It felt like I was blindsided, because he hit me on the face and everything faded to black. When I came back to full consciousness, it was because of the agonizing pain. Three days of sheer excruciation followed—three days I could barely remember. At the end of the worst seventy-two hours of my life, I woke up to find three unconscious young women surrounding me. To my relief, they weren’t dead, but I knew based on the way I was craving them, that I’d had a taste of their blood. Fighting the urge to kill the three innocents—not even bothering to ask how they got to be there, I knew that I needed to leave that place—to get as far away as possible from those three young women before I could do anything I would later regret. It was taking every bit of my will power and self-control not to hunt them down.
Until the Battle of First Blood, the battle that secured us control over The Shade, I prided myself on never killing a human being—something Vivienne was also able to accomplish. As for my father and brother, I never dared ask. One thing was for certain though: after the Battle of First Blood, many humans had since died in our hands.
Mine was a fate I was determined not to let Ashley repeat, but it was going to be an uphill battle and I knew it.
I gripped Sofia’s hand tightly until she gasped in pain. I wanted her to know that I wasn’t about to be questioned or defied. “We’re leaving. You’ve seen enough.”
Tears moistened her eyes. “Is there no way we can help her, Derek?”
I shook my head. “She’s made her choice. Now, she has to live—or die—with the consequences.”
Chapter 18: Sofia
I sat on the red velvet couch in the living room area of my quarters in The Catacombs. It’d been three days since Ashley’s turning and I hadn’t been able to visit her. Derek simply wouldn’t hear of it.
“Sofia,” he said through gritted teeth, “I will post guards to keep watch over you if I have to. You are not to go anywhere near Ashley. Not now. I should never have allowed you to see her turn. I…” He licked his lips and shook his head as if to wade off whatever demons were plaguing his conflicted mind.
My heart softened at how torn he was by the whole matter and I nodded. “You don’t have to do that, Derek. I won’t go if you really don’t want me to.”
He looked at me with blue eyes glazed, expression tender. I had to catch my breath at the way his eyes were set on me. I knew he loved me. I had no doubt about that, but I wasn’t sure he understood enough just how much I loved him. That bothered me, because as far as I knew, I’d already given him everything. It felt like I had nothing else left to give in order to prove my love.
The tender look in his eyes was quickly replaced with a heated, smoldering one and I knew without a doubt that he wanted me. I wanted him back, so I found myself frustrated when he stepped back, bit his lip and said, “I have to go.”
My shoulders sagged as I watched him leave. He’d been true to his word. Since he told me that he would pursue me, he never once made a move to touch me beyond the kind of affection a brother would give a sister. He wasn’t as he was before—always hanging a possessive arm around my waist, freely touching me wherever and whenever he pleased. His caresses were soft and tentative, his kisses chaste and gentle. Whenever he was around me, it was almost as if I was a fragile, porcelain doll he was afraid to break.
For the first time since I met him, I hadn’t the slightest clue how to deal with him. What came to me instinctively before in matters that concerned Derek Novak eluded me the moment he got this idea that he needed to romance and pursue me. I wanted to reassure him, longed to let him know that I was his and would always be his, but I didn’t know how to do that without losing my own self-respect.
Whether he knew it or not, as far as our relationship went, he was calling all the shots, and all I could do
Until the Battle of First Blood, the battle that secured us control over The Shade, I prided myself on never killing a human being—something Vivienne was also able to accomplish. As for my father and brother, I never dared ask. One thing was for certain though: after the Battle of First Blood, many humans had since died in our hands.
Mine was a fate I was determined not to let Ashley repeat, but it was going to be an uphill battle and I knew it.
I gripped Sofia’s hand tightly until she gasped in pain. I wanted her to know that I wasn’t about to be questioned or defied. “We’re leaving. You’ve seen enough.”
Tears moistened her eyes. “Is there no way we can help her, Derek?”
I shook my head. “She’s made her choice. Now, she has to live—or die—with the consequences.”
Chapter 18: Sofia
I sat on the red velvet couch in the living room area of my quarters in The Catacombs. It’d been three days since Ashley’s turning and I hadn’t been able to visit her. Derek simply wouldn’t hear of it.
“Sofia,” he said through gritted teeth, “I will post guards to keep watch over you if I have to. You are not to go anywhere near Ashley. Not now. I should never have allowed you to see her turn. I…” He licked his lips and shook his head as if to wade off whatever demons were plaguing his conflicted mind.
My heart softened at how torn he was by the whole matter and I nodded. “You don’t have to do that, Derek. I won’t go if you really don’t want me to.”
He looked at me with blue eyes glazed, expression tender. I had to catch my breath at the way his eyes were set on me. I knew he loved me. I had no doubt about that, but I wasn’t sure he understood enough just how much I loved him. That bothered me, because as far as I knew, I’d already given him everything. It felt like I had nothing else left to give in order to prove my love.
The tender look in his eyes was quickly replaced with a heated, smoldering one and I knew without a doubt that he wanted me. I wanted him back, so I found myself frustrated when he stepped back, bit his lip and said, “I have to go.”
My shoulders sagged as I watched him leave. He’d been true to his word. Since he told me that he would pursue me, he never once made a move to touch me beyond the kind of affection a brother would give a sister. He wasn’t as he was before—always hanging a possessive arm around my waist, freely touching me wherever and whenever he pleased. His caresses were soft and tentative, his kisses chaste and gentle. Whenever he was around me, it was almost as if I was a fragile, porcelain doll he was afraid to break.
For the first time since I met him, I hadn’t the slightest clue how to deal with him. What came to me instinctively before in matters that concerned Derek Novak eluded me the moment he got this idea that he needed to romance and pursue me. I wanted to reassure him, longed to let him know that I was his and would always be his, but I didn’t know how to do that without losing my own self-respect.
Whether he knew it or not, as far as our relationship went, he was calling all the shots, and all I could do
Similar Books
