A Call of Vampires (A Shade of Vampire #51)(30)

I didn’t want to respond to his attention, though—at least, not until tomorrow. Avril and I had agreed not to take what the incubi made us feel seriously until after they were away from us, and we were out of their reach. Otherwise, it would just be us naturally responding to their influence, and I wasn’t interested in a purely physical relationship. I wanted something pure and strong, like what my parents had.

“So, what was the deal with all the training and screening the other day?” I asked Field, changing the subject to avoid any additional baby talk. Not that I disliked it, but I had a feeling my parents had more examples from my infancy that I wasn’t comfortable actually hearing.

“We’re just selecting top candidates for a mission on Tenebris,” Field replied, pouring himself another glass of spiced rosewater.

“What mission?” I asked, instantly curious and eager to find out whether I’d made the cut.

“There’s a resistance movement happening there. The incubi once loyal to Azazel are rejecting Druid lordship,” he explained briefly. “We’ve tried negotiating with them, but they’ve gotten violent, and innocent lives are caught in the middle. It’s time for an intervention to separate the extremists from the rest of the people, because they’re keeping a low profile and hiding in the big cities.”

I nodded slowly, wondering how we would approach this as GASP. Surely, we’d have support from the agents and soldiers already on the ground there, but we’d most likely be doing recon and covert investigation to uncover and imprison the dark cells. I didn’t know much about the planet itself, but, from what I’d heard, its waters were deep, dark, and treacherous, and so were its thick jungles. It sounded like a challenge for what would officially be my first mission.

“Did I make the cut?” I grinned.

Field winked at me.

I held my breath, trying not to squeal from the sudden rush of excitement, but I nearly jumped out of my seat.

“You’re serious?” I croaked.

He nodded, giving me a broad smile as a “yes”.

“Thank you so much! I won’t let you down! I promise, I will—” My voice trailed off as I saw Avril and Heron rushing across the dancefloor, concern darkening their faces. They reached Draven and Serena, and were already both talking fast and looking up. Draven lost the color in his cheeks. “Something’s wrong,” I murmured.

Field, Aida, and my parents followed my gaze. They noticed Avril and Heron with Draven and Serena. Derek joined them, and he, too, put on a very serious face. I focused beyond the distance between us and expanded my senses.

“It’s coming straight at us,” I heard Avril say, and Serena gasped.

They swiftly split up and moved across the platform in different directions, grabbing GASP officers and senior Eritopians along the way. Avril made it to our table.

“There’s something coming from the sky,” she said. “It’s headed straight for Luceria.”

“Like what, an asteroid?” Field shot to his feet.

“It’s got a zig-zag trajectory,” she replied. “So definitely not. We’re going up on the platform to observe and intervene, if needed. Draven’s getting the Daughters as we speak.”

We instantly sat up and followed as she moved toward the main exit. One by one, I saw the rest of our family politely stepping away from other wedding guests and calmly joining us in the hallway. We headed for the stairs.

“I don’t get it,” I heard Vita telling Bijarki behind us. “I should’ve seen this coming. It seems big enough to warrant at least one vision. I… I don’t know why my visions are so counter-productive sometimes!”

We reached the platform, which was our best observation point. The indigo sky was home to billions of twinkling stars, a pearly moon in the east, and a bright, round light getting bigger with every minute that passed.

The Daughters of Eritopia hovered quietly between us, reaching the edge of the platform and staring at the strange object. All the Novaks were there, watching quietly. Draven moved closer to the Daughters, accompanied by Field and Derek.

“What is it?” Draven asked Safira.

“We do not know,” she replied, not taking her eyes off the light. “We cannot sense it.”

“I wonder why,” Chana added.

The closer it got, the better we could see that it was a perfect sphere of white light, shining like a miniature sun. It stilled and hovered several hundred miles away, then settled on a straight-line trajectory, increasing its speed and cutting my breath short.

“It must be destroyed,” Safira muttered.

“At that speed, and given that we don’t know what it is, that would be the best course of action,” Draven agreed.

The Daughters nodded and raised their hands, their silk-wrapped bodies lighting up pink as they prepared to dismantle the foreign object. I’d not yet seen them in offensive action, and I was curious to see exactly what degree of destruction their power could inflict.

“Stop,” Viola intervened suddenly, stepping in front of her sisters. She looked at the light sphere. “It’s not… It’s a spell… There’s someone in it.”

“How can you see inside it?” Safira frowned.

“I don’t know.” Viola shrugged. “But I can. There’s a person inside. It’s the same interplanetary spell I mentioned during our last council. It’s swamp witch magic—I recognize the form…”