A Valley of Darkness

  “Come on, Blaze!” she purred. “You’re too good a dancer to be left alone on the sidelines!”

  She pulled him back onto the dancefloor, and he gave me an apologetic half-smile, while I was left simmering and wearing my best straight face.

  “He wasn’t alone,” I muttered beneath my breath, then gulped down the rest of my drink.

  I went over to the bar for a refill, and spent some time there, leaning against a pillar and watching the rest of my team dancing and talking to various Exiled Maras. They were all doing a fine job of keeping the Lords and Ladies busy, and Blaze seemed to be asking Rewa some more serious questions—I could tell from the gentle frown on her face that she wasn’t too pleased with the direction in which that conversation was headed. She seemed to brush some questions off with short bursts of laughter, then rested her head on Blaze’s chest. He seemed a little uncomfortable, and I could say the same for myself.

  I focused on the string of disappearances instead, desperately needing a distraction. I turned my back on the dancefloor, and began to mull over all the details we’d gathered so far, replaying the interviews in my head and taking all the unknown variables into account. After five minutes of intense concentration, I began seeing a pattern in the abductions. The timeline began to make sense—as did the order in which the people were being taken.

  While the incidents had, at first, occurred in the gorges and on the plains, they had soon stretched over to the base of the mountain and were slowly making their way up.

  Though… what about Sienna?

  Her case didn’t fit in with the rest, and that bugged me. Her disappearance was an anomaly, given her location, so I decided to consider it an exception and exclude it from the pattern I’d discovered so far.

  Once she was out of the equation, the dates and places did make sense, and I was positive that it would look even clearer once we put some pins into a map of Azure Heights and its surrounding areas.

  “Hey!” Avril’s voice startled me out of my musings.

  Both she and Heron were standing next to me. I hadn’t even seen them coming.

  “Hey!” I smiled. “You’re back!”

  “Oh, yeah.” She smirked, a tinge of satisfaction in her tone, then pulled me to one of the tables at the edge. We sat down, watching the crowd dance in front of us, with only a couple of Exiled Maras occupying one of the tables on the other side. Nobody wanted to sit down for long. “And we definitely got some useful intel.”

  “You found Arrah,” I said, and they both nodded. “What did she say?”

  “First of all, mind-bending doesn’t work on her,” Avril replied. “Heron tried a couple of times. Arrah said she’s immune but doesn’t know why. So we could only appeal to her emotional side—we tried to get her to help us.”

  “She wasn’t too forthcoming, but still, she helped. A lot,” Heron added.

  “Her mom went missing like the others,” Avril explained, “and her brother was imprisoned for, and I quote, ‘conspiring against the city’. There was no clear motive given; she only got a letter. There’s a prison here in the city, but nobody besides the Correction Officers, and probably the Five Lords, knows where it is.”

  “Yeah, we read something about that today.” I remembered it from our session in the library archives. “House Kifo business, right?”

  “Yup, but here’s the thing,” Avril replied. “Arrah might know more about Sienna’s disappearance, but she’s afraid to come forward because they’re keeping her brother in that prison, and they’re not letting her see him, either. She thinks there’s some form of… I don’t know, Imen’s rights abuse, I guess. I don’t think she’ll talk unless her brother is safe.”

  “How is Sienna connected to all this?” I frowned.

  “We’re not sure.” Heron shrugged. “She might not be. We can’t be certain of anything until Arrah tells us more. Which she won’t because they’ve imprisoned her brother. Vicious circle… She didn’t know or couldn’t talk about daemons, either. That wasn’t very clear. She didn’t confirm or deny, given the circumstances.”

  “How can we help her, then?”

  “Not sure at this point,” Heron replied. “We need to run all this by Jax and Hansa—maybe they can suggest and approve the next course of action. But we could definitely dig a little deeper into House Roho. There must be some secrets there, some even tied to Sienna, that Arrah knows and can’t divulge, due to her brother’s situation.”

