I put my arms around her and kissed her head. What could I say? No words could console her. So I remained silent, tears of my own welling in my eyes. I held her in my arms, brushing through her hair with my hand and rocking gently from side to side. Although my body was groaning for sleep, Ashley was in desperate need of me.
After what seemed like hours, her voice had grown hoarse and she stopped crying. She looked exhausted as she lifted her eyes up to me and kissed my cheek.
“Thank you for being here for me.”
I nodded, still lost for words over her tragedy.
“I’ve been all alone,” she continued. “My Elder really put me through a lot when it was inhabiting me. I guess it didn’t want to use me up all at once and have me expire, so it brought me here and told me to rest until it returned.”
“Expire,” I murmured. “Is that what happened to Xavier?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him for days. What I do know is that Elders can only inhabit our bodies for a certain amount of time. Giving us breaks allows us to last longer, but eventually we will die.” The tone of Ashley’s voice was strangely calm. There was no sign of fight left in her.
Ashley paused before asking, “Why do you think Xavier expired?”
I told her about my visit to Cruor and how the Elder inhabiting Xavier had transferred to me. I now feared the worst for him and my heart sank for Vivienne. She had sacrificed so much for Derek and I, for her family, for The Shade. She deserved to finally live a life of her own and we all knew that she loved Xavier deeply. I had been hoping that she’d allow him into her life. Now she might be denied that chance forever.
Ashley interrupted my mourning. “Sofia, how did they turn you? I thought you were immune to the curse.”
“They brought me to Cruor. Apparently, the atmosphere there can break down immunity. I assume one of their vessels bit me while I was still unconscious.” I traced my neck, feeling for the bite marks. Sure enough, there were two small bumps at the base of my neck.
“I wonder how it works,” I continued. “If these creatures known as Elders are the original form of vampire, how did they start creating human mutations of themselves? How were they even able to infect humans with vampirism when they seem to have no physical form?”
“From what I’ve gathered, the original ‘vessels’, or human vampires, were created a long, long time ago simply by being kept in Cruor long enough. The darkness of that place manifested itself physically. Once infected, those human vampires could then turn others by biting them and inserting their venom directly into their bloodstream. We vessels are valuable to them because the only way the Elders can enjoy the pleasures of a physical form is by inhabiting one of us. They can’t directly inhabit a human’s body. The human first needs to be infected with their dark nature.”
My head spun with all this new and disturbing information.
“How did they manage to get to Earth in the first place? What is it with all these gates? Who created them?”
“I don’t know much else about their history, Sofia. My Elder wasn’t exactly open to questions. What I do know is that the vast majority of humans and vampires who didn’t escape The Shade are now locked up in The Cells. The Elders have started gathering up dozens of vampires and taking them out on expeditions. I’ve been on one already and it was…” Ashley stopped herself mid-sentence.
“What? Tell me about these expeditions.” When she remained silent, I shook her a little. “Tell me!”
“No, Sofia, I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to disturb you any more than I already have because we both need to try to get some sleep now. Our bodies will need it.”
Chapter 13: Sofia
I woke up to something cold nestling against me. For a moment I thought it was Ashley, but when I opened my eyes, I found myself staring at Abby. She’d lain down so that her head was level with mine.
“Abby!” I exclaimed, drawing her closer to me and kissing her forehead. “Oh, thank heavens you’re not still stuck in that dreadful place. Are you okay, darling?”
“Sofia, I’m really hungry. Why did they want to make me a vampire?”
“Abby, I-I don’t know.” I couldn’t think of an answer that wouldn’t scare her senseless.
“I’m so hungry. And they said I can’t have the tasty blood. They keep giving me the bitter one, so I spit it out. Then they hurt me and tell me not to waste it and…”
“What did they do to you?”
“They hit my back real hard. But it doesn’t hurt any more because they gave me some medicine. Also sometimes I feel so cold and I can’t breathe properly. I think of that poltergeist movie Ben showed me once and it feels like that, like a ghost is inside me. I’m scared that it’s going to happen again.”
Abby began to whimper. I didn’t want her to see the tears falling from my own eyes so I just buried her face beneath my chin and hugged her. After a few minutes she stopped crying and said something that chilled me to the bone.
“Sofia, why did you kill my mom?”
“Huh? What are you saying, Abby? I never…”
“Don’t lie. I saw you. You ripped out her heart. Why did you kill my mom?”
She thinks Clara was her mother. Abby lifted her head up to face me. Her irises had turned black. She stood up.
“Why are you ignoring my question, Sofia?”
Claws appeared from her hands and, without warning, she launched herself toward my chest. I managed to catch her hands just before they dug deep.
“Stop! Abby, stop it!”
“You tore out my mommy’s heart. Now I’ll tear out yours.”
I managed to scramble to my feet so I could take advantage of my height. Unable to reach me, she sank her teeth deep into my right arm. The pain caused me to lose my grip on her. She positioned herself on a high rock and was about to jump on me again when Ashley appeared behind her, grabbing her by the waist and hurling her to the ground against the sharp stone floor.
