A Shade of Vampire (A Shade of Vampire #1)(32)

I snapped out of my internal monologue when I realized how disgustedly Claudia was looking at me.

“Yes, your Majesty? What can I do for you?”

Derek made his way to her, his hand snaking along her waist from behind as he pulled her back against his body. She didn’t hide the delight in her face as she eyed me as if she’d somehow won something over me. My gut clenched. I had the strangest reaction to seeing Derek touch another woman the way he was touching her. It was quite similar to the way I felt when I saw Ben at the beach with Tanya, but this was different… more intense... more painful. I hated to admit it, but I was jealous. I wanted to give in to the irrational urge to slap Derek in the face and rip Claudia’s hair off, but that would only spell trouble so I looked away instead.

What Derek said next completely crushed all my resolve to ignore him for the rest of the day.

“As you already know, Claudia, the lovely Sofia has become very precious to me, and she seems to have quite a liking for your slave here. You’ve come to pay me homage, have you not?”

Claudia’s face tensed. “I have.”

“It will please me greatly if you give me the boy. My slave, Gwen, was recently murdered as you may have already heard… I need a new one.”

“Surely there are others…” Claudia tried to protest. “I know you well enough to know that you don’t have the penchant for young men the way others do.”

Derek’s grip tightened on her waist, his mouth speaking directly to her ear. “As I said, Sofia has obviously taken a liking to him. I don’t want anyone else, because it’s this one Sofia wants. What pleases her pleases me. Do you dare deny me this request, Claudia?”

Claudia pulled away from him and straightened to her full height, as if trying to regain a dignity I doubted she even had to begin with. We all knew that to deny Derek what he was asking for would be fatal on her part. He was her prince, and he was asking for but one slave. There was no reason for her to say no. She frowned and shot me a glare before eyeing Ben with unbridled lust.

“I rather liked this one, but I have more than I know what to do with.” She approached Ben and caressed his cheek with the back of her hand. She glared at me and stood on her tiptoes as she kissed Ben on the lips.

From the way his muscles tensed the moment their lips touched, it was obvious that Ben hated her guts.

I looked at Ben and wondered if he felt toward her the way I felt toward Lucas. The sick feeling that settled in my stomach refused to go away. I refused to even start imagining what Ben had been going through while at the Shade.

Claudia took one last look at Derek. “I could never deny you anything, dear prince. I shall visit again soon.” She then walked away, disappointment evident in the scowl on her face as she returned to her home.

With her gone, I grabbed Ben’s hand and pulled him in an embrace. I eyed Derek and mouthed a sincere thank you his way. He nodded and forced a smile. Having Ben there, I found myself confused, because while I was ecstatic to see my best friend, what I felt most at that moment was how much I adored Derek for what he did. I held on tightly to Ben almost in hopes of regaining my attraction to him if I held on tight enough.

“I hate her,” Ben hissed in my ear. “I hate them all.”

I hugged him tighter. “Don’t worry, Ben. You’re okay now. Derek will keep us both safe.”

“Don’t be a fool, Sofia. We need to get out of here before he decides that he’s tired of you and kills us both.”

The idea made me sick to my stomach. What will happen if Derek ever realizes that I’m no one special… and decides he’s had enough of me? I wanted to believe that such a thing couldn’t ever happen, but Ben always had a way of swaying me with his words. I gave Derek a worried glance. It felt as though I’d just lost him.

CHAPTER 24: DEREK

I hated the tension. Since she moved into my bedroom, Sofia and I naturally developed a familiarity to each other. There wasn’t even any awkwardness to begin with. It was like we just knew how to adjust to each other. Of course, there were times when I was greatly tempted to take a sip of her blood, but it wasn’t anything a glass of blood couldn’t fix.

The night Ben arrived, however, it was like we’d become strangers to each other. The large room suddenly felt too small for the two of us. Any form of balance we’d developed over time completely disappeared. She was slipping away from my fingers by the minute.

Finally, she was lying down on her side of the bed while I sat over the edge of mine, fully intending to lose myself in a book.

She was the one who eventually broke the silence.

“Thank you, Derek. For what you did.”

I had no desire to talk about the boy, so I ignored her thankfulness and changed the topic.

“Lucas approached you earlier. What did he tell you?”

“Nothing,” she responded a little too quickly. “You know your brother… says a lot of meaningless things.”

“From the way you reacted, what he said looked far from meaningless.” I remembered what Corrine told me about Sofia’s psychological condition and how it was impossible for her not to remember what happened the night she was attacked.

“Has he been hurting you, Sofia?”

She didn’t respond. “It doesn’t matter.”

“What do you mean it doesn’t matter?” I gripped the sheets of the bed, wondering why I was asking questions whose answers I wouldn’t even know how to act on.