Free A Shade of Vampire 7: A Break of Day by Bella Forrest

simply no way I could stay in that place any longer. I’d be of far more use travelling back to Headquarters and working with Aiden. I’d leave a note for Sofia telling her where I’d gone and I’d travel back to the cabin every two days to check if she had returned.
    On arriving at my bedroom, it turned out that leaving a note wasn’t necessary. For there lay Sofia, sprawled unconscious on the bed, her skin covered with blisters and blood seeping from a deep wound near her abdomen.

Chapter 15: Sofia
     
    As the blackness gave way to fluorescent white lighting, the first thing that came into focus was a set of bright blue eyes. A warm hand brushed against my cheek. Derek. Relief overwhelmed me, but as I came further to consciousness and realized what a danger I was to my loved ones, it transformed into horror.
    Derek’s face lit up as soon as I stirred. He bent down and his lips pushed against mine. I wished I could have returned his embrace with as much passion. Instead my lips and arms remained stiff. The Elder retained full control of my movements.
    “Sofia!” my father gasped.
    Oh, no. Not you too.
    I turned my head to see Aiden on the other side of my bed. He clutched my hand, leant down and kissed my forehead. Pain was etched in his eyes. He’d already lost his wife to the curse. Now he was watching me suffer under it. Thank God he doesn’t know my situation is even worse than Ingrid’s was. I don’t know how he would survive it.
    “You’re going to be okay, my darling,” Aiden said. “We’re going to find a cure for you, just as we did for Derek. And then we’re going to bring your beautiful baby boy back to your arms. How does that sound?”
    I was desperate to ask about my son, but my lips remained tightly sealed. I looked around for the first time. We were in the emergency room at Hawk Headquarters.
    Why does it want me here?
    A nurse walked over to me and helped me into a sitting position. It was then that the remains of a mouthful of blood trickled down to the base of my tongue. Sweet. Succulent.
    “You’re lucky we retained some of Anna’s blood from the lab when we were doing tests on her.” The nurse smiled.
    Anna’s blood. Although I couldn’t deny my craving for more, I felt disgusted. Whatever did happen to Anna? And what about Kyle who accompanied her here all those months ago, just after he became a human?
    Aiden must have guessed such questions would have been running through my mind. “Anna and Kyle are okay, Sofia. They’re in Aviary right now. Arron brought Ian there too. But they will be returned unharmed. They are just assisting the Guardians with some testing.”
    Aviary? Guardians? Testing? I had no idea what he was talking about, but none of it put me at ease for my friends’ safety.
    His face betrayed realization that he’d implicated himself in a longer and more complicated discussion than he had intended. “But all that, my dear, is a topic for another day. We need to get you better first.”
    “How long before I can leave this bed?”
    “Immediately,” the nurse said. “Take a look, you’re all healed.”
    The blisters and all traces of my wound had vanished. I shivered internally as I recalled my trip to the witch in The Cells who, in exchange for some more dried bread, had carved the wound into my body and covered my skin with blisters as soon as we had returned from our… expedition.
    “Where did you go, Sofia?” Derek must have been burning to ask.
    “I-I don’t know, Derek.” I felt myself frown. “The last thing I remember was you leaving me in the bedroom. I was upset that you were refusing to bring me to see everyone here at Headquarters… I probably ran outside into the daylight. I suppose I worked myself up into a state and didn’t know what I was doing. But I think that what we can learn from this is: don’t make me upset again and I won’t go anywhere.”
    Disappointment shrouded his eyes. He knew this wasn’t his Sofia he was talking