I slowly rose on the bed, the sensations from my dream still running through my head. “I had a dream… How long have I been asleep?”

“A little over an hour… What was the dream about?”

I tried to recall every detail of the dream and when I did, I couldn’t help it. Tears began to stream down my cheek and I broke into a sob.

Aiden didn’t seem to know what to do at first, so for the few seconds I was bawling my eyes out, he just stared. After gathering his wits about him, however, he pulled me into his arms, cradling me over his lap. “Hey… come on… everything’s going to be alright…”

“One minute Derek was professing his love for me and in the very next minute, he was stabbing me in the heart with a dagger…” I explained in between sobs.

“It was just a nightmare, Sofia… It doesn’t mean anything…”

What I couldn’t explain in detail to him was that dreams I had before about Derek served as warnings. I couldn’t help but tremble at what this dream could possibly be warning me about. I snuggled into my father’s arms, drawing strength from the comfort he was giving me. “I can’t lose him.”

“You know me, Sofia. You know how much I stand against your relationship with Derek, but much as I hate to admit it, the man loves you. I doubt that he’ll leave you for anything.”

That’s because you haven’t actually seen Emilia and her effect on him. “What if he does? You don’t know Emilia. They have history together. What if she’s right? What if she’s actually the girl prophesied to help him bring the vampires to true sanctuary?”

My father’s words came as healing balm to my afflicted soul. “It won’t matter, because it will still be you holding his heart.”

I leaned my head against his shoulder and let those words sink in. I couldn’t allow myself to be disheartened. For myself and Derek’s sake… “Thank you…” I whispered to my father before giving him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

We sat there for a while. I relished his company, enjoying that time we got to spent together. I was certain that it would be one of my most cherished moments with my father.

“I love you, Dad,” I spoke up, knowing that I meant it. “You know that, don’t you?”

He smiled and nodded before kissing me on my temple. “I love you too, Sofia.”

We walked out of the room minutes later in a much lighter mood, chuckling over who had to prepare snacks for the both of us.

“I want us to be a family,” I told him, as we began to prepare our food at the kitchen.

“I want that too. More than anything,” he responded.

I smiled. “I’ll give Ing… Camilla another chance if you want me to.”

“That means the world to me, Sofia. I’ve heard so many stories about you here in The Shade and I know they’re true. You’re someone who’s willing to forgive, forget and trust again.”

“Maybe I got that from you…” I flicked a brow at him, loving that I could feel so light and casual and trusting around him.

He gave me a bewildered look. “Got what?”

I shrugged as I sliced through a piece of cheese. “The urge to find beauty within people and to try and create it when it’s not there.”

“I’m not like that at all.” He looked perplexed.

I chuckled at how little he knew about himself. “You knew that my mother was broken, but you still chose to love her every single day.”

His face softened and his eyes began to brim with tears. I was actually eager to see what it would be like to have my father cry in front of me, but I never got the chance to, because at the very next moment, Ingrid showed up, fangs and claws out, running toward me with determination in her eyes.

I had no doubt in my mind that my mother was about to kill me.

Chapter 32: Aiden

I’d already lost count of all the times Camilla had broken my heart. I was starting to get used to it. I was even expecting it, steeling myself for when it would happen, but when I saw her with that dagger raised in the air, poised to kill our only daughter, my heart shattered into pieces. I began to see red and every ounce of love that could’ve held me back from destroying Camilla disappeared. I wasn’t about to watch my wife kill my daughter. Not in a million years.

Without any hesitation, I pulled out the one gadget I was able to hide from my captors in the Shade. It was a blow dart that would inject a serum into Camilla’s system to incapacitate her. I kept it for emergency purposes, for when I would need it to save my life. I never thought that it would be my daughter’s life I would be saving instead.

With a guttural scream expressing all the anger I felt inside, I blew the dart right into Camilla’s neck right before she was about to stab Sofia in the heart. The effect was immediate and from what I observed, extremely painful. The agony was evident when Camilla started screaming in pain. I expected to feel some sort of sympathy for her, like I always did whenever I saw her in pain, but as I watched her drop the dagger and fall to the ground, screaming and writhing in pain before finally passing out, all I felt was numbness.

