Utter confusion spread across Derek’s face. “Craig? Zinnia? Sofia, is this supposed to be a joke? Because it’s not funny. I’m not getting it.”
“I just want to go to Headquarters. I feel safer there than in some little hut.”
“But listen…”
“And if you won’t take me, I’ll leave you and go there myself.”
Chapter 9: Derek
Sofia just blackmailed me.
I was in a state of shock as I walked out of the bedroom and stood in the sitting room, grabbing the back of a chair to steady my hands. I’d left Sofia sitting on the bed after promising her that I’d consider her request. I’d told her that I needed to discuss some things with Corrine and Ibrahim.
Since I had known Sofia, she had never threatened me in this way. And over what? Her insistence on visiting Headquarters was completely irrational. Sofia had never been whimsical. When faced with any decision, she always weighed the pros and cons.
Has she lost her mind? Maybe the shock of turning has made her mentally unstable. Maybe she just needs time to recover. There was only one thing I knew for sure: the person sitting in my bedroom was not the girl I’d married.
A vision from one of my nightmares flashed before my eyes, nightmares that still plagued me on the rare occasions that I slept.
Sofia stood in a fountain outside the witch’s temple in The Shade. Her long hair covered her face like a curtain. Her body swayed from side to side, as if moved by the breeze.
I called out her name. No response.
“What’s wrong with you?”
I started walking toward her. As I got closer, the fountain’s clear water turned to red. A shriek emanated from Sofia’s mouth as she flipped her hair aside to reveal her face.
Her eyes were black as a coal pit. Blood dripped from her lips. Her skin was cracked and aged.
“What have you done with my Sofia?”
I found myself breathing heavily just remembering the dream. Are these simply my worst fears playing tricks on my mind? Or could these nightmares actually bear some meaning? I shuddered the thought away and wrapped a robe around my body.
Maybe vampires created in Cruor just find it far more difficult to control themselves, and that’s why even Sofia is struggling. She helped me out of my darkness. Now it’s my turn to help her.
I pushed open the door to the bedroom we had transformed into a nursery for Rose. Corrine was sitting on a sofa, holding little Rose on her lap. Ibrahim had his arm around Corrine’s waist, but quickly removed it.
Corrine looked up at me.
“Thank God you’ve come here without her. I would have said something last night, but I didn’t have the heart to interrupt when I saw you two standing there.”
“Why?” Her anxiety took me by surprise.
“Come closer.” She grabbed my hand and pulled my head down so that my ear was less than an inch away from her lips. Then she continued in a voice that was barely louder than a breath. “Ibrahim and I… We’ve been discussing. We don’t think Rose should be in the same house as Sofia. Hell, not even in the same country. I have some more contacts, old classmates, down in Argentina. Ibrahim will come with us of course…”
“What is it that you’ve noticed about Sofia?” I interrupted.
“Shh! Speak more softly. Don’t tell me that you haven’t noticed, Derek. You’re not that thick, I pray. There’s something very wrong with your wife.” The witch looked at me with fear in her eyes. “I don’t know what, I can’t put my finger on it. But there’s a feeling in my bones that I can’t shake. She’s not mentally stable.”
“The way she looked at Rose,” Ibrahim whispered. “At first her eyes were filled with motherly affection, but the next moment, a darkness had settled over them… only to vanish again. She’s not in control of her own nature. She’s unpredictable.”
This conversation was doing nothing to allay my fears.
“All right. I agree,” I breathed. “Take Rose. Take her far away. I’m trusting you and Ibrahim to guard her with your lives. Remember to bring the phone with you.”
Corrine looked relieved. “What about you? What will you do, Derek?”
“I need to stay here with Sofia. I need to find a cure for her. And I need to find my son.” I looked at the warlock. “Ibrahim, how do I know that the Ageless won’t come for Sofia again?”
“You don’t,” he said simply. “But the fact that your wife has been here for more than fifteen hours and the Ageless hasn’t showed up suggests to me that, for whatever reason, she’s not interested in handing Sofia back to Cruor.”
Like a cup of water in the desert, his words gave me a dose of relief.
Then Corrine stood up, wrapped a blanket around Rose, and handed her to me. I kissed my baby girl goodbye for the second time in less than seventy-two hours and placed her back in the witch’s arms. Ibrahim picked up a suitcase that Corrine must have packed.
“I’m going to go next door and distract Sofia,” I said. “So that she doesn’t see you leave without telling her. I don’t know how she would react.”
Corrine nodded and I left for Sofia’s bedroom. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.
An empty bed.
“Sofia?”
I ducked down beneath the bed to check she wasn’t hiding. I ripped open the cupboards. Then I dashed back out and checked every other room in the hut, yelling out her name as I did.
She wasn’t in the building.
Would she be so mad as to leave for Headquarters in broad daylight? How does she even plan to get there?
Panic gripped me as I ran outside onto the terrace. It was still morning but the sun was already beating down, the heat rising by the second.
She could die out there.
Chapter 10: Sofia
Soon after Derek left the room, I found myself jumping out of the window and landing on the hot sand below. The moment the sun’s rays came in direct contact with my skin, my whole body erupted in agony. It felt like someone had poured gasoline over me and lit me on fire.
What is the Elder thinking? Is it trying to murder me?
Despite the torture, my legs moved quickly, rushing across the beach toward Liana and the submarine. I ran for several minutes, and just as it felt like my skin was starting to peel away, I dove into the ocean. The water cooled my skin and gave me some relief, but the sunlight was still trickling down on me through the waves.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait long before the submarine came into view. I swam deeper and knocked on the hatch. A few moments later, it surfaced and bobbed up above the waves. I swam up and grabbed onto the side of the black vessel, hoisting myself up and exposing myself once again to the full heat of the day. I quickly climbed into the hatch and closed the door behind me.