CHAPTER 41: SOFIA.

I woke up to find him staring at me. Waking up next to him felt right in a way it never did waking up next to Ben. I eased myself into his arms. I'd found his chest comfortable enough to be my pillow during the night. I smiled. It was the first time I could remember that a nightmare didn't wake me up in the middle of the night.

"I'm sorry you had to see me that way..." I never thought I'd see him look so embarra.s.sed.

It took a moment for it to register what he was apologizing for. I shook my head and snuggled closer to him. "Don't be, Derek. You never have to pretend around me."

I could swear I felt his heart quicken a beat. His arms around me tightened. We lay there comfortably for a few more minutes before we fell into routine. I noted the ease we had about us as we both got dressed. I'd forgotten how natural it came to us being around each other. We just knew how to move, how to act, when to stay out of each other's private s.p.a.ces and when to move in.

Something, however, changed in our routine. After we got dressed, I often went to the kitchen to prepare my breakfast. Often, a gla.s.s of blood would already be waiting for him on the dining table. That much didn't change. What changed, however, was the fact that he actually started talking to me and not just about mundane things that didn't really matter, but about how he was going to spend the day, what his plans were for The Shade... things that I never was privy to when I was still his "personal slave".

"I'll be at the training grounds today," he informed me. "The training must go on for the vampires of The Shade."

"Corrine told me about the draft..." The topic left a bitter taste in my mouth. "She said you wanted all vampires to be battle-ready. Why?"

"We've grown weak. Should the hunters attack us, we won't stand a chance. I can only imagine the technological advancements they've developed over the years. They're leaps and bounds ahead of the way they were four hundred years ago."

"Maybe so, but how on earth will the hunters even find the island, Derek?"

"It's just a matter of time, Sofia. Our defenses grow weaker by the minute... I'm surprised we were able to keep the secret this long."

I quietly stared at the piece of toast I just dabbed with jam and b.u.t.ter before finally admitting something that'd been bugging me. "Ben joined the hunters, Derek. He wanted me to go with him, but I didn't."

Derek stiffened at the mention of Ben. He took a drink from his gla.s.s of blood before slowly raising his eyes to meet mine. "Why didn't you?"

Because of you. I shrugged. "It didn't feel right."

It seemed he wanted to ask another question, but thought better of it. Instead, he nodded. "I have to go soon... What will you be doing?"

"I want to visit Ashley at the Cells. I'm thinking of visiting the Catacombs too."

Blue eyes widened in surprise. "The Catacombs?"

"Is that going to be a problem?"

He paused and gave it some thought. "No. I'll find you there later. I'll make sure a guard accompanies you."

"When is this trial with Ashley going to happen, Derek? You can't keep putting this off..."

His face grew grim. "She's a hunter, Sofia."

"What?" I frowned. "How would you..."

"The tattoo on her back. The hawk. It's the mark of a hunter."

"But..."

"Look. I'll strike you a deal. If you can get her to cooperate and give us all the information she knows about the hunters, then I'll release her."

"That's not fair, Derek. She was defending me after you..."

"Don't go there, Sofia." His tone was stern, making it clear to me that I was about to cross a line I had no business crossing. "I know what I did, and I regret it deeply, but I am prince of The Shade. She was going to kill me. She almost killed you. My offer to release her is more generous than you give me credit for."

I was taken aback. It was the first time I could remember him pulling rank on me. My familiarity with him often made me forget who he was. Whenever anyone at The Shade treated him with deference, I found it downright weird. The idea of calling him 'your highness' or even 'prince' seemed ridiculous to me, but sitting there, it hit me full force: the vampires recognized Derek as their prince and he was no pushover.

Words Ben spoke to me while we were still here at The Shade haunted me. Don't be a fool, Sofia. We need to get out of here before he decides that he's tired of you and kills us both.

My insecurities began to resurface. Who do I think I am?

The thought of Derek one day realizing that he didn't need me gnawed at me even as I made my way to the Cells. The deal I struck with Derek weighed heavily on me.

I stepped into Ashley's cell to find her sitting over the edge of her cot, looking absolutely distraught. She raised her eyes to me, probably expecting Paige, Rosa or one of the guards. Her face fell when she saw me.

"Oh. It's you."

My stomach turned. Since my arrival, the girls had been giving me a cold shoulder. Even Sam and Kyle were, at best, being polite to me. I couldn't blame them really. We were friends and I left them at The Shade without even saying goodbye to them. To top that, I didn't do a thing to help them out while I was outside The Shade. We'd planned an escape together so many times, with promises that once one of us actually got out, we would expose The Shade to the world in order to rescue the others. I didn't do that. Even above all of that, upon my return, I walked in on Derek with a barely conscious Ashley on his bed and still, I managed to forgive him. That last part, I believe, was what they saw as the ultimate betrayal.

