B00C8324IS EBOK (26 page)

“
Sofia…”

“Well? What are you waiting for, Derek? Drink.” The challenge was clear. “
I’m
the one you want to punish, right? Claim justice for Vivienne.”

The silence was electric as I stood before him, wondering how he was going to react.

His move.

My heart dropped when he pushed me backwards, pinning me against the tree I was already leaning on. His right hand gripped my jaw, forcing my face to turn
at an angle that allowed him more access to my neck. I gasped at the motion and my eyes fell into a distant stare, not daring to look his way.

“You should know better than to provoke a vampire,” he growled at me. From my peripheral vision, I saw his fangs coming out, the white of his teeth glimmering under the moon’s light. He was taking me up on my challenge.

“I’m not provoking a vampire,” I scoffed at him.
My move.
“I’m provoking
you
. Go ahead. Show me how much of the Derek I knew is lost to me.”

The short gasp that escaped his lips told me that I’d gotten through to him. Fangs retracted and fingers painfully gripping my jaw loosened before he stepped away from me.

I got a major win, but the match wasn’t over. I laid both palms on his chest and pushed him back. “Why do you stop? Who am I that you would spare me and not spare Ashley?” The questions floating through my mind came out in a violent rush and I emphasized each one by continuing to forcefully push against him. “Had I been here, would you have done to me what you did to her? Would you have taken enough blood to lead me almost to the brink of unconsciousness? Would you have carried me to your bed so that you could have your way with me while I lay there helpless? Would you have treated me the same way?!”

It seemed he had enough when he screamed, “No! I wouldn’t have!” He gripped me by the wrists to keep me from once again hitting him. Chills ran down my spine when I saw how he was looking at me. “I can’t even bear the thought of doing to you what I did to her.”

“Then how were you able to bear doing it to her?”

He looked away. His reason sounded pathetic. I knew it and he knew it. “I wasn’t able to control myself.”

I shook my head as I tried to get away from his grasp, his hands still keeping my wrists on hold. “That’s crap and you know it. I was with you for
months
. So were Ashley, Paige and Rosa… You never once touched us or brought harm to us. Don’t
tell me you can’t control yourself, Derek. Just don’t.”

I motioned to walk away, but he kept his death grip on my wrists.

“Let go,” I hissed.

“No.” he insisted. “You’re coming with me.”

I was mad at him and the last thing I wanted was to go anywhere with him. At that point, I really just wanted to be alone, to think about what was going on and why I was there. I wanted to sort through the conflicting emotions that were driving me crazy around him.

But no… Despite all my protests, he carried me in his arms and sped forward. I never quite got used to the lightning speed by which he travelled, but that was the least of my concerns, because when we stopped, I found myself screaming with fright at where he’d taken me.

We were standing on top of one of the Crimson Fortress’ towering walls. A mighty wind was blowing against us and the sound of the ocean waves crashing on solid rock below was terrifying. I gave Derek a questioning look. I couldn’t tell for sure but it looked like he was about to jump from the top of the wall to the boulders below. 

“What do you think you’re doing?!” I screamed, my arms clinging around his neck as I looked with horror at how high up we were. “Where are you taking me?!”

“I’m taking you to my sanctuary. Hold on tight.”

Before I could even breathe a word of protest, he took the leap, plunging us both
on a hundred-foot free fall down to the ragged cliffs below. The one thought on my mind as I clung to him for dear life was:
Derek Novak has lost his mind.

Leaving my family was one of the hardest things I ever had to do, but my path was set the moment I woke up on the shores of
Cancun the morning after our escape from The Shade. No matter how much I tried to go back to a normal life, every time I thought about my future, all I could think about was how worthless my life would be if I couldn’t get my vengeance.

Sofia was the last thread of hope I had at any chance of normalcy, but as I watched her walk away from me that night, it felt like everything had been robbed from me and I only had
The Shade to blame.

Not long after
Sofia left, I grabbed the bag I packed the night before and got out of my bed. My heart weighing heavily on me and a lump forming in my throat, I snuck into Abby’s room first. I smiled upon seeing her pink, star-shaped night light and the way she was clinging to her stuffed animal, Colin. At her age, she still sucked her thumb when she slept. I approached her bed and twisted a tendril of her blonde hair with my forefinger. “I’ll miss you, dwarfette.”

I was kicking myself in the head for being so overly dramatic. It wasn’t like the hunters were going to take me captive and keep me from ever seeing my family again, but I knew that the choice I was making was going to break my family’s heart. My next stop was my parents’ bedroom. I snuck a peek at them cuddled in their bed, a reminder of how in love they still were with each other after all those years – something I felt I
could never have now that Sofia had left me. I slipped through the door and snuck inside the room, careful to be as quite as I possibly could. I saw my dad’s car keys above their drawers and took them. I took one last look at my parents and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

I then headed off to the car and made the drive to the airport. I had no idea where to go or what to do. All I had was a name and a number and I was prepared to fly to any destination I was asked to go to.

Once I got to the LAX airport, I headed for the nearest coffee shop and ordered an overpriced cup of coffee. Seated on one of the plush couches, I finally found the guts to call the number that Eliza gave me.

“Here goes nothing,” I muttered as I dialed the number.

“Hello?” A deep, gravelly voice answered.

“Hello. Is this Reuben?”

“Who wants to know?”

“I’m Ben Hudson. A girl named Eliza referred me to you.” I paused, wondering to myself if I sounded crazy saying my next sentence. “I want to join the hunters.”

