A Shade Of Vampire 5: A Blaze Of Sun (4 page)

I was expecting him to address Sofia, but was surprised to find him talking to me instead.

“It’s good you’re here though, because everyone’s looking for you.”

“What’s going on?” Sofia’s fists clenched as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “What happened?”

“They’re coming. The other covens are coming,” Gavin said grimly. “It’s war.”

Chills ran up my spine, accompanied by panic. This was the moment we’d all been preparing for, and yet, now that it had arrived, I couldn’t help but admit to myself that we were nowhere near prepared. As I ran off to what felt like absolute death, I forgot to do
the most important thing: kiss my fiancée and assure her that everything was going to be alright.

If I hadn’t been too busy fearing for the fate of the island, I would’ve once again heard my mind echoing to me those familiar words:
You’re being an absolute fool, Novak.

A
s I watched Derek speed away, my heart ached with disappointment. I wanted to hit myself over the head for being so stupid. We were at war. We could lose our lives any time and I was standing in the middle of that bedroom, feeling sorry for myself over missing a date with Derek.

“Sofia
.” Gavin laid a hand over my shoulder. “Ian, Kyle and I are trying to round up humans from The Catacombs – anyone willing to assist the vampires in defending The Shade. Are you coming with us?”

I was about to nod, but then I caught sight of Vivienne
, Derek’s twin sister, standing by my door, leaning on my doorpost. I was surprised to see her at a time like this.

Gavin shifted his eyes from me to Vivienne and the
n back. “I guess that’s a no…” he said, before rushing out of the room.

My
eyes were set on Vivienne. The two of us had come a long way since the night of my seventeenth birthday when I was brought to The Shade. Vivienne had gone from referring to me as Derek’s “pawn” to Derek’s “queen.” There was a time when she had to transfer some of her memories to me. These memories were instrumental in reminding her of who she was after the hunters had brainwashed her.

“Vivienne?” I asked, not sure if I was pleased to see her.

Vivienne was a seer and often times, when she sought out a person, she rarely came bringing good news with her.

I stared at Vivienne, making a mental note of how ridiculous it was that we were both standing there, about to have a conversation while the island was under attack by other
covens. “What can I do for you?”

She
slowly walked inside my room and sat on the edge of my bed. It was as if she was unaware of everything going on in The Shade. “I told you that finding the cure is an absolute necessity. Has there been any progress?”

I stared at her, unsure
of what to say.
The Shade is falling apart and you came to ask about the cure?
“Well, there’s no progress whatsoever, Vivienne, but I’m not going to give up…” I began feeling antsy. I stared at Vivienne and she seemed to have not a single worry over the fate of The Shade.
What is wrong with you?

Vivienne took a deep breath. “I am so sick of all this war and bloodshed and revenge. I can’t wait until Derek actually finds true sanctuary. We need
that
cure.”

“Viv
ienne, you do know that The Shade is under attack at this very moment, right?”

She gave me a knowing glance and shrugged
a shoulder nonchalantly. “I know.”

“Aren’t you worried?”

She shook her head. “No, not really.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“We’re going to win this one.”

I knew she was a seer, but I still wasn’t able to resist the urge to ask, “How could you be so sure that we’re going to win this war?”

She chuckled at my naiveté. “We’re going to win this particular
battle
, Sofia. Not the war. I’m not sure what will come of this war or even how it will end or
if
it will even end. I do know for certain that the war has just begun, and that the first victory... is
ours.
”

I hate her. I hate Sofia.

The image of Borys lying dead on the floor was still fresh in my mind. I had no idea how they did it or how they could’ve outsmarted him, but they did and I felt like I was to blame. I knew that Vivienne and Sofia were Borys’ greatest weaknesses. He’d been pining for Vivienne for centuries. His obsession with her only subsided after Sofia came along and replaced Vivienne in his mind.

I relied too much on the women’s fear of him and his brute strength. I should’ve been aware that he would be weak against their manipulations, against their attempts to seduce him. I should’ve known.

But it’s too late now. He’s gone. And while I have my own part in his demise, it’s still Sofia I ought to blame.

My daughter was a plague I couldn’t escape from. She took everything away from me and I was determined to make her pay.

I was backed up in a corner of the cot they provided inside their dungeon, moonlight streaming from the small window above the cell, barred with UV rays. Consumed by my own dark thoughts, I shuddered when a freezing wind began to blow through my cell. The breeze was unlike anything I’d experienced before. I could sense power coming from it and when it hit my skin, it felt as if it were penetrating right through my flesh and bones. I began shivering as fear took over my senses.
What is going on?

My eyes darted across the small space surrounding me. I couldn’t see anything. Suddenly, I was enveloped by
pitch black darkness and all the moonlight that had been previously streaming through the small window somehow disappeared.

“Camilla…”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I recognized the voice. The voice was Borys’, but he never called me Camilla, especially after he turned me into a vampire. “Who are you?”

“Anybody you want me to be really…” the voice responded.

