I looked toward the direction of the voice and sure enough, on the level below ours, where Gavin and Rosa were, a fire had just erupted. Gavin’s eyes grew wide with panic. “Mother!” he screamed. He frantically searched his surroundings in search for Lily and the children. That’s when he caught sight of me.
His jaw tightened as he gave me a pleading look, one that was asking me to do something. It took all the strength I had to conjure up a voice loud enough to drown out the chaos going on around me.
“ENOUGH!!!”
The word echoed throughout the entire place and an immediate hush followed as everyone tried to locate the source of the voice. I tightened my lips when all eyes turned toward me.
In as loud a voice as I could manage, I shouted out my command. “Get water and stop that fire.” I pointed toward the direction of the flames. “If you all don’t do as I say, we don’t need a culling to end all your lives. You will die of suffocation if you don’t murder yourselves first.”
Immediately, everyone’s focus shifted from their fist fights and ridiculous differences to the fire that was now threatening to kill them all. Gavin shot me a thankful look as he once again went about the task of finding his family, Rosa helping him like a wide-eyed, obedient little puppy.
“Rosa has a thing for Gavin, doesn’t she?” I asked.
Ashley and Sam chuckled.
“The only person who can’t seem to figure it out is Gavin, who is probably one of the densest people I’ve ever come across,” Ashley said.
We watched as everyone going at each other’s throats were now working hand-in-hand passing on buckets of water and sackcloth to try and save their homes. No questions asked. The fire would soon die with little or no casualties to account for.
All that was required was to get them to listen to one voice. I realized then what was the matter. The Naturals were used to being slaves. They were used to being told what to do by the vampires. Without the control of the vampires, they were left to themselves and what resulted was anarchy.
Corrine could’ve quelled this riot easily, but she never really meddled with things that she wasn’t personally invested in. The Naturals and their stupid lockout and crazy riot were things that didn’t move her personal convictions; thus, she stayed away. In her eyes, this was my problem and I needed to find a solution to it.
Truth be told, I wanted to just threaten to kill them all, but the only thing keeping my sanity in check was the thought of Sofia standing beside me. She would try to find the solution that would lead to the most lives spared. That was the kind of person Sofia Claremont was—life-giving.
I waited until the fire had been completely put out before once again speaking up, “Who is going to answer to me for this riot?! What is going on?! This is madness!”
I was met with utter silence.
“This riot and the lockout are over. If you want to discuss what you want, then there will be a meeting tomorrow at the Vale’s town square. If you don’t show up, you forfeit your right to be heard.”
“You just want us out so it would be easier to kill us all!” some anonymous voice hidden among the crowd cried out.
“If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead,” I bellowed. “Besides, you’re all doing a pretty good job at killing yourselves all on your own. The day after tomorrow, I expect everyone to be back at their posts, doing their work. If you have issues with this, then take it up directly with me.”
I began to walk toward the exit of The Catacombs.
“I guess that ends that,” Sam muttered under his breath as he and Ashley followed behind me. I heaved a sigh, knowing fully how false Sam’s statement was with all the threats pouring down on The Shade at the moment.
“No, Sam. This is by no means the end of anything. This is barely the beginning.”
CHAPTER 26: SOFIA
I gently shut the door to my bedroom as I stepped out into the living room, relieved that I was no longer being kept prisoner in one room. I found my father seated on one of the wooden bar stools taking a swig of Scotch. I stared at him for a couple of seconds before moving forward. I didn’t know what to say to him, so I was relieved when he took the initiative to break the silence.
“How’s Vivienne?”
“She was finally able to get back to sleep. She’s a lot better now.” No thanks to you. I climbed onto one of the stools next to him. “Why are you here, Aiden?”
“I came to discuss something of importance with you…”
My thoughts began to drift away and his words just trailed off into oblivion. My mind wandered off to all the vampires who’d been tortured and killed at the headquarters. I couldn’t concentrate on anything coming out of Aiden’s mouth, because at that time, I couldn’t quite point out the difference between him and the vampires back at The Shade who shamelessly treated their captives as prey and devoid of souls.
“Sofia, are you even listening to me?” He began snapping a finger in front of my face.
“Is it true that you’re now doing to Ingrid what you did to Vivienne? You pulled out Vivienne’s fangs. Do you do that to all vampires? Is that what you’re going to do to Claudia too? I’m not a big fan of Claudia. I’ve seen her hurt many humans, but torturing her in that manner seems…inhumane.”
“Inhumane?” Aiden interrupted before I could continue my rant. “Are you listening to yourself, Sofia? These creatures aren’t humans. Nothing you do to them—no matter how horrible—can be classified as inhumane.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. Does he truly believe that? Does he think that they are irredeemable and they are completely without hope? “I want to see Ingrid. I don’t care if she’s a crazy freak trying to pawn me off to a vampire even crazier than her. She’s still my mother and the idea of you doing to her what Vivienne…” I choked on my words. How could anyone with a conscience treat others this way?
“You’re willing to just forget everything Ingrid did to you? To us?”
“I couldn’t forget even if I wanted to, Aiden. You both scarred me for life when you both abandoned me. She’s done worse things, but you are still guilty. Where were you that night when she came with Borys? Why was I home alone? I’ve been wronged by both of you, by so many other people—vampires and humans alike. That doesn’t mean I want to go around torturing and killing everyone who’s wronged me!”
Aiden looked taken aback by my passionate outburst. He opened his mouth in an attempt to respond, but he quickly shut it again as he processed what I was saying to him.