At the very center of the room was a round stage which served as “the stand” for whomever was addressing the council or being placed under trial.

On either side of the stand and facing the balcony were twenty seats that included one representative for each of the Elite’s vampire clans. Above and surrounding the council seats were seventy-five seats arranged in an amphitheater-styled setting reserved for the Elite. Rarely was anyone who wasn’t a member of the Elite brought to the Great Dome – unless to stand trial.

When I first paid the dome a visit, it was easy to see that it had rarely been used over the years, which left a lot to be said about how the kingdom was being run in my absence.

I tasked Vivienne with the responsibility of modernizing the dome, since with all the changes I planned to execute in the kingdom, we were going to use the place a lot more. Given her keen eye for design and knack for getting things done, it took her five and a half days to accomplish the task.

It was the same basic structure, but brought right into the twenty-first century, with flat screen monitors, and updated sound equipment. She completely refurnished the room – the ancient-looking thrones were replaced with comfortable recliners that still looked elegant and regal. Arguably the best alteration to the hall, however, was replacing the staccato roof with clear glass, so that the moon and stars always shone down on the hall.

After almost “murdering” the majority of the Elite Council, as Cameron so aptly put it, I found myself comfortably perched on my recliner on the balcony, staring up at the dark sky. I was waiting for the council to show up, so we could discuss the results of the census.

Eli was placed in charge of the census and since he was still trying to recover from the physical ordeal I put him through, he requested that we postpone the meeting for an hour. The request initially irritated me, but I figured he deserved the break. Not knowing what to do with my time, however, and not really up to spending it at my penthouse, dodging questions from the girls, I decided to go to the dome ahead of everyone else.

I’d only been there for a couple of minutes when Vivienne showed up.

“Derek.” She said my name flatly.

That almost always translated into trouble. “You did a great job with this place, Vivienne.”

“Yes. You’ve told me several times.” She climbed her way up to the balcony, right up to my level.

One look into her eyes was enough to tell me that we were in trouble. I could have sworn I saw a dark gray haze stirring right at the center of her pupils. Deeply bothered, I stood up and brushed a hand over her shoulder.

“What happened? What’s wrong?”

She looked up at the night sky. The last time I saw that same fear in her eyes was centuries ago after the victory of First Blood. I followed her gaze, hoping to see what it was that she was so afraid of. All I saw was hundreds of stars illuminating the beautiful night sky.

Vivienne uttered four words that immediately triggered a flood of haunting images the moment they escaped her lips. The hundred years that led to the establishment of The Shade revisited me in wave after wave of deeply buried memories – the shipwreck, the lighthouse, the caves, First Blood, the slaves, the wall, the beasts, the uprising, the massacre, the spell and finally, sanctuary. I could hear the screams of the dead crying out from the very foundations upon which The Shade was built. The deafening sound was followed by the guilt I would never in a thousand lifetimes be able to escape.

I shifted my gaze from the vast heavens back to the storms raging behind my sister’s whirling eyes. It was only then I realized that when she said those four words, summoning the ghosts of my past to come back and haunt me, she was no longer looking at the sky.

She was looking straight at me.

Her words?

“The darkness is coming.”

CHAPTER 15: SOFIA

The darkness is coming.

The words from my recurring nightmares kept echoing in my ears. Eerie and ghost-like, haunting me wherever I went. I had no idea whose voice the words belonged to, but I knew that it had something to do with The Shade, something to do with Derek.

I was sitting cross-legged on one of the cushioned seats inside our school library. My elbows were leaning over the dark mahogany table. My fingers drummed over the book I was trying – and failing – to comprehend. Apart from the librarian shuffling her feet over the carpeted floor and the rustling of a page being turned by one of the students a couple of tables away from me, the library was quiet.

I used to love the silence. It was once my refuge. That small corner of our school library was perhaps the only thing I missed about our school. It was my retreat. That afternoon, however, the silence only gave way to the voices that belonged to the dreams haunting me on a nightly basis.

The curve that formed on my lips was bitter and spiteful. What a joke. Darkness can’t possibly come to The Shade. The Shade is darkness. The idea shook me. I had no idea what the nightmares meant or whom or what the darkness was headed for. I didn’t want to know. I just wanted to forget.

Of course, that was impossible, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t pretend.

“I knew I’d find you here.” Ben pulled a up a seat next to me. He flipped it so that its backrest was leaning on the edge of the table before he straddled it and flashed me a smile.

I tried to smile back, but it seemed I failed miserably at it, because I heard concern in his voice when he asked, “What’s wrong? You alright?”

“Yeah. What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at football practice?”