A Castle of Sand
PROLOGUE: SOFIA
My blood was pounding within me. A surge of horror rushed through my body as I scoped my surroundings. Gunshots were being fired all over the place. A fiery bullet hit a vampire about seven feet away from me, who screamed in agony as he burst into flames. He was only one among the many vampires present in those tombs—one among many dying excruciating deaths by those fatal gunshots. A few lucky ones were killed with stakes driven through their hearts, but most were shot with the hunters’ bullets, uniquely engineered to mete out death on the vampires.
The sight was sickening, but despite my mortification over the sheer magnitude of death surrounding me, my prime concern was Derek Novak.
I can’t lose you.
He was a vampire. He was a prince. He was the man that I loved. The mere thought of losing him made breathing a struggle.
I looked around and gasped at the sight of him ripping the heart out of a vampire from the Maslen clan before moving on to breaking the neck of a hunter poised to attack him with a stake. He was headed straight for Borys Maslen. Fearing for his life, I stumbled forward. As I weaved through the chaos surrounding me toward my beloved, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
“Get her out of here!” My father, Aiden Claremont, was pointing toward the exit. He was speaking to the stranger gripping my arm. The sight of my father still confused me. What was he doing here? After all the years he had abandoned me and left me under the care of his best friend, Lyle Hudson, he seemed out of place in this world—my world. His attempts to protect me were irritating. He had no business interfering with my life, not after all those years of ignoring me. Still, his presence moved me beyond words. He was still my father and I wanted to run to him and embrace him, feel his strength surround me, hear whispers of assurances in my ear—assurances that would answer my questions about why he had abandoned me. I wanted to know if he loved me, but there was no time for teary-eyed reunions.
War was being waged all around us and the only thing that mattered at that moment—reaching Derek—was being kept from me. I struggled against the hunter’s grasp as he dragged me in the opposite direction. He was far stronger than me and I couldn’t break away from his grasp until he was tackled to the ground by a familiar vampire. Claudia.
Her mass of blonde curls covered her face as she let out a scream before ripping the man’s heart out. Her big brown eyes then turned toward me, a manic smile forming on her face.
“Hello, Sofia.”
I shivered as I looked into her eyes. A broken creature, she embraced darkness like no other and had become one of the most wicked beings I’d ever come across. She surged forward and pinned me against a wall with her bloody hands.
“This is my gift to you,” she hissed before sinking her teeth into my neck. I’d been bitten by vampires before, but I felt right away that what she was doing was different. She wasn’t simply feeding on me. She was trying to turn me.
“No!” I gasped, trying to push her away. “Claudia, don’t… please…”
“Did you really think I wouldn’t sense you coming to her rescue? Your blood still pumps through my veins, Ben…”
Claudia’s hands rose in the air and claws came out of her fingers, poised to wound Ben. I threw my entire weight against her, hoping to push her away from my best friend, but she easily threw me back, and I crashed to the ground. I cast my eyes away in desperation and scanned the hall, only to be met with another bone-chilling sight.
Across the vast hall, Derek stood bleeding and weakened as he faced off with Borys Maslen and three other vampires. And, in another corner of the room, a vampire rushed toward my father, who was fumbling to reload his gun.
Watching with horror as the lives of three of the most important men in my life hung in the balance, I felt an overwhelming sense of loss. Somehow, I already knew that this was going to happen, that the loss of life was inevitable, but finding myself right in the middle of it was something I wasn’t prepared for.
A voice echoed in my mind—the voice of a friend who sacrificed her own life to bring me back into Derek’s arms. I could almost hear her—Vivienne Novak, Seer of The Shade—speaking to me. Her words not only confirmed my worst fears but painted a future I wasn’t sure I wanted to be part of.
The memory of her spoke to me and said, “Blood will be shed.”
CHAPTER 1: SOFIA
Vivienne held the blood-red rose in her hand and caressed it fondly. Sadness traced her blue-violet eyes as she stood alone in her greenhouse.
Liana Hendry stepped into the princess’ sanctuary. Worry marred the features of the lovely vampire with amber gold eyes. “Vivienne? Xavier and I have been worried about you lately. Are you alright?”
