Sofia furrowed her brows. “What’s going on, Derek?”

Her voice was music to my ears – sweet and intoxicating. I couldn’t understand the sensations and emotions coursing through my entire being, but I knew that I had to gain back control of myself and end Sofia like I promised. I have to do it or I will lose the woman I love forever.

I was about to lunge toward Sofia when to my surprise, she pulled her hair back to expose one side of her neck to me. “Why can’t you drink my blood? Did she tell you why?”

I couldn’t respond, because my eyes were already fixed on her neck and all I could think of was taking a bite. Despite Emilia’s admonitions for me not to, I wanted this young stranger’s blood coursing through me. Ignoring Emilia’s screams for me to stop, I threw Sofia against a wall and took a bite. My claws came out. I wanted to rip her heart out as I drank her blood.

I was expecting her to whimper, to beg for her life, to scream. Instead, as I drank her blood and threatened to end her life, all Sofia did was hum me the most haunting tune I’d ever heard. I felt her soft hands gently take hold of both of my wrists as she whispered, “Remember, Derek.”

I don’t know who you are. Even as the thought came to me, I knew immediately that it was a lie. I knew this woman. The feel of her blood inside me – the power that came with it, the pleasure that was beginning to pump through my whole system – all of it was too familiar. I was so consumed by Sofia, I lost track of everything else around me.

All that was left in my consciousness was Sofia and my determination to kill her.

Chapter 39: Sofia

I knew from the moment I saw Derek that something was wrong. He had a glazed look in his eyes. He seemed listless and out of his senses. He looked straight at me and it was as if it was the first time he’d ever seen me.

I knew Derek Novak. He was the man of my dreams and it was clear that the man Emilia returned to The Shade with was nothing but a shadow of the original.

I glared at Emilia. What have you done to him? I then returned my eyes toward Derek. I wondered what had to be done to get him back to me. The look he was giving me wasn’t something I was a stranger to. He was looking at me like I was his prey. I could sense the thirst emanating from him. He was craving a drink. At that moment, he wasn’t seeing his lover. The predator was seeing his prey.

I was surprised when Emilia told him that he wasn’t to drink my blood. I fixed my eyes on Derek. Why? Why doesn’t she want my blood coursing through you?

I was losing him and I knew it and I could tell just by the look on his face that he was about to do something he was going to regret for the rest of his life. I went by gut instinct and did what I knew would horrify my father.

I pulled my hair back and offered myself to him as I had done many times before, but this time, I was no longer expecting him to hold back. I wanted him to give in. I wanted him to break free of whatever grasp Emilia had on him.

I succeeded but I wasn’t prepared for what came next. Derek lunged for me, throwing me into the wall stronger than he ever did before. My breath got knocked out of me the moment my back hit the wall. My shock hadn’t even worn off yet, when his teeth painfully sank into my neck and he began drinking my blood.

Emilia was screaming like a mad woman for Derek to stop. I could see the horror in her eyes when she saw Derek sink his teeth into my skin. “Derek, no!” She began to move toward him, but in a moment of confusion, the Elite Council lunged toward her to stop her.

I saw a flash of delight in Emilia’s eyes and I quickly realized why when I felt the pointed end of Derek’s claws claw right over my heart. I drew a breath when I realized what he was about to do. I tried to think of words that would jolt him back to reality. He was about to kill me, the girl he professed to love, the woman he swore to marry.

No words came, so I simply hummed our song – the same one he hummed to me time and time again, the same one that I hummed to him whenever he was about to do something he would both sorely regret.

Derek Novak was about to rip my heart out and all I could do was hum, before I managed to finally breathe out two words, hoping that it was enough to bring him back to me. “Remember, Derek.”

I was beginning to get dizzy from the blood loss. He’d never drunk so much of my blood until now. I couldn’t tell anymore who was saying what around me; it was a cacophony of mixed up voices all moved by concern.

“Derek, you’re going to kill her! Stop it!”

“He’s going to kill my daughter! Do something!”

“Hold Emilia back!”

“Kill her before she ruins everything! Do it! Rip her heart out!”

Emilia threw herself behind Derek to try and keep him from drinking more of my blood, but with one motion of his arm he was able to throw her away with one growl before once again drinking my blood. I was confused. Why is she trying to help me? Not knowing how to react to Emilia, I threw my attention at Derek. The short glimpse I had of him, I noticed that his eyes were pitch black instead of their normal bright blue.

