A Shade Of Vampire 5: A Blaze Of Sun (17 page)

It
was after the human rebellion in The Shade that I began to find hope that I could have the old Anna back. We were successful. Much to the disdain of Gregor Novak, there wasn’t going to be another human culling. This relieved me, because I knew that should there be another one, Anna would surely be one of those who would be killed.

I searched her out the moment the rebellion was over. I found myself disheartened because I found her in the arms of Ian. I hated the jealousy that I felt, but I couldn’t deny it either.

“What’s going on?” Ashley stood by my side, following the direction of my gaze. She raised her brow when she realized who I was staring at. She wrinkled her nose and stared at me in wonderment. “So you’re into Ian?”

I scowled at her. “No. I’m into Anna.”

“Oh, okay… Well…” Ashley cocked her head to the side. “Hmm… Isn’t she crazy?”

“You didn’t know her before Felix got his hands on her.”

“You did?” She looked at me curiously as if she was surprised that I was involved with any other girl in The Shade aside from the girls in Derek’s harem.

“We were able to spend some time together by the lake. She was one-of-a-kind, a lot like Sofia actually in the way she relates to people. Like she’s friends with everyone, willing to trust and forgive and just be a light.”

“Sounds like Sofia alright, but a lot less intense I guess… Sofia can be so intense when it comes to the things she’s passionate about.”

“That’s how she managed to change
The Shade.”

“Too bad Anna wasn’t able to handle the pressures of the island like Sofia did.”

I swallowed hard as my eyes once again lingered on the beautiful girl. Anna’s green eyes caught mine and I could swear that there was a flicker of recognition, only to have her dart her eyes around her in panic as if she were afraid that just looking at me would cause trouble. I heaved a sigh, accepting that she would be as she was at that point and that there was little hope of her ever changing.

I turned my attention back to Ashley. “Let’s go?”

She glanced at me momentarily but then she looked at Anna’s direction. “Not quite yet.”

I followed her gaze and found Anna bounding toward me. The raven-haired beauty stopped a couple of feet away from me and just looked me straight in the eye. She then smiled. It was the first time I’d seen her smile since Felix returned her to
The Catacombs.

I smiled back. She then turned around and ran back to Ian who gave me a bewildered look. I smirked.
His turn to be jealous I guess.

Just like that, I couldn’t get my mind off Anna for the following days. I kept on returning to the lake, secretly hoping that she would one day show up and I could have those stolen moments with her again.

One night, I thought that my most sincere hopes would finally come true, because as I sat over the edge of the lake, my legs dangling in the cool water, I saw a feminine form approaching. I took a short intake of breath, holding it until it became clear who was approaching.

My face fell when I realized that it was Ashley.

“So this is where all your rendezvous with the pre-crazy Anna happens,” she muttered, looking around. “Don’t look so disappointed, Kyle. I mean, don’t make it so obvious that you’d rather see her than me.”

I rolled my eyes at Ashley. I was still trying to get used to having
her around my home since I turned her into a vampire. She was the sister I never had and she was constantly bugging me or doing something to annoy me. There were times when I honestly thought that she was doing it on purpose.

“What are you doing here, Ash?”

“Well, ever since that time at The Catacombs after the rebellion, when she just approached, stared at you, smiled and ran off, you’ve been moping like a pathetic sap, Kyle.”

“I have not.”

“Yes, you have.” She placed her hands on her waist and rolled her eyes at me. “Please. It’s beginning to get annoying.”

“You came here to tell me that you’re annoyed that I’m moping?”

“No.” She shook her head before smiling. “I came here to give you a reason to stop moping.” She raised her forefinger in the air, gesturing for me to wait, and she ran back in the direction where she came from.

I could hear her whispering before emerging with Anna in tow.

My eyes widened with surprise. Anna hadn’t been out of The Catacombs for the longest time. She was mostly kept in there, because she was someone who would be an easy target for attack by the vampires. “Ash, what were you thinking? How do you intend to defend her in case an Elite vampire attacks her?”

The sharpness of my tone made Anna withdraw in fear, backing up a couple of steps away from me.

Ashley’s face deadpanned as she cast me a sharp glare. “What is wrong with you?” she mouthed. “She’s here safe, isn’t she?”

I approached Anna who seemed to recoil with every step I took to draw closer to her.
“You’re safe with me, Anna,” I assured her.

At first, she just whimpered in response, but then as I took slow steps
forward, careful not to scare her, she drew close, held my hand and led me to the dock of the lake, where we both sat over the edge. I could hear Ashley mumbling something about not being needed anymore, but my focus was on Anna and how beautiful and serene she looked as she blankly stared at the lake.

I didn’t say anything, because I wasn’t sure what I was going to say. I simply w
anted to enjoy that one moment - that one snapshot of time where I felt like Anna belonged to me and me alone. We sat there in silence, simply enjoying each other’s company, our legs dangling over the water below.

Anna then began nodding before breaking the silence
. Her words meant the world to me. “Yes. I’m safe with you.”

All eyes were on me as I sat across Sofia on the dining table inside her quarters. I didn’t bother finding out who exactly was surrounding me. I was too overwhelmed by the stare Sofia was throwing at me, her fascination of me clearly showing on her face.

Corrine and Vivienne sat on either side of her, while Aiden sat at the head of the table. They were making me feel uncomfortable, simply because they were staring at me like I had somehow committed a crime. 

The elephant in the room, of course, was that I was once again a normal, mortal man, and no longer an immortal vampire. They’d already done every test possible to check if I had indeed turned back into a human, and it was evident that I had.

