A Castle of Sand(26)

I squeezed her hand tighter. She looked up at me, stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against my cheek. “I love you, Derek.”
Those words would’ve been healing balm—hearing them from her always did make all the difference, but not that night. I wondered if she could tell me the same thing after witnessing Ashley get turned.
I kept my silence as we reached the Sanctuary. Corrine, Ashley, Kyle and Sam were already there. Ashley was wearing a skin tight red dress that made her look absolutely stunning. I would’ve normally been amused at how Kyle and Sam both gulped at the sight of her, but all I could think about was Sofia. Upon seeing each other, Sofia and Ashley embraced.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Sofia whispered.
Ashley nodded. “Yes. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”
The expression on Sofia’s lovely face made me ache inside. She looked like she was about to lose a friend. I didn’t know if I was being paranoid, but it was almost as if she was already grieving Ashley.
“Are we ready to begin?” Corrine asked.
Awkward and unsure glances were exchanged across the hall, before Ashley stepped forward and nodded. “I’m ready.”
I watched Kyle carefully. I knew for sure that he’d never turned a human before. I wondered what was going through his mind. At that point, however, there was no time to ask. I’d been spending all my free time preparing Sofia’s quarters at The Catacombs, I barely gave Ashley’s turning much thought.
Corrine nodded for us to follow her and we made our way to the chambers where I’d been kept asleep for four hundred years. The giant round pillars, the stone slab in the middle of the room—each feature triggered unwanted memories from the past.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Cora’s big brown eyes were moist. It was clear that she’d just hurriedly wiped tears away before I came in.
I couldn’t look into her eyes. I knew that she loved me. She’d told me many times before. More than that, she’d shown me in more ways than one that I meant more to her than she did to me. I could still remember how she broke into tears when I told her that I wanted to end it all. I wanted to escape The Shade and all the memories that came with it.
“You can’t leave me here,” she sobbed.
“I’m sorry” was all I managed to say. She was my best friend and, other than Vivienne, she was the most important woman in my life, but I couldn’t stay. Not for her, not for Vivienne. I couldn’t bear the guilt anymore—the price I had paid in order to make The Shade what it was, was simply far too high. I couldn’t live with myself, yet the thought of dying left me terrified.
“You have no idea how hard it is to have someone you love leave you this way.”
The strongest woman I’d ever known was sobbing right in front of me, a broken, beautiful being I had no idea how to console. She did everything to convince me not to push through with it. She tried to make me see reason, tried desperately to make me realize that there was still something worth living for, but I had made my decision.#p#分页标题#e#
Thus, we stood there that night, with me entrusting my entire life into her hands. Though she fought tooth and nail against my decision to escape to deep slumber, I knew that she would never do anything to harm me and that she would be true to her word that my sleep would last for eternity, without dreams or nightmares to contend with. Just peace.
I never expected her to go back on her promise, because even though no harm did come my way and though the sleep was as peaceful as any slumber could be, I found myself awake four centuries later, madly in love with a girl I feared I would someday lose—the same way Cora lost me.
Sofia clung to my arm and this motion snapped me out of my memories. My stomach twisted into a tight knot when I realized that Ashley was already lying on the stone slab. As she usually did, Corrine stood nearby—overseeing the ceremony, making sure that no harm would befall the human being turned. This used to be Cora’s role. I found myself missing my best friend, but knew that she was long gone. The thought added another weight to my already heavily burdened chest.
I could sense Sofia’s slender form tremble next to mine as Kyle approached Ashley.
“This is going to hurt a bit…” Kyle’s croaked.
“It’s ok.” Ashley gave me a half-amused, sideways glance. “I’ve been bitten before.”
It was obvious from the tone of her voice that she was trying to make light of the situation, but the tremble that came with her words made it clear how nervous she was.
Who could blame her? This decision of hers will change her life in more ways than she can imagine. I stared sadly at the annoying little twerp that was Ashley and truly felt sorry for her. Kyle gently brushed strands of her hair away from her neck. Light scars were still present on her skin—my bite marks.