I was transfixed by the sight of her motionless body on the ground and for a while, I couldn’t move a muscle. I could sense Sofia trembling and I wanted to approach her and comfort her, but I didn’t know how to give comfort when even I needed it. It took me a while to get back to my senses and approach my daughter.

She was staring at her mother’s body, frozen with shock. “Did you kill her? Is she dead?”

“No…” I shook my head “…but she will be.”

Sofia’s eyes widened at the implication. “You mean…”

I lifted my hand in the air, palm up. “I told you to always keep a wooden stake in your person, Sofia. Do you have one on you?”

“Aiden… we can just imprison her… you don’t have to do this.”

I shook my head. “I told you that I would be in charge of her. I told you to trust me. I was a fool to trust her.” My jaw tightened as I directed my focus on Camilla. “She played me. She promised she wouldn’t harm you. She said she wanted to be a family again…” My voice choked and a tear ran down my cheek.

“Dad…”

“Give me the stake, Sofia.”

“Think this through… this decision could haunt you forever…”

“Give it to me!”

I was expecting Sofia to get intimidated by the strength of my voice. I forgot, however, that she was the fiancée of a vampire much more powerful, menacing and intimidating than I was. Despite the fact that I was so consumed by my anger toward Camilla, I was soothed by my daughter’s countenance. It reminded me that she’d been through a lot in The Shade… more than I could ever possibly know.

She hiked her dress up and retrieved the stake from a holder wrapped around her thigh. She then handed it over to me. “I know you, Dad. You will regret this.”

Then she watched me and allowed me to make a decision for myself. I gripped the stake and was about to approach my wife to drive the stake into her heart, but I found myself hesitating. Is this what she does with Derek? I stopped and looked at my daughter. “How many times have you done something like this to Derek?”

A small smile formed on her lips. “Many, many times.”

“Did he ever push through with doing the wrong thing?”

She shook her head. “Never.”

With that, my decision was made. I handed the stake over to her before looking back at my unconscious wife. “What do you want to do with her then?”

Sofia took the stake from me and put it back in place before curiously asking, “That’s it? No dramatic struggle? No excuses?”

I shrugged. “If Derek never disappointed you in this area, I don’t ever want to either.”

She kissed me on the cheek and squeezed my arm. “I have to say though… My boyfriend is much more of a drama king than you are.”

I couldn’t help but wonder what she meant, but I just decided to read between the lines and assume that he put up a struggle a lot more than I did. I couldn’t help but wince at the thought of the price my daughter had to pay whenever he struggled, but I didn’t want to dwell on it. I trusted that she knew what was and wasn’t good for her.

I once again looked at Camilla, my breath hitching at the sight of her. I still loved her, though I hated what she had allowed herself to become. I couldn’t understand how she could do what she did, but I knew that I had to accept that there was little chance she would ever truly change.

“What are we going to do with her?” I asked once again.

Sofia heaved a deep sigh. “Bring her back to The Cells I guess… We’ll decide what to do to her after a while. For now, we need to deal with finding the cure.”

Camilla was brought back to The Cells. I didn’t want to think about her so I stayed with Sofia. I was disheartened by Camilla’s betrayal, but somehow, what she did helped form a bond between my daughter and me.

For that reason alone, I was secure that everything would be okay. Sofia and I pre-occupied ourselves by checking that everything was running well in The Shade and it seemed everything was well. It wasn’t until sunset that we received news on Rex’s ultimate fate.

Vivienne was the one who had to give us the news. “Rex is dead.”

Chapter 33: Ingrid

When I woke up at the cell I was placed in, I found Claudia hovering over me with the saddest expression in her eyes. At the sight of her and at the recollection of what I’d done, I began to sob.

“Why, Camilla?” Claudia asked. “I thought you said you wanted to change.”

To save Aiden’s life. If I don’t kill Sofia, the Elder will kill Aiden. I knew that I couldn’t divulge to her the reason behind my actions in fear of what the Elder could do to her. “I had to, Claudia. You know me well enough to know that I mean it when I say that I had to. I didn’t have a choice.”