“Rebuild The Shade.” The words rolled out of Yuri’s mouth as if it was a marvel he couldn’t wrap his mind around.
“We don’t even know where Derek is or if he is…” Cameron held his tongue, casting a guilty look at his wife, who was glaring at him to stop talking.
“Derek is alive,” I said. “His return hinges on a when and not an if. My brother is coming back with his wife and child and when they return, they cannot arrive to this.”
I could feel Xavier’s stare on my skin. He knew me more than anyone else in that room did, even my best friend, Liana, so even if I could get everyone to accept my bold statements, he could see past my bluff.
“You do remember what we had to do just to build the Crimson Fortress alone, don’t you?” Claudia spoke up, her stare fixed on Yuri as she playfully fiddled with strands of his hair.
She seemed back to her old self, flirting and treating everything like they didn’t matter, even though all of us knew how much the island had begun to mean to the feisty blonde vampire.
“Are we really willing to do that again?” she challenged, pouting as she did. “All those lives…”
The hundred-foot tall, thick walls that lined The Shade had been built on the shoulders of human slave labor—mostly hunters, sent by their order to destroy us. They were prisoners of war and we owed the establishment of The Shade to their capture. It had taken almost a hundred years to complete and a lot of human lives—more than we cared to admit. The rest of the establishments on the island—ruined by the recent battles—had taken centuries to complete and develop.
Unless I expected my human brother to return in at least a century, there was no way we could finish rebuilding The Shade in time for his arrival.
I swallowed hard. I wasn’t exactly thrilled over the idea of having to explain our choices to Aiden.
I was relieved when Xavier spoke up. “It doesn’t have to be that way again. We have the technology to…”
“And how are we going to get the kind of technology we need when we are forbidden to leave the island? We have to accept that our ruler will return to a dystopia, and there’s nothing any of us can do about it.” Cameron, a carefree and happy person, was more distraught than I’d ever seen him.
Liana gently ran her hand over her husband’s arm. I could tell that she was trying to keep away the tears. We hadn’t spoken much but I knew that the trouble The Shade was experiencing was taking its toll on their marriage.
I looked at all the faces surrounding me. It’s taking its toll on all of us.
“I don’t care what Derek comes back to.” Xavier broke the tense silence. “This is our home. We’ve all known Derek for hundreds of years. We know that he won’t care that The Shade was ruined. It will break his heart, yes, but he will understand. What he won’t understand is if we do nothing to pick ourselves up after all these tragedies.”
“He’s right,” Yuri agreed, his eyes on Claudia, who seemed curious to hear what he had to say. “If we’re going to rebuild, we’re doing it for ourselves, for our own healing. You all know how loyal I am to Derek, but we need to stop doing everything for him and learn to start doing things for ourselves, for our home, for this kingdom. Derek is our ruler, but he isn’t The Shade.”
“That sounds patriotic and inspiring and all,” Aiden said, “but the dilemma still remains. How are we going to rebuild?”
“I wish Eli were here.” Never more had any of us felt the absence of Eli than we did at that moment. “If there’s anyone who could think of a way, it’s him.”
Yuri winced at the mention of his brother. Kiev had come without explanation and just demanded Eli go with him. There hadn’t been much we could do to stop him. Yuri had tried to fight back, but nothing came of it.
I blew out a sigh. Rebuilding The Shade without either Derek or Eli seemed impossible.
“Can we really do this?” Claudia voiced what we were all thinking. “Without Eli’s brain and Derek’s brawn?”
“Yes. We can. They would want us to.” Yuri pushed. “The way I see it, this is a way for us to start anew. If we’re going to rebuild, we might as well forget what it once was and dream of what we want it to be. That’s where we are going to start. What do we want to see in the island?”
His suggestion awakened something in me—something inside that was already on the brink of death. Hope.
“That’s a step toward the right direction,” Aiden approved. “But if you’re going to create a vision of what the island ought to be, I think it’s time we hear what the humans have to say, because for all we know, when Derek arrives, the question of who will take the cure will be back in play. You might as well start thinking of living on the island as humans, and not as vampires.”
A tense silence filled the room. In the chaos of everything happening, the cure had completely left my mind. I had been so preoccupied by running the island that my own dreams of living a normal life—maybe with Xavier, should he choose to take the cure—had taken a backseat to everything that was happening around us.
“Aiden is right. If we’re going to do this, we have to do it with our human allies.”
Claudia rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth and I was expecting to hear an objection, but was pleasantly surprised to hear her say, “I’ll go find Gavin. Expect the annoying blue-haired hunter to be with them. She’s like their pet or something.”
The way Aiden grinned at the mention of Zinnia didn’t escape my notice. I hated the little minx. She was like a pest I couldn’t get rid of, but for some reason, Gavin seemed to be able to tolerate her.
While Claudia and Yuri left to get The Shade’s human leaders, we went about discussing plans for The Shade. When they returned, Gavin and Zinnia weren’t with them. Instead, Clara stepped into the quarters, followed by a posse of the Elder’s vampires.
I tensed. This can’t be good.
Clara looked around. “I’m thinking these are the best quarters you have available since we destroyed everything else?”
No one responded. Instead, she was met with hateful, questioning glares.
She seemed unfazed. “I want this place cleared out. In fact, I want this whole level cleared out. Whoever is staying here”—she gave me a quick look over from head to foot then back—“I’m assuming it’s you… you’ll have to move to another level. Make sure this is done by the end of the day, princess.”