A Dawn of Strength

Knowing that our daughter was now within the mountain was at least somewhat of a relief.

“According to Mona,” I began, “we have at most a day before the white witches’ defense caves in. We must assume the worst-case scenario, that Mona’s spell will fail, and we need to prepare for the battle that will follow.”

Ashley repeated the question she’d asked me back in the Dome before Micah had entered and interrupted the meeting.

“Battle, Derek?” she said. “Don’t you mean bloodbath? How are we any match for these witches?”

I turned on the blonde vampire. “We’ve faced many opponents in the past whom we’ve been no match for.” I was about to name the Elders as one example, but stopped myself as I recalled how she’d lost Sam to them. “And we’ve weathered many a storm before now.” I raised my voice, glaring at each and every one of the island’s oldest and most loyal allies, daring them to refute it. “What we lack in brute force, we make up for in guts and grit. We are warriors of The Shade, and we’ll do what we have always done… Survive.”

The crowd fell into a hushed silence, the sounds of the battle going on outside pervading the atmosphere once again.

“Is anyone in disagreement?” I shouted.

When nobody responded still, I said, “Then we begin. Eli, Caleb, Aiden and Mona—I appoint you four in charge of strategy. Lead everyone to the Armory and start preparation. Think on the best armor and weapons, and make sure we have enough to go round. Then begin training. I suspect Xavier will be joining you soon, too.”

“What about you, Derek?” Aiden asked, frowning.

“I’ll be preparing a weapon everyone seems to have forgotten about entirely.”

Sofia’s eyes shot toward me. “What?”

I couldn’t stop a small smile from curving my lips as I said, “Me.”

Chapter 16: Sofia

My eyes were glued to Derek as everyone else obeyed his command and hurried toward the Armory.

I clutched his hands. “You’re going to take the cure? Are you serious?”

He nodded. Dragging me along behind him, he began hurrying away from the beach.

“How do you know that your fire powers will return even if you do become a human again?” I asked.

“Why shouldn’t they? Being a vampire is the only thing that’s stifling them. My ability to conjure up walls of fire just might give us the edge we need.”

I remembered his powers, of course, and I realized how invaluable they might prove, but that didn’t banish the fear that gripped me at the thought of my husband undergoing the cure again. I shuddered just remembering how painful it had been.

“But didn’t it take us at least a day last time when we took the cure? Counting up the time we spent in the pit, and then recovery time with the help of the witches… What if you didn’t even recover in time?”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take, and why I need to enter the Pit immediately.”

“Then why are we headed toward the Sanctuary? Don’t we need to fetch immune blood from the cooling chambers?”

“Corrine usually keeps a small stock in her potion room and her home is closer than the cooling chambers.”

Since Corrine and Ibrahim had gone to the Armory along with all the other supernaturals on the island, we found the witch’s temple empty. The door was unlocked, thankfully, so we walked right inside and headed to the potion room. Derek had been right. There were half a dozen vials of blood in the drawer beneath her sink. Derek grabbed a couple and opened each of them up, sniffing them just to be sure. The scent was unmistakable. We raced out of the witch’s temple again and made our way toward the dreaded Pit.

We stopped outside the gate leading up to it. Twisting open both vials, Derek downed them in a few gulps. He looked down at me reproachfully. “You don’t have to put yourself through staying with me, darling.”

“You must be joking,” I said, pulling him down toward me so I could kiss his lips. “I’m not budging from here until you’re back in my arms.”

He didn’t argue, probably because he saw there was no point. Letting go of me, he walked slowly toward the gate. Gripping the handle, he creaked it open. I caught sight of his brilliant blue eyes one last time before he slammed the gate shut.

As my husband began to groan, I leaned my back against a tree trunk and slid down to the ground. As always, this was going to be a long, agonizing wait.

The only thing I could comfort myself with was the fact that Derek had taken the cure before and pulled through it without complications, as had many other vampires on the island. Yes, it was a dangerous and potentially fatal procedure, but this time should be no different from all the others.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Chapter 17: Caleb

I was surprised that Derek would place me so quickly in such a position of responsibility. I supposed he thought it would be valuable to have someone in charge who’d witnessed a black witch’s palms being damaged firsthand.

After Derek gave the word, we rushed everyone to the Armory. The hall was far too small to hold the entire crowd, so we gathered everyone outside in the training grounds. Eli, Aiden, Mona and I stood in a circle.

“The first thing we ought to do is make sure everyone understands the witches’ weakness.” Aiden fixed his attention on me. “Would you like to brief them all, Caleb?”

I gave him a curt nod and cleared my throat. I leapt up onto the roof of the Armory and stared down at the sea of faces. I briefly recounted the incident with Rose and Rhys on the circus boat. Even as I spoke, it felt strange to have all these strangers accepting me as an authority so readily, when only a short while ago they must have perceived me as an enemy.