A Blaze of Sun

by Bella Forrest

  A Blaze Of Sun

  A Shade Of Vampire, Book 5

  Also By Bella Forrest:

  A Shade Of Vampire (Book 1)

  A Shade Of Blood (Book 2)

  A Castle Of Sand (Book 3)

  A Shadow Of Light (Book 4)

  Beautiful Monster

  www.bellaforrest.net

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY AUTHOR

  Copyright © 2013 by Bella Forrest.

  Cover design © Sarah Hansen

  This is a work of fiction.

  All characters appearing in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons living or dead, other than those in the public domain, is not intended and purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, re-sold, or transmitted electronically or otherwise, without express written permission from the author.

  Dedication

  Dear Shaddict, thank you for your loyalty to Derek and Sofia, and for sticking with them this far on their journey.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Prologue: Emilia●Chapter 1: Sofia●Chapter 2: Derek●Chapter 3: Sofia●Chapter 4: Ingrid●Chapter 5: Derek●Chapter 6: Sofia●Chapter 7: Aiden●Chapter 8: Derek●Chapter 9: Emilia●Chapter 10: Ingrid●Chapter 11: Sofia●Chapter 12: Ian●Chapter 13: Kyle●Chapter 14: Derek●Chapter 15: Sofia●Chapter 16: Derek●Chapter 17: Aiden●Chapter 18: Ingrid●Chapter 19: Vivienne●Chapter 20: Sofia●Chapter 21: Derek●Chapter 22: Sofia●Chapter 23: Kyle●Chapter 24: Derek●Chapter 25: Sofia●Chapter 26: Derek●Chapter 27: Aiden●Chapter 28: Sofia●Chapter 29: Derek●Chapter 30: Kyle●Chapter 31: Sofia●Chapter 32: Aiden●Chapter 33: Ingrid●Chapter 34: Sofia●Chapter 35: Emilia●Chapter 36: Derek●Chapter 37: Emilia●Chapter 38: Derek●Chapter 39: Sofia●Chapter 40: Derek●Chapter 41: Sofia●Chapter 42: Derek●Chapter 43: Sofia●Chapter 44: Derek●Chapter 45: Sofia●Chapter 46: Derek●Chapter 47: Sofia●Chapter 48: Vivienne●Epilogue: Kiev

  Prologue: Emilia

  I pulled the thick coat, lined with fur, over my body as I took the final step on the long winding stairway that led up to the Elder’s castle – The Blood Keep, he liked to call it. I shuddered at the thought of entering the castle, carrying upon my shoulders the weight of my failure.

  Before I could reach out and open the thick steel doors, they swung open and I found myself standing face to face with my older brother, Kiev. He had a triumphant smirk on his face as he eyed me from head to foot.

  “You reek of failure, little sis.” He tilted his head to the side. “Aren’t you supposed to be here with Sofia Claremont?”

  Annoyed, I tried to side-step him and rush to my chambers. I wanted to try to recuperate before having to face the wrath of our master, our father, the one who sired me; the very first vampire this world has known. Of course, I should’ve expected that my sibling wasn’t going to make it that easy for me.

  “Get out of my way, Kiev,” I snapped at him, “or I swear I’m going to cast a spell on you.”

  “Really, now?” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Do you remember the last time you tried something like that, Emilia?”

  I shuddered at the memory of the punishment I had to endure under my father’s hands, but I shrugged it off, attempting to bluff confidence as I stared Kiev down. “It will be worth the pain… to see you croaking around the castle like the frog that you are.”

  At that, Kiev backed down. I might’ve been the youngest among those that the Elder had sired, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t intimidate my other siblings.

  I walked past him and began to head for my bedroom only to bump into my sister, Clara, just before I was about to reach my door. The beautiful brunette chuckled at the sight of me, her purple eyes sparkling as she did.

  “You are in so much trouble.” She grinned.

