“Don’t you think I want to believe that this could really happen, Aiden?” I burst out. “I dreamed of having a family of my own for the past decade. I longed for your embrace. I longed for hers. But neither of you were there! Ben was there for me and when he could no longer be there, Derek filled that place in my life that you were supposed to fill. Derek became the man of my life when you should’ve been the one holding that spot. Now, in the midst of all this, you just want me to welcome both you and Camilla with open arms. You want me to forget that you lied to me about finding a cure so you could stab Derek in the back. You want me to forget that Camilla watched without even flinching as Borys physically abused me.”
Aiden’s shoulders sagged. He knew he was guilty. He knew she was guilty. I knew that he knew. I was so overwhelmed by emotion; I began to break down in tears. I shook my head and stood to my feet, finding myself exhausted by the events that had just unfolded.
“I’m going for a nap.”
I didn’t wait for any response from him. I just went to my bedroom and left him to do as he pleased. The moment my head rested on the pillow, I drifted off to sleep and found myself in Derek’s arms.
“I love you, Sofia,” he whispered into my ear.
He had his hands on my waist and he was rocking me gently as soft music played in the background. We were in some sort of garden and we were both all dressed up. Derek looked dashing in a tux and I felt pretty in the powder blue pixie dress I had on.
“You believe me, don’t you?” he asked. “You know that I will always love you, right?”
I creased my brows, made anxious by his unusual questions. “Of course I do, Derek. I know you love me.”
“I don’t want that to change.”
I was beginning to get nervous with the way he was acting and the things he was saying. “Why would that ever change?” I pulled away from him and looked up into those electric blue eyes that always made me go weak in the knees.
“Because we don’t have control over everything, Sofia. We never really know what life will throw our way.”
A cold wind swept through the place and panic began to overwhelm his countenance.
“No… No… This can’t be happening.” He shook his head furiously.
“Derek, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t love you, Sofia. That’s what’s wrong. I’m so sorry…” He was saying the words so quickly, it took me a while to comprehend them, but once I did, I wish that I hadn’t.
“Derek, why are you doing this? What’s going on?”
“I don’t want to do this, but I have to. I’m sorry, Sofia,” he gasped, before pulling out a dagger and driving it right through my heart.
I screamed even as I opened my eyes to find myself staring up at my bedroom ceiling. I was breaking into a cold sweat, my breathing heavy, my nerves on overdrive, my heartbeat drumming so furiously against my chest, I was sure it would somehow break out. I was trying to catch my breath when my father suddenly showed up on my door and ran to my bed, sitting on the edge of it, to check on me.
“Sofia, what happened? I heard you scream from the living room.”
I stared at him, unable to speak. I wondered how long I’d been asleep, surprised that he would wait for me at the living room and not just go off and find Ingrid.
“Where’s Ingrid?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you be with her?”
“When Camilla says that she needs time alone, it’s better to give her the space she’s asking for,” he quickly explained. “What happened, Sofia?”
I slowly rose on the bed, the sensations from my dream still running through my head. “I had a dream… How long have I been asleep?”
“A little over an hour… What was the dream about?”
I tried to recall every detail of the dream and when I did, I couldn’t help it. Tears began to stream down my cheek and I broke into a sob.
Aiden didn’t seem to know what to do at first, so for the few seconds I was bawling my eyes out, he just stared. After gathering his wits about him, however, he pulled me into his arms, cradling me over his lap. “Hey… come on… everything’s going to be alright…”
“One minute Derek was professing his love for me and in the very next minute, he was stabbing me in the heart with a dagger…” I explained in between sobs.
“It was just a nightmare, Sofia… It doesn’t mean anything…”
What I couldn’t explain in detail to him was that dreams I had before about Derek served as warnings. I couldn’t help but tremble at what this dream could possibly be warning me about. I snuggled into my father’s arms, drawing strength from the comfort he was giving me. “I can’t lose him.”
“You know me, Sofia. You know how much I stand against your relationship with Derek, but much as I hate to admit it, the man loves you. I doubt that he’ll leave you for anything.”
That’s because you haven’t actually seen Emilia and her effect on him. “What if he does? You don’t know Emilia. They have history together. What if she’s right? What if she’s actually the girl prophesied to help him bring the vampires to true sanctuary?”
My father’s words came as healing balm to my afflicted soul. “It won’t matter, because it will still be you holding his heart.”
I leaned my head against his shoulder and let those words sink in. I couldn’t allow myself to be disheartened. For myself and Derek’s sake… “Thank you…” I whispered to my father before giving him a gentle kiss on the cheek.
We sat there for a while. I relished his company, enjoying that time we got to spent together. I was certain that it would be one of my most cherished moments with my father.
“I love you, Dad,” I spoke up, knowing that I meant it. “You know that, don’t you?”
He smiled and nodded before kissing me on my temple. “I love you too, Sofia.”
We walked out of the room minutes later in a much lighter mood, chuckling over who had to prepare snacks for the both of us.
“I want us to be a family,” I told him, as we began to prepare our food at the kitchen.
“I want that too. More than anything,” he responded.
