“He? Who’s he?” I tightened my jaw. “I don’t even care. Let him know that ‘he’ will never get a hold of Sofia. I would sooner wage war on anybody who threatens her than let her go.”

“I’m going to forgive this momentary lapse of your sanity, Derek. I don’t understand how you of all people have come under her spell, but you’ll snap out of it eventually.” She smiled at me and looked at me with a lingering sultry gaze. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. I know you felt it the moment you looked at me. You felt the attraction immediately, didn’t you? You felt what I felt.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I lied, swallowing back my guilt. “You’re delusional.”

She chuckled in response. “You don’t belong with her, Derek Novak. You belong with me.”

I straightened to my full height, not knowing how to react properly to the words she was spouting out. “I don’t even know who you are.”

“Of course you do.” She smiled. “I’m a daughter of the darkness just as surely as you are his son.”

“His?”

“The original. He meant you for me.”

Before the words could even sink into my mind, she vanished before my very eyes. My knees buckled beneath me. No matter how much I tried to fight it or even deny it, Emilia had something about her that just drew me to her. Like we were somehow connected…

“Derek?”

I turned to my side and found Sofia standing by the door. I wondered if she had heard what Emilia had just said. “Sofia…” I began to speak, but the words came out in a bare whisper.

“Who was that?” she asked. “How was that possible? She just…disappeared.”

I didn’t know how to respond. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen her before.” Sofia approached me and I pulled her against me, assured by her presence that I loved her deeply and that even my attraction for another woman could never shake that love. Still, my attraction to Emilia was killing me, and I couldn’t understand why.

“What just happened? No one just disappears like that…” Xavier spoke up.

“If she is who she says she is, then we’re at war with a force far greater than just the other vampire covens or the hunters,” Vivienne said, emerging from the room.

I knew without a doubt that she had heard every word from the other side of the wall.

I nodded. “We need to prepare for war.”

“We wouldn’t have to do that if the cure works…” Sofia said.

At that, I couldn’t help but scoff as everyone turned toward Aiden, who, with downcast eyes, had to tell his own daughter that he’d been playing her all along.

I hated how much it broke Sofia’s heart when he said, “There is no cure.”

CHAPTER 51: SOFIA

I snuggled close to Derek on the couch inside the octagonal room at the top of the Lighthouse. All the candles inside the room were lit up and we were surrounded by silence. I wondered to myself how it was possible that Derek and I could have such dysfunctional parents. Both of mine were now captives of The Shade and as much as I loved Aiden, I couldn’t bring myself to feel any amount sympathy for him.

Derek began brushing his thumb over my shoulder blade as he pressed his lips against my temple. “What’s on your mind, Sofia?”

“My father,” I responded. “My crazy mother… Us…”

“Us?”

I sat up and spun around to face him, kneeling up on the couch so that I could look directly into his handsome face. “Do you still want to marry me?” My voice broke as the question came out, my fingers touching the diamond pendant he had given me for my birthday.

His blue eyes softened. “Of course I do, Sofia. You know I do.”

“You’re immortal.”

I waited for him to give me his usual assurances. I was expecting him to once again tell me that what we had was precious and worth fighting for and that there had to be a way. Instead, all I got was silence.

Perhaps the reality of it all is finally sinking in to him. There’s no way we can be together.

The idea that Aiden played me, that he used me and the idea of a cure to get to Derek, was still breaking my heart, but I didn’t want to cry over the whole thing again. Mostly, I felt anger and resentment toward my father for doing that to me.

“Derek, please say something…”

“I don’t know what to say,” he admitted and I saw tears in his eyes.

“So that’s it I guess…” My shoulders sagged with resignation. “We really can’t be together?”

Anger contorted the features of his face. “What?! No…Sofia, what are you saying?” He cupped my cheeks with both hands. “You’re talking nonsense. We belong together.”

I knew what he was saying was true, but it was easy to give in to despair. “How does this work, Derek?”

My despair seemed to transfer to him as his eyes darkened. I wondered what was going through his mind. I wish I could somehow read his thoughts.

After a long silence, I began shaking my head. “There has got to be a cure.” I couldn’t bring myself to accept that this was no longer a possibility.

“You can’t cure a curse, Sofia. It’s not a disease.”

“How could there not be one, Derek? I’m supposed to be a vampire! And yet here I am… Can someone be immune from a curse?”

He paused before shrugging. “I don’t know.”

“Let’s say there isn’t a cure. What then is true sanctuary? What’s going to happen from here on out, Derek? Not just with us… I mean the island…everything.”

“Don’t ask me what true sanctuary is, Sofia. I fought for it for an entire century, practically gave up my soul for it. I thought I already had sanctuary after establishing The Shade only to find out that I didn’t… I just don’t understand the prophecy. What I do know is that war is brewing. That’s what’s going to happen.”

“So that’s just it? More bloodshed?”

“Did you really believe there was ever any other way?”

“I don’t think this is the way.”

“Well, it’s the only way unless you find this cure.” Desperation showed in his eyes as he gripped my shoulder blades. “I hope you know how much I want this to be true, Sofia. I want that cure more than anybody else, but until we find it, I need you to be with me no matter what comes our way. I need you by my side.”

I leaned forward and kissed him. Gentle. Calm. Assuring. I then whispered in his ear. “I’m with you, Derek. I’m right here with you.”

“Always?”

“For as long as I have breath.”

EPILOGUE: VIVIENNE

I was in the middle of a battlefield. There were bone-chilling screams and blood from both humans and vampires streamed through the site… There were no victors, just victims, most of which were innocent. Suddenly, the battlefield was swept away in a dark vortex and I found myself in the middle of a great hall. Decking the walls were large portraits that honored the fallen. Chills ran down my spine when I recognized some of the faces in the pictures. The Hudsons, the family that took Sofia in when Aiden had abandoned her. The Hendrys, Cameron and Liana’s descendants. Adults and children alike…lost.

My mind was still reeling from the sight before me when I was once again swept away into another scene—one of the most painful and agonizing things I’d ever witnessed.

Derek Novak was being forced into the cruel rays of the sun, screaming in pain as he burned to his death… Sofia stood in the background, staring helplessly, tears rushing down her cheeks. Her eyes found mine and the moment our gazes locked, everything faded away.

I snapped out of the vision, blinking several times before getting full control of my mental faculties. One thought was circling my mind as I began to shiver at the horrors I had just witnessed: If we are to survive, we must find the cure.