I could sense a presence near me, so I began waving my hands in front of me, but I felt nothing and saw nothing. “What do you want? How did you get here?”

“It doesn’t matter how I got here, but yes… we must discuss what I want.”

Another cold breeze swept through the room and I found myself crashing to the floor, balling myself up in a fetal position as I sensed the strange presence standing over me. Immediately, it sank into me that I was up against a powerful force I had no business messing with. “Please…” I begged. “I don’t want any trouble.”

I d
idn’t know how, but I could sense his dark delight at my surrender, at my acknowledgment that I was a lesser being than he.

“
Listen to me carefully, Camilla, because I will say this only once. You are never to refer to yourself as Ingrid again. You are to play the part of Camilla Claremont. You will earn back the love of your husband and daughter. You will do everything in your power to get back into their good graces. Do you understand me?”

I wanted to object. I wanted to say no, but all I could do was nod.

He didn’t seem to be convinced by my agreement, because before I knew it, something hit me on the arm like a thick whip, burning my skin the moment it touched me. I screamed at the pain and began whimpering, afraid that he would hit me once more. “Wh-what are you?” I stuttered. The response I got was another lash – this time on my thigh, breaking the leather of my pants and burning my skin beneath it. I stifled a scream and bit my lip instead, drawing blood from it.

“Speak again and there’ll be more,” he warned
, as he watched me shake beneath him.

I could feel his eyes on me, delighting in watching me suffer.

“You have to get it into your head, Camilla, that Borys Maslen is gone, and with him, Ingrid Maslen. You will serve me better as Camilla Claremont than you ever will as Ingrid. You will heed to my command and use every feminine and maternal instinct you have to once again be a part of the Claremont family.”

I wanted to ask why, but I was afraid to speak
. The searing pain in my arm and thigh reminded me that remaining silent was a safer option.

It seemed I didn’t need to ask, because he had a ready answer. “You will be my eyes and my ears once you get them to trust you, and when I command you to, I want you to be ready to kill Sofia. Do you understand?”

I nodded as I tried to stifle the smile that formed on my face, surprised by my own delight and eagerness to kill my own daughter.
What an evil creature you’ve become, Camilla.

The dark presence controlling me seemed pleased. I, on the other hand, felt as if I were going crazy.

“You are vulnerable against Aiden. You’re in love with him,” the voice scoffed. “Remember that it doesn’t matter what you feel for him anymore, Camilla. After everything you did, he could never really love you again.”

I feared what he was saying. I already told myself the same thing many times over, but hearing someone else say it out loud was like a slap in the face. Despite my desire to remain strong, I began sobbing.
My tears seemed to annoy my new master, because I immediately felt a cold slap on my face – one so powerful, my head began reeling.

He then gave me his final command and threat. “Get a hold of yourself. You’re my slave now, Camilla. Do as I say and you will stay alive and powerful, and I will make sure that your power will
increase as your usefulness to me increases. Of course, cross me and it will be the end of you and everyone you love. We both know that there are only two people you love. Aiden Claremont and yourself. So, let’s make things simple: I
will
kill Aiden Claremont and I will make you watch him die a slow and excruciating death. After watching the man you love die, I will then kill
you
.”

His laughter echoed in my ear, inside my head, so loudly I was sure my head would burst. Even while his presence was long gone and the moonlight was once again streaming through the window, I could still hear his laughter ringing in my ear
s. There was no mirth or even amusement in his laughter. All I heard was hatred and spite.

I didn’t know what I
’d just encountered. All I knew was that I was a slave to the dark presence and that whoever or whatever it was, it was
pure evil.

How is this possible? How are they coming at us without getting detected by the human world?

I stood on top of one of the Crimson Fortress’ towers, my eyes fixed on what we were up against. Over the horizon, I could see the boundary that separated where the spell stopped and where it started. I could see the human world outside The Shade where the sun still shone. I realized that the sun hadn’t risen yet.
They meant to attack in the wee hours of the morning.
My gut clenched. All the while, we’d been expecting them to attack at night.

I was surrounded by
my most powerful warriors, who had spent centuries fighting for the safety and protection of The Shade. We were all well aware that on this day, we were up against forces far more powerful than ones we had fought before. Helicopters were approaching – about five of them – ready to fly over the fortress and land on the island.

“We’re not properly equipped for this,” Xavier, one of
The Shade’s strongest warriors, stated the obvious.

I frowned, wondering how on earth we could take the
helicopters down before they landed on the island. We had firepower on the island, but none of it could take down a helicopter. I realized the danger we were in.
They brought guns to a swordfight.

“They most likely have witches working for them. That’s how they’re avoiding human detection,”
Cameron said from behind me.

I was taken aback by this
. Witches were known to resist vampires. That was why Cora, the original witch who agreed to protect The Shade four hundred years ago, was such an exception. Because she was in love with me, she became the first among the witches to ever side with our kind and all her descendants followed her lead. It’s what made The Shade so unique
. If the other covens had witches under their wing, why didn’t they just create sanctuaries of their own that their witches could protect? Why go to all this trouble trying to take over The Shade?

