A Shade of Vampire 7: A Break of Day (21 page)

They heeded my words and began their spell. Within a minute the marble floor had sealed over, the gate to that nightmarish realm now closed. Forever.

“Thank heavens,” Ibrahim breathed out as he turned around to survey us panting, dirty and sweaty.

I scrambled to my feet and rushed over to Derek and my distraught baby. I eased the blanket away from Derek’s body and lifted Ben into my arms.

“There, there, darling. Shhh. Mommy’s here. Mommy’s here now,” I whispered, wiping dirt away from his face and kissing his soft cheeks. I sat cross-legged on the floor and let the tears welling up within me fall.
At last, Mommy’s here for you.

Derek crawled over to me and, wiping my tears, held my face in his hands and kissed me hard. “We did it, Sofia. We did it,” he whispered into my ear, a smile creeping across his exhausted face.

“Derek,” Ibrahim called from across the room. He was bending over my father’s torn wing.

Derek got up and walked over to Ibrahim. Now that Derek’s back was turned to me I could see the deep wound in his back inflicted by Arron. His shirt was covered with blood.

I got up and walked over to the corner of the room where the Ageless was standing silently.

“Hey, you,” I said, not bothering to show respect she didn’t deserve. “Will you help Derek out? He’s got a nasty wound on his back.”

Before she could answer, I walked over to Derek and, interrupting whatever conversation he’d been having with Ibrahim, I tugged on his shirt and walked him over to the Ageless.

Holding Ben—who had now calmed down considerably—with one hand, I helped Derek out of his shirt with the other. The Ageless looked disdainfully at me, but then heaved a sigh. She ordered Derek to lie down on the floor and began some kind of healing ritual.

Satisfied that Derek was being taken care of, I walked across the room to check on Aiden. He had stopped groaning and the huge tear in his wing seemed to have closed up. He was also sitting upright.

“He’s healing up nicely,” Ibrahim said.

Aiden beamed on seeing me. I rushed into his arms and he held both Ben and me close to his chest, nuzzling the top of my head with his beak.

“I love you so, so much, my darling,” were the only words he could muster through his tears. It was hard to believe that just a few hours ago I’d thought that I would never see my father again. And now here I was, wrapped in his embrace.

“Can I hold him?” Aiden asked, looking down at Ben.

I placed my baby in his arms and Aiden’s eyes lit up the way only a proud grandparent’s did.

Then I took the opportunity to check on Anna. She sat in a corner, leaning against the wall, clutching her ankle with her hands. Both Kyle and Ian sat next to her, looking concerned. I pulled each of them into a tight hug in turn and said, “Thank you. With all my heart, thank you.”

They all smiled at me. Anna brushed a strand of hair away from my face and said, “Oh, stop being so formal, Sofia. You don’t need to thank us. We’re family.”

The floor felt uncomfortably cold against my chest. I shivered even more once the witch started her healing. It felt like a hundred needles prickling my wound at once.

“It’s done,” she said after barely a minute.

The pain had indeed vanished. I ran a hand over my back and felt the skin now smooth where the cut had been. I stood up and looked into the witch’s cold eyes. I breathed nervously before asking the question that had haunted me ever since she’d first proposed to help us eliminate the gates back in Costa Rica.

“And what now?”

She paused, her gaze on the ground.

“We leave. And we erase our own gates.” She sighed.

“But why? Why wouldn’t you want to keep your gates open just in case? If it’s true that you’re no longer powerful enough to create new gates, then…”

“Aviary and Cruor both know we have our own gates. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re not already strategizing how to storm our realm and reenter yours through them. It just makes us even more of a target than we already are.”

“And once you’ve destroyed them, you’re all gone forever?” I asked, barely daring to believe.

“Yes. At least, I’m not aware of a single witch in our realm who has retained such powers from our Ancients. It’s true that we have grown somewhat complacent over all these years…”

“All these years of piling your troubles onto us poor mortals.” I finished her sentence for her.

She cleared her throat and turned to face the opposite direction.

“Ibrahim!” she called. Ibrahim was now bending over Anna and healing her ankle. He left her and walked over to us.

“What?”

“It’s time we left. We’ve dragged out this mission long enough,” she said.

Ibrahim looked at her for a moment before saying in a low voice, “I’m not returning with you.”

