I kept running, leading them round the winding corridors and as far away from Ibrahim as I could. But then it finally happened. I took a wrong turn and hit a dead end. I stretched out my palms and unleashed a billow of fire, hoping that it would scare them back.
It didn’t deter them.
Ashley narrowed the space between us until she was but three feet away. I looked at the wreck that barely even resembled Ashley any more and felt a pang of guilt. I’d already dealt her more than her fair share of suffering in the past. I battled with myself over what I was about to do. Look at her, Derek, a part of myself reasoned, trying to justify to myself what I now saw as inevitable. She now looks in a worse state than even Sofia was in.
Taking advantage of my reluctance to harm its vessel, the Elder reached for my throat and attempted to bite into my flesh. I grabbed Ashley’s arms and yanked them away from me. Then I kicked her stomach. She reeled back a few steps.
I lost balance as the guard dove for my right leg and began dragging me away from the corner I’d retreated into. I swung my left leg upward in one sharp motion, smashing it against his jaw. The back of his head collided with the wall.
Having recovered, Ashley flew at me once again, this time managing to dig her fangs into my arm. She was preparing to insert venom into my bloodstream. Would this venom even turn me? Can I even be turned back to my former state? It wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.
I placed a hand against her neck and released a sharp pulse of heat. Ashley jumped back, squealing and clutching the burn. But, to my dismay, she came for me again.
I’m so sorry, Ashley, I whispered. I looked into her blank eyes, knowing that her soul was trapped somewhere behind them. I inhaled and braced myself for the release of a flame that she wouldn’t survive.
Her hands outstretched, she aimed for me once more.
But as my fingertips were on the verge of eruption, she halted mid-air and fell to the ground, writhing and howling with pain. Barely a second later, the guard mirrored her behavior. Then they both became motionless.
What in the world…
Ibrahim appeared, sweating and out of breath. He had a gash across his left cheek.
“What…” I began to ask.
“It’s destroyed, Derek. I destroyed the gate. The evil spirits who were still on this side of the gate are no longer able to survive Earth’s atmosphere without any remaining link connecting back to Cruor. They will soon, or have already, withered away.”
“Which means…” I ran back through the corridors until I reached the innermost chamber. Another guard lay on the ground, blood drenching the claws of his right hand; Ibrahim’s, no doubt. Where the gate had been, there was no sign that anything other than solid stone floor had ever existed.
I left the chamber and headed toward the outer layer of The Sanctuary until I reached the exit. I yanked the door open and, although the witches still surrounded the temple in a tight circle, the army of vampires who had previously been battling against the shield now lay strewn on the ground.
Seeing that Ibrahim had caught up with me, I asked, “So they’re gone? F-forever?” I found it hard to fathom the implications of what we had just accomplished.
“As long as no new gates are created. I don’t know if our kind will ever be capable of developing the kind of magic our Ancients wielded in order to create the gates. Once a power like that has been neglected for generations, it’s almost impossible to rekindle.” Then Ibrahim turned to the witches and said, “You can relinquish the shield now. Our work here is done.”
They did as instructed and sounds from the island met my ears again. The screaming had stopped and instead my ears were met with the crash of the distant waves against the shore and the rustling of leaves. It was as though the island itself was sighing with relief.
“So… so that means that…” I was still stumbling over my words and trying to grapple with the situation. “Hawks and Elders… there’s no way they can trouble us anymore? We’re free?”
Just as I said the words, the Ageless manifested herself in front of the fountain, just a few feet away from us. She looked sternly at me but then fixed her gaze on Ibrahim.
“So, I see you were successful,” she said. “And now you understand what remains to be done?”
Ibrahim nodded.
“What?” I asked. “What remains to be done?”
The Ageless ignored me. “You don’t have long. I gave you this concession because you are my cousin. But you understand that we must carry out what we agreed upon.”
“Concession? What are you talking about?” I tried to grab hold of the witch’s shoulder but, to my frustration, the minute I touched her she vanished into thin air. “Damn you!” I yelled at the empty space that only seconds before had been occupied.
I faced Ibrahim. “Well? Explain.”
“I will, Derek. But first, I suggest we bring your friends and family here to The Shade. The Elders are no more, and I believe it’s the safest place for now. My companions here will start to care for the vessels.”
An unnerving feeling began to creep over me and Ibrahim’s unwillingness to discuss it only served to further fuel the fire of my doubts.
We’ve wiped out the gates of the Hawks and Elders, but what kind of evil are we now left with?
Chapter 31: Sofia
Ibrahim didn’t even give me a chance to say goodbye to Derek. For all I knew, it could be the last time I saw him. The whole island had been transformed into a hive of wasps. I shuddered to think of what could happen on his arrival.
But there was nothing I could do other than wait and hope for the best. It took me almost an hour after Derek’s sudden disappearance to compose myself enough to speak to anybody. Zinnia and Gavin respected my silence and left the room, muttering about going out to look for some animal blood for us.
Then I made my way back upstairs to see if Vivienne had woken yet. I’d been meaning to speak to her since we first rescued her from the ship, but she had seemed to be in no state to talk to anyone.
