“The Maslens?”

“A clan leading the largest vampire coven we know of,” Zinnia explained. “We’d been tracking them for years. Just like the Novaks, they’re hard to find.”

“From what you tell us, it seems the Novaks have done even better than the Maslens all these years…” The wheels in Reuben’s mind were turning. “How were they able to stay under our radar for this long?” He hissed. “There’s got to be a loophole somewhere.” Something sparked in his eyes and a flicker of hope began to show. “The witch… the one protecting the island… what’s her name again?”

“Corrine.”

Realization dawned in his eyes. “That’s it. That’s how they did it. Zinnia, I want all the information you can get on the witches working with the hunters in the 1500’s. Specifically find out which witch was sent to find the Novaks before the shipwreck. And make sure all the information you gather is properly chronicled.”

Zinnia nodded and left the office. Reuben then turned toward me. “As for you, perhaps the fact that you’ve been to The Shade can better equip you to get information from Vivienne Novak. Come with me.”

As we weaved our way past its network of corridors and halls, the sheer size of the estate and its lavishness overwhelmed me. I was already astounded by the things I saw at The Shade, but even the island seemed primitive compared to what the hunters had. During the short time I spent there, Zinnia made me realize just how much of a threat the hunters really were to the vampires.

“We’ve eliminated many vampire covens over the years. A lot of them are in hiding, lurking underground. The best defense vampires have against us is to not be found,” she explained. “That’s what the Novaks seem to do best. The last we heard of them was four centuries ago. Before that, everyone we sent to find them never came back. We sent some of our best hunters – some of whom Derek Novak worked with when he was still a hunter. None of them returned.”

Her words rang in my ears as I remembered our conversation. I found myself overwhelmed by my own desire to take The Shade down, so when Reuben stopped walking, I was surprised to see something other than determination in his eyes. Sorrow. Pain. Longing.

“You knew my daughter well, didn’t you, Hudson?”

I nodded. “We were best friends for years.”

“What could’ve caused her to fall for a monster like Derek Novak?”

Seeing the heartbreak in his eyes, that moment was the first time I could remember really seeing Reuben as Aiden Claremont, someone who actually did care about Sofia. It hurt to know that I didn’t have the answer to his question. “I don’t know. Hopefully, someday, you’ll get to ask her.”

His eyes darkened. “Find out what Vivienne did to her. I want her back.”

I nodded. It took several more minutes before we finally arrived at the most secured and heavily guarded area in the mansion. Vivienne’s holding cell. We first entered what looked like an interrogation room. From our side, we could see Vivienne in an adjacent room through a tinted one-way window. She was chained to the wall, her back against it, her legs sprawled on the ground. Her gaze was distant. Bloody cuts – very similar to the ones Claudia inflicted upon me – were all over her arms, neck and face.

“She was being tortured…”

“As I said,” Reuben took a deep breath, “It’s not easy to break a vampire.” He pointed toward a door that would lead me to her. “Go ahead.”

I swallowed hard, not exactly sure what I was supposed to say or do to the vampire. I made my way to the room and shut the door behind me. On one corner of the room, a metal chair was set up. I pulled it toward her and sat in front of her. Only when I was already seated did she raise her eyes to me. Horror filled those blue-violet eyes the moment she recognized me.

“Ben?”

“Hello, Vivienne.” I was surprised to be met with such fear.

“What are you doing here? Where’s Sofia?” Worry creased the lines in her face.

I immediately noted how her mouth was bleeding. I looked closer as she spoke and realized that they’d pulled out her fangs. I wondered to myself why she wasn’t healing. Claudia always did heal instantly whenever she accidentally cut herself during times she was tormenting me.

“Ben… You have to tell me where Sofia is.”

The worry she had over my best friend was unnerving. “Sofia is of no concern to you.”

“She’s supposed to be with Derek.” Her voice was childlike and vulnerable, but what she said was the last thing I wanted to hear.

I lunged her way and gripped her chin, forcing her to look me in the eye. The light blues and purples of her eyes turned into a deep violet and I was taken aback when I saw fear in their depths. “What do you mean she’s supposed to be with Derek?”

