“We need to get her as far away from Borys as possible,” I managed to mutter.
“Well, for once, we agree on something…” Aiden said.
I wanted to strangle him. ”This is your fault. You know that, right?” I was about to march right toward him again, but a calm, female voice stopped me.
“Calm down, Derek. We won’t get anywhere blaming each other.”
I turned toward the voice and found Vivienne standing inside the room.
“What are you doing here? Vivienne, if Borys Maslen sees you…”
“I saw a vision of this happening. I rushed here as soon as the vision was over, but I guess it’s too late. He has her now.”
“I don’t know what to do, Vivienne…I want to kill something…anything…” Out of the corner of my eye, I could make out Aiden rising to his feet. He would be a good first candidate. “Just thinking of what he could be doing to her…”
I heard a loud bang from inside the cell and my heart plummeted, my fists clenching.
Ingrid came through the hallway that led to the room and stepped into the control room. She eyed Aiden from head to foot, then smirked in triumph. “You didn’t think you could keep me trapped in hunter territory forever, did you? After I was able to escape, I found a way to intercept your communication with Zinnia—she isn’t exactly the brightest bulb, is she? Well anyway…here we are now… I won over you.”
“What exactly did you win, Ingrid?” Aiden spat out, every word dripping with spite. “Does it really give you pleasure to see your own daughter being tormented by that monster?”
“You should see her trying to put up a fight. She’s in a pretty bad state.”
Despite her words, I could swear that I saw hesitation in Ingrid’s eyes, almost as if she was also being tormented by what Sofia was going through. She even seemed proud that Sofia was putting up a fight—something that made my heart leap and my gut clench at the same time.
Ingrid turned toward me. “Sofia is going to fight to her last breath before she allows Borys to lay a hand on her. I’m not sure she’ll last an hour. Are you really sure you want to drag this out?”
“There’s no way I’m going to let Borys leave this island with her.”
“He will be more than willing to break every bone in her body and force her to drink his blood so she’ll heal, then do it all over again. An hour is a long time, Derek.” Her shoulders sagged and it was easy to see that she was conflicted. “Let us go.”
I narrowed my eyes at Ingrid and wondered if she was actually really pleading for Sofia’s sake. “That doesn’t make sense, Ingrid. I know Sofia. She would rather die than leave this island with Borys. I would rather die than give her over to him—not after what she had already gone through, not after you just told me what he’s capable of doing to her.” I couldn’t help but look at her like she was stupid. “Are you even thinking straight? How could you leave your own daughter in the hands of the likes of him?”
“We’re wasting time.” Aiden interrupted, eyes brimming with tears. “We have to stop him from destroying Sofia.” His voice was choked, and it was the first time I was convinced that he genuinely cared for Sofia.
“Let me have a talk with him…” Vivienne took a step forward. “There was a time when it was me he wanted. Maybe we can talk him into taking me instead of her.”
My eyes widened in horror. “Vivienne, what!”
“Can you think of any other way to somehow get his eyes off Sofia even for a while? We have to at least try something…”
Another bang came from the room and I found myself fighting the urge to just lose it and barge my way into the room to try and kill Borys myself.
“You would do that for my daughter?” Aiden was looking at Vivienne as if she was some sort of miracle.
Ingrid, on the other hand, eyed her from head to foot. “What makes you think Borys would still want you when he has his immune right in his hands?”
“Borys wants Sofia because she’s immune, right?” I took a step forward. “We have another immune on the island. If we bring her to him, would he consider taking her instead of Sofia?”
Ingrid seemed to take the proposal into consideration and nodded. “I can ask him. Still…he’s going to put Sofia through hell until this other ‘immune’ comes…”
Vivienne once again asserted herself—much to my chagrin. “Let me go with you… I can at least divert his attention from her for a little while.”
Ingrid smirked at my sister, but shrugged. “If you really want to… I don’t think you’ll be of much help though… He’ll probably kick you out of the room as soon as you show your face.”
I couldn’t understand why Vivienne was putting herself at risk on Sofia’s behalf once again, but I was out of ideas and I was desperate to get Sofia out of the pain I was certain she was going through.
“Vivienne, what are you even planning to do? You’re nowhere near as strong as Borys…” I couldn’t help but mouth out my concern.
“The point is to get his attention away from Sofia. The fact that I’m no threat to him is to my advantage.”
I stared at Vivienne, admiring her for her courage and yet, the idea of sending my sister off to what could be her death was something that didn’t sit well with me. I just got her back and now I have to send her to this monster.
I glared once again at Ingrid. “She’s your daughter. How could you…”
She waved my statement away and rolled her eyes. “Please…don’t remind me… If you’re trying to appeal to my maternal instincts, trust me…it won’t work.”
Aiden attested to this. “She isn’t Sofia’s mother. Camilla is dead.”
I knew I had to make a decision quick, because just as the words came out of Aiden’s mouth, we heard Sofia’s piercing scream.
A sweeping cold ran up from the base of my spine to the back of my head. I pointed at Vivienne, and without really thinking things through, I blurted out at her, “Go! Now!”
I didn’t care what had to be done that day. I simply resolved that I wasn’t about to lose Sofia. I also made up my mind that no matter what, Borys Maslen wasn’t going to leave The Shade alive.
I am going to rip him to shreds.
And I was going to relish every moment of seeing the life drain away from his body.