A Blaze of Sun (A Shade of Vampire #5)(49)

We began making out until she finally got bored with that. I realized that rarely anything seemed to satisfy Emilia for long. She was always craving something, demanding more. She seemed to have countless needs, and she was always clamoring for someone to meet whatever those needs were.

Yawning, she got off my lap and sat on the bench beside me. She leaned her head over my shoulder and took my hand in hers, our fingers clasping together. Despite my aversion to her, my thumb began rubbing the back of her hand.

I’d been there for three days and it already felt like an eternity. The thought that I had four days left was sickening. I hated to think about it, but I knew that I had absolutely no assurance that Emilia would make good on her word and actually return me to The Shade after a week. The thought was killing me. I missed Sofia and everyone in The Shade more than I ever had before, and the idea of being stuck like this was horrifying.

“I can sometimes read your mind, you know,” she broke the long silence we found ourselves in. “I know what’s going through your thoughts, how much you don’t want to be with me.”

“That’s not true,” I said even though my brain was saying the exact opposite.

“Yes, it is. You want to return to The Shade.”

I didn’t respond verbally. If you can read my mind, then you know I don’t want to be with you. You know how in love I am with Sofia. And yes, I do want to return to The Shade. Nothing’s ever going to change that.

“Why can’t you love me? I gave so much of myself to you, risked everything to help you establish The Shade, and yet you never looked at me the way you looked at her.”

Because it’s Sofia I belong with, not you. That’s just the way it is. You don’t get to choose who you fall in love with the same way I’m sure you never chose to fall in love with me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Emilia. I’m in love with you.” What happened to you, Cora? You were my best friend, and now you’re just a crazy half-vampire, half-witch.

“I fell in love with you. That’s what’s wrong with me.”

It should’ve bothered me that she was able to read my thoughts, but I wasn’t bothered. At least she knew that she was just fooling herself to believe that I was in love with her. At least she knew that even when I touched her, even when I professed love to her outwardly, it was still Sofia that I wanted to be with. I liked the idea that Emilia would never get the satisfaction she was looking for – at least not from me.

Before our conversation could go to stranger places, we heard a shriek from nearby. Emilia’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Finally! Something’s happening… It’s been freaking boring in here,” she exclaimed, as she ran toward the place where the scream came from, hand still clasping mine as I trailed behind her.

We arrived at the very edge of the Elder’s territory – the part where the night stopped and the day began. I could see sunlight past the force field that was keeping the Blood Keep away from any human detection – the same spell Cora cast on The Shade. I wondered if it was the reason the original vampire made Emilia a part of his clan to begin with. She was too powerful to let go of. Something tells me that he’s really just using her.

The scream came from a young woman – human and immune. We came just in time to find her being held in the arms of one of the vampire guards. He was drinking her blood and clearly enjoying it. The woman, on the other hand, was clawing at him with all her might.

I instinctively moved forward to help the young girl, but Emilia held me back. “No. I think she’s new. She’s most likely being trained to submit.”

I looked at her, disgusted that she could find such a scene entertaining.

She turned her eyes toward me, giving me a pointed look. “Besides, I don’t want you going anywhere near an immune.”

So we’re just going to stand here and watch? This is sick.

“That’s exactly what we’re going to do, Derek.”

The guard seemed to like that Emilia was watching and finding entertainment in what he was doing, so he lifted the girl in his arms, tightly wrapping his large arms around her waist as he continued to drink from her neck. She was writhing to free herself from him, but we all knew it was pointless.

I wanted to do something to stop it, but I was powerless to do as I pleased. I was under Emilia’s control.

For crying out loud, Emilia. Do something. Enough of this.

I wasn’t expecting her to actually do anything about the situation at hand, but if she was still reading my mind, then I figured I could annoy her by continuously thinking something that would displease her.

I began thinking of Sofia, of my most treasured memories of her – the way she clung tightly to me when I first made the hundred-foot leap from the top of the Crimson Fortress to the ground in order to take her to the Lighthouse, all the times she smiled sweetly while she was updating me about the ways of the modern world, her laughter, the slow dances, the kisses, the night she agreed to marry me…

“Enough!” Emilia screamed so loudly, I couldn’t help but jump back in surprise. She turned toward me with an infuriated glare. “Stop thinking about her!”

I would’ve been intimidated by her had I not caught a glimpse of the guard, who was just as stunned by Emilia’s outburst as I was. Considering the awkward way he was carrying the squirming young woman in his arms, he lost his balance when he jumped back in surprise. He let go of the girl and crashed outside of the castle’s protective covering, right into the rays of sunlight. He tried to get right back into the covering, only to be thrown back by a force field.