A Shadow of Light (A Shade of Vampire #4)(62)
Author: Bella Forrest

Unlike Aiden, they knew me well enough not to protest, so they just nodded and we began to walk toward the corridor that led to the room. The corridor was guarded by Borys’ minions.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Ingrid got in my way.

“You know for a fact that I can easily destroy you, Ingrid,” I snarled. “Since you’ve made it quite clear how indifferent you are to the plight of Sofia, I don’t think she’ll mind my killing you either, so get out of my way.”

“Borys will kill my daughter the moment he sees you walk through that door.”

“Your daughter?” I hissed. “You talk as if you care about what happens to her.”

“Don’t do anything rash,” she warned.

“Let me talk to him…”

She gave it a moment’s thought and looked at the vampires standing behind me. She nodded and motioned for me to follow her.

As we walked past the other vampires, I couldn’t help but feel something was amiss. There was something different about them. I had no idea if I was just imagining things, but it almost felt as if they were looking at me with admiration. One of them particularly caught my eye. A man would have to be blind to not notice how gorgeous she looked. Our eyes locked and I knew without a doubt that she too was attracted to me.

I swallowed hard, guilty that I was checking out another woman—an enemy at that—while Sofia was most likely going through hell. What’s wrong with you, Novak?

I followed Ingrid into the room and practically bumped into her frozen form when she suddenly stopped in her tracks and stared at something on the ground. I side-stepped her and my jaw dropped wide open when I saw Borys’ dead body on the ground and a broken and bruised Sofia sobbing next to him. Vivienne was sitting a couple of feet away from Sofia, looking absolutely distraught.

I couldn’t understand what was going on. I was wrought with a mixture of shock, absolute joy and confusion over the reaction the women had to Borys’ dead body.

Before Ingrid, frozen with shock, could gather her wits about her, I rushed toward Sofia, making sure that she was safe. I grinned triumphantly at Ingrid as I bellowed a command, “Take them all captive! Now! Kill them if you have to!”

Chaos erupted outside the room. Ingrid seemed to have all the energy drained from her as she threw herself at Borys’ body, her entire form racked with deep, broken sobs. I embraced Sofia, unable to bear looking at the bruises—though slowly healing—all over her body.

“Are you alright?” I whispered into her ear, tightening my embrace around her, feeling her tremble against my body.

She nodded into my shoulder.

“You did it, Sofia. I don’t know how, but you ended Borys Maslen!”

“They might need you out there…” she whispered hoarsely.

I knew she was right, so I pulled away from her. I directed my attention toward Vivienne. “Keep an eye on Ingrid. Keep her away from Sofia.” Satisfied that my sister was capable of getting a handle on things, I stepped out of the room to find all of the other vampires dead. All but one—the beautiful brunette who had caught my eye earlier as I passed her by…

She glared at me, eyes blazing—this time, with anger instead of attraction…

“You’ve no idea what you’ve done and what you’re up against.” She shook her head defiantly at me even as she motioned to attack me. She, however, was being held back by Xavier and Sam.

I narrowed my eyes in scrutiny of her. I could tell that she was more powerful than she was letting on. I knew by instinct that she could’ve easily gotten out of their grips if she wanted to. “Who are you?” I asked.

“You don’t remember, do you?”

I frowned in confusion. “Remember what?”

“Emilia. I’m Emilia. You made a huge mistake today, Derek, but don’t worry…you’ll get back on track soon enough. For now, I’m warning you. He won’t stop until he gets a hold of her.”

“He? Who’s he?” I tightened my jaw. “I don’t even care. Let him know that ‘he’ will never get a hold of Sofia. I would sooner wage war on anybody who threatens her than let her go.”

“I’m going to forgive this momentary lapse of your sanity, Derek. I don’t understand how you of all people have come under her spell, but you’ll snap out of it eventually.” She smiled at me and looked at me with a lingering sultry gaze. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. I know you felt it the moment you looked at me. You felt the attraction immediately, didn’t you? You felt what I felt.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I lied, swallowing back my guilt. “You’re delusional.”

She chuckled in response. “You don’t belong with her, Derek Novak. You belong with me.”

I straightened to my full height, not knowing how to react properly to the words she was spouting out. “I don’t even know who you are.”

“Of course you do.” She smiled. “I’m a daughter of the darkness just as surely as you are his son.”

“His?”

“The original. He meant you for me.”

Before the words could even sink into my mind, she vanished before my very eyes. My knees buckled beneath me. No matter how much I tried to fight it or even deny it, Emilia had something about her that just drew me to her. Like we were somehow connected…

“Derek?”

I turned to my side and found Sofia standing by the door. I wondered if she had heard what Emilia had just said. “Sofia…” I began to speak, but the words came out in a bare whisper.

“Who was that?” she asked. “How was that possible? She just…disappeared.”

I didn’t know how to respond. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen her before.” Sofia approached me and I pulled her against me, assured by her presence that I loved her deeply and that even my attraction for another woman could never shake that love. Still, my attraction to Emilia was killing me, and I couldn’t understand why.

“What just happened? No one just disappears like that…” Xavier spoke up.

“If she is who she says she is, then we’re at war with a force far greater than just the other vampire covens or the hunters,” Vivienne said, emerging from the room.

I knew without a doubt that she had heard every word from the other side of the wall.

I nodded. “We need to prepare for war.”