“How is it possible?” Aiden muttered beneath his breath, but still loud enough for everyone to hear.

Sofia leaned forward. “What happened, Kyle?” There was a sense of hope and excitement in her voice, although it was still laced with worry and concern.

I tried to recall what had occurred. After the ordeal I went through inside the pit Rex trapped me in, I felt like everything was a blur. I began to recount exactly what happened as I remembered it.

Drinking Anna’s blood was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. I didn’t want to do it, because I knew that I would crave her every day after, but it was pure ecstasy just to taste the red liquid and feel it pounding within me. I felt amazing, powerful, unstoppable and I couldn’t even wrap my senses around why I felt that way. My conscience was nagging at me for what I was doing, but I couldn’t stop it, once her blood ran through my throat, there really was no way I could resist.

She didn’t seem to mind. She did it so that I would heal and heal I did – faster than I ever have before. Just then, in such rapid succession, Rex showed up and pushed Anna away from me. She screamed as she fell to the ground. Her scream was followed by a loud thud as her head hit the
stone wall.

I gasped with horror, but before I could go to her, Rex lunged toward me, picking me up in the air before speeding with me in tow into some other part of the cave. I tried to get away from his grasp in an attempt to check if Anna was
alright, but Rex was one of the Elite, which were the vampire clans that helped Derek establish The Shade hundreds of years ago. He was far more powerful than I was. Still, I put up a fight until he just stopped and pushed me into a cell in The Catacombs that had what looked like a sunroof.

He quickly shut and locked the door. He smirked as he
began to speak from the other side of the door. “This is the Pit. Not many know about this room. Only Gregor, Lucas, Felix and a select number of men… We used it to punish vampires before Derek took over and began running The Shade. You can’t get out. The sun will rise and you will feel the pain. If you get exposed to more than eight hours of sunlight, you will surely die. That’s what sunlight does to a vampire. If I change my mind, I might return before you die, but be warned, boy… never ever interfere in my affairs again. Felix’ girl is mine.”

I grimaced at him. I never really spent much time with Rex. He w
asn’t a very important person in The Shade and he mostly kept to himself, but he was one of Felix’s men – one of those who surrendered to Derek after the siege at the Port.

When he left, I tried to take down the door, but it didn’t work. I figured it might be the same kind of doors they were using at
The Cells. I screamed for help, but none came, so I just waited and waited and waited, dreading the moment when the sun would finally come up and destroy me.

When it did, I already lost all hope that anyone would come for me, so I braced myself for the agony that was to come. Just as expected, it was a painful, excruciating experience – so much so that after the first hour, I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I saw Ashley leaning over me, shaking me awake, her eyes wrought with deep concern.

“Kyle? Are you alright?”

I felt weak and fragile – like I could easily break with the slightest touch. “What happened?” I asked.

Gavin shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He was standing behind Ashley. He shook his head as he responded, “We should be the ones asking you that.”

I checked my arms to see if the skin had completely peeled off and if my flesh had burned. I was wondering if I was numbed by the experience, because I wasn’t experiencing any pain. I was surprised to find my arm completely intact – only with one major difference. It was no longer the pale white it used to be. My complexion returned to the bronzed one that I had before I was turned.

I saw Ashley swallow hard as she stared at me before asking a question that I wasn’t sure how to answer. “Kyle, are you human?”

“Well, are you?” Ashley butted in after I finished my story.  “I’m sorry, but I’m still finding it hard to believe.”

“We’re
all
finding it hard to believe,” Aiden seconded, before glancing at Ingrid, almost as if he were hoping he could put her through what I went through.

“Have you ever seen someone die under sunlight, Vivienne?” Sofia asked.

Vivienne took a moment to search her thoughts before shaking her head. “No. I don’t remember anyone ever dying from sunlight. We just always stayed away from it, because getting exposed to it was awfully painful.”

I nodded in agreement. “There’s no describing the pain. It’s torment.”

Sofia swallowed hard as she tried to process the information we’d just given her.

Claudia then spoke up, her brows furrowed in thought
. “Ingrid was once exposed to sunlight. Perhaps we should ask her what that was like.”

Sofia narrowed her eyes at the vampire. I could swear that I saw a hint of pain in her eyes at the mention of her mother, but it quickly
faded way. “Someone please get Ingrid here.”

Yuri stood up to fetch Ingrid and returned within a couple of minutes. After being asked about whether or not she
had
been exposed to the sun, Ingrid recounted to us the details of her experience.

“
When I escaped hunter territory, I had to spend time running under direct sunlight. It was an awful experience, but I managed to survive it.”

“How long were you under sunlight?” Sofia asked.

Ingrid shrugged. “I was just under the sun’s rays for about a half hour or so, but it felt a lot longer.”

Sofia directed her attention
to me. “You must’ve been under sunlight for over a day…”

Ingrid eyed me. Her eyes widened with horror when she realized what had become of me. “You’re human…”
She looked so horrified by the idea, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the recollection of the painful experience or if it was because she was terrified by the idea that she could’ve turned back into a human had she stayed in the sun long enough.

I shrugged
when the others looked to me perhaps expecting me either to validate or refute Ingrid’s statements or perhaps give Sofia a better estimate of how long I was under the sun. “There’s no way for me to know. I wasn’t conscious after the first hour.”

“We need to figure this out… What if this is it?” Sofia asked. “What if the sun is the cure?”

“How are we going to test that theory?” Corrine spoke up. “What vampire would want to be exposed to sunlight for more than a day to see if this ‘cure’ works?”