I looked up, and he was still glaring. I lost my patience.
“Why do you keep looking at me as if you’d like to see me burning on a stake?” I asked, prompting everyone in the room to look at him.
“I’m not looking at you in any particular manner, Miss Hellswan,” Caspian replied, suddenly turning into a block of ice. “You should, however, mind your tone when you address the Five Lords of Azure Heights. You’re an agent on foreign soil right now, and you should be respectful of our society and our limits. While you’re okay barging into the Valley of Screams like a mindless hero and getting yourself and your friends killed, the rest of us have a much stronger conservation instinct. You are in no position to hold that against any of us, particularly our nobility.”
“So you’re okay with running off and hiding in the mountains?” I shot back, though I did notice Jax and Hansa’s scowls, aimed directly at me.
“We do what we must to survive.” Caspian held his ground. “As I said, Darius is one of the Five Lords of this city. If he falls, our people are vulnerable. He wasn’t even supposed to be in there with you tonight, but he feared we’d never see you again if he didn’t at least try to keep an eye on you all. If he’d died because of your recklessness, the Exiled Maras would have had a very difficult time seeing you as friends and allies. We are willing to help you as best as we can, but you must also be respectful of our customs and us, your hosts. We do not live the way you do, nor do we expect you to understand that.”
I didn’t exactly have a comeback for that one. In fact, I felt a little silly. Sure, I had been ready to charge into that Valley of Screams, but the Exiled Maras hadn’t been. They’d been losing people for two years now, and it most likely had something to do with those invisible creatures. I shouldn’t have held it against Darius like that. They weren’t all built like me. Like us.
“That being said, we shall see you tomorrow.” Caspian walked out without bothering to wait for a reply of any kind.
A minute went by in absolute silence. The nurses continued looking after the Iman girl and Patrik, removing the rest of their bloody clothes, wiping their bodies clean, and covering them with crisp white sheets.
“Telluris Draven!” Hansa called out, her eyes closed. It didn’t work, and the failure made her let out an inaudible grumble.
“Telluris Draven!” Jax tried as well, then leaned into the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. “This is useless.”
“And this Valley of Screams is a serious issue,” Hansa replied, visibly frustrated. “We could do with some GASP assistance.”
“We’re clearly not going to get any,” Heron muttered, glancing at his brother. “Telluris isn’t working, we’re cut off from Eritopia, and, from what Hansa told us on the way here, whatever is in those gorges is now hunting closer to the city.”
“If not in the city,” Avril added.
“Let’s go outside and talk,” Hansa said, walking toward the door. “Let’s leave Patrik and the girl alone to rest.”
We all agreed and left the infirmary, stopping outside on the edge of the platform. Three moons loomed over us in white, pale orange, and amber, while darkness swallowed the world beyond the mountain.
Hansa had already brought the others up to speed with the invisible entities, what they looked like—or at least what we’d managed to see from the air rippling around them—and their attack style. They were cold and calculated, aiming to hurt first, incapacitate, then kill.
“They like to play with their food,” she added, looking out toward the Valley of Screams, “and the night is their best friend, which doesn’t bode well for the Exiled Maras.”
“This leads us to conclude that those who disappeared might be dead already,” Jax said.
“I don’t think we can say that for certain until we speak to the Iman girl,” Hansa replied. “Maybe they abduct them, keep them somewhere for some time, then kill them. Right now we don’t know for sure, and we must consider every possibility.”
“True, but I wouldn’t hold out hope for the Maras and Imen who went missing two years ago,” Heron interjected. “The ones abducted over the past few weeks, maybe, but not that far back. Let’s be realistic.”
“He’s right.” Jax nodded. “But it means we can narrow our investigation a little bit, and focus on recent disappearances only. The pattern has changed, anyway, since they’re vanishing from the city. We’ll get more clues from investigating them.”
“Yeah, which makes Sienna of House Roho a good avenue to follow,” Fiona said.
