A Ride of Peril (A Shade of Vampire #46)(6)

I dropped next to her and pulled her into my arms. To my relief, she didn’t object. She just cried as I held her tight, her face nestled in my chest. Her sobs were a muffled wave of hot tears. I brushed my fingers through her rich black hair, and looked up at Hansa.

She wore a look of silent approval. She seemed thankful to see me there comforting her sister. Hansa was a fierce warrior. I figured that their customs didn’t leave room for much compassion and grieving—at least not where she was concerned, as the tribe chief. Someone had to hold onto the reigns, despite the grief and devastation, and Anjani was too young and probably not seasoned enough to process everything the way Hansa did.

Nevertheless, I saw tears welling up in Hansa’s eyes, and I knew it was harder for her than she’d ever let on. I could only imagine what losing dozens of sisters felt like. My heart broke for Anjani. I did my best to keep her close to me while she cried uncontrollably in my arms.

“What do we do now?” Field asked.

Draven took a deep breath and looked at the mansion. Behind him, Serena and Bijarki started unloading the saddles. Aida and Vita joined them, taking some of the weapons and placing them on the front porch. I could see the blades smeared with silver blood. The sight of it made the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

“Hansa left a cryptic message for any survivors. They’ll know where to find us,” he said. “We burned the bodies, as we didn’t want any rogue Sluaghs taking over a Red Tribe body.”

“The time will come when I will avenge our sisters’ deaths, Anjani.” Hansa took off her red cape and tossed it on the grass. “I will personally drive my sword through Krol’s shriveled little head, I promise you.”

Anjani looked up between sobs and nodded. She hid her face in my chest and cried some more. I figured it was as close as she would get to being consoled by her big sister and, somehow, it made sense.

“For now, however, we need to find the third book of the swamp witches,” Draven added. “Serena went through quite the trial at Mount Inon to retrieve the first book, and Hansa was kind enough to give us the second one. The third is hidden somewhere on this property.”

Serena and Draven exchanged looks, and I could see something that wasn’t there before. They’d been through horrible things over the past few days. I could tell from the dark shadows under their eyes. But there wasn’t just understanding flowing between the two; there was also affection—the kind derived from deeper feelings, much like the ones that compelled me to hold Anjani so close to me in that moment.

“Where do we look?” Aida asked, one foot resting on the porch step.

“Everywhere,” Draven replied. “I suggest we split into groups and take different parts of the house. Search through every nook and cranny until you find something like this.”

He pulled out one of the books from the duffel bag at his feet. It was a large piece, hundreds of pages wrapped in dark brown leather. I knew it was one of the most important weapons we had in our fight against Azazel. I committed the image of it to memory.

“Jovi and Vita, you take the eastern wing,” he continued. “Serena and I will take the north. Phoenix and the Daughter can search the west wing. Hansa and Anjani can look in the south wing, and Field, Aida, and Bijarki, please search the grottos underneath the house. Let’s take our time and do this properly. Leave no stone unturned. My father wouldn’t have taken the book outside the protective shield, so it must be in here somewhere.”

It took me a few minutes to part from Anjani. She swallowed back more tears, stood, and gave me a weak but thankful smile. I didn’t want to leave her side, but at the same time I understood that spending some time with her sister would do her good. It would do both of them a lot more good than crying in my arms. They were warriors. They had to grieve like warriors. I’d read that about the succubi tribes, and I deeply respected that.

The Red Tribe was a key component of Anjani’s identity. It fueled the fire that delighted me about her in the first place. Whatever I could do to help her stoke those flames, I would do. In this instance, it involved leaving my beautiful succubus with her sister. I took a deep breath and stepped away from her.

I followed Vita inside the mansion but not before looking over my shoulder to see Anjani watching me, her emerald and gold eyes flickering with a peculiar warmth, a shade I’d never seen before. Something had changed between us.





Aida





We started out in the basement. Bijarki led us through one of the three doors that we had yet to explore in that part of the house. These doors were always locked, but Bijarki had a spare set of keys from Draven.

We followed him through the narrow corridor, carved directly into the limestone, each of us carrying a torch. Bijarki walked in front of me, and Field was right behind. I could almost feel his breath brushing against the back of my neck, sending shivers down my spine.

“There’s an entire network of these tunnels and chambers beneath the mansion. About ten rooms in total, interconnected. The passage stone is kept in a separate grotto, for good reason though. Wouldn’t want anyone to just stumble upon it,” Bijarki explained.

We searched the first chamber, which we found on the left side of the corridor, behind a set of heavy black iron bars. It had once been used as a prison cell, from what we could tell. There was a makeshift bed against the eastern wall consisting of several hay bales and a couple of wool blankets. Charcoal lines had been crossed off in a repetitive pattern on the limestone above. I counted at least thirty small lines at first glance.