A Shield of Glass (A Shade of Vampire #49)(68)

“And you can tell that I mean you no harm, that I have good intentions, right?” I tried my luck. If she was able to see me despite the invisibility spell, maybe she could sense that I was telling the truth, too. It was worth a shot.

“Yes, but… I don’t know what to believe anymore,” she replied. “Daddy’s been with me all my life, and Thadeus always takes care of me. But I’m always so tired and weak, and I don’t like it. And I have these dreams, and I think you are telling the truth, because in these dreams I see them. My sisters, as you call them. They’re tall and beautiful, with hair like mine and glowing violet eyes and colorful silks and golden masks… And they try to reach me, but they’re always far away. They talk to me, but I can never hear them…”

I understood then that the little Daughter had hatched so underdeveloped, that she couldn’t even establish a clear connection with her sisters through her dreams, like Viola could. But I did feel relief at not having to spend too much time making a case for her liberation, since she’d already been suspecting there was something off about her living conditions.

“They’re your sisters, yes, Nova,” I replied. “And they want you back. You’ll be safe with them. They can take care of you and protect you, but you have to leave this place first. Azazel would never let you leave, honey. He’s pretending to be your father so you don’t choose to leave on your own, so you’re always by his side. You’re weak because he’s draining the life out of you. You see that pendant around your neck?”

She looked down and grasped the medallion between her thumb and index finger. The green flame flickered furiously inside the ruby.

“It’s a spell Azazel uses to consume your energy for his dark deeds, Nova. Take it off, destroy it, and chances are you will feel much better,” I urged her, taking a few steps forward.

Nova exhaled sharply and took the medallion off, tossing it to the floor.

The little Daughter then took a deep breath, her eyebrows slightly raised.

“You’re right,” she gasped. “It does feel a little better…”

Bijarki then quickly prepared another batch of the invisibility spell.

“We need to get you out of here, Nova,” I said. “Will you come with us, please? We’ll take you to your sisters, and you will never feel this weak again, I promise!”

She thought about it for a minute, then nodded and got off the bed.

Relief washed over me as I bent down on one knee so I could look her in the eyes, and took her little hands in mine. I gave her the warmest and most reassuring smile I could muster, given the circumstances, and she seemed to relax in my grip.

“My friend here is making an invisibility spell. It’s a paste, and you’ll need to eat it. It doesn’t taste all that great, but it will make you invisible. You’ll disappear like we did, and then we can just sneak out of here without anyone ever noticing. How does that sound?”

The corner of her mouth twitched, attempting another smile.

She didn’t get to reply, though, as the door burst open behind us and I felt something cold and wet hit me. I gasped and fell to my side, looking around in a panic. There was red paint dripping from the little Daughter’s dress.

I looked down and saw my own invisible form covered in the same red paint. I glanced at Bijarki, and saw that he, too, had been hit and had already drawn his sword.

“I really didn’t want it to get to this.” I heard Damion’s voice.

He stood in front of the open door with Thadeus, each tossing aside a bucket with a red-coated interior. Dread paralyzed me as I realized what was happening. They knew. They’d known all along about the invisibility spell.

How did they know?

Azazel’s booming laughter pierced my ears as Damion and Thadeus stepped aside to let him in. The blood drained from my face, and I froze on the floor as he slithered closer to me. I immediately reacted, pulling myself back until my head bumped into the bedframe.

“I knew one of you was bound to do something stupid like this,” Azazel grinned, hands behind his back, giving Bijarki an icy sideways glance. “You see, when your friends first snuck in here, they lost a pouch of this shimmering paste of yours. My Destroyers found it in the basement and brought it up to me. Naturally, I got curious, and I forced one of them to swallow it. The worst-case scenario was that he’d die—which was only a fitting punishment for having allowed said friends of yours to escape in the first place.”

Bijarki came at him with the sword, but I knew nothing good would come of the attack.

“Bijarki, no!” I screamed, but Azazel lifted his hand and muttered something under his breath, pushing out an energy pulse.

It knocked into Bijarki hard, throwing him backward. He landed on his back with a thud, unconscious. I tried to get to him, but Azazel wrapped the tip of his massive snake tail around my neck, forcing me to sit still so I wouldn’t get my windpipe crushed.

“Don’t interrupt me when I’m telling my story, little Oracle,” Azazel continued, sounding slightly irritated. “So imagine my surprise when I watched the rat disappear right in front of me. I understood then how your friends had gotten in undetected, so I added some new security measures to my green fires. They can pick up one’s body heat, even if their form is invisible. I knew it was only a matter of time before your idiot friends tried again, probably thinking they were one step ahead of me.”