A Shade Of Vampire 4: A Shadow Of Light (22 page)

As soon as the words came out of Derek’s mouth, someone began pounding at the front door. Derek and I stood in unison, worry creasing his face as sure as it was mine.

When the door swung open, we found Sam looking
breathless and distraught. “You’re going to want to see this…the town square.”

“What’s going on?” Derek asked, wary of any more bad news being thrown his way.

“It’s your father.”

Derek immediately shot a look at Vivienne. “Stay here, Viv
ienne.” He then cast a commanding glare at Xavier. “Keep an eye on her.”

Xavier nodded, looking as if he would rather die than ever let Vivienne out of his sight. Derek took my hand and pulled my body against him in a tight embrace so he could speed from the Pavilion to
the Vale where the town square was. The moment we arrived, I wished he hadn’t brought me with him. It took every ounce of my will power to keep myself from vomiting at the grotesque sight in front of me. Right in the middle of the town square was Gregor Novak’s corpse, impaled on a stick that went right through his heart. His heart, still beating was right at the tip of the stick.

I could barely stand on my own feet,
so when Derek’s knees buckled at the sight, we both sank to the ground.

“Who would do this?” I muttered under my breath. That’s when I noticed that someth
ing was scrawled on his arm, which looked like it was already in the process of rotting.

Derek, who didn’t seem to have the stomach to approach his own father’s lifeless form, turned toward Sam. “What’s written on his arm?”

Sam hesitated before responding. “It says, ‘You chose the wrong side.’”

I couldn’t understand what that could’ve possibly meant. Whichever side
Gregor was on, it certainly wasn’t Derek’s. Did Gregor somehow cross someone else other than Derek? I was certain that Derek couldn’t have had anything to do with this grotesque crime.

Corrine emerged among
the gathering crowd in the town square. Her brown eyes locked with Derek’s, a grim expression marring her lovely face. From the very moment I first met Corrine, nothing seemed to shake her. She seemed unafraid of anything. I always saw her as some sort of strong tower, a refuge of calm. At this moment, however, she looked horrified.

Her olive skin seemed to pale and for the first time since I
had met her, I was certain that we were up against a force that was more powerful than her.

Chills ran down my spine and d
read unlike anything I’d ever felt before swept over me. I stared up at Derek, somehow knowing deep inside that both of us would break before we could be made whole again.

Alarm was in Derek’s eyes when he broke gaze with Corrine in order to look at me. “Sofia, you’re trembling.”

I wasn’t aware of how tightly I was squeezing his arm. I shook my head, not knowing how to articulate to him what was going through my mind. Even if I could, I didn’t know if it would be wise to voice out the fears I had coursing through me.

I once again caught sight of
Gregor’s body—which was now being pulled from the pole it was impaled on. Despite all my apprehensions, I nodded my head resolutely. I needed to have faith. I couldn’t afford not to have it. “We’re going to make it, Derek.”

When he pulled me closer to him and pressed his lips against my temple, I took it as reassurance that I was right.

The rest of the morning wore on with Eli and Liana working with Gavin and Ian, trying to figure out how to make the blood drive among the humans happen. Xavier, Cameron and Derek saw to arrangements about Gregor’s body. Last time I caught a glimpse of Yuri, he was taking a walk with Claudia—something that I found delight in. On the other hand, I was left to deal with my father and all the questions he had about what went on between Derek and me throughout the night.

“You let him drink your blood again, didn’t you?” was the first thing he asked me the moment I
had settled myself in the dining room of my chambers at The Catacombs.

Well, I didn’t exactly
let
him. I just kind of woke up to find that he was already having his fill.
Of course, I wasn’t about to tell Aiden that. “Do we have to go through this again?”

Aiden’s lips shut tight and we ate breakfast in silence without a word being exchanged until he finally asked the question that had probably been burning through his thoughts all night. “Is he allowing the hunters to come?”

“Do you have any idea at all how much is hanging on the balance should this cure be for real?”

“You saw Ingrid turn back into a human, Sofia
. With your own eyes!” he exclaimed. “I don’t understand how you could still hold so much doubt after witnessing something like
that
.”

“What if it only works on her? What if it doesn’t work on all vampires?”

“We won’t know until we try, will we?”

