“Oops…” She pulled away from me and grimaced. “Sorry. I still forget sometimes. I was planning to hang out here at the port to wait for you, but Felix had to choose the port as the place to hold his negotiations with Derek.” She wrinkled her nose. “Where is he anyway?”
“He bolted the moment he saw me. We arrived just in time to see him do that.” I pointed at Felix’s heartless body on the ground.
Ashley eyed the corpse. “I think we need to get someone to get this mess fixed up.”
“Kyle’s on it,” Sam assured her.
I couldn’t help but notice the way their eyes lingered on each other’s before Ashley blushed and looked away.
Aiden cleared his throat to make his presence—largely ignored—known.
“Sorry… Ashley, this is my father, Aiden Claremont. This is Ashley. She’s one of my dearest friends here.”
Ashley extended her hand for Aiden to shake, but he just stared at it. “You’re a vampire too,” he said flatly.
Ashley nervously began fumbling with her fingers. “Yes, sir. I’m the youngest vampire here at The Shade, so I’m also probably the easiest one to kill…” She furrowed her brows as if wondering to herself why she had just said that. “I used to be a hunter too… Well, I wasn’t a very good one…”
“Yes. I thought you looked familiar.”
Right about then, Xavier emerged, carrying a frail Vivienne in his arms, her head leaned against his broad shoulders. A flash of anger shone through his eyes as he caught sight of Aiden—a clear signal that a riff had just been created between the two when Xavier found out what the hunters had been doing to the woman he cared deeply for.
“I’m taking her home,” he announced. “You can stay here and wait for Derek to get himself some self-control, or you can come with me.” He then gave Aiden a glare. “I’m not sure Derek wants him on the island.”
“He’s fine, Xavier. What can he do to anyone while he’s here?”
“You’re responsible for him, Sofia.”
I nodded before daring to take a glimpse of my father. He had a grim expression on his face and knowing him, I was aware that he hated being talked about like he wasn’t even present.
“What are we going to do with her?” Sam asked, eyeing Claudia warily.
“Take her to The Cells.” Xavier shrugged. “I don’t really care.”
“No…” I shook my head. “She can come with me for now.”
Xavier seemed surprised by this, but didn’t bother to object. He just went ahead to Vivienne’s penthouse and we followed soon after.
My father walked beside me, silently taking in the darkness of The Shade, not breathing a word. Ashley, on the other hand, chattered nonstop, updating me on what had been going on at The Shade. Sam and Claudia trailed behind us, the latter looking much like a lost little girl pining for home. I kept glancing back to check on her. I noticed how she looked at all the vampires we passed, almost as if she were wishing each of them would somehow morph into Yuri.
“Do you have any idea where Yuri is?” I eventually asked Ashley.
She shrugged and shook her head. “The last time I saw him was when we quelled the siege at the port. He keeps mostly to himself and only comes out when Derek calls for him.” She caught the direction of my eyes and looked back at Claudia. “What’s up with her?”
“She’s in love with Yuri,” I told Ashley.
At this, the blonde cheerleader-turned-vampire raised a brow. “Wow. That’s new. Claudia actually caring for someone other than herself…”
“I don’t think she realized it until after she was away from him. He’d always been there for her through the years. She took that for granted.”
“Silly girl…” Ashley muttered under her breath.
“I remember now…”
I practically jumped out of my skin when Aiden spoke up. I glanced up at him and realized that he was looking at Ashley as we continued to walk past the giant redwoods.
“What?” I asked my dad.
“Ashley… You were the daughter of James and Helen…your mother used to say that a lot about you: ‘Silly girl.’”
Despite the dimness of our surroundings, lit up only by the light of the moon and the incandescent lighting that lined the pathways, I could tell that Ashley blushed at the reminder of her parents.
“My mother always thought that I was stupid for not wanting to join in their cause and become a hunter.”
“Your father would have a field day if he ever found out that you’d become a vampire. Do you have any idea how rattled they were when you disappeared?”
“I think you and I both know that I would’ve made a lousy hunter,” Ashley responded, her voice sounding a bit choked.
“Maybe so, but being a lousy hunter certainly doesn’t mean that you can just go ahead and become the enemy.”
“The enemy? Remember where you are, Reuben. You don’t say things like that and expect to get out alive.”
Aiden raised a brow at Ashley. “Is that a threat, girl?”
At that, Ashley chuckled. “I would never dare threaten you, Reuben. Vampire or not, I have no delusions of ever winning a fight with you. I do give you a friendly warning.”
“A friendly warning…”
“Be careful, Reuben. Stay here long enough and you just might end up turning into one of us.”
Before my father could respond, I noticed how his eyes suddenly widened and his jaw slightly dropped. We’d just reached the Residences and for all the time I spent at The Shade—becoming familiar with it—I’d forgotten how gorgeous the lavish villas constructed on top of the giant trees were. We had around us a bustling community of vampires going about their business.
“This is incredible,” Aiden mouthed the first compliment—and perhaps the last one—he could possibly give to a community of vampires. “We’ve attacked many covens before and I thought The Oasis was the most impressive, but this… I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“They did well for themselves and for their kind, these Novaks…” Ashley nodded. “Welcome to The Shade, Mr. Claremont.”
Aiden began walking ahead of us and Ashley took the opportunity to link arms with me. She then whispered to my ear, “I don’t trust him. Reuben is famous for his hatred of vampires. I think he inherited the loathing from his family. It’s almost like it’s in his bloodline, until…. Well, you came along and broke the tradition.” Ashley eyed Aiden warily. “I know he’s your father, Sofia, but I know his kind. A leopard doesn’t just change its spots. He’s not here to help you cure Derek or anyone else. What does that even mean?”