They definitely had good reason to hate me. That explained the heavy feeling I had upon approaching Ashley. The last time I visited her, she wasn't very accommodating of me especially when she found out that I was once again staying with Derek.

"How can you stand being around him?" she asked me.

I didn't know how to answer. I couldn't fully understand the hold Derek had on me myself, but it felt like a pathetic thing to say when I replied, "I see him differently, Ashley. There's hope for him yet. I don't want to give up on him."

After that, Ashley asked me to leave.

Truth be told, I wasn't happy about the setup of me still being seen around The Shade as Derek's slave. I didn't return to The Shade to become a slave, but Derek made it clear to me that it was the only way. After Derek went through painstaking lengths to keep my escape a secret from everyone other than a few select people, most of the vampires didn't even know that I had been gone from The Shade.

"The only way I can protect you, Sofia, is to keep you under my wing. They won't touch you if they know you're mine. On your own, all you are is fresh bait," he told me, and as much as I was protesting against it, I knew that in the culture of The Shade, the only way I could be safe was under his care.

I tried to explain that to Paige and Rosa. I tried to explain to them why I couldn't give away information about The Shade after our escape, but my words were empty in light of the trauma Derek put them through while I was gone. In their eyes, I was siding with the enemy. From my perspective, I couldn't help but wish they'd remember everything Derek did to protect us before everything went south.

Entering Ashley's cell a second time, I realized that I didn't have many girl friends growing up. Everything had always revolved around Ben and the Hudsons. Even as a child, I preferred to be alone and go on my crazy adventures rather than stay with girls my age. They bored me to death. That's why I valued the girls so much, and now that they had this big grudge on me, I realized how much I missed them.

"Hi, Ashley..." I tentatively approached her. I crossed my fingers, hoping that she would cooperate.

"What are you doing here, Sofia?"

I sat beside her on the cot. She inched away from me. "How've you been?" I started. Suddenly, my throat felt dry and I had no idea what to tell her. "Have they been treating you well?"

She scoffed. "As well as they could a prisoner I guess. How long am I going to stay here?" Her lips quivered, her form trembling. "When is this trial even going to be? The antic.i.p.ation is killing me..."

"I don't think there's going to be a trial..."

"What? Why?"

"Derek's offered a deal. He's willing to release you."

"Oh yeah? In exchange for what?"

"Information."

Ashley's eyes widened. "I can't believe you, Sofia. You come here as his lackey, trying to pry information from me? After what he did? Sofia, what ever happened to us looking after each other, huh?"

"That's why I came here, Ashley. To look out for you. Would you prefer that he come instead? Knowing how much he craves you?"

The idea of being in his presence obviously scared her. She shook her head. "What do you want to know?"

"The tattoo on your back... it means you're a hunter?"

Her jaw clenched. "Yeah. So what?" She began to twirl the ends of her blonde hair, something I knew she did when she was anxious about something.

"Vivienne was captured by the hunters..."

"Derek's sister?"

I nodded. "She went out of The Shade to get me to come back..."

"Why? Why would she risk that? They're safe in this island bubble of theirs. Why would she go through all that to get you back? Why are you so important to these people, Sofia?"

Vivienne's words flashed through my mind. You're not a p.a.w.n. You're the queen. "Ash, I understand your hatred of the vampires. I saw it in Ben's eyes. In a way, I shared that hatred too. They took away so much from us. Derek tried to kill you and whatever excuse he has isn't reason enough for what he did, but we're here and there's no changing that..."

"You're not answering my question, Sofia. Why are you here? Why would their princess risk being captured by the hunters to get you back?"

I told her what Vivienne told me back at the coffee shop. The part of the prophecy and the role she felt I played in it. This was the part of my conversation with Vivienne that I kept from Derek. Just saying it out loud to Ashley made me feel conceited. Do I really believe that I was that important? That I could make a difference here?

By the time I finished, Ashley's face softened. "And you actually believe her?"

"At first, I didn't, then she gave me some of her memories... random ones that told me of her story and the things she went through to protect this island. Then when I got here, Derek showed me the history of The Shade... the price they paid to have what they have... And I know for sure that Vivienne was sincere." I inhaled and exhaled, hoping that I was somehow getting through to Ashley. "I'm not asking you to forgive him, Ashley. He put you through too much for me to ask something like that. I'm asking you to trust me, because we were friends. We are friends, and things weren't so bad when we were here, and..."

