Recollections of the previous night flowed through my head. I remembered how conflicted Derek seemed as he raised me up on that pillar ready to sink his teeth into me. There was no conflict of that sort evident in the vampire he just killed.
I found myself intrigued by Derek – even more so than I was before. He was a paradox, a walking contradiction. How he could do such a violent act with no hesitation in one moment and be as gentle as he was with me right afterwards was something that left me completely unnerved.
I could sense his eyes traveling my body from head to foot, then back up.
“You’ve been running for hours, haven’t you?” he concluded.
I almost felt embarrassed to admit it. “It feels like it.”
“Even if you get past the wall, you’re on an island, Sofia. Unless you can swim for miles, past the sharks, and get back to the mainland, there’s no way out of here.” Before I could respond to that, he scooped me up in his arms and in a matter of minutes, we were back at his Penthouse. He carried me to my bedroom and laid me on the ground.
“We’ll have breakfast in a couple of minutes. Get dressed in something other than that,” he looked at my outfit pointedly. It dawned on me that considering the time he’d been asleep, he’d probably never seen a lady wearing a hoodie with shorts before. Considering how my outfit was tattered and worn down after my morning “run”, I saw why it lacked appeal.
Before he turned toward the door, he stopped and asked, “Is there anything you need, Sofia?”
I need to get out of here was I wanted to say. Instead, I shook my head. “No.”
He nodded and headed for the door. He stopped just as he was about to open it. He gave one final warning.
“You will only risk your life trying to escape, Sofia. So let’s make this simple. Don’t ever try again.”
Chapter 12: Derek
Despite my efforts not to, I kept staring. I was seated over the edge of what Sofia called a counter, watching her as she made her way around the kitchen in a light yellow dress clinging to her curves at just the right places. She was making her breakfast – two pieces of bread that she stuck in a contraption she called a toaster. She retrieved a bottle of strawberry jam and a slab of butter from the “two-door refrigerator,” which was apparently a cooling closet for food.
As she began dabbing butter over one piece of toast, her emerald green eyes rose to meet mine. She stopped what she was doing and stared for a couple of seconds.
I found it rather unsettling to have her look at me that way. I couldn’t even understand why. She’s just a girl, Novak. When have you ever been so riled up over one girl?
“What?” I asked her.
“Thank you… for rescuing me this morning. I was pretty sure nothing would stop the guards from turning me into their breakfast.”
I didn’t answer. She was my responsibility. It was my duty to see to her safety.
“I’m sorry you were taken away from life outside. I understand how all this could be… traumatic,” I said.
She focused on preparing her breakfast, though her long lashes fluttered at my apology.
After a pause, she spoke up. “I can’t make this clear enough. No matter what you think, I’m not yours, Derek. You told the guard that I was yours. I’m not.”
I admired her boldness. She was talking to me like she would an equal, never holding back from speaking her mind and yet she managed to pull it off with a feminine grace I found charming and rather off-putting. I debated with myself whether I should address her statements. As far as everyone in the Blood Shade was concerned, she was mine. It was just the simple truth and no matter how she would like to believe otherwise, it remained true. I heaved a sigh and let it go. Let her believe what she will.
“It’s never morning here. Why is that?” She perhaps realized that she wasn’t about to get a response from me regarding her statements about how I didn’t own her, when I actually did.
“A witch’s spell keeps the sunlight away.” I looked out of the window. “Here at the Blood Shade, it’s forever night. I haven’t seen the sun in five hundred years.”
When I gazed at her, I was taken aback by the way she was looking at me. It felt like she was seeing through me, studying me.
“You’re five hundred years old?” She asked after a pause, seemingly satisfied by whatever it was that she saw in me.
I shook my head. “I’m eighteen. I will forever be eighteen.”
“That’s how old you were when you… turned?”
I nodded.
“Who turned you?”
Unnerved by the barrage of questions, digging up unwanted memories, I lifted myself off the counter and looked her straight in the eye.
“Let’s have breakfast now, shall we.” I said, bluntly.
I was relieved that she didn’t pry further. She picked up her plate and headed off with me to the dining area. A smile formed on my lips when I found a glass of blood already waiting at the table for me.
She stared at it even as she took her seat.
I found myself amused by the expression on her face even as I sat across the table from her, taking a sip from the glass.
Sofia watched, her eyes wide with a mix of fascination and horror.
“I’ll never get used to this,” she muttered.
“Get used to what?” a deep baritone voice asked from one corner of the room.
Her eyes shot toward the direction of the voice, but I didn’t need to look to know who it was.
“Lucas.” I said, flatly.
“You killed a vampire – a guard at that.” Lucas eyed Sofia curiously. “For her.”
“You’ve heard.”
“Pitchy and his squeaky voice have been chirping about it all morning.” Lucas took a seat beside Sofia.
It didn’t take a lot of perception to see that she was uncomfortable around him. I wondered why. Knowing my brother, I wouldn’t have been surprised to find that he tried to pull something with her.
Lucas set his eyes on her as he laid an arm over the back of her seat.
