A Meet of Tribes (A Shade of Vampire #45)(16)

I kept my energy focused on the spherical blaze, but my eyes wandered around the table. They were all stunned, eyes wide and mouths gaping, except for Draven, who only stilled and listened carefully.

Serena and Aida were the first to stand up, gasping and clapping their hands as if watching the greatest circus trick ever. By all definitions, it was exactly that—a wonderful little trick—but I had spent so much time trying to make it happen that their sheer joy nurtured my soul. I expanded the flame further as I fed off their positive energy. Everyone else pushed themselves out of their chairs and took a couple of steps back to avoid the heat.

I was impressed by how big I had made it. I let out a long, unwinding sigh and willed the flame into submission. It dimmed slowly and unraveled in a fiery spiral, following the circular motions of my fingers, swirling around like an incandescent ribbon.

Serena burst into laughter and clapped again, and I noticed Jovi, Phoenix, and Field grinning with delight as they watched me literally playing with fire. Bijarki wore a different smile; fascination flickered in his silver-blue eyes. Anjani had her head cocked to one side, eyes squinting slightly and the corners of her mouth turned upward. The Daughter stared with childish astonishment, reminding me of Serena’s expression when we were only five, and Grandpa Ben showed us one of his fae fireworks across the water on Halloween night.

“Oh, my God, Vita!” Serena exclaimed, finally finding her words.

“You did it! You freaking did it!” Aida chimed in.

My heart burst at the sight of my friends’ unadulterated joy about my achievement. I had been so fortunate to have them in my life. They had encouraged me along the way to never give up, to always keep trying until I did it. So I’d finally done it, and a sense of pride filled me up. I was finally able to show them that all their kind words had led to something great.

I nodded with a sheepish smile and put the flame out, feeling the tips of my fingers buzzing with heat. With a little more practice—well, actually a lot more practice—I would be able to turn these fiery tricks into actual weapons. I was only part-fae, but I still had potential. I’d been raised to believe that hard work added on top of natural talent could make extraordinary things happen, and my little candle trick was the shy beginning of one such endeavor. I could feel it in my gut.

“I totally did.” I grinned.

Anjani described to Draven what I had just done, and I saw a smile pass over his face. I looked around again and saw Bijarki’s gaze soften, a smile blooming on his face too.

“So, from now on we need to be careful with the fae jokes, otherwise you’ll set us on fire, huh?” Jovi grinned, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pulling me closer.

“Yeah, she’s a fiery sprite all right,” Phoenix quipped.

“Mind your tongue, sentry,” I replied primly, pointing a finger at his chest.

Everyone chuckled, and I felt truly happy, despite our circumstances. We had a long day ahead of us, but we needed this little bit of fun to relieve the tension and shed some light on the gloom that had recently seeped into our souls.

“I’m impressed,” Bijarki said huskily.

Our eyes met, and I nodded. My cheeks burned. His acknowledgment of my fae abilities had quite an impact on my senses.

“It took me a long time to get to this,” I explained. “It turns out, all I have to do is open up to everything that I feel and harness the power that my emotions generate. The fae live life to the fullest, fusing with the elements in the process. I just had to understand this process on my own terms.”

“By allowing yourself to feel everything, even that which you had previously denied yourself,” the incubus said.

I blushed as I caught the undertone of his statement. I figured he was testing me, trying to hone in on my feelings, to ascertain whether I felt something for him.

My knees weakened as I remembered his earlier confession. I didn’t know where to begin with telling him about how I felt. I’d do better fighting a Destroyer right then and there than telling Bijarki that I was attracted to him.

“I’m sorry I can’t see your fae abilities for myself,” said Draven. “I’ve only read about your kind, and I could never get close enough to see one of you in action.”

Serena looked at him, a pained expression in her eyes. There was definitely something there between them, something that I hadn’t seen before. Her irises shone every time her gaze found him, as if he was the most important creature in the room. We’d have to talk about that later. We’d been so busy surviving in Eritopia that we’d barely had a moment to ourselves as friends to simply talk and knock heads on the more trivial things.

“Nevertheless, if you harness this ability to its full potential, you will be extremely useful in the days ahead, especially when we go against the Destroyers,” Draven continued.

“You think?” I asked, trying to imagine the steps I’d need to take in order to reach that level of power.

“Absolutely. Nothing is more effective in a war than fire and disease. You hold the power of fire in your fingertips.”

The gravity of that statement weighed heavily on me. It involved killing other creatures, and it was something that I wasn’t sure I was capable of. Death was so final. I couldn’t wrap my head around the concept.

“I’ll have to keep practicing.” I changed the subject. “Grandpa Ben often said that if I can command one element, I can command all of them, and now I’m curious.”