A Gate of Night Read online

  I noticed then how pale she was. She’s lost a lot of blood. If she doesn’t drink, we’re going to lose the children for sure—even her perhaps. I could see the wheels in her mind turning. She drew a short intake of breath before grabbing my wrist and drinking from my palm. She was only able to take a couple of sips since the gash was already closing. I wasn’t sure if it was enough so I none too gently grabbed her and yanked her to one side so that I could see her back.

  The lashes healed.

  “I never thought I’d see the day when the Elder had enough power to get to you, Sofia.”

  “I need Derek.”

  “Well, he isn’t here, is he?” I began running my fingers over her spine, enjoying the feel of her bare flesh under my skin.

  “What will it take for you to help me, Kiev? There must be something you want from me. You’ve been kinder to me than you ought to be.”

  I chuckled. “Have I? Or has the Elder’s attack just made you delusional? Tell me, what exactly did you do to get him to pay you such a violent visit?”

  “How am I supposed to know what’s going on inside your father’s twisted mind?”

  I didn’t get a full grasp of the darkness that had already consumed our beautiful captive until she spun around and looked up at me with a heated gaze. I knew then that she was true to her word. She would do anything for me to help her. All the wicked possibilities ran through my mind. I was with Sofia Novak at her most vulnerable and every part of me was screaming to take advantage of that fact.

  “So how about it, Kiev? What exactly do you want from me? What do I have to do…”

  I wanted her in my bed. Every part of my being wanted to experience what Derek experienced with Sofia. I laid her on the bed and allowed my eyes to ravish her lovely form.

  Then I saw her eyes. The tears, the fear… I didn’t know why, of all the many times that I had taken advantage of other people, my conscience decided to make itself known at that particular moment. I stared down at Sofia and saw her trembling and I knew that if I went ahead and took what she was offering, not only would I completely destroy any hope of her ever going back to the light, I would also destroy any chance that I had to do the same.

  You’re going to regret this, Kiev, I chastised myself as I looked at the beauty beneath me. Sofia was far from willing, she was just desperate. I wanted to believe that I was still capable of light.

  “Don’t worry. I don’t want to do this with you. Not like this. Not while I know that you belong to him.” I knew I was going to pay for those words, that there was no way the Elder wouldn’t find out that I’d had the chance to make Sofia Novak completely mine. I was going to get severely punished, but for reasons even I couldn’t completely understand, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t destroy Sofia.

  I rose to my feet and tried to gather myself together.

  Sofia was still shaking when she sat up on the bed. “Kiev?”

  “I had no idea darkness has already consumed so much of you, Sofia. You’re right. We need to get you out of here.”

  “Why? Why would you help me? I have trouble believing that it’s simply out of the goodness of your heart that you want to suddenly assist me.”

  Despite the fact that she was shaking like a leaf, Sofia still had that fight in her. It seemed she always did. I doubted anything could kill the embers of this little spitfire.

  “Why do you care what my reasons are, Sofia? I’ll help you escape. That’s all you need to know.”

  “You must want something in exchange, Kiev.”

  “Perhaps I do.” I shrugged. “What I want, Sofia, you’ll know in due time. Let’s just say for now that you owe me one.”

  I could see the apprehension on her face, but considering what she’d been willing to do just moments before, I doubted she had it in her to object.

  Why indeed am I helping Sofia Novak? Is it her? Is there something about Sofia that just makes people want to be good around her?

  For the first time in a long time, I dug deep within me, scouring my memories for an answer. Then there it was. A memory I’d desperately longed to forget resurfaced. I found my answer, and every fiber of my being wished that I hadn’t.

  Gruesome memories of a past I’d buried deep into my subconscious came to the forefront of my thoughts and as much as I tried to keep it from happening, I actually shuddered. I had plenty of reasons to want to rescue Sofia from the Elder’s grasp. Should those reasons be examined, it would be quite clear that none of them had anything to do with light.