She then updated us on the visit she, Avril, and Heron had paid to the Roho mansion and the information they had gathered from Vincent and the Imen servants, as well as the secrets left untold from the likes of Arrah and her mind-bent colleagues. They also shared their plan to further interrogate Arrah during the Spring Ball tomorrow.
“What Spring Ball?” Jax asked.
“We were invited to a Spring Ball,” Avril replied. “All of us. It’ll be held at the Kifo mansion up top.”
The thought of seeing Caspian’s house gave me mixed feelings—with curiosity foremost. But it sounded like a good opportunity for us to dig a little deeper.
“Whoever saved us back in the gorge might be at the Spring Ball tomorrow night,” I muttered, thinking out loud. “We should definitely attend.”
“We all should.” Avril nodded. “Fiona can keep Vincent busy while Heron and I go speak to Arrah again. We’re hoping she’ll be more open and cooperative if none of her masters are present.”
“Sounds like a good plan.” Hansa nodded slowly. “As long as you’re careful not to get caught.”
“We’ll need to talk to more families tomorrow, too,” Caia then said. “We’ve gathered some info, but nothing concrete. Given what you guys have learned so far, however, I think we’ll focus on those who lost people more recently, rather than take on the entire list.”
“Fair enough,” Jax agreed. “Just make sure you include Imen families in your interviews.”
Caia and Blaze nodded. Hansa took a few steps back and let out a long, tortured sigh.
“Either way, we need to dig deeper before we light-orb ourselves out of here,” she said. “We’ll do that ball and more interviews tomorrow, while Patrik and the Iman girl recover.”
“What about the Valley of Screams?” I asked, my gaze slowly drawn to it.
“Let’s see what the Iman girl says first,” Jax said. “Then we’ll make a decision—whether we go in again or go back to Calliope and gather some troops. I think we need more answers from the families here, and the girl, before anything else.”
“Okay, time to go,” Hansa said, motioning for the stairs.
“You guys go.” Scarlett sighed, then walked toward the infirmary. “I’ll stick around and keep an eye on Patrik and the Iman girl for a while.”
Hansa nodded, then led our team up the stairs. She glanced over her shoulder, and saw me standing by the balustrade, quiet and still.
“Harper?” she asked.
“I’ll be up in a minute, just need to get my thoughts in order,” I replied.
Soon enough, I was left on my own outside. Scarlett was inside; I could see her through one of the windows. She was pulling a stool close to Patrik’s bed while the nurses went into another room, as their job for the night was done. All we had to do now was wait for both patients to recover. Patrik would be okay, but I wasn’t so sure about the Iman girl.
The courtyard in front of the infirmary overlooked the lower levels of the city, and was covered in the same brown cobblestone and bordered with colorful flowerboxes. I stood beneath one of the streetlamps, its flickering candle casting a warm light over me. I moved away from it, then gazed at the Valley of Screams in the dark distance.
It was tall, wide, and black, its crevices filled with deadly secrets. Screams still echoed from within, and it ate away at me because I knew those were innocent creatures getting hurt and most likely killed by those massive shadows.
My breath hitched as I noticed red dots twinkling in the blackness. I used my True Sight, and my muscles instantly jumped. Dozens of red, glowing eyes peeked from the gorges. Dozens of them seemingly looking right at me. Ice dripped through my veins, and chills ran down my throat as I realized they were watching and waiting—either for us to come out again or for some unsuspecting fool to be out around the alleys of Azure Heights in the middle of the night, close and easy enough for them to pounce.
Footsteps to my left startled me. Caspian came out through another door of the infirmary, leaving a nurse behind. She waved him goodbye with a smile, and he walked across the courtyard and stopped on the edge, several feet away from me. He looked out, without saying anything, then threw me one last glance—this one dark and emotionless. He walked over to the stairs and vanished beyond the level above.
I shuddered, then turned to look into the Valley of Screams again, but the red eyes were gone and nothing but darkness awaited. There was something weird, something terrible down there, and I knew I had to get to the bottom of it.
Draven
Several hours after we watched our Neraka recon team fly out in a brilliant light orb, we gathered back on Mount Zur to bring another team together for Tenebris. We’d agreed on the names, and all we had to do was bring them into what Derek liked to call the “Situation Room”, to bring the fighters up to speed.