“So what makes Sofia – stunning as she is – worth the life of one of our own, Derek?”
“She’s mine,” I repeated, giving Sofia a pointed look. “The guard assaulted her, tasted her blood. He had it coming.”
My brother’s left brow quirked at the mention of the guard having tasted Sofia’s blood. I was certain from the expression on his face that he wasn’t thrilled by the news. The reaction drew my curiosity. Does he want Sofia?
“I see how that could’ve been a problem. This one has something about her that just makes us vamps crave her.” Lucas’ gaze traveled from her face to her body. “The pathetic loser wouldn’t have been able to resist.”
The lust was unmistakable. He was practically undressing her with those eyes and I could tell that Sofia felt it based on how she sat there tense and unmoving.
I wanted to tackle my brother to the ground, but was certain that it would only serve to earn Sofia his ire.
“Why are you here, Lucas?”
That effectively snapped his attention back to me.
“As much as I would like to say that I missed having you around, little brother, I really didn’t.” He sighed. “Vivienne asked that we meet. No better time than today to let you know what you’re up against now that you’re awake.”
“What exactly am I up against?” I raised a brow, leaning back on my seat as I took another sip from my glass of blood. “And where is Vivienne?”
“Busy doing heaven knows what.” Lucas fished for something from his pocket and threw it my way.
I caught it and stared at it. It looked like a metal slate of sorts. What it was for, I had no idea.
“What is this?”
“It’s a cellphone. You use it to call people, text them. A communication device.” He once again laid his eyes on Sofia. “I’m sure your teenage lovely here is perfectly capable of teaching you how to use it.”
He brushed the back of his hand
against Sofia’s jawline and she instinctively moved away from his touch. Of course, that only amused Lucas. The moment I saw this, an unmistakable fury boiled up within me. I tried to control my temper.
“I’d appreciate that you not touch her. As I’ve already made clear this morning, I do not like it when others mess with what is mine.” There was an edge to my voice – one that I knew my brother was very familiar with.
The amused expression on Lucas’ face disappeared and the atmosphere immediately tensed.
“And if I continue to take liberties with her, what exactly will you do, Derek? Would you really go against your own brother for her sake?”
I knew what he was playing at, testing my loyalties, but I knew how to play this game. I wanted to believe that we were still gentlemen after all.
“Give me this courtesy, Lucas. I do not know why, but I’m drawn to her. Consider her your gift to me.”
Lucas backed down. “It’s only appropriate I guess. After all, it was me who found her.”
He took one last look at Sofia and removed his arm from her seat. He set his focus straight on me. “And what exactly do you plan to do with my gift?”
I looked at Sofia and knew from the way she was gazing at me that she too wanted to know the answer to that question.
“I expect her to school me in whatever I missed during my sleep. She’s of great value to me in that aspect. I also plan to take her to the Crimson Fortress to train her to fight.”
“What?!” It wasn’t only Lucas who reacted, but also Vivienne, who had just stepped into the room. Apparently, they felt quite free to enter my quarters whenever they pleased.
Vivienne gave Sofia a wary glance as she took a seat beside me. “Why would you train her to fight? She’s a slave, Derek. That makes no sense.”
“I intend to keep her for a long time. If she’s to stay with me, she needs to know how to defend herself.”
“How can you trust her not to use that against you?” Lucas shot at me.
“She won’t. I can trust her.” I stared pointedly at her. “Can’t I, Sofia?”
It was more a statement than a question. She gave it a moment’s thought and though I knew neither my brother nor sister were convinced she was telling the truth, I fully believed her when she said, “You can.”
Chapter 13: Sofia
I will never forget that conversation at Derek’s dining table on my first “morning” at the Blood Shade. For one, it was the first conversation I sat through where the people surrounding me talked about me and my future as if I wasn’t present. Only a day ago, I was really not much of anything other than Benjamin Hudson’s shadow. In the span of about fourteen hours, I was sitting there, having two vampires argue over which one of them I belonged to.
I wasn’t thrilled about “belonging” to anyone, but I’d be a freaking liar if I didn’t admit that I was flattered. However, it wasn’t the brothers’ showdown when it came to who had control over me that made such a distinct impression on me that morning. It was the look on Derek’s blazing blue eyes when he asked if he could trust me.
I didn’t know why I did it, but then and there, I decided that he could. Still bent on escaping captivity, I wondered to myself how I would pull that off while still maintaining Derek’s trust. I realized that if I were to escape, breaking his trust was inevitable. While I was still within the confines of the Shade, however, it was clear that the safest place to be in was with Derek.
After my botched escape attempt that morning, I came to realize that I wasn’t about to leave the Blood Shade any time soon. If I were to escape, I had to have a plan. I couldn’t just leave. Despite my hunger, I was barely able to bite through my breakfast. Lucas’ presence was that unnerving. Whenever he was around, I could still remember the way he touched me back at the dungeon. There was no doubt in my mind that without Derek or even Vivienne to reel him in, he would have no reservations about doing what he pleased with me. He terrified me and in the few hours that I’d been there, I could immediately see why Derek was a better man.
