The morning of their departure, Sofia prepared a breakfast that was more like a ten-course dinner. She’d asked them what they’d wanted to eat most while they’d been vampires and cooked it all. Even with Xavier and Vivienne eating hungrily, we were left with pots of leftovers. We packed the least perishable items up for them to take with them along with the other food Sofia had organized for them.
Vivienne and Xavier returned to their penthouse one last time to make final preparations. Then we walked with them to the Port. We’d already arranged for their belongings to be loaded into their submarine. As we stood at the end of the jetty, the hatch of the vessel open, all that was left was to say goodbye. A large crowd of other humans, vampires and werewolves alike gathered round to see them off.
Vivienne was close to tears as she looked around at all her well-wishers waving goodbye. Sofia hugged her, kissing her cheeks.
“Stay safe, Vivienne,” she said, before turning to Xavier and embracing him too.
Once Sofia was finished with my best friend, I gripped his shoulder… perhaps a little too hard. He winced. I wasn’t used to human Xavier. I pulled him toward me and hugged him.
“Take care of my sister,” I said as he drew away.
“Derek, you know I will. With my life.”
Of course I knew he would. There wasn’t a person in the world I would have preferred Vivienne to end up with than Xavier. But as her brother, I couldn’t help but say it anyway.
Now it was my turn to say goodbye to Vivienne. Her tears moistened my cheeks as she kissed me and held me tight. “I hate leaving you like this,” she said.
I looked down at her sternly. “Sofia and I have each other. We’ll make it through this. You’ve sacrificed enough for us already. Promise me that you won’t feel bad while you’re away. Enjoy yourself and don’t think about us. Can you promise me that?” She bit her lip. I brushed my hand against her warm cheek. “Please, promise me.”
She gulped and nodded. “I promise I’ll try.”
She kissed me again and then climbed through the hatch with Xavier. Sofia and I walked to the end of the jetty and watched the submarine disappear into the water, its shadow getting further and further away until eventually they passed the boundary and disappeared from view. From this dark island. From all the sorrow and uncertainty. I just hoped that they’d return to a brighter scene than that which they’d left.
* * *
Chills ran down my spine as Ben, Sofia and I crossed the courtyard and entered the Sanctuary. It was empty now, since Corrine and Ibrahim were still away, and it was the most secure place for me to turn Ben. If Ben was anywhere near as strong and wild as I was, the wooden structure of our penthouse wouldn’t be secure enough. Iron would have been preferable, but granite would do.
We all seemed to have lost our voices as we made our way to the innermost chamber of the witch’s temple. The same chamber where I’d woken from my four-hundred-year sleep all those years ago. I swallowed hard as I looked around the room. Memories of my first meeting with Sofia washed over me. The thirst. The hunger. The sight of her standing among four other girls. The spark she’d ignited within me. The longing for a humanity I’d forgotten. Then my loss of control. The fragrance of her blood. My body crushing her against the pillar, just a few feet away from where I stood now…
I looked at Sofia. Now my wife. A vampire, just like me. And standing here with our son… it was uncanny. Despite all the years that had passed, this chamber still looked very much the same as it had. No electricity. As I lit the candles, their light cast dancing shadows on the walls.
Here in the center of the temple, the noises outside were dulled. We were surrounded by only our own uneven breathing.
Finally, I walked over to the stone slab upon which I had rested for four centuries. I straightened out the cloth that covered it and looked over at Ben.
No words were necessary. Ben walked over to me and sat on the stone. He lay on his back and stretched out. Sofia positioned herself at his feet. Her hands trembled slightly as she gripped the edges of the slab.
“Be careful, Derek,” she whispered.
I locked eyes with Ben. He nodded. “Let’s just get this over with.”
I bent over him, intending to make this quick like I had with Jason. But as my fangs were inches away from his neck, I stopped short. A flash of memory seared through me. The reality of the situation crashed down upon me.
Father turning son… a Novak tradition. I’m doing to my own son exactly as my father did to me.
Memories of that fateful night my father had turned me into a vampire against my will flooded my mind. The sound of his heavy breathing against my throat. His fangs ripping through my flesh, forcing me against the floor into submission. The gargling sound as he drank my blood. The burning deep in the veins of my neck as he shot venom into my bloodstream. His blue eyes staring triumphantly into mine as my transformation took hold.
This situation is nothing like that. I’m doing this for my son’s own good.
But isn’t that how my father justified his actions when he turned me?
I jerked away from my son and staggered backward. Ben’s eyes shot toward me. “Dad?”
“Darling, what’s wrong?” Sofia too was staring at me in alarm.
I gripped the edges of the slab and leaned against it, trying to steady my shaking hands.
I don’t know if I can do this to my own son. My own son, whom I’d fought so hard to preserve from the darkness.
I’d always felt uneasy about turning others into vampires. I’d felt uncomfortable about turning Jason. But now, bending over my own son in this chamber where it all began, I felt like a monster. I’d thought turning Ben would be just like turning any other. But every fiber of my being screamed out against it. Everything about this felt wrong. Even though I knew we had no other choice if we wanted to keep Ben safe.
