A Castle of Sand (A Shade of Vampire #3)(77)

The urgency of the situation forced my attention away from Ben as it began to sink in to me that the love of my life was very much in danger of getting killed by my father.

Aiden quickly changed the topic. He gave Derek a momentary, questioning glare. “Borys Maslen?”

“He got away,” Derek responded. “Ingrid?”

“We’re holding her captive.”

An awkward silence followed until Derek broke it. “I won’t leave Sofia.”

“Then you’ll have to come with us. You sure a vampire like you would be willing to walk right into the hunters’ headquarters?”

“Why not?” Derek shrugged. “I was once a hunter.”

“Reuben…” a young woman with blue-streaked hair interrupted. “We have to go.” She couldn’t seem to bear looking at Ben. My father nodded. He gave Derek a cold and suspicious glance before shaking his head and saying, “Get Ben’s body. Let’s go.” He reached his hand toward me at the exact same time Derek did.

I tore my eyes away from Ben’s body—now being taken away by the hunters—and looked at the two men, holding their hands out to me. I didn’t hesitate. I took Derek’s hand, not missing the flash of hatred in my father’s eyes at the sight of The Shade’s monarch.

Derek pulled me against him and gently caressed my forehead with his lips. I turned to face my father to find him removing his jacket. He handed it to me. “Cover up.”

Relieved, I took the jacket and put it on, zipping it up to my neck. I then clung on to Derek’s hand as we headed for the elevator. As it rose up through the levels of The Oasis, I got a glimpse of all the bloodshed that had just occurred. I realized that it certainly wasn’t just the vampires of The Oasis that had been slaughtered.

“They killed all the human slaves too,” I whispered into Derek’s ear when I saw the elderly maid who had dressed me lying motionless on the ground.

He nodded. “In the eyes of a hunter, Naturals and any human loyally serving a vampire are just as bad as the creature itself.”

“Then they could just as easily kill me for my loyalty to you.”

“Not as long as your father holds any authority with the hunters…”

Suddenly, I understood why Ben had turned his back on the hunters. My best friend was out for revenge, but he never would’ve willingly taken the life of an innocent.

We finally reached level one and just as we surmised from what we saw through level seven’s surveillance monitors, the hunters had blown off the entire top level of The Oasis. I was relieved to find that the sun had already set by the time we reached the top level, because I dared not imagine what would happen to Derek should the sun’s rays shine on him.

The bloodbath we had passed through before reaching the hunters’ helicopters was sickening. At one point, I looked at Derek, silently admiring him for stopping something like this from happening at The Shade. I squeezed his hand and he looked my way. He smiled and that gesture alone made me feel a lot better.

“I didn’t think we were going to make it out of here,” he admitted.

“Neither did I, but we still have a prophecy to fulfil together, Derek.”

“I don’t know how I’ll be able to keep myself from craving you, Sofia…”

“I trust you,” was all I could think to say before I caught sight of my father who was waving for us to hurry up. We rushed forward until we reached one of the choppers. That was when I saw Claudia climbing into one of them. I pointed at her to get Derek’s attention.

He frowned. “That vampire!” he screamed at my father through the noise of the chopper’s propellers. “Why is she being brought with you?”

“Ben demanded it!” was Aiden’s response.

Derek and I exchanged confused glances. Why on earth would Ben ask the hunters to spare Claudia’s life?

“Let’s go!” Aiden sounded impatient and borderline angry.

Thus, Derek and I quickly climbed into the chopper. I cuddled up against him as we got seated, my father sitting across from us. As the chopper rose in the air, I once again remembered Ben and grabbed Derek’s hand as I sobbed into his shoulder.

He knew me enough to know why I was in tears, so all he did was hum our song and hold me tight. “There’ll be better days, Sofia.”

I hoped he was right. At that moment, everything was just too overwhelming, too dark, and through it all, Derek seemed to be my only ray of light.

CHAPTER 56: DEREK

It felt like I was riding to my death. I was surrounded by hunters and I was willingly heading toward the last place any vampire should be. The hunters’ headquarters.

I could feel Aiden’s glare burning through me. I knew that in his eyes, I was the enemy. In his eyes, I had brainwashed Sofia into loving me. I knew that he would do everything to take Sofia away from me. It’s the way I would’ve thought had I still been a hunter.

I clung to Sofia, driven mad by how much I was craving her blood. I swallowed hard as I pressed my lips against her cheek. I couldn’t remember ever wanting anyone as much as I wanted her. The fact that I was in love with her only added to the heavy ache that seemed to permanently settle on my chest.

No wonder Lucas couldn’t keep himself away from her…

Lucas. My jaw tightened at the recollection of seeing my brother burst into flames. I’d never liked him, but he was still my brother. Seeing him meet his end brought no satisfaction whatsoever.