A Shield of Glass (A Shade of Vampire #49)(35)

But what about Jasmine? Had she died trying to protect them?



My next vision took me deep inside a jungle. Judging by the plethora of giant purple trees and shifters growling somewhere in the distance, I was back on Antara. I stood in the middle of a narrow path, with no one else around.

I heard movement somewhere below and looked down. I let out a short, high-pitched scream, startled as I jumped back at the sight of a large cobra with dark green scales and patches of bright yellow on its underbelly. It slithered along the path, its forked tongue flitting out and catching the scents of creatures nearby.

Branches broke behind me. The cobra vanished to the side, in the tall grass, as four succubi ran past me in a flashing sprint. They wore tanned leather garments and stripes of white paint on their faces, arms, and backs. They carried crossbows, swords, and slim shields on their backs, as they hurried down the path, then took a sharp turn into the dark woods.

The white paint reminded me of what I’d recently learned about the succubi and their color-coded tribes. Anjani had said the White Tribe had vanished without a trace and that no one had seen them since.

“Not to be presumptuous here, but I think I just saw four of them,” I muttered, then moved to follow them.

The dark green cobra poked its head out from the grass and slithered ahead. It seemed to be going in the same direction as the succubi, and we both took the sharp turn into the forest. I saw the four succubi run toward a massive slab of gray limestone hidden behind thick purple trees, then vanish into it. The snake darted after them, managing to enter while the stone surface still rippled.

“Aha! Swamp witch cloaking spell,” I concluded like a good detective from a nineteenth century mystery novel. “Thank the stars no one can hear me…”

I ran after them and passed through the barrier like the ghost I was, and found myself stunned by the sight of a small, thriving succubi settlement with fur-covered yurts built around a white marble villa-type residence. There were at least three dozen succubi there, all of them wearing white paint on their bodies.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I think I’ve just found the White Tribe,” I muttered as I walked between the tents toward the white marble villa. Its walls were smooth, polished to perfection, and its straight lines opened into a spacious terrace, adorned with wild floral arrangements in yellow and pink and garlands wrapped around the square columns. The house had been built on top of an unpolished chunk of white marble, and the narrow steps leading to the open terrace had been carved into it.

The villa seemed like an eerie presence in the middle of this wilderness, skirted by small camp fires. I looked above and saw the night sky glimmering—the cloaking spell had a tall dome shape, with a diameter of half a mile, at most.

The dark green cobra disappeared somewhere behind a bush, its head poking out to get a better look as it watched the four succubi we’d first seen. It morphed into Kyana, much to my surprise, keeping a low profile in the shrubbery.

“Glad to see you’ve made it this far,” I quipped, already eager to let Vita know Kyana had gotten out and was far from Luceria.

But was she, though? I didn’t even know where we were, exactly. How far had Kyana gotten over the course of one day, in snake form?

My attention was drawn back to the succubi. They stopped at the bottom of the white marble stairs, dropping to one knee with their heads down, and tapping their sheathed swords into the hard ground in front of them—I found the rhythmic “tap, tap, tap” interesting, so I got closer.

A female emerged from the villa, stopping at the top of the stairs. She was tall and beautiful, with gray eyes, long, sand-colored hair caught in a bun, a Cupid’s bow mouth, and sharp cheeks I’d seen before. She wore a loose, white silk dress that covered everything from the neck down—with the exception of her bare arms, covered in ring tattoos from her wrists to just below her shoulders.

She was a Druid, and she looked too familiar for it to be a random coincidence.

There are still Druids in Antara?

Judging by the number of black rings on her arms, she wasn’t a Master Druid, but she’d made it pretty high up in the ranks. I would’ve stopped to count the tattoos and assess an exact level, but the four succubi said something that was even more interesting.

“We bring bad news,” one of them announced, her head down.

“Is Draven well?” the Druid asked.

What?!

I felt my brows pull into a deep frown as I listened quietly.

“The mansion was surrounded by Destroyers several nights ago,” the succubus replied. “They were discovered by Azazel but could not get in.”

The Druid gasped, her eyes wide with genuine fear.

“They were safe beneath its protective shield,” the succubus continued. “Two nights ago, however, they got out in organized teams to distract the Destroyers, while Draven and his companions fled in four different directions. We couldn’t follow, as there were too many hostiles in the surrounding area and we couldn’t risk it. I apologize for that, Mistress Jasmine.”

It was my turn to gasp. The female Druid was Jasmine, Draven’s aunt. She wasn’t dead after all.

“That’s understandable, Mairi,” Jasmine replied with a sigh. “Did you see where Draven went, though?”

“He headed east with a female companion, the one with black hair and blue eyes, not of this world,” Mairi said. “They used indigo horses. I doubt the Destroyers could keep up.”