A Gift of Three (A Shade of Vampire #42)(50)

Field glanced briefly at the Druid. “A little, yes.”

“Then you’ll know he now rules Eritopia—and his minions are known as the Destroyers, particularly nasty creatures that have little in the way of a soul. They offer no mercy, and hunt only to kill, never capture.” He cleared his throat—the memory of his friend’s death might have been harder on him than I assumed, as his next words came out thick with sorrow. “My companion and I had displeased the Destroyers, and Azazel himself. We were running for the safety of this house—which, I assure you, is the only place where you will have a chance of remaining alive in this land. Especially as I gather that some…all of you are Oracles?”

“Some, allegedly,” Field replied.

“But we were all taken,” I clarified, raising my eyebrow at the Druid. I wanted to know why.

“That was an error on my part,” he replied evenly. “I could only sense that a few of you had begun the transformation, but as it was so early on in the process, I couldn’t define which of you it was. It was better to take the risk and remove all of you than leave it to chance.”

I was surprised that the Druid admitted the error, and I remained silent. I supposed if he did believe that the Oracles were in grave danger, then he’d acted in their best interests. In a way, I was glad he’d made the error, rather than just taking the three of them—it was better that we were dealing with this together, and that Phoenix, Vita and Aida hadn’t needed to go through this alone.

“So what did you actually do to anger the Destroyers?” Aida asked, turning to Bijarki.

“A mission gone wrong,” he replied vaguely.

I was about to interrupt, to ask for more detail on the ‘mission,’ when the Druid spoke.

“I need to speak to Bijarki privately. We can reconvene later,” he instructed, his gray eyes gazing at us with steely determination. Clearly, he wouldn’t be taking no for an answer. I would have objected—the Druid had blown us off for long enough with his requests to delay questioning—but I was so desperate to get out of the heat of the room I was glad that we could return upstairs where it was marginally cooler. I also wanted Vita to get something to drink… her color still didn’t look good.

“Let’s go.” I turned to the others, looking meaningfully at Vita. “I think we could all use a break.”

With a mutter of displeasure from Jovi, the rest of us trailed out of the room.

“I also want to show you something,” I added, heading for the stairs. They followed and when we reached the second floor I led them in the direction of the painting, parting the velvet covers to reveal the image.

“Good grief,” Phoenix exhaled, astonished. “What’s that?”

“I think it’s what was flying over us,” I said. “Field, did you see them in the distance or anything?”

He shook his head. “Just as black dots. They must travel fast though, because they easily covered miles in the time that I got down to you and we hid. They also came from the direction of the eastern city that was marked on the map—perhaps they live there?”

“Maybe we should be grateful we didn’t get any closer,” Aida replied, her wide eyes fixed on the painting. “I’m pretty positive I never want to encounter one of them as long as I live.”

“Yeah,” Jovi agreed. “I’m glad they weren’t hunting us.”

“That’s the problem though,” I said. “If these are Azazel’s creatures, then this is what’s coming for us—for you, the Oracles. If they find out that you exist, I don’t think there will be any stopping them.”

My brother nodded, averting his eyes from the painting and looking at me with grave seriousness.

“So what’s the plan then?” he asked.

“The three of you,” I replied, looking at him, Aida and Vita, “need to rest. In the meantime, we’re going to get the answers we need—whether the Druid knows it or not.”

Jovi grinned at me, understanding my meaning. If the Druid wouldn’t speak to us directly, then we’d just have to indulge in some good old-fashioned eavesdropping.





Serena





[Hazel and Tejus’s daughter]




Field, Jovi and I crept back downstairs as quietly as we could. Using True Sight, I pointed the boys in the direction of another part of the house—an area we hadn’t previously explored, which led off from the dining room. We moved silently around the banquet table when we entered, this morning’s leftover breakfast things still laid out. We stood on one side of the doorway. I was closest, followed by Jovi and then Field. We stood in silence, Jovi’s arm pressed against mine.

The door had been left slightly ajar, opening onto another large room, mostly bare except for some furniture covered in off-white drapes. It faced out onto the front of the house, the sunshine only slightly shaded by a porch that must have covered the length of the building.

At the far end, the Druid and Bijarki stood in the light. The Druid leaned against a fireplace—unlit for once—his face turned up toward the sun. I could see that he was displeased about something though, his brow set in a deep frown as he listened to his friend.

“We couldn’t get any closer,” Bijarki was saying. “His ranks are growing though. Hordes of incubi are already swearing fealty to him…my father included.” Bijarki clenched his fist, his jaw jumping. “Two of them saw us and we were chased…saw us too easily.”