The others lauded the strange occurrence as a miracle. They believed that the island was truly meant to be our sanctuary, and celebrated me for discovering it and leading them to fight for it.

I didn’t see it the same way they did. I saw it as a dark omen.

I would never forget Vivienne and me staring at the starlit sky long into the night while the others slept like babies. It seemed only my twin and I agreed on what actually happened. The fear in her violet eyes was unmistakable. After years of silence, she stared up at the night sky, grabbed my hand and said, “The darkness is coming.”

I didn’t ask her what she meant. To me, she meant the darkness that took over The Shade signified the darkness that took over each of us during that battle, because for many of us, it was the first time we ever intentionally took human life. It was the night we drew first blood.

By the time I grew too tired to fight, the ground of the arena was blood red, a stark reminder of the battle we fought four hundred years ago. Of all the warriors who stood within that circle, not one was able to hit me, much less wound me. They were the same men and women who drew first blood with me – only this time, they were weaker, prouder, and less resilient. In battle, I barely recognized them anymore.

I threw my weapon on the ground and began to walk away from the training grounds, only to find Cameron approaching.

“You up for a fight, Hendry?”

“Not today, prince.” He shook his head, an amused smile forming on his face. “I came to ask if you still wanted that meeting with the council at the Great Dome.”

“Of course,” I shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I?”

He responded with a look that clearly spelled, you should really know the answer to that. I shuffled my feet and gave him a confused and impatient stare. He chuckled, pointing to the opponents I just fought.

“If we weren’t vampires, you would’ve already murdered more than two-thirds of the Elite council…” he smiled before adding “…your majesty.”

I fought the urge to laugh. The Elite council now consisted of a rather pathetic bunch. I just rolled my eyes and went for a quick change before I headed for the dome with Cameron.

“What do we know about Ingrid Maslen?” I asked. For reasons I couldn’t completely understand, something about the idea of Borys having a new girl didn’t sit right with me. He was after Vivienne for such a long time, bent on getting “what belonged to him”. I simply couldn’t believe that he would just let bygones be bygones and replace Vivienne with someone else, unless of course there was more to Ingrid Maslen than we knew of.

Cameron shrugged. “I’m not sure she’s even been allowed out of The Oasis ever since Borys turned her. She’s his best kept secret.”

“Any idea why she is kept under wraps?”

“Just rumors. Some say Ingrid is to The Oasis as Vivienne is to the The Shade.”

“She’s a seer?”

“Maybe… Why else would Borys be so obsessed with her? We both know how sick that man is – if we could even call him that. He wouldn’t turn a human like Ingrid and make her part of his clan unless there was something special about her.”

I couldn’t help but frown at the information, wondering to myself why it bothered me so much. Borys was no longer after my sister. I should’ve been happy. Still, thinking about Ingrid made me feel unnerved. Something wasn’t right. I had more urgent matters to concern myself with for the time being, but I knew that someday I would have to come face-to-face with Borys Maslen again and finally lay eyes on this mysterious woman of his.

A strange sense of premonition told me that I was going to rue that day.

CHAPTER 13: SOFIA

Blood was all over the Sun Room. The LED lights mimicking the sun’s rays were busted. The only source of light was a flickering fluorescent lamp fighting to stay alight. I was pinned against one of its walls. I couldn’t move. I was frightened. I didn’t understand what was going on. I couldn’t hear anything. My sense of touch was gone. I sensed a dark presence enter the room. A shadow. I couldn’t make out who it was. I tried to talk, but my voice came out in an inaudible rasp. The shadow approached. Its presence was so strong, so powerful, so dark. It stopped in front of me. Blood began to pool on the ground where the shady figure stood. I was expecting to see Lucas, and found myself gasping when I saw it was Derek. Blue eyes void of life. Fangs bared. Ready to prey on me. He took a hold of me. His fangs were about to sink into my skin. Then nothing. Nothing but a large, empty void and a female voice whispering, “The darkness is coming.”

I woke up in the hotel room, sweating, tense and all out of breath. I was clutching the sheets for dear life, afraid that if I let go, I might get sucked back into the nightmare. I flinched when I heard the bathroom door open. I could smell Ben’s aftershave mixed with the fragrances of shampoo and soap. I stirred on the bed trying to shake off the effects the nightmare had on me. I was afraid for myself. I was afraid for Derek.

