Perhaps she really does love him. Derek and Sofia are genuinely in love with each other.

I attempted to focus on the image on the screen, trying to make sense of the words Sofia was uttering to Vivienne to remind her of the past, a past I was surprised Sofia was so well acquainted with.

There was talk of a shipwreck and first blood, of massacres and cullings and centuries of trying to preserve their own kind against us. Coming from my daughter’s own lips, and the way she was telling story after story to Vivienne, it was almost like we were the villains and the vampires were the victims.

Of course, the whole time she was talking, Vivienne was a blank slate, not really comprehending what Sofia was saying until my daughter mentioned a greenhouse.

At this, Vivienne’s eyes lit up with recognition and delight. “Is it still beautiful?” she asked in a hushed whisper, as if she was afraid that saying it too loud would somehow destroy the beauty of it.

Sofia’s face broke into a smile as she nodded and brushed Vivienne’s hair away from her face. “Yes, Viv. It’s still gorgeous. Derek took care of it after you disappeared. He made sure it would be as beautiful as it would be if you were there.”

Vivienne’s next words sealed reality for me. I’d just lost Vivienne to Sofia.

“I miss Derek so much,” Vivienne confessed, a tear running down her cheek.

“Well, that was a huge waste of time.” Zinnia smirked.

I clenched my fists.

“What are you going to do now, Reuben?”

“I think I need to take a different approach. I have to accept that Sofia really does love Derek Novak and there’s no way I can sway her from that.”

“So you’re just going to keep her locked in that room until she gets over him?”

“No. She’ll hate me forever if I do that. The best thing for me to do right now is to give her exactly what she wants.”

“You’re giving her to Derek Novak?”

I shook my head. A plan began to take form in my mind. “No. I’m going to give her a cure to vampirism.”

CHAPTER 25: DEREK

When Ashley and I arrived at The Catacombs, it was in total chaos. I’d just walked into one of the levels that lined the circular, seemingly bottomless pit in the middle of the caves when a bottle was thrown my way. I dodged it, but failed to warn Ashley, who was right behind me. Thus, when I turned to check on her, she had blood trickling from her forehead where the bottle had hit her.

She mouthed a pouty “Ow” as she brushed off any remaining pieces of broken glass from her forehead.

Despite the newfound friendship I had with Ashley, I still couldn’t help but let out a wry laugh at her misery. “Welcome to The Catacombs, Ash.”

She rolled her eyes. “Wipe that smirk off your face, Novak.” She then bent over and picked up a shard of glass from the broken bottle and pointed it at me. “I don’t care that you’re most likely a hundred times stronger than me, I can still find a way to cut you.”

I grinned. “Scary. Let’s end this riot before some other flying object breaks your neck.” I leaned over the wooden banister that overlooked the rest of The Catacombs’ levels. I realized that I still had no idea what they were even fighting over. I looked around and caught sight of Kyle, holding a frightened Anna by the arm, practically dragging her to what I assumed was Sofia’s quarters. Ian was about a hundred meters behind them, trying to keep up with Kyle’s pace. I stared for a moment, wondering how on earth this love triangle was going to pan out.

From the corner of my eye, I could make out Gavin hitting another guy who just lunged at him. Rosa, on the other hand, daintily hit a man in the back of his neck with a glass bottle. The man was about to attack Gavin, who seemed oblivious of Rosa, and seemed intent on finding his family.

I practically jumped out of my skin when I felt a tap on my back. My immediate reflex was to grab whoever just touched me by the neck.

“Hey there…” Sam raised both hands up in the air as a sign of surrender. “Relax. It’s me.”

“What’s going on?” I demanded as I pulled my hand away from his neck. “You were supposed to quell the riot.”

He pulled Ashley into his arms before shrugging. “It’s not like we have any authority here at The Catacombs or in The Shade. These people aren’t listening to us.”

“Do you even know why they’re rioting or what they’re demanding?”

Sam was about to open his mouth to answer me, but someone screamed “Fire!” and I knew there was no time for words. Action had to be taken.

I looked toward the direction of the voice and sure enough, on the level below ours, where Gavin and Rosa were, a fire had just erupted. Gavin’s eyes grew wide with panic. “Mother!” he screamed. He frantically searched his surroundings in search for Lily and the children. That’s when he caught sight of me.

