A Valley of Darkness (A Shade of Vampire #52)(13)

“Do they?” I frowned.

“That would be a bit… much,” Heron replied. “You can’t end up daemon chow for stealing a gold coin. That’s just… No.”

“I think it’s best we talk to Arrah about this tonight,” Avril said. “I just need the rest of the team to keep the Lords and Ladies busy. Especially House Roho. Can’t risk any of them coming back while Heron and I mind-bend our way through their mansion and interrogate Arrah…”

“We’ve got you covered, don’t worry.” I gave her a reassuring wink.

I set my sights on keeping Caspian busy, despite his blatant aversion to me. I found him intriguing, and I wanted to understand what exactly motivated him, and what kind of person he really was. He was challenging, and I was never one to back away in such circumstances.

Whatever he was hiding, I was going to find out. One way or another, I was determined to get to the bottom of what made Caspian Kifo tick.





Patrik





The Mara nurses came in to check on Minah once every couple of hours. Other than that, it was just me and the Iman girl in our part of the infirmary. I kept watch over her, thinking about the Druid spells I could combine to protect the city from daemons. I wasn’t sure they would work, but it was worth a shot.

This was a different world altogether, and, given how little we knew about these invisible enemies, it was impossible to predict how they’d react to Druid spells. I’d only seen the effects of my blue fires against them—which were barely any, from what I remembered. I kept throwing flames at them, but they’d hardly done anything to keep the unseen creatures at bay.

I needed the rest of my herbs and powders from my room at the inn, anyway. I had additional magical items in there that I could use to prepare certain spells in advance. I’d gone into the Valley of Screams with enough spell resources, but the daemons moved too fast even for me. I’d only had split seconds to prepare. I wasn’t going to make that mistake twice.

My mind wandered back to this morning. I rolled onto my side, facing Minah. Finding Scarlett sleeping by my bedside had been unexpected, but it had filled me with a peculiar warmth, something I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Three months had passed since I’d kissed Kyana goodbye as she lay dead on the cold ground outside Luceria. I could still hear Tamara’s wails. Kyana’s older sister had taken the loss hard, but there had been no one left to punish at the time. All the living Destroyers had been returned to their original forms, Azazel had been vanquished, and the fiends that had killed Kyana had been slaughtered. All that was left for us to do was grieve.

I’d spent centuries under Azazel’s control spell, slithering around in Destroyer form and doing his horrific, dirty deeds, just to make sure Kyana was kept alive. I put up with her anger and frustration. For a long time, I couldn’t even tell her how much I loved her, since Azazel’s spell was powerful and caused me so much pain whenever I did or said something against him. I couldn’t even tell Kyana to hold on, that one day I’d get her out of that cage and out of those dungeons.

All those centuries spent in misery, inflicting torture and death on innocent creatures while waiting for the day I’d get to hold her in my arms again… The moment I felt her cold skin, it all fell apart. I’d put myself through hell to save her, and I’d wound up losing her in the end. The irony did not escape me.

I was angry for a long time. I cried myself to sleep and chose a solitary existence, focusing exclusively on GASP. Training and preparing with the Shadians gave me new purpose. All that anger, the frustration—I could channel it into the supernatural protection agency. I could take my rage and repurpose it into relentlessness and determination. It worked, too. I advanced through the ranks, and I even passed my superior circle trials. I’d acquired my ninety-eighth band tattoo before the Neraka mission. Two more levels and I’d become a Master Druid. There were plenty of planets in Eritopia that needed one—the Druids who had been assigned to manage them were young or dismally unprepared. My world needed me. I needed my world, too. It anchored me; it kept me sane.

I’d found a twisted form of internal balance with GASP. Training fights helped me keep my rage under control. Researching supernatural species and supporting Draven in Druid affairs stopped me from curling up in my bed every morning. I missed Kyana so much, it tore me apart. I never talked about her with others.

I even tried keeping my distance from the Lamias, though I’d always had a soft spot for them, historically speaking. Kyana had not been my first girlfriend from the species, but she had been the one for me. My soulmate. Her friends tried to get close to me. They wanted me in their lives, on a more intimate level. But I couldn’t bring myself to even look at them that way anymore. I was still raw on the inside. My heart still ached.

Then Scarlett Novak-Hendry walked into our GASP base on Mount Zur, fresh from The Shade, and my so-called balance went straight out the window. Things took a strange turn for me then. I found myself gazing at her when she wasn’t looking. I couldn’t get enough of watching her run, watching her dart across miles like the wind. Those sky-blue eyes rattled me, and I didn’t like the way I was reacting to her.

She made me feel nervous and vulnerable whenever she was around, and yet, I liked being around her. I enjoyed the sound of her voice and, as of this morning, I discovered I loved running my fingers through her soft, warm brown hair. The feel of her skin on mine…