  I grunted, hating the fact that they were finding so much entertainment at my expense. All six of us were always fighting with each other, jostling one another to get ahead and get into our father’s good graces. I think the Elder liked it that way. He enjoyed seeing his children compete with one another to gain his favor.

  This time, I was certain that I wasn’t about to get any favors from him. He had sent me to The Shade, an island occupied by one of the most powerful covens on earth, and led by the man the Elder had promised would become mine – Derek Novak. I was sent there on a mission to steal Sofia Claremont away from him.

  Sofia Claremont was an immune, a young woman who had somehow conquered the vampire curse. Several vampires had already tried to turn her – Derek Novak included – but she didn’t turn. The Elder was obsessed with gathering all immunes and keeping them in his Keep. In fact, I wasn’t sure if there was a single human in his territory who wasn’t immune.

  Upon reaching my bedroom, I found one of the human slaves inside, tidying the place up for my expected arrival. The moment I laid eyes on him, I attacked, pushing him toward the four-poster bed in the middle of the room and biting into his neck. I grinned even as I felt the immune’s sweet blood coursing through my body, giving me an immense sense of power as I preyed on the weakling beneath me.

  Images of Sofia Claremont and how she clung to Derek flashed through my mind. I anticipated the day she would take the place of the young man beneath me, the day when I could treat her as nothing more than what she really was – sustenance for my kind.

  I opened my eyes and stared at the boy beneath me. He was growing pale and I knew that if I didn’t stop soon, I would end his life. I didn’t care. I wanted his blood and the power that came with it. I didn’t want to feel powerless at the time I had to come face to face with the Elder. I simply couldn’t afford that. I drank deep and by the time I was done, all life had seeped away from the human slave.

  Finally satiated, I sat up and got off the corpse. I rolled it off my bed and onto the floor before heaving a deep sigh. I stretched my neck and headed for the closet to change my clothes.

  I had just stripped into my underwear when a cold breeze swept through the room. I shuddered as I felt a deep sense of fear. That fear always crept into my bones whenever I was standing in the presence of darkness.

  “Emilia, Emilia, Emilia…” the familiar deep voice spoke from behind me.

  I swallowed hard. It was never a good sign when he said my name three times in a row.

  “I was expecting you to go straight into the Grand Hall and present to me the body of Sofia Claremont – dead or alive. And yet, here you are, feeding on one of my humans and hiding out in your room.”

  “I apologize, Master.” He never wanted us to refer to him as our father, even though he referred to us as his children. He was our lord and we were to refer to him with reverence. “I merely wanted to get myself prepared before presenting myself before you.”

  I felt his cold hand grip the back of my neck. With it came that strange and familiar feeling – as if liquid was dripping from his fingers and penetrating through my skin, almost as if I was absorbing his very essence, his wicked darkness.

  “What happened, Emilia? Why did you fail?”

  It was Borys Maslen’s fault. We should’ve just gone in there, taken Sofia and left, but no… He was a weakling who died in the hands of two women. I still couldn’t believe that Sofia and Derek’s sister were able to end Borys’ life, even after the Elder gave him all that newfound power. I stood there, hating Borys and the two girls who killed him. I knew full well that the Elder would not like it if I started playing the blame game.

  “I didn’t realize what a powerful force we were up against, Master.” I once again recalled Sofia and the way Derek looked at her. What I would’ve given to have him look at me that way. “She oozes with light and she’s gotten to him.”

  “Would he have been able to kill you?”

  “I think h
e was powerful enough, yes. When it comes to brute strength, even I don’t stand a chance against him.”

  “You don’t stand a chance against him, not because of brute strength, Emilia, and we both know it.” At that point, I could sense the Elder running his hand against my hair, his breath cold against the back of my neck. I was shaking. His closeness always terrified me. “You don’t stand a chance against Derek Novak, because you can’t stand the idea of seeing him die. He was and will always be your greatest weakness.”

  To that, I couldn’t respond, because it was true. I was deeply in love with the vampire, something he didn’t seem to give a damn about, and yet… I hung on, allowing myself to be at the losing end of an unrequited love. I ground the back of my teeth with determination. That’s about to change.

