“It’s really just an excuse to be able to have them at their prime,” Lucas added with a smirk.
From the look on Derek’s face, he didn’t seem very happy about the explanation he’d been given. He eyed us from where he stood – the distance between us only a few strides away.
I couldn’t help but wonder what was going through his mind.
“I know what you’re thinking and no, you can’t let them go, brother,” Lucas spoke up, sounding like he was talking to a five-year-old. “They’ve seen the Blood Shade. We can’t afford to risk the coven. They stay or they die.”
Derek’s expression turned to complete disgust. “They can’t be any older than we were when we were turned.”
“I know,” Lucas grinned, speaking as though it were the most amusing fact known to their kind. “They’re all seventeen.”
“The knights and guards take them at that age, because as you know, blood tastes sweeter once they reach the fullness of their womanhood at eighteen,” Vivienne explained.
Lucas scoffed at the notion. “Please. It’s all the same, but really, Derek, enjoy them. Just looking at them is already a feast. After the year ends, imagine all the wicked things you can do with them.”
Derek stood to his full height – a couple inches taller than his older brother and began walking toward us. My very first reaction was to flinch as he approached.
At that moment, the only way I could think to describe him was hungry.
I stood there, sure that my knees were about to give way beneath me. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and in doing so, found the back of my hand brushing against the hand of the blonde-haired girl standing beside me. I could feel her shaking. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it, hoping to both give comfort to and draw it from her.
The motion attracted Derek’s attention. I’d never felt more vulnerable than I did the moment Derek Novak’s electric blue eyes settled on me. His gaze betrayed the thoughts roaming his mind. I was a lamb – a lamb ready for slaughter.
CHAPTER 6: DEREK
I couldn’t pry my eyes away from her. I wanted to stop, but I found myself inching closer.
She was beautiful to behold – not just because her physical appearance drew me in above and beyond that of the other girls. No. In my eyes, she was most beautiful because at a time when she had every right to be terrified, she managed to show comfort to another person who needed it.
The moment I saw her grab the hand of the girl beside her, all the others paled in comparison. She showed me a humanity I longed to return to.
But I was the predator. She was my prey. And even as I admired her for that one simple gesture, I was battling to prevent myself from relishing the sweet delicacy that she was to my kind.
I muttered several curses under my breath. I knew my sister well enough to know why she was putting me through this. She knew my struggle to maintain control when it came to satisfying my hunger. So it was the first thing she put to the test. Why on earth she was testing me was still something I had yet to figure out. Vivienne was known for her mind games, but especially with the young innocent redhead who caught my eye standing before me, I couldn’t help but think that this was Vivienne’s cruelest game yet.
I studied the young woman whose emerald green eyes boldly settled on me. I took in the sight of those dark auburn locks cascading down her shoulders and framing her delicate face. There was an innocence to the slight blush of her freckled cheeks that made me ache inside. Her eyes and the way they were fixed on me – unflinching in their courage and audacity – made me want to shrink away from her.
I knew she was studying me and I would’ve given anything to find out what was going through her head as she looked me over.
A familiar ache gripped my chest with every step I took closer to her. She was everything I no longer was. She represented everything I lost when my father turned me into this monster.
When I was about two feet away from her, I immediately regretted ever going near her, because the sight and smell of the slightest bit of blood on her lower lip became my complete undoing.
Lightning speed and strength I forgot I had pushed her backwards until her back hit one of the sanctuary’s giant marble pillars with a loud thud. Guilt and shame filled me for causing her pain, but I was giving in to my nature, desperate to draw her blood and taste it.
I swallowed hard as my eyes centered on the cut on her lip. I knew that the moment I did anything to taste it, I wouldn’t be able to control myself. There was no going back.
“Derek, no…”
My uneven breathing and erratic heartbeat drowned out my sister’s protests. As far as I was concerned, there was no one else there with us. It was just me and this innocent – this innocent I was about to totally destroy.
I wrapped an arm around her small waist and lifted her up the pillar, supporting her weight with my hips. She tried to push me away, tried to free herself from my grip, but it didn’t take long for her to realize that there was no escape. I was too strong for her and she was at my complete mercy. She knew it. I knew it, and I hated myself, because at that moment, there wasn’t a single bit of mercy running through my blood-deprived veins. There was nothing in me but an animalistic and primal need that was begging to be satisfied – hunger.
CHAPTER 7: SOFIA
What is it with these people and shoving me up against hard surfaces?
I was fully aware of the gravity of my situation, and yet that was the one thought that circled my mind the moment he lifted me so that my face was directly in front of his. He had me pinned against a black marble pillar. My back was suffering from the abuse it’d been receiving all night long – first from Derek’s brother and now from him.
Lucas was probably right when he referred to me as a “fragile little twig”. It was exactly how I felt, with Derek pinning me there, all my attempts to push him away and break free failing miserably. I wasn’t even sure if he was aware of how strong he was, but he exuded a power that I didn’t sense even with Lucas. I felt like a china doll, as though he could shatter me the moment he wished to do so.
