A Valley of Darkness (A Shade of Vampire #52)(59)

Heron crossed his arms over his chest, his lips stretched into a satisfied smirk, pride beaming out of his jade eyes. The door opened, and Caia and Blaze walked in.

“Done?” Patrik asked.

“Yup, all good.” Blaze nodded, then handed me a linen bag filled with flowers and scented herbs. Jax then gave me his, and I handed them to Heron, who was kind enough to hold both, along with the one we’d filled on our way back.

“Looks like I’ve got a lot of sniffing to do.” I huffed, staring at the bags.

“There were Correction Officers following us.” Caia frowned.

“Us too,” I replied. “We actually had some trouble with two of them…”

“I know, Patrik and Scarlett briefed us,” Jax said, occasionally glancing at Minah’s lifeless body encased in its preserving spell. “We’ll have to talk to Lord Kifo about it.”

“That’s funny, because I ran into him, and he said the Correction Officers were only assigned to protect us.” Harper scoffed.

“Right, they told us they weren’t allowed to interfere or engage, just follow us around,” Heron muttered, looking over his shoulder. Maras were still stationed outside—the same ones we’d seen during the day.

“Hansa and Fiona should be back by now,” Jax said, staring out one of the windows.

“They had the east wall. It’s probably a difficult trip all the way down to the base,” Patrik replied with a shrug.

“I don’t—” Jax was interrupted by the door bursting open.

Hansa nearly crashed through it, and Jax immediately reached her side and held her up. She was pale and sweaty, silver blood trickling down her neck.

“Fiona’s missing,” she managed, breathing heavily from all the running she’d done.

We all froze. Jax quickly lifted her black hair, careful not to come in direct contact with her silver blood, and checked the back of her head. His gaze darkened, and he bit into his wrist, drawing blood.

“Drink,” he commanded, pressing his fresh wound against her lips.

Hansa looked like she wanted to object, but Jax didn’t give her a chance, pushing his forearm against her until she drank some of the blood coming out of his wrist. He then licked his wound, helping it close almost instantaneously. Hansa seemed to recover.

Jax checked the back of her head again, without removing his arm from around her waist. She didn’t object to that, either. She then told us what had happened—or at least what she could remember—from the moment they got down to the small beach to the moment she realized she couldn’t go in after Fiona without putting herself at risk.

“I wanted to go after her,” she said, her voice trembling and her eyes tearing up, “but I knew it would only put the team at greater risk.”

Several seconds passed as we processed the new development. I felt my heart shrinking with dread of what might have happened to Fiona. She was one of my best friends, and it tore me apart to think of her somewhere inside that wretched mountain, all on her own. Sure, she was the strongest of us all, physically speaking—except Blaze in dragon form, maybe—but she was still alone and probably stuck in that tunnel.

“You were right to come back here.” Jax tried to reassure her, his gaze softening. “Otherwise we would’ve had to split our resources into looking for the both of you.”

“We need to go get her.” I took a step forward, shaking like a leaf. “She’s… She’s out there!”

“What if there are daemons involved?” Heron asked.

I backhanded his shoulder—an instant reaction to the prospect of Fiona surrounded by those invisible beasts.

“Don’t even go there!” I hissed at him, and, seeing the hurt look on his face, instantly regretted it. “I… I’m sorry. It’s just… This is Fiona. My Fiona!”

“Our Fiona,” Jax replied. “And we have to take all options into account before we go after her. Even daemons.”

“I should’ve kept my eyes on her at all times.” Hansa was distraught, staring at the floor. I then remembered all the sisters she’d lost three months earlier, during the Red Tribe massacre, and understood her torment.

“You were there, Hansa,” I said, “and you were ambushed. There’s nothing more you could have done. Don’t blame yourself, please!”

“She was my responsibility!” Hansa barked, her emerald-gold eyes flaring with anger, mostly aimed at herself.

“We’ll get her back.” Jax’s firm voice seemed to anchor her more than my feeble reassurances. “It doesn’t matter who split you two up. She could very well be on her own down there. We don’t know the attackers’ exact motives at this point. And even if she is surrounded by hostiles, nothing can beat the power of raw, untamed fire.”

He then glanced at Blaze and Caia.

“You two go after her. Bring down fire and fury on anyone or anything standing in your way,” Jax commanded. “Demolish the entire east side of the mountain, if you have to. You have my approval to do whatever you need. Get Fiona back, by any means necessary.”

Blaze and Caia both nodded. Hansa tried to move from Jax’s hold.

“I’m coming with you,” she said.

“No, you’re not.” Jax cut her off, his grip firm, though she gave him a shocked look that quickly turned into a frown, then a spine-chilling scowl. “Hate me all you want—we’ll be stretched too thin without you. If the daemons come into the city tonight, and chances are very much in favor of that happening, I’ll need you up here with me.”