A Shade of Vampire 7: A Break of Day (22 page)

I thought of Sam.

And I thought of Xavier.

I knelt down on the ground and said a prayer, holding a small ceremony of my own for them.

A gust of sea wind blew against my face, drying the tears and making my eyes sting.

I sat on a high mountain plateau overlooking the most magnificent view of the island. The waves crashing against the shore and the gentle swaying of the redwoods seemed to dance to some kind of untold rhythm.

Peace
.

That was what this was. A peace was settling over the ravaged island, slowly drawing its inhabitants back to comfort. Inviting them back to the routine of daily life.

I had a choice whether to let it draw me in too, or whether to continue stirring up the storm within me and cling on to dreams of an impossible future.

I shifted on the ground, moving closer to where I remembered last sitting with Xavier the night he was possessed. I touched the grass next to me, hoping to feel the shape of Xavier’s body molded there.

Then I stood up and walked over to the edge of the cliff. And I wondered if, had I not been such a fool and instead given myself to Xavier years before, he would have been stronger in resisting the Elders. I wondered whether my constant resistance had weakened his spirit and resolve to live.

There are some cliffs that are just too late to jump from, Vivienne.

I sat down and dangled my legs off of the edge of the mountain. Then I lay back and gazed up at the stars.

I replayed in my head those last few words we’d exchanged that fateful night, as I’d already done a hundred times since.

“You said you’d wait until I’m ready.”

“And I’d do that, Vivienne. You know I would, but…”

But…

“What were you going to say, Xavier?” I whispered out loud, looking up at the stars, hoping his spirit was somehow watching over me. “But… you just wanted to hear it from me? You just wanted to hear me say those three simple words?”

Tears began to stream more heavily down my face.

“Well, I’ll say them now to you, Xavier… my love. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.” I felt like a crazy person repeating the words over and over again. I’d started in a whisper but soon worked myself up into a frenzy, bellowing against the harsh wind.

“I LOVE YOU, XAVIER!” I screamed until my voice cracked. I broke down, my body utterly exhausted and racked with sobs.

“I love you too.”

The smooth baritone voice I ached to hear.

I smiled, my eyes still closed.
Is this what happens when you cherish a memory of someone so much—you start to hear their voice in your head? Then I will cherish you forever, my love, to continue hearing that sweet voice of yours…

“I love you, Vivienne.”

There it was again.

I rolled onto my back and opened my eyes, expecting to take in the beauty of the stars. And while I beheld their beauty, my eyes were met with so much more.

The face of my beloved, staring down at me, a smile etched on his lips. The unshaven face of that beautiful dark-haired man I craved with every fiber of my being.

I reached up, expecting my hand to pass right through the apparition.

“Ouch, Vivienne. That was my eye.”

Now you’ve done it, Vivienne. You’ve gone mad. You’ve truly gone mad.

I sat up and looked at the ghost of Xavier. I extended my hand once again, this time aiming for his cheek. It was rough with stubble. I brushed my fingers over his lips. They were soft and moist. I wondered what would happen if I kissed them. Whether I would be able to feel his lips against mine, or whether he might vanish before I could experience such a pleasure.

I didn’t need to wait long to find out. Strong arms enveloped my waist and pulled me against him. And then came his kiss. Gentle at first, his lips brushing against the corners of mine, tracing the outline of my mouth, and then increasing in intensity until I was absorbed in his taste.

As I breathed in his scent, tears fell afresh from my eyes. Delirious tears of ecstasy.

“I love you, Xavier… I-I wanted to t-tell you…”

“I know. I know,” he whispered into my ear, cupping my face with his large hands. “And, um, I’d be surprised if there’s a single person on this island who
doesn’t
know after that…”

“Just kiss me.”

My search for my sister had led me to the side of the island where the submarines were moored. I suspected that perhaps she had retreated into one of them for some peace and quiet. So when I uncovered Xavier’s unconscious form lying beneath a bench in one of the old, dilapidated vessels, I almost jumped out of my skin.

At first I believed him to be dead. His body was more wrecked than Sofia’s had been when we rescued her, his skin covered with yellow patches, so dry that pieces of it had already flaked off onto the floor.