  “According to what I read today,” I mentally flipped through the Roho family registry, “Rowan’s husband, and Vincent and Sienna’s father, Nathaniel Rohan, died about ten years ago. But there was no mention of cause of death. He was reported missing, then declared dead in his absence. We know the daughter disappeared, too, but it may be completely unrelated. And Arrah, a servant in their house, has a brother who was arrested on a vague charge. She also knows more about Sienna and House Roho, in general, right?”

  “Exactly.” Avril nodded. “Thing is, she was pretty clear when she said she was afraid to tell us more. She said she feared for her life and her brother’s. Do you think Vincent or Rowan had something to do with it?”

  “I think Fiona’s the best person to tell us, at this point.” I sighed. “She’s the one dancing with Vincent tonight. But I wouldn’t exclude House Kifo from the suspect list, either. You’ve seen how anti-GASP Caspian has been since we got here…”

  “This is getting stickier with each passing hour, I swear.” Avril shook her head, glancing at the packed dancefloor.

  “That’s not everything,” I replied. “I’ve been going over the interviews we’ve done so far, the dates and places of every abduction, and, if we take Sienna out of the equation, there’s an actual pattern to them. We’ll go over it later tonight, but, in short, there’s a method behind the madness here.”

  “If there’s a connection between the disappearances and House Roho, or House Kifo, for that matter, Arrah will know for sure,” Heron muttered. “But we have to be quiet about it, and not put her in any danger.”

  “We need to follow those Correction Officers,” Avril said. “Arrah said they wear blue badges. Not easy to spot, but once we do see one, we should totally track them.”

  “Patrik’s getting that protection spell ready,” I replied. “We’ll be out to help him put it together anyway. Might as well use the opportunity and search the crowds. If we spot a CO, we follow.”

  “We have to be discreet about it.” Heron snatched two blood flutes from a passing waiter, and handed one to Avril, who thanked him with a brief smile. “Then again, we do have some invisibility spells with us.”

  “Let’s run this by Jax and Hansa first,” I said. “They might not want us to use any of the swamp witches’ magic just yet.”

  Either way, we had our hands full.

  The disappearances were linked to the Valley of Screams. Sienna’s abduction had also been connected to the same phenomenon, but it didn’t fit the pattern, and this new development with Arrah made it possible for Houses Kifo and Roho to be involved, as well. Lots of unknowns there, for the time being.

  The thing that really nagged me, though only partly related to our investigation, was the prison. People in Azure Heights knew very little about it, and it didn’t seem natural for any society to be so uninformed. And no one knew where the prison was, except for the Correction Officers, who were also the ones arresting suspected or accused criminals. You broke the law, you were jailed, period. But then, Arrah’s brother was a peculiar case, given what Avril had told us about him. The charges were too vague...

  We had to get to the bottom of all this quickly, especially after the daemons’ vicious attack on our team last night. And, according to my mind map of the disappearances, they followed a pattern, so we had to make sure we could prevent the next attacks from happening.

  “Having our hands full” didn’t even begin to cover it.

  Hansa

  Emilian couldn’t seem to get enough of dancing with me,
and I wasn’t going to take that away from him. We needed the Five Lords busy while Avril and Heron were out interviewing Arrah. I also wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to ask him more about the prison, Kifo’s Correction Officers, and the daemons. Our younglings had gathered a healthy amount of useful information from the city’s library, but Emilian was the best to help us make sense of much of it.

  His hand rested on my hip as I allowed him to lead me across the dancefloor, swaying to a tender waltz. I’d learned a few basic dance steps at the weddings that had followed our war against Azazel. I’d attended eight in the span of three months, including those of Serena and Draven, Vita and Bijarki, Field and Aida, and Anjani and Jovi, and I’d had plenty of opportunities to practice. Not that I was crazy about the dancing part—I just hated standing on the sidelines while everyone else had fun swaying to music.