What if he turns into the beast I was when the darkness first took hold of me?
The Elders were no longer here to influence us directly, but still, I’d be infecting him with a disease. The poisonous nature of the Elders. I was willingly dragging my own son into the struggle Sofia and I had to endure every day.
“Dad, what’s wrong?”
I kept my eyes fixed firmly on the floor, my chest heaving.
He sat up and placed a hand on my shoulder.
I need to pull myself together.
Ben can take the cure and become a human again once we’ve figured a way out of this danger.
There is no other way. There is no other way…
I was terrified by the uncertainty. Not knowing what my son could wake up as. Whether he’d be a shadow of his former self. It was a fact that some people changed irreversibly after becoming vampires. Some got seduced into the dark and never crawled out. Vampirism equipped one with the tools and mentality to explore the depths of darkness, the limits of depravity, everything that was opposite to what Sofia had tried to instill in him since birth. Neither Sofia nor I had any way of telling whether Ben would retain any of that training, or whether he might allow the darkness to take hold of him, just as I had for centuries.
Every scenario I could think of replayed over and over in my mind like a broken record. All the pros we’d seen in this decision before suddenly seemed trivial compared to the cons. It was as if I’d become blind to them completely.
Sofia twisted me around to face her, holding my head in her hands. I thought she was going to ask me again what the matter was. But I could see from her eyes that she’d realized now.
She turned to our son. “Just wait here, okay? I need to have a word with your father.”
She tugged on my arm and pulled me toward the exit, closing the door to the chamber behind us. I leaned my forearm against the wall and rested my head against it, still trying to regulate my breathing.
I thought Sofia was going to start trying to persuade me why we were making the right decision. Why we had to go through with this. She didn’t. She just w
rapped her arms around me and held me close, our cold heartbeats thudding against each other as we stood in silence. I buried my face in her hair, breathing her in and clutching her tight, hoping she could ground me. Perhaps she too was waging her own war with the decision we were about to make.
We stood in silence for the next half hour before she finally looked up at me. “For all I know,” she whispered, “this could be a mistake. Any number of things could go wrong…” She wet her lower lip before looking me in the eye. “We may take away Ben’s warmth by turning him. But there’s one thing we will never be able to take from him. Choice. He can choose whether to become a monster, or whether to follow the path we’ve taken. Whatever the case, it’s his decision. We just have to hope our boy will make the right choice. Just as you did. You changed. You climbed out of the pit you thought you were stuck in because you realized you didn’t have to be that way. You stopped making excuses for yourself. You made a choice.”
I didn’t think that I could love my wife more than I did at that moment. Her words had lifted the suffocating weight from my chest. Because she was right.
I took a deep breath as I walked with Sofia back into the chamber. And as I dug my fangs into my son’s neck, as he squirmed beneath me and groaned, I kept remembering Sofia’s words. I chanted them over and over in my head like a prayer.
This is not a perfect situation. We think turning him is the best we can do for our son in these dire circumstances.
Whatever it may end up being, curse or cure, our choice is to give him this. His choice will be what he decides to do with it. But he will always have a choice.
Our job as parents will be to remind and guide. Then we’ll have to watch him do with our advice as he may…
Chapter 26: Sofia
I couldn’t begin to imagine how hard this was for Derek. He’d given me glimpses into his past before I’d met him, but even now I didn’t fully understand the trauma he’d been through in having his own father attack him and turn him into a monster. The very monster Derek used to hunt.
I was relieved that my words had gotten through to Derek. Because we had to turn Ben.
As Derek finished inserting his venom into our son’s bloodstream, Ben’s shaking became more violent. I helped Derek hold him down. I found it hard to look at my son’s face. It was scrunched up in agony, a film of sweat on his forehead. And when the blood started coming, I had to avert my eyes to the floor. I knew exactly what it felt like to turn into a vampire. It was almost as painful as taking the cure.
I believed what I’d told Derek about Ben always having a choice. How could I not? It was only by convincing Derek that he’d had one that I even stood here alive today. But still, I hoped with all my heart that Ben wouldn’t wake up a different person. I hoped he’d wake up the gentleman he’d been growing up to be as a human. I’d put so much effort into my children, trying to treat them the exact opposite way my mother had treated me. I hoped that the love I’d given him would be enough for him to pull through this, even if he did wake in a spell of darkness.
I couldn’t relate to the vampires who struggled with their nature. I’d woken up thirsting for blood, yes. But it hadn’t taken long before I’d felt myself again. Ben, on the other hand, was Derek’s son too, not just mine. And the Novaks were known for their penchant for darkness.
My thoughts were interrupted by a banging at the door of the chamber. I looked up in alarm at Derek. His expression turned from surprise to irritation.
“Not now,” he shouted. “Go away.”
The door swung open and to our shock, Mona appeared in the chamber. Her face was pale and ashen as she looked at us seriously.
“It’s urgent,” she said. She looked down at Ben writhing on the slab, blood beginning to spill from his mouth. “At least one of you needs to come.”
“Mona,” I said, “can’t it wait a few hours? What in the world—”
“Just come with me. You need to see this.”
