“Go against the hunters?” Xavier’s muscles stiffened. “That’s suicide and you know it. You’re going to kill us all if you go out hunting for her.”
“I fought all those years and shed that much blood for one reason alone: to save my family! Where are they?! Do you see any of them now?! None of them surround me! Losing Vivienne robs me of all purpose!”
“If the hunters truly have her, then she’s as good as dead, Derek.”
I knew Xavier spoke truth, but I was not ready to hear it. I lunged forward, throwing my full weight at him causing us both to fall to the ground.
“Derek! Stop it!” Liana cried out.
I had Xavier pinned to the ground with my knees holding down his arms, while I assaulted his face with one powerful punch after another. Liana tried to stop me from behind, but my elbow met with her abdomen, knocking her out of breath.
I had no idea how many punches I threw and how long I was punishing a comrade for a crime he had no part in committing, but sense was something that completely escaped me at that moment. By the time Cameron arrived, grabbed a fistful of my hair and hit me in the face to knock some sense into me, Xavier’s face was already a bloody mess.
“All of us care about her!” Cameron shouted. “Do not punish your own people for her loss!”
Loss. The thought that I lost Vivienne was too much to take in, too much to accept. I let out a blood-curdling scream as I rose to my feet, unbidden tears rushing down my cheeks. I couldn’t stand being around them and sought retreat in my sister’s villa. As expected, it was empty. She never really kept slaves in her home and she hated having guards around, claiming that she was perfectly capable of protecting herself. My sister was one who enjoyed her solitude. How could I have not noticed that she’s gone?
I made my way to her greenhouse, her favorite place in the world, a place where life thrived even when death surrounded us. The moment I entered it, I had nothing left to do but crumple to the ground, hands fisting over my own hair as I gave in to the dark possibilities that came with her capture.
I knew my sister. She would willingly take everything they threw her way if only to protect the island. They would make every effort to break her and they were going to fail. Their failure would be paid for at a great and excruciating price by the one person I would willingly give my life to protect.
The Shade was a place where there was no day, only night. The night never felt as dark as it did as I sat on the floor of Vivienne’s greenhouse, mourning her loss. I had no inkling of how many hours I spent there. It felt like days. For a certain period of time, I was still reserving room for the hope that Vivienne would walk in, unharmed and perfectly alright. There were times when I fooled myself into believing that her footsteps were gracing the hardwood floors. At some point, however, denial gave way to reality and inevitably, to anger. Someone is to blame for what happened to Vivienne. Only one name came to mind. Only one name was deserving of bearing the burden of receiving punishment for my sister’s demise. Sofia.
Rage I haven’t felt in hundreds of years consumed me and for the first time in a long time, I switched off all guilt in order to completely give in to the monster I’d become. I was going to make Sofia pay and at that very moment, there was only one way to do it.
I was going to punish the people she cared for. Ashley… then Paige… then Rosa… I lost no time in finally allowing myself to satiate the hunger that had been begging for days to get satisfied. It didn’t take long for me to go from Vivienne’s penthouse to Kyle’s much smaller residence. I knew he would be at the port – on watch duty with Sam. I found that displeasing. I wanted to fight them in order to get to Ashley, but she would have to make do. I didn’t bother with pleasantries and let myself inside Kyle’s home, breaking down the door while I was at it.
“Ashley!” I screamed. “Ashley!”
I sensed her fear. I could hear the sound of her pulse racing, her heart doubling its beat. That’s right. Be afraid. Be very afraid. From outside the windows of the small receiving room I was standing in, I was able to make out her form running past a glass-covered walkway. I smirked. I didn’t intend to prolong the chase. I wanted her and I was going to have her.
Lightning speed carried me from where I stood to where she was running to. I had her pinned against a wall, one hand gripping her jaw, the other grabbing her hair until I heard her gasp in pain. In order to position her face where I wanted it to be – I tilted her head to one side so that her neck would be exposed, ready for me to sink my teeth into. With her bare neck right in front of me, I didn’t have even an ounce of hesitation before taking a bite and drinking deep of her blood. I could hear her screams, her pleas for me to stop. They only served to fuel the fire my sister’s loss sparked within me.
I drank until I was approaching the boundary that once crossed, would lead to her inevitable death. I stopped. Claudia was right. Rage gave us control. Ashley was barely conscious when I slung her limp form over my shoulder.
Within minutes, we were back at the penthouse, with her lying face down on my bed as I ripped her dress off her body. My eyes widened in both horror and delight when I saw a hawk tattooed on her lower back – the mark of a hunter. I pulled her blonde locks to the side as I leaned over to whisper to her ear. “I had no idea you were one of them. Revenge is going to be sweet.”
Weak from the blood loss, all she could do was whimper beneath me. Straddling her hips, I knelt up so I could pull off my shirt. I just managed to throw my shirt aside and was about to unbutton my trousers when I heard the bedroom door open behind me.
I turned around to find a stunning vision of the person I least expected to see standing there. Sofia.
CHAPTER 32: SOFIA
The first thing I noticed upon swinging the door open was the symbol of a hawk on Derek’s back – right below his right shoulder. It was one of Vivienne’s memories proving accurate and for a split-second, I stood mesmerized.
It wasn’t until he turned toward me that I realized what he was doing … what he was about to do … The sight of the blood on the neck of the unconscious young woman he had on his bed made my head faint with shock.
My cheeks drained of blood as I leaned against the doorpost for support, my knees weakening beneath me. “Derek, how could you…” My voice trailed off when I saw the way he was looking at me – as if I were a ghost, a ghost that he loathed.
A deep, heart-wrenching growl came from his lips and within seconds, he had me against his bedroom wall, his hips supporting my weight, his left hand gripping my right arm and keeping it pressed against the wall, while his right hand held my neck.