A Meet of Tribes (A Shade of Vampire #45)(18)

“What do they look like?” Draven asked.

“They don’t have a particular shape. They’re like…they’re like liquid shadows, floating around. They don’t have faces or limbs, but they change their forms, from what I can tell. They’re strange.” The Daughter described them with a tinge of amusement in her voice.

“How can she see them suddenly?” Serena asked no one in particular, looking around the hall as if trying to find the wards herself.

“It might have something to do with awareness,” Draven said. “Maybe if she’s told about something of hers, or something related to her being or her abilities, then she becomes aware of it and can see it.”

The Daughter stood up and started looking beneath the warming dishes laid out on the table, lifting one cover at a time. She found a pot filled with what looked like porridge, steaming hot.

“Yeah, we don’t usually touch that,” Aida said. “It doesn’t look that great and it smells even worse.”

The Daughter then put the cover back, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She looked around, as if following the wards in their silent motion and removed the cover from the porridge pot once more.

Vita gasped, as she was the closest to it. Her turquoise eyes widened at the sight of the contents. I had to stand up to get a better look, and my jaw dropped. The porridge was gone completely. It had been replaced by a multitude of fruits of all shapes and sizes, glistening in exotic shades of red, green, and purple.

“What are those?” Aida asked, fascinated by this new development.

She picked up one of the fruits that resembled a red plum and sniffed it. Her smile told me it smelled good. It probably tasted even better.

I picked one up and took a bite. My teeth sank into the tender flesh, and a smooth, bittersweet flavor invaded my mouth. It was delicious and sweet but with a bit of a punch.

“This is good. How’d you do this?” I asked the Daughter.

She looked up and gave me a shy smile. Her hands fiddled with a lock of reddish pink hair.

“You said you wanted fruits so…I asked the wards to give you fruits.”

Her response was simple, yet mind-boggling. I was officially impressed. Moreover, I was delighted by the taste, so I tried another one—a small purple berry. I crushed it between my teeth, and it immediately reminded me of the blackberries from the woods back home.

Finally, something other than those bland pancakes!

“You commanded the wards to change the food?” Draven asked, after Serena told him what had happened.

“I could hear them in my mind, whispering and shuffling about, talking about their chores for the day.” The Daughter nodded. “So, I reached out to them and asked them for fruits. They listened.”

“This is unbelievable,” Serena tried one that reminded me of wild green apples. “They taste so good!”

Soon enough, we had forgotten all about the regular menu and were stuffing our faces with fruits, exhilarated by the plethora of sweetness and freshness.

The Daughter sat down and ate some herself, beaming with satisfaction and watching me as I conquered another plum. I smiled back, thankful to have her around. Something told me there were more surprises coming from her soon enough. I just had to make sure that she would stay on our side once she attained the knowledge required to wield her clearly godlike powers.

“You connected with the wards somehow,” Draven mused.

The Daughter looked at him.

“The magic was crafted by your sisters, so it must have resonated with you. Not even my father could do what you just did,” he continued. “There’s definitely power in you, although latent. I just don’t know what it will take or how long it will take to harness it all. Or what you can do, for that matter.”

She nodded slowly and looked down, as if suddenly unhappy with her current condition. I couldn’t really blame her—not knowing who or what you were but being able to influence ancient magic wards must be intense and confusing.

I reached under the table, took her hand in mine, and squeezed it gently. My stomach churned every time I saw glimpses of sadness flickering across her beautiful face. This creature wasn’t meant to feel miserable or maladjusted. I wanted her glowing and happy.

Our eyes met, and I felt my whole body heat up. My heartbeat accelerated, and I gave her another smile. She returned it with grace as our fingers intertwined. Her touch was incredibly soft, fluttering over my skin like a summer breeze.

I had a lot to understand about her, but everything about her felt like ecstasy wrapped up in a dark mystery. It was either going to kill me or make me the happiest creature in all the worlds.





Aida





The day was off to a surprisingly positive start. It made me feel like, despite the disastrous previous couple of days and Azazel’s advance on the incubi nation, we still might be able to pull through this after all.

None of us knew how, but having this glimmer of hope gave us enough strength to stand up from that breakfast table and head downstairs into the basement for another Tap-the-Oracle session.

To say I wasn’t particularly excited about it would be an understatement. The visions so far hadn’t shown me anything positive—just doubt and cruelty—but I had to go deeper into my abilities as an Oracle. Vita’s progress on her fire fae power had given me a little competitive push; she was already quite far down the road with her visions, as opposed to Phoenix and me. After all, she’d had them outside the controlled sessions with the Druid, whereas I still struggled with the aftermath of my last incursion.