The idea of being in his presence obviously scared her. She shook her head. “What do you want to know?”
“The tattoo on your back… it means you’re a hunter?”
Her jaw clenched. “Yeah. So what?” She began to twirl the ends of her blonde hair, something I knew she did when she was anxious about something.
“Vivienne was captured by the hunters…”
“Derek’s sister?”
I nodded. “She went out of The Shade to get me to come back…”
“Why? Why would she risk that? They’re safe in this island bubble of theirs. Why would she go through all that to get you back? Why are you so important to these people, Sofia?”
Vivienne’s words flashed through my mind. You’re not a pawn. You’re the queen. “Ash, I understand your hatred of the vampires. I saw it in Ben’s eyes. In a way, I shared that hatred too. They took away so much from us. Derek tried to kill you and whatever excuse he has isn’t reason enough for what he did, but we’re here and there’s no changing that…”
“You’re not answering my question, Sofia. Why are you here? Why would their princess risk being captured by the hunters to get you back?”
I told her what Vivienne told me back at the coffee shop. The part of the prophecy and the role she felt I played in it. This was the part of my conversation with Vivienne that I kept from Derek. Just saying it out loud to Ashley made me feel conceited. Do I really believe that I was that important? That I could make a difference here?
By the time I finished, Ashley’s face softened. “And you actually believe her?”
“At first, I didn’t, then she gave me some of her memories… random ones that told me of her story and the things she went through to protect this island. Then when I got here, Derek showed me the history of The Shade… the price they paid to have what they have… And I know for sure that Vivienne was sincere.” I inhaled and exhaled, hoping that I was somehow getting through to Ashley. “I’m not asking you to forgive him, Ashley. He put you through too much for me to ask something like that. I’m asking you to trust me, because we were friends. We are friends, and things weren’t so bad when we were here, and…”
To my surprise, Ashley cut my rambling off and pulled me in for an embrace. She then whispered into my ear. “I knew you’d come back, Sofia. I wished you’d come back to get us out of here, so it was disappointing to find out that you came back mostly for him. That still doesn’t mean that we didn’t miss you. And if I have to stay in this black hole of an island, I’d rather that you’re here than not.” She chuckled. “After all, I was a lot safer from him when you were here.”
I smiled at her, hoping that what was going on between Ashley and I was a road to reconciliation. When she stopped hugging me, I was relieved to find a smile on her face too.
“What do you want to know, Sofia? If it gets me out of here, then I’ll tell you…”
“We want to know any information you have about the hunters, Ashley... You were one of them.”
“There’s not much I can tell you, Sofia, but what I do know for sure is that if the hunters have had her for more than twenty-four hours, she’s done for. They never keep vampires alive for too long.”
“What reason would they have for keeping one alive?”
Ashley shrugged. “To get information out of her. I’d imagine that Vivienne would be a pretty huge catch, considering that she’s princess of this island… They’d probably be torturing her by now.”
“How can we find her?”
A sad smile formed on her face. “You’re asking about the location of the hunters’ headquarters…”
“Yes.”
“I’d tell you, Sofia, but I don’t know. Look… I belong to a family who’s had generation upon generation of hunters. I couldn’t even track down how far back our family had belonged to the order. Our parents tried to raise us to hate vampires, and it worked with my brother, but it never worked with me. I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of hating creatures who harmed some great ancestor of mine and now several generations after, I’m still supposed to harbor hatred against them?” Ashley heaved a deep sigh before proceeding, memories of the past haunting her eyes. “I didn’t want to live the life they were living, so when they sent my brother and I to the hunters for training, I begged him to not tell mom and dad that I didn’t go. I got a tattoo of the hawk just so I could show it to them when they asked about the training, but I never once set foot at the hunters’ headquarters, so I don’t know where it is or how things are run there.”