I wanted to see a spark of Claudia in her. I wanted to find the madness that I saw in my captor’s face – when she would be a cold, heartless bitch one moment and a broken, whimpering child the next. Looking straight into Vivienne’s face, however, not a single trace of Claudia could be found. Instead, I found purpose and a deep, mysterious sorrow.

“I never thought I would see my brother fall in love. He was too broken, too jaded... but he loves her and she loves him… And I don’t think they even fully realize it yet…”

Her words were acid to my still fresh wounds. Before I could think straight, I slapped her right across the face with the back of my hand. I was surprised to find her crashing to the floor. All those times I hit Claudia in an attempt to fight back, she barely even budged. She just laughed at me.

I rose to my feet and stood over Vivienne as she began coughing blood. Guilt took a hold of me and I began mentally justifying my actions. I reminded myself that she was a vampire. She wasn’t some random innocent. I had every right – even a responsibility – to break her.

I tried to shut away Sofia’s words. Please find Vivienne. And make sure they don’t harm her. I steeled myself against my own conscience. Vivienne had information I needed and I was going to do everything possible to get it from her.

“How do we get to The Shade, Vivienne?”

“Why don’t you just ask Sofia? I showed her the way to The Shade. She knows everything that needs to be known.”

I pictured her as Claudia – her dark hair becoming a blonde mass of curls, her heart-shaped face turning into Claudia’s round one, her long hour glass form transforming into Claudia’s lithe figure. They’re all the same, I told myself before kicking her in the gut.

She coughed before looking up at me. A faint smile crossed her face. “She went back, didn’t she? She returned to him?”

It felt like she was taunting me. My fists clenched and I was about to hit her, but then I saw it – a tear running down her eye. No matter what justification I had for causing her harm, no matter what torments Claudia put me through, Vivienne was a helpless, broken woman, and I was beating her up for crimes that she didn’t commit.

“Please…” Tears were streaming down Vivienne’s face as she tried to lift herself up from the floor. “Enough.”

I sat in front of her and once again gripped her jaw.

She moaned at the sudden action. I realized then that she’d probably been undergoing torture since they brought her here. Any move I made on her caused her pain.

“Only you can end this, Vivienne. Just tell us what we want to know. Tell us where The Shade is. Then all this will be over.”

“Tell me, Ben. If you knew that a group of thugs were intent on murdering your family and destroying your home, what could they possibly do to you that would make you give them your family’s address?”

My mouth twitched.

“Exactly. I could never give up my family, Ben.” Her sobs began subsiding.

I eased my grip on her jaw, unable to accept that a vampire could care for anyone other than themselves. Claudia painted a picture of their kind that made it hard for me to believe that the concept of family could mean anything to them.

“Sofia is my family, Vivienne. You took her away from me. If you had hold of someone who brainwashed your family into agreeing to slavery, what would you do to that person to get your family back?”

“Sofia returned to The Shade out of her own free will and we both know it.”

The truth of her words stung. I reluctantly let go of her jaw. I couldn’t even look at her, but I felt her eyes on me, searching me.

“You loved her, didn’t you?”

“She was supposed to be mine. She wasn’t supposed to choose him.”

She lifted a trembling hand and brushed the tips of her fingers over the fine ends of my hair. “I’m sorry, Ben. For everything The Shade cost you. But we were only doing what we needed to do in order to survive.”

“Don’t tell me that. What Claudia put me through had nothing to do with survival…”

“You’re right. It had everything to do with revenge. You reminded her of the man who once abused her.”

“I was not that man.”

She nodded. “And I am not Claudia.”

The point was a blow in the gut, but it was well taken. I finally looked her in the eye. To my surprise, after a couple of seconds, the violets of her irises had swirled into a bright blue. When her irises returned to their original blue-violet color, she stared at me as if I’d been made brand new. “Ben…”

I flinched when her thumb gently caressed the line of my jaw. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away from me. “What is it? What did you see?”

A lone tear fell from the corner of her eye to the tip of her chin before falling to the ground.

“You have no idea how much you mean to her. One day, Ben, you’re going to look beyond yourself and you’re going to see Sofia as she is. Once you see the world through her eyes, you will understand. You could be great, Ben. And for all it’s worth, I thank you.”