A Call of Vampires (A Shade of Vampire #51)(34)

Harper gave me an intrigued look, and I knew exactly what her bluish green eyes were telling me: she was curious. I’d been around her for long enough to recognize the signs. She wanted to be on the Neraka team. To be honest, so did I. The whole situation, as exposed by Rewa, sounded very intriguing. Dangerous, too, but I wasn’t one to shy away from that, and neither was Harper. If anything, she saw danger as a challenge.

“Why don’t we resume this conversation first thing tomorrow morning?” Draven suggested. “We can all sleep on it and tackle it better after a good night’s rest.”

“If you say so,” Jovi muttered from the side, Anjani’s hand in his. “Not sure how much sleep I’ll be getting tonight, but if you stock up on fresh, hot coffee tomorrow, I’ll be good to go…”

“Okay, let’s meet tomorrow morning and hash out an action plan,” Jax agreed, then pointed a menacing finger at Rewa. “You do anything remotely suspicious and I will cut off your head before you even blink. Other than that, what can I say? Welcome to Calliope.”

He was the first to leave the platform, accompanied by Heron and the wards. Rewa stood there, her eyes nearly popping out of their orbits, as Serena stepped forward with a polite smile.

“You’re welcome to spend the night here, in the castle,” she said. “We might have a spare room available, and I’ll ask one of the servants to bring you some fresh animal blood, if you’re hungry.”

A few seconds passed before Rewa finally caved in, shuddering and sobbing as she lowered her head. Her tears splashed onto the white marble floor. Viola and Serena both moved to console her, resting their hands on her shoulders.

“Thank you,” Rewa croaked. “A thousand times, thank you. I promise I will be a good and quiet guest. Thank you…”

“It’s okay,” Serena replied gently. “I’m sure you’ve been through a lot.”

“I have.” Rewa nodded and looked up at her, more tears welling in her eyes.

She glanced around the platform and stilled when she saw Blaze. I followed her gaze, and a strange pressure pushed my stomach down as I watched him move through the GASP crowd to get closer to her. He reached the front row and smiled politely. He looked particularly dashing in his black suit, with broad shoulders and rough, jagged lines, his dark hair combed to one side and his midnight eyes sparkling with curiosity.

“She can have my room, if she wants,” Blaze said, prompting my eyebrows to pull into a frown. I shook it off quickly and focused on Rewa’s face, which lit up with a warm smile. “I’m going back to Mount Zur tonight, anyway. I haven’t finished my training assessment report, and Jax will kick my ass if I don’t deliver it tomorrow before the council meeting, especially since we’re getting teams together for two missions, now.”

That didn’t come as a surprise. I didn’t know Blaze all that well, but I’d heard Jax reprimand him over reports more than once over the past couple of months. The fire dragon was a promising fighter and tactician, and a smart guy, too, but absolutely despised paperwork.

“Tha… Thank you,” Rewa managed, slowly leaning into Serena.

She seemed exhausted. I figured this encounter had been particularly intense for her after she’d traveled in a ball of light across the In-Between to get here. But I still didn’t like the doe eyes she flashed at Blaze. She didn’t even know him, but that wasn’t a look you gave someone just out of gratitude.

I decided then to speak up at the council meeting in the morning. I wanted to be on the mission to Neraka—partly because I was curious and welcomed the opportunity to explore the In-Between, but mostly because my instincts told me that we’d have our work cut out for us there. Finding out what had happened to hundreds of missing Exiled Maras was no walk in the park and, most importantly, I wasn’t ready to trust Rewa.

On that note, since all the Druid Archives had been transferred from Stonewall, I could also dig into the ancient records and find out as much as I could about the Exiled Maras. I needed to better understand who they were and what had driven them to disobey to the extent that their entire species was almost annihilated.

The tenth floor was off limits during the wedding festivities, given the large number of foreign guests roaming through the castle, but I had my access token. I could slip inside later that night and do some light reading. Perhaps I’d even find some mention of House Xunn, the one which Rewa claimed to belong to.

The more I stood there, watching Blaze, Serena, and Viola talk, while Rewa watched with fascination, the more irritated I felt. I stepped back and went downstairs, resuming my seat in the banquet hall and chugging a glass of spiced rosewater. One by one, the rest of GASP followed. Anjani and Jovi came back as well, as the wedding party had not yet ended and there were plenty of guests waiting for the throwing of the bouquet and the bridal garter moment.

The rest of the night was good and uneventful, but I didn’t see Blaze, Serena, or Viola again. I assumed they were still with Rewa. I exchanged a couple of glances with Harper, too, before she went to bed early. I didn’t stay much longer either, retiring right after the bouquet landed in Hansa’s unsuspecting arms.





Caia





(Daughter of Grace & Lawrence)





It was well after midnight when I left my room and quietly snuck down the stairs to the tenth floor, where the Druid Archive had been set in a massive library hall. I pushed one of the large walnut double doors open, and was surprised to see the lights were on, flickering in overhead chandeliers and on the wall sconces.