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

He was the first to leave the platform, accompanied by Heron and the wards. Rewa stood there, her eyes nearly popping out of their orbits, as Serena stepped forward with a polite smile.

“You’re welcome to spend the night here, in the castle,” she said. “We might have a spare room available, and I’ll ask one of the servants to bring you some fresh animal blood, if you’re hungry.”

A few seconds passed before Rewa finally caved in, shuddering and sobbing as she lowered her head. Her tears splashed onto the white marble floor. Viola and Serena both moved to console her, resting their hands on her shoulders.

“Thank you,” Rewa croaked. “A thousand times, thank you. I promise I will be a good and quiet guest. Thank you…”

“It’s okay,” Serena replied gently. “I’m sure you’ve been through a lot.”

“I have.” Rewa nodded and looked up at her, more tears welling in her eyes.

She glanced around the platform and stilled when she saw Blaze. I followed her gaze, and a strange pressure pushed my stomach down as I watched him move through the GASP crowd to get closer to her. He reached the front row and smiled politely. He looked particularly dashing in his black suit, with broad shoulders and rough, jagged lines, his dark hair combed to one side and his midnight eyes sparkling with curiosity.

“She can have my room, if she wants,” Blaze said, prompting my eyebrows to pull into a frown. I shook it off quickly and focused on Rewa’s face, which lit up with a warm smile. “I’m going back to Mount Zur tonight, anyway. I haven’t finished my training assessment report, and Jax will kick my ass if I don’t deliver it tomorrow before the council meeting, especially since we’re getting teams together for two missions, now.”

That didn’t come as a surprise. I didn’t know Blaze all that well, but I’d heard Jax reprimand him over reports more than once over the past couple of months. The fire dragon was a promising fighter and tactician, and a smart guy, too, but absolutely despised paperwork.

“Tha… Thank you,” Rewa managed, slowly leaning into Serena.

She seemed exhausted. I figured this encounter had been particularly intense for her after she’d traveled in a ball of light across the In-Between to get here. But I still didn’t like the doe eyes she flashed at Blaze. She didn’t even know him, but that wasn’t a look you gave someone just out of gratitude.

I decided then to speak up at the council meeting in the morning. I wanted to be on the mission to Neraka—partly because I was curious and welcomed the opportunity to explore the In-Between, but mostly because my instincts told me that we’d have our work cut out for us there. Finding out what had happened to hundreds of missing Exiled Maras was no walk in the park and, most importantly, I wasn’t ready to trust Rewa.

On that note, since all the Druid Archives had been transferred from Stonewall, I could also dig into the ancient records and find out as much as I could about the Exiled Maras. I needed to better understand who they were and what had driven them to disobey to the extent that their entire species was almost annihilated.

The tenth floor was off limits during the wedding festivities, given the large number of foreign guests roaming through the castle, but I had my access token. I could slip inside later that night and do some light reading. Perhaps I’d even find some mention of House Xunn, the one which Rewa claimed to belong to.

The more I stood there, watching Blaze, Serena, and Viola talk, while Rewa watched with fascination, the more irritated I felt. I stepped back and went downstairs, resuming my seat in the banquet hall and chugging a glass of spiced rosewater. One by one, the rest of GASP followed. Anjani and Jovi came back as well, as the wedding party had not yet ended and there were plenty of guests waiting for the throwing of the bouquet and the bridal garter moment.

The rest of the night was good and uneventful, but I didn’t see Blaze, Serena, or Viola again. I assumed they were still with Rewa. I exchanged a couple of glances with Harper, too, before she went to bed early. I didn’t stay much longer either, retiring right after the bouquet landed in Hansa’s unsuspecting arms.





Caia





(Daughter of Grace & Lawrence)





It was well after midnight when I left my room and quietly snuck down the stairs to the tenth floor, where the Druid Archive had been set in a massive library hall. I pushed one of the large walnut double doors open, and was surprised to see the lights were on, flickering in overhead chandeliers and on the wall sconces.

“Hello?” I called out, wondering whether anyone was in there, or whether the library had simply been left like this.

I heard shuffling footsteps and whispers from behind one of the giant, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves ahead. A head popped out from behind it, and I recognized Harper’s long black hair and twinkling eyes. She flashed me her pearly whites in a grin.

“Look who couldn’t sleep tonight!” She chuckled, then came out to greet me.

There were more voices from behind her. I walked forward, and we met halfway in the wide corridor between bookshelves.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I’m guessing the same as you, reading up on the Exiled Maras,” Harper replied, then took my hand and guided me to the source of the voices.

I chuckled when I saw Fiona, Scarlett, and Avril there, huddled around a large oak table with piles of old registries and history books on top of it. They’d been taking notes for a while now, judging by the small pile of written papers to the side.

Harper and I sat down, and she handed me a dusty registry bound in leather with brownish waxed pages. I checked the cover, reading the title out loud.

“The Mara Archives, 3,200BA to 2,100BA,” I muttered. “What’s this?”

“We’ve been checking the archives in a chronological order. BA stands for Before Asherak, whose date of birth was marked as year 0 by the Eritopians,” Harper explained. “Kind of like with Earth years, AD and BC, you know?”

I nodded slowly, then started flipping through the pages.

“How long have you all been down here?” I asked.

“Not that long,” Fiona replied. “Harper was the first to get here. Avril, Scarlett, and I followed, but, funny enough, we didn’t tell anyone that we were coming down to check the Druid Archives, not even each other. But we were all curious about the Exiled Maras.”

“As were you, obviously.” Harper smirked.

“Yeah, I mean, you can’t blame me.” I shrugged, turning another page. “Have you found anything interesting yet?”

“Some mentions of the Maras getting violent and not respecting the Druid truce.” Harper nodded. “But nothing consistent just yet. We haven’t gone past Asherak’s reign yet, though, and that was thousands of years ago. But I think we’re getting close.”