The face darkened. It looked as if he was debating within himself whether or not he should kill me while Sofia was asleep. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he did exactly that.
“I don’t trust you,” he eventually spoke up.
“The feeling is mutual, sir.”
“My daughter is the only reason you’re still alive, Derek. I can’t promise that I’ll be able to protect you from the other hunters once we arrive at our destination.”
I stared right at him, making it a point to look straight into his eyes. No matter how much mistrust there was between us, he was still Sofia’s father and for that reason alone, he deserved my respect. “I realize that.”
“And yet you still came with us?”
I nodded. “I can’t leave Sofia. Not after everything that happened at The Oasis. I was walking right to my death when I went there to get her. What difference does it make now?”
He eyed me warily, hatred one of the many emotions being channelled by his cold glare, but there was also one other emotion that wasn’t there before. Respect. The rest of the ride was spent in silence, with me getting rather accustomed to the nasty stares I was still receiving.
Finally, Aiden and the blue-haired huntress started fidgeting in their seats and stretching their necks. I peeked outside the window and saw a long runway strip.
“Derek?” Sofia blinked her eyes several times, before full wakefulness came upon her. “Ben?”
I shook my head sadly. Tears once again moistened her eyes, but this time, none of them spilled over. She held back the tears and nodded in acceptance even as she gulped down the pain. This was her life now. A life surrounded by warring factions of vampire covens and hunters. Ben wasn’t the first person she’d lost since getting caught up in this world I lived in, and he definitely wasn’t going to be the last.
I could see her disheartenment, and I found myself fighting against the idea that I would lose her to her own jadedness. I wanted to preserve her, keep her innocent.
“What’s on your mind, Sofia?” I found myself asking.
Her hand caught mine, gripping tightly, before looking me straight in the eye. “I wouldn’t know what to do if I ever lost you.”
CHAPTER 57: SOFIA
After the chopper landed on the runway, both Derek and I were given a set of clothes we could change into before we were ushered into the private jet, a clear indication of the kind of affluence, power and wealth the hunters had. We made ourselves comfortable inside.
I could tell that something was bothering Derek as he sat on the seat next to mine. It was easy to see from the listlessness of his blue eyes and the many times I noticed him swallow hard.
I grabbed hold of his wrist and looked questioningly. He gave me a quick glance and I could swear I saw his lips quiver. He wiggled my hand away and shook his head. “I’m fine.”
You’re headed for hunter headquarters. How could you be fine? I knew better than to force information out of him when he was acting all broody and intense so I just nodded and kissed his cheek. The moment I did, I could sense him tense and I realized exactly what was bothering him. He was craving my blood. Of course. He hadn’t had any blood since I had fed him back at level seven.
I wondered if there was anything I could do to divert his attention toward something else and I remembered by encounter with Claudia back at The Oasis. The fact that she was seated somewhere inside the jet was unsettling.
“Back at The Oasis,” I spoke up, careful not to touch Derek in any way, wondering how we were ever going to last as a couple if we couldn’t even make physical contact without him wanting to sink his teeth into me whenever he felt hungry. “I think Claudia tried to turn me.”
His eyes widened. “She did what?”
“She told me that it was her gift for me. She bit into my neck, but Ben came to shoot her and she attacked him…”
“Sofia, if the serum’s injected into your system…” Derek gulped. I knew there was fear and apprehension in his eyes, but there was something else… hope.
My heart fell at the thought that he wanted me to become a vampire. I understood why he would, but still, the thought of becoming one sent shivers down my spine. “Am I going to turn?”
He stared at me with a mixture of confusion and awe. “You’re not exhibiting the symptoms. You saw how it was with Ashley…the moment the serum was in her system, the effect was instant.”
“Strange…” I remembered what Borys kept calling me. The immune. I still wasn’t sure what he meant by it, but I knew that somehow, it tied in to why I wasn’t now convulsing. I didn’t want to discuss that with Derek just yet, so instead, I diverted the topic back to Ben and Claudia. “It’s hard for me to believe that Ben would ever vouch for Claudia, Derek. The fact that she’s alive…I don’t know…something’s not right.”
“We won’t know for sure until we get to talk to her.”
“That’s assuming we even get the chance. How is this supposed to work, Derek? What’s to say that they’re not going to kill you the moment we step out of this plane?” I was voicing out fears that I knew he didn’t have the solutions to. “By the time we get there…”
“Sofia…” he cut me off. “Let’s just get through this journey and worry about all that when we arrive.”
“Maybe we should escape now…while we still can…”
Derek eyed my father warily. Aiden had just walked in after having visited the cockpit. He gave me a quick glance and took his seat, talking to the girl with blue-streaked hair.
“I don’t think your father will just let us go off after having found you. I’m sure he’ll chase us down.”
“At least we have a chance…”
Derek shook his head. “No. If I’m going to marry you, Sofia, then your father’s approval is important to me.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. What is wrong with you? Have you gone mad? “His approval?!” I practically spat the words out. “Derek, my father is one of the leaders of an order sworn to wipe out every vampire on this planet. There is absolutely no way he’d ever agree to me marrying you.”
“Maybe so, but you know that I value you enough to try.”
I stared at him with pure admiration, humbled by the value he was placing on me. After all we’d been through, I found myself still wondering how a man like Derek Novak could possibly love me in that way.