A Shade of Blood (A Shade of Vampire #2)(28)

Panic gripped me and I knew then that I was done buying my time. I’d always known that I couldn’t hide out at Claudia’s forever. I just didn’t think it would be such a close call. I tried to be as quiet and as quick as possible as I made my way back to my bedroom, still just wearing the towel wrapped around my waist. I made haste getting dressed. I’d barely finished buttoning my jeans when I began to hear footsteps and doors being pushed open.

Claudia was throwing a full-blown outburst. “I’m still part of the Elite. You can’t just barge into my home like this.”

“Sure we can,” Yuri responded flatly. “If you have a problem with this, go ahead and take it up with the prince.”

A slew of curses escaped my lips. I took a black hooded jacket from a clothes hook near the door and put it on. From under my bed, I grabbed the backpack I had prepared in case a situation required me to make a quick escape.

From the sound of their rather noisy inquisition, it was clear that they were seconds from opening the bedroom door. I threw the windows open, no longer caring if they overheard, and jumped right out of the window. I landed flat on my feet. I then began to rush toward the port. I groaned as I ran, realizing that I couldn’t have picked a worse time to leave the island, because no matter where I decided to go, chances were that the sun would rise to its peak before I could seek shelter. Still, I wasn’t about to place my life at Derek’s mercy.

I knew my brother, and I knew the darkness that was within him. I didn’t know what Sofia did to have such an impact on him – enough to appeal to his humanity, but I wasn’t going to stick around and wait for her effect on him to wear off. I knew that darkness was sure to eventually overtake him. It always did and when it did, I had no doubt in my mind that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill me.

As I ran full speed toward escape, it was clear that I would sooner choose to die under the sun’s rays rather than die under my brother’s hand. After all, it seemed far nobler to give up one’s life to the light than to the dark.

CHAPTER 20: DEREK

The darkness is coming.

Even as the words echoed in my head, it felt like a dark mist was already stirring from the depths of my soul, overtaking all that I was. It triggered so many unwanted memories that the guilt had once again become overwhelming. I wanted to shut it out and I had the ability to do so, but after the council meeting at the Great Dome was dismissed, Vivienne reminded me why I simply couldn’t. I remained in my seat long after the Elite Council left and Vivienne stayed with me.

“It’s killing me,” I confessed.

She nodded knowingly. I rarely had to explain myself to Vivienne. She understood. “I can see that. Guilt can be quite an adversary, but it’s also your ally.”

“How can that be so?”

“It’s the only thing that keeps the darkness from completely taking over.”

Her words, as they often did, haunted me.

Before she left me on my own, she turned to say, “You need her back. You won’t be able to handle all of this without her.”

I grimaced, knowing who she meant, but I doubted thinking about Sofia would help. Sofia’s made her choice. Now we both have to live with it. “I don’t want any mention of her. Ever again. She’s not coming back. That’s it. We have greater things to worry about.”

I returned to my penthouse shortly afterwards, my mind consumed by my sister’s admonitions. She was the Seer of The Shade. It was hard to simply ignore the things coming out of her lips. On arriving back at my penthouse, I found everything about it just pointed me right back to the girl who made waking up at The Shade after four hundred years bearable.

Stepping in through the front door, the first sight that welcomed me was that of Ashley playing a round of cards with Sam and Kyle at the living room. Somewhere in the kitchen, I could hear the clinking of plates and I caught the scent of dinner cooking. I figured Paige and Rosa were in the kitchen.

Memories of Sofia swam through my mind at the sight of the girls and the guards. Sam and Kyle stood up upon seeing me. Both looked sheepish about being caught playing games with the girls while off guard duty.

“Your highness,” Sam began to explain, “we were just…”

“It’s fine.” I said, waving his explanation off. Truth be told, I found myself irritated by the whole situation. I was desperately trying to reel my anger in.

Ashley gave both guards an odd look, remaining seated on the couch, a full hand of cards still clutched between her fingers.

Largely due to Sofia, my being prince of The Shade wasn’t given much emphasis within my own home. I never really interacted much with the girls. As far as I was concerned, they were Sofia’s friends, and I didn’t need to bother much about them as long as Sofia kept them in line. With Sofia gone, however, I realized I couldn’t just leave them cooped up in a guest room doing nothing. What to do with them was just another item in my growing list of things to deal with.

I gave the two guards curious glances. They seemed to have developed quite a rapport with both Sofia and the girls. Maybe I could just give them the girls. At least that would get them all off my back. I was surprised by the adverse reaction I realized I had to the idea of letting the girls go. The house would be so empty without them, for heaven’s sake, even if they managed to get under my skin.

Irritated, I decided to ignore the people making a hangout of my living room and began to walk away. Afraid of the darkness, I found myself seeking light.