A Gate of Night (A Shade of Vampire #6)(42)
Author: Bella Forrest

This time, however, while Ben hung out with the other boys from their class, she sought a quiet corner and brought out the items from her lunch bag. She ate her sandwich quietly, not minding anyone around her. She had an air of disinterest, detachment. She seemed disconnected from reality and I couldn’t really blame her.

“What have I done to her?” I found myself saying out loud.

“Sir?” the driver asked.

“Nothing. I was just speaking my thoughts.”

Sofia was no longer where I last saw her. I scanned the playground and saw her running toward the far right side of the school building—toward the sandbox.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw her face. She was clearly agitated. Ben and two other boys surrounded a much smaller boy who was trembling and retrieving from his pocket an inhaler. One of the boys pushed him to the ground.

Sofia came just when Ben was about to reach down and get the kid’s lunch box. She didn’t say anything. Instead, she planted her hands on her waist and just stared at Ben. No words, not even a single action. Just her presence.

I couldn’t help but think about how beautiful she was, standing up to those boys. She helped the little boy up and shook her head disapprovingly at her best friend, who seemed truly sorry for his actions.

Ben caught up with her, clearly trying to explain himself, while the other two boys followed them, heads hung low.

“Your daughter has leadership.”

I drew a short intake of breath when I realized that Arron was leaning on the limo, right by the window. He had his arms crossed over his chest.

He looked my way and without a hint of any expression said, “I think she takes after you.”

“Sir… What are you doing here?”

He tapped on the car door. “Let me in.”

I gulped as I opened the door, embarrassed that I was caught watching Sofia.

He took a seat beside me and shut the door. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I had to see her again.”

“I thought you made your choice. She is a thing of the past.”

“She’s my daughter.”

“You only torment yourself and endanger her if you keep doing this. If you can’t stand being away from her, then take her back and raise her up as a hunter.”

“I can’t do that. She deserves a better life than the one we’re living.”

“Then leave her in your past. It’s for her own good.”

I wanted to object, to spout out all the reasons I couldn’t be away from Sofia, but there was truth in what Arron was telling me, so all I ended up saying was, “Don’t worry. This won’t happen again. I just wanted to see her one last time.” The confession slipped out of my mouth. “I really just want to see her eyes brighten up again.”

All I got was a scoff from my superior.

“Let’s just drive, shall we? We have a lot of business to see to today.”

As the limousine began to move forward, I took one last look at my beautiful daughter, proud of her. Still, Sofia’s eyes were void of life and I blamed myself for it.

I didn’t know then that it would be years and years later before I would see my daughter’s green eyes brighten once again—not until the first time I saw her look at Derek Novak.

Chapter 30: Derek

“You have to keep your calm, Derek.” Corrine reminded me of the same thing Ibrahim had been telling me over and over again during my stay at the witches’ Sanctuary. “You don’t want to blow the Port up.”

Aiden had been brought to one of the cells at the Port. Corrine had taken care of his neck wound and left the two hunters, Zinnia and Craig, to look after their former boss. I had half a mind to feed him my blood only to be reminded that I was no longer a vampire. Reminded of how I’d healed back at the dungeon at The Blood Keep, I wondered if it were at all possible that I retained my healing abilities. Given my tempestuous struggle with fire, however, I decided that I wasn’t about to experiment on my father-in-law.

Seated around a circular table, feeling helpless despite the power I contained within me, I felt the heat rising up to my palms as I tried to wrap my mind around everything that Gavin reported to me.

Fear took hold of me at the thought of the dangers my people were facing. How on earth can we even attempt to rescue Sofia when we’re in so much chaos ourselves?

“And you weren’t able to rescue anyone else?”

“It was chaos, Derek. There wasn’t much we could do,” Gavin explained. “Your sister had a plan to get all women and children to the Chilling chambers, to hide them from the Elders, but the Elders found out where they were and they…” The redhead’s face drained of all color.

I didn’t even want to ask about the details. I doubted I’d be able to control the fire burning within me. “Where’s Vivienne?”

“I haven’t seen her at all. I’m not sure where she is.”

“What happened to Aiden?”

He visibly shuddered. “The Elders came with these dogs. I’ve never seen anything like them before. One followed us to the tunnels. We couldn’t kill them even with the guns. It was only when Aiden stabbed the dog that it stopped, but the dog had already bitten into his neck.”

My brows rose. Eli had mentioned not long after I woke up from my slumber that he’d done some work with The Underground. Something about turning stray dogs into vampires. It didn’t quite work out the way they’d expected. The dogs had the same bloodlust and heightened senses that vampires had, but killing them was another thing. Ending them required silver. “They must’ve taken the beasts when they attacked The Underground. Eli would know how to control these things. Do you have any idea where he is?”

“They took him to The Blood Keep several months ago. No explanations. They just said that he was needed at the Elder’s castle.”

Somehow, it gave me relief to know that Sofia wasn’t alone at The Blood Keep, that Eli was there with her.

Still, I feared for her. The dreams hadn’t stopped, the dark premonitions of our possible future—a future I was determined not to allow to happen.

Lost in my own turmoil, I barely paid attention to the young man staring at me, awaiting my orders.

“Derek.” Corrine spoke up. “What do you want us to do?”

I rose to my feet and began pacing, thinking everything through. My primary goal was to find a way to attack The Blood Keep and save Sofia. I had to believe that she was alive, that she was waiting for me. To do that, I needed my people—a people the Elders were destroying.