“Derek? What is going on? Where are you? Do you have any idea how many people are looking for you right now?”

Gripping the disposable cell phone over my ear, I never thought I could be as elated to hear Natalie Borgia’s voice as I was at that moment. I heaved a sigh, taking note of the mixture of alarm and relief in her voice upon realizing that she was talking to me. “I need you to help me get back to The Shade without the hunters following me there. I’ve been trying to get them off my back for the past two days. It’s been hell.”

“Two days? Where are you? How are you keeping out of the sunlight?”

Hidden in some sleazy motel in the middle of who-knows-where, I was in no mood to answer her questions. “Natalie, I appreciate your concern, but right now, could you be less of a friend and more of a diplomat and just help me out?”

Truth be told, I couldn’t really wrap my mind around how I had survived the past two days. During times we spent at The Shade, both Sofia and my sister Vivienne—before she passed away in the hands of the hunters—tried their best to keep me up-to-date with the technologies and norms of the twenty-first century. Still, living them out firsthand was a shock. The world was far different from what it was four hundred years ago.

“Okay,” Natalie said, her voice lower and a bit less excited. “What do you want me to do?”

“I don’t know how they’re doing it, but the hunters seem to know where I am at all times. I just can’t get them off my back no matter how hard I try.”

“They probably have a tracker on you.”

“Okay…how do I get rid of the tracker?”

“For one thing, do you have anything on you that came from the hunters’ headquarters?”

“I have credit cards, wallets, drivers’ licenses, an SUV…”

I could practically see Natalie roll her eyes. “Get rid of all of those. You don’t know which one of those is bugged, so you might as well just get rid of everything. I’m going to give you an address. That’s my safe house. Don’t bring anything that the hunters have been in contact with. Did you get all of that?”

I nodded before remembering that she couldn’t actually see me. “Yes. Thank you.”

“Get here safe, Derek. I’m worried about you.”

“I will. Thanks.” I heaved a deep sigh before looking at the SUV. I said goodbye to it, inwardly groaning at all the running I was about to do.

Natalie plopped on the empty space on the couch beside me as she handed me another glass of blood. “I’m glad you made it. You sure the hunters aren’t still on your back?”

“I completely lost them about a day ago. Had to take several detours though…”

“What’s going on, Derek? Where were you? The people at The Shade have been going mad when they heard news of the fall of The Oasis. Rumors are that you’re now siding with the hunters.”

I almost choked on my drink. “Siding with the hunters? Did you not hear me when I said that they’ve been hunting me down for days?”

“Well, the rumor is that they caught you and that you, Ingrid, Claudia and Sofia were taken to hunter territory. We all thought you were a goner, and yet, here you are. How could you have possibly escaped the hunters? Hunter territory is to vampires as The Shade is to humans. Once you get in, you can’t get out.”

I didn’t like where the conversation was going. I quickly finished the drink and laid the glass on top of the coffee table. “I can’t believe that anyone would think that I would work with the hunters.”

“Well, you were once one of the most feared hunters alive and you have to admit that you coming out of hunter territory unscathed is more than just a bit suspicious.”

“Natalie, you believe me when I say that the only reason they kept me alive and let me out of there was because of Sofia, right?”

“I’m a rogue, Derek. What does it matter what I believe? My job is to remain a diplomat and bring messages across covens. Since when does my opinion count?”

“It counts to me.”

“Of course I believe you, but come on… It’s not like the other covens will buy that story. For crying out loud, Derek, do you really expect them to believe that you just walked out of hunter territory thanks to true love?”

“I expect them to believe that there is an exception to every rule. You said it yourself, Natalie… Hunter territory is to vampires as The Shade is to humans. Sofia and Ben were the exceptions. They got out of The Shade, did they not? Isn’t it high time that a vampire got out of hunter territory unscathed?”

“Sure.” Natalie shrugged. “I know you well enough to buy that, but just to play devil’s advocate here, I have to remind you that you are Derek Novak and you are in love with Sofia Claremont, who is the daughter of the notorious Ingrid Maslen. Not only that, but she’s also the daughter of Aiden Claremont, or as we know him in our world, the infamous hunter, Reuben.”

