A Shield of Glass (A Shade of Vampire #49)(18)

She lifted her leg, and the sound of chains tore through me. She’d been shackled to the bed, and I suddenly felt like coming to Luceria myself and beating the living daylights out of Azazel for doing this to her. I knew I stood no chance against Azazel, but still, the thought helped me process the anger.

“Listen, just stay here and don’t get yourself into any more trouble, okay?” I sighed. “You’ll be out of here soon.”

“What trouble can I get myself into with this around my ankle?” she scoffed, pointing at the chain.

“When has a shackle ever stopped you from doing something crazy, huh?” I raised an eyebrow in response. “That sharp tongue of yours alone is enough to do serious damage to these slithering beasts…”

Vita gave me a weak smile. I took a deep breath and broke my side of bad news to her.

“You’re not going to like this, Vita, but we ran into some trouble,” I said. “Don’t be alarmed—we’re okay, we’ll be okay, but the Daughters came for the Daughter. Phoenix calls her Viola, by the way. He’s broken, obviously…”

I watched her expression shift from horrified to pained, then to genuinely concerned as she listened to my brief account of our agitated night.

“They said she couldn’t control her powers. Thing is, she influenced some shifters who were attacking us during the diversion we put together for the others to leave the shield,” I continued. “And she did something to those shifters, something weird but permanent. Like she fundamentally changed them somehow, and now they are literally our protectors. There are six of them left, and believe me, they came in handy because as soon as the Daughters took Viola, the protective shield came down. It’s gone. We ran east, and we’re on our way to Stonewall now. Made some friends along the way; more succubi from the Green Tribe, to be precise…”

Vita’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, stunned by the developments.

“What… How… Are you guys okay? Phoenix? Field? What… How could this happen? Why would the Daughters be so cruel?” she croaked.

“I don’t know, honey. I think they have permanent PMS or something. We’re okay, really, don’t worry too much about us. We moved fast and got out of there. Took some of the snakes down with us, too. I think we’ll be okay till we get to Stonewall. Serena and Draven are looking through those Druid archives for a cloaking spell for us as we speak. We’ll need it because Azazel can sense us Oracles now. You’ll need it too when Bijarki brings you back.” I winked, forcing myself to seem cool and composed so as not to worry her. She had enough on her plate as it was.

“Just stay here and keep a low profile, Vita,” I added. “We’ll see each other again soon.”

We heard voices outside the door and instantly nodded at each other before I broke the connection and regained my consciousness by the water stream.

I exhaled sharply as Field crouched in front of me, noticing the tears glazing my eyes. I could feel them, wet and hot, ready to roll down my cheeks.

“Are you okay? Is Vita okay?” he asked.

“For the most part,” I replied, barely holding it in.

“What’s wrong?” he frowned.

“We’re in so much trouble, Field. Vita had visions... The future’s changed again.”





Serena





We’d been rummaging through the archives for several hours when Draven pulled a strange-looking chest from beneath a table in what had been labeled the “forbidden section”. So far, digging through old records had not been our most exciting activity, but it sure beat fighting or running for our lives. He dragged the chest over to the large, round table in the middle where we’d all settled to read through ancient Druid logs. It was a heavy piece, measuring about four by four feet, made entirely from black iron, covered with runes painted in red, and fitted with a large padlock.

I watched quietly as he murmured something and snapped his fingers against the lock. Sparks shot out, and the mechanism caved in as the lock clicked open. He lifted the top, and I craned my neck to get a better look at its contents.

Several massive books had been piled in there, bound in leather and carrying the same red runes that had been painted on the chest.

“What is that?” I finally asked as he pulled out one of the tomes for inspection.

“It dawned on me to check the forbidden section for something to cloak our Oracles with. Since we couldn’t find anything in the Druid manuals stored here, I figured it was worth a shot,” he replied, turning the book over and frowning at the runes in apparent recognition.

“What’s with the runes, though?” Jovi asked from the other side of the table, clearly bored by the fifth registry he was currently browsing through.

“Warnings, I think,” Draven muttered. “I recognize the words ‘death’ and ‘beware’ here, repeatedly scrawled in a sequence.”

“Should we even consider these, then, if the covers alone speak of death?” I replied.

He looked at me, tightening his lips as a glimmer of hope twinkled in his gray eyes.

“All we are doing is reading them,” he said. “If we find something to hide the Oracles, then we’ll have to look at the risks involved, but I say let’s cross that bridge when we get there.”