There was a large table in the middle, with a backlit surface on which a detailed map of Tenebris had been set. We discussed tactics, risks, and advantages in various scenarios involving the rebel incubi, and Derek, Cameron, Xavier, Field, and I agreed on a well-structured plan to strike the extremist cells hard and fast.
The meeting went smoothly, with Serena offering input on infiltration methods, as she’d done extensive reading on the local cultures and tribal customs in the areas most affected by the rebel incubi.
After we informed the Tenebris team of what they had to do, we waited for them to leave the room so we could follow up on the day’s events.
“Still no word from them?” Tejus asked, leaning back in his chair.
“Not yet.” I shook my head. “Maybe I should try reaching out first, just to make sure they’re okay.”
“By all means, please do.” Derek nodded.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, allowing my soul to open up. Strangely enough, I’d felt the whole team when they were on the platform and even after they’d vanished into space, but I couldn’t feel them anymore. It was quiet inside me, other than Serena’s heartbeat. I would always feel her, given our connection.
“Telluris Hansa!” I called out.
No one answered. Not even a whisper. I waited for a minute or so, then tried again.
“Telluris Hansa!”
A couple of seconds went by. Then a voice shot through my head.
“I’m here! We’re here!” Hansa’s voice echoed.
I couldn’t feel her presence the way I was supposed to feel her through Telluris, but I could hear her, loud and clear.
“Hansa, are you okay? Is everyone okay there?” I asked, raising my voice.
Faces lit up around the table, Shadians and Eritopians thrilled to know our team was responding.
“Yeah, yeah, we’re good,” she said. “We’ve just landed. We were welcomed by the Exiled Maras. Everything seems okay here, so far.”
“Why didn’t you reach out to confirm your landing?”
“We got carried away with introductions and discussions here, my apologies,” Hansa replied. “We’re about to start talking to the families of abductees to see what we can find out.”
“Okay, glad to hear you’re all good there. Any hostilities?”
“None whatsoever. They’re all nice and peaceful. Whatever they’re going through, it seems to be genuine. We’ll need to investigate, for sure.”
“Thank you, Hansa,” I replied. “Please keep us posted. Let’s catch up again in six hours.”
“Sure thing!”
And then it was quiet again.
There was a hint of uneasiness lingering in the back of my head, but I brushed it off and ran a hand through my hair, breathing a sigh of relief.
“They’re okay, then?” Field asked.
“Yes.” I nodded. “They just got busy fast with meeting the Maras. Everything seems normal, from what Hansa told me. They’ll start interviewing families of the victims and report back.”
“That’s good.” Tejus smiled. “At least we know they made it safely.”
Indeed, a heavy weight had been lifted off my chest. Hansa’s voice had been a reassuring one. For our first attempt at a swamp witches’ interplanetary travel spell, we’d done well. I glanced at Viola, a thought blooming in my mind.
“Do you think you can look into the Archives again, and see what references you can find about that crashed Druid delegation on Neraka?” I asked. “I know the girls checked several records last night, but they didn’t manage to go through them all. There must be some mention of them there.”
“Sure,” Viola replied.
“Thank you.”
I had a feeling that the Druids who had been on that delegation might have recorded additional data on the Exiled Maras, and it was the one loose end I wasn’t comfortable with. Not while our people, our friends and family, were out there on Neraka.
What’s next? Some news!
Dear Shaddict,
Thank you for reading A Call of Vampires.
I have two new releases to share with you!
See the details for the next Shade book, ASOV 52: A Valley of Darkness, right after the following announcement:
On November 26th, 2017, I will be releasing a brand new vampire romance series called Hotbloods!
It’s a fresh and exciting spin on the vamp lore you love, with characters I think you’ll fall hard for. :)
Below I have shared with you an exclusive early SNEAK PEEK of the first three chapters of Hotbloods, so keep turning the pages!:
HOTBLOODS
Vampires have never been so hot... ;)
Chapter 1
“Remind me which genius suggested we put this off till midday?” My friend Angie’s muffled voice drifted through the stalks of corn to my right.
