My eyes darted across the small space surrounding me. I couldn’t see anything. Suddenly, I was enveloped by pitch black darkness and all the moonlight that had been previously streaming through the small window somehow disappeared.

“Camilla…”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I recognized the voice. The voice was Borys’, but he never called me Camilla, especially after he turned me into a vampire. “Who are you?”

“Anybody you want me to be really…” the voice responded.

I could sense a presence near me, so I began waving my hands in front of me, but I felt nothing and saw nothing. “What do you want? How did you get here?”

“It doesn’t matter how I got here, but yes… we must discuss what I want.”

Another cold breeze swept through the room and I found myself crashing to the floor, balling myself up in a fetal position as I sensed the strange presence standing over me. Immediately, it sank into me that I was up against a powerful force I had no business messing with. “Please…” I begged. “I don’t want any trouble.”

I didn’t know how, but I could sense his dark delight at my surrender, at my acknowledgment that I was a lesser being than he.

“Listen to me carefully, Camilla, because I will say this only once. You are never to refer to yourself as Ingrid again. You are to play the part of Camilla Claremont. You will earn back the love of your husband and daughter. You will do everything in your power to get back into their good graces. Do you understand me?”

I wanted to object. I wanted to say no, but all I could do was nod.

He didn’t seem to be convinced by my agreement, because before I knew it, something hit me on the arm like a thick whip, burning my skin the moment it touched me. I screamed at the pain and began whimpering, afraid that he would hit me once more. “Wh-what are you?” I stuttered. The response I got was another lash – this time on my thigh, breaking the leather of my pants and burning my skin beneath it. I stifled a scream and bit my lip instead, drawing blood from it.

“Speak again and there’ll be more,” he warned, as he watched me shake beneath him.

I could feel his eyes on me, delighting in watching me suffer.

“You have to get it into your head, Camilla, that Borys Maslen is gone, and with him, Ingrid Maslen. You will serve me better as Camilla Claremont than you ever will as Ingrid. You will heed to my command and use every feminine and maternal instinct you have to once again be a part of the Claremont family.”

I wanted to ask why, but I was afraid to speak. The searing pain in my arm and thigh reminded me that remaining silent was a safer option.

It seemed I didn’t need to ask, because he had a ready answer. “You will be my eyes and my ears once you get them to trust you, and when I command you to, I want you to be ready to kill Sofia. Do you understand?”

I nodded as I tried to stifle the smile that formed on my face, surprised by my own delight and eagerness to kill my own daughter. What an evil creature you’ve become, Camilla.

The dark presence controlling me seemed pleased. I, on the other hand, felt as if I were going crazy.

“You are vulnerable against Aiden. You’re in love with him,” the voice scoffed. “Remember that it doesn’t matter what you feel for him anymore, Camilla. After everything you did, he could never really love you again.”

I feared what he was saying. I already told myself the same thing many times over, but hearing someone else say it out loud was like a slap in the face. Despite my desire to remain strong, I began sobbing. My tears seemed to annoy my new master, because I immediately felt a cold slap on my face – one so powerful, my head began reeling.

He then gave me his final command and threat. “Get a hold of yourself. You’re my slave now, Camilla. Do as I say and you will stay alive and powerful, and I will make sure that your power will increase as your usefulness to me increases. Of course, cross me and it will be the end of you and everyone you love. We both know that there are only two people you love. Aiden Claremont and yourself. So, let’s make things simple: I will kill Aiden Claremont and I will make you watch him die a slow and excruciating death. After watching the man you love die, I will then kill you.”

His laughter echoed in my ear, inside my head, so loudly I was sure my head would burst. Even while his presence was long gone and the moonlight was once again streaming through the window, I could still hear his laughter ringing in my ears. There was no mirth or even amusement in his laughter. All I heard was hatred and spite.

I didn’t know what I’d just encountered. All I knew was that I was a slave to the dark presence and that whoever or whatever it was, it was pure evil.

Chapter 5: Derek

How is this possible? How are they coming at us without getting detected by the human world?

I stood on top of one of the Crimson Fortress’ towers, my eyes fixed on what we were up against. Over the horizon, I could see the boundary that separated where the spell stopped and where it started. I could see the human world outside The Shade where the sun still shone. I realized that the sun hadn’t risen yet. They meant to attack in the wee hours of the morning. My gut clenched. All the while, we’d been expecting them to attack at night.

