A Meet of Tribes (A Shade of Vampire #45)(53)

It seemed like a recurring phenomenon that synchronized with the visions. Fortunately, for now, they weren’t permanent. I stifled the glimmer of hope that perhaps they would never be permanent in an attempt to prepare myself for the worst.

I ran downstairs, eager to get a hold of the Druid and tell him what I had accomplished and what I had seen. I looked around the ground floor and made my way into the banquet hall. Vita and Serena were grabbing lunch. The rest of the house seemed particularly quiet.

“Where’s everybody else?” I asked. A grin slit across my face at the sight of food.

The growl in my stomach reminded me that I hadn’t eaten and that I was positively ravenous.

“Somewhere in and around the house,” Vita replied. “Bijarki’s away. Field’s probably out flying.”

I sat down and helped myself to a full plate of food from the warming dishes. I tucked in, thinking I’d find the Druid after I finished my meal and tempered my loud stomach.

“What’s wrong with you two?” I asked, noticing their sullen moods.

“Nothing. Just tired.” Serena glared at her plate and stabbed a potato with her fork.

I didn’t persist. I figured I’d ask them both again later. Whatever they were going through, it was obviously still fresh.

Vita looked sad and dreamy at the same time. I figured it must’ve had something to do with Bijarki. Serena, on the other hand, was a bundle of raw nerves, and I wondered what was causing her so much pain, but I knew she would open up when she couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“I had another vision,” I said, changing the subject.

They both looked up at me, their faces lit with surprise.

“I had a vision on my own, to be precise. No intervention, no weird plants, nothing like that. I sat down, I tuned everything out, and I channeled myself into a vision of the present.” I beamed with pride.

“That’s amazing, Aida!” Serena smiled. “Amazing progress.”

“Yup, it is.” I nodded. “I saw three succubi meeting with the Sluaghs, but I couldn’t find out much more, other than a name. I’m not yet in full control of these visions, but I have to tell you, I saw enough of those Sluaghs to last me a lifetime already!”

“What do they look like? I’m having a hard time picturing them,” Serena said.

“They basically look like giant tapeworms,” I replied with a shudder. “They slither into incubi corpses and animate them like the grossest puppet masters I have ever seen. They’re weird. That’s all I’ll say. I’m just sorry I couldn’t see more this time.”

“You’ll get there,” said Vita, even as she looked unnerved by my description. “As will I, for that matter. We’ve made it this far, right?”

“We totally have.” I grinned. “Where’s the Druid?”

Serena’s face dropped at my question. I realized that whatever was bothering her was clearly related to him.

“I need to tell him what I saw,” I added.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” Serena replied, chewing furiously. “He can rot in hell as far as I’m concerned.”

“Whoa,” I raised my hands in a defensive gesture, surprised by her anger. “What did he do to make you this mad?”

Serena sighed and leaned against the back of her chair, a look of defeat drawing her eyebrows closer together. “He’s a jackass. That’s all. An absolute jackass.”





Jovi





A day had passed since Aida’s unaided vision, and a few days had passed since we’d returned from our trip up north to the Red Tribe. I hadn’t seen much of Anjani. She spent most of her time deliberately keeping her distance from me—keeping an eye out for the Daughter, or gathering her special herbs and roots from the woods nearby.

I was getting frustrated. I wanted to see more of her, and I had made it my mission to learn more about her kind just to get an upper hand in this unexpected dynamic between us. I’d read up on some of the books about the incubi and succubi in the Druid’s library just to kill time in between training sessions with Field, Aida, and Phoenix.

I’d come across a few interesting nuggets while studying the biology of the succubi. Their emotions were expressed through light cells embedded in their skin, which was why the succubi glowed when highly aroused or when they blushed. While in our case, the blood rushed through and reddened our cheeks as a reaction to certain events, the succubi’s light cells—the same cells responsible for that beautiful silvery shimmer—were activated. I found the process to be very interesting and decided that I wanted to see it again on Anjani.

That morning, I went looking for her. I checked the banquet hall, the gardens, and the study and ultimately found her in the greenhouse. She’d slipped back into her tribal leathers. My lower body seemed delighted by that decision. She was cutting some strange looking flowers with bright yellow petals from their stems and carefully placing them on a piece of dry cloth on the ground. They looked like snapdragons, but the petals’ edges were black.

I watched for a while as her fingers grasped each stem without touching the petals. She used a pair of small shears to remove them from the stems planted in a large clay pot. She crouched to better see what she was doing.

“Is it just me or are you trying not to touch the petals?” I asked.