  “Did he see you, Emilia?”

  Despite the terror the Elder’s presence brought about, I couldn’t help but steal a smile at the recollection of how Derek’s deep blue eyes flickered with attraction and interest when he first laid eyes on me back in The Shade. “Yes, Master. He did.”

  “Did he like what he saw?”

  I slightly bowed my head as I felt the Elder’s hand fall on my waist and climb up my back. “How could he not? With what you’ve done to me, I couldn’t be anything but irresistible to him.” After being given knowledge of everything that Derek found physically attractive in a woman, the Elder gave me those features. I no longer looked the way I did when Derek broke my heart so long ago. I was irresistible to him now, and I intended to play up that advantage as much as I could.

  I was still mulling over my obsession with the king of The Shade when the Elder painfully grabbed a fistful of my hair. I gasped, shocked by the sheer agony it brought about.

  “I don’t like failure, Emilia,” he hissed. “Next time, you mustn’t fail.”

  “Yes… Of course, Master…” I rasped out. “I won’t fail.”

  “You are to return to The Shade, Emilia. I don’t want you staying up here, stinking up my castle with your failure. This little spitfire of a human has Derek Novak too wrapped up in her pretty little fingers. We can’t have that. He is too powerful a force to let the light have him. We have you to thank for that, don’t we, Emilia? Well, you need to fix this. We need to pull him right back into the dark. You’re going to do that.”

  “What exactly do you want me to do, Master?”

  His fist tightened against my hairline. “Bring on the attack of the covens. Lead it.”

  The Elder managed to get all of the other vampire covens to go against Derek and The Shade. They had no idea he was behind all of it, of course, working behind the scenes, pulling at just the right strings. They’d long been threatening to attack the island and destroy it – something Derek had been desperate to prevent. The idea of attacking and destroying The Shade wasn’t one I was all too fond of, but there was no defying the Elder. “Consider this victory ours, Master. We will win.”

  “No, Emilia. You won’t. I want you to lose this battle and I want you to be taken prisoner by Derek Novak. That’s how you’re going to get back in The Shade. Once you’re there, you should know what to do next.”

  His plan took form in my mind and I nodded, as I then fully grasped what he was attempting to do. “I understand. And Sofia Claremont?”

  He finally let go of my hair. “We will end her.”

  With that, his presence swept out of the room like a powerful, foreboding wind; exactly the same way he arrived. Once he was completely gone, I found myself shaking so badly, I fell to my knees. I was a fool to try to convince myself that he was gone. I’d given myself to him a long time ago and he was a part of me that I could never escape.

  The Elder was always with me. His touch made sure of it. He was a substance I carried around with me wherever I went.

  Known as the original vampire. My Master. My father. A creature I had never once laid eyes on.

  Chapter 1: Sofia

  The moment I opened my eyes and woke up to the dim candlelight of my bedroom, I couldn’t help but groan. I turned to my side to check if Derek was beside me. He wasn’t. He hadn’t come to my room or called me into his for the past week. Another reason to groan.

  I thought about the day ahead of me and felt like staying in bed forever. But I knew that I didn’t have a choice. I dragged myself out of bed, and started getting ready. Finally satisfied with my appearance, I stepped out of my bedroom and found breakfast already prepared on the dining table.

  I smiled wryly at the sight of the food. Breakfast. Only here in The Shade could you say that you’re having breakfast in the dark of the night. I popped a handful of vitamin pills into my mouth and took a seat at the table. I made a mental note to thank Rosa and Lily for the lovely breakfast they had prepared.

  I was sharing my quarters with Rosa, Lily and her children – seventeen-year-old Gavin, seven-year-old Robb, and five-year-old Madeline – and Ian and Anna. None of them were at home; they were hard at work already. Idleness wasn’t a welcome trait in The Shade – The Catacombs even more so.