“I didn’t think it would be her. I honestly thought Derek would end up killing her.”
“But she is lovely, isn’t she?” Vivienne appeared serene, though strangely bothered, as she took a whiff of the rose she was holding.
“Who?” Liana took a step forward. The gaze she was giving the young Seer was pensive and kind, almost motherly.
“Sofia Claremont.”
Liana wrinkled her nose, perplexed. “Your brother’s slave?”
Vivienne shook her head as she placed the rose into a crystal vase. “She’s far more than his slave. I could sense it the moment they first kissed. The premonitions that followed… I can’t even speak of them…” Vivienne jolted to a start, as if seeing a vision, before she grabbed Liana’s hand. “Promise me you’ll be loyal to us, no matter what.”
“Of course. Vivienne, we owe Derek our lives… He will bring us true sanctuary just as you prophesied.”
“Then support him even if you don’t understand what he’s doing. It’s a rough road ahead and he will need the girl. She’s the one the witch spoke of all those years ago. The girl who will help him find true sanctuary.”
“Vivienne, why are you speaking as if you won’t be around for what you say is to come?”
“Because I might not be. Our island will suffer severe loss before all this is over, Liana. None of us are safe.”
The deep frown on her face easily revealed how bothered Liana was over these revelations. Vivienne offered no consolation. Her mind was elsewhere—off to the future where she was seeing her beloved twin’s fate. “They are strongest together. They are weakest apart.”
I couldn’t help but wonder why I woke up to the memory—one that was given to me by Vivienne before the hunters took her. Her memories always seemed to come randomly, triggered by situations I had no control over.
“Why the frown, beautiful?”
Before I could follow the sound of his voice, Derek jumped on the bed, his knees straddling my hips as the cushions bounced beneath us. Kneeling over me, he held my waist with one hand and ran his palm from my forehead down to my mouth.
“I’m trying to erase that scowl on your face.” He chuckled as he removed his hand from my lips and made a face at me. His dark hair was still a wet, tousled mess, his pale white skin a breathtaking contrast to his raven locks. His firm lips were curved up in a mischievous smile.
I loved this side of him. Fun, carefree, boyish. He was only this way when he was around me—especially after his father, Gregor, returned to rule as king of The Shade. To the eyes of most of the citizens of The Shade, Derek was prince of the kingdom and I was his favorite slave, his pet. Those who knew us well, however, were aware that we were more to each other than just master and slave. We were in love, but I’d grown to accept that what I had with him was temporary. Losing him felt inevitable. After all, how long could a relationship between a vampire and a human last?
Ben once told me—after ruining a sandcastle I’d built—that sandcastles were temporary. It was better to part with them sooner rather than later. What I had with Derek felt like a sandcastle. I was aware that it was temporary, that the waves of life and time would soon ruin it, but it was too beautiful, too precious to me to just let go of. No. This sandcastle was something I planned to protect and be fascinated over for as long as I could.
I didn’t realize that I was looking at him pensively until he took a deep breath and feigned exasperation by rolling his eyes. “What must I do to make you smile?” His legs stretched out on the bed, his elbows holding him up so that his weight—at least twice as great as mine—wouldn’t fall on me.
I still felt small and fragile compared to him, but I knew he would never intentionally do anything to hurt me. Staring up at him, butterflies fluttered inside my stomach, even more so when his lips caressed my cheekbone and his voice found my ear.
“I know how to make you smile.” He raised his head so he could look at the expression on my face.
I played along. “Oh, really now?”
“It’s easy.” He traced a thumb over my lips and grinned when he felt me shudder beneath his touch. He knew exactly the kind of effect he had on me.
He kissed me full on the mouth, his tongue thrusting in—exploring and tasting. His hands wrapped around my waist as he began to shift us both to an upright position, so that he was kneeling on the bed and I was planted firmly on his lap.
I felt his hands creep beneath the silk night gown I was wearing and I had to break off the kiss before things got a lot more heated. I had plans for that day and he wasn’t about to distract me from them by seducing me back into his bed.
“That’s what you thought would make me smile?” I managed to ask as I tried to catch my breath.