I narrowed my eyes at her. “It was you, wasn’t it? You helped Ben get out of The Oasis so he could ask help from the hunters. Is that why he asked that your life be spared? He did it in exchange for your help?”
She nodded. “You could say that.”
“But why? Why would you help him? You’re in hunter territory because of it. This is the most dangerous place for a vampire to be in.”
“I wanted to help you and Derek.”
I couldn’t help but scoff at that statement. “Sorry, Claudia, but I find that hard to believe.”
She rolled her eyes as she ran a hand through her mass of blonde curls. I saw in her actions a trace of the old Claudia that I had known. Mischievous, naughty, sadistically demented, but again, her words took me aback. “Well, of course you don’t believe me.” She gave me a wry laugh. “After everything you know I’ve done, after I helped deliver you to Borys Maslen, you’d be crazy to believe me.”
“You ruined my best friend, Claudia.”
“Ben reminded me so much of the Duke, but he was nothing like the man who ruined me. He didn’t deserve what I had put him through.”
I didn’t know what to make of her words. It was hard for me to believe, but Claudia actually looked genuinely remorseful. “You know what…” I threw my hands in the air. “I don’t even really care if all of this is just some sort of act. If it is, I don’t know why you’re doing it. I can’t even tell if you’re telling me the truth, but right now, if there’s any way you can help me, then I need you to do that.”
She stared at me, waiting for me to spout out what I had in mind.
I heaved a sigh and spoke my mind. “I need to get back to Derek, Claudia. I need to get back to The Shade.”
The moment the words came out of my lips, her face once again lit up in delighted expectation. “Yes! The Shade! I want to go back too, Sofia. You’ll take me with you, won’t you?” Her childlike glee was blowing my mind until she finally said the words that would shed light to the reason behind her alarming and sudden change of character. “Yuri will take me back, won’t he, Sofia?”
I didn’t see it coming, but it appeared that after hundreds of years, Claudia had finally realized that she was desperately in love with the one vampire at The Shade who could possibly hold genuine affection for her—Yuri Lazaroff.
CHAPTER 6: DEREK
Natalie pulled her dark hair up in a messy bun. Wearing a gray university hoodie and black leggings, she looked a lot more casual at home than she normally did wearing her usual, classy and stylish get-ups.
As she ran through the plans for my journey from her safe house to The Shade, I couldn’t help but appreciate her as a friend. We had some history between us—Natalie and I—history that very few people knew about, history that played a huge part in making us who we were. The centuries changed us both, but she would remain one of my dearest friends, even in spite of the fact that I knew that I could never fully trust her.
“So I’ve arranged transport for you to be brought from here to a nearby shore,” Natalie explained. “You’ll be leaving by jet at midnight. One of The Shade’s subs should be waiting on the beach to take you to The Shade.”
“How on earth were you able to communicate with anyone back at The Shade?” I asked.
She smiled. “I can’t tell you my trade’s secrets. Even you don’t have that much of an influence on me, Novak.”
Faded images of her as that beautiful young woman, who fascinated me from the moment I first laid eyes on her, flashed through my mind. I met her right after I escaped from our village—not long after my father turned Lucas, Vivienne and me into vampires. I hated being the creature I’d become and the reality of the hunter now being the hunted had just begun to sink into me. It was one of those nights when my craving for human blood was especially hard to suppress. Vivienne and I had gotten separated from Gregor and Lucas after a run-in with the hunters. I knew Vivienne was starving, because so was I, but she hadn’t spoken for almost a year by then, so I wasn’t expecting any complaints from her.
Natalie somehow found us as we trekked along the city walls, not daring to enter the city in case we couldn’t stop killing the people we met. She took us in and fed us. She was so tender, so kind, so lovely, I could barely believe that she was a vampire. That night was the first time I allowed myself to entertain the idea that goodness could still be found in creatures such as us. I had Natalie to thank for that. It was decades later before I saw her again—both of us bloodthirsty and losing touch with our humanity. Remembering her kindness and who she was greatly influenced my decision to escape it all and convince Cora to put me to sleep. After reminding her of whom she was before and the impact she had on me, I liked to think that I had a part in making her what she was now.
“Thank you for all your help, Natalie.”
She shrugged. “It’s the least I can do.” She grinned. “For old times’ sake.”
I heaved a sigh. “Did you ever think we’d end up this way? Vampires living centuries past our time?”
Natalie’s face softened and for a moment, I thought she was going to cry, but she just laughed dryly. “That’s just life, Novak. We are what we are. There’s no escaping it.”
No escape. The thought made me feel so hopeless. I was surprised by the strength of emotion that surged within me—something almost visceral fighting against that idea that our kind had no escape. How could that be our fate? That can’t be it, not when there’s hope for true sanctuary.