A Clash of Storms (A Shade of Vampire #50)(83)

“Oh, yeah, you won’t have to wear this suit whenever you go out. You look like an angry dominatrix in it.” Phoenix smirked, pointing at Jax’s black leather uniform and stainless-steel plates.

“I don’t know what a dominatrix is, but if you wanted to wear my battle gear, all you had to do was ask, hot stuff,” Jax shot back, making me and Harper roar with laughter.

Draven held me close, and I relaxed in his arms, relishing every second spent with a family complete and even bigger than I’d left it. Phoenix was right, though: I’d missed Mom’s cooking, too. I couldn’t wait for that morning French toast and hot coffee smell greeting us in the kitchen of our treehouse.





Serena





We spent five days in The Shade before returning to Eritopia. We caught up with everyone in our big supernatural family. Harper and I got to know each other a little better, as did Vita and Caia, as well as Jovi, Aida, and Dmitri. It thrilled us to introduce Draven, Anjani, and Viola to everyone, and we spent one of the afternoons in the Sanctuary, where Draven, Ibrahim, and Horatio had a hilarious back and forth about magical abilities.

I obviously welcomed every moment I had with Mom and Dad as they brought me up to speed on the last twenty-something years of their lives without me and Phoenix. With a better understanding of Harper and the kind of person she was, I realized she’d come out a little different from me, reminding me more of Draven, surprisingly, with her quiet nature and combative fierceness. She tended to keep an emotional distance from people, but was ready to bring the entire planet down for those she loved. I found myself fascinated by her and flattered by the fact that she was all smiles when we were together.

Mom and Dad quickly grew fond of Draven, who showered them with handmade charms imbued with protective and healing magic, while Viola and Phoenix were rarely seen outside their room in the treehouse. I couldn’t exactly blame them; they’d been so brutally torn apart and had nearly died trying to get back to one another. They deserved every moment alone that they could get.

Jax had a blast in The Shade, exploring the forest and measuring his skills and combat abilities against those of our senior GASP members. He put up quite a fight when Derek challenged him, but was eventually forced to yield, as it turned out that he couldn’t use his mind-bending powers on vampires and could only rely on his physical strength. Nevertheless, he earned the admiration of the entire GASP team for every blow he gave to Derek. He also struck up an unexpected friendship with Lucas, who seemed to be exactly Jax’s type of snarky. I had a feeling Zeriel would be in a lot of trouble if he got stuck between those two.

During our stay in The Shade, the Eritopian GASP teams were assembled, with Field, River, Ben, Kiev, Aiden, and Sofia leading the selection process for the main base and the nineteen kingdom divisions. Scarlett Novak, Pippa and Jeramiah’s daughter; Avril Novak, Lucas and Marion’s daughter; and my cousin Fiona Achilles, Yelena and Benedict’s daughter, were all assigned to the Calliope base with us.

Dmitri was quite upset that he hadn’t yet made the cut, given his shorter experience, but both Aida and Jovi assured him that they had his best interests at heart, and that he was more than welcome to apply again next year. I had a feeling they were keen on telling him “yes” the second time around.

Harper and Caia both applied for junior positions on Calliope, and, after some intense trials and interviews, Field accepted their candidacies, drawing groans from Caia’s and my parents. They felt like all their children were abandoning them for Eritopia, and we had to remind them that we were not only consenting and capable adults, but also just a portal away from them.

They eventually got used to the idea and proceeded to help us with packing our bags. I was in no way willing to wear any of those horrible eighteenth-century clothes again. I needed my cargo pants and sports bras and combat boots, not crinoline and corsets and fancy summer dresses that made me boil. Phoenix was just as excited about bringing his own wardrobe to Eritopia, as he’d never gotten along with the white frilly shirts and the uncomfortable footwear.

I found myself particularly entranced by how modern shirts and jeans looked on Draven. I was dating a men’s magazine cover model, for sure, only my guy came with really cool Druid magic and was in charge of an entire planet. Phoenix and I even took him shopping in Hawaii on our last day, making sure he came back with a stylish wardrobe of his own.

Funnily enough, when we all gathered in front of the portal to return to Eritopia, I saw that Vita and Jovi had done the same for Bijarki and Anjani, who looked gorgeous and unrecognizable. We’d all gone for the kind of clothing that was stylish but not ultra-contemporary, mainly because we wanted them to feel comfortable wearing something somewhat familiar and, at the same time, because we wanted to avoid any crude jokes coming from the other incubi, succubi and Druids. After all, we couldn’t dress up everyone in Eritopia.

We hugged and kissed our parents goodbye, and promised to see them in a few days, as we were already preparing a big celebration dinner in Luceria with all of our allies. We passed through the portal and returned to Eritopia, where we immediately got to work.

As expected, a couple of days later, the Shade witches joined us, along with our parents, to help us settle in, as did several Novak elders, including Eli, Derek, and Sofia.

We were thrilled to find the Dearghs returned to full strength, except for the six that had sacrificed themselves to put the volcanoes to sleep. They were mourned and celebrated for their selfless gesture. Zur offered up his mountain as home for the Calliope GASP base. It was the closest to Luceria, as the castle had once again been chosen as the capital. Corrine, Ibrahim, Arwen, Brock, Mona, Shayla, and our other witches soon began construction of the GASP base on Mount Zur, aided by the Dearghs and several Druids. Using powerful magic and the stone giants’ sheer strength, it only took a week for GASP to have a fully functional new HQ on Calliope.