way to The Shade. She knows everything that needs to be known.”

I pictured her as Claudia – her dark hair becoming a blonde mass of curls, her heart-shaped face turning into Claudia’s round one, her long hour glass form transforming into Claudia’s lithe figure.
They’re all the same,
I told myself before kicking her in the gut.

She coughed before looking up at me. A
faint smile crossed her face. “She went back, didn’t she? She returned to him?”

It felt like she was taunting me. My fists clenched and I was about to hit her, but then I saw it – a tear running down her eye. No matter what justification I had for causing her harm, no matter what torments Claudia put me through, Vivienne was a helpless, broken woman, and I was beating her up for crimes that she didn’t commit.

“Please…” Tears were streaming down Vivienne’s face as she tried to lift herself up from the floor. “Enough.”

I sat in front of her and once again gripped her jaw.

She moaned at the sudden action. I realized then that she’d probably been undergoing torture since they brought her here. Any move I made on her caused her pain.

“Only you can end this, Vivienne. Just tell us what we want to know. Tell us where
The Shade is. Then all this will be over.”

“Tell me, Ben. If you knew that a group of thugs were intent on murdering your family and destroying your home, what could they possibly do to you that would make you give them your family’s address?”

My mouth twitched.

“Exactly. I could never give up my family, Ben.” Her sobs began subsiding.

I eased my grip on her jaw, unable to accept that a vampire could care for anyone other than themselves. Claudia painted a picture of their kind that made it hard for me to believe that the concept of
family
could mean anything to them.

“
Sofia is my family, Vivienne. You took her away from me. If you had hold of someone who brainwashed your family into agreeing to slavery, what would you do to that person to get your family back?”

“
Sofia returned to The Shade out of her own free will and we both know it.”

The truth of her words stung. I reluctantly let go of her jaw. I couldn’t even look at her, but I felt her eyes on me, searching me.

“You loved her, didn’t you?”

“She was supposed to be mine. She wasn’t supposed to choose him.”

She lifted a trembling hand and brushed the tips of her fingers over the fine ends of my hair. “I’m sorry, Ben. For everything The Shade cost you. But we were only doing what we needed to do in order to survive.”

“Don’t tell me that. What Claudia put me through had nothing to do with survival…”

“You’re right. It had everything to do with revenge. You reminded her of the man who once abused her.”

“I was
not
that man.”

She nodded. “And I am
not
Claudia.”

The point was a blow in the gut, but it was well taken. I finally looked her
in the eye. To my surprise, after a couple of seconds, the violets of her irises had swirled into a bright blue. When her irises returned to their original blue-violet color, she stared at me as if I’d been made brand new. “Ben…”

I flinched when her thumb gently caressed the line of my jaw. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away from me. “What is it? What did you see?”

A lone tear fell from the corner of her eye to the tip of her chin before falling to the ground.

“You have no idea how much you mean to her. One day, Ben, you’re going to look beyond yourself and you’re going to see
Sofia as she is. Once you see the world through her eyes, you will understand. You could be
great
, Ben. And for all it’s worth, I thank you.”

“What? What are you say-…”

The door to the room slammed open and Reuben stepped in. “Enough,” he bellowed. “It’s clear we’re not going to get anything from her. We’re going to make arrangements for an execution as soon as possible.”

Relief washed over Vivienne’s countenance. Guilt washed over mine. Her last words haunted me for the rest of the day.
What was she thanking me for?

I mentioned it to Zinnia later that day.

“She was probably just deranged, Ben. Forget what she said.”

I shook my head. “You can’t just forget when someone says something like that to you –
especially when that someone is the Seer of The Shade.”

The Black Heights was a huge mountain range that spread out, north of the island. Within it was an intricate network of caves. The caves contained the Cells and the Catacombs. The Cells were located in the western portion of the caves. The Catacombs, home to the humans living at The Shade and not under the care of a vampire, occupied the eastern portion.

As I made my way from west to east of
the Black Heights, the encounter I had with Ashley and the dilemma it posed weighed heavily on me. I felt weak and helpless over everything going on around me, but I knew that I could no longer turn a blind eye to what was happening at The Shade. I was blinded by my affection for Derek, but it could not remain so.

I passed by the entrance of the cave network and headed for the cave opening that led to the Catacombs. I was surprised to find Derek leaning
against a solid rock wall, waiting for me.

“I told you I’d send a guard, but I figured I’d send myself instead. Xavier can take care of the training. After all, he’s better
with guns than I am.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, and then forced a smile. “Of course.”

“Did it go well with Ashley?”

“She agreed to your terms. You’ll release her immediately?”

He called after a nearby guard. “See to it that one of the human prisoners is released and sent to my home. Her name is Ashley. Make sure that she is properly guarded. I want her under close watch.”

I waited until the guard
left before I spoke my mind. “Is that really necessary? Having her watched like a hawk?”

“She
is
a hawk.”

I wasn’t amused. “Let’s just go.”

We passed through a long and narrow tunnel lit up with small incandescent bulbs that lined its rocky walls. I had to control my breathing in order to overcome my fear of enclosed spaces. I felt Derek’s hand on my waist.

“You seem so tense,
Sofia.”

I didn’t know if it was him or the claustrophobia, but he was right. Either way, I just wanted to get past the tunnel. When I saw a clearing ahead, a sigh of relief escaped my lips. I was about to speed up my pace toward the clearing, but Derek grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him.

“You alright?”

“I just have a lot on my mind.”

He sensed the tense formality with which I was addressing him. He put a foot forward, asserting himself, reminding me of his dominance. “What’s wrong, Sofia?”

I couldn’t really make sense of the conflicting thoughts in my mind. I saw good in him and yet that really didn’t outweigh all the wicked things I’d seen done at
The Shade. How could I even explain to him the struggle I had with trusting what I felt about him even in spite of what I saw around me? I knew that if I was to stick with him, if I was the girl spoken of in the prophecy, something had to change. Things could not remain as they were. Still, at that point, I was nowhere near prepared to discuss that with Derek, so I just breathed deeply. I shut out the tense sensation caused by the two stone walls on either side of me. I tried to relax and smile at him. I shook my head.

“I’m
okay, Derek. I just want to get out of this tunnel. Closed spaces unnerve me.”

He narrowed his eyes
before nodding. “Let’s get out of here then.” His hand comfortably rested on the small of my back, gently nudging me forward – closer and closer to the small opening that led to the Catacombs.

I didn’t exactly know what to expect upon reaching the end of that tunnel. All I knew about the Catacombs was that it was home to the humans. I was nowhere near prepared for what I saw upon stepping into the clearing. Right in front
of me was a thriving community, with people milling all around a giant round pit, the bottom of which I couldn’t quite see as I leaned over the wooden banister that lined the sides of the pit.

The pit had several levels with cave entrances that led
to other areas of the Catacombs. Allowing travel from one level to the other were ladders on the walls, while bridges were constructed to go from one side of the pit to the next. I looked up and estimated at least two other levels on top of us. I could barely even count the levels below us.

On the level
immediately beneath us, I noticed two children – a boy and a girl. Redheads with big brown eyes. The boy looked older than the girl. He was comforting her. I assumed they were brother and sister. I realized that it was the first time I ever saw children at The Shade.