A Shadow of Light Read online

  Well, I didn’t exactly let him. I just kind of woke up to find that he was already having his fill. Of course, I wasn’t about to tell Aiden that. “Do we have to go through this again?”

  Aiden’s lips shut tight and we ate breakfast in silence without a word being exchanged until he finally asked the question that had probably been burning through his thoughts all night. “Is he allowing the hunters to come?”

  “Do you have any idea at all how much is hanging on the balance should this cure be for real?”

  “You saw Ingrid turn back into a human, Sofia. With your own eyes!” he exclaimed. “I don’t understand how you could still hold so much doubt after witnessing something like that.”

  “What if it only works on her? What if it doesn’t work on all vampires?”

  “We won’t know until we try, will we?”

  I couldn’t fight back the uneasy feeling I had over the whole matter. I wanted to believe Aiden. I wanted to trust him, to believe that he wasn’t going to screw us all over, but this dread inside kept nagging at me that something was amiss. “I hope you understand that Derek means everything to me. You betray him, you betray me.”

  “I know that, Sofia. I also hope that you realize that you are my daughter and I will always fight for what I believe is best for you.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “I know I messed up big time. I know I wasn’t a good father to you, but I want that to change. I want you to trust me.”

  I couldn’t bear the idea of shooting him down after what felt like one of the most sincere things he’d ever told me. Hesitantly, I nodded and gave him the go signal to something that could end us all.

  “Have the hunters come.”

  Chapter 46: Derek

  I was dragging myself through the entire day. The heavy weight that settled on my chest the moment I realized that I had just lost my father was inescapable. I’d always been at odds with Gregor Novak but I had never wished such a death on him. I had no idea how to face Vivienne. I wasn’t even sure if she’d already been told. I sure didn’t want to be the one to break the news to her. The mere thought of seeing her tears over the passing away of our father was more emotion than I knew how to handle.

  It seemed that it was the hand I’d been dealt. Fix one problem and another will pop up. You’re not even allowed time to just gather yourself together and pick the pieces up to prepare for the next tragedy.

  By the end of the day, I was ready to escape into sleep—the only recourse I had that would allow me to shut all my anxieties, fears and doubts out. I momentarily entertained the idea of going to Sofia at The Catacombs, but sleep really seemed to be a more enticing escape than even my lovely redhead, who for certain was with Aiden, someone who would once again remind me about what I was already deeply guilty about. I could still feel Sofia’s blood coursing through me. I was certain that it was the wellspring I was drawing life from throughout that day. It was also my deepest source of shame.

  I just want to escape. All of it. For a few hours, I want to be rid of all of this.

  Xavier had gone with me to the Pavilion—most likely to check on Vivienne, who was being looked after by Liana. When he realized that I was off to my own penthouse, Xavier called me out on it. “Aren’t you even going to check on Vivienne? I think she needs you.”

  I tensed at the thought. “I don’t know if I can…”

  “You have to, Derek. If there’s anyone who can understand what you’re going through, it’s her. And it’s your comfort and presence that she needs most right now. She’d barely just wrapped her head around Lucas’ death at The Oasis. She needs you for this.”

  I knew he was right, so despite the ache I felt inside, I begrudgingly obliged. I made my way to my sister’s penthouse and found her inside her greenhouse, amidst her beloved orchids, roses, lilies and tulips. Her blue-violet gaze was misty with tears.

  “Vivienne…”

  She looked up and the moment she laid eyes on me, she broke down crying. She immediately approached me and threw her arms around my neck. I wrapped my hands around her waist and pulled her against me, allowing her to sob as long and as much as she needed to. I didn’t know what to say to her. I found myself hoping that my presence was enough, because I couldn’t find the right words to comfort her.

  “It’s just you and me now…” she rasped out in between sobs, her voice hoarse and choked. “We’re the last of the Novaks.”

  I hung my head—almost as if I was ashamed that this was true, almost as if it was my fault Gregor was gone.