But this barely deterred Abby. She got up and this time turned on Ashley. Letting out a shriek, she climbed up the rock and grabbed Ashley’s foot, making Ashley tumble to the ground. Abby followed her down and, with her claws still bared, was about to tear through Ashley’s throat when a chilling breeze entered the cave.
Abby let out a small scream and halted mid-motion. Her eyes turned translucent and her mouth hung open awkwardly. Then she stepped back and made her way toward the exit of the cave. As she left, her own voice said:
“You need to control yourself, little girl. We can’t have you spoiling perfectly capable vessels.”
Abby left the cave and sped down the mountain. “Where do you think it’s taking her?” I gasped.
“To be locked up with the others, I guess. That one’s feisty.” Ashley was still catching her breath.
I stood rooted to the spot, stunned. My sweet little Abby. Where has she gone? I thought about my best friend, Ben. And then his parents. They had lost their lives because of their connection to me. I can’t let that happen to Abby.
I hadn’t noticed a second cold breeze enter the cave until Ashley let out a cry. Her body contorted before she stood upright. Her eyes were still clear though and her face looked normal; I assumed she must have paid a visit to the witch in The Cells like I had.
“I’ve given you enough rest. Now we have work to do.” She walked toward the exit and began to climb down the mountain.
“Wait!” I ran after her. “Where are you going?”
As if to answer me, another cold breeze blew through the cave, but this time it settled within my own bones.
“You’ll see.” My mouth spoke.
I climbed down the mountain after Ashley and followed her back toward the direction of the Port. On arrival, we were met with a dozen vampires huddled together and talking with each other—all of them female. Many of them had familiar faces; they were residents of The Shade, but most of them I had never spoken to. Each of them had a normal appearance like Ashley and I, b
ut it was clear from their conversations that they too were possessed.
A beautiful young vampire with black hair walked up to Ashley and I, handing us two short cocktail dresses. “Put these on. We’re leaving in a moment.”
Everyone else was wearing the same type of clothing, the type one would wear on a night out or to a party. Without considering modesty, Ashley and I stripped and quickly pulled the new garments over our bodies.
What on earth are we doing?
My voice spoke up above the chattering.
“Are we ready?”
“Yes,” they replied in unison.
My head turned toward a large submarine that had just surfaced. It was the biggest I’d seen of The Shade’s fleet. It looked capable of carrying at least a hundred people. The hatch opened and we began to pile in. I was the last to enter. I closed the hatch behind me and climbed down the metal ladder. While Ashley and the others took seats in the main passenger area, I headed directly to a small room at the front of the ship, where I found Liana sitting in the captain’s seat behind all the main controls. Once again, it seemed like she would be forced to navigate the submarine to wherever we were headed.
“I need another vial.” I held out my right arm to show Liana where Abby had bitten me. I had almost forgotten about the wound. She reached into her cloak and withdrew another one. I gulped down the sweet blood and within a few moments I had healed.
I sat down in a chair next to Liana. She started moving switches and punching in coordinates. Then she took hold of the wheel and we jolted forward. Her eyes were still translucent, yet I knew that she must now be in control of her actions for her to be navigating the submarine. It must have been a struggle to control such a large piece of machinery with impaired vision, but she was managing it somehow.
There wasn’t much to look at as I sat there. We sped through the occasional school of fish, but for the most part, we were travelling too fast to see anything other than the dark expanse of water stretched out in front of us. We had now travelled far past the boundary of The Shade, so I assumed that it must be nighttime.
Apprehension filled me as Liana began slowing the vessel and we started rising. As soon as we entered shallower waters, I got up and made my way into the passenger area.
“Come on, ladies.” A smirk formed on my mouth. “It’s time.”
I was the first to climb up the ladder and push open the hatch. The air was warm and booming music filled my ears. Although we’d parked on a dark stretch of empty beach, multi-colored disco lights flashed less than a mile away. Crowds of people danced and shouted.
It didn’t take much guessing to know what we were here for. They sure have instincts for what makes for an easy target. Intoxicated young men at a beach rave. At nighttime. They won’t even realize we’re vampires.
We hurried out of the water and onto the beach, heading toward the lights. As we got nearer, men started to notice us and wolf-whistle. I cringed as I imagined what we looked like: a large group of pretty young women in dresses that barely covered our backsides, all dashing toward them at once.
We reached the crowd and each headed for the first man who caught our eye. For me, that happened to be a short round fellow with hair down to his shoulders. He looked like he was in his early twenties. Poor guy. Doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into.
“Hello,” I said, walking up to him and fluttering my eyelashes.
“Hi, I’m Jason.” His face was bright red and he held a nearly-finished can of beer in one hand.
“I’m… Ava. Ooof, it’s so hot here. Do you want to come for a walk with me?”
The man stuttered and looked at me like he was physically incapable of refusing. “Oh, s-sure, Ava. That’s such a cool name, by the way. I just need to let Matthew know… it’s his party, ya see. I’m his best man!”
A bachelor party. This is worse than I thought.
He rushed over to Matthew, whispered something in his ear, and sped back toward me with a huge grin on his chubby face. He looked like he’d just hit the jackpot. I took his hand, placed it around my waist, and led him away from all the noise and smoke.
