A Blaze of Sun (A Shade of Vampire #5)(54)
Author: Bella Forrest

He was completely out-of-control and out of reach. The other vampires tried to stop him from totally devouring me, but none of them could pry him off of me. I knew the kind of effect my blood had on him. It made him powerful.

I didn’t know what to do, so I began to welcome death until I recalled the same thing I told him the first time I met him, when he had me in that same position, about to devour me: “You can control yourself. Don’t do this to me.” It was a bare whisper, but the moment the words came out of my lips, he stopped drinking and his claws withdrew.

Relief washed over me when he responded with the exact same words he told me that first night. His eyes – black as the darkest night – met mine, my blood dripping from the corners of his lips, his fangs bared right before me. “I can’t,” he responded. “You’re too beautiful, your blood too enticing, too sweet…”

Tears began to stream down my face – partly because everything that’d been happening came crashing down on me, overwhelming me, and partly because of how much I ached for my Derek to return to me.

“I know an excuse when I hear one. Don’t you dare deceive yourself into believing that you’re the victim, Derek Novak.”

I could hear a soft gasp escape his lips the moment I said the words. I couldn’t help but sigh with relief when his grip around my waist loosened. His lips remained pressed on my skin. He eased me down so I could stand on my feet again. I felt so small and fragile standing so close to him. The moment my feet hit the ground, my knees buckled and I found myself leaning on him for support.

His eyes were still on me as he spoke. “Tell me your name.”

I found it strange how everything replayed exactly as it did the night he woke up from his four-hundred-year slumber and I was offered up to him as a slave. It was almost as if we were both jolted back to a memory, one that wasn’t pleasant to either one of us, but one that paved the way for us to become the intimate lovers that we eventually became.

Just like it did that night, his admonition sounded more like a command than a request, but I found myself responding anyway. “Sofia… Sofia Claremont.”

Just like that, his eyes began to clear – a haze giving way to those clear blue eyes, light twinkling in the darkness’ place.

“Sofia…” Derek gasped and I knew then that he recognized me.

I managed to smile at him, but the blood loss had finally taken its toll on me. It felt as if my heart suddenly stopped beating and everything surrounding me dimmed into black.

Chapter 40: Derek

The memories came like a flood right after she had spoken her full name. Starting from that memory of our first encounter, every single moment I spent with Sofia Claremont returned to me and haunted me into realizing what I was doing, what I was about to do.

The moment Sofia collapsed in my arms, panic rushed through me as I cradled her close to my chest, kneeling on the ground as she fell.

“No…” I gasped, as I held her against me, her slender form resting limply on my lap.

Vivienne rushed beside me to check Sofia’s pulse. “She’s alive,” she assured me.

I was about to cut my wrist in order to feed Sofia my blood, but Vivienne shook her head.

“I don’t think your blood is going to cure her. That much blood loss is a completely different injury. It can heal the bite marks and the claw marks over her heart, but you can’t replenish her blood with yours.”

“Then let’s close those wounds first,” I responded with resolve before swallowing hard. I force-fed Sofia my blood, hoping that it would do something to somehow revive her, but Vivienne was right. All it did was close her wounds. I stared at my twin desperately. “What are we going to do now?”

Vivienne breathed out a sigh. “We’ll need to get her immediate medical care if she’s to survive. I’m sure Eli will know what to do.” Vivienne looked at me with what looked like confusion and contempt. “What were you doing, Derek?”

“There’s no time for explanations. Get her help. Now!” I had half the mind to stay by Sofia’s side, but I knew that I had a score to settle. I rose to my feet and turned to face Emilia, who was being restrained by Xavier and Yuri. I wondered why she wasn’t fighting back. I knew she had the power to do it.

She stared at me with both defiance and defeat. “You said you would kill her. You promised.”

Everything that I went through in her hands came flooding back to me. The thought that I’d actually lived believing that I was in love with her, the idea that I had actually shared a bed with her, was absolutely revolting. I wanted nothing more than to end Emilia’s life.

“You’re supposed to be in love with me!” she screamed, tears streaming down her eyes. “Why didn’t you do what you promised?”

“It’s over, Emilia. Whatever spell you had on me has been broken. Enough of your delusions.”

“You belong with me, Derek…” she whimpered. She finally managed to get away from the vampires holding her back. She threw herself into my arms.

I shook my head. “No. I belong with Sofia, and if I lose her… If she dies…” I wanted to threaten revenge. I wanted to tell Emilia that I was going to hunt her down and make her life miserable, but instead… my shoulders just sagged. I knew that Sofia would never take the path of vengeance, and neither would I. “If I lose her, Emilia, you might as well kill me. I would rather die than live the rest of my immortality without her.”

Emilia stared up at me as if it dawned on her for the first time that I was truly in love with Sofia. “I can’t believe you conquered the lure of the darkness, Derek. For her.”

Emilia placed a soft kiss on my jaw. I flinched at the very feel of her lips, my fists clenching as I fought hard not to respond with violence.

“I should kill you,” I whispered.

“Please do… If I return to the Blood Keep without having accomplished my mission, I might as well be dead. My master will be far less merciful than you.”

I couldn’t keep myself from asking the question. “Why aren’t you fighting back?”

“I lost control of you the moment you remembered. And the spell of night is now back upon The Shade. I can’t harm The Shade or Sofia. I’m powerless here where, despite there being an endless night, there is barely any darkness… Darkness is powerless against light.”

I found the statement ironic. Sofia was light and she was absolutely powerless against me in my moment of darkness. The thought that her life was hanging by a thread at my own doing was horrifying.