“What?”

“You heard. I’m staying here.”

“But, Ibrahim, why? You’re my best…” she stuttered.

“The Sanctuary is no longer a place I can consider my home. You and its other residents… I can’t see eye to eye with any of you any more.”

“But…”

“And besides, Odelia.” Ibrahim cut her off again. “I’m in love with Corrine. I… I want to marry her.”

The Ageless’ brows rose as she gazed at Ibrahim, her mouth agape. I couldn’t tell how much of her surprise came from Ibrahim addressing her in public by what I assumed was her real name and how much came from his confession.

The silence lasted for several moments. The Ageless struggled to maintain her composure but couldn’t hide a look of hurt that flickered in her eyes.

“Very well,” she said eventually. “I see you’ve made your mind up. In that case, we’ll return without you.”

“We?” Ibrahim asked.

“Ibrahim, you brought with you a dozen other witches.”

“They too wish to stay here. That’s why I selected them. Like me, they no longer feel at home with our own kind. That includes my brother, who is now with Corrine,” Ibrahim said calmly.

More silence.

Then the Ageless said, “Very well. I’ll return alone and wipe out the gates behind me.” She placed a hand on Ibrahim’s shoulder. “I just hope, cousin, that you won’t live to regret this decision.”

“I won’t,” Ibrahim said, not flinching for a second. The Ageless was about to turn away when Ibrahim continued, “Before you leave, you need to restore Corrine’s powers—powers that you unjustly took from her.”

Before the Ageless could respond, Ibrahim began muttering under his breath and two figures appeared in the room next to him: a tall dark-haired man who strikingly resembled Ibrahim, and Corrine, carrying in her arms a small bundle.

The Ageless nodded. Ibrahim took Rose from Corrine and held the baby while she went and stood directly in front of the Ageless.

The Ageless raised both of her hands in the air and turned her palms toward Corrine. Rays of light shot out of them and hit Corrine, whose whole body jolted back as if hit by electricity. Then the Ageless lowered her hands and said, “Now, I really must leave.”

She looked around the room, her eyes lingering on Ibrahim and finally on me. She lingered long enough for me to detect a hint of regret in her cold irises, similar to that which I had noticed back at the beach hut.

And then, without another word, she vanished.

I ran over to Ibrahim as soon as she’d gone and scooped up my beautiful baby daughter.

“Aiden!” I said, excitement rising in my chest. He was still resting on the ground, holding Ben. The look of sheer ecstasy in his eyes when I handed Rose to him so that he was now holding not one, but two, grandchildren in his arms made my heart sing.

“You’ve just made an old man very, very happy, Derek,” he choked.

I realized that this was the first time Rose and Ben had met outside of Sofia’s womb. Aiden held them close so that they could face each other. Rose reached out a small hand and touched Ben’s nose, her face filled with wide-eyed wonder. A small smile spread from the corners of Ben’s lips across his face as he too extended a hand which brushed against Rose’s chin.

“I can only hope they grow up to be as close as you are to Vivienne, Derek,” Sofia said with tears once again welling in her eyes. She put her hands on my shoulders and drew me in for a passionate kiss.

Vivienne
.

Despite the joy I was experiencing, I tensed against Sofia’s touch. A surge of guilt hit me, guilt that I should be experiencing such happiness when I knew how intensely Vivienne was suffering.

“So… now what, Derek?” Sofia looked up at me. She seemed to have noticed that she’d touched a raw spot.

“I say it’s time we all go home.”

If ever The Shade had felt like home, it was now. As we walked away from where Ibrahim and Corrine had made us appear near the temple, Aiden still held Rose and Derek cradled Ben. I looked around at my family, finally all in one place.

We went on a short tour of the island, passing by the remains of the Vale, and then moving toward the Residences. My heart broke when I saw all the beautiful tree houses had now been destroyed—Derek’s included—their remains scattered on the forest floor.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, Ibrahim,” Corrine said, looking around the place.

“It’s nothing we can’t handle. I’m sure we can restore this island to its original state within a few days. Remember, we have a team of witches here to help us.” Ibrahim smiled at her, his arm around her waist as we walked.

“But this time,” I said, “we must build proper homes for the humans on the ground. No more stuffing them all into those tiny holes you call rooms in the Catacombs.”

