A Shade of Vampire 7: A Break of Day Read Online Free PDF Page B

with Elders! How could they not have noticed you?”
    She looked up at me wearily. “Please, Derek, no more questions about what I’ve been through. I don’t want to think about it any more. I’m here now. Isn’t that enough?” She placed one cool hand on my face and tugged at my shirt. Then she whispered in my ear. “I can’t stand it any more. Can’t you see I’m dying for you? Our time together was much too short.”
    Although my mind was still burning with questions and anxiety, I gave in to her request. I determined to shut everything out and just focus on Sofia, my beautiful wife who had returned to me. I tried to pretend that at that moment in time, nothing else existed except our two beating hearts.
    I picked her up and walked to the bedroom. Placing her feet gently down on the ground, I undressed her, kissing any part of her body my lips could brush against. When I hesitated, she said, “You won’t hurt me, Derek. Remember I’m a vampire now.”
    Then she pulled off my clothes, lay on the bed, and, gripping my hair, pulled me down toward her.
    Although Sofia had lost her warmth, she was still as beautiful as I had remembered her. No matter how long I lay there with her, her body intertwined with mine, it felt like my appetite for her would never be satiated. And it appeared that she felt the same way.
    Until a strange darkness flickered in her eyes, and she began to draw blood.
    I thought back to when I was a vampire, how much control it had taken to not force blood from her whenever we slept together. But, although it had been a herculean task, I had managed it. Surely it should be easier for Sofia to not give into the darkness. After all, she was the one who had trained me to control my cravings.
    Why are you doing this, Sofia?

Chapter 8: Sofia
     
    As soon as I woke the next morning, I found myself getting out of bed and walking to the window to pull down the blinds, blocking the rising sun from streaming into the room. Then I turned to look at Derek, who was still asleep in bed. His body was covered with bruises and bite marks. Horror and guilt surged through me.
    The Elder had released me from his control a number of times since Derek had entered the hut, allowing me to display my own emotions. But once my teeth had started sinking into Derek’s flesh, his blood seeping into my mouth, I knew the Elder had taken back full control. I’d seen the pain in Derek’s face. His eyes had betrayed that I was hurting him on a much deeper level than merely physically.
    I had tried to cry out on several occasions. Each time, my voice had been choked back. All I could do was pray that the evil inhabiting me would find some speck of mercy and make me leave the hut, disappear to some place a thousand miles away. I might as well have prayed for my best friend Ben to come back to life.
    Derek stirred on the bed and groaned. He opened his eyes and when he saw me standing by the window he managed to smile as though nothing had happened.
    “Good morning, beautiful.” He beckoned me over to the bed. I lay down next to him and he pulled me in for a cuddle. Kissing the top of my head, he asked, “Did you see Rose? Her eyes, they’re just like yours.”
    “Of course I saw her. She looks so healthy. You and Corrine have been taking good care of her.”
    “Corrine has some friends in the village down the road. One of them has a baby of her own and she offered to breastfeed Rose. Corrine and Ibrahim have been taking her daily—Ibrahim is… well, that’s a long story.”
    It pained me to think that I’d never even experienced the simple pleasure of feeding my own children. And I never would so long as I remained a vampire.
    Derek began explaining to me everything that had transpired since I was first taken to The Blood Keep: how he’d escaped The Keep himself, his stay at The Sanctuary with Ibrahim and the Ageless, the Guardians… His story blew my mind. He was talking fast and I wanted to stop him and ask