  When her sobs subsided, she pulled away from me and nodded slowly, her eyes fixed on a black orchid which she was gently caressing with her thumb. “I knew it would happen…” she eventually said. “He was too far into the dark. He was fighting with every bit of his strength to stay in the light, but even you weren’t strong enough to stand against it when it began to consume you. He’d been giving into it for too long.”

  “I don’t understand…”

  Vivienne caught my eye in that way only she could—that way that made me feel as if she were looking into the depths of my soul. I would look into her eyes and find uncharted galaxies behind them. I knew that I could never really grasp or comprehend her depth.

  “I think he chose us, Derek. That’s why he’s dead. That explains the message on his arm. He chose us over darkness.”

  “He hated me,” was all I could manage to say as I fought back my own tears.

  Vivienne shook her head. “He lost a lot of himself. I know he wasn’t the greatest father, but he did the best he could. He was a weak man. He was nothing like you, Derek. He never hated you. He envied you.”

  I smiled bitterly. “It doesn’t matter now I guess…”

  She heaved a sigh and gently brushed her hand over my face. “I guess what matters is that we still have each other and that no matter where our father is right now, I’m certain that he is much more free than he ever was as ruler of The Shade and father of the great Derek Novak.”

  Overcome by emotion, I could no longer keep the tears back. I pulled Vivienne against me. “I’m so glad you’re back, Vivienne. I would have no idea how to get through this without you.”

  “You’ll do just fine, Derek. You’ve always been stronger than any of us ever were. Now that you have Sofia back here, you can make it. You can go against the original.”

  I pulled away from our embrace, my jaw dropping involuntarily. “You can’t mean that… Vivienne…”

  She just smiled at me and turned away. I knew what that meant. She wasn’t willing to say any more and no amount of coaxing from me could make her speak again. She’d said her piece and that was it. I was dismissed.

  Going against the original vampire was something that had never crossed my mind. I couldn’t understand why she would even think it. The original was almost a myth to us. None of us knew if the creature really even existed or what it was capable of. It was one thing to battle against something tangible, something you saw and understood, but it was a whole other thing to contend with a powerful unknown.

  I was in a daze as I returned to my penthouse, all sense of sleep leaving me. I knew that I couldn’t escape to deep slumber even if I wanted to. Vivienne had just dropped a bomb that would make me toss and turn with anxiety all night.

  Thus, I was relieved to open my bedroom door and find Sofia sitting on top of the bed. My guitar was laid on the empty space on the bed beside her. She was busy penciling a drawing on the sketch pad laid over her lap, loose strands of her red hair falling over her face. She looked up through her long lashes the moment I entered and smiled.

  “Rough day, huh?”

  “As rough as it could get…” I leaned against the doorpost in a show of resignation. “I haven’t yet been able to rise up from one wave crashing over me before another one comes raging toward me again.”

  She tapped gently on the guitar beside her. “It’s been a while since I last heard you play.”

  No matter how exhausted I felt, I re
alized that I wanted nothing more than to surround myself with that which I loved—music and Sofia. I sat over the edge of the bed and took the guitar. I began strumming a chord to make sure it was in tune. Satisfied that it was, I began to pluck away, losing myself in the sound of the music.

  I could feel Sofia settle herself behind me, leaning her chin over my shoulder as she watched me play. As I continued to play tune after tune after tune, she began whispering encouragements in my ear. “You’re strong. Brave. Courageous. You don’t need to give in to the darkness in order to get through this. I know you. I know that we can make it through this. We’re going to fight this together.”

  I had no idea how long it took before we eventually settled down on the bed, snuggling against each other, enjoying that momentary reprieve. We were each other’s refuge and in that bedroom, holding Sofia in my arms, it felt as if the world was as it should be.