Everything about Derek Novak was overwhelming my senses. The feel of his body pressed against mine, the chill of his breath against my skin, the sound of his uneven breathing, the light scent of his musk mixing with the myrrh they applied on me before we were brought to him.
He stared at me and I stared back. I could almost see the wheels in his head turning and every bit of his demeanor showed how conflicted he was about what he wanted to do. And yet, there was also a determination in his sharp blue eyes that left me grasping for any bit of hope.
When his free hand grabbed my head and pushed it to the side to clear my neck as he bared his fangs, all I could think of doing was beg, “Please don’t.”
I could hear Vivienne trying to plead with him, reminding him that he could control this. He needed to regain control.
I didn’t understand what was going on or why they were doing what they were doing. I just knew that I was at Derek’s mercy and yet, unlike what I experienced with Lucas earlier that night, right now nothing about what Derek was doing made me feel violated.
That scared me. This man had me shoved up a hard surface, trapping me with his strong arms, crushing me. He was about to sink his teeth into my bare neck and drink my blood. I had every right to feel violated, but I didn’t. What does that say about me?
“Derek… you don’t want to do this… you have control.” Vivienne just kept at it.
I looked into Derek’s eyes wondering if it was getting to him. It seemed it wasn’t, because he pushed against me as he leaned forward, his fangs beginning to press against my neck.
Even as all five of my senses were assailed by sensation after sensation brought about by my unfamiliar and strange predicament, I recalled something Ben always told me when I began to pity myself and blame my circumstances for my sorrow.
“I know an excuse when I hear one, Sofia. Don’t you dare dupe yourself into bel
ieving that you’re the victim.”
I tried to push him away, but surrendered to the idea that it was no use. Instead, I pressed my cheek against his, the warmth of my skin fading with the coldness of his.
“You can control yourself. Don’t do this to me.” I whispered into his ear.
To my surprise, just when his fangs were about to break my skin and draw blood, he stopped. I could feel the fangs retract and it was just his lips pressed against my neck. “I can’t,” he responded. “You’re too beautiful, your blood too enticing, too sweet...”
Tears began to stream down my face – partly because everything that’d been happening came crashing down on me, overwhelming me, and partly because of how much I ached for Ben as I spoke the same words that he had so many times before.
“I know an excuse when I hear one. Don’t you dare deceive yourself into believing that you’re the victim, Derek Novak.”
I could hear a soft gasp escape his lips the moment I said the words. I couldn’t help but sigh with relief when his arm’s grip around my waist loosened. His lips remained pressed on any part of my skin it could brush against as he eased me down so I could stand on my feet again. I felt so small and fragile standing so close to him. The moment my feet hit the ground, my knees buckled and to my horror, I found myself leaning to him for support.
“You’ll be alright,” he whispered loud enough for only me to hear.
I wanted to throw a bitter, sarcastic retort at him. How could he say something like that after what he was just about to do to me? I found, however, that I had no energy left in me to put up a fight.
His eyes were still on me as he spoke. “Tell me your name.”
It sounded more like a command than a request, but I found myself responding anyway. “Sofia… Sofia Claremont.”
He then began to speak louder, obviously addressing everyone else in the room other than me. “Sofia is to be my personal slave.”
“And the others?” Vivienne asked.
Derek didn’t even look at them. “You decide.”
Other words were exchanged, but I managed for the first time in a long time to numb all five of my senses. The thought circling through my mind was overwhelmingly sickening.
What exactly does he mean by “personal slave”?
CHAPTER 8: DEREK
Four hundred years. Gone. Just like that.
As Lucas and Vivienne led me out of the Sanctuary, apparently Corrine’s dwelling place, I couldn’t help but marvel over what they’d managed to turn the Blood Shade into over the past four centuries. Before the spell, the island we’d occupied and called the Blood Shade was nothing but a fortress surrounded by a dark forest with its towering redwoods and giant sequoias. We made a small clearing in the middle of the forest and called it The Vale. That was where we began making plans regarding what the Blood Shade would someday be like. I never thought it possible that the plans would actually materialize, but here it was – right before my very eyes – more amazing than it was in my imagination.
As we left the Sanctuary and eventually entered into what was now the Vale, I asked question after question to satisfy my curiosity and make me forget my hunger. Sofia and the other slaves were walking right behind us, escorted by the guards. I was still so conscious of Sofia’s proximity, still overcome by the scent of her blood.
“What happened to the wild animals that occupied the forest?” We’d made plans to keep our residences atop the redwoods, because of what a nuisance the wildlife had turned out to be.
“They’re around,” Vivienne explained as we took a leisurely pace strolling past the Vale. “Cora helped us gather most of the wild animals into certain parts of the island we call dens. Some of the fiercer ones, however, are kept in the Cells.”
“The Cells?”
“The prisons,” Lucas butted in. “They’re located at the Black Heights – you know,” he shrugged, “the mountain ranges. The dungeons and slave quarters are kept there.”
I raised a brow. “Sofia?”
