A Shade Of Vampire 4: A Shadow Of Light(66)

“Yes. I get the dilemma,” Sofia said. “I just don’t know why you can’t see the solution when it seems pretty obvious.”

“Just tell us what you have in mind, Sofia. We’re all ears,” I said.

“For one thing, you could always live on animal blood. Vivienne has survived all these years on that.” Sofia raised her hands in the air before anyone could object. “Yes, yes. I know what you’re going to say. Not everyone can do what Vivienne is doing. I get that. I do have another idea. I’d like to believe that through the past year, we’ve already established some sort of rapport between the humans and the vampires. I don’t see why the humans wouldn’t agree to donate their own blood to feed the vampires.”

“You mean like the humans voluntarily letting vampires suck their blood?” Yuri scoffed.

“I think what Sofia is saying is that we replenish the stocks by getting blood from the humans the way hospitals and blood banks do.” Eli glared at Yuri.

“Do you really think the humans would agree to that?” I asked Sofia.

“I don’t see why not…”

“One problem there…” Vivienne sat up. “The vampires will end up craving whoever donated blood to them.”

Sofia shrugged. “Well, it’s a temporary measure, is it not? If the cure works, then it wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Ah, yes… The cure…” Liana nodded. “That’s why we came here. So much seems to be hanging on to whether or not this cure works.”

“Well, if this cure is for real.” Cameron straightened up on his seat. “Then Sofia’s right. We really wouldn’t have to worry about blood supplies at all.”

“More than that,” Liana added, “we won’t need the protection of The Shade anymore. The other covens can attack all they want… It won’t really matter. They can even turn back into mortals if they please.”

“The hunters won’t have to hunt us down anymore.” Yuri leaned back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest, his brows furrowing in deep thought.

“A cure just might end all of this,” Liana concluded.

Finally, Cameron got straight to the point. “I guess what we’re trying to say is that we think we ought to look into the faintest possibility of this cure being real, because it is far better than a full-on war with both vampire covens and hunters.”

My jaw tightened. They were listing all the advantages of the cure being real, advantages I’d been mulling over since I had heard of the cure. Sofia and I exchanged glances and I could tell that she was feeling the pressure upon hearing how much was hanging on this cure the hunters claimed to have found.

“So I guess we’re going to let more hunters into the island? We’re going to risk that?” I directed my attention toward Vivienne. “What do you think, Vivienne?”

My sister shook her head. “I don’t know. I’d be lying if I said that I trust the hunters, because I don’t.”

“I don’t trust them either,” Sofia said. “But…”

“…the cure may be our last hope,” Eli finished for Sofia. “A war would end us.”

“How are they even going to do it?” I couldn’t help but blurt out. “I can’t even wrap my mind around how the other covens plan to attack us without being detected by humans. A war would definitely attract attention, perhaps end us all.”

Eli lifted his glasses over the bridge of his nose as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair, rubbing his neck as he did. “I can’t be sure, but…” he hesitated.

After it seemed he wasn’t going to continue, I narrowed my eyes at him. “But what, Eli?”

“I don’t know… It’s just… I don’t think we’re up against just the covens.”

At this, Xavier, who seemed unable to pry his eyes off of Vivienne the whole time, snapped to attention. “What are you saying?”

“The other covens wouldn’t dare risk something as big as this. That’s what kept us safe from them all these years. You forget that a lot of vampires who migrated to The Shade—coming from other covens—warned us that the other covens were, for decades, covetous of what we have here. A full-scale war isn’t something anybody would risk unless…”

“…unless there’s a greater influence backing them up.” Vivienne nodded.

“Exactly,” Eli said.

I froze, every part of my body seeming to tense at the implication. “You can’t possibly mean…”

Eli and Vivienne exchanged glances.

In her typical sage and serene manner, Vivienne said the words that sealed my fears. “Great darkness is behind this.”

I swallowed hard, realizing that I was against a power far above what I could possibly handle. I knew whom they were referring to, but it almost seemed impossible—utterly surreal.

“I don’t understand…” Sofia silently voiced out, searching me for an answer.

“They’re referring to the original.”

“The original?”

“The very first vampire.”





Chapter 45: Sofia


As soon as the words came out of Derek’s mouth, someone began pounding at the front door. Derek and I stood in unison, worry creasing his face as sure as it was mine.