  “The hunters are coming tomorrow…” Sofia whispered as she brushed her fingers over my chest. I could hear the hesitation in her voice. I could tell she felt apprehensive about bringing up the subject. “You ready for that?”

  “I don’t know… Are you? If things go south, Sofia, I may need to fight your father… I just…”

  “It’s fine,” she cut me off, the assurance coming too quick. “I know you have to do what you have to do.”

  I knew it was tearing her up to even think of having to choose between me and her father. “You don’t have to choose you know… I understand…”

  “I know, but if I had to choose, you know that I’d choose you in a heartbeat, don’t you?”

  Her loyalty and love for me was always a source of astonishment. And it meant the world to me to hear her say it. I placed a kiss on her forehead. “I love you so much, Sofia.”

  She smiled up at me. “I know… I want you to start believing that I love you just as much, Derek.”

  Her words were like a punch in the gut as I realized that what I had done—by leaving her back at hunter territory—showed her that I didn’t believe in her love for me, in our love. I made the choice apart from her, leaving her out of the equation. I was unfair to her by doing that and I decided right then that it would never happen again.

  I knew that we had a rough ride ahead of us, but somehow, that night, I realized that I didn’t need to worry about tomorrow. I was fine where I was. I just needed to take things one day at a time and let tomorrow take care of itself, because no matter what threats were coming our way, I had Sofia in my arms. Just like Sofia, I needed to live in the moment and learn to love every minute of it.

  I wished I knew that earlier, because it was such a regretful thing to realize how much I’d wasted my immortality, but I guessed there was no better time to start than now.

  Chapter 47: Sofia

  We were at the port. All of the Elite Council was present to defend Derek should there be a fight. The deal was that the cure was going to be tested at the port so that the hunters wouldn’t have access to the island the way Aiden did.

  The moment the group of six hunters emerged from the submarine, they revealed their faces, except for two, who remained hidden under hooded cloaks. The secrecy made me queasy and I found myself searching for Derek’s reaction. From the way he was staring at the two hooded hunters, I could tell that he too sensed something was amiss.

  Our suspicions were confirmed when, with panic laced in his voice, Aiden, who was standing beside me, shouted out, “I don’t know these people. This isn’t them. These aren’t the hunters.”

  No sooner had the words come out of his lips when one of the “hunters” lunged for me. Everything happened so fast, I could barely wrap my mind around the whole thing. All I knew was that before I could make sense of what was happening, I had an arm choking my neck, a familiar voice speaking out.

  “We came here for her and her alone. You either give me a way out of here or she dies.”

  The chill of his breath and the distinct depth of his gravelly voice made it clear who was holding me hostage. Borys Maslen.

  My gaze instinctively locked with Derek’s and I found in the blue depths of his eyes a mixture of fury and terror. I tried to make sense of where we were, panic overwhelming me at the idea of once again being taken captive by Borys Maslen. His mere touch was causing goosebumps to form all over my body.

  “How…” Derek gasped out, perhaps wondering how on earth vampires—Borys Maslen at that—was even able to get into the submarines without getting recognized.

  “Surprised, Novak?” Borys grinned, his breath cold against the back of my ear. “Since you helped the hunters destroy The Oasis, we’ve been getting some outside support. A beautiful witch’s spell kept us disguised as hunters until we could reveal ourselves to you. Now, let us leave with young Sofia here and no one has to get hurt. If you don’t let us go, well, I’ll just have to kill her.”

  He began nudging me toward the exit that would lead to the submarine, so I was relieved to find that the way to the submarines had been blocked by several of The Shade’s guards, something that peeved Borys.

  “There’s no way you’re getting out of here with Sofia…” Derek yelled.

  From the look in his eyes, I had no doubt in my mind that I would see hearts ripped out of their rightful place that day.

  “So you’d rather see her die than leave with me?” Borys said, tracing a claw over my bare arm, causing blood to trickle out of the cut. “And I thought you loved her.”

  “What do you want from her?”