“Agreed,” Derek said.

“I still think it’s a good idea to keep the vampires and humans separated,” Kyle said. “Humans on the ground, vampires up in the trees.”

“Especially because the time has come for us to finally enforce a ban on human blood,” I said. “From now on, all vampires must follow my and Vivienne’s example of drinking animal blood.”

“Hear, hear!” Ian clapped his hands.

“Well, they’re not going to like that,” Derek said. “But I agree that we’ve come too far to go back to our old ways here. It’s a very different kingdom we now have the opportunity to build.”

“We’ll gather the witches and get to work tidying this place up,” Ibrahim said. “By now they should have finished healing the sick.”

We continued walking to the clearing outside the Black Heights where we had left all the wounded humans and vampires. Sure enough, there was barely anyone lying on the ground. Most had dispersed to whatever remained of their respective homes, I assumed.

Ibrahim and Corrine joined the crowd of witches and they all huddled together and began talking.

“Sofia!” two familiar voices called out to me.

I whirled around to see Ashley and Abby running toward me. My heart melted to see that—thanks to the witches—the spark had returned in Abby’s blue eyes, although she was still very much a vampire, as I was.

Abby jumped into my arms and wrapped her legs around me, nuzzling her face against my neck.

“Thank God you’re all right,” Ashley said. “None of us had any idea where you had gone. Vivienne’s been worrying herself senseless.”

“Vivienne? Where is she?” Derek asked.

“I’m not sure. I last saw her about four hours ago. She must be around the island somewhere,” Ashley replied.

“Sofia,” Derek said, “take Ben. I’m going to look for my sister.”

“Where’s Ben?” Abby said suddenly, as Derek handed the baby to me and walked back toward the woods.

I knelt down to Abby’s level and showed her Ben.

“Here, Abby, this is my son. We named him after your brother,” I said, stroking her hair with one hand.

“Ohhh… so you and Mr. Derek made a baby?” Abby looked up at me in wonderment.

“Yes, darling.” I smiled, kissing her head. “We made two babies actually.” I stood up and caught her hand, walking her over to Aiden. “See? This is my other baby, Rose. She’s a girl, and this one’s a boy.”

“Oh my…” Abby’s mouth hung open as she stared at the two identical babies as though they were aliens from another planet. Then, after a few moments’ thought, she seemed to reconsider.

“That’s gross, Sofia. Because this means that you and Mr. Derek…”

Her voice trailed off and I was thankfully spared whatever embarrassment she was about to subject me to in front of my father. She had taken a look at Aiden. She let out a high-pitched scream.

“Oh! What happened to your dad, Sofia?”

Aiden chuckled as he met Abby’s eyes. “I could ask the same of you, little vampire.”

“You look like a bird!”

Aiden nodded and stretched out his wings for her.

“Whoa.” Abby took a few steps back. “That’s so cool. How come you got to be a bird and I didn’t?”

“I think being a vampire is better,” Aiden said. “You don’t get stuck with an ugly beak face.”

Abby giggled at that and nodded. “Yeah, I wouldn’t want to be a Beak Face.”

I took her hand before she could ask more questions and walked her back toward Ashley. Ashley was smiling, but I knew that seeing me with children was a bittersweet experience. She must have been thinking of the family she could have one day had with Sam.

“Hey!” Zinnia’s voice sounded out from across the open space. She jogged toward us, Gavin by her side.

“Sweet Jesus, what happened?” Gavin said on seeing the two babies and Aiden as a Hawk.

I recounted the details of our adventure to them as they listened in awe. After I’d finished, Zinnia went up to Aiden and gave him a hug.

“I’m glad you’re back, sir.” She grinned. “I missed you.”

“I guess I missed you too, kiddo.” He smiled.

“Um… Sofia?” Gavin’s voice now took on a serious tone. “I hope you don’t mind, but we held a funeral ceremony while you were gone. All the bereaved families, we needed to do something for them to help soothe their pain. And we didn’t want to wait around, what with all the bodies…”

It cut me to the core that I hadn’t been there for it. I thought of all the innocent lives lost at the hands of the Elders, people Derek and I were duty-bound to give protection to. I thought of the immunes those evil spirits had managed to sneak through to Cruor already, lives we could never reclaim.