“I’m sure she’s safe. If they did anything to her, we would know and we would tell you.”
“Right,” I scoffed, “because you witches are all-knowing and all-useless.”
“Useless?” The Ageless’ nostrils flared. “After everything Cora did for you, I would think you’d be the last person to say something like that. You owe your power and your very existence to our kind.”
I got up on my feet. “I owe her a lot. But did you also know what she did to me? What she put me through at The Blood Keep?”
“I’ve heard. She’d never thought being a vampire would inhibit her powers. Had she known, she never would’ve agreed to the Elder’s deal. Cora was always independent. The centuries she spent under the Elder’s control were hell to her… until you ended it. We are grateful that you ended her misery. You knew Cora and how beautiful, powerful and kind she was before the Elder corrupted her and turned her into Emilia.”
“And yet you did nothing to stop her from getting corrupted.”
Pain sparked in the Ageless’ normally blank gaze. I’d been so caught up in my anger that I’d missed the hint of affection that came with the way the Ageless spoke about Cora.
“What was Cora to you anyway? You cared about her, didn’t you?”
“She betrayed us. She should’ve been loyal to our kind, but she chose to be loyal to whatever feelings she had for you. Everything you are now, you owe to her. She destroyed herself in order to make you indestructible.”
“So I’m right. You did care about her.”
“She was powerful. Had she remained the Ageless, she would’ve been unstoppable, far more powerful than I am now. Everything I know, I learned from her, and my powers have been growing ever since, but she gave all that up. For you. Frankly, I don’t understand why.” She eyed me, unimpressed.
“You could’ve stopped her.” Despite what Cora had turned into, I couldn’t deny the guilt that I felt at the thought of the beautiful witch. There was once a time when I’d seen Cora as my best friend. I hated that her life had to end the way that it did. “You probably should’ve stopped her.”
“Yes. Maybe I should’ve. But I didn’t. I reasoned to myself, out of my own love for her, that she had a choice and she’d made it. I told myself that we had to let things unfold naturally, that we cannot interfere just to undo one disastrous choice or save one life.”
“And yet you saved mine. What makes my life more important than hers?”
“Your life isn’t more important than hers. As I said, she made her choices and she had to live with them.”
My jaw clenched. There was nothing I could do about what happened to Cora. Past was past. I couldn’t change it even if I wanted to. What I did know was that Sofia needed me. Regarding my wife’s fate, there was still something I could do.
“How about Sofia? Is my life more important than hers? Why doesn’t she get to be saved?”
“They won’t harm her. You have time.”
“How are you so sure of that? She’s at The Blood Keep! Captive! My wife doesn’t belong there!” I could feel the heat rising again. Part of me wanted to unleash the fire and burn both the Ageless and Ibrahim to a crisp. Part of me understood what they were saying. The power I had was beyond my comprehension for now and I couldn’t go back to my world without understanding it. The greater part of me, however, just really wanted to hold Sofia in my arms.
A lump formed in my throat when I remembered the dream—the same dream I’d had every single night since I married Sofia. The idea of us turning against each other was sickening, and the longer I was away from her, the more possible it seemed.
The Ageless looked at me with her typical glare, not a single hint of empathy or sympathy in her eyes. Silver hair glistening, she was as fascinating as she was terrifying.
“We can’t keep going over this, Derek. Trust me when I say that we have time. You want to see Sofia, I get that, but you will risk your life—and many others’ lives—if you go looking for her while you’re still not ready.”
“You didn’t answer my question, witch. Why do I get to live?”
“Because—thanks to Cora— you are now the man powerful enough to help restore balance between the realms.”
“What realms?”
“You already know of two—ours, the witches’ realm, and yours, the human realm. There are two others—that of the vampires and that of the Guardians. Two realms at war with each other. We exist to maintain the balance between the two.”
“We? Humans and witches?”
“No. We… witches maintain the balance. Humans are like currency—the immunes being of highest value. The vampires are hoarding too many of the immunes.”
“I was a vampire. I didn’t care about the immunes.”
“Really, Derek? You didn’t care about the power that you sensed whenever you drank Sofia’s blood?” The Ageless didn’t say it as a taunt or a challenge, just as a fact. “I’m not talking about your kind of vampire. You are mutations of the original, weak compared to them. The Elder is the first vampire who entered the human realm. You are his creation, but the Elder is just one among many—one among the original vampires.”
“Ok. Restore balance. How do we do it? Let’s just get it done.”
“Don’t be an impulsive fool, Derek. You know you’re not ready.”
“You don’t understand!” I turned towards Ibrahim. “You keep telling me to calm down, to relax. You say that’s the only way I can control…”
Fire once again burst from my palms and it took all of me to redirect my body so that the flames didn’t get to my trainer and the Ageless. I screamed as ray upon ray of burning fire erupted from my body, evaporating the tears before they could fall from my eyes.
The Ageless mumbled a couple of incoherent words and within seconds the fire was gone, but I was still burning with a reality I knew to be true—a reality that the Ageless could never comprehend as she stood over me and with her stoic countenance reinforced her point.
“I think we can all agree that you are not ready.” She turned to Ibrahim. “Continue the training.”
Ibrahim stroked his dark goatee and sighed. “Tough break, Derek, but her word is law.”
I shook my head. “I can’t stay here, Ibrahim. What you don’t understand is that I was never able to control my temper or my power. Not on my own. Not until Sofia came into my life.”