Of course, I didn’t have time to figure out their motivations and intentions.
Helicopters full of vampires were coming toward The Shade at full speed. I was beating myself up since I wasn’t prepared for this.

I braced myself for what was ahead and began pointing at people and barking out commands. “We need to assemble squads for every
helicopter that’s coming our way. We need to be there whenever they land,
wherever
they land. Xavier! Cameron! Yuri! Claudia! Lead one squad each. I will lead another one. We can’t have them take over the fortress! Liana, make sure Vivienne and Sofia are safe!”

What followed was complete and utter chaos. We were nowhere near prepared for this
. I shuddered at the slightest idea of what kind of weapons our opponents had brought with them.

I rounded up my own squad of warriors and began pointing out to each leader which
helicopters they were in charge of. I kept my eye on the helicopter assigned to us and began following its direction. It was headed right for a wide open field. I immediately sped toward that area, trusting that my squad was following right after me.

It
landed on the field and dozens of vampires began jumping out of the chopper onto the ground below.

Two vampires – one of them shooting a wooden stake at me from a crossbow, while the other was geared up for hand-to-hand combat – immediately attacked me
. I caught the wooden stake shooting toward me and threw it right back at the vampire who had aimed it. The wooden stake dug deep into his heart. I then set my attention on the other vampire attempting to rip my heart out. Using my high agility, I was able to get a hold of his wrist before he could dig his claws into my chest. I looked right into his eye before I returned the favor and ripped his heart out.

I watched one of the vampires shoot one of our warriors with a
n ultraviolet ray gun, similar to the ones used by hunters. I sped toward the vampire holding the gun and broke his neck, maiming him into unconsciousness.

I could sense something
was wrong after about my fifth kill.
This is too easy.
I looked around to check if someone else was attacking me and froze when I saw a familiar face.
Emilia.
Her hands were raised in the air in surrender even as one of The Shade’s vampires pushed her onto the ground in a kneeling position.

The Shade’s warrior,
Pierre, one of our Elite, was about to stab Emilia right through her heart. “Wait! Don’t! She’s surrendering!” I yelled at him.

He immediately heeded to my command and I could swear that I saw Emilia smirk. I hated how my stomach fluttered at the sight of her. The sight of her was breathtaking. She was even more beautiful in person than she was in my dreams.

Why are you thinking this way, Novak?
I grimaced as I approached her. I stood over her kneeling form and watched as she raised her eyes to meet mine.

She flashed a smile at me. “I knew it. You couldn’t let me die.”

I wanted to wipe that self-confident smirk off her face, but I knew it was true. The idea of watching her die didn’t sit well with me.
Why? She’s the original vampire’s daughter. She’s most likely made of pure wickedness. Why wouldn’t I want to see her die?
Frustrated by my own thoughts, I held her by the jaw and twisted her neck in one powerful motion. I heard her bone crack and I found my gut clutching at the sound.
How could she have this effect on me?

I watched her paralyzed body fall to the ground. They were going to drag her into prison before returning her neck into place
. Then she would heal and return to consciousness. It usually took a couple of hours before a vampire with a broken neck could come back to their senses.

I found myself watching as they dragged Emilia
away from the field.

“Word is that the other squads are also finding it easy to take down the attackers from the other choppers.”
Pierre stood beside me, his eyes set on the chopper on the field. “What are we going to do with that?”

I shrugged. “I’m sure we’ll figure something out.” I momentarily glanced at the chopper before
turning back to see Emilia’s body being dragged away.
There’s just something about her. We have a connection and I can’t deny it.
I couldn’t keep my eyes off Emilia until I saw another breathtaking sight coming toward me.

Sofia.

No matter how many times I’d seen her, Sofia still took my breath away and that moment was no exception. The realization relieved me, because despite the connection I felt with Emilia, catching my breath upon seeing Sofia running toward me was enough assurance that the connection I had with my lovely redhead was far greater than the one I had with the intriguing brunette.

Sofia threw her
self into my arms and I held on to her tight. “We won, Derek,” she whispered into my ear, her breath hot against my skin.

“Yes…” I nodded before kissing her on the cheek. “We did. We won.” I stated the words without any hint of triumph or pride.

She pulled away from me and looked up at my face. She narrowed her eyes. “You don’t seem happy at all. Why?”

I tried to make sense of what just happened. “I don’t know. I’ve fought many battles before, Sofia. This win seemed too easy. I might sound crazy, but it’s almost as if they wanted us to win this one.”

From the expression on her face, I knew that something was bothering her about the battle too. She began to look around the field. We barely lost any of our men, but we practically annihilated all of those who attacked.

Sofia wet her lips as she once again gazed up at me. “Why on earth would they let us win?”

I shrugged at Sofia, but I couldn’t help but look in the direction where they had dragged Emilia.
I have a feeling it has something to do with her.