Sophia

Everyone stared at me when I entered the council room, their gazes feeling like small daggers piercing into my skin. I swallowed hard, my mouth dry, wishing turning around and leaving was an option. I liked to bathe in attention, but never in my life felt it so burdened. Especially not here. I never realized what burden my family must have carried in my stead when we walked into the room, led the conversations and blocked me from all this judgment. Everything I was oblivious to.

Pascal strode to our table, seemingly unbothered by the awkward silence in the room if not for the clenched hands he hid under the table and the ticking in his jaw. I let my gaze wander around the room, meeting several eyes, but no one even flinched. It was as if it were fine to gape at me without shame, like I was a piece at an art exhibition. I couldn’t help but wonder if they already knew what had happened or if they were only curious about the absence of my family.

I pulled the chair closer to the table, a loud screeching sound echoing through the room, making me wince. A slight chill rushed through me, as even more people turned to me. I wanted to straighten my back and stare back at them, nose in the air, well knowing that I was invincible, but now that I had lost my family I didn’t feel invincible anymore. Was I ever as invincible as I thought I was or was I ignoring the obvious? No one was truly invincible. I was just naïve.

The elders entered the room, and gazes dropped off me, turning their attention to them. I let out a puff of air, a weight lifting off my shoulders. I never thought I would be happy seeing the elders but I guess there is a first time for everything.

“Welcome,” Blaine said.

We all stood up, bowed and sat down again. When we were all settled and the elders let their eyes roam around the room for a moment, the door burst open, making me jump in my seat.

Samuel rushed into the room. The hair on the back of my neck lifted as I watched him hurry to his table, two scholars close behind him. He bowed to the elders, offering a loud apology. The elders nodded, gesturing for him to sit.

I glared at him, heat flushing through my body. Deep inside me, I hoped if I thought about it hard enough, he would drop dead right here in front of everyone. He killed my parents and he didn’t even seem bothered by it, waltzing in here as if nothing happened. I was determined to not drop my eyes off him for the rest of the meeting when I felt a piercing stare on me. Confused, I glanced up, only to meet the deep brown eyes of the scholar behind him.

I tilted my head to the side, wondering why he was staring at me the way he did. Usually, the scholars Samuel brought with him would stare into the distance, not looking at anyone in particular. Did I know him? Was he part of the group that killed my family?

“The Jones family,” Blaine called, ripping me out of my thoughts.

I jumped up in my chair. “Present”

He raised a brow at me, nodding ever so slightly. Once again, the eyes of the community landed on me, judging, and I lowered myself back on my chair, wringing my hands.

“Keep your head out of the clouds,” Pascal hissed. “He had to call out for you three times.”

I didn’t look at him, nodding, biting my tongue to not lash out at him. Why didn’t he give me a signal that I was being called?

Daring one more look at the scholar, I still saw his eyes on me and I cleared my throat. I didn’t know what he wanted from me, but it couldn’t be anything good.

After Blaine had called out all the names, he leaned forward, folding his hands together in front of him.

“As it might have come to your attention already, there had been a horrible, truly vile, attack on one of our dear families. We regret to announce that most of them did not survive the attack,” Blaine said.

Gasps echoed through the room as several people glanced back to my table, loud whispers erupting between the other families.

“Sophia Jones is the last living member of the Jones family. Claire Jones is still missing. We do everything in our power to find her and to bring her back to us.”

His words sounded like a lie to my ears. I even believed that Claire’s disappearance was convenient for them. With her out of the picture, I was the only eyesore left and I will turn twenty-one soon. They have no obligation to support me in their community and they could cast me aside if they saw no benefit in having me around. Then, they had everything my family worked for all these years in the palm of their hands.

“Such a horrible incident hadn’t happened in centuries and we are still stunned, completely baffled even, that this could have happened to one of our valued families,” Earl continued, his voice trembling. “This is a sign of weakness! We do our best every single day to keep us all protected, but times are changing and it’s becoming harder and harder to ensure the safety of all of you on our own. We don’t know who wants us gone yet, but anyone who isn’t part of our community could be a potential threat. The other communities must feel threatened by our power! Vampires had been the target of plenty of attacks in the past too. We were lucky it was so peaceful in the past years.”

Yes, vampires were so great that all other species want us gone. No wonder all the other communities weren’t so welcome of us outside the vampire territory. If they took the chance to go out and listen to the others, they would realize that they don’t want us to disappear, quite the opposite even. They only want us to leave them alone and to stop acting as if we have the solution for everything. The vampire community always tried to control Tierelia as best they could, at least financially.

“The Jones family always fought hard and diligently for our cause and this shouldn’t have been the way for them to go. They had grand plans for us, which would have led us to a safer and more protected time,” Gus said, his voice hoarse and a lot deeper than the rest of the elders.