I couldn’t fight back the uneasy feeling I had over the whole matter. I wanted to believe Aiden. I wanted to trust him, to believe that he wasn’t going to screw us all over, but this dread inside kept nagging at me that something was amiss. “I hope you understand that Derek means
everything
to me. You betray him, you betray me.”

“I know that, Sofia. I also hope that you realize that you are my daughter and I will always fight for what I believ
e is best for you.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “I know I messed up big time. I know I wasn’t a good father to you, but I want that to change. I want you to trust me.”

I couldn’t bear the idea of shooting him down after what felt like one of the most sincere things he’d ever told me.
Hesitantly, I nodded and gave him the go signal to something that could end us all.

“Have the hunters come.”

I was dragging myself through the entire day. The heavy weight that settled on my chest the moment I realized that I had just lost my father was inescapable. I’d always been at odds with Gregor Novak but I had never wished such a death on him. I had no idea how to face Vivienne. I wasn’t even sure if she’d already been told. I sure didn’t want to be the one to break the news to her. The mere thought of seeing her tears over the passing away of our father was more emotion than I knew how to handle.

It seemed that it was the hand I’d been dealt.
Fix one problem and another will pop up. You’re not even allowed time to just gather yourself together and pick the pieces up to prepare for the next tragedy.

By the end of the day, I was ready to escape into sleep
—the only recourse I had that would allow me to shut all my anxieties, fears and doubts out. I momentarily entertained the idea of going to Sofia at The Catacombs, but sleep really seemed to be a more enticing escape than even my lovely redhead, who for certain was with Aiden, someone who would once again remind me about what I was already deeply guilty about. I could still feel Sofia’s blood coursing through me. I was certain that it was the wellspring I was drawing life from throughout that day. It was also my deepest source of shame.

I just want to escape. All of it. For a
few hours, I want to be rid of all of this.

Xavier had gone with me to the Pavilion
—most likely to check on Vivienne, who was being looked after by Liana. When he realized that I was off to my own penthouse, Xavier called me out on it. “Aren’t you even going to check on Vivienne? I think she needs you.”

I tensed at the thought. “
I don’t know if I can…”

“You have to, Derek. If there’s anyone who can understand what you’re going through, it’s her. And it’s your comfort and presence that she needs most right now. She’d barely just wrapped her head around Lucas’ death at
The Oasis. She needs you for this.”

I knew he was right, so despite the ache I felt inside, I begrudgingly obliged. I made my way to my sister’s penthouse and found her inside her greenhouse, amidst her beloved orchids, roses, lilies and tulips. Her blue-violet gaze was misty with tears.

“Vivienne…”

She looked up and the moment she laid eyes on me, she broke down crying. She immediately approached me and threw her arms around my neck. I wrapped my hands around her waist and pulled her against me, allowing her to sob as long and as much as she needed to. I didn’t know what to say to her. I found myself hoping that my presence was enough, because I
couldn’t find the right words to comfort her.

“It’s just you and me now…” she rasped out in between sobs, her voice hoarse and choked. “We’re the last of the
Novaks.”

I hung my head
—almost as if I was ashamed that this was true, almost as if it was my fault Gregor was gone.

When her sobs subsided, she pulled away from me and nodded slowly, her eyes fixed on a black orchid which she was gently caressing with her thumb. “I knew it would happen…” she eventually said. “He was
too far into the dark. He was fighting with every bit of his strength to stay in the light, but even
you
weren’t strong enough to stand against it when it began to consume you. He’d been giving into it for too long.”

“I don’t understand…”

Vivienne caught my eye in that way only she could—that way that made me feel as if she were looking into the depths of my soul. I would look into her eyes and find uncharted galaxies behind them. I knew that I could never really grasp or comprehend her depth.

“I think he chose us, Derek. That’s why he’s dead. That explains the message on his arm. He chose
us
over darkness.”

“He hated
me,” was all I could manage to say as I fought back my own tears.

Vivienne shook her head. “He lo
st a lot of himself. I know he wasn’t the greatest father, but he did the best he could. He was a weak man. He was nothing like you, Derek. He never hated you. He envied you.”