  Every reason I could think of for wanting to help the young woman was born out of selfishness. My identity had never become clearer than it did at that moment.

  I was a child of the darkness and nothing I did could ever change that.

  Chapter 28: Vivienne

  “No… What have you done to Xavier? Where is he?” I could hardly breathe. I stood frozen trying to comprehend what had just happened.

  “He’s right here, my sweet. I can hear his screams and demands to get out. Annoying really, but it pleases me to use him as a vessel. I hear the taste of human blood is exquisite when enjoyed through the flesh of our mutations.”

  Mutations. We are mere mutations of the Elders.

  “What do you want?”

  “What’s your name?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I refuse to tell.”

  He laughed—a sound that didn’t seem to have any true pleasure in it. “Well, I was only trying to heed your customs as humans. It doesn’t matter if you don’t tell me, princess. We all know who you are. You and your brother did us Elders proud for so long. That is until your brother decided to fall in love with that little redheaded worm. You betrayed us, child.”

  I stepped away from him. I was having trouble hearing those words through the voice of Xavier. He had been my rock for hundreds of years. To see him this way, with eyes empty… I trembled, more out of fear of losing him than fear of what they had in store for me.

  The Elder noticed the way I shook. “You fear me. Good. It means you know your place. You may be princess to our mutations, but you are nothing but a slave to the Elders.” He stepped forward and pressed his lips against mine, firm hands holding my waist and pulling me against him.

  I squirmed away from him, knowing that it was someone else who was holding me, not Xavier. Of course, there was little I could do to keep him from having what he wanted.

  When our lips parted, I looked at him for a sign of whether or not he even took any pleasure in what he’d just done. He seemed so empty of emotion. “Take me to the humans.”

  I tensed at the thought of what they wanted the humans for.

  The Catacombs.

  Out of breath, I didn’t have time to think it through. My immediate thought was to get to the Catacombs before the Elders could use the vampires there to devour the humans we were trying to protect. I sped to the caves, hoping to leave the Elder behind.

  It took but seconds before the visiting Elder gripped the back of my head painfully. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

  “Please, these humans… they’re our friends.”

  “Friends?” White eyes turned red.

  I doubted I’d ever been more terrified than I was at that moment. I stared up at Xavier, his handsome face distorted by veins coming out of his skin, as if his body was straining to contain the unwanted invasion of the dark force inside him.

  “You make friends of these worms? They’re good for nothing but their blood.” He grabbed my wrists and squeezed tight. “Has your nature taught you nothing?”

  I yelped when he pulled me against him before raising my wrist up. Claws popped out of Xavier’s fingers, cutting my wrist and letting blood flow.

  Red eyes turned back to white. A smile crept into the corners of Xavier’s lips.

  I could practically sense the Elder’s hunger. Since I’d become a vampire, I hadn’t known what it was like to be a prey being hunted by a predator—to be the morsel being craved. Nothing prep
ared me for when the Elder bit into my wrist and drank deep.

  By the time he was done, I felt weak and in need of blood myself. I wondered then if it was actually possible to bleed a vampire dry.

  The Elder threw my wrist aside, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth as he straightened to his full height. “Not as sweet as a human, but it will have to do for now.”

  Screams began to fill the atmosphere. The sound was coming from the Catacombs. My heart dropped. The thought of suffering any more loss than we already had was tearing me apart.

  “Please.”

  I wasn’t given a moment to speak. Instead, I was yanked toward the sounds of death.

  Chapter 29: Aiden

  Claudia’s face twisted in horror when Yuri’s eyes turned a shade of blood before he began devouring the first girl he got a hold of.

  “Get out of here! Now!” She pointed at Gavin, who, along with Zinnia, and Craig, one of the hunters, was already running toward a dark corridor inside the cave system. I didn’t bother to look around me.