“You go, Sofia,” Derek said. “I’ll stay here with Ben.”
The last thing I wanted to do was leave Ben like this, before he’d resurfaced. Before the transformation was complete and I could see for myself what state he was in. But Mona wouldn’t disturb us at a time like this if she didn’t have a damn good reason. So I left the chamber with her. As we entered the corridor outside, she touched my hand and we vanished.
I didn’t know where I was expecting to reappear with Mona. But it certainly wasn’t the Black Heights. We stood at the foot of one of the mountain cabins the witches had built. Mona caught my hand and pulled me up the steps. She stopped before she opened the door.
“Mona, what—”
“Witches from The Sanctuary, Sofia,” she said. “They called my attention outside the boundaries. I went to talk with them. They claim they have a way to help us that will be just as beneficial to us as them. They want to speak with you and Derek. I allowed them in on the basis that I would keep them here in this house until you’d come to a decision. Truth be told, I’m not sure we should ever allow them to walk freely on this island.”
Before I could even process her words, she gripped my arm and opened the door, pulling me inside. My heart pounded as I entered after her.
We crossed the living room and walked toward a bedroom. I gasped as Mona pushed the door open. Sitting on a bed were two beautiful women. They looked like Scandinavian angels. Their hair was light as blonde hair got. They had crystal-blue eyes and wore long chiffon gowns, accentuating curves that would lure in any man. Heck, I even found myself ogling them. Their hands rested on their laps, bound together by what appeared to be steel bracelets. Their feet were also bound.
The older of the two women smiled. “Thank you for granting us reception, your highness,” she said, bowing her head.
“What is going on?” I breathed. “Who are you?”
“My name is Brisalia Adrius. I am a witch of The Sanctuary, and I’ve come to talk with you, and hopefully your husband.” She pointed to the younger girl. “This is my daughter, Csilla. I am the sister of the late Odelia Adrius.”
Odelia… the name rang a bell. Mona’s face seemed to be growing paler by the moment. “Who’s Odelia?” I asked.
“She was once the ruler of The Sanctuary,” Brisalia said. “Also known as the Ageless. She passed away tragically, only recently.”
I couldn’t suppress a gasp. I looked again at Mona. Her eyes were still fixed to the floorboards.
“I hope you will hear us out,” Brisalia said.
“Go on.”
“As you are aware, the black witches are gaining power. We believe that they plan to start causing more trouble in this human realm, as well as in our own, in the very near future… We would like to form an alliance with The Shade. Members of our realm are already living here among you, including Ibrahim, who was once Odelia’s right-hand man. We believe that forming an official bond will make all of us stronger in dealing with these beasts. If you will give me some time with both you and your husband, I will explain how we might go about this.”
I stared at her in disbelief. After all we’d been through at the hands of these witches, led by her late sister, I couldn’t believe that she had the gall to even suggest this.
I had neither trust in nor patience for this woman. “If you think you can fool us into thinking you’re here for some benefit of ours, you should leave right now. We’ve had more than our fair share of dealings with you people. The only reason you’re here now is that you need us.”
Brisalia’s face flushed red, and anger sparked in her eyes. I assumed that as royalty back in the Sanctuary, she wasn’t used to being spoken to in such a harsh manner. But I didn’t care who she was. She could be empress of the universe for all I cared and I’d still treat her for what she was—a heartless, backstabbing narcissist, like they all were back in The Sanctuary.
Although it was a shock to learn about the Ageless’ death, and I wondered how she’d died, I couldn’t honestly say I felt even
a moment of sorrow over the news. After all, it had been the Ageless who had separated me from my husband and twins at birth—all in the name of keeping their own realm safe, keeping their precious balance.
I turned to Mona and gripped her arm, forcing her to face me. “I don’t care what these witches say they can offer us. I want them off this island.”
I stormed toward the exit and was about to leave when Brisalia called after me.
“What about the return of your daughter?”
That stopped me cold. I turned slowly to face her, barely breathing.
“We have better intelligence than you could ever have about the black witches,” she continued. “We could search out your daughter and bring her back to you, in exchange for your cooperation.”
My mouth felt dry as I stared at her. As much as I distrusted the witch, I wasn’t sure I had it in me to refuse such an offer. I was so desperate, I was beginning to believe I’d do anything to get Rose back.
“And perhaps,” Brisalia continued, “we can shed light on why they decided to target Rose. We can clear up your confusion, tell you what’s really going on with these witches.” She brushed her hand over Csilla’s shoulder. “I’d take the offer, if it was my daughter.”
I knew how treacherous these witches were. Yet another part of me—the part of me that was closer to desperation—argued that perhaps we could use their help without putting ourselves at risk. Mona was here to keep control of them, after all.
This desperate part of me wondered if perhaps I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. The problem was, this horse felt too much like a Trojan horse…
My lips opened, but no words came out. Finally, I said, “Give me some time. My son is turning into a vampire… I need to speak to my husband.” I gripped Mona’s shoulder and looked at her sternly. “Make sure these witches don’t take a step out of here in the meantime.”
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