I smiled. “I’ll give Ing… Camilla another chance if you want me to.”
“That means the world to me, Sofia. I’ve heard so many stories about you here in The Shade and I know they’re true. You’re someone who’s willing to forgive, forget and trust again.”
“Maybe I got that from you…” I flicked a brow at him, loving that I could feel so light and casual and trusting around him.
He gave me a bewildered look. “Got what?”
I shrugged as I sliced through a piece of cheese. “The urge to find beauty within people and to try and create it when it’s not there.”
“I’m not like that at all.” He looked perplexed.
I chuckled at how little he knew about himself. “You knew that my mother was broken, but you still chose to love her every single day.”
His face softened and his eyes began to brim with tears. I was actually eager to see what it would be like to have my father cry in front of me, but I never got the chance to, because at the very next moment, Ingrid showed up, fangs and claws out, running toward me with determination in her eyes.
I had no doubt in my mind that my mother was about to kill me.
Chapter 32: Aiden
I’d already lost count of all the times Camilla had broken my heart. I was starting to get used to it. I was even expecting it, steeling myself for when it would happen, but when I saw her with that dagger raised in the air, poised to kill our only daughter, my heart shattered into pieces. I began to see red and every ounce of love that could’ve held me back from destroying Camilla disappeared. I wasn’t about to watch my wife kill my daughter. Not in a million years.
Without any hesitation, I pulled out the one gadget I was able to hide from my captors in the Shade. It was a blow dart that would inject a serum into Camilla’s system to incapacitate her. I kept it for emergency purposes, for when I wo
uld need it to save my life. I never thought that it would be my daughter’s life I would be saving instead.
With a guttural scream expressing all the anger I felt inside, I blew the dart right into Camilla’s neck right before she was about to stab Sofia in the heart. The effect was immediate and from what I observed, extremely painful. The agony was evident when Camilla started screaming in pain. I expected to feel some sort of sympathy for her, like I always did whenever I saw her in pain, but as I watched her drop the dagger and fall to the ground, screaming and writhing in pain before finally passing out, all I felt was numbness.
I was transfixed by the sight of her motionless body on the ground and for a while, I couldn’t move a muscle. I could sense Sofia trembling and I wanted to approach her and comfort her, but I didn’t know how to give comfort when even I needed it. It took me a while to get back to my senses and approach my daughter.
She was staring at her mother’s body, frozen with shock. “Did you kill her? Is she dead?”
“No…” I shook my head “…but she will be.”
Sofia’s eyes widened at the implication. “You mean…”
I lifted my hand in the air, palm up. “I told you to always keep a wooden stake in your person, Sofia. Do you have one on you?”
“Aiden… we can just imprison her… you don’t have to do this.”
I shook my head. “I told you that I would be in charge of her. I told you to trust me. I was a fool to trust her.” My jaw tightened as I directed my focus on Camilla. “She played me. She promised she wouldn’t harm you. She said she wanted to be a family again…” My voice choked and a tear ran down my cheek.
“Dad…”
“Give me the stake, Sofia.”
“Think this through… this decision could haunt you forever…”
“Give it to me!”
I was expecting Sofia to get intimidated by the strength of my voice. I forgot, however, that she was the fiancée of a vampire much more powerful, menacing and intimidating than I was. Despite the fact that I was so consumed by my anger toward Camilla, I was soothed by my daughter’s countenance. It reminded me that she’d been through a lot in The Shade… more than I could ever possibly know.
She hiked her dress up and retrieved the stake from a holder wrapped around her thigh. She then handed it over to me. “I know you, Dad. You will regret this.”
Then she watched me and allowed me to make a decision for myself. I gripped the stake and was about to approach my wife to drive the stake into her heart, but I found myself hesitating. Is this what she does with Derek? I stopped and looked at my daughter. “How many times have you done something like this to Derek?”
A small smile formed on her lips. “Many, many times.”
“Did he ever push through with doing the wrong thing?”
She shook her head. “Never.”
With that, my decision was made. I handed the stake over to her before looking back at my unconscious wife. “What do you want to do with her then?”
Sofia took the stake from me and put it back in place before curiously asking, “That’s it? No dramatic struggle? No excuses?”
I shrugged. “If Derek never disappointed you in this area, I don’t ever want to either.”
She kissed me on the cheek and squeezed my arm. “I have to say though… My boyfriend is much more of a drama king than you are.”
I couldn’t help but wonder what she meant, but I just decided to read between the lines and assume that he put up a struggle a lot more than I did. I couldn’t help but wince at the thought of the price my daughter had to pay whenever he struggled, but I didn’t want to dwell on it. I trusted that she knew what was and wasn’t good for her.
I once again looked at Camilla, my breath hitching at the sight of her. I still loved her, though I hated what she had allowed herself to become. I couldn’t understand how she could do what she did, but I knew that I had to accept that there was little chance she would ever truly change.
“What are we going to do with her?” I asked once again.
Sofia heaved a deep sigh. “Bring her back to The Cells I guess… We’ll decide what to do to her after a while. For now, we need to deal with finding the cure.”