To my surprise, Ashley cut my rambling off and pulled me in for an embrace. She then whispered into my ear. "I knew you'd come back, Sofia. I wished you'd come back to get us out of here, so it was disappointing to find out that you came back mostly for him. That still doesn't mean that we didn't miss you. And if I have to stay in this black hole of an island, I'd rather that you're here than not." She chuckled. "After all, I was a lot safer from him when you were here."

I smiled at her, hoping that what was going on between Ashley and I was a road to reconciliation. When she stopped hugging me, I was relieved to find a smile on her face too.

"What do you want to know, Sofia? If it gets me out of here, then I'll tell you..."

"We want to know any information you have about the hunters, Ashley... You were one of them."

"There's not much I can tell you, Sofia, but what I do know for sure is that if the hunters have had her for more than twenty-four hours, she's done for. They never keep vampires alive for too long."

"What reason would they have for keeping one alive?"

Ashley shrugged. "To get information out of her. I'd imagine that Vivienne would be a pretty huge catch, considering that she's princess of this island... They'd probably be torturing her by now."

"How can we find her?"

A sad smile formed on her face. "You're asking about the location of the hunters' headquarters..."

"Yes."

"I'd tell you, Sofia, but I don't know. Look... I belong to a family who's had generation upon generation of hunters. I couldn't even track down how far back our family had belonged to the order. Our parents tried to raise us to hate vampires, and it worked with my brother, but it never worked with me. I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of hating creatures who harmed some great ancestor of mine and now several generations after, I'm still supposed to harbor hatred against them?" Ashley heaved a deep sigh before proceeding, memories of the past haunting her eyes. "I didn't want to live the life they were living, so when they sent my brother and I to the hunters for training, I begged him to not tell mom and dad that I didn't go. I got a tattoo of the hawk just so I could show it to them when they asked about the training, but I never once set foot at the hunters' headquarters, so I don't know where it is or how things are run there."

"How then were you going to get there in the first place?"

"We were sent to a runway where we were to be picked up by a hunter via a private plane. That's all the information we were given."

I nodded. "Okay. That's all I have to ask now, Ash. I believe Derek will have one of the other vampires ask you further questions. I'm hoping he'll release you soon." I grabbed her hand and squeezed, relieved that she didn't pull away.

"Thanks, Sofia."

I shook my head. "I'm just glad to have you back."

When I left her cell, I felt pretty good about myself and what was accomplished. Even though Ashley didn't have any helpful information, she had been willing to tell me what she knew that had to be enough for Derek.

But something else was grating at me. I found myself looking back to the conversation I had with Derek earlier. He pulled rank on me. He was prince of The Shade and he had every right to do what he wished to do. Still, just because he had the right to do it, it didn't mean he was right. Ashley was only one human being who suffered abuse under Derek's hands. As my feet led me to the Catacombs, I shuddered at the kind of atrocities I was about to find.

Derek revealed to me back at the lighthouse what The Shade was and how it came to be. I'm about to find out what The Shade is and what it could become.

CHAPTER 42: BEN.

Reuben's office had a distinct masculine feel to it, the air smelled of mint with hints of rum and tobacco. The carpeted floor and the white-washed walls, with a few select paintings adorning them, provided for a minimalistic feel to the large office interior. At the center of it was a large gla.s.s desk one Reuben, Zinnia and I surrounded as they once again pushed me for any information I could provide them regarding The Shade.

"That's it? That's all you know?" To say that Reuben looked displeased was a huge understatement. "There's got to be more you can tell us."

"I told you everything I know." I shrugged. Apparently, I don't know all that much. Most of my time spent at The Shade was inside Claudia's home in her bedroom or in one of her dungeons. The only time I went out was to be brought to Derek's house. I knew the way to the port but how to get out of the island and how to go back there was beyond me. Reuben was livid.

"Basically, you don't know anything of use to me. I don't really care what's in the island or how it remains invisible and protected. What I care about is how to get there..."

During the few days that I'd known him, it was easy to gather that Reuben Lincoln was not a patient man especially regarding matters concerning his daughter.

"Well, what about Vivienne? Didn't you get any information from her?" I gave Zinnia a pointed look as if to ask her for help.

Since I arrived, she'd been with me every day, making sure that I was properly briefed and subjected to the right levels of training. Given my background in martial arts and my time spent at The Shade, I was already several levels ahead of recruits who came before me.

Zinnia shook her head. "She won't talk."

"She's a Novak. She won't break easily. Her twin brother is the stuff of legends," Reuben spoke as if he were thinking out loud. "Derek Novak was a force to be reckoned with while he was one of us. He is even more of a threat now that he's a vampire a five-hundred-year-old vampire. If we think the Maslens are a threat, he is even more so now."