Free A Shade of Vampire 8: A Shade of Novak by Bella Forrest Page B

pining for his attention.
    Derek must have detected what was going through my mind, because he wrapped an arm around me and placed a tender kiss on my forehead. I looked out at the deep dark ocean, fighting to hold back the tears.
    Where are you now, Ben?
    If only you could see what a beautiful young woman Abby has blossomed into.
    If only you could be here with us now.
    If only you could have found a love of your own to give you the strength to fight the battle you could have won…
    It still haunted me to this day, the way he had just given up on his life. Had he just allowed us to feed him the blood from Derek’s palm in those crucial few moments that his soul was still one with his body, he might have been with us now. No matter how hard I tried to understand, I still felt defeated by it. He’d had so much to live for. Yet he’d given it all up willingly, without even a struggle.
    I still hadn’t forgiven him for it after all these years. And now I doubted that I ever would.
    By the time we were halfway along the beach, I’d lost my battle with tears—the memories cutting open my wounds afresh. Wounds that I’d thought had healed years ago.
    Derek stopped walking and cradled me against his chest. When Eli and Ibrahim stopped to ask what was wrong, he told them to keep walking.
    “I know he’s not coming back,” I breathed. “And I know it’s been years. But, God, it still hurts. It hurts like it was yesterday.”
    Derek bent down and kissed my cheek, then brushed his own cool cheek against mine and whispered into my ear, “Some scars just don’t heal, Sofia. You need to accept that.”
    I gripped Derek tighter against me.
    “Thank you,” I gasped, breaking down into a fresh wave of tears. “I-I needed to hear that.”
    I sank to my knees and he sat with me. I stayed there sobbing in his arms until I felt steady enough to get up and continue walking.
    We ran to catch up with Ibrahim, Eli and Shadow.
    “I’m sorry,” I said, my voice hoarse.
    “The last thing you need to do is apologize, Sofia,” Eli said.
    I gave them a watery smile.
    “Okay,” I said, drawing in a deep breath. “Let’s get down to business.”
    We walked along the length of the beach that night until we reached the area the humans had disappeared from.
    We searched all around, scanned the sand, splashed around in the waves looking for any clue that could tell us what had happened. Shadow was finding nothing of interest to us—although he was certainly finding things that were of interest to him. An orange buoy, a dead whale shark and an unholy amount of seaweed.
    Of course, we’d expected not to find anything. After all, if these were supernatural creatures, they wouldn’t leave traces.
    Once there wasn’t any more beach to scan, we all gathered together in a circle and looked at each other. Then all eyes fixed on Eli.
    “So?” Ibrahim said.
    Eli ran a hand through his hair and heaved a sigh.
    “We need to return home and I need to get my maps out.”
    “And?” Derek said.
    “I need to analyze all the locations they’ve hit over the past few years. I want to see if I can spot any pattern.”
    “And what if there isn’t any pattern?” I asked.
    “I agree, it’s a long shot,” Eli said. “But whoever or whatever is taking these humans has never been caught on any CCTV camera, even after all these years. They—or it—deliberately target wide open areas like this. I don’t see what else we can do right now other than try to piece together a pattern. If we are able to spot something, it might give us some clue as to what area they might hit next.”
    “I suppose it might also give us a clearer guess as to their location,” Ibrahim suggested.
    Eli nodded. “Because so far, only one thing is apparent. They like their beach parties.”

Chapter 9: Rose
    T he elevator doors were about to close when a gloved hand slipped through. Two men wearing sunglasses entered the elevator and pressed the button for the doors to