Camilla was brought back to The Cells. I didn’t want to think about her so I stayed with Sofia. I was disheartened by Camilla’s betrayal, but somehow, what she did helped form a bond between my daughter and me.
For that reason alone, I was secure that everything would be okay. Sofia and I pre-occupied ourselves by checking that everything was running well in The Shade and it seemed everything was well. It wasn’t until sunset that we received news on Rex’s ultimate fate.
Vivienne was the one who had to give us the news. “Rex is dead.”
Chapter 33: Ingrid
When I woke up at the cell I was placed in, I found Claudia hovering over me with the saddest expression in her eyes. At the sight of her and at the recollection of what I’d done, I began to sob.
“Why, Camilla?” Claudia asked. “I thought you said you wanted to change.”
To save Aiden’s life. If I don’t kill Sofia, the Elder will kill Aiden. I knew that I couldn’t divulge to her the reason behind my actions in fear of what the Elder could do to her. “I had to, Claudia. You know me well enough to know that I mean it when I say that I had to. I didn’t have a choice.”
“That’s crap, Camilla.” Claudia shook her head. “I gave myself that same excuse many times over and it led me to very bad decisions. You have a choice. There is always a choice.”
“What does it matter?” I ran my hand through my hair, feeling the despair that came with the failure to kill Sofia. “She’s alive. Aiden hates me. It’s over. What’s done is done.”
“Are you blind, Camilla?! Do you not realize how much those two love you? You failed them time and time and time again and they were willing to give you one chance after another! How can you turn your back on that kind of love?”
“They want me to become human. If the cure works, they want me to become human again.”
“Will you do it for them?”
I shook my head, then nodded, then shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m going to do.” I knew that if there was anyone to blame for my misery, it was me and me alone. I knew that what Claudia was saying was true. Aiden had given me nothing but true love and Sofia had been willing to forgive and accept despite everything that I put her through. I was to blame for the fact that darkness had such a control over me now.
I was actually expecting for it to come and take revenge on me anytime soon, but nothing came. No one came. I feared that Aiden would suffer the brunt of my failure. I feared for his sake and I feared for Sofia’s too. At that point, when I was certain that I’d already lost them, I realized how much I wanted them back. The old adage haunted me: You never know what you got until it’s gone.
I nodded at Claudia. “I will do it. If it’s what they ask of me, I would be willing to become human.”
Claudia stared at me in surprise. “You’re certain?”
“Wouldn’t you do it if Yuri asked you to?”
She swallowed hard as she began fidgeting with her blonde curls. “I guess I would… I’m not sure. It’s a scary thought. Part of me wants to. For Yuri. Part of me is terrified of the weakness that comes with being human.”
She sat on the cot beside me before heaving a deep sigh. “I guess it really doesn’t matter right now. Rex is dead. Their theory for the cure didn’t work.”
I just smirked. “They will find a way. If there’s anything I know about my daughter that I am sure of, she will never give up until she finds that cure. She loves Derek Novak too much to give up.”
Before she could respond, the cell doors swung open and Aiden appeared. I took a deep breath upon seeing him. I geared up myself for a fight, for accusations, for a whole lot of pain. Claudia looked at him worriedly, but knew that she had to leave, giving us our privacy.
I couldn’t look
Aiden in the eye.
“Why?” he asked. “Why would you do this? I was almost going to kill you. If Sofia didn’t manage to successfully convince me not to…”
I didn’t have the answers to his question, not ones that would satisfy him at least.
“Why did you choose this path? Help me understand… I thought you said you wanted us to become a family again.”
“I do want…”
“Then why?!”
“Because I can’t afford to lose you…” I knew he wasn’t going to understand that statement, but it was the only one I could give him.
“Well, you just did, Camilla.” He turned back, but before he left, he gave me one last word. “Whatever Sofia decides to do about you, I suggest you just cooperate. Don’t fight back.”
“What do you think she’s going to do?”
“I’m pretty sure she’ll agree with what I’m about to suggest.”
“What’s that?”
“Next time they need a vampire to test out the cure, I’m going to suggest they use you.”
Chapter 34: Sofia
“Rex was burned to a crisp,” Xavier emphasized. “There are barely even any bones left. He’s just ashes now.”
What are we missing? You have to figure this out, Sofia. I feared for Derek. I feared for us, and amidst all the chaos we were in, the cure felt like my only ray of hope. Rex’s demise was disheartening and I felt somehow responsible for it, but I knew that we couldn’t give up on the cure and that Rex had it coming. I swallowed back the bile rising up my throat. Get it together, Sofia. Rex brought it upon himself. It’s not your fault.
“I don’t understand…” I frowned. “What caused Kyle to turn back to a human? What was the difference between him and Rex?”
All I got from Cameron, Liana, Vivienne, Xavier, Eli, Yuri and Claudia were blank stares.
“We’re going to have to try again,” Vivienne said, “but this time, we need to follow everything according to what exactly happened to Kyle.”
“What?” Xavier interjected. “We have to beat up the vampire first and feed her the blood of Anna?”
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