A Meet of Tribes (A Shade of Vampire #45)(30)

My skin tickled all over, and when I looked down I saw black runes fluttering across my chest and limbs. A heatwave burned through me, and I let out a short but pained scream. I had hoped I’d never see those things on me again.

I swatted away at them as if fending off thousands of spiders and cursed under my breath until a pair of strong arms took hold of me. Field’s voice poured into my ear, calming me down.

“It’s okay, Aida, it’s okay. I’ve got you,” he said gently.

I couldn’t help but whimper, looking at my arms with sheer horror.

“Get them off me! This is so creepy!” I yelped, warm tears streaming down my cheeks.

He held me close, and I could feel his solid frame molded against mine. The runes started to fade, as if washed away by the rain. One by one, they disappeared, and I felt like I could finally breathe again. I sighed with relief, thankful that they didn’t seem permanent, and leaned my head against Field’s chest.

A few moments later, I was stable enough to notice Serena and Draven standing by my bedside. Serena took my hand in hers and squeezed it, giving me silent assurance that everything was going to be okay. But I knew, deep in my heart, that wasn’t exactly true. After all, I had just seen runes on my body again, and I clearly couldn’t chalk it up to a hallucination anymore.

“How are you feeling?” Serena asked me, concern in her blue eyes.

“I would say I’m doing just peachy, but that would not be true,” I snapped.

She didn’t say anything. I knew she didn’t deserve to be in my line of fire.

“Sorry,” I mumbled and relaxed in Field’s arms. He thankfully didn’t let go of me.

“Unfortunately, the runes are a part of who you are now,” Draven said, not making me feel any better. “But from what I’ve read about the Oracles and what I know from Elissa, the transformation process that you’re going through seems to be different from the usual. That might be of some comfort, I hope.”

“By different than usual you mean I’ve not yet gone fully blind or lost my lady parts?” I couldn’t help the snappy tone. Frustration dominated my state of mind.

Draven took a deep breath, his lips drawn in a thin, flat line. He didn’t deserve it either, but I canceled that thought out when I remembered that he’d brought us to Eritopia in the first place. He’d have to put up with my snappy tone if it provided me with some catharsis. I’d earned that right.

“What did you see?” he asked, wise enough to not engage me on the positive aspects of my Oracle symptoms.

I told him about the first vision, describing the vivid jungle, the succubi, the Dearghs, and the conversation regarding the volcanoes. He nodded slowly as I recounted the moving stone giants and the way they used the volcano fires to travel from one clan to another.

“Is there anything there that helps us?” I asked at the end.

“Absolutely.” Draven nodded. “This doesn’t just confirm that Hansa is already busy holding up her end of the bargain, which is very good news, but it also confirms my suspicion that the Dearghs had no idea why their volcanoes are dying out. I’ve been tracking the phenomenon for decades now. It’s good that they know now. It will be their incentive to rise up against Azazel.

“After all,” he continued, “they might all be gentle servants of nature, but they don’t take kindly to cheating at the expense of their own kind. The way the Dearghs travel is new to me. I’m guessing they have no problem with lava, since their core is pure fire, but I can’t help but wonder whether we could take advantage of this method of transportation for ourselves.”

“What, like move from one volcano to another through fire and lava?” I made sure sarcasm dripped from each word.

“With a protection spell powerful enough, we could probably do exactly that,” the Druid replied, ignoring my tone of voice. “Did you see anything else?”

“Yeah, it was another set of three visions, basically. I think it might be a pattern,” I replied.

“It makes sense. There are three Oracles, each with three visions each. There must be some significance in this. Tell me more.”

I chronicled my second vision of Azazel and the Druid I’d seen tortured before. I described their conversation over a map of the northern jungles. I made sure not to miss any details, including the moving serpent made of gold with small ruby eyes.

“The Druid’s name was Marchosi,” I added.

Draven stilled for a second, then nodded. I noticed the tension in his jaw, and judging by Serena’s expression, so did she.

“Who’s Marchosi?” she asked.

“Marchosi was once a very close friend of my father’s. They were raised together, educated by the same Druid Masters. I didn’t think he’d still be alive,” the Druid replied. “But his presence in this war is extremely detrimental to my plans. He has plenty of spies of his own throughout Eritopia, as he was once in charge of diplomatic affairs between the citadels and had to make sure that there would be no unpleasant or bloody surprises for his convoys. The worst part about his involvement is that he might know about my existence, although I’m not certain of it. It’s something I’ll have to consider going forward.”

“The fact that Azazel doesn’t know about you and this place has been at the core of everything we’ve done so far,” Serena said. “What will we do if he finds out?”