Vivienne eyed me warily at that breakfast table and I couldn’t help but feel as if she was measuring my worth. She licked her lips before looking at Derek. “We need to discuss something very important about the Blood Shade, something she can’t hear. I don’t trust her as much as you seem to.”
Derek’s eyes lingered on me for a couple of seconds before heaving a sigh. “You may leave, Sofia.”
“And do what?” I couldn’t keep myself from asking.
“Entertain yourself, explore… No… do whatever you wish, but stay at the penthouse. You can have the other girls at your disposal. Find something to do to amuse yourselves.”
I raised a brow, surprised that he would trust me after I’d just tried to escape and surprised at myself for sensing the urge to honor my captor’s trust. “Vivienne said that there are still rooms we can… decorate? May I have one room?”
He seemed curious to find out what I needed an extra room for, but most likely saw no harm in it.
“Of course. I’m sure Vivienne will see to it that you will have all you request. Isn’t that right, Vivienne?”
Vivienne nodded after giving me a quick, irritated look. “Of course.”
That’s when I realized how influential Derek was at the Blood Shade. Even Lucas and Vivienne balked at his command. I wondered why. What made them fear and honor him so much? I wasn’t about to find my answer then, so I bade my leave, eager to get away from my captors. I weaved my way through the walkways to find where they kept the other girls. It didn’t take long for me to find it, because guards were stationed outside their doors.
“The prince sent me,” I told them.
They exchanged glances. One nodded toward the other and the guard made his way to Derek – or so I assumed. I had no choice but to wait for him to get back after receiving instructions from Derek himself. I eyed the guard left there with me. “May I ask you a question?”
He raised a brow, perhaps surprised that I would even speak with him. “Go ahead.”
“Who is Derek Novak exactly? Why is everyone so afraid of him?”
“I would think that after you did the impossible and won his favor in the span of one night, you’d know more about him than anyone else. You must’ve pleased him so much last night that he would actually kill a guard for you.”
I found myself uneasy at what he was trying to imply. “What do you mean please him? Do you think…”
“What else would you have done since you got here?”
I could feel the heat rise to my cheeks, flushing as red as the blood running through my veins.
“That’s not… I would never!” Here I was, a virgin, being rumored to have given the newly awakened prince a pleasurable night in bed.
He furrowed his brows, an amused glint in the corners of his eyes. “You mean you didn’t…”
My eyes widened. “No! I’m not that kind of girl…”
“I’m sure you’re not, but can you blame us for thinking that he would be the kind of man who’d be able to make you do things you wouldn’t normally do?”
I was rendered speechless. My mouth opened to say something in my defense, but none came out. I then creased my brows, because the first thought that came to my mind once I got over my shock was, Derek’s not that kind of guy.
To my relief, the guard seemed over the whole thing. He chuckled, seemingly amused by my shock.
“I’m Samuel,” he introduced himself, an easy smile forming on his lips. The blonde man with a lean build and short stubble was only a couple of inches taller than I was, though I figured he was somewhere in his twenties when he got turned.
I knew I would be a fool to trust him immediately, but it felt like I’d found a friend in him. I flashed him a small smile. “Sofia.”
“Like I don’t know that,” he winked. “The prince is known to be picky with women. The fact that he’s giving you the attention you’re getting practically makes you a celebrity here.”
> I wasn’t sure how to react to that. I was used to being obscure and invisible. Being told that I was known by everyone was a sensation I wasn’t used to, but found rather… flattering.
“To answer your question, you’re owned by a legend. Derek Novak made the Blood Shade possible. Many vampires survived the shadow hunters because of his leadership. He found this island, built the Crimson Fortress and won Cora, the most powerful witch of their time, over to our side. He is the most powerful and revered vampire of the Blood Shade.”
I held my breath, taken aback by the information. I knew Derek was somehow important to the coven, but I wasn’t expecting him to have all that legendary history backing him up.
“Wow.”
“Wow is right,” Samuel nodded.
Right about then, the other guard came back. He shrugged. “The prince instructs us that as long as it doesn’t involve allowing them to leave the penthouse, we are to do whatever she says.”
Samuel grinned at me. “Looks like we have a new princess.” He then pushed the door open to reveal the other girls.
“Sam, dude,” the other guard said, “I don’t think making friends with the prince’s muse is good for your health.”
“Relax, Kyle. She’s alright.”
I raised my eyebrows and gave them a funny look. I was going to like those two. I stepped inside the girls’ quarters, not quite knowing what to expect. Four pairs of eyes fell on me as I entered. I was surprised to find that they all looked relieved to see me.
I realized I didn’t even know their names and they didn’t know mine, but it was almost as if we were long lost friends, because all four girls began throwing their arms around me.
“Are you alright?”
“What did he do to you?!”
“He didn’t… force you, did he?”
“Do you know what they’re going to do to us?”
“Will we ever get home?”
A Shade of Vampire Page 6
