A Shadow of Light (A Shade of Vampire #4)(51)

Felix gulped. His jaw tightened.

“What did you do to her?” Ian hissed, blaming Felix for her mental condition.

The tone of accusation made Felix’s temper flare. “I did nothing to her. She was supposed to be mine. We were supposed to be together, but no matter what I did, she wouldn’t turn into one of us. She remained human until I lost her. Until she just went insane… Happy now? Is that what you wanted to hear?”

I tried to hide the smile. My suspicions are correct. Anna is immune. “I know why she didn’t turn. It’s the same reason Sofia didn’t. They’re both immune.”

Felix narrowed his eyes at me. “What does that even mean?”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not why we’re here. Bottom line, Felix, is whether or not you will work with us.”

Stubborn as a mule, the man shook his head. “You’re going to run this kingdom to the ground, Derek. With rumors going on that you’re about to allow hunters into The Shade…”

“That’s none of your business,” was all I told him. The thought of the cure once again made my heart leap. Sofia is coming with a cure. It seemed too good to be true, but it was the one thing that I was hinging all my hopes on at that moment.

I knew as I sat there that we weren’t going to accomplish anything that day. Felix was too obstinate and Ian was just a boy who didn’t hold any sway when it came to the majority of the masses occupying The Catacombs.

The reality that we were about to go to war while still fighting amongst ourselves was sinking in and I was beginning to accept that it was a reality I couldn’t escape from. Unless Sofia’s cure actually works… I knew that a cure would change life as I knew it. It would change everything.

“Are you even listening to what we’re saying?” Felix slammed a fist over the table between us.

I glared at him. “I ask you one final time, Felix. Will you work with us or not?”

“No. Never.”

“Then why on earth would I listen to you?” I stood to my feet and spoke into the communication device Eli gave me before the meeting. “Have them all arrested. I don’t want them causing any trouble.”

At that, Felix’s face broke into a huge grin. “I knew I couldn’t trust you, so before we came here, I made sure I had a safeguard. If I don’t come out of the port alive or a free man, Derek, I have a man waiting by the chilling chambers ready to set the chambers—and all the blood supply this island has—on fire. With all your people starving for blood, let’s see you try to keep these human pests safe.”

The chilling chambers were compartments where we kept our supply of blood. We relied on them to keep the entire vampire population fed.

Ian’s eyes grew wide with shock. “You sick bastard…”

“What’s to say you won’t destroy the chambers even if I let you go?”

“Well, you’d just have to trust me, Novak.”

Anger was taking over me and I could sense the darkness coming. I knew the chaos that would happen if Felix actually made good on his threat to destroy the chambers. Any form of progress I had made in quelling the possibility of a human revolt would be gone. Any loyalties the vampires had toward me would certainly be placed in shaky ground.

Suddenly, I was seeing red, and in my eyes, Felix was the enemy—one I had to absolutely destroy for his impertinence. Perhaps it was my exhaustion and frustration catching up with me, but at that moment, I just snapped. I couldn’t fight the rage anymore and I lashed out at Felix. Before I could stop myself from doing it, I had his neck wrapped in my fingers and I blacked out. In my last moment of sanity, I tried to remember Sofia’s face, Sofia’s touch, but when I did, all I felt was a deep hunger, an immense craving for her blood and that only served to inch me further toward darkness. Power filled me as I ripped Felix’s heart out and the moment I did, there was a loud explosion and I knew then that I’d just signed up for more destruction than I knew how to handle.

The black haze in my mind was beginning to clear, desperation and guilt over what I’d just done beginning to sink in. Still squeezing Felix’s beating heart in my hand, I stood to my full height and raised my eyes only to feel the darkness once again attempt to grip at me. My blood started pounding, because right there in front of me, with her mouth agape, stood Sofia.

I dropped the heart on the ground. I wanted to take her in my arms, breathe in her scent, feel her body against mine, hear her words, touch her…see if she was really there, but more than that, I wanted to sink my teeth into her neck and drink. Drink deep.

I can’t live without her and yet I can’t be with her either. Sofia Claremont is going to lead me to my ruin.

Confused, I did the only thing I could do to keep Sofia safe. I ran. My heart ached when I heard her softly whisper my name and say: “I love you.”

CHAPTER 36: SOFIA

I stood frozen as I watched Derek leave. I could sense my father standing right beside me. I knew that he saw what I had seen even though I got to the port ahead of him. He saw how Derek killed another vampire so easily. I could see the spark of horror in his eyes when he saw that beating heart clutched in Derek’s hand.

I couldn’t even begin to fathom what was going through his mind—especially when Derek took one look at me, gulped and bolted out of the place like he couldn’t get away from me fast enough.