I smiled bitterly. “It doesn’t matter now I guess…”

She heaved a sigh and gently brushed her hand over my face. “I guess what matters is that we still have each other and that no matter where our father is right now, I’m certain that he is much more free than he ever was as ruler of The Shade and father of the great Derek Novak.”

Overcome by emotion, I could no longer keep the tears back. I pulled Vivienne against me. “I’m so glad you’re back, Viv
ienne. I would have no idea how to get through this without you.”

“You’ll do just fine, Derek. You’ve always been stronger than any of us ever were. Now that you have Sofia back here, you can make it. You can go against the original.”

I pulled away from our embrace, my jaw dropping involuntarily. “You can’t mean that… Vivienne…”

She just smiled at me and turned away. I knew what that meant. She wasn’t willing to say any more and no amount of coaxing from me could make her speak again. She’d said her
piece and that was it. I was dismissed.

Going against the original vampire was something that
had never crossed my mind. I couldn’t understand why she would even think it. The original was almost a myth to us. None of us knew if the creature really even existed or what it was capable of. It was one thing to battle against something tangible, something you saw and understood, but it was a whole other thing to contend with a powerful unknown.

I was in a daze as I returned to my penthouse, all sense of sleep leaving me. I knew that I couldn’t escape to deep slumber even if I wanted to. Vivienne
had just dropped a bomb that would make me toss and turn with anxiety all night.

Thus, I was relieved to open my bedroom door and find Sofia sitting on top of the bed
. My guitar was laid on the empty space on the bed beside her. She was busy penciling a drawing on the sketch pad laid over her lap, loose strands of her red hair falling over her face. She looked up through her long lashes the moment I entered and smiled.

“Rough day, huh
?”

“As rough as it could get…
” I leaned against the doorpost in a show of resignation. “I haven’t yet been able to rise up from one wave crashing over me before another one comes raging toward me again.”

She tapped gently on the guitar beside her
. “It’s been a while since I last heard you play.”

No matter how exhausted I felt, I realized that I wanted nothing more than to surround myself with
that which I loved—music and Sofia. I sat over the edge of the bed and took the guitar. I began strumming a chord to make sure it was in tune. Satisfied that it was, I began to pluck away, losing myself in the sound of the music.

I could feel Sofia settle herself behind me, leaning her chin over my shoulder as she watched me play.
As I continued to play tune after tune after tune, she began whispering encouragements in my ear. “You’re strong. Brave. Courageous. You don’t need to give in to the darkness in order to get through this. I know you. I know that we can make it through this. We’re going to fight this together.”

I had no idea how long it took before we eventually settled down on the bed, snuggling against each other, enjoying
that momentary reprieve. We were each other’s refuge and in that bedroom, holding Sofia in my arms, it felt as if the world was as it should be.

“The hunters are coming tomorrow…” Sofia whispered as she brushed her fingers o
ver my chest. I could hear the hesitation in her voice. I could tell she felt apprehensive about bringing up the subject. “You ready for that?”

“I don’t know… Are you? If things go south, Sofia, I may need to fight your father… I just…”

“It’s fine,” she cut me off, the assurance coming too quick. “I know you have to do what you have to do.”

I knew it was tearing her up to even think of having to choose between me and her father. “You don’t have to choose you know… I understand…”

“I know, but if I had to choose, you know that I’d choose you in a heartbeat, don’t you?”

Her loyalty and love for me was always a source of astonishment. And it meant the world to me to hear her say it. I placed a kiss on her forehead. “I love you so much, Sofia.”

She smiled up at me. “I know… I want you to start believing that I love you just as much, Derek.”

Her words were like a punch in the gut as I realized that what I
had done—by leaving her back at hunter territory—showed her that I didn’t believe in her love for me, in our love. I made the choice apart from her, leaving her out of the equation. I was unfair to her by doing that and I decided right then that it would never happen again.

I knew that we had a rough ride ahead of us, but somehow, that night, I realized that I didn’t need to worry about tomorrow. I was fine where I was. I just needed to take things one day at a time and let tomorrow take care of itself, because no matter what threats were coming our way, I
had Sofia in my arms. Just like Sofia, I needed to live in the moment and learn to love every minute of it.

I wished I knew that earlier, because it was such a regretful thing to realize how much I’d wasted my immortality, but I guess
ed there was no better time to start than
now.