  I was never the kind of person who ran away. I preferred to stay and fight. Had it been just the vampires or the strange giant dogs that came with them, I would’ve stayed, but invisible monsters that took over the bodies of friends… I had no idea how to battle against something like that. The only recourse was escape. That way, we could figure out what to do.

  I took one last look at Yuri, a man whom—even though he was hundreds of years older than me—was almost like a son. My heart fell when he held a young woman who’d grown up at the Catacombs and bled her dry. Claudia tried to pull him away from the girl, but with one blow, the blonde vampire was thrown several feet away from him.

  I stepped forward to help the beautiful blonde only to have Gavin hold me back. “Aiden, there’s nothing we can do to help. All we can do right now is save ourselves.”

  Despite my inclination to stay behind, Gavin was telling the truth. I would’ve been a fool to remain, so I ended up following Gavin into a series of tunnels I’d never even known existed at the Catacombs.

  “Where are we going? Where are you taking us?”

  Since I met her, Zinnia had never been the picture of sanity, but as Ian led us through narrow tunnels that led out of the Catacombs with only a flashlight to shed light before us, she was insufferable in her delusion that she was still in control.

  “Shut her up,” Gavin seethed through gritted teeth.

  “I demand to know where we’re going!”

  “Be silent, Zinnia,” I reprimanded her. “If you want to come with us, then it’s in your best interest to keep those lips sealed.”

  Gavin, who was ahead of the pack, stopped. He began moving the torch from one side to another, the light flickering with the motion.

  Several unsavory curses flowed out of the lips of Craig. “What the hell is this? It’s a dead end.”

  “Shut up,” was the only explanation any of us got from Gavin, who began feeling along one side of the wall. “This passage will lead us to the Port. From there, you guys can do whatever you want. Right now, just shut up.”

  The screams behind us escalated right before several piercing howls echoed in the corridor behind us. Rabid monsters began barking, their growls getting louder and louder.

  “They’re coming!” I announced. “Gavin, what’s going on?”

  Gavin remained silent, feeling through the wall for a couple of seconds—more serene than any of us were.

  I pulled my gun out. I looked at Zinnia and Craig, who began retrieving their own weapons. “We’re better off putting up a fight.”

  Right when I said it, one of their mutant dogs appeared, bright yellow eyes betraying its hunger and ruthlessness. Zinnia shot at it with the gun, bullets tainted with ultraviolet rays, designed to kill vampires. It hit the dog in the leg. The animal whimpered in pain, but unlike the effect one of those bullets would’ve had on vampires, the dog quickly recovered and pounced right on me.

  Before I knew it, I’d been tackled to the ground, with the dog’s sharp fangs biting into my neck. Craig and Zinnia fired more shots. I heard more growls. My vision began to blur. With whatever strength I had left in me, I stabbed the dog on top of me with my dagger. I twisted the knife inside it and threw it away from me. I struggled to my feet. That was when I realized that there had been no other dogs on its tail. All shots had been fired at the animal that had tackled me.

  What on earth? I was beginning to feel dizzy. I wondered what the dog bite would cost me.

  Zinnia’s eyes were wide with horror. “We kept firing at it. It wouldn’t die.”

  “What is it?” Craig hissed.

  “Are you all right?” Zinnia checked on the wound on my neck.

  I nodded, pressing my palm over my neck. “I’m fine. How’s it going over there, Gavin?”

  “I got it!” Gavin pressed against what appeared to be a well-hidden panel. There was a rumble within the narrow tunnel and before we knew it, an opening appeared where there was once a dead end.

  “How are you so sure that this leads to the Port?” I asked.

  Gavin grimaced as he looked at my wound. “I grew up here, remember? We have our secrets. Anyway, can you even make it? We’re going to have to crawl through this.”

  I nodded curtly at him. “Let’s go.”

  This time, they made me go right after Gavin with Craig taking up the rear end of the group. It felt like hours before we were able to finally reach the end of the tunnel.