“Eliza?” There was a pause on the other side of the line, the only sound I heard was that of his heavy breathing. I thought it was going to be the end of our conversation, so I was relieved when he said, “Perfect. We’re looking forward to meeting you, Ben. I was hoping you’d get in touch with us.”

He was hoping? Why
and how would he even know I exist?
To that, I didn’t know how to respond, so all I ended up saying was, “Great.”

“Where are you?”

“At LAX.”

“That won’t do. One of our men will have a private plane waiting at Van Nuys Airport
in three hours. Does that suit you?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “Of course.”

“See you soon, Ben.”

He hung up and
frowned, confused by the conversation I just had. I took a sip of coffee and set it on the table before returning to the car. It didn’t take long for me to reach the city limits of LA and get to Van Nuys, where private, chartered and small commercial aircrafts flew.

I had arrived early, so I was waiting a while before a tall, lean man approached me.  Tattoos crawled up his arms and his head was completely shaven
.

“Are you Ben Hudson?” he asked.

“That would be me.”

“I’m Fly. Ready to go?”

I nodded and he motioned for me to follow him to the tarmac where a private plane was already waiting. I was impressed upon seeing the jet’s comfortable interior; white leather reclining seats, a large flat screen television and a small bar were the first things to catch my eye.

“We’ll get cleared to fly in a few minutes or so. Make yourself comfortable.” Fly told me before motioning to go to the cabin.

About three hours into the flight, I walked up the cockpit to ask Fly where we were headed for.

“All you need to know is that we’re going to Hawk Headquarters. Anything beyond that will be revealed to you in time.”

I returned to my seat and looked out the window. We were about to land. On the ground below I could make out a large private estate somewhere in the country. Acres upon acres of orchards lined one side of the estate, while a vineyard lined the other. Rows of various villas lined one area of the estate while what looked like an interconnection of buildings with one big dome in the middle represented what I assumed was the center of the hunters’ headquarters. It wasn’t long before we touched down on the the estate’s runway.

The moment I got off the plane and stepped
onto the tarmac, I was greeted by a petite young woman with short, blue-streaked black hair and a wide smile.

“You must be Ben Hudson!” she exclaimed. “We’re so excited that you’re finally here! I’m Zinnia Wolfe.”

I immediately noticed the small scar on her left cheek as we shook hands. I thought to ask about it, but decided not to. I was still somewhat bewildered by the warm welcome.
Why are they expecting me? Why do they even know me?
“I’d introduce myself, but it seems you already know me.”

“Well
…” she shrugged one shoulder. “Who doesn’t?”

I motioned to get my bags but she shook her head and waved the notion off.

“Don’t worry about your luggage. We’ll have them brought to your room later.”

We began walking side by side out of the runway
toward the ‘Hawk Headquarters’. I still couldn’t wrap my mind around the responses I was getting from her.

“After Vivienne Novak was captured, you and Sofia have been the talk of the town.”

About a thousand internal warning alarms went off at that statement and I found myself stopping on my tracks before we could reach a block section of the estate. It had steel gray exteriors and large glass windows from floor to ceiling. I gave the building a wary glance, no longer certain if I wanted to be there.

Who are these people? What have I gotten myself into?

“How do you know about Sofia?” The mere mention of her name caused an inescapable ache to settle in my chest.

Zinnia smiled, long dark lashes fluttering over her big hazelnut brown eyes. “I think I’ve said too much…” Her pupils rolled to the edge of her upper eyelids as she chastised herself. “I do that a lot.”

“Well?” I asked, unwilling to let her off the hook.

“All I know is that you and Sofia Claremont have been on our watch list for quite some time now.” Her hip swayed to one side, her weight falling on one leg. “Especially after you disappeared and magically showed up again, some of our best hunters were deployed to keep you under surveillance twenty-four seven.”

“Why?” I stepped forward, fists balled, brows furrowed. I found the idea of being watched disturbing. “How did we even get on your watch list?”

“I honestly don’t know. Good thing you
are both on the watch list though, because we never would’ve caught Vivienne Novak if you weren’t.” She had a way of talking about issues as if they didn’t matter and that the best way to tackle all of it was to laugh about it. She reminded me a lot of myself – my
former
self.

“So if you were keeping Sofia
and me under your watch, you know where she is right now?”

She froze and shook her head. “Unfortunately, we were too preoccupied with getting Vivienne here. By the time we got hunters to go back to keep an eye on you,
Sofia was gone and you were already driving for LAX…”

I gave her my most menacing stare, annoyed that she was unable to give me more of the information I needed to hear from her.

“Are you always so serious and intense?” She playfully chucked a fist over my jaw. “Relax, handsome. Reuben will answer all your questions later.”

Serious and intense.
I never thought anyone would ever describe me that way.
Ease up, Ben. You got this.
“Fine,” I relented, one side of my lips curving up in a smile. “So when exactly will I meet Reuben? I get the impression he’s the hunters’ almighty leader?”

“I wouldn’t say
almighty
but yeah… he’s pretty close,” she chuckled. “And yes, he gets to call the shots. Here at US headquarters at least.”

“US headquarters?” I asked. “So there are other headquarters? Outside the country?”

Zinnia’s nose wrinkled as she gave some thought about answering my question. “I think I’m going to get myself in trouble if I keep on answering your questions, so
please…
stop asking them. I’ve already told you too much.”

“So what exactly are
you
for, Zinnia?”

“I’m your welcoming committee,” she
said. “I’m going to take you to your room in the dormitories. And until Reuben’s ready to see you, I’m the person you go to in case you need anything.”