A Gate of Night (A Shade of Vampire #6)(40)
Author: Bella Forrest

You’re going to regret this, Kiev, I chastised myself as I looked at the beauty beneath me. Sofia was far from willing, she was just desperate. I wanted to believe that I was still capable of light.

“Don’t worry. I don’t want to do this with you. Not like this. Not while I know that you belong to him.” I knew I was going to pay for those words, that there was no way the Elder wouldn’t find out that I’d had the chance to make Sofia Novak completely mine. I was going to get severely punished, but for reasons even I couldn’t completely understand, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t destroy Sofia.

I rose to my feet and tried to gather myself together.

Sofia was still shaking when she sat up on the bed. “Kiev?”

“I had no idea darkness has already consumed so much of you, Sofia. You’re right. We need to get you out of here.”

“Why? Why would you help me? I have trouble believing that it’s simply out of the goodness of your heart that you want to suddenly assist me.”

Despite the fact that she was shaking like a leaf, Sofia still had that fight in her. It seemed she always did. I doubted anything could kill the embers of this little spitfire.

“Why do you care what my reasons are, Sofia? I’ll help you escape. That’s all you need to know.”

“You must want something in exchange, Kiev.”

“Perhaps I do.” I shrugged. “What I want, Sofia, you’ll know in due time. Let’s just say for now that you owe me one.”

I could see the apprehension on her face, but considering what she’d been willing to do just moments before, I doubted she had it in her to object.

Why indeed am I helping Sofia Novak? Is it her? Is there something about Sofia that just makes people want to be good around her?

For the first time in a long time, I dug deep within me, scouring my memories for an answer. Then there it was. A memory I’d desperately longed to forget resurfaced. I found my answer, and every fiber of my being wished that I hadn’t.

Gruesome memories of a past I’d buried deep into my subconscious came to the forefront of my thoughts and as much as I tried to keep it from happening, I actually shuddered. I had plenty of reasons to want to rescue Sofia from the Elder’s grasp. Should those reasons be examined, it would be quite clear that none of them had anything to do with light.

Every reason I could think of for wanting to help the young woman was born out of selfishness. My identity had never become clearer than it did at that moment.

I was a child of the darkness and nothing I did could ever change that.

Chapter 28: Vivienne

“No… What have you done to Xavier? Where is he?” I could hardly breathe. I stood frozen trying to comprehend what had just happened.

“He’s right here, my sweet. I can hear his screams and demands to get out. Annoying really, but it pleases me to use him as a vessel. I hear the taste of human blood is exquisite when enjoyed through the flesh of our mutations.”

Mutations. We are mere mutations of the Elders.

“What do you want?”

“What’s your name?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I refuse to tell.”

He laughed—a sound that didn’t seem to have any true pleasure in it. “Well, I was only trying to heed your customs as humans. It doesn’t matter if you don’t tell me, princess. We all know who you are. You and your brother did us Elders proud for so long. That is until your brother decided to fall in love with that little redheaded worm. You betrayed us, child.”

I stepped away from him. I was having trouble hearing those words through the voice of Xavier. He had been my rock for hundreds of years. To see him this way, with eyes empty… I trembled, more out of fear of losing him than fear of what they had in store for me.

The Elder noticed the way I shook. “You fear me. Good. It means you know your place. You may be princess to our mutations, but you are nothing but a slave to the Elders.” He stepped forward and pressed his lips against mine, firm hands holding my waist and pulling me against him.

I squirmed away from him, knowing that it was someone else who was holding me, not Xavier. Of course, there was little I could do to keep him from having what he wanted.

When our lips parted, I looked at him for a sign of whether or not he even took any pleasure in what he’d just done. He seemed so empty of emotion. “Take me to the humans.”

I tensed at the thought of what they wanted the humans for.

The Catacombs.

Out of breath, I didn’t have time to think it through. My immediate thought was to get to the Catacombs before the Elders could use the vampires there to devour the humans we were trying to protect. I sped to the caves, hoping to leave the Elder behind.

It took but seconds before the visiting Elder gripped the back of my head painfully. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

“Please, these humans… they’re our friends.”

“Friends?” White eyes turned red.

I doubted I’d ever been more terrified than I was at that moment. I stared up at Xavier, his handsome face distorted by veins coming out of his skin, as if his body was straining to contain the unwanted invasion of the dark force inside him.

“You make friends of these worms? They’re good for nothing but their blood.” He grabbed my wrists and squeezed tight. “Has your nature taught you nothing?”

I yelped when he pulled me against him before raising my wrist up. Claws popped out of Xavier’s fingers, cutting my wrist and letting blood flow.

Red eyes turned back to white. A smile crept into the corners of Xavier’s lips.

I could practically sense the Elder’s hunger. Since I’d become a vampire, I hadn’t known what it was like to be a prey being hunted by a predator—to be the morsel being craved. Nothing prepared me for when the Elder bit into my wrist and drank deep.

By the time he was done, I felt weak and in need of blood myself. I wondered then if it was actually possible to bleed a vampire dry.

The Elder threw my wrist aside, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth as he straightened to his full height. “Not as sweet as a human, but it will have to do for now.”

Screams began to fill the atmosphere. The sound was coming from the Catacombs. My heart dropped. The thought of suffering any more loss than we already had was tearing me apart.

“Please.”

I wasn’t given a moment to speak. Instead, I was yanked toward the sounds of death.

Chapter 29: Aiden