But when I bent down and placed my ear to his chest, and could just about make out a heartbeat, I was lent at least a small scrap of hope.

I heaved him over my shoulder and sprinted back toward the Port with as much speed as my legs could muster.

“Ibrahim! Ibrahim!” I yelled as I ran through the woods.

Eventually I passed the spot where they were working on the renovations and the warlock came hurrying toward me.

I laid Xavier’s body down on the dirt path and Ibrahim bent over him.

“Corrine!” he shouted. “I’m going to need your help with this one.”

“Good grief,” Corrine murmured, taking in Xavier’s appearance.

“Please!” I gasped, falling to my knees. “Just tell me you can save him. Just say the words, I beg of you!”

But neither of them said anything to me. I closed my eyes. It was too painful to watch them struggle to save him. I just wanted to open my eyes again once they’d fixed him.

I heard Corrine calling more witches over to assist them. More than twenty minutes must have passed, with half a dozen witches muttering chants at the same time. The hope I had for his survival was slipping away from me by the second.

But then I reminded myself,
I know my friend. And I know that he’s a survivor.
So half an hour later, when he came to and sat up, part of me wasn’t surprised.

He looked around with a bewildered expression on his face. I rushed to him and grabbed his shoulders, pulling him into a tight embrace.

“Thank heavens,” I whispered. “How the hell did you end up in that submarine?”

“I-I…” He rubbed his eyes as if trying to clear his mind. “I crawled. My Elder left me for Sofia… it left me lying inside the temple. Somehow, I managed to crawl there undetected.”

As soon as he had regained enough balance to stand on his own two feet, he asked anxiously, “Where’s Vivienne?”

“She’s alive and on the island. I was just looking for her, in fact.”

And then he sped off into the darkness of the woods without another word. Trusting that Xavier would find Vivienne soon enough, I was eager to return to Sofia, to my new family.

She was where I had left her, in the clearing outside the Cells. She sat in a circle with Aiden, Ashley and Abby. Kyle, Ian and Anna also sat nearby along with two other couples; Cameron and Liana, and Gavin and Zinnia.

I’d noted Yuri and Claudia’s absence ever since we’d arrived back on the island. Though I didn’t need to put much thought into where they might be. Although our new Residences weren’t ready yet, I knew that any enclosed area would be more than suitable for their needs.

On seeing me approach, Abby shrieked with laughter. “Hello, Mr. Derek! I know what you and Sofia did…”

“Tell me, Miss Abby. What did we do?” Although I spoke to Abby, I looked at Sofia, a suggestive smile forming on my lips.

“You gave each other babies!” She pointed to the twins who were both resting in Aiden’s arms.

Sofia giggled and her face flushed, not quite as bright as it would have if she were still a human, but exceptionally bright for a vampire.

“Huh, really? Is that what happened now?” I sat down next to Sofia and pulled her between my legs, snaking my arms around her waist and holding her tight against my chest. “And is there anything wrong with that, Miss Abby?”

Sofia gripped my knee, begging me to stop encouraging Abby in front of everyone.

“Well, that depends how you did it, Mister. Did you pray to angels or”—Abby winked—“did you kiss her belly button?”

Everyone in the group roared with laughter.

“Oh dear, I kissed her belly button. Am I in trouble with you, Miss Abby?”

“Yes!” she squealed, wagging a finger at me. “Because that’s the gross one!”

“Oh dear, dear, dear,” I muttered, just loud enough for Sofia to hear. “Because I might just want to kiss her belly button again.”

Sofia shushed me, still giggling. I pressed my lips against the back of her cold neck and stood up, lifting her up with me. I held her hand and said to the others, “We’ll see you in a bit.”

Then I walked her over to a quiet spot in the woods, away from the construction sounds of wood clanking and glass chinking. I led her to a tree and pressed her against it. I caught her lips with mine and kissed her, tasting her coldness in my mouth.

“And now?” I looked down into her eyes, a serious expression falling over my face. “How will I ever kiss your lovely belly button again?”