“Breakfast is ready on the veranda,” Ben called. He was rubbing his hair dry, oblivious of my still trembling form.

I dragged myself out of the bed. I can’t keep waking up this way. I might’ve left The Shade, but the island and all its horrors were still right with me.

I pulled my hair up in a messy bun as I made my way to the veranda. I needed the sunlight to draw the lurking shadows away. Breakfast consisted of muesli, coffee and fruit salad. I would’ve preferred some toast with jam and butter, but I wasn’t in a particularly picky mood.

Ben joined me not long after I settled down in my seat.

“Mom and Dad are on their way to pick us up. We might end up staying here a couple more days. Apparently, they made a whole fuss with the police when we disappeared…” He sat across me, looking bothered.

I cringed. “I was afraid of that. We’ll have to talk to the police, probably even a social worker…”

“So what’s our story going to be?” He leaned back in his seat, rolling a grape around on his plate. “We ran away? That’s it?”

“I guess we could just keep it simple by keeping our mouths shut. We ran away. Period. No need to give them any details.”

“Unless…” Ben began drumming his fingers over the top of the table.

“Unless what?” I pushed my bowl away. It seemed neither one of us had much of an appetite that morning.

“Unless we just tell them the truth. The whole truth.”

I knew it was an option, but for reasons I couldn’t fully understand, something inside me was violently screaming against it. “We can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“What are we going to tell them? We were abducted by vampires and taken to an invisible island to be their slaves? … We don’t even know where The Shade is. They’re going to think we’re insane.”

“So what? We met people there… I’m sure someone out there has reported them missing… How else would we have known about them?”

I shook my head. “We can’t. Derek trusted us by letting us escape. We can’t betray…”

“So there it is then! The truth. You don’t want to talk about The Shade because of him. What did he do to you, Sofia? It’s like you’re possessed by this inexplicable urge to please him.”

The words stung. I couldn’t look Ben in the eye. I didn’t know why. I wished I knew why. “It’s not just Derek. I’m sorry, Ben, but I just can’t… Not this way.”

A knock on the door interrupted our conversation. I could feel Ben’s eyes threatening to burn holes through me, but he eventually stood up and answered the door. From the veranda, I could hear his mother, Amelia, sobbing.

“Where’s Sofia, Ben? Is she with you?” Little Abby sounded cautious.

If his father, Lyle, was there, he certainly wasn’t talking much. It took a couple of minutes before Ben eventually came out to fetch me. “The police are here. They want to ask us some questions.”

“And what’s our answer going to be?”

He ground his teeth before responding. “We ran away.”

They spent a considerable amount of time getting us to talk. They kept telling us that we could tell them the truth, that we didn’t have to be afraid. They tried their best to pry any information about where we were, how we managed to keep ourselves hidden, how we survived. We remained true to our decision. Ben never even hinted about The Shade. Just like me, he kept silent about it and I was grateful for it. I knew he couldn’t understand why I refused to give The Shade away – heck, even I didn’t understand – but he supported me and I thought the world of him for it.

The police eventually gave up. Running away wasn’t a punishable crime, and unless they were charging us with a crime, we had no more reason to talk.

It took three days before all the necessary paper work and police reports were done to get Ben and me cleared to go back to California. The physical examinations brought about a new onslaught of questions. They didn’t find anything wrong with me, but there was no hiding the scars on Ben’s body.

I would never be able to forget the look on Amelia’s eyes when she saw the scars. It felt like I was being torn apart when she looked at Ben and me – eyes pleading – and cried, “Who did this? Why won’t you tell us who did this?”

It was the first time I ever saw Lyle so angry. “Sofia, where were you? What happened to both of you?”

I could sense Ben’s eyes on me – eating away at my conscience. Even then, I couldn’t… I couldn’t tell them about The Shade. “I’m so sorry,” was all I managed to say, head bowed down and tears streaming down my eyes.

I expected Ben to tell them everything right then, but he held his ground. Lyle and Amelia tried to pry information out of us. They screamed, they begged, they threatened… Neither Ben nor I said anything about the vampires.

Finally, everything came to an end when Ben sighed in exasperation and said, “Can we please just go home? I’m exhausted.”