I was amused by the questioning look he gave me as I stood up, laid the DVDs he chose on the center table, grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the music room. The sheer delight in his eyes when he saw the room was almost endearing – like he was a boy shown a roomful of his favorite toys. “Vivienne did it so quickly…”

“Your sister really loves you…” There was bitterness to the way I said the words, jealous that he had a family that worshiped the ground he walked on while I had a family that had abandoned me and left me to another family’s care.

He sat in front of the black grand piano and tapped on the space next to him. “Sit.”

I noted how he never said please to me. With him, there were never requests, just commands. I rolled my eyes, not used to being told what to do. The Hudsons never really paid much attention to what I did or didn’t do as long as I didn’t get myself or their kids into trouble. Ben wasn’t very authoritative when it came to me either. It was something about Derek I thought I’d never get used to, but still, I found myself sitting next to him as he played an enthralling tune that simply took my breath away.

In the middle of his performance, it dawned on me that it was exactly the effect Derek Novak had on me: he always managed – in one way or another – to take my breath away.

CHAPTER 16: DEREK

She looked so peaceful, so serene, so innocent as I carried her to her bedroom and laid her on her bed. No other woman – and believe me when I say that I’d been with many – had the same effect that Sofia Claremont had on me. She was fragile and vulnerable, and yet strong and resilient at the same time. She’d only recently entered my life, yet it felt like I’d known her for ages.

It was strange the way I felt about how she listened to me and tried to ease my mind after my tempestuous outburst. I was grateful, but at the same time, I was mad at her. Inside the music room, she listened to me give in to my passion for music. She listened until exhaustion and sleep stole her attention away from me. Lying on the cushioned wooden bench inside the music room, she was a feast to behold, with her dress hiking up those long, milky white legs of hers, her locks of red hair cascading down the edge of the bench and her pink lips slightly parting as she breathed. My stomach clenched just looking at her, wondering what she was thinking that she would allow herself to be so vulnerable around a creature like me – one who could lose control at any moment and completely ruin her.

But somehow, deep inside, I knew… I knew that I could never harm her that way, simply because I would never be able to forgive myself for it. I may not have enough self-control to keep myself from feeding on others, but with Sofia, I couldn’t afford to lose control. She had become my one remaining link to humanity and it was clear to me that her ruin would be my ruin.

Thus, I carefully picked her up in my arms, fully aware of how much of the skin on her neck and shoulders were exposed to me and how much I wanted to have a taste of her. However, it was easier for me to hold myself back. She had managed to make herself too precious for me to even think of destroying.

I left her on the round bed covered with pink linens and white furs. There was a smile on my face as I walked out of her room. With Sofia, it felt like I’d found my compass. I knew that as long as I had her, I had someone to keep me grounded, someone to direct my way. If only for Sofia, I had a reason to stay awake.

Having absolutely no desire – or need – to lose myself in sleep, I returned to the living room and figured out how to view the “movies” she introduced to me. I was amazed by the contraptions humanity managed to create over the years. I never would’ve dreamed them possible in my day.

I mostly spent the rest of the time viewing one movie after another, moved by the stories and lives portrayed. I had to remind myself several times what Sofia said – it wasn’t real, just actors playing a part – like that of our time’s theaters.

I was in quite a good mood when morning came and was eager to check on Sofia. Thus, when I knocked on her door, I wasn’t expecting to be met with silence. I knocked again. Nothing. My heart sank, certain that despite my warning, she once again attempted to escape. I swung the door open and looked around the room. The smell of blood immediately invaded my senses and I was stunned to find that my first instinct wasn’t hunger but instead, an overwhelming urge to see to it that Sofia was okay.

An emotion I wasn’t quite accustomed to gripped at me when I saw her. It was a strange mixture of alarm, concern and protectiveness. She was sitting in one corner of the room, trembling as she held her legs tightly against her chest. Her green eyes betrayed complete and utter terror.

