A Shield of Glass (A Shade of Vampire #49)(41)

“I think we’re good now.” Draven smiled for the first time in hours, warming me inside.

“How do we know it worked?” Field was cautious as always.

“I could get in touch with Vita.” Aida touched her face gently, as if double-checking she still had one. “Since she’s there, she could find out if Azazel can still feel us.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I nodded.

“Thank you,” Phoenix said to Draven and me. “Thank you both.”

“Nah, it’s okay.” I blushed. “Told you I’d find a way to keep you safe.”

He brushed his knuckles against my cheek in an affectionate gesture before taking me in his arms for another hug. His soul still felt raw and was brimming with pain, but I knew, deep down, he was going to be okay. He was a Shadian, after all. And Shadians didn’t let pain bring them to their knees.

“Since we’re here,” Aida said, breaking my train of thought, “and I’m no longer worried about getting my face broiled off, it’s time to tell you about my latest visions.”

She had my full, undivided attention, as well as Draven’s, who straightened his back and crossed his arms over his chest in response.

“I saw the young Druids,” she continued. “They’re still alive, on Marton, where Phoenix last saw them. I think they settled there. There are six left.”

There was a collective sigh of relief at that point.

“We can go look for them after the alliance meeting.” I beamed at Draven, who only gave me a weak smile in return. I took it, as it was better than his previous justified but foul mood.

“Azazel trapped me in the third vision again,” Aida said. “But he can’t do anything more than that. He’s just taunting me, like a predator playing with his food, trying to get me tangled in his mind games. But that’s not even the highlight of the day! Hold onto your hats, ladies and gentlemen, because in my second vision, I wound up following Kyana in snake form. We found a hidden settlement in the jungles somewhere south of Luceria – I think it’s south, since Kyana had no business going up north, when the River Pyros is south. The succubi of the White Tribe live there—you know, the tribe that was thought to have vanished without a trace?”

I nodded, remembering the earlier accounts from Anjani and Wren.

“They’re concealed by a swamp witch cloaking spell,” she added. “And you’ll never guess who leads them.”

Neither of us said anything, and Aida seemed to get a kick out of keeping us on edge.

“Jasmine.”

I blanked out for a minute. I looked at Draven, and his expression told me everything I needed to know—he was just as shocked as I was. His eyes were wide open, his breath halted.

“Jasmine as in—”

“Jasmine as in Draven’s aunt,” Aida interrupted me. “Yes. She’s alive and well, apparently. And that still isn’t the culminating point of my vision.”

She turned her gaze on Draven.

“She knows about you. She’s been keeping an eye on you,” she said.

That revelation brought on a whole new load of questions to which we’d yet to get answers. There was another Druid out there, still alive. On top of that, she knew about Draven—and from what Aida later told us, she didn’t just know about Draven, but us too. She’d been watching his and our movements outside the shield for quite some time.

I only wondered why she’d never revealed herself.





Serena





The next day and a half passed rather uneventfully, and I was thankful for it. We spent our time digging deeper into the Druid archives, searching for as much information as we could uncover about Jasmine, about navigating the eastern ocean, and about combat spells that Draven and the young Druids could learn for their fight against Azazel.

Aida briefed us on her visions in full detail and regularly checked in on Vita, who kept a low profile and waited for Bijarki’s arrival, while playing the role of the model prisoner. We even found out that the concealment spell had worked, as Patrik told Vita that Azazel was furious, casting all kinds of tracking spells because he couldn’t feel Aida and Phoenix anymore. The Prince of Destroyers had already had trouble tracking them because they were constantly moving, managing only to get five-mile radius approximations until they fell off the radar again. Patrik had also advised Azazel not to take his anger out on Vita, the only fully functional Oracle he had. Surprisingly, Azazel heeded his advice and kept his distance, as he was focused on securing his throne and looking for us.

Phoenix kept his mind busy by subjecting his body to hard training sessions with Jovi and Field. Rebel and Thorn occasionally jumped in, as did Jax, Hansa, and Anjani, while Draven, Aida, Zeriel, and I spent most of the daylight available in the archive hall.

Wren and her succubi were hard at work in the harbor, mending one of the four ships left so they could sail it to Marton. They were close to getting it ready, and Draven and I agreed to accompany the expectant mothers to the desert continent, as we needed to find the young Druids and bring them into the alliance.

Draven barely said anything during this time, keeping his focus on the Druid spell books and avoiding any conversations about the future. Zeriel, as Jax had previously stated, did not always pick up on social cues and was perfectly comfortable talking about Draven potentially wiping us all out, without noticing how uncomfortable it made the Druid.