I was surrounded by my most powerful warriors, who had spent centuries fighting for the safety and protection of The Shade. We were all well aware that on this day, we were up against forces far more powerful than ones we had fought before. Helicopters were approaching – about five of them – ready to fly over the fortress and land on the island.

“We’re not properly equipped for this,” Xavier, one of The Shade’s strongest warriors, stated the obvious.

I frowned, wondering how on earth we could take the helicopters down before they landed on the island. We had firepower on the island, but none of it could take down a helicopter. I realized the danger we were in. They brought guns to a swordfight.

“They most likely have witches working for them. That’s how they’re avoiding human detection,” Cameron said from behind me.

I was taken aback by this. Witches were known to resist vampires. That was why Cora, the original witch who agreed to protect The Shade four hundred years ago, was such an exception. Because she was in love with me, she became the first among the witches to ever side with our kind and all her descendants followed her lead. It’s what made The Shade so unique. If the other covens had witches under their wing, why didn’t they just create sanctuaries of their own that their witches could protect? Why go to all this trouble trying to take over The Shade?

Of course, I didn’t have time to figure out their motivations and intentions. Helicopters full of vampires were coming toward The Shade at full speed. I was beating myself up since I wasn’t prepared for this.

I braced myself for what was ahead and began pointing at people and barking out commands. “We need to assemble squads for every helicopter that’s coming our way. We need to be there whenever they land, wherever they land. Xavier! Cameron! Yuri! Claudia! Lead one squad each. I will lead another one. We can’t have them take over the fortress! Liana, make sure Vivienne and Sofia are safe!”

What followed was complete and utter chaos. We were nowhere near prepared for this. I shuddered at the slightest idea of what kind of weapons our opponents had brought with them.

I rounded up my own squad of warriors and began pointing out to each leader which helicopters they were in charge of. I kept my eye on the helicopter assigned to us and began following its direction. It was headed right for a wide open field. I immediately sped toward that area, trusting that my squad was following right after me.

It landed on the field and dozens of vampires began jumping out of the chopper onto the ground below.

Two vampires – one of them shooting a wooden stake at me from a crossbow, while the other was geared up for hand-to-hand combat – immediately attacked me. I caught the wooden stake shooting toward me and threw it right back at the vampire who had aimed it. The wooden stake dug deep into his heart. I then set my attention on the other vampire attempting to rip my heart out. Using my high agility, I was able to get a hold of his wrist before he could dig his claws into my chest. I looked right into his eye before I returned the favor and ripped his heart out.

I watched one of the vampires shoot one of our warriors with an ultraviolet ray gun, similar to the ones used by hunters. I sped toward the vampire holding the gun and broke his neck, maiming him into unconsciousness.

I could sense something was wrong after about my fifth kill. This is too easy. I looked around to check if someone else was attacking me and froze when I saw a familiar face. Emilia. Her hands were raised in the air in surrender even as one of The Shade’s vampires pushed her onto the ground in a kneeling position.

The Shade’s warrior, Pierre, one of our Elite, was about to stab Emilia right through her heart. “Wait! Don’t! She’s surrendering!” I yelled at him.

He immediately heeded to my command and I could swear that I saw Emilia smirk. I hated how my stomach fluttered at the sight of her. The sight of her was breathtaking. She was even more beautiful in person than she was in my dreams.

Why are you thinking this way, Novak? I grimaced as I approached her. I stood over her kneeling form and watched as she raised her eyes to meet mine.

She flashed a smile at me. “I knew it. You couldn’t let me die.”

I wanted to wipe that self-confident smirk off her face, but I knew it was true. The idea of watching her die didn’t sit well with me. Why? She’s the original vampire’s daughter. She’s most likely made of pure wickedness. Why wouldn’t I want to see her die? Frustrated by my own thoughts, I held her by the jaw and twisted her neck in one powerful motion. I heard her bone crack and I found my gut clutching at the sound. How could she have this effect on me?

I watched her paralyzed body fall to the ground. They were going to drag her into prison before returning her neck into place. Then she would heal and return to consciousness. It usually took a couple of hours before a vampire with a broken neck could come back to their senses.