I knocked on her bedroom door, and when there was no answer, I entered anyway. She lay in bed, eyes open and staring blankly at the ceiling. It was only when I sat on the bed next to her that she turned her head to face me.
“Sofia,” she said hoarsely, reaching for my hand. She looked at me differently now than when I’d had an Elder inside me; I guessed that she had already sensed that I was my old self again, save for the fact that I was still a vampire. “What happened to you?” she asked.
I explained about the time I’d spent under the Elder’s influence. But the real reason I’d come to see her, and what I truly was dying to do, was to offer an apology.
“Vivienne, when I visited you in your room at Headquarters and told you about… about Xavier. I’m so sorry. I don’t even know for a fact that the words I spoke were true, since I didn’t witness his death with my own eyes. Everything I said came directly from the Elder’s mouth.”
She cast her eyes away from me and gulped. She looked on the verge of tears again, but she swallowed her emotions back. “It’s okay, Sofia. You weren’t in control of yourself. How can I blame you for that? And in any case… I-I think it’s about time that I come to terms with the fact that I’m not going to see him again. It’ll be less painful in the long term.”
I held her in my arms and kissed her forehead, running one hand through her hair. There was nothing I could say that wouldn’t make her feel worse, for her conclusion was the truth.
Eventually she broke the silence and asked, “Where’s Derek?”
I didn’t want to lay any extra worries on my sister-in-law’s shoulders. “Ibrahim took him to meet the Ageless,” I lied. “I’m not sure what for exactly, because he left very suddenly. But he should be back within a day or so.”
After I’d spent a couple of hours with Vivienne, I left her alone and went downstairs to see if Gavin and Zinnia had returned. Indeed they had, but instead of the sacks of blood that we were used to at Head
quarters, they’d bought hunks of raw meat and bags full of fresh fish from the local shops.
“There’s not much blood in the meat, but you’ll have to make do for now,” Zinnia said.
“Seems like the dog is asking for breakfast,” Gavin muttered, as howling started in the basement. Shadow must have woken up and smelt the dead flesh. “I’ll go feed him.”
It wasn’t long before the two couples came down to join us, closely followed by Eli and Landis. We all sat around the large kitchen table and began tucking into our meal. All the vampires ate hungrily while I pecked here and there just for the sake of normalcy. Gavin and Zinnia settled for cereal they’d picked up from the grocery store.
I repeated much of the conversation I’d just had with Vivienne, an overview of everything that had happened since I last saw them. And again I lied about Derek when they asked where he had gone.
Craving solitude, I grabbed some fish for Vivienne and brought it up to her on a tray. Then I left for my own room and spent the rest of the daylight hours in bed. It was too much for me to keep engaging in conversations with people who were oblivious to the fact that my husband was in mortal danger.
Just as the sun was setting and I was preparing myself to spend a night alone in bed, there was a soft rapping at the door and to my delight, Derek entered.
His face had gained a few new scars and his arms looked cut up and bloody, but other than that, I couldn’t complain about the state he’d been returned to me in. He had survived. That was all I cared about.
I flung myself against him, winding my legs around his waist. His body was still sweaty from battle. Before I could start asking questions, he said, “We did it. We ruined the gates. The Elders are gone, forever.”
I lowered myself to the ground and my first instinct was to breathe out a sigh of relief. But something was off. Why wasn’t he smiling down at me, instead of furrowing his brows and chewing on his lower lip?
“Why aren’t you happy?”
“The witches,” he muttered. “They haven’t destroyed their gates yet. Something is up. Ibrahim has promised to shed more light on the matter once we’ve returned to The Shade.”
Return to The Shade. I couldn’t keep the excitement from bubbling up within me at the thought of returning home. Yet, at the same time, I was filled with dread at the state we might find it in. I had no idea how many had survived, or how many we had lost.
“And Rose,” I said. “Will it be safe to have Corrine return with Rose?”
“I would rather that we wait until I understand better what twisted plans are going on in the mind of that bitch. For now, let’s just gather everyone up here and return. I already met Gavin and Zinnia on my way up here and they’ve started alerting the others.”
Within five minutes, everyone stood around the kitchen table, except Shadow and Ibrahim who were on top of it.
“Lock arms,” Ibrahim ordered. Once we were all touching each other, he began reciting a chant. He placed one hand on Derek’s shoulder and the other on Shadow’s back. As soon as he made contact, his magic rushed through us. Violent wind blew against me and I was forced to shut my eyes. When I reopened them, I was met with the sight of The Shade’s Port. A salty breeze wafted past and the fresh scent of trees filled my nostrils.
We were home.
Chapter 32: Sofia
None of us spoke a word. I knew all of us shared the anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach. After the Elders’ conversation about what they’d been doing to the humans and vessels, I felt scared about what I might lay eyes on each time we turned a corner.
What if there are no humans or vessels left? What if they already took them all back to Cruor?
We walked through the forest until we reached the clearing just in front of the Sanctuary. Vivienne was the first to rush forward and examine the bodies lying on the ground. Most of these vampires I did not know the names of, but then I saw a little familiar figure lying on the ground. The witches who had accompanied Derek there were all huddled around the vampires, nursing them back to health. I was relieved to see Abby lying on the lap of an elderly witch, her eyes open, despite looking exhausted.
“Where’s Ashley?” Derek asked one of the witches. “You know, the female vampire the head Elder had possessed.”
“She must still be in the temple,” the witch said. “We haven’t reached the bodies in there yet, there have been so many out here to deal with.”
“Take me to her!” I said, grabbing hold of Derek and pulling him in the direction of the temple. He led me along a corridor toward the center of the building until we reached a passageway where a wrecked Ashley lay sprawled on the floor. Beside her was a vampire guard, also unconscious and in a similar condition.
Derek picked Ashley up and said, “Let’s bring her outside. I’ll send someone back here to take care of the guards.”
We moved toward the exit but when we passed the entrance to the innermost chamber, I called out to Derek, “Go on without me, I’ll catch up with you.”
I recalled that this chamber had been the last place I’d laid eyes on Xavier. I walked from one end to the other and all around the edges of the room just to check I hadn’t missed his body concealed in any shadows. But he was indeed gone. It pained me beyond measure that Vivienne wouldn’t even have his body to bury.
By the time I’d exited the temple, two witches were already bent over Ashley. They examined her closely.
“What are her chances?” I asked in a hushed tone.
“She’s a few hundred breaths away from death,” a witch said. I crouched beside them and watched with bated breath as they worked their magic.
“Derek! Sofia!” Zinnia’s shrill voice echoed through the courtyard. I looked around to see her and Gavin rushing toward us. “We need you at the Cells now! Hurry!”
I felt torn between leaving Ashley or going to aid Zinnia and Gavin. I looked up at the two witches and knew that she was in capable hands. My watching over her wouldn’t have any impact over whether she lived or died.
I grabbed Derek’s hand and we followed Zinnia and Gavin through the woods. Gavin ended up jumping onto Derek’s back and Zinnia onto mine, since even with their weights on our backs, we could still run ten times faster than either of them on their human legs.
When we arrived outside the entrance to the Black Heights, Gavin and Zinnia slid off of us and pushed open the creaking door. The smell of damp and decay flooded over us. I remembered what it was like to walk through the Cells all those days ago, the conditions our people were living in. But now, as I looked around, I realized it had become many times worse.
“There are just so many humans and vampires locked up here, we need your help urgently. Many are sick and even more are on the verge of death from lack of water and food,” Gavin said.
Derek reached up toward a high shelf near the entrance and pulled down about two dozen keys. He handed a set to me and said, “Most of the locks take the same key. You’ll have to experiment until you find the right one. We need to get them out of this hellhole and into the fresh air outside. Gavin and Zinnia—Sofia and I will work on releasing everyone from the Cells, but you’re in charge of herding them all outside and organizing them.”
My hands shook as I began opening the locks. Shouts and cries of joy met my ears when they saw what I was doing. They came rushing out and many children latched onto me and hugged me. But I couldn’t stay long with any of them and instead directed them toward Zinnia and Gavin, for Derek and I still had a long night ahead of us.
There were some humans who were no longer able to walk, or who had passed out, and occasionally some dead. Derek and I carried out all the survivors and placed them on the soft grass outside the door of the mountain, beneath the clear night’s sky.
After several hours, we’d managed to clear out all the humans. Next were the vampires. Many of them were in just as bad a state as the humans, lying on the floor with injuries and deprived of blood for God knows how long. We assembled them a
few meters away from the humans. Those who were still in a reasonably healthy state were instructed to fetch emergency supplies—animal blood for the vampires, water and bread for the humans.
Once we were certain there was nobody left behind in the dungeons, Derek and I exited the mountain range and looked around the clearing, surveying the countless people lying on the ground and the remaining milling about offering assistance.
Just as we were about to enter the crowds to begin helping ourselves, loud barks echoed down from the rocks above. Thirty black vampire mutts dashed down from the boulders. Their red eyes glinting and sharp fangs bared, it was clear what these dogs were. Angry. Hungry. Racing toward warm human blood.
“Derek!” I gasped.
But he had already noticed. He took off running full speed toward the spot they were descending to. I followed him, baring my claws.
Just as the dogs were landing on the ground, Derek stretched out his palms and fire blazed from them, engulfing the dogs with flames. They barked and whimpered in shock and pain. Dozens fell to the grass, dead. But three had used the smoky haze as an opportunity to take a detour around us. They had climbed all the way to a different side of the mountain, about twenty feet away from us, and were about to rush toward the humans from that angle.
“No!” I screamed. I flew forward and cut deep gashes into two of the dogs’ necks with my claws, slicing through their arteries. But one managed to escape me. I heard screams and looked around wildly to see it about to leap into the helpless crowd.
In a whirl of black clashing with black, Shadow emerged from the crowd. He knocked the dog to the ground and ripped into its neck, Eli racing close behind him. Shadow didn’t let go of the dog until he’d completely torn its throat out. Then he dragged the body away from the humans, leaving a bloody trail on the grass behind him, and dropped it directly on top of my feet.