“I believe the same one who didn’t pack enough water,” my second companion, Lauren—also obscured by giant shafts of corn—replied, from five feet to my left. Her naturally dry tone sounded more sarcastic than usual, probably because, thanks to Angie, we’d run out of water half an hour ago.
I smirked, taking a few seconds’ pause from picking corn to wipe sweat from my forehead with the back of my wrist. Despite wearing a shirt and shorts made of cotton so light it was almost see-through and a wide straw sombrero, and religiously sticking to the shade of the corn stalks, this Texan sun was killing me. Still, I loved this kind of work, using my hands— it was cathartic—so I wasn’t going to complain.
“Also the same one who suggested we spend our vacation on this delightful farm,” Lauren added with a grunt. I pictured her tall, lanky form hunched over as she tackled a far too unripe cob, while her narrow, purple, librarian-style glasses glided slowly but surely down her nose. She was not so much a fan of manual work.
“Oh, come on, Lauree.” I couldn’t resist teasing her, despite my resolution to save my voice for after we’d returned to the farmhouse and I’d downed a liter of water. “We know you love it here.”
“‘Course she does,” Angie proclaimed, and I could hear her broad grin through her voice. “What’s not to love?”
“Guess you have a point.” Amid her heavy breathing, Lauren managed to force a note of thoughtfulness into her voice. “I mean, aside from the fact that we’re off the grid, with no electricity or phone signal for literally miles—who wouldn’t appreciate a welcome package of a heap of moldy towels, a sprinkle of roach droppings on their pillowcase, or… a snake in their toilet pot?”
Angie and I burst out laughing. From the tremor in Lauren’s voice, I could tell she st
ill hadn’t gotten over last night’s surprise. Trust Lauren to get dibs on the snake.
“After I had sat down, I might add.”
“It was a grass snake,” Angie retorted, “and a pretty cute one at that.”
“Cute my ass,” Lauren grumbled.
A span of amused silence fell between us as we returned to filling our sacks. This was the second of three assignments we had to complete today; the first had been running bed linens through a manual laundry machine, draining them through a ringer, and then hanging them up to dry outside, and the third would be picking fresh herbs from the greenhouse. Mr. and Mrs. Churnley, friends of Angie’s grandparents and the owners and sole full-time residents of Elmcreek Farm, were to assign us three such jobs every day, in return for free board and lodging.
We had arrived only yesterday evening, having flown from New York to Austin, but I was already feeling a sense of calm about the place. Being without electricity, internet, or a working phone was a culture shock we were all still getting used to, but the lack of external distractions was exactly why we had chosen to come here.
This summer was the last chance Angie, Lauren, and I would have to spend quality time together for possibly a very long time, because after the vacation ended, we’d all be heading off in vastly different directions—Angie even to a different country. I was enrolled to begin a mechanical engineering course in Michigan, and Lauren was to study pre-law at Stanford, while Angie would be jetting off to Paris for an apprenticeship at a prestigious sports-fashion brand (thus combining her two biggest passions). If things worked out for Angie there, we’d see very little of her indeed.
She and I had known each other since kindergarten, while Lauren had known us since first grade, so we decided we needed to do something special, and completely different, this summer—something we’d never forget.
I also had a more personal reason for wanting to be in the middle of nowhere this particular vacation… unreachable. Before I left for Michigan, I knew my birth parents were going to try to get in touch—something I dreaded from the very core of me. My adoptive parents, Jean and Roger, could only hold them off for so long now that I’d turned eighteen, and the court legislation no longer had the same hold that it did during my earlier teen years. After I became an official adult three weeks ago, my birth parents had gotten the idea that they wanted to know me. I might have been more amenable to that if they hadn’t spent the first decade of my life neglecting me to the point of abuse. Alcohol had always taken precedence over me in their lives, and I didn’t see any reason that would change. Their addiction would’ve gotten me killed if I hadn’t run away at nine, and I swore then that I was never, ever going back…