A Call of Vampires (A Shade of Vampire #51)(3)

I couldn’t help but wonder what else they’d managed to accomplish in Eritopia since the last time we visited.





Serena





I took my seat at the council table, which was sculpturally crafted from purple tree wood and positioned in the middle of the large, circular meeting hall in our GASP base on Mount Zur. Most of the senior officer team was here, having arrived for this talk about Tenebris.

Draven sat next to me on the right, while Vita and Bijarki had settled in their chairs to my left. Vita looked positively stunning—married life certainly suited her, bringing a mesmerizing glow to her skin that I’d only seen in fae before. It made sense, really, that happiness could bring out the best in my beloved fire fae. They’d tied the knot a couple of weeks after Draven and I had professed our eternal love for one another before Derek and Chana, one of the Daughters, during our wedding ceremony.

Vita and Bijarki had recently returned from a prolonged honeymoon. They’d chosen Argo, one of Eritopia’s most beautiful planets, for their much-needed vacation. It was a lush kingdom with never-ending rainforests, secluded waterfalls, and giant caves that were home to turquoise lakes and more forests. They’d certainly enjoyed their weeks away, and the bliss of waking up to a cerulean sky and melodic songbirds, but had to come back to Calliope eventually. Tenebris was beginning to cause serious problems to the order we’d been working hard to restore.

They were both actively involved in GASP now, Bijarki as one of the officers in charge of training the new recruits, while Vita used her visions of the future to help the governments of Eritopia steer clear of rebellions and chaos. The visions nudged them toward the right decisions in the lawmaking process, although they were quite limited and not always focused.

Shortly after the war with Azazel, we understood that when Abrille had passed her powers on to Vita, Aida, and Phoenix, they each got a limited amount of Oracle ability to work with. They would never get past this stage in their development as Oracles, and thus we didn’t always have the right information coming from them. In some cases, the visions were vague or even unrelated, but, regardless, the three of them were strong and talented additions to GASP even without any Oracle powers.

Aida and Field sat farther to the left, both looking particularly happy this morning, despite our GASP meeting’s topic. They had been the second to get married after Draven and me, just three days before Vita and Bijarki. It had been one party after another during our first couple of months on Calliope, with our families and friends—both old and new—happy to celebrate with us.

Aida had been using whatever visions of the present she could conjure to help track down rebels on the other planets, while assisting with surveillance and communication across the board. She was extremely resourceful and prompt, issuing commands and transferring information between the GASP bases with impressive precision and clarity. She’d truly come into her own, and I couldn’t be any prouder.

Field was equally spectacular as Commander of GASP in Eritopia. It had taken him a while to get used to all the complexities of the position, but he’d swiftly asserted himself as a good, respected leader. It was a pleasure and an honor to work with him every day. On top of that, he and Draven made one hell of a team whenever they had common projects to work on.

I looked over at Phoenix and Viola, who’d also joined us in Luceria on a permanent basis. We’d set them up with their own private quarters on one of the top levels, while they each played their part in GASP. Viola was a representative for the Daughters of Eritopia and was also present during Master Druid council meetings in the Hall Between Worlds—the circular hall with a painted dome and sumptuous columns where the Master Druids gathered to discuss sensitive Eritopian matters. Phoenix, on the other hand, worked on two different fronts: he spent half of his week in the weaponry and assault division, training new recruits for combat, and the other half using his visions of the past to update the Druid Archives, helping the Druid scholars rewrite important scrolls that had not been recorded properly.

Phoenix and Viola were happy together, though always aware of the unbreakable bond between them, so deep and primordial that if one suffered, so did the other. It had taken me a while to get used to talking to Viola and watching cuts and bruises appear on her body whenever Phoenix was in training, getting his ass handed to him by the sturdier recruits. They weren’t talking about marriage yet, but we all understood why—the Daughters were extremely traditional and were still adjusting to Eritopia’s new world order. They’d already had to part with their sister when Viola moved in with Phoenix in Luceria. It would take a while for the couple to get their blessing, but we felt it wouldn’t be much longer. Baby steps, my brother had said. He wanted to have the Daughters’ official approval as a sign of respect toward the galaxy’s most powerful and revered creatures.

Jovi and Anjani were sitting next to Draven, their gazes locked and love pouring out of them like they’d only just reunited. They were like this every day. They wouldn’t see each other for a few hours and then would get back together as if months had passed. It made me giggle, but I knew they were genuine, and I understood exactly why they were so close. After all, Jovi had nearly died in the war against Azazel.

They’d also announced their wedding date—the first official one among the succubi in thousands of years. It had rattled the entire planet in a very positive way, since the incubi and succubi nations had just recently come together, living in free cities on Calliope as they readjusted to one another. Though Jovi wasn’t an incubus, the marriage announcement had still struck a chord because he was a male, and the succubi had spent thousands of years eliminating males from their lifestyles. The ceremony was only a few days away now, and I could see the jitters and excitement on both Jovi and Anjani’s faces.