She pulled out a vial of red liquid from her cloak, and before I could even react, she yanked open my mouth and poured it in. Its sweetness tantalized my tongue and the effect was instant; my wounds stopped aching. And, for the second time in the past few hours, I lost all consciousness.
****
This time when I opened my eyes, my surroundings felt strangely familiar. I lay on a cold stone slab. I sat bolt upright and glanced around. I was in the largest and innermost chamber of The Shade’s Sanctuary.
The exact spot where Derek woke up. Where I first met him. Where it all started.
The torches fixed to the high walls gave off a dim glow. A wave of relief washed over me. I was home. For all I knew, Derek could be within less than a mile. But then the reality hit me full force. How did that Elder bring me here? Why on earth would it bring me home? I knew that the answers to these questions would bring me neither joy nor relief.
The chamber seemed empty, although there was a strange round hole about fifteen feet away from me. I stood up cautiously. Just as I motioned to walk over to it, a deep voice I knew so well echoed around the room.
“Sofia.”
Xavier! A figure stirred in the shadows in a far corner of the room. I was ecstatic to see a dear friend. I rushed toward him to pull him into an embrace. But as I got closer, joy turned to horror.
Translucent eyes. A manic grin.
“Xavier!” I screamed.
Xavier fell to the ground, twitching. A freezing cold enveloped me, seeping into my bones. I managed to scream for a few seconds, but then I lost my voice. I couldn’t move my tongue. I couldn’t open my mouth. I couldn’t move any part of my body. I felt trapped in my own body as a dark presence closed in around me.
Then I heard my own voice speak.
“No, darling. I’m not Xavier. Just the darkness that consumed him. The same one that has now consumed you.”
Chapter 4: Derek
Early the next morning, I packed up a few key belongings. I made sure to leave behind a spare phone, instructing Corrine and Ibrahim to contact me only in an emergency. Then, after holding Rose one last time, I headed further inland, to the city of Liberia. There I used a telephone box to make contact with Aiden and, six hours later, I found myself boarding a helicopter bound for Hawk Headquarters.
During the flight, I tried to stop thinking about what Sofia and my son could be going through. I tried to stop thinking about what was beyond my control. If I was to think clearly and not be a constant fire hazard at Headquarters, I had to keep my emotions in check.
On my arrival, Aiden was waiting for me on the landing pad. The lines in his face had grown deeper over the past few days and he had dark circles under his eyes. In spite of this, he smiled and gave me a brief hug. Then his brows creased with worry. “My granddaughter?”
“Rose is safe with Corrine and Ibrahim, at least for the moment. I wouldn’t have left her if I’d thought that she wasn’t safe.”
“Rose,” he said softly. “I wish I could have seen her.”
“You know why I left her behind. Right now, we’re working with Arron and the Hawks blindly because we have no choice. But there are still far too many things about their motives that we don’t understand. This is no place to bring a newborn.”
Pain flickered in his eyes, but he composed himself. He was a man well practiced at switching off his emotions. We marched toward the main building.
We reached his office and shut ourselves inside. Sitting at the table waiting for us was Arron. When he saw me enter, his lips curled.
“Welcome back, Derek.”
I nodded curtly but said nothing. I would have preferred to talk privately with Aiden, but Arron knew more about Cruor, the vampire realm, than Aiden, and he certainly had more influence. I remembered how, though he had not accompanied us personally when we stormed The Blood Keep, he had armed us with dozens of Hawks from Aviary.
I took a seat opposite Aiden, who looked grimly at me before launching the discussion. “Firstly, Sofia. Based on what the Ageless told you, we can only assume she’s in Cruor.”
“There are three gates that allow passage into that realm,” Arron continued. “One at The Underground; one at The Shade; and one at The Blood Keep. Now, at the time the witch took Sofia, we were storming the Keep, so I doubt very much she would have transported Sofia to that particular gate. So the witch either sent Sofia to The Shade or The Underground, after which an Elder would have taken her through the portal and into Cruor.”
“Why do they want her?” I asked, terrified to hear Arron’s answer.
“Isn’t that obvious? She’s an immune. An immune’s blood is rare sustenance to their kind. You remember the effect it had on you? What it felt like drinking it?”
I shuddered. I remembered drinking Sofia’s blood all too clearly.
“Let’s cut to the chase,” Aiden said. “To rescue my daughter, it seems the only way is to force entry into Cruor and retrieve her. One of the many problems with this is that not even Arron knows if it’s possible for a ‘non-Elder’ to enter without assistance.”
“And Ben? My son?”
Aiden heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. “It’s still a mystery to us. We’ve made no progress in tracking Kiev. Truth be told, I have no clue where to even start. We have virtually no background on Kiev other than his stay at The Blood Keep. And we searched the whole place since he kidnapped Ben. The Keep is now empty, save for a few dogs. Kiev too could be in Cruor for all we know.”
I looked at Arron. “And you have nothing to add?”
“No.”
I breathed deeply. Ignore your emotions. They won’t help find your family. Focus, Novak. Focus.
“All right. For now, it appears that our only option is to put all our focus on Cruor. We’ll need the assistance of the Hawks again. God knows what we’ll find ourselves faced with at the end of that portal, if we even manage to enter it.”
I was interrupted by a sharp knock at the door. Aiden got up to open it. When Vivienne stepped into the room, my heart leapt. I jumped up and pulled her into my arms.
“Derek, I’ve been so worried about you,” she said breathlessly. “When you didn’t return Eli’s text… I didn’t know what to think.”
“I’m just about hanging on, Vivienne. I’m glad you arrived safely.” I kissed the top of her head. “What about the others who were headed here?”
“Claudia, Cameron, Zinnia, Gavin, Eli, Shadow, and Xavier’s brother Landis, they’re all here.”