I knew something was horribly wrong, but I couldn’t even begin to imagine what could’ve happened to cause such a reaction from her.

“Sofia?” I asked, concerned.

I knelt in front of her and tried to brush her hair away from her face. She flinched at my touch –a stark contrast to how comfortable and secure she was with me the night before when she voluntarily snuggled against me at the living room couch and while I was playing the grand piano.

A sick feeling formed at the pit of my stomach as one possibility after another came to mind. I couldn’t understand what was causing her to be this way.

“What happened, Sofia?!” I urged.

Her lips were trembling so profusely, I was certain that I wouldn’t understand a thing that would come out of her mouth even if she chose to answer my question. That’s when I noticed something she was clutching with her shaking, right fist. I didn’t want to have to, but no matter how she flinched, I pried her hands open, desperate to know what was going on. It was a lock of brown hair. My brows furrowed. Right about then, one of the guards came through the open door.

“Sir?” he spoke up.

“What?” I asked, not bothering to look at him.

“One of the girls – Gwen. She’s missing.”

My jaw tightened and my gut clenched as I realized what could’ve happened. Instinctively, I made my way toward Sofia’s bathroom, noticing how it was already open. I pushed the door to check inside. Rage I hadn’t felt in a very long time began to consume me at what I saw. In a bloody pool of water, Gwen’s lifeless body laid in the bath tub. On her wrists were bite marks. Someone bled her dry.

It was a deliberate affront to me and a blatant threat toward Sofia. The guard, who was right behind me, audibly gasped at the sight.

“You were supposed to be keeping watch of the girls. How did this happen?” I asked, desperately reeling in my temper.

“Sir, I… I don’t know… I…”

I moved fast and had him pinned to the wall, angered by his failure of responsibility. I looked into his eyes and saw an air of dignity there. Unlike the guard, Husky, I’d killed not long ago, this one wasn’t about to beg for his life. He knew he was innocent and I knew it too.

I backed down and loosened my grip on him.

“Whoever did this, dies. Get all the resources necessary to find out who could’ve insulted me this way.”

I walked toward Sofia and, ignoring her struggles to push me away, I picked her up in my arms and carried her out of the room. I didn’t know where to take her but I was damned certain that I couldn’t just leave her there. Once she realized that I wasn’t about to let her go, she eased into my arms and buried her face against my chest before letting go of the emotions she had pent up inside. Tears began to mar her lovely face and I wanted nothing more than to kill the person that put her through this.

However, there was a truth I kept on denying to myself: there was only one person in the Blood Shade who would dare to stand up to me by pulling a stunt like this. Lucas.

CHAPTER 17: SOFIA

Everything happened in a blur. I was aware of it all, and yet, I wasn’t. It was almost like everything was happening to another person, and yet it was me. I felt Derek’s strong arms beneath me, carrying me. I heard his conversation with Vivienne before they both decided to take me to see Corrine the witch at the Sanctuary. I saw the agitation on Derek’s face, the intoxicating scent of his natural musk filling my nostrils as I snuggled against him. I was conscious of it all, and yet at the same time, I was stuck in a memory, still reliving every sickening sensation it induced.

I was lured to sleep by an enchanting melody and awakened from it by a horrific nightmare.

His hand was clamped over my mouth and his full weight was rested on top of me, constricting my breathing. I felt his free hand hike up my thigh and when I flinched, he chuckled vehemently, amused by my weakness.

“I will have you someday, Sofia,” he whispered against my ear. “You will bring me so much pleasure and once I’m done with you, I will have a taste of your sweet, sweet blood.”

His hand hiked up my waist and slipped beneath my back. Blinding pain unlike anything I’d ever experienced before assaulted me when his claws came out, digging against the skin on my back. My screams were muffled by his palm over my mouth when he scratched through my flesh with his nails. My back was on fire with searing agony as tears began to stream down my face.

His lips pressed against my neck, my jaw, my cheek, each blood-curdling word coming out of his lips dripping with spite and the intent to make me feel that he had power over me.