  “Oh, I will always want her just because I want what is mine. She’s mine.” He kissed me on the cheek and I felt the tears trickling down my eyes as everyone around me watched helplessly. “But to be honest, I’m not the only one who wants her away from you, Novak. You’re up against much more powerful forces now.”

  I swallowed hard at what he was implying. The original. The desperation in Derek’s face was tearing me apart. I knew it was killing him to see me in Borys’ grasp, even more now that the original was involved.

  “She’s my daughter.” Aiden took a step forward. “Let her go. If she belongs with anyone, she belongs with me.”

  The other hooded “hunter” chuckled. I didn’t need to know who it was. Ingrid.

  “Did you really think your cure would work?” She grinned. “There’s no cure, and lest you forget, she’s my daughter too.”

  “This is getting exhausting.” Borys once again clawed through my skin—so deeply, I couldn’t keep in a scream. “Are you going to let us go or not?”

  Despite the anguish traced in his eyes upon seeing me in pain, Derek shook his head. “No.”

  “Can’t you stop him?” Aiden hissed at Derek.

  “It will take only a couple of seconds for me to break Sofia’s neck,” Borys explained matter-of-factly. “He can’t risk that. I’m going to give you time to think this through, Novak. I’ll give you an hour to let us all go unharmed.” Borys began backing up to where the cells at the port were, Ingrid and the other vampires they had with them backing up around us. “Until you decide, my lovely Sofia and I are going to spend some private time together, heh? Think of all the fun we can have in a whole hour...”

  Just like that, I found myself locked in a room with Borys, five vampires standing guard right outside the door.

  “What do you want from me?” I spat at him after he pushed me to the ground.

  “Many things, Sofia…” He chuckled. “Many things. But first…” He licked his lips and bared his fangs. As if the implication that he was once again going to drink my blood wasn’t already sickening, he pulled off his shirt and unbuttoned his jeans. I knew what he wanted, but I wasn’t going to allow him to have it.

  Gritting my teeth against what I was up against, I shook my head determined to fight with every bit of my strength. He’s not going to make a victim out of me. Not again. Over my dead body.

  Chapter 48: Derek

  I paced the floor of the port’s control room as I tried to figure out what to do
. I looked toward the direction of the cell where Borys took Sofia and just the thought of what he was doing to her in there was enough to drive me mad.

  “What are we going to do?” Aiden asked.

  “Did you do this?” I shot at him. I didn’t care that he was her father. If he had deliberately put Sofia in danger just to get to me, I was more than ready to break his neck.

  He shook his head. “I don’t understand what happened. I didn’t know about this. They must have found a way to intercept my communication with the hunters. I had nothing to do with this.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him as I moved closer to him. “Is there really a cure, Aiden? Why is Ingrid a vampire again?” I was fighting the urge to interrogate him while I had my hand choking his neck.

  The man stood proud and indignant, unwilling to be intimidated even by me. I was impressed, but even more so when he looked me straight in the eye. “There’s no cure, Derek. There can never be a cure to a curse such as yours.”

  I wasn’t able to keep myself from hitting him across the face, making him fall on the ground—several feet away from me.

  He coughed blood. “I just wanted what was best for Sofia. You’re not what’s best for her. I had to do everything I could to get this idea of a cure out of her head, to get you permanently out of her system.”

  “You want what’s best for her?!” I pointed toward the room where she was trapped with Borys Maslen. “Do you have any idea what he could possibly be doing to her right now?! Do you have any idea how sick a monster Borys Maslen is?! It’s your fault she’s at his mercy right now.” I had no idea what to do. I knew that I could take down all of Borys’ vampires if I wanted to, but I also knew without a doubt in my mind that Borys wouldn’t hesitate to kill Sofia. I grabbed clumps of my own hair as I screamed out in frustration.

  “We need to get her as far away from Borys as possible,” I managed to mutter.

  “Well, for once, we agree on something…” Aiden said.