“I love hearing you scream.”
It was the strangest thing. I didn’t actually hear the words, or at least I didn’t think so. They were almost like thoughts being inserted into my head from an outside entity. One that I could not see. I couldn’t control my trembling.
“You fear me,” the presence stated. “Good.”
“Who are you? What are you?”
“I’ve been waiting to meet you. Queen of The Shade, the woman who stole Derek Novak and my daughter, Emilia, away from me. You’ve ruined so many of my plans, Sofia Novak. Now, I can pay you back all the trouble you’ve caused me.”
“You’re the Elder.”
My body was yanked forward in an upright sitting position in the middle of the bed before my head was violently jerked backwards, my scalp burning with pain, as if someone were pulling at my hair. I couldn’t feel his touch. I didn’t even know if he had fingers, hands or arms, but I could feel the pain coursing through me.
My hands were still gripping my tummy as I screamed when blood began to ooze from a shallow cut that formed on my jaw line.
“Don’t worry. Nothing I do to you will harm your children. I won’t cause them any pain. At least not yet. But you, however…”
Something struck me, as if I’d been whipped, and I arched my back in agony, blood seeping through my clothes.
“I’ve been waiting for this. I never could come to you before. You were so protected by your own light, but now… now that The Blood Keep’s darkness has managed to get to you, I have a foothold on you. I love how your slender form trembles. That’s right, Sofia. Be afraid. You’ve got everything to fear now that you’re in my presence.”
Another lash formed on my back, drenching my clothes with blood.
“Please…” I sobbed. I was about to beg, but I held my tongue. I refused to give him the satisfaction.
“Your husband was supposed to be mine. I created him, after all. He is my descendant, as is every other vampire you hold dear. They’re all mine, but people like you… you ruin everything. Your beauty sickens me. But worry not, child, when I’m done with you, you’ll be ugly beyond imagination. Derek won’t even be able to stand looking at you. Mark my words, young one. I’m going to make you pay ten times the trouble you’ve caused me.”
His threats were cutting me to the core. I wanted to believe they were empty threats, but something told me that the Elder had the power to do whatever he wanted with me. I wanted to fight back, to defend myself, to somehow get back the light I once held within me, but I couldn’t.
How do you fight a presence you can’t see? How do you once again spark a light that everything around you is determined to extinguish?
“I can sense your surrender. I’m disappointed. Well, almost. You’ve no idea the pleasure it brings me to see you in this state. My prisoner. Helpless. Away from everyone and everything that you love.”
I clung to the fabric of my night shift over my stomach. He laughed. “Do you really think you’ll be able to hold those children in your arms? Be a mother to them? How would you even know the first thing about being a mother when you’ve never even had one? Camilla Claremont was mine. I enjoyed seeing her transform into the wickedness that was Ingrid Maslen. Now, before I leave you, let me give you a picture to dwell on until we meet again.”
Something I couldn’t see coiled around my head and suddenly, I was at the beach, watching my twins build sandcastles, my husband holding my hand. I was living the image of laughter and mirth that had been playing in my head before the Elder arrived. Dread swept over me, because even my imagined refuge was about to be ruined.
A wave washed over the sandcastle the twins were building. Tears were streaming down their faces as their eyes searched for me. I was standing from a distance, desperate to come to their aid, but while Derek ran to them to save them from another wave that would crash against the shore and sweep our children into the ocean, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t help them. Derek tried to get them, but the waves sucked them into the sea. Derek screamed in horror, echoing my own cries as he plunged into the ocean to try and save the twins.
Everything came to a standstill as my husband disappeared under the water. Just when I thought that I’d lost him, I gasped with relief when he emerged from the ocean. I searched his arms for our children, but found them empty. He swam to the shore and rose to his feet, shoulders sagged in defeat. Tears were streaming down his face, a picture of abject dejection as he trudged his way through the white sands. He knelt on the ground, distraught—a father who’d failed to rescue his own children.
“Derek…” I gasped, barely able to breathe. As if hearing my uttering, his eyes met mine, hatred oozing from his countenance.
In an instant, he was standing right before me, fire dancing in the back of his eyes.
I swallowed hard. Never before had he given me such a look. I repeated his name, trying to touch him, but he pushed my hand away.
“I blame you,” he said through gritted teeth. “You’re the reason they’re gone. You ruined everything.”
I gasped. He might as well have ripped my heart out of my body. It would’ve been less painful. I was too shocked to formulate words, so I just stared into those bright blue eyes that once looked upon me with such love. Not anymore. In its place, there was nothing but resentment and spite.
I was relieved when the love of my life disappeared into thin air. I couldn’t bear him looking at me that way.
I was at a loss for words, panting as the image faded away and I was back at The Blood Keep, fully aware of my surroundings, in the presence of the invisible one, the Elder, who held my very life in his hands. He chuckled—an expression without the slightest bit of pleasure. Just pure sadistic hatred.
“That, dear Sofia,” he said with words that could be felt more than heard, “is the future you can hope for. If you ever think you can live a normal life with your children and the love of your life—a normal family—think again. You’re mine now and there’s nothing you or Derek Novak can do about it.”
I wasn’t able to breathe out the tension building up inside of me until the Elder’s presence left my bedroom, leaving behind him the outward chaos left by a cold sweeping wind and the inward turmoil of a nightmare. Once I was alone in that bedroom, still feeling the pain of the torment he’d put me through, I knew for a fact that I would do anything to get away from the Elder and the fate that he displayed before me.