A Blaze of Sun (A Shade of Vampire #5)(10)

She gave me a knowing glance and shrugged a shoulder nonchalantly. “I know.”

“Aren’t you worried?”

She shook her head. “No, not really.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“We’re going to win this one.”

I knew she was a seer, but I still wasn’t able to resist the urge to ask, “How could you be so sure that we’re going to win this war?”

She chuckled at my naiveté. “We’re going to win this particular battle, Sofia. Not the war. I’m not sure what will come of this war or even how it will end or if it will even end. I do know for certain that the war has just begun, and that the first victory... is ours.”

Chapter 4: Ingrid

I hate her. I hate Sofia.

The image of Borys lying dead on the floor was still fresh in my mind. I had no idea how they did it or how they could’ve outsmarted him, but they did and I felt like I was to blame. I knew that Vivienne and Sofia were Borys’ greatest weaknesses. He’d been pining for Vivienne for centuries. His obsession with her only subsided after Sofia came along and replaced Vivienne in his mind.

I relied too much on the women’s fear of him and his brute strength. I should’ve been aware that he would be weak against their manipulations, against their attempts to seduce him. I should’ve known.

But it’s too late now. He’s gone. And while I have my own part in his demise, it’s still Sofia I ought to blame.

My daughter was a plague I couldn’t escape from. She took everything away from me and I was determined to make her pay.

I was backed up in a corner of the cot they provided inside their dungeon, moonlight streaming from the small window above the cell, barred with UV rays. Consumed by my own dark thoughts, I shuddered when a freezing wind began to blow through my cell. The breeze was unlike anything I’d experienced before. I could sense power coming from it and when it hit my skin, it felt as if it were penetrating right through my flesh and bones. I began shivering as fear took over my senses. What is going on?

My eyes darted across the small space surrounding me. I couldn’t see anything. Suddenly, I was enveloped by pitch black darkness and all the moonlight that had been previously streaming through the small window somehow disappeared.

“Camilla…”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I recognized the voice. The voice was Borys’, but he never called me Camilla, especially after he turned me into a vampire. “Who are you?”

“Anybody you want me to be really…” the voice responded.

I could sense a presence near me, so I began waving my hands in front of me, but I felt nothing and saw nothing. “What do you want? How did you get here?”

“It doesn’t matter how I got here, but yes… we must discuss what I want.”

Another cold breeze swept through the room and I found myself crashing to the floor, balling myself up in a fetal position as I sensed the strange presence standing over me. Immediately, it sank into me that I was up against a powerful force I had no business messing with. “Please…” I begged. “I don’t want any trouble.”

I didn’t know how, but I could sense his dark delight at my surrender, at my acknowledgment that I was a lesser being than he.

“Listen to me carefully, Camilla, because I will say this only once. You are never to refer to yourself as Ingrid again. You are to play the part of Camilla Claremont. You will earn back the love of your husband and daughter. You will do everything in your power to get back into their good graces. Do you understand me?”

I wanted to object. I wanted to say no, but all I could do was nod.

He didn’t seem to be convinced by my agreement, because before I knew it, something hit me on the arm like a thick whip, burning my skin the moment it touched me. I screamed at the pain and began whimpering, afraid that he would hit me once more. “Wh-what are you?” I stuttered. The response I got was another lash – this time on my thigh, breaking the leather of my pants and burning my skin beneath it. I stifled a scream and bit my lip instead, drawing blood from it.

“Speak again and there’ll be more,” he warned, as he watched me shake beneath him.

I could feel his eyes on me, delighting in watching me suffer.

“You have to get it into your head, Camilla, that Borys Maslen is gone, and with him, Ingrid Maslen. You will serve me better as Camilla Claremont than you ever will as Ingrid. You will heed to my command and use every feminine and maternal instinct you have to once again be a part of the Claremont family.”

I wanted to ask why, but I was afraid to speak. The searing pain in my arm and thigh reminded me that remaining silent was a safer option.

It seemed I didn’t need to ask, because he had a ready answer. “You will be my eyes and my ears once you get them to trust you, and when I command you to, I want you to be ready to kill Sofia. Do you understand?”

I nodded as I tried to stifle the smile that formed on my face, surprised by my own delight and eagerness to kill my own daughter. What an evil creature you’ve become, Camilla.

The dark presence controlling me seemed pleased. I, on the other hand, felt as if I were going crazy.

“You are vulnerable against Aiden. You’re in love with him,” the voice scoffed. “Remember that it doesn’t matter what you feel for him anymore, Camilla. After everything you did, he could never really love you again.”