A Call of Vampires (A Shade of Vampire #51)

The Exiled Mara’s shoulders dropped. She seemed frustrated but resigned to the fact that she had to do this dance with the Eritopians if she was to get any help for her people. I couldn’t blame Jax for being so inquisitive. He was protecting his world, just like his parents had done before him when they’d persuaded the swamp witches to exile the murderous Maras. He didn’t seem like the kind of leader who’d welcome them back without a second thought, given their history.

“While Neraka is quite isolated in its galaxy, and far away from the path of any interplanetary traveler,” she explained, “there was a Druid delegation that crash-landed on it many years ago. It happened before I was born, but we all know about it. A swamp witch was with them, and, from what they told our forefathers, they’d been on their way to a fae planet when the witch suddenly fell ill and diverted from the original course in the middle of her travel spell. She inadvertently dragged the entire Druid delegation down with her. My people helped them and nursed the swamp witch back to health. As you know, our blood has healing properties that transcend all species.”

“So, what, she just gave you an interplanetary travel spell?” Jax shot back incredulously.

“Basically, yes,” Rewa replied with a shrug. “She knew who we were, as did the Druids. But they saw how much we’d changed. They saw how sorry we felt, as a people. We were—and still are, for that matter—very ashamed. She left us several minor spells before the delegation departed, little artifices to boost our crops and protect our animals, mostly. This was many centuries after our exile. She called it ‘water under the bridge’, since we had no desire to return to Eritopia, anyway. She was grateful for our assistance, and she shared some of her magic with us. She simply copied a few pages from her spell book and left them behind. They included the travel spell, but we’ve never used it until now.”

“Why not?”

“We like our life on Neraka. We live in peace. Nobody disturbs us, and we thrive without disturbing anyone in return. We don’t need to travel beyond our new world. I had to, this time. I had no other choice. I had to reach out for help. My people didn’t like the idea to begin with, and I’ve had to struggle for months to convince our Lords to let me leave… We’re truly in a terrible bind, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”

I noticed the mixed expressions on faces across the platform. There was an obvious difference between the Eritopians and us at this point. There was plenty of reserve and doubt for the natives, while the Shadians glanced at each other with subtle nods and looks of determination. My first instinct was to further investigate this—no one put themselves at risk like this, crossing a universe to return to a land where the people’s first reaction is to draw their swords at the sight of her. Not unless there was a good reason behind it, and over two hundred Exiled Maras gone missing over the course of two years seemed enough.

Sofia moved to stand by Jax’s side, her eyes on Rewa. The Exiled Mara’s jade eyes moved from one to the other, glimmering with curiosity and fear. She was even more uncomfortable than the rest of us.

“Why don’t you put your weapons down, first?” Sofia said politely, glancing at the Mara wards, then Jax. “She’s on her own and doesn’t seem to have any intention of harming us. If anything, she’s more scared of you than you are of her.”

“I’m not scared,” Jax replied dryly, but put his sword away, then nodded at his wards, who followed suit and stood back. “I can’t trust her, that’s all.”

“No one is asking you to trust her,” Sofia replied. “But our core as GASP means we listen, we investigate, and we assist the supernaturals who need our help. Rewa seems like one such supernatural.”

“I understand that your people have a dark history, as well,” Draven added, “and I’m sure it cannot be told over the course of a few minutes, either. Eritopia may not be interested in what ails Rewa and the Exiled Maras, but I believe GASP is.”

“Exactly,” said Derek, measuring Rewa from head to toe. “Perhaps we should consider putting together two intervention teams. One for Tenebris, and one for Neraka. We have the resources, after all.”

Jax frowned but didn’t respond. I could tell from the way his gaze bounced between Derek, Sofia, and Draven that he was conflicted. He’d made an oath when he’d joined GASP, and it seemed to disagree with his thousands of years of tradition as an Eritopian vampire. But his code was no different than ours, in the end.

“If you don’t wish to send any of your people to Neraka, given the bad blood between you and the Exiled Maras, I understand,” Sofia said. “We can send Shadians instead. I’m sure Viola would be happy to assist with travel arrangements.”

I glanced over at Viola, who gave us a firm nod in response.

“No, you’re right,” Jax huffed. “I’ve sworn my life to GASP, and it’s what we do, regardless of our personal history. We help creatures in need and we punish those who try to hurt or deceive the innocent.”

He glared at Rewa as he enunciated that last part, as a not-so-subtle warning of what would happen to her if she lied. The Exiled Mara’s eyes grew wider, but she shook her head, biting her lower lip.

“I’m not lying, milord,” she replied. “We need help. We are desperate. We can’t do it on our own.”

“I strongly recommend what Derek suggested,” Xavier chimed in. “We get two teams together. One will infiltrate and eliminate the rebels on Tenebris, and one will be a recon group, to check out the situation on Neraka and investigate, before we decide on whether to send more manpower to assist them. It seems like the reasonable thing to do, don’t you think?”

I looked around the platform, and even the Daughters were nodding, their glowing violet eyes fixed on Rewa. The Exiled Mara looked vulnerable and overwhelmed with so many of us around—she had no idea who or what the Shadians were, but she could certainly tell that we were different. There was a lot of power coming from us, and I had a feeling she hadn’t expected us all to be up here when she landed.

Harper gave me an intrigued look, and I knew exactly what her bluish green eyes were telling me: she was curious. I’d been around her for long enough to recognize the signs. She wanted to be on the Neraka team. To be honest, so did I. The whole situation, as exposed by Rewa, sounded very intriguing. Dangerous, too, but I wasn’t one to shy away from that, and neither was Harper. If anything, she saw danger as a challenge.

“Why don’t we resume this conversation first thing tomorrow morning?” Draven suggested. “We can all sleep on it and tackle it better after a good night’s rest.”

“If you say so,” Jovi muttered from the side, Anjani’s hand in his. “Not sure how much sleep I’ll be getting tonight, but if you stock up on fresh, hot coffee tomorrow, I’ll be good to go…”

“Okay, let’s meet tomorrow morning and hash out an action plan,” Jax agreed, then pointed a menacing finger at Rewa. “You do anything remotely suspicious and I will cut off your head before you even blink. Other than that, what can I say? Welcome to Calliope.”