A Dawn of Strength

This can’t be happening.

The sun dug into my skin as I hurled myself toward him. I didn’t even take time to check his pulse or if he was still breathing. My brain was foggy with panic. I tried to grip a part of him that wasn’t so brutally damaged, but now that I was closer, I realized that even his underarms—which weren’t being directly exposed to the sun—were almost as bad as his back and shoulders. As I closed my arms around his waist, his skin felt loose and baggy, and it was so baking hot, I was burning just touching him.

Heaving with all my strength, I dragged him across the ground and pulled him back into the darkness of The Shade, slamming the door closed behind us. I rolled him onto his back, and almost screamed when I caught sight of his face. It was practically unrecognizable.

“Derek,” I whispered, my heart hammering against my chest. I tried to detect any sign of breathing.

There was nothing.

“Derek!” I screamed.

No. No. This can’t be happening. This can’t be.

Clearly, he was still a vampire. The immune blood hadn’t worked. It was supposed to protect him from getting baked by the sun, but Derek’s vampire body had been assaulted by the sun’s rays.

I had no idea if mouth-to-mouth resuscitation would help to get him breathing again, but I was desperate. I closed my lips around his singed mouth and breathed heavily.

Come on, my love. Come on.

His skin was so loose around his lips, it felt in danger of ripping off just as I breathed into him.

The minutes that followed were the most torturous of my life. When he still wasn’t coming to after dozens of heavy breaths, terror seized me and I began to believe that I’d actually lost him.

But then, like a blessing sent from heaven, a violent shudder ran through Derek’s chest. He raised his head off the ground, coughing and spluttering.

Tears streamed down my cheeks as his eyes opened. I wanted to hold him in my arms, but I couldn’t without causing him more pain.

I shot to my feet. “Wait here, my love. I’m going to get Corrine. We’re going to fix you. J-just stay right here.”

I launched toward the forest and ran faster than I ever had before. I arrived at the Armory within minutes and spotted Corrine and Ibrahim in a corner with Mona.

“Corrine!” I screamed. A look of alarm spread across her face as she looked at me. “I need you now! And Ibrahim, you too!”

Ibrahim and Corrine ran toward me. “Vanish us to the Pit now,” I said.

I was relieved to see Derek sitting up as we approached.

“Good grief!” Corrine said.

“What happened?” Ibrahim asked, as the two witches bent down next to Derek and began examining him.

“The cure didn’t work,” Derek rasped.

“He took two vials of immune blood we found in your drawer,” I said.

“Lie back down, dear,” Corrine said to Derek. She looked up at me. “Let’s take him back to the Sanctuary.”

I gripped Ibrahim’s shoulder as we all vanished from the clearing and reappeared in Corrine’s potion room. Ibrahim cleared the table and I helped him lift Derek onto it.

I walked over to Corrine, who was standing over a cauldron, tipping in ingredients and stirring them vigorously. She looked at me. “From what I can tell, even the skin that wasn’t exposed to the sun is damaged. You’re going to need to strip your husband and pour this entire cauldron over him. The liquid should reach every part of him.”

“Okay.”

After she’d finished mixing in the ingredients together and brought it to a boil, she lifted the heavy cauldron off the stove and placed the handle in my hands.

“Ibrahim and I will wait outside, in case you need help.”

I stared down at the simmering liquid. “But this is boiling hot. I can’t possibly pour this over Derek.”

“It has to be hot, or it won’t work. Unless you want me to waste time explaining why, you need to just trust me on this, Sofia.”

I gulped, nodding.

They left Derek and me alone in the room.

I placed the cauldron down on the stone floor as I helped Derek sit up and remove the last of his clothes.

“Okay. You need to stand in the center of the room.”

I drew up a stool next to him so I would be high enough. Then, reaching down for the cauldron, I tipped the hot liquid over his head.

He shouted in pain as the potion hit his skin, and there was a disturbing hiss, but I was relieved that he remained rooted to the spot. Careful not to miss any part of him, I poured the potion until I’d emptied the last drop.

Once I was finished, he staggered toward the wall and, arching his back, leaned his palms against it.

“Christ,” he panted. “That hurt.”

I approached him cautiously, eyeing his body. I was relieved to see that, as the liquid dripped off him, his skin was beginning to become recognizable again. I leaned my shoulder against the wall, staring up at his face. Before my eyes, the fried loose flesh was vanishing and being replaced by smooth, pale skin.

“Thank God,” I murmured.

Once the potion appeared to have finished its work and every portion of skin had replaced itself, I picked up a clean white towel hanging over the back of one of the chairs and tied it around his waist.

“Does it hurt still when I touch you?” I asked anxiously.

He slowly placed his palms on either side of my face. “No,” he said. “It doesn’t.”

I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight. “You have no idea how terrifying that was, Derek.”