“What are you trying to tell me, Natalie?” I asked, growing weary of the conversation.

“Gregor and Borys are alive and no one knows where they are. Other covens are beginning to suspect the Novaks’ loyalties, because of the fact that you appeared at The Oasis on the exact same day the hunters attacked. Some don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

“What do you expect me to do about that?” I could practically feel the darkness coming and all I could think about was how much I wanted to hold Sofia in my arms. I inwardly groaned because just the thought of her made my heart pound and crave for her blood. It was this blood thirst that reminded me why it was necessary for me to leave her.

Natalie must’ve sensed my tension, because uncharacteristically of her, she brushed a hand over my shoulder. “All I’m saying, Novak, is that The Shade won’t be safe for long. I think you should expect that the coven leaders will eventually attack the island.”

At this statement, I could only scoff in response. “Tell me something I don’t already know.”

At that moment, I could almost envision the future and all the bloodshed ahead. I wanted to laugh at the prophecy once spoken about me: The younger will rule above father and brother and his reign alone can provide his kind true sanctuary.

Considering what was up ahead, the prophecy sounded to me like one big cosmic joke. How could all this darkness be true sanctuary?

CHAPTER 4: AIDEN

I stared at the lifeless corpse of the hunter whose life Derek Novak claimed. The hunter had a wooden stake grotesquely buried into his skull. I wondered to myself if I ought to tell Sofia about what had happened. Perhaps I should explain to her how the love of her life, or so she claimed, had fought against the hunters, killed one of them, took one of them hostage before taking their belongings and leaving them in the middle of nowhere.

We’d been following his tracks ever since. I gave strict instructions that Derek Novak was to be kept under surveillance until he returned to The Shade. I was desperate to know the location of the island and I wanted Derek’s every movement tracked, but now, they were giving me news that they’d lost him.

Incompetent fools! Of course, I kept my calm in front of my men. I learned long ago that my cool silence scared them far more than an angry outburst.

“Surely your daughter knows where the island is,” Ivan, the hunter whom Derek took hostage, suggested. “Can’t we pry information out of her?”

“I believe she’s been brainwashed by the vampires. She is far too in love with Derek Novak to ever give the location of the island.”

“Then maybe we can reverse the effects of the brainwashing…” Ivan pressed. “Surely there’s a way…”

“I’m not going to subject my daughter to any more damage. Know your place and stay in it. Do not discuss Sofia anymore.”

He backed down just as I had expected, forcing me to turn my thoughts toward my daughter and how she seemed to hate the very sight of me. Since our confrontation, I placed her under lock and key. She wasn’t allowed to go anywhere nor do anything without my express approval.

I kept her under a routine of training at the atrium as a new recruit, being taught how to defend herself against vampires and how to fight against them. I kept an eye on her, expecting her to keep to herself, to distance herself from the other recruits and the more trained hunters—young men and women devoted to the eradication of her beloved vampires. Thus, I was surprised to find how easy it was for her to strike a friendship with everyone she came across with. It didn’t take long for her to build a rapport with her trainers and the other recruits.

I realized what was so attractive about my daughter. She was a ray of sunshine, always accommodating and with a ready smile to those who approached her. She was beautiful and she was definitely catching the eye of several young men.

Pathetic saps. As if they could ever be deserving of my daughter… I was surprised by my own sense of overprotectiveness for her.

I found it ironic that I was thinking of her in that way, considering how the only person she seemed to loathe and avoid was me. In fact, when I first visited her at the atrium, she wouldn’t even look at me. She treated me like I was invisible.

All I could do was watch her interact with the other people around her while the head director of training, Julian, updated me about her progress.

“She’s learning fast,” he said. “She says that Derek Novak already gave her some basic training on how to defend herself against vampires before.”

“Why on earth would he do that?”

“She told me that he wanted her safe. I asked her why she never used it against the vampires who attacked her and she just shrugged and told me that they were all stronger than she was, and that she’s a pacifist at heart and kept forgetting to bring her wooden stake with her.” There was no mistaking the hint of amusement in Julian’s voice. Clearly, he was fond of my daughter. “Were you aware that she’s been stabbed with one before?”