I swore.
Helina’s face contorted at the memory.
“So there we were,” Erik continued. “Penniless, possessionless, and on the streets during the coldest time of the year. I tried to get work, but nobody would employ a homeless boy. And Helina was far too young to work. We resorted to stealing. We had no other choice. It paid some of the bills, but we had to scrounge to piece together any kind of decent meal. This went on for years. We couldn’t even return to the village because we had no means to.”
“We both grew sick,” Helina said, her voice trembling. “And more and more desperate each day that went by… Once Erik was older, he got into the company of a band of highway robbers. The loot that he got from those trips was always far more than pickpocketing.”
“Helina started accompanying me as soon as she was old enough,” Erik continued. “She’d wait behind a tree with backup weapons in case I needed them. We started going to the roads at night regularly, often thrice a week. I rarely had to harm anyone—most just threw me a sack of coins rather than fight. Then one night was… different. I still remember it. A black carriage drawn by two dark steeds drew up in front of me. A woman, a beautiful woman, stepped out. She took pity on me standing out there in the cold, and invited me back home for a warm meal. I agreed, and called Helina to come out of her hiding place and join us. We had unknowingly stepped into a carriage with a vampire… Clara.”
“Clara?” My mouth hung open in shock. I’d thought it wasn’t possible to hate a woman more than I already hated Clara. “That bitch!”
“She turned us both right there and then,” Helina said. “I still remember her words. She said, ‘Welcome to the family, Novalics.’ I’d found it bizarre that she’d known our surname when Erik had never mentioned it to her.”
“But why you two? Of all the people in this world, why did she seek you out?”
Helina and Erik exchanged glasses.
“I suppose it runs in the family,” Helina said with a half smile. “The Elder decided he liked you, and he came back for more of your bloodline.”
“There’s something about our family’s blood they like,” Erik said. “Us, the Novaks—”
“The Novaks?”
“Yes, Kiev,” Helina explained. “We’re related to them. We’re distant cousins.”
I almost choked.
I’m related to Derek Novak.
Can this day get any more absurd?
“How do you know that we’re related to the Novaks?” I demanded.
“The Elder told us,” Erik replied. “He mentioned it in passing.”
My mouth hung open as I tried to let this piece of insanity sink in.
“So… you know all about the Novaks? Is that why you named this island The Shade?”
They both nodded.
“Most vampires know of the legend that is the Shade,” Helina said dreamily.
I thought back to all those times I’d felt totally alone under the Elder’s iron fist. How much easier it would have made things to know that I had siblings going through the same thing. Although it horrified me, I couldn’t deny that now I felt thankful to Clara for doing it.
“Why didn’t the Elder ever tell me that he’d turned you? How come I never found out? How come I never saw you once?”
Erik shrugged.
“I suppose that you had enough reason to resent him already,” Erik said. “And he sensed that this would damage your relationship further, thus making you more difficult to control. It was easier to just do it all quietly.”
Helina reached up to brush my cheek with the back of my hand.
“He told us that he’d turned you into a vampire too,” she said. “But he never allowed us to see you, no matter how much we begged.”
“But… I was in The Blood Keep almost the whole time. How come I never saw you?”
“We were taken back through the portal to Cruor,” Erik explained. “We didn’t spend time in The Blood Keep.”
I exhaled sharply. “How the hell did you escape that place?”
“Erik!” A female voice echoed through the forest. “Where are you, my love?”
Erik and Helina exchanged glances. Helina grabbed my hand and said, “Come, we’ll show you how we escaped.”
“Here, Julisse! I’m coming,” Erik shouted back.
We walked quickly through the forest until we reached the clearing in front of the magnificent black castle.
Erik gripped my shoulder and pointed to three women standing on the steps.
“Meet Julisse—”
Before Erik could finish his introduction, Julisse ran to Erik and wrapped her arms around his neck, planting a kiss on his lips.