A Gate of Night (A Shade of Vampire #6)(33)

“And yet you saved mine. What makes my life more important than hers?”

“Your life isn’t more important than hers. As I said, she made her choices and she had to live with them.”

My jaw clenched. There was nothing I could do about what happened to Cora. Past was past. I couldn’t change it even if I wanted to. What I did know was that Sofia needed me. Regarding my wife’s fate, there was still something I could do.

“How about Sofia? Is my life more important than hers? Why doesn’t she get to be saved?”

“They won’t harm her. You have time.”

“How are you so sure of that? She’s at The Blood Keep! Captive! My wife doesn’t belong there!” I could feel the heat rising again. Part of me wanted to unleash the fire and burn both the Ageless and Ibrahim to a crisp. Part of me understood what they were saying. The power I had was beyond my comprehension for now and I couldn’t go back to my world without understanding it. The greater part of me, however, just really wanted to hold Sofia in my arms.

A lump formed in my throat when I remembered the dream—the same dream I’d had every single night since I married Sofia. The idea of us turning against each other was sickening, and the longer I was away from her, the more possible it seemed.

The Ageless looked at me with her typical glare, not a single hint of empathy or sympathy in her eyes. Silver hair glistening, she was as fascinating as she was terrifying.

“We can’t keep going over this, Derek. Trust me when I say that we have time. You want to see Sofia, I get that, but you will risk your life—and many others’ lives—if you go looking for her while you’re still not ready.”

“You didn’t answer my question, witch. Why do I get to live?”

“Because—thanks to Cora— you are now the man powerful enough to help restore balance between the realms.”

“What realms?”

“You already know of two—ours, the witches’ realm, and yours, the human realm. There are two others—that of the vampires and that of the Guardians. Two realms at war with each other. We exist to maintain the balance between the two.”

“We? Humans and witches?”

“No. We… witches maintain the balance. Humans are like currency—the immunes being of highest value. The vampires are hoarding too many of the immunes.”

“I was a vampire. I didn’t care about the immunes.”

“Really, Derek? You didn’t care about the power that you sensed whenever you drank Sofia’s blood?” The Ageless didn’t say it as a taunt or a challenge, just as a fact. “I’m not talking about your kind of vampire. You are mutations of the original, weak compared to them. The Elder is the first vampire who entered the human realm. You are his creation, but the Elder is just one among many—one among the original vampires.”

“Ok. Restore balance. How do we do it? Let’s just get it done.”

“Don’t be an impulsive fool, Derek. You know you’re not ready.”

“You don’t understand!” I turned towards Ibrahim. “You keep telling me to calm down, to relax. You say that’s the only way I can control…”

Fire once again burst from my palms and it took all of me to redirect my body so that the flames didn’t get to my trainer and the Ageless. I screamed as ray upon ray of burning fire erupted from my body, evaporating the tears before they could fall from my eyes.

The Ageless mumbled a couple of incoherent words and within seconds the fire was gone, but I was still burning with a reality I knew to be true—a reality that the Ageless could never comprehend as she stood over me and with her stoic countenance reinforced her point.

“I think we can all agree that you are not ready.” She turned to Ibrahim. “Continue the training.”

Ibrahim stroked his dark goatee and sighed. “Tough break, Derek, but her word is law.”

I shook my head. “I can’t stay here, Ibrahim. What you don’t understand is that I was never able to control my temper or my power. Not on my own. Not until Sofia came into my life.”

“She will be back into your life the moment you gain control. It can be done.”

“Damn it, Ibrahim. Don’t you understand? The longer you keep me away from her, the more I lose control. I need to at least know that I’m getting closer to her, not farther.” My teeth were gritted, my fists clenched, as I stood to my full height. I was fighting with every inch of my life to keep the fire from bursting out of my exhausted body once again.

Spent and desperate, I told him the one truth they couldn’t seem to grasp: “Sofia is my calm.”

Chapter 19: Aiden

Five months. It’d been five months since the Elder’s children had attacked The Shade and taken over, five months since the portal had opened. I knew nothing about Sofia or her pregnancy. There was absolutely no news about the fate of Derek.

As far as The Shade’s leaders were concerned, we were all in the dark.

We all feared that both were gone, but none of us had the guts to say it out loud. I, for one, was certain that my daughter was alive. I convinced myself that had anything happened to her, I would’ve known. I felt it in my gut.

Sofia is alive.

I had been given her bedroom at the Catacombs. After the Elder had attacked The Shade, the Black Heights was the only intact establishment at the island. Everything else was ruined. Apparently, destroying an entire mountain range wasn’t thought beneficial. We still had the Catacombs and the Cells.