I didn’t miss how Vivienne’s eyes shot toward me in question. I knew she was intrigued by the concern I was showing the girl. At that time, there was no way for me to explain to my sister exactly how I saw Sofia: a ray of light. The truth was I didn’t even fully understand myself.
“Harems stay at the Residences with their keepers,” Vivienne explained, assuring me that Sofia wasn’t going anywhere without me.
I nodded. “And what exactly are the Residences?”
“You’ll find out soon enough. That’s where we’re going.” There was a certain smugness to my brother’s tone. I imagined he was mighty pleased that he had four hundred years’ worth of experience and knowledge over me.
I stared back and forth from my sister to my brother, wondering about the amount of knowledge and wisdom they’d managed to accumulate over all that time. I didn’t know if it was my bias against my brother or the fact that we were never close due to how our father always pitted us against each other, but Lucas didn’t seem to be any wiser than he was when I went under Cora’s spell a long time ago. Vivienne, on the other hand, had a sager aura about her and I couldn’t help but feel some sort of reverence toward her.
I then began to wonder where my father was. The fact that I had no pressing desire to see him told me a lot about my feelings toward him. I immediately assumed that he’d be in the Crimson Fortress, the massive walls I made sure would be built to protect the Blood Shade before I sought escape. I found myself asking to verify if the fortress was still standing strong and if Oliver, always the fierce warrior, was there.
“The fortress is stronger than ever. We have knights, guards and scouts stationed at its walls to keep us all secure,” Vivienne assured.
“Knights? Scouts?”
“Knights are members of the Elite who also serve as warriors,” Lucas explained. “Scouts are those we send to the outside world for supplies or new blood.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that last piece of information. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a way for our kind to survive without preying on humans. I was sure that just saying those thoughts out loud would be labeled as sacrilege by my father.
“And father?”
“He’s meeting with leaders from the other covens to discuss how to stop the damned Shadow Hunters once and for all,” Vivienne explained.
My jaw tightened at the mention of the hunters dedicated to ending our kind. I remembered a time when I was one of them. That time was long gone. “They’re still a threat?” I asked.
“More so than before,” Lucas said, almost sounding indignant that I didn’t know that – as if it were my fault that the Shadow Hunters were so powerful. “We’re the strongest and most powerful coven remaining. A lot of the citizens of the Blood Shade – Lodgers we call them – escaped from covens that the hunters managed to find and completely annihilate.”
Vivienne most likely sensed my agitation over the news, because she quickly changed the subject.
“Shadow Hunters are a topic for a later date.” She said, curtly.
We had just reached the outskirts of The Vale and were now about to enter a different part of the redwood forest. I couldn’t help but draw a breath over how the Blood Shade changed since I last saw it. Before the spell, it could barely be called a community. It was our escape, our safe sanctuary from the Shadow Hunters, who were threatening to expel every single one of our kind from the earth.
If I didn’t have my father, brother and sister to fight for, I would’ve surrendered myself to the hunters, ending my life under their cruel hands. I couldn’t bear to do that to my family though, especially not to Vivienne. The coven needed me at that time, but when I fulfilled my part of the bargain and managed to bring them to this safe haven and win Cora over to our side as our protection, I knew I couldn’t bear living another second with all the blood that was on my hands. I had to end it.
But I was a coward. I dreaded to think of what would happen once I actually die. What hap
pens to the living dead once they pass away? I shuddered every time I found myself thinking about it. It was perhaps quite a strange thing that the undead could be so afraid of death, and yet it was truth. I was afraid to die, so I went to sleep instead.
As we walked through the dense wood, I couldn’t help but speak my thoughts. “You must hate me for having done what I did…abandoning you all.”
I noticed how Lucas’ jaw twitched, a flicker of the familiar resentment showing in his eyes. I didn’t need to hear a response from him to know what was going through his mind. Of course he hated me.
Vivienne was far more gracious. “No, Derek. You did what had to be done to protect us all without even knowing it. Your rested state has caused you to gain energy over the hundreds of years that you were under Cora’s spell. Because of this, you’re most likely the strongest and most powerful vampire in existence today.”
Lucas asked a question about how exactly I managed to win Cora over to our side, but Vivienne’s words echoed through my head… strongest and most powerful vampire. Recollections of how I practically threw Sofia up that pillar roamed through my mind.
My gut clenched. She looked fragile under my grasp and yet so fearless. I was death and I was looking her right in the eye. She looked right back. Without even flinching. She was walking behind me. I could hear her gentle footsteps and the clanging of the shackles over her wrists. I could still smell and practically taste the blood on her lips. I wondered if this was the same effect women had on me before. I couldn’t even remember.
I stopped in my tracks and called to her. “Sofia.”
Everyone stopped our walk through the night the moment I spoke the words.
Her youth showed in the way she responded to me. “What?”
Without even looking back, I knew that she was about to suffer pain for her insolence in addressing me. I could practically see the guard behind us raising his hand to hit her.
“Don’t touch her,” I commanded. “Sofia, walk beside me.”
A Shade Of Vampire (The Mate) Page 3