A Den of Tricks (A Shade of Vampire #54)(5)

The worst part was the mixture of pain and shame I felt on the inside, where she was concerned. I’d fallen in love with her, so hard and fast, from our first encounters back on Calliope. After her near-death experience at the hands of Azazel, however, I’d shoved those feelings somewhere deep down, where it was meant to be dark and cold enough for them to never resurface.

Yet all it took was for me to see her every day for my heart to thaw. Feeling her lips on mine was the ignition point of no return, but all I managed to do was hurt her again. I was terrified of falling for her because of my tragic past experiences, and I hadn’t even thought of what my wavering did to her.

I’d have to make it up to her. There was no point in denying it anymore. I loved her. It was just a matter of getting myself settled into that mindset, and gaining some form of control over the situation. We were in a strange and hostile territory, and the last thing I wanted was to go back to Calliope with her remains. I needed to focus on her safety, so we could both go back and take this… this thing between us to the next level.

Until then, however, I had to come forward as the leader she expected me to be. She’d challenged me, and I was determined to prove to her that I was the Mara she’d met back home. The best way for me to do this was to find a way to take the fight back into the Valley of Screams.

Provided that the Druid could amplify and expand the protection spell over the city, we could focus on retaliation. The daemons had struck back hard, but we weren’t done yet. On top of that, Avril’s discovery had shed light on how fast the fiends operated, and what their shortcomings were.

“What’s up?” Avril asked as she and Heron rejoined the conversation. My brother had a peculiar look on his face, but that was a conversation best saved for later.

“We’ve been talking about the daemons’ way of operating,” I replied, “and I think it’s time we organize another incursion into the gorges.”

“What for?” Heron frowned, stealing a glance at Avril.

I knew it!

My little brother had the hots for the young vampire, which meant there was still hope for him to recover from his imprisonment trauma. I’d feared I’d be left to deal with his philandering nonsense for an eternity.

“Well, think about it this way,” I said. “The daemons were able to put together a counterattack in a matter of hours, and they clearly had knowledge of the mansions’ layouts and the Lords’ movements. This means they’re highly organized, despite their sloppy but still devastating explosive charges. I don’t think we can just stay here and wait for GASP to come for us. Every day that we spend here counts. We should go back into the Valley of Screams and look for a way into their underground cities. Scope out the enemy… find out what else they’re hiding down there, besides swamp witch spells, armored daemons, and pit wolves.”

The Lords glanced at each other, then looked at me and nodded vehemently.

“We’ll arrange for Correction Officers to join you again,” Emilian replied with determination. “How many would you need?”

“None,” I replied, prompting my team to raise a collective eyebrow at me.

“What do you mean by ‘none’?” Hansa asked.

“If we’re going in there for recon, we can’t have a large group to draw attention,” I explained. “Just a handful of us, with enough invisibility paste handy in case we need it. We need to be swift and quiet, make good use of shadows and blind spots.”

Heron then gave me a conspiratorial grin as he patted my shoulder.

“I get it!” he replied. “We go in, a handful of us, capture ourselves a hunter daemon or two, and force them to take us down below. Right?”

“Exactly.” I nodded. “And since they’ll be carrying their own, modified version of the invisibility spell, we can use it to replenish our resources, since we’ll be infiltrating enemy territory.”

I noticed the expressions on my team’s faces change from uncertain to somewhat enlightened, as they understood the premise of a scouting mission. Harper took a step forward, her hands resting on her sword handles.

“Okay, I’m in,” she said. “How do we do this?”

Her energy was very much welcomed. We were all tired after the night and day we’d spent in the Valley of Screams, first looking for Fiona, then making our way back into the city. We’d failed with the interplanetary spell and were clearly stuck on Neraka, for the time being. And the daemons had just carried out a deadly attack on the Five Lords—who were now Four.

I glanced at Hansa, and I knew, deep down, that she was coming with me, whether I liked it or not. She wasn’t going to take no for an answer, no matter how much I needed her here, in the city, in relative safety as opposed to in the gorges.

It was definitely one of the reasons I’d fallen for her in the first place. She was fearless.

And she stood by my side, even when I faltered and foolishly rejected her.





Harper





(Daughter of Hazel & Tejus)





“I know I’m going,” Jax said, then nodded to Hansa, “and I know she’s going.”

“And I’ve already called dibs on the third spot on this mission.” I smirked, eager to get deeper into enemy territory and learn everything I could before we could deliver a large-scale, devastating blow and wipe those horned bastards off the face of Neraka.