A Shadow of Light (A Shade of Vampire #4)(26)

Thus, I was surprised when in the middle of the night, he arrived in the bedroom I shared with Claudia, bringing with him our nightly ration of animal blood. He handed both Claudia and me our respective containers before uncomfortably shuffling on his feet. I took my container and stared up at him, wondering why he wouldn’t just leave.

After what had happened, I wasn’t very thrilled to have him around and strange as it was, the idea of drinking blood in front of him felt wrong.

He must’ve noticed how I was staring at him, so he explained, “I need to speak with you.”

“Let’s speak then.” I placed the container on my bedside table.

“You’re not going to drink that?” he asked.

I shook my head. “I’m not that hungry…”

“Very well.” Aiden nodded for me to follow him. Thus, I obliged and followed him out of the bedroom, not knowing what to expect. He immediately took me to the elevator and we were soon headed for the basement. I took note of where we were passing through, noticing that whichever way we went, nobody was around. No guards, no other people at all. Just us. I paid attention to the direction we were going and it wasn’t long after when I realized that we were walking through a network of secret passages in the headquarters’ underground. Eventually, we reached a short flight of stairs that led up to a latched opening. Aiden pushed it open and we stepped into a garden which I assumed was somewhere south of the main estate. Headquarters was quite a long walk away from us.

The moment I stepped out of the underground passages, Aiden took one long, yearning look at me before grabbing me by the waist and kissing me. For a moment, I was too stunned to respond or even react. After I gathered my wits about me, however, I responded with abandon. I realized that night that I had him. I had Aiden Claremont in the palm of my hands.

I also discovered a way to destroy Sofia—and perhaps, in the process, destroy Aiden and any love I had still felt for him.

The sense of power I felt that night, knowing that everything seemed to be falling into place, was unlike anything I had felt before. Snuggling into his arms and looking up at his beautiful green eyes, I smiled up at Aiden and he smiled back.

“I don’t think I could ever stop loving you,” he admitted.

My heart leapt at what he said. “Neither I you, Aiden,” I responded. That’s exactly why I need to ruin you. Just imagine how powerful I’ll be once I no longer have love holding me back.

CHAPTER 17: CLAUDIA

I couldn’t keep Yuri out of my mind—not since I left The Shade. I realized then that he was the one constant in my life, that ever since the first day I had met him, no day had passed that he hasn’t been, in one way or another, a part of my life—that was until I became stupid enough to leave.

I pushed back the tears as fond memories of him came to mind, one of my favorites being the first day I met him.

Once every week, my master, the Duke, would send me to market. That day was my favorite, because it meant I could take the long walk past the woods off to the town, away from the horrors of the Duke’s manor. I was his favorite. He never shared me with anyone else, but being the Duke’s favorite was not something to be envied. From the moment I was brought to him, I was pitied by everyone in the manor. I even pitied myself, and I hated that.

Why am I not still used to this? My mother was a whore and now, so am I… As I walked past the woods that would lead me to town, I wondered why I hadn’t yet resigned myself to this fate, a fate I was sure was my own.

That afternoon, I found out why. That was the afternoon I met Yuri for the first time. He seemed to just pop out of nowhere. I figured he had been by the nearby brook and saw me walking along the lonesome pathway and he had apparently decided that he had wanted to get to know me. So he just began walking in stride with me.

“Hello. I’m Yuri,” he said, flashing me a smile, while keeping both his hands clasped behind his back. “Might I have the honor of knowing your name, miss?”

I stared up at him and decided to ignore him. I didn’t trust men and he was no exception. I slipped one hand into a hidden pocket in my dress where I always kept a dagger. I was willing to use it on him if I had to.

After a prolonged silence, he just narrowed his eyes at me and said, “So you’re not going to give me your name, huh? That’s fine. Are you off to town? That’s where I’m headed too. Mind if I walk with you?”

I remained silent, unwilling to have even the slightest small talk with a complete stranger. I couldn’t deny, however, how attractive I found him. He was at least six inches taller than me, with a lean, lanky build and a charming dimple that appeared whenever he smiled. His nose was slightly crooked but in a way that I thought added to his charm. He had a certain boyishness about him that drew me in. He was nothing like the Duke at all. Many would say that the Duke was far more handsome than Yuri, who would look like a wimp next to the Duke. Many women thought the Duke was the perfect specimen of a man.

I knew better. The Duke caused me nothing but pain.

I was so busy studying Yuri’s features and losing myself in melancholic thoughts of how powerless I was against the Duke that I barely noticed Yuri was still waiting for a response from me. When he didn’t get an answer, however, he didn’t leave like I had expected him to. He just kept walking beside me and talking.

“Hmm… I’ll take your silence as you not minding me walking beside you,” he piped up. “We just moved into the village recently. Me and my older brother, Eli. He got work as a tutor for the Maslens. He’s really smart you know and he wants to be an inventor someday. I think he can do it. I wasn’t pleased about moving here with him, but I figured this place is as good as any to hone my art. When we got here, I was so disappointed…that is until I saw you last week. I was hoping you’d allow me to paint you. Is that alright with you?”