A Castle of Sand (A Shade of Vampire #3)(5)
Author: Bella Forrest

Cameron and Liana rose from their seats upon seeing us. Both their eyes settled on Sofia in a sad gaze.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, not quite sure if I was ready to hear the answer to my question.

“We have to talk,” Liana responded solemnly. “About Sofia and the girls.”

Had it only been Cameron paying me a visit, I wouldn’t have been as anxious, but Liana was there, and her presence rarely ever brought good news. I nodded at Liana to talk as we all took a seat. She took a deep breath before obliging.

“A week from now, Sofia and the girls will have been here at The Shade for a year.”

My hand quickly found Sofia’s knee and I squeezed tight. I remembered what Vivienne told me the night the girls were brought to me. “The humans who form the harems are kept alive for a year and whomever owns them gets to decide their ultimate fate after that.”

I swallowed hard. “So?” I asked Liana.

“Your father sent me to tell you that he wants to know your decision regarding the girls so that it can be executed at the appointed time.”

I grimaced. “He couldn’t have just come here to tell me that himself?”

“He told me that he wanted to, but that he would prefer not to see Sofia.”

My father’s disdain toward her was no secret. Gregor Novak blamed her for Lucas turning against us and for Vivienne getting caught by the hunters. In my father’s eyes, Sofia was turning me against him.

“It’s for the best. The farther away my father is from Sofia, the better off we all are.” I straightened up in my seat and nodded. “Fine. My decision is easy. The girls stay with me.”

Cameron and Lucas exchanged worried glances.

“That would mean you’d have to turn them all into vampires and make them a part of your clan, Derek,” Cameron explained.

“What?!” I spat out. “Who came up with these rules?”

Everyone knew that I thought the concept of a harem was ridiculous. That was one reason I put a stop to human abductions while my father was away.

“Your father,” Liana patiently responded.

With Lucas’ influence no doubt. I scowled. “What are my other choices?”

“Most harems don’t really last a year and when they do, the owners usually just turn their slaves into vampires. A year means that they’d grown quite fond of their slaves and…”

I licked my lips impatiently and turned my head toward Sofia. “Do you want to become a vampire, Sofia?”

Her emerald gaze was moist with tears as she shook her head. She was clearly terrified by the idea. The truth was that though I couldn’t blame her for not wanting to turn into my kind, the thought that she didn’t want to be what I was hurt.

“If the other three girls want to become vampires, then so be it,” I announced. “However, Sofia has indicated that she isn’t willing to become one, so what are the alternatives?”

Liana’s response was blunt and straightforward. “She is either drained of all blood or sent to live at The Catacombs, where she will be assigned work she’s skilled at; therefore, making her useful to the island.”

The Catacombs were located at the Black Heights, a vast mountain range north of the island. It contained a complex network of interconnected caves. These caves were divided into two areas—The Cells and The Catacombs. The Cells were our prison system. The Catacombs, on the other hand, were home to The Shade’s growing human population—the Naturals. The Naturals were humans born and raised at The Shade—they did the bulk of the labor required to keep The Shade in its self-sustaining state. On the other hand, Sofia and the rest of the humans belonging to the harems were known as Migrates. They were taken from outside the island. Just as Liana implied, most Migrates—if not all—died in the island. Only few were turned into vampires or sent to The Catacombs to become Naturals.

I’d only been to The Catacombs once when Sofia asked to visit. The thought of her living there made me sick to my stomach. She belongs by my side.

“I guess that really gives you only one option…” Liana broke the tense silence.

“No. It doesn’t. I’m going to talk to my father about this. I’m not having it.” I growled and shot a glare at two of my dearest friends. “Where is he?”

“He’s at his penthouse, but is it really wise to…”

I didn’t bother to hear what else Liana had to say. I was up on my feet and speeding toward my father’s penthouse—not far from mine. I pushed the doors open and let myself in. A young woman stood shocked in the middle of the large round hall that composed my father’s welcoming room. I immediately saw the bite marks on her neck—fresh blood was still trickling from them. I expected to crave her, but all I felt was empathy. She couldn’t have been any older than Sofia.

“Where’s my father?” I asked, reeling in my anger so I could speak to her in a soft voice. I didn’t want to frighten her any more than she already was.

“Your highness…” she croaked, as if unsure whether or not she should be speaking to me. “He’s by the pool. I was just…”

“What’s your name?”

“Yvonne.”

“Take me to him, Yvonne.”

She led me through a series of glass-covered walkways before leading to a large, circular room with a round pool in the middle of it. My father leaned against one side of the pool, sucking on the blood of one of the two lovely maidens sitting on either side of him. Being distracted by them, he didn’t even notice my presence. My stomach turned upon seeing the bruises on the girls’ bodies. The thought of how Sofia would react to the sight before me was enough to make my blood boil.

Yvonne walked over to my father and the moment he was aware of her presence, he grabbed a fistful of her hair and forced a kiss on her. Her body tensed and I knew that, though she didn’t resist, she wasn’t enjoying the rough manner in which he was treating her.

Throughout the years, my father had already given me many reasons to be ashamed to call myself his son, but he was still my father, and if only to honor Vivienne, I had to attempt to treat him with some respect. I cleared my throat to announce my presence, no longer willing to witness this wanton display of lust.

Gregor snapped to attention. He grabbed Yvonne by the waist and planted her on his lap, using her body to cover his own as he looked over her shoulder at me. He raised a brow at the sight of me. “Derek! To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”