A Shadow of Light (A Shade of Vampire #4)(58)

“And they don’t like you?” I raised a brow.

“Well, I don’t know. Mama tells me to stay away from them. Ashley seems to like me though and so do Kyle and Sam, but Mama scolds me whenever I play with them. Gavin’s my older brother and he gets to hang out with the vampires all the time—especially after he became friends with Sofia.”

“Madeline, don’t bother our visitor…” Lily reprimanded, trying to pull the little girl away from me. She eyed me warily and smiled. “I’m so sorry, sir. She’s normally not so comfortable around strangers, but she seems to like you a lot.”

“He’s Sofia’s father, Mama. And he’s human…he won’t bite me.”

My heart went out to the five year old and the young mother trying to keep her in check. “How long have you been here, Lily?”

The dark-haired beauty bowed my way. “All my life, sir. I’m a Natural. We were born here. So were my parents and their parents before them.”

“You have a lovely daughter.”

Sadness traced her eyes. “Aye. It’s why I fear for her so much. Loveliness is a dangerous thing to have here, especially for a young girl like her.”

My heart broke. I wanted to offer the young woman consolation, but I knew that I couldn’t offer her salvation even if I had wanted to. Those captured by vampires as slaves were considered dead to us. We annihilated them right along with the coven. If a hunter wanted to bother saving loved ones taken by vampires, they had to find a way to do it on their own accord, at their own risk.

“It’s been a lot better since Sofia came. We never thought she would survive after being caught up in the rebellion, but she did…” Lily smiled at me. “Your daughter saved a lot of lives. That day at the town square when Derek’s father—he used to be our king…”

“Gregor Novak.” I recalled.

Lily nodded. “Yes. Him. He wanted Sofia flogged—right along with my son and several of the other young Naturals who started the revolt. We all thought it would be end of her. Her fragile body couldn’t have taken all those blows. My heart leaped when Derek took the lashes for her. His back was unrecognizable after—could barely tell which part was skin and which part bones… It was an awful sight, but we all knew then that he loved her and that as long as they were together, life here at The Shade would never be the same again. I never thought I’d hear myself saying that I love a vampire, but any vampire who is good in Sofia’s book is good in mine.”

“We like Sofia,” Madeline piped up. “Even my brother, Rob, likes Sofia and he doesn’t like many girls at all. He’s seven, you see. Andrea tried to kiss him and he was mighty angry about that.”

I listened to the two talk on and on about my daughter and her heroic feats on the island. I hung on to their every word, not knowing what to make of what they were telling me. I wasn’t sure I liked hearing how beloved Sofia was at The Shade. Their stories forced me to realize what I was taking from Sofia by forcing her away from the island and away from Derek.

I hated to admit it, but I saw then why she loved The Shade and its inhabitants so much.

Truth be told, I was impressed by The Shade. It didn’t take a genius to see why it was so powerful. Unlike all the other covens, the island was self-sustaining. It had as little contact to the outside world as was required. It had a thriving human population seemingly loyal to the vampires—something my mind could not completely comprehend.

Of course, Lily made her fears clear. I knew she felt the same protectiveness for Madeline that I had for Sofia. At that moment, I found in her a kindred spirit fearful for her child as I was for mine.

“You really need not fear, sir.” Lily nodded. “Derek would never intentionally harm Sofia. He loses himself sometimes when he blacks out, but there’s only one person who can reel him back to his senses, and that’s your daughter. No one else is capable of doing that to him.”

“King Derek needs Queen Sofia.” Madeline had a sweet smile on her face as she spoke the words. She nodded as she said them, her eyes twinkling.

My stomach turned at the idea of my daughter having some sort of fairy tale romance with the king of the vampires. Right about then, Sofia and Derek stepped past the guards and into the room, their hands clasped together, smiles on their faces.

The first thing I noticed was the bite marks on my daughter’s neck. Despite whatever things Lily and Madeline had told me about Derek and how good he was to Sofia, he still managed to eradicate any hopes I had that their love could be real. I was livid at the thought of him once again feeding on my daughter.

“How dare you…” I hissed as I began charging toward him. “You said you wouldn’t harm her…” I caught a glimpse of her wrist and saw bite marks there too. I grabbed Sofia’s wrist and raised it up to him. “Is this your idea of not harming my daughter?”

Derek was unable to look me in the eye. His display of shame only served to anger me further.

“Dad…” Sofia spoke before I could once again start a tirade. “It was my idea. I offered my neck to him. Don’t take your anger out on him.”

I stared at her with disbelief. “Sofia… I don’t understand. How could you just let him treat you this way?”

“If your cure works, then he won’t have to drink from me ever again. It works, does it not?” she challenged me.