A Clash of Storms (A Shade of Vampire #50)(14)

It was good timing, too, because as soon as I’d made a mental note of her room’s position in the castle, the darkness swallowed me and I was carried off to another vision.



“How much longer will you live like this?” Thadeus’s voice boomed as I became aware of the blackness dissipating around me.

“Shut up! Just shut up! You’ll get us both in trouble!” Damion hissed.

I was in the kitchens below, which were mostly abandoned, except for a few incubi scrubbing the floors at the far end and the two Destroyers arguing in front of an open pantry filled with jars of herbs and food. They looked like they were trying to keep it down, so the incubi wouldn’t hear them.

“Aren’t you tired? Patrik broke free, so why can’t we do the same?” Thadeus insisted, this time at a lower volume.

“Are you hearing yourself? Do you not feel the pain whenever you think of going against him? Or do you take pleasure in tormenting yourself, you masochist?!”

“Yeah, I feel the pain,” Thadeus replied with a frown, a muscle in his jaw twitching. “But that doesn’t stop me from conditioning myself to withstand more and more of it until I break free. I’ll put up with any amount of pain if it leads me to freedom.”

“Good for you!” Damion shot back. “Now get out of my way. I have a breakfast to prepare!”

Thadeus stepped aside, allowing Damion to gather some cereal jars from the pantry. He watched quietly as the former Druid spilled their contents into a bowl, and poured fresh milk out of a jug on top.

“What happened to you, Damion?” Thadeus asked, his voice raw and trembling. “You were once the most determined to put Azazel’s head on a spike. How did you get to this point?”

“Oh, please, spare me the sermon! You were just the same, if not worse, until you heard about Patrik. Like shifting back to your Druid form will save your ass when Azazel burns this whole planet down! Get over yourself!”

“Are you telling me that, if given the chance, you’d rather remain a Destroyer under his spell than regain your independence?”

“Azazel has control over Eritopia,” Damion muttered. “I’m just trying to survive, that’s all.”

“This isn’t survival,” Thadeus hissed. “It’s cowardice.”

“Fine, then. I’ll be the coward. You go on. Keep torturing yourself; see what that gets you besides a poisoned spear through your chest.”

Thadeus exhaled sharply, his shoulders dropping, and shook his head.

“If only Cayron could see you now,” he said.

“Don’t mention his name!” Damion growled, his gaze fixed on the breakfast tray. “And get out. Nova needs to eat.”

Thadeus scoffed and slithered out of the kitchen, leaving Damion on his own. I watched quietly as Damion placed his fists on the table, leaning on his knuckles, and mulled over his heated conversation with Thadeus. His head clearly hurt, judging by his grimace.

He exhaled, beads of sweat blooming on his forehead. He wiped them off with the back of his hand, took a deep breath, and then carried the tray to what looked like service stairs.

It was interesting and encouraging to see that at least one Destroyer was already contemplating rebellion after word of Patrik’s achievement had spread through the castle. Damion was obviously too scared to rebel outright, but even he seemed to be flirting with the idea, despite his protests. Thadeus was quickly slipping toward freedom, and I had a feeling that Patrik would be able to help him break Azazel’s control spell.



As fate would have it, I ended up following Thadeus through the dark corridors in my third vision. I walked behind him as he turned left, then right, into a staircase leading up to a higher level. Once he reached the top of the stairs, he was grabbed and pulled to the side, into a corner.

I rushed up after him to see who it was, and stilled when I recognized Patrik, naked, with his arms around Thadeus’s neck in a tight chokehold. The Destroyer’s tail flailed as the Druid dragged him into one of the rooms and slammed the door behind them.

I passed through just as Patrik was urging Thadeus to stay calm.

“I don’t wish to hurt you, Thadeus,” he whispered. “I just want to talk.”

“I should kill you on sight!” Thadeus hissed.

“But will you?”

Thadeus stopped fighting Patrik’s hold and slowly raised his hands in the air, breathing heavily. Patrik seemed to take it as a sign of peace and let go, putting a few feet of distance between them. The young Destroyer brought his fingers up to his temples, massaging with circular motions.

“I know it’s painful to go against Azazel,” Patrick said. “But I can see you’ve made some progress on your own. Your choice to not capture or kill me should have you writhing in pain right now, since I’m an enemy of Azazel.”

“It hasn’t been easy… How did you manage to break free?”

“I had a little help.” Patrik smirked. “Which is why I’m here. You need a friend, Thadeus, now more than ever. Do you want to be free? Do you want to be a Druid again?”

Thadeus sighed, flinching every other second.

“More than anything,” he replied.

“It will hurt. A lot.”

“I didn’t think I had the strength until I heard you made it. The Destroyers below have been talking, you know. You’ve given some of us hope…”