“Sometimes sacrifices need to happen for the greater good. Their hard work and dedication will not be forgotten,” Samuel chimed in.

His words felt like he stabbed my heart with a sharp knife, twisting and turning until it stopped beating. Pain soared through me, fueled by anger boiling in my stomach. The fire burning under my skin begged to be released, to roam freely and to show him where he could stuff his words. How can he call my family a sacrifice? Did he expect me to be proud of their death? A death he was responsible for!

“The alliance between vampires and mages has to happen sooner rather than later. We are honored to have Samuel and his scholars in our midst, offering us the protection we need. The Jones family had been working intensively to make this alliance happen,” Blaine said, nodding towards Samuel. “And as Samuel said; we shouldn’t forget the hard work they did for our community. They supported this alliance loud and clear and that must have put a target on their back. They were stopped to make this alliance happen. Someone out there must feel threatened and wants to stop us! But it proved, more than ever, that we can’t fight on our own. The Jones family was the strongest in our community but they were still not strong enough. Imagine what would happen to those not as strong as them?”

Gasps and high pitch voices of terror rang through the room as his words settled into their heads. I wish I would feel compassion and empathy towards them but no emotion could win over this rage inside me. Everything felt so staged, as if they were supposed to act this way, even though I well knew these were their actual emotions. Vampires were weak, maybe even weaker than humans, which is ridiculous, considering we are physically superior to them. We had better senses and were faster and stronger. We were better in all physical aspects, but we seemed to lack intelligence and common sense.

The elders let the people panic, giving everyone a chance to live out their angst as I dropped my gaze back to Samuel. He pressed his lips into a thin line, watching the vampires nearly falling over themselves to be heard by the elders. He must be so proud of himself, well knowing that there was no way anyone would decline an alliance with this situation at hand.

Samuel stood up, cleared his throat and spread out his arms. From one second to the next, silence flooded the room. I couldn’t hear even one breath as they turned to Samuel, eager to hear what he had to say.

“My scholars and I are ready to fight alongside the vampires to achieve a better and safer environment. We promised to protect you and we stand by our word. What happened to the Jones family should not repeat itself. I wish to convey my deepest regret for the passing of the Jones family and I hope that Sophia Jones can cope with the loss. Truly, she is the one who had lost the most that night. We, of course, will do our best to find the missing child, so we can at least reunite the siblings and make things right.”

His eyes bored into mine, darkness shimmering in them only I could see. My stomach roiled as I stared at him, his words hanging in the air like ugly, sticky tar. He hated seeing me here. I felt it in my bones. I wasn’t sure before, but I was now. He didn’t know I would be here and maybe I could use that to my advantage.

It took a few more seconds before I realized all eyes had turned to me again. They expected me to say something to him, but I didn’t even know what I should say. All I wanted was to scream at him and to make him suffer for what he did.

Pascal cleared his throat next to me, a brow arched as he nodded toward Samuel. I sighed and stood up, forcing a smile onto my lips. “Thank you for your condolences. I also hope to find my sister as soon as possible and inquire for the help of this alliance to bring her home.”

My voice sounded foreign, wrong even, leaving a sour taste in my mouth. These people believed he was a good guy and our savior. But to me, he was a monster. Samuel nodded ever so slowly, a smile on his lips that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Continuing with our meeting, we have to discuss the changes to the Jones business and household,” Langston said, as he leaned to the side, his head propped up on one hand. Everyone shuffled back to their seats and I once again glanced back at Samuel, who had turned to Langston, his hands folded in front of him.

“The most fitting candidate will get chosen by different criteria, which are not determined yet and hence wil

Schedulel not be discussed today. But we still need to inform you about the upcoming changes to the Jones family’s business.”

“For now, we’ll freeze all their assets and keep the business running without major changes. The employees keep their jobs, and all revenue is safe, too. Nothing significant can be changed or done to the company until we have decided who will inherit it. After long, thorough thinking, we have decided that Samuel will handle all things that need attention in the Jones business. He’s a neutral party and should be the best option right now. This way, we also prove our trust in the alliance and we believe Samuel is the perfect candidate to take care of matters until we have settled for a permanent solution.”

My mouth went dry as I watched my fellow community members nodding their heads in approval. It took me a few seconds to understand what Langston had said, but when it sunk in, my body was shaking in anger. This couldn’t happen right now. They wouldn’t do that, right? But my gaze dropped to Samuel, whose smirk deepened as he glanced at me, a sparkle in his eyes that made my blood boil. Pascal’s words still echoed in my head and I knew I shouldn’t cause a scene, but should I sit back and let it happen, despite knowing what really happened? What he had done?