She giggled, then touched my cheek and said, “More like, how am I going to breastfeed our babies while I’m a vampire? I don’t want them to grow up without ever having their mother’s milk. And how will I build sandcastles with them?”

“And what will happen when I’m an old man? You’ll want to swap me for a younger model,” I teased.

“But seriously, Derek.” She stopped laughing. “What are we going to do? I can’t remain a vampire.”

I stepped back from her a little and sighed. “I don’t know. My greatest fear is losing you again.”

“Well, the cure worked on both you and Kyle. Why shouldn’t it work on me? We’ve no evidence that I’m any different a vampire than you or Kyle were. Yes, I was turned in Cruor, and yes, I was an immune… but the whole point is that my immunity was broken down and I became normal. That’s how I was turned in the first place. And it’s the same disease. Plus, we have our immune, Anna. She won’t mind giving me some of her blood.”

The thought of Sofia undergoing the same torture I had made me ache inside. “The pain is excruciating. Unlike anything you can imagine. I don’t… I just don’t know if I can handle putting you through that,” I said.

“Well, Mr. Derek, you’re just going to have to toughen up if you ever want to kiss my belly button again.” She lifted my chin up so that I was facing her. She kissed my cheek and said, “Look, I’ve already been to hell and back. Believe me when I say that one more burn isn’t going to make a lot of difference.”

I grinned but couldn’t deny that her words hurt at the same time. “I guess not,” I said. “I haven’t exactly done a good job at keeping you safe from harm.”

“Oh, don’t go into this whole self-blame thing again. I knew what I was getting myself into when I married you.” She pulled my head down toward her and kissed me again. “Now, if it’s all right with you, I’d like to get this over with.”

Aiden protested at first, but Sofia persuaded him. We left the twins with him and walked with Anna toward the Pit, the one tiny area of the island where the sun shone through. Others wanted to accompany us, but Sofia refused them all. She wanted only Anna and myself.

She barely said a word as we walked. A determined expression set on her face as we marched her up to the entrance of the Pit. She didn’t want to make a “big fuss” out of it as we had done with my own turning.

Even when I went to hug her, she pulled away, as though she didn’t want to even consider that she might not see me again.

Anna bared her neck to her, and Sofia dug her fangs in and took a sip. She licked her lips and waited a few minutes for the blood to enter her system. Then she stepped through the doors to the Pit and slammed them behind her.

And then the screaming began. I now understood what it must have been like for Sofia to witness me undergoing such a procedure. Hours and hours passed by. Even though her voice had grown hoarse, she still cried out.

Anna stayed with me the whole time, laying a hand on my shoulder. I tried to draw comfort from her, but it was impossible. Eventually the only way I could cope was by curling up into a ball on the ground and cupping my hands over my ears.

Finally, Sofia’s noises stopped. I was tempted to barge in to check what was happening, but then the doors creaked open themselves.

Sofia, in all her mortal glory, emerged from the bright pit, stumbling into my arms. She looked exhausted, but at the same time, to my great relief, she had a vibrant glow.

“So,” she gasped. “About going to hell and back? Huh. Yeah, now I can say I’ve
officially
done that.”

I slept for ten hours after my turning; my body had been crying out for sleep. Derek took me to an empty room in the Catacombs that was still in decent condition. He sat by my bed as I fell asleep, and was still there when I awoke.

Aiden also sat beside me, still cradling his beloved grandchildren. And then my eyes fell on Xavier and Vivienne. They sat in a corner wrapped in each other’s arms.

“Xavier!” I cried out. I jumped up and ran over to him, pulling him into a hug.

I could say with absolute certainty that I had never seen Vivienne so happy. She beamed as she looked at me. I clasped her to me and kissed her cheek again and again, until she’d finally had enough of my affection and said, “Hey, girl, it’s Xavier I’m marrying, not you. And besides, look at Derek. You’re making him all jealous.”

“Oh, I can’t wait for your wedding! Can we have it tomorrow?” I squealed, sounding not dissimilar to Abby.

“Yes, actually,” Xavier answered with a grin. “This girl just can’t get enough of me. She would marry me right now if she could. I mean, she didn’t even give me a chance to get down on one knee and propose properly!”