  When Gavin finally crawled out of the tunnel we were crouched in, my heart dropped when he gasped. I thought for sure that we had crawled right to our deaths. Dread washed over me even as I battled to keep my consciousness, suffering from the blood loss caused by the attack from the Elders’ pet.

  When I finally dragged myself out of that tunnel, I drew a sigh of relief when I saw welcome comrades standing before me.

  Derek and Corrine.

  “Aiden?” Derek creased his brows. “What happened to you?”

  “Where’s Sofia?” was all I could think about to ask. “Where’s my daughter?”

  Sorrow came over my son-in-law’s face. “You need some rest. Corrine, get him into one of the rooms.”

  The worst possible scenario swept over me. “No.” I shook my head. “Sofia… Derek, where’s Sofia?” I didn’t know whether it was the blood loss or the fact that Derek was standing in front of me without my daughter, but I was losing control. I tried to lunge for Derek, but my knees gave way beneath me, and my consciousness gave way to a memory.

  I sat comfortably at the back of the black limousine, a safe distance away from the playground where my little girl was soon going to be. It’d been a year since I last saw her. The longing was almost unbearable.

  It felt like hours before the bell rang for their lunch period and she appeared amidst a flurry of children her age. She walked beside Lyle’s son, Ben, a fine young man by my estimation.

  The first thing I noticed was how lackluster her eyes were. That was unlike the Sofia I knew. My little girl had bright curious eyes. My eyes. She was always looking for adventure. She looked at the world like she believed that she could conquer it if only she could explore all its secrets. From the moment she could walk, it’d been difficult to keep her in one place.

  This time, however, while Ben hung out with the other boys from their class, she sought a quiet corner and brought out the items from her lunch bag. She ate her sandwich quietly, not minding anyone around her. She had an air of disinterest, detachment. She seemed disconnected from reality and I couldn’t really blame her.

  “What have I done to her?” I found myself saying out loud.

  “Sir?” the driver asked.

  “Nothing. I was just speaking my thoughts.”

  Sofia was no longer where I last saw her. I scanned the playground and saw her running toward the far right side of the school building—toward the sandbox.

  My heart skipped a beat when I saw her face. She was clearly agitated. Ben a
nd two other boys surrounded a much smaller boy who was trembling and retrieving from his pocket an inhaler. One of the boys pushed him to the ground.

  Sofia came just when Ben was about to reach down and get the kid’s lunch box. She didn’t say anything. Instead, she planted her hands on her waist and just stared at Ben. No words, not even a single action. Just her presence.

  I couldn’t help but think about how beautiful she was, standing up to those boys. She helped the little boy up and shook her head disapprovingly at her best friend, who seemed truly sorry for his actions.

  Ben caught up with her, clearly trying to explain himself, while the other two boys followed them, heads hung low.

  “Your daughter has leadership.”

  I drew a short intake of breath when I realized that Arron was leaning on the limo, right by the window. He had his arms crossed over his chest.

  He looked my way and without a hint of any expression said, “I think she takes after you.”

  “Sir… What are you doing here?”

  He tapped on the car door. “Let me in.”

  I gulped as I opened the door, embarrassed that I was caught watching Sofia.

  He took a seat beside me and shut the door. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I had to see her again.”

  “I thought you made your choice. She is a thing of the past.”

  “She’s my daughter.”

  “You only torment yourself and endanger her if you keep doing this. If you can’t stand being away from her, then take her back and raise her up as a hunter.”

  “I can’t do that. She deserves a better life than the one we’re living.”

  “Then leave her in your past. It’s for her own good.”

  I wanted to object, to spout out all the reasons I couldn’t be away from Sofia, but there was truth in what Arron was telling me, so all I ended up saying was, “Don’t worry. This won’t happen again. I just wanted to see her one last time.” The confession slipped out of my mouth. “I really just want to see her eyes brighten up again.”