He was completely out-of-control and out of reach. The other vampires tried to stop him from totally devouring me, but none of them could pry him off of me. I knew the kind of effect my blood had on him. It made him powerful.

I didn’t know what to do, so I began to welcome death until I recalled the same thing I told him the first time I met him, when he had me in that same position, about to devour me: “You can control yourself. Don’t do this to me.” It was a bare whisper, but the moment the words came out of my lips, he stopped drinking and his claws withdrew.

Relief washed over me when he responded with the exact same words he told me that first night. His eyes – black as the darkest night – met mine, my blood dripping from the corners of his lips, his fangs bared right before me. “I can’t,” he responded. “You’re too beautiful, your blood too enticing, too sweet…”

Tears began to stream down my face – partly because everything that’d been happening came crashing down on me, overwhelming me, and partly because of how much I ached for my Derek to return to me.

“I know an excuse when I hear one. Don’t you dare deceive yourself into believing that you’re the victim, Derek Novak.”

I could hear a soft gasp escape his lips the moment I said the words. I couldn’t help but sigh with relief when his grip around my waist loosened. His lips remained pressed on my skin. He eased me down so I could stand on my feet again. I felt so small and fragile standing so close to him. The moment my feet hit the ground, my knees buckled and I found myself leaning on him for support.

His eyes were still on me as he spoke. “Tell me your name.”

I found it strange how everything replayed exactly as it did the night he woke up from his four-hundred-year slumber and I was offered up to him as a slave. It was almost as if we were both jolted back to a memory, one that wasn’t pleasant to either one of us, but one that paved the way for us to become the intimate lovers that we eventually became.

Just like it did that night, his admonition sounded more like a command than a request, but I found myself responding anyway. “Sofia… Sofia Claremont.”

Just like that, his eyes began to clear – a haze giving way to those clear blue eyes, light twinkling in the darkness’ place.

“Sofia…” Derek gasped and I knew then that he recognized me.

I managed to smile at him, but the blood loss had finally taken its toll on me. It felt as if my heart suddenly stopped beating and everything surrounding me dimmed into black.

Chapter 40: Derek

The memories came like a flood right after she had spoken her full name. Starting from that memory of our first encounter, every single moment I spent with Sofia Claremont returned to me and haunted me into realizing what I was doing, what I was about to do.

The moment Sofia collapsed in my arms, panic rushed through me as I cradled her close to my chest, kneeling on the ground as she fell.

“No…” I gasped, as I held her against me, her slender form resting limply on my lap.

Vivienne rushed beside me to check Sofia’s pulse. “She’s alive,” she assured me.

I was about to cut my wrist in order to feed Sofia my blood, but Vivienne shook her head.

“I don’t think your blood is going to cure her. That much blood loss is a completely different injury. It can heal the bite marks and the claw marks over her heart, but you can’t replenish her blood with yours.”

“Then let’s close those wounds first,” I responded with resolve before swallowing hard. I force-fed Sofia my blood, hoping that it would do something to somehow revive her, but Vivienne was right. All it did was close her wounds. I stared at my twin desperately. “What are we going to do now?”

Vivienne breathed out a sigh. “We’ll need to get her immediate medical care if she’s to survive. I’m sure Eli will know what to do.” Vivienne looked at me with what looked like confusion and contempt. “What were you doing, Derek?”

“There’s no time for explanations. Get her help. Now!” I had half the mind to stay by Sofia’s side, but I knew that I had a score to settle. I rose to my feet and turned to face Emilia, who was being restrained by Xavier and Yuri. I wondered why she wasn’t fighting back. I knew she had the power to do it.

She stared at me with both defiance and defeat. “You said you would kill her. You promised.”

Everything that I went through in her hands came flooding back to me. The thought that I’d actually lived believing that I was in love with her, the idea that I had actually shared a bed with her, was absolutely revolting. I wanted nothing more than to end Emilia’s life.

“You’re supposed to be in love with me!” she screamed, tears streaming down her eyes. “Why didn’t you do what you promised?”

“It’s over, Emilia. Whatever spell you had on me has been broken. Enough of your delusions.”

“You belong with me, Derek…” she whimpered. She finally managed to get away from the vampires holding her back. She threw herself into my arms.