“I want to take you somewhere special,” I purred.
“Oh, do ya? Where might that be?”
“You’ll see. Let’s run.”
Once we were far enough away for his screams to be inaudible beneath the loud music, I pulled his head toward me and bit into his neck, inserting my venom. He squealed and struggled at first, trying to escape my grip, but eventually his body became too weak and he fell to the ground, twitching. I picked him up and flung him over my shoulder like he was a sack of coal. Within a few seconds, I was by the open hatch to the submarine. Liana reached out her hands and I handed the man to her. Then I washed my mouth in the sea, removing all traces of blood from my face, and headed back to the party.
I caught a few more men in this way, some tall, short, skinny and round. The Elder didn’t seem to have any particular preference. It went for whoever was the easiest target. I even managed to lure away a drunk girl by telling her I had some bottles of free booze and needed her help carrying them.
As I travelled back and forth from the submarine, I passed by other vampires with their victims. Once we’d finished with the bachelor party, we quickly moved further down the beach and started work on another party. It turned out that the beach was lined with dozens of late-night raves.
We finished our work only when Liana indicated that we couldn’t fit any more people in the submarine, at which point we all returned through the hatch. I gasped to see the yield of our fishing expedition. The floor of the passenger area was lined with people writhing and screaming, most still in the middle of their transformation.
What have I just done? I looked around at Ashley and the other female vessels, my accomplices. Behind their hollow eyes, I knew they all felt the same.
Sensing my horror, a voice hissed in my ear.
Won’t you be proud of your little Rose helping us do this one day…
Chapter 14: Derek
Days had passed and Sofia had still not returned. Being cooped up in that little cabin, listening to the seconds tick by, was beginning to drive me insane.
I’d been on the phone to Aiden three times a day since her disappearance. He had no news for me either. It was a mystery. We were back to square one, only this time, we didn’t even have any clue as to her location. No matter how hopeless the situation had been before, at least we’d known from the Ageless that she’d been sent to Cruor. Aiden suspected that the witch had come for her again. What other explanation could there be?
A voice began to nag at me, a voice that I’d been trying to exile. If, as Ibrahim suggested, Sofia had indeed lost her mind, she could have run out in the sun and committed suicide. Maybe you just didn’t spot the body…
I picked up my phone and dialed Corrine’s number.
“Derek? Have you found her?” Corrine answered the phone.
“No, Corrine. But I need to speak to Ibrahim right away.”
I heard Corrine calling for him and he came on the line a few seconds later.
“Sofia still hasn’t returned,” I said. “And she hasn’t arrived at Headquarters either. I think you were wrong about the Ageless. She must have come for her again. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Derek, I’ve communicated with the Ageless. She didn’t come for your wife again.”
“Then she’s lying!” I shouted, punching my fist through a cupboard door.
“I’m not lying, Derek.” A cool voice spoke from behind me.
I dropped the phone. Whirling around, I found myself face to face with the witch who’d stolen my life from me. Fury boiled within me on seeing her standing there, so calm and collected. It took all my willpower to not lunge for her throat.
“You!” I spat. “What made you deign to appear now?”
“You haven’t been cooperating,” she said bluntly. “You’ve neglected your mission of gathering up immunes and
helping restore balance.”
Is she insane?
The insolent tone of her voice made me lose all control. A blaze of fire shot from my palms and flew right toward the witch. It set the end of her long silver robe alight. She mumbled a few words and water gushed out of her own palms, extinguishing the fire.
My chest still heaving with outrage, I tried to steady the shaking in my voice as I said, “Listen, you bitch. If you wish to continue standing there with that long hair of yours intact, you’d better rethink your attitude.”
“I thought that you had understood the importance of maintaining balance between…”
“Balance! Pray tell, exactly what is this ‘balance’, witch? Because I haven’t seen any semblance of balance here. Now that I think about it, the only balance I’ve witnessed is in your heavenly realm. Is that just a coincidence?” Fire reignited from my palms, forcing her to douse the cabin with water.
This time, to my surprise, the witch cast her head downward. I’d hardly ever seen her face express emotions. But I could have sworn that I saw a flicker of guilt.
Finally she cleared her throat. “We had never intended for things to get this out of hand.”
“What are you talking about?”
The witch sighed and took a seat in a chair. She motioned that I do the same.
The Ageless leaned forward and spoke in a low voice. “What I’m about to tell you has never been revealed to anyone from this realm before. It’s part of our kind’s ancient history. But first, close your eyes.” When I looked at her untrustingly, the only reassurance she gave me was: “You’ll understand why soon enough.”
I didn’t trust her, but I was so hungry to hear what she had to say, I decided not to argue. As soon as I shut my eyes, a strange vision appeared in my mind. I was looking down upon a vast range of black mountains that stretched out as far as I could see. There was not a hint of vegetation in sight, nor any other life for that matter, just miles upon miles of shades of black and grey. There appeared to be no sun, yet the sky, which was speckled with dark clouds, had an eerie reddish tinge.
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