A Den of Tricks (A Shade of Vampire #54)

“Why can’t we talk now?”

“Because my brother is still here. He could be sleeping, or he could be pretending.” She shuddered. “If they mind-bent him, it means he’s susceptible to various commands, including subconsciously spying on me, or worse. He wouldn’t even know it. I can’t put you or anyone else in danger, and I have to keep him safe. So, I’ll take him somewhere in the city where no one can find him. He’ll be restrained and be given a first treatment to break the mind-bending effect he’s under. Then, and only then, will I be able to speak freely.”

Partly satisfied with the result of my endeavor to reunite Demios with his sister in exchange for information, I took a deep breath and walked over to the door.

“Arrah, please don’t let us down,” I said. “Come talk to me as soon as you get your brother to safety. I don’t want us to go into enemy territory without potentially life-saving information again. It nearly got us killed.”

Arrah gave me a brief nod, paired with a reassuring smile.

“I promise. Give me until tomorrow night,” she replied. “I’ll find him a place by then, for sure.”

“Okay,” I agreed, then unlocked the door and walked out.

The inn was bustling with people, as dozens were returning to their rooms. I took advantage of the crowded hallways and staircases, and made my way out without any curious heads turning to give me a second glance.

At least Demios was safe, and Arrah was ready to talk. I considered that fantastic progress, given the overall mess and the permanent feeling of taking three steps forward and two steps back all the time.





Harper





(Daughter of Hazel & Tejus)





We were pretty much done with combing through the explosion site for any useful evidence. There wasn’t much else to work with, though, besides the half-molten detonator chunks we’d found in the Xunn and Kifo mansions. Nothing to point in a specific direction, anyway.

“Only one question remains at this point,” I said, as Avril, Heron, Scarlett, and Caspian gathered around me. “The ephelis sticks. Where did they get them from?”

Caspian raised an eyebrow, looking down at the city unraveling below. His gaze focused somewhere on the staircase leading up to us. I followed it and turned around to see a Correction Officer coming up—he was the Mara who had been sent down to check on Master Dresdel, their craftsman of sorts. He didn’t look very happy.

“I think we’ll get our answer now,” Caspian muttered, then gave the Correction Officer a brief nod. “What did Master Dresdel say?”

“Nothing, milord. He’s dead,” the Mara replied, his brow furrowed.

Caspian’s aura caught a vibrant shade of red as he processed the information. I could see the anger almost flowing through his limbs, down to his hands as they balled into fists. The muscle in his jaw began to twitch.

“What do you mean, he’s dead?” Caspian asked, his teeth grinding as he struggled to keep his cool.

“He was killed, milord. I found him dead on the floor of his workshop. His head was cut off, and his ephelis reserves were ransacked,” the Correction Officer explained.

I would’ve lied if I’d said I didn’t see this coming. Looking back, it kind of made sense. Whoever was behind the attack had clearly procured the explosives from the only known source. Silencing said source was the logical next step, as grim as that sounded.

“Are you able to estimate time of death?”

“No longer than twenty hours, milord,” the Mara replied.

“And no less than what?” I interjected, trying to work Master Dresdel’s death into our already-strange timeline.

“Twelve, judging by stiffness, milady.”

“Gah, seriously, this is making less sense now!” I groaned, rolling my eyes in exasperation. Caspian and the rest of my team watched quietly as I paced back and forth along the edge of the terrace. “We came back from the gorges about eight, maybe nine hours ago. Which means that Master Dresdel was already dead. The math just doesn’t work out. Were they already preparing for the attack at the time? It’s the only logical explanation!”

“What if the explosions had nothing to do with what we did in the Valley of Screams?” Scarlett offered, hands resting on her hips. “What if Harper is right, and they were already preparing to hit the city before we even went into the gorges?”

“By ‘they’ you mean the daemons?” Avril asked.

“There’s no other group of suspects available at this point, is there?” Scarlett replied.

“Okay, so how does that help us going forward?” I sighed, then stilled as Caia and Blaze joined us on the top level. “You guys okay?”

“Yeah, just repainting the symbols for Patrik.” Caia lifted the paint can in her hands to show me, as she and Blaze came closer. “What have you got so far from here?”

“A stinking mess, it seems,” Heron concluded. “To summarize, the explosions were not retaliation for our stint in the gorges. The explosives were stolen from a local craftsman. He was killