A Shade Of Vampire 5: A Blaze Of Sun (5 page)

The romantic setting of the top floor of the Lighthouse was dangerous and I knew it. Surrounded by candlelight and having Derek all to myself, feeling his passionate kisses on my lips and his hands on my body, I knew we were in danger of once again going too far. I couldn’t allow that, because I knew Derek well enough to know that he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.

So when things were getting heated, I was the one who pulled away. When he gave me a questioning look, I simply smiled and said, “You know why.”

He understood immediately and nodded at me
before stealing another peck on the lips.

After making sure that everything was in order after the battle, Derek suggested that we both spend the night at the Lighthouse, something I eagerly agreed to.

The Lighthouse was the only man-made structure outside of the Crimson Fortress. Only recently did anyone aside from me and Vivienne find out that it existed. It served as our escape from the troubles of The Shade. It was where we always went to when we didn’t want to be found. This time, however, there were people who would know how to find us if they wanted to, but it was already a given that if Derek and I decided to spend time at the Lighthouse, it was because we didn’t want to get interrupted. The citizens of The Shade respected that so we were never interrupted when we were there.

“I wish we could get some sort of musical instrument up here,” Derek mused
, as he leaned back on the couch and motioned for me to sit on the space beside him and snuggle against him, a request I quickly obliged.

I leaned my head on his shoulder, smiling at his love for music and the skill by which he was able to handle any instrument he got his hands on. “Why not? We could ha
ve a guitar up here or even a violin…”

“You like it when I play?”

“I
love
it when you play.”

He grinned, knowing full well that I meant it and that I wasn’t just trying to flatter
him. Of course, he wasn’t exactly the kind who needed to be flattered. “Of course you do. How could you not? I’m amazing.”

I hit him on the face with one of the pillows. “You’re awfully humble.”

“I think it’s the victory getting into my head.”

Questions and doubts began to surface in my mind with Derek’s
mention of the battle. I wanted to talk about it, but I didn’t want to dampen the light mood we were both in.

It seemed Derek didn’t want to discuss the battle either, because he heaved a sigh and said, “
Since I’m refusing to make out with you any more, what are we going to do now?”

I raised a brow at him and chuckled. “
You’re
refusing to make out with me? Really now?”

“Stop insisting, Sofia
.” His face was deadpanned. “It’s not very becoming of a lady like you.”

I rolled my eyes, trying to hide how amused I was by his sarcasm. Before he could stop me, however, I jumped to my feet and spun around to face him, taking both his hands in mine. “We should dance.”

“Dance?” He raised a brow.

“Yes. Not like the sweet, slow dances we usually have. I want to dance.” I began to shake my hips and raise my hands in the air.

He began to laugh. “Who dances like that?”

I widened my eyes and threw
my hands in the air in a waving gesture. “Uh, everyone?”

He was looking at me like I was crazy. It took a moment for it to register in my head that Derek lived his teenage years
centuries ago.
Of course he has no idea how teenagers today dance.

“Okay… We can’t do those silly medieval dances you did in your time… You need to learn how to dance like an eighteen-year-old in a bar.”

I coaxed him to stand up and he hesitantly obliged, laughing at my excitement.

“We don’t have music, Sofia,” he reminded me.

“Didn’t you tell me once that you
always
have background music playing in your head?” I began humming an upbeat song. I was surprised when he actually began mimicking the beat of a drum with his mouth as he caught on to the tune of the song.

A vampire that can beatbox.
Who would’ve thought?
I grinned. “That’s great. Now, we can dance.”

For the next half hour, we
were dancing to our own music, laughing at how silly both of us sounded and looked. I loved the sound of his laughter. I loved all those moments when we could just spend time together and have fun. I recalled all those times that made me fall in love with Derek Novak and realized how much of my heart he held.

At some point, he just grabbed me by the hips and pulled me against him and kissed me full on the mouth. I was putty in his hands as I responded to the kiss.

When our lips parted, I was surprised by what he said. “Marry me, Sofia.”

I laughed as I raised my ring finger,
showing I was already engaged. “Uhh… I already said yes to that before. Don’t you remember?”

He held my raised hand and began thumbing
the ring on my finger. “Yes.” He nodded, smiling at the memory of the night I finally agreed to marry him. “Then let’s do it, Sofia. Let’s get married.”

I
frowned, searching his face, wondering if he was actually being serious.

He grinned and shook his head, as if having read my mind
. “I’m not joking, Sofia. Let’s get married. Let’s tie the knot. Tomorrow if you want!”

I wanted to marry him more than anything, but something about the rush didn’t feel right
. I couldn’t help but voice out my apprehensions, despite my desire to keep the night light and free of any serious talk. “I’d love to do that, Derek, but why the rush? Why all of a sudden do you want to do this? We’re in the middle of a war. Is it really the best time to toss this into all the chaos?”

His smile widened as he cupped both my cheeks with his large hands. “That’s the thing, Sofia. As you said, we’re in the middle of a war. All of this could end any time soon. I want to live life to the fullest and if this moment is my last with you, then why not, Sofia? Why can’t we get married
now? We
want
to be together. Why can’t we just give this to ourselves?” 

The
look in his eyes and his exuberance was my complete undoing. All I can think of was, “Yeah… why not?” and I found myself voicing the words out.

I tried to drift off to sleep
, snuggled against him inside the Lighthouse, however, I couldn’t help but feel as if something was amiss, as if he was keeping something from me. I hated that I felt that way, but I couldn’t deny it either. It wasn’t like Derek to just jump into the idea of a wedding while in the middle of a war. I wasn’t sure if I was buying into his reason about living in the moment, simply because to do something so drastic wasn’t exactly the Derek that I knew.

I trie
d to fend off the thoughts bugging me that night, but it was impossible. I was disturbed by the idea of rushing into marriage.
Is it because you’re afraid he might never become mortal? Is it because you fear there might not be a cure after all?

I shook my head. That wasn’t it. I was certain that there was a cure and that we could find it. It was just a matter of time. I stayed up way into the night, asking myself why I wasn’t excited about marrying the love of my life
.

It may be because it doesn’t feel like the right time or perhaps
we don’t have the right motives. Either way, getting married now just doesn’t feel right.

I stared at my daughter like she had somehow morphed into a strange
other-worldly creature. I couldn’t believe the words coming out of her lips. I wasn’t even sure I heard right, because my brain was finding it difficult to register that my only daughter was talking to me about wanting to marry a vampire.

I was so overcome by surprise, I started tuning her out right after she said,
“Derek wants to get married as soon as possible. I agreed.”

I was going through another set or two of push-ups when she arrived in my cell, sat on my cot and just began talking. I actually appreciated that she decided to come to me in order to pour her heart out, but I was nowhere near prepared to hear about the things she was saying.

She was in the middle of a sentence, when I just found myself bursting out, “Have you gone mad, Sofia?”

She sealed her lips and looked at me as I stood to my full height, giving her that certain glare fathers gave their daughters when they were very, very displeased.

“You’re a mortal talking about getting married to an immortal. Do you even realize what
that
means?”

“Well, it’s not like you didn’t know that he
is
my fiancé to begin with.”

I stared at her in disbelief, her green eyes – the same shade as mine – staring up at me in wide-eyed defense of the talk she was giving.

“Why on earth are you even talking to me about this if you’ve already made up your mind, Sofia?” I leaned against the stone wall across from the cot and crossed my arms over my chest. When she didn’t respond, I glared at her. “You’re still hanging your hopes on this ridiculous idea of a cure, aren’t you?”

She blew out a sigh, her shoulders sagging. “If you’d been listening and not finding yourself too busy preparing to throw one of your fatherly fits, then you would’ve heard me say that I do have my doubts about the marriage. Truth
be told, I’m wondering why he’s in such a rush. Why now? Why does he want to get married all of a sudden?”

It took a couple of seconds before her words registered in my mind. I cocked my head to the side, wondering if she was playing some elaborate joke on me, but she really did seem to be
truly considering this.
Maybe she’s not as stubborn, irrational and immature as I think.
I’d been told many times by the people of The Shade that Sofia was a strong and free-spirited young woman. I wanted to see that side of her, but whenever I laid my eyes on her, all I could really see was a stubborn and rebellious teenager lovesick over a vampire, something I could not accept as a hunter.

I wanted to capitalize on her doubts, but for the first time, I gave her the credit she was due and decided to just listen to her. “Why do you think you have these doubts?”

“Well, don’t get me wrong… I want nothing more than to marry Derek…”

At that, my lips twitched, but I fought the urge to give her a violent reaction.
Calm down, Aiden. It’s not like you haven’t seen firsthand how much they are in love with each other.

She was waiting for me to react to that one, so when I just stood there and stared at her, waiting for her to explain further, she continued her explanation, “I just feel like something’s wrong. Peace has always been my compass, and I don’t have any of that when it comes to this. I don’t even know why.”

“If that is so, why did you agree to the wedding, Sofia?”

“Because I love him. You know that… He seemed so excited and so into it, it was just hard to say no, but now that I’m thinking about it… I feel like we’re not strong enough for something like this. Not yet.”

“So, what are you going to do now? Are you still going to push through with it?” I was testing her, wondering how her mind worked, how she made her decisions. Up until that time, I always saw her as being rather impulsive, like a child who follows even the slightest of whims. I was hoping that she would prove me wrong.

“I have to be honest with Derek about this. I can’t marry him feeling this way.
At least
not now.
I need to have clarity for a commitment as huge as marriage. It would be unfair for both of us if I just pushed through with it in spite of my apprehensions.”

Every fatherly instinct I had
began to applaud for her. I wanted to pull her into my arms and embrace her for thinking straight for once, but all I did was nod my head and shrug one shoulder. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Aiden…” she said my name with a hint of gratefulness.

I raised a brow at her. “Yeah?”

“When I do get married someday, it would mean the world to me if you walked me down the aisle. You’ll do that, right? No matter who I marry?”

“Sofia… I wouldn’t miss your wedding for the world.”

Later, after she had gone off to
do whatever it was that kept her busy in the island of vampires, I realized that I meant it. I knew that even if she married Derek Novak, I could never say no to walking her down that aisle.
It would be my deepest honor.

I caught that thought and remembered the last time I acknowledged something as my “deepest honor
.” It was the day I became a hunter.

Four ugly scars lined the face of my father
. Whenever I was in his presence, I would always take a few moments to stare at them, reminding myself that they were one of the reasons I should always hate vampires.

That night, we were at the gardens of his large estate, right beside the koi pond, and he was
circling me like he would a vulture.

“This is it, son,” his gruff voice spoke up. “You must avenge the family. You must restore our good name.” His voice broke.

Memories of the tragedy that occurred began to flood back through my mind. Blood streaming out of the hardwood floor, lifeless bodies strewn all over the hall – men, women and children alike. Indiscriminately murdered by vampires.

My stomach clenched as I remembered the faces of those who died that night – all of them familiar, all of them close to me.
I belonged to a family of hunters. Every single one of my father’s siblings were hunters and all my cousins were too. Our grandparents were hunters and their parents before them were hunters.

That night, every living member of our family was killed in a bloody massacre. Only my father and I survived
. My father risked his life to save me and I owed him everything. I owed him a debt that I could repay by being the greatest and most powerful hunter that ever lived.

The memories served to strengthen my resolve to avenge my family.

“I’m going to make the vampires pay, Father. I will.”

With the vast fortune we inherited from the death of every relative we had, I became Aiden Claremont to the world. With my father’s help we built a security conglomerate trusted by the entire world. In the
underground, I was known simply as Reuben, one of the most well-connected and affluent hunters of the Order. It didn’t take long before I rose through the ranks, much to my father’s pride.

My father died battling vampires and his death was another reason I felt I needed to take revenge on those vile creatures. My life revolved around my business and my desire to rid the world of vampires. That is
, until I met Camilla.

I always thought that I would have a family who shared my hatred for vampires, but when I married the love of my life, I couldn’t stand the thought of dragging her into the violent world of hunters.
So, she only got to know Aiden and never really got to know Reuben.

When Camilla gave birth to Sofia and I held our newborn daughter for the very first time, I took one look at her and knew that I didn’t want the cycle of blood and violence to repeat in her generation. I stared into her lovely green eyes and adored her enough to never want her to encounter a vampire in her life.

At that, I failed, because my precious Sofia ended up falling in love with a vampire, and not just any vampire – Derek Novak, whose head would be any hunter’s prized possession.

I couldn’t help but grunt with frustration as I tried to entertain the idea of giving my daughter away in marriage to Derek Novak. The thought made me sick and yet
, despite my hunters’ instincts telling me that it was wrong, I had been in The Shade long enough to know that what she had with Derek wasn’t just a passing flame.

Sofia wasn’t raised to hate vampires like I was. She was raised to never know vampires and when she encountered one, he fought for her and protected her in a way I was never able to.
Upon seeing firsthand how she interacted with the vampires in The Shade and how much affection they held toward her, I couldn’t help but see her through the eyes of the island’s citizens. I saw why she was loyal to the vampires, but I also realized that it’s not even really loyalty to any specific sort.

Sofia has simply chosen to take the side of good – to follow where she believes goodness lies.
I grimaced.
Hate the idea as much as you will, but your daughter sees good even in vampires.

I found myself speaking my thoughts out loud in frustration. “How could you be so naïve, Sofia?”

Right then, it dawned on me that I was wrong. It wasn’t just naïveté.

She has
a strength in her that I’ve never seen in anyone else. She is strong enough to trust and forgive and to risk getting hurt again, no matter how much she’s been betrayed. She doesn’t put up walls to protect herself from those who could possibly hurt her. She is strong enough to allow herself to be vulnerable. How does she do it?

Right then, I couldn’t help but contrast her with her mother. The irony that came with a fierce hunte
r like me ending up with a wife who was a vampire, and a daughter who was madly in love with a vampire, didn’t escape me and I grimaced at the notion. Camilla and Sofia had many similarities between them, but I knew then exactly what set them apart.

No matter
how powerful a creature Ingrid has become, she was always weak on the inside in a way Sofia never was.