  Emilian was a handsome Mara, despite his almost ten thousand years of life, and he didn’t hide his enjoyment of being in my presence. From what we’d learned so far, Emilian’s wife, Evelyn Obara, had passed away a century earlier, and he’d yet to remarry. They’d left Calliope together, and she’d been a staunch supporter of reforming the Exiled Maras. They’d even erected a statue of her in one of the squares.

  “I must say, Hansa,” Emilian said, “you are truly a vision in that color.”

  “Thank you,” I said, feeling my skin light up with a genuine blush. I knew my assets, but I’d lived for so long in war mode that it was sometimes nice to be reminded that I was designed to seduce and impress. “You’re looking quite dapper yourself.”

  “Thank you.” He smiled. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen a succubus—you must forgive me if I stare. I’ve forgotten how beautiful you creatures are.” He sighed, a hint of sadness settling in his eyes. “Long ago, I used to look at your kind with awe and wariness…”

  “Why wariness?”

  “Because I had my heart set on a succubus once, and I would’ve wanted more than a Pyrope with her. It was the most intimate contact I could have with a soulmate outside my species. Not that my kind fell for non-Maras often.”

  “Pyrope… That’s the blood oath, isn’t it?” I asked, remembering how Eritopian Maras got their non-animal fix once in a while. The most recent example I could think of was the Pyrope that Jax had going with Zeriel, King of the Tritones. He’d saved Zeriel’s life, and, in return, the Tritone had agreed to give Jax a few ounces of blood, once a month.

  “Yes, Pyrope has always been a… flexible method that our people employed after we were first threatened with war.” Emilian nodded. “Back when I was still bloodthirsty and foolish. Some of us fell in love with creatures outside our species, and, in some instances, the craving for their blood came naturally. Pyrope was a fair method of tasting them, without hurting them. And, like I said, it was a most intimate gesture, like drinking the very essence of your loved one. I was head over heels with a succubus back then, before I met Evelyn. And I was quite sad because I couldn’t do Pyrope with her, thanks to her toxic blood…”

  “Do you still practice Pyrope here, today?” I asked.

  “Between you and me, I don’t know of anyone, personally, who does it.” He winked. “But I wouldn’t be surprised. It was deemed illegal once we established the rule of law in Azure Heights. We didn’t want any of us to be tempted, in any way. Once you’re cut off and reduced to animal blood, there’s a withdrawal period. It’s like an addiction, I suppose, so we didn’t want to enable relapses, which is why we forbade Pyrope. But unless those engaging in it come forward or they are caught in the act, we cannot press any charges.”

  “That’s interesting,” I murmured, then gasped and laughed as he spun me around a couple of times, then pulled me closer and went on leading me to the rhythm of the music.

  “How is life on Calliope, these days?” he asked, his gaze settled on my face.

  Where could I start, when so much had happened? I glanced around while my mind tried to summarize the past ten thousand years, and saw Jax glaring my way as he walked onto the dancefloor with Farrah, wrapping one arm around her. They started dancing.

  My stomach churned and my heart thudded, watching him move so smoothly. He shifted his focus to Farrah, and a charming smile bloomed on his face. He’d never looked at me that way. I huffed, then smirked at Emilian.

  “Let’s just say a lot has happened since you left,” I finally replied. “We had a Druid go dark and haywire, wreaking havoc and trying to take over the galaxy… It was messy and bloody. Millions died. But we had some unexpected help from outsiders, and we were able to vanquish him. Then we established GASP in Eritopia, and things are finally falling back into place…”

  “You mean to say you had another Asherak situation?” Emilian raised an eyebrow, surprised.

  “Worse, actually.” I sighed. “Azazel was his name, and he used Asherak’s soul to gain power. Got his filthy hands on a Daughter of Eritopia, forced her to hatch prematurely, and drew energy from her. He even sourced power from the Dearghs’ volcanoes. He was nearly unstoppable at one point, and brought down all the Druids. Well, except for a handful… It’s a long story, Emilian… One I don’t wish to retell just yet. It still hurts.”