His jaw tightened as he gave me a pleading look, one that was asking me to do something. It took all the strength I had to conjure up a voice loud enough to drown out the chaos going on around me.

“ENOUGH!!!”

The word echoed throughout the entire place and an immediate hush followed as everyone tried to locate the source of the voice. I tightened my lips when all eyes turned toward me.

In as loud a voice as I could manage, I shouted out my command. “Get water and stop that fire.” I pointed toward the direction of the flames. “If you all don’t do as I say, we don’t need a culling to end all your lives. You will die of suffocation if you don’t murder yourselves first.”

Immediately, everyone’s focus shifted from their fist fights and ridiculous differences to the fire that was now threatening to kill them all. Gavin shot me a thankful look as he once again went about the task of finding his family, Rosa helping him like a wide-eyed, obedient little puppy.

“Rosa has a thing for Gavin, doesn’t she?” I asked.

Ashley and Sam chuckled.

“The only person who can’t seem to figure it out is Gavin, who is probably one of the densest people I’ve ever come across,” Ashley said.

We watched as everyone going at each other’s throats were now working hand-in-hand passing on buckets of water and sackcloth to try and save their homes. No questions asked. The fire would soon die with little or no casualties to account for.

All that was required was to get them to listen to one voice. I realized then what was the matter. The Naturals were used to being slaves. They were used to being told what to do by the vampires. Without the control of the vampires, they were left to themselves and what resulted was anarchy.

Corrine could’ve quelled this riot easily, but she never really meddled with things that she wasn’t personally invested in. The Naturals and their stupid lockout and crazy riot were things that didn’t move her personal convictions; thus, she stayed away. In her eyes, this was my problem and I needed to find a solution to it.

Truth be told, I wanted to just threaten to kill them all, but the only thing keeping my sanity in check was the thought of Sofia standing beside me. She would try to find the solution that would lead to the most lives spared. That was the kind of person Sofia Claremont was—life-giving.

I waited until the fire had been completely put out before once again speaking up, “Who is going to answer to me for this riot?! What is going on?! This is madness!”

I was met with utter silence.

“This riot and the lockout are over. If you want to discuss what you want, then there will be a meeting tomorrow at the Vale’s town square. If you don’t show up, you forfeit your right to be heard.”

“You just want us out so it would be easier to kill us all!” some anonymous voice hidden among the crowd cried out.

“If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead,” I bellowed. “Besides, you’re all doing a pretty good job at killing yourselves all on your own. The day after tomorrow, I expect everyone to be back at their posts, doing their work. If you have issues with this, then take it up directly with me.”

I began to walk toward the exit of The Catacombs.

“I guess that ends that,” Sam muttered under his breath as he and Ashley followed behind me. I heaved a sigh, knowing fully how false Sam’s statement was with all the threats pouring down on The Shade at the moment.

“No, Sam. This is by no means the end of anything. This is barely the beginning.”

CHAPTER 26: SOFIA

I gently shut the door to my bedroom as I stepped out into the living room, relieved that I was no longer being kept prisoner in one room. I found my father seated on one of the wooden bar stools taking a swig of Scotch. I stared at him for a couple of seconds before moving forward. I didn’t know what to say to him, so I was relieved when he took the initiative to break the silence.

“How’s Vivienne?”

“She was finally able to get back to sleep. She’s a lot better now.” No thanks to you. I climbed onto one of the stools next to him. “Why are you here, Aiden?”

“I came to discuss something of importance with you…”

My thoughts began to drift away and his words just trailed off into oblivion. My mind wandered off to all the vampires who’d been tortured and killed at the headquarters. I couldn’t concentrate on anything coming out of Aiden’s mouth, because at that time, I couldn’t quite point out the difference between him and the vampires back at The Shade who shamelessly treated their captives as prey and devoid of souls.

“Sofia, are you even listening to me?” He began snapping a finger in front of my face.

“Is it true that you’re now doing to Ingrid what you did to Vivienne? You pulled out Vivienne’s fangs. Do you do that to all vampires? Is that what you’re going to do to Claudia too? I’m not a big fan of Claudia. I’ve seen her hurt many humans, but torturing her in that manner seems…inhumane.”

“Inhumane?” Aiden interrupted before I could continue my rant. “Are you listening to yourself, Sofia? These creatures aren’t humans. Nothing you do to them—no matter how horrible—can be classified as inhumane.”