A Shadow of Light (A Shade of Vampire #4)(9)

“What?” I asked her, unable to reel in the foul mood I was in. I couldn’t help it. I was panicking inside.

“I just…” She quickly shook her head. “Never mind.”

“Just spit it out, Zinnia.”

She hesitated, but eventually shrugged her hesitation off and said, “What’s so special about you? They’re all enamored by you. Derek, Ben, Borys, Lucas…”

I met her gaze and smiled bitterly. “I haven’t got a clue.” That was a lie. I knew why they wanted me. Borys wanted me because he was a sick bastard who thought that he owned me and was fascinated by the idea that I’m immune to the vampire’s curse. Lucas wanted me because he found me and brought me to The Shade. He also had a taste of my blood and up to his very last breath, he craved me. Ben wanted me because he was my best friend, and there was a time when I thought I wanted him too, but we just weren’t meant to be together. I loved him though, and his death still weighed heavily on my heart. Derek, on the other hand…he wanted me because I was in love with him and he felt the same way. Yes, I know why they want me, but it doesn’t mean I’m special. I’m just who I am and who I am is somehow entangled in all this mess.

We finally reached Aiden’s office, where he motioned for me to take a seat and for Zinnia to close the door behind her.

I chose to keep standing as Aiden sat on the leather recliner behind the large glass desk, which served as the centerpiece of the spacious, beautifully decorated office.

“You’re really not going to sit down?”

I shook my head, crossing my arms over my chest.

“You remind me so much of your mother sometimes.” He said it with such brokenness, I was taken aback and I couldn’t help but soften a little at the sight of his pain. Any mention of my mother was painful. I knew Ingrid was somewhere inside the headquarters—a captive of the hunters. Just thinking of her made me ache. I wasn’t even sure if Aiden’s claim that I reminded him of her was a good thing or not, considering what an ugly motherly picture Ingrid painted for me in the short time that I’d known her.

“You really did love her, didn’t you?” I asked my father. It was the first time I could remember ever sharing such a personal moment with him.

Aiden smiled bitterly, as if he were putting back all his defenses around him. He just shut down. He pulled a cigar from a desk drawer and lit it up before eyeing me. “So why exactly are you throwing such a fit, my lovely daughter?”

The reason behind the encounter came back to me and I could once again feel my anger rise.

“Where is Derek?” I demanded.

“He’s probably on his way back to his kingdom by now.”

“He wouldn’t leave without me.”

Aiden sat straight on his seat, shoulders squared, his eyes staring straight at me. “He told me that if he stayed here, he wouldn’t be able to keep himself from drinking you dry.”

My gut clenched. How could he possibly know that Derek already had a drink of my blood? Could Derek really have told him that?

“I know I haven’t been much of a father to you, Sofia, but why would you ever willingly feed a vampire your own blood?”

Zinnia looked at me like I was insane. “You’ve been feeding him your blood? What is wrong with you?”

Aiden glared at her. “Stay out of this, Zinnia.”

I hated that he was acting like some sort of authority figure in my life. He didn’t have that right—not after abandoning me for years, leaving me under the care of the Hudsons and barely acknowledging my existence until a few weeks ago when he suddenly woke up to the fact that I was alive.

“Don’t.” I shook my head. “Don’t start acting like a father now, Aiden. I don’t need to explain myself to you.”

“Yes, Sofia. You do. Derek Novak is one of the most powerful vampires alive and he is craving your blood on a twenty-four-hour basis. How is this not a reason to be concerned?”

“You don’t understand. We are strongest together and we are weakest apart. That may not make sense to you, but you have to realize that a life without him…for me, that’s no life at all!”

I should’ve known that an emotional plea would just sound weak to the rational and calculating mind of Aiden Claremont. Both he and Zinnia stared at me as if I had somehow been brainwashed into loving Derek.

“Do you love Derek Novak?” Aiden asked after a long and awkward pause.

“Yes!” I exclaimed. “I love him. I love Derek.”

“And how exactly will this love work, Sofia? He’s immortal. What do you intend to do? Turn into a vampire so you can be with him for all eternity? So you can be a bloodthirsty killer like him? Do you even have any idea how many people have died in his hands?”

I knew what he was trying to do. He was preying on my own deepest fears about my relationship with Derek. As if Derek’s immortality wasn’t already haunting me, my father had to rub it in my face.

“You deserve so much better than Derek Novak, Sofia.”

I smiled bitterly as I shook my head. “You have no idea who Derek is, and trust me when I say this, Father…even if I wanted to, I could never become a vampire. I could never become immortal like Derek. Are you happy now?”

He narrowed his eyes at me in scrutiny. “What exactly are you saying, Sofia?”