A Den of Tricks (A Shade of Vampire #54)(44)

“Nothing for you to worry about.” Mose shook his head as he nudged Caspian into our hiding spot. “Just stay hidden, and, if I don’t make it back, you keep going with our plan, Lord Kifo. Just keep going.”

“Wait, how can I not worry if you follow up with ‘if I don’t come back’, Mose?” Caspian was frustrated, and I felt the need to hold his arm, just to make sure he wouldn’t leave my side.

Mose grabbed a metal bowl and scooped ashes from the dying firepit, which he scattered over us. I covered my mouth and nose so as not to choke on it, while we all huddled closer together.

“This will keep your scent hidden in closed quarters with daemons,” Mose explained briefly, then straightened his back and turned to face the door, just as two grunts came in.

Caspian’s arm pulled me close into him, and we crouched and listened quietly.

“It’s your turn today, Mose,” one of the daemons said, his voice rough and low. I’d only caught a glimpse of them, but I’d registered their impressive height and size. They made the hut look tiny.

“No way to avoid this any longer,” the other added.

We heard Mose clear his throat as he shuffled toward the exit.

“I hear you, I hear you,” he replied, cursing under his breath.

“It won’t take longer than a couple of hours,” the first daemon grumbled.

“Unless they catch you lying.” The other scoffed as all three left the hut.

We waited for a couple of minutes, and I used my True Sight to watch as the daemons escorted Mose up an alley leading toward the city center, where the giant tower stood, surrounded by palace walls.

“What the hell?” I gasped, staring at Caspian.

“I’m just as in the dark as you are,” he replied, as we emerged from our hiding spot. “He’s supposed to have good standing in the city. On one hand because of his role as a cleric, but also because he helps around the city. Shaytan looks favorably upon elders with a… sense of civic duty.”

“At least we learned a new trick with the ashes,” Caia replied, dusting herself off.

“What do we do now?” I asked, checking the areas outside the hut. Barely a handful of daemons were around, all of them old, weak, and barely moving, supporting their weight on gnarled wooden canes.

“We should wait here for Mose to come back,” Caspian replied. “You heard the grunts. I doubt Mose will willingly get himself in trouble here. Besides, this place gives us a good vantage point.”

He moved toward one of the two small, circular windows I hadn’t seen before, hidden beneath a layer of black cloth. He slowly lifted the fabric to peek outside.

“Do you think he’ll be back? I mean, do you think they’ll let him go?” I murmured, not feeling too optimistic in a city as savage as this.

“I don’t know.” Caspian sighed, his shoulders dropping. “But if he doesn’t, we can keep moving in a couple of hours. We can devise a plan, and I can show you a few more useful parts of the city, in case Mose doesn’t return. He is right. I must go on, with or without him…”

I found myself in awe of Caspian. So many secrets concealed behind those jade eyes. Such a strong sense of duty and such a desire to help the innocent… and yet he wasn’t actively working with his own species on this.

I was intrigued and filled with even more questions, but at least we’d learned something about the daemons. Most importantly, we’d learned that Fiona’s abductor, Zane, was one of the Seven Princes, and a son of the king of daemons. I didn’t have time to properly digest that particular nugget, given the sudden arrival of those grunts, but whoa…

Fiona had been abducted, then released by a prince of daemons. What had been his end game? What was he hoping to achieve with that? I wished I could simply call Fiona, or use Telluris to tell her, but… that was obviously out of the question.

Besides, I had a feeling that by the time we saw each other again, I’d have a lot more to tell her about this city and its evil, soul-eating inhabitants…





Fiona





(Daughter of Benedict & Yelena)





It felt like a dream. The moment in which Zane blew yellow dust in my face was played on a loop. My eyes popped open, the utter darkness replaced by faint shapes against the streetlamps outside, their lights fluttering amber in the night. I sat up with a gasp, my muscles hard and tense. I’d expected to wake up in a cage, in a cave buried deep in the gorges again.

I breathed a sigh of relief once I realized I was still in the bookstore. Also, I’d been put in one of the armchairs in the reading corner.

What the hell was Zane thinking?

I went over my last conversation with him, trying to pick up on any details that might come in handy later. Something told me I’d see him again, and I was determined not to get fooled by that damn yellow powder next time.

After a couple of minutes of processing everything that had just happened, I left the bookstore and went back to my room at the Broken Bow Inn. There was a square white giftbox waiting for me outside my door, with an elegant pale green organza ribbon and a note from Vincent.

I saw this and thought of you. I look forward to seeing you tonight. Yours always, Vincent.

My cheeks caught fire. I still wasn’t used to that kind of attention, but I had to admit, it felt nice to be pampered like that once in a while. Given the mess we’d gotten ourselves into with this whole Neraka business, I could at least enjoy the few spare moments I had between running for my life and killing daemons coming for my soul.