  I tried to ignore the dull pain in my chest, remembering the day I’d found my whole tribe slaughtered by an alliance of Sluaghs and Destroyers of Azazel. All the blood, the charred remains of my sisters, my daughters, the black smoke billowing from still-burning tents… The smell of death. It was all still too fresh in my soul.

  Emilian noticed my underlying grief and frowned gently. “I am sorry for your loss, Hansa.” His voice dropped. “War is never easy, nor free of pain. I take it you lost some loved ones?”

  I nodded my response, fighting back tears. He tightened his grip on me, and lowered his head enough for his forehead to touch mine.

  “I apologize,” he muttered. “I see the subject is still sensitive.”

  “It’s fine.” I gave him a weak smile, then changed the subject, as my eyes were getting too wet for my liking. “Tell me about your lives here! How did you end up building this stunning city?”

  I caught another glimpse of Jax dancing with Farrah. She had her back to us, while Jax wore a concerned look on his face, his eyes finding mine. I focused on Emilian with a broad smile, hoping it would be enough to show Jax that I was having a good time, and that I was doing a fine job of charming the Lord of House Obara.

  “Oh, it wasn’t easy.” Emilian laughed lightly. “We toiled for months to carve every level. Years to build our homes here. But we all pitched in. There wasn’t a single first-generation Exiled Mara who sat back and let others work for them. It was a group effort.”

  “What about the rule of law?” I asked. “How did your legal system come to life? How does your enforcement work?”

  “We looked at what we already had on Calliope,” he replied, a shadow passing over his face, “and restricted it further. We knew that if we wanted peace, we had to work hard against our own instincts to make it happen. It was difficult in the beginning, especially with the Imen already living here. I’ll admit, even I fed on them a couple of times during our first weeks on Neraka. I’ve spent my whole life paying their people back for my lapse in judgment. We needed firm laws and even firmer punishments, so House Kifo came forward with their Correction Officers. The first couple hundred years were tough, but we all got in line. It worked. There’s been minimal use of the prison since. But, to this day, we do not forget, and we do not forgive those who break the law. We’ve achieved a precious balance here, and we won’t let anyone destroy it. Not even one of our own.”

  I nodded slowly. We continued dancing, and I scanned the dancefloor again. Jax was still with Farrah, and she seemed to thoroughly enjoy his company.

  Guess he’s doing his part, too…

  “The Valley of Screams,” I said, drifting to another burning subject on my list. “It was always like this, you said…”

  “Sort of, yes.” Emil
ian’s brow furrowed. “Since before the gorges emerged, we could hear the occasional screams. There were many Imen tribes on the other side, and we always figured they were getting killed by wild animals in there. But they weren’t as frequent as they are today. When we started hunting in there, we found some large predators… Giant felines and wolves, mostly. We figured they were the ones making some poor lost soul scream once in a while. We tried to focus our hunts on those beasts, hoping we’d act as some sort of deterrent and maybe spare some Imen lives in the future. But it’s gotten worse over the last couple of years, as we’ve previously explained. It’s gotten to the point where we’re afraid of going in there to hunt, and we’ve stuck to our locally sourced blood. The herds have been enough.”

  “So the Exiled Maras are forbidden to go into the gorges now?”

  “No… not by any law. We strongly advise against it; we issue warnings on a weekly basis, but if some of our people are stubborn, we can’t force them. But they go in at their own risk. More often than not, their names are added to the list of abductees. They go in as hunters, and they become the hunted.”

  “But people have started disappearing from the city, as well,” I said. “Do you plan to do anything about that?”

  “Well, we have you here, don’t we?” Emilian wore a confident smile. “If GASP cannot get to the bottom of this and stop these abductions, we will have no choice but to look for another home. We’ll build ships and move farther down the coastline, as far away from these gorges as possible. It just wasn’t, and still isn’t, our first choice. We’ve spent millennia building a new world here, and we don’t wish to flee because of an unseen enemy… Not yet, at least.”

  “I understand,” I replied, processing the information. “You know, we managed to speak to the injured Iman girl for a minute or so, before she passed out again.”

  “Oh! What did she say?” His eyes lit up.