  Derek had recently assigned me my own team focused on keeping order among the human population of the island. This team of mine walked into my quarters just as I was about to have my first bite of toast. Ian and Gavin stepped into the room, followed by one of Derek’s guards, Kyle. They all took a seat around at the table.

  “Looks like we’ve got lots to discuss,” Gavin announced, as he leaned back in his chair and ran a hand through his red hair.

  Ian glared at Kyle before looking at me. “What is he doing here?” He pointed at the vampire.

  “Kyle has expressed interest in helping us here at The Catacombs and Derek gave him permission,” I explained, putting down my food despite the fact that my stomach was growling. “Okay… So you two are here. Shall we start?”

  The men nodded at me.

  “We can’t afford to still be fighting amongst ourselves once the covens attack. The riots have got to stop.” There’d been a lot of dissent within The Catacombs over the past weeks. The humans were getting restless after the vampires’ blood supply was blown up. What I couldn’t wrap my mind around was why they were getting at each other’s throats over this matter, while the vampires were the ones attempting to find a solution. “When was the last time we had a record of a vampire attacking one of The Catacombs’ citizens?”

  Gavin and Ian exchanged glances.

  Ian shrugged, scratching against his black hair. “I can’t remember.”

  “So why are the Naturals still going crazy?”

  Ian shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “You have to understand, Sofia, that it’s always been this way. There never was order here in The Catacombs. Every day was a fight to keep yourself alive – if not against the vampires, against your fellow humans. The law of The Shade has always been survival of the fittest until you came along and started leading protests and whatnot.”

  “Well, that’s a problem we have to solve. We need human cooperation during the war,” I reiterated.

  “We can’t even get the Naturals to work together amongst themselves. How on earth are we going to get them to work with the vampires?” Ian frowned.

  “We could just draft all the male population and train them by force,” Kyle suggested with a shrug. “Derek did that to the vampires.”

  “Sending humans off to battle with vampires is like sending them to their deaths,” Ian snapped. “Are you mad?”

  “Well, it’s not like we’re expecting the humans to go on man-to-vampire combat,” Kyle defended himself. “No matter what they’re assigned to do, they’re still going to need to know how to fight.”

  “I don’t think getting the humans to do anything by force is a good idea.” I shook my head. “I think it will only create more trouble in the long run.”

  “Well, then, it’s not looking good, Sofia,” Gavin spoke up. “Most of the humans are actually seeing this as some sort of hope to escape The Shade and finally be free.”

  I was sur
prised by that notion. “That’s foolish. They’re either going to end up dead or as slaves of the other covens. I doubt the other covens will be as benevolent as Derek has been.”

  At this, Ian scoffed. Knowing him as someone who always spoke his mind, I wasn’t surprised by the words that came out of his mouth: “As much as I know you love him, Sofia, benevolent isn’t exactly how most of the people at The Catacombs would describe Derek.”

  It was my turn to scoff. “I’ve known more vampires outside of The Shade than most humans here at The Catacombs. Believe me when I say that Derek is as benevolent as it gets for vampires. Take it or leave it.”

  To that, no one could object. I was beginning to find the silence awkward, so I was thankful when Kyle broke it.

  “Before we can even talk to the humans about joining a war, I think we first need to find a way to establish some sort of order here at The Catacombs, because let’s face it… in its current state, it’s been pure anarchy. Derek tried to figure out what the humans wanted with the general assembly at The Vale just recently, but with the vampire rebellion, that didn’t exactly push through.”

  I nodded, remembering how the vampires split into two factions – one loyal to Derek, the other to his father, Gregor. Since Gregor’s mysterious and untimely death, the vampire rebellion – as Kyle called it – had already been quelled.

  “Well, there’s no rebellion now,” I said resolutely. “I guess it’s time we call another general assembly and figure out what the people at The Catacombs want. I’m putting you three in charge of that. If you come upon any problems, let me know.”

  All three of them grinned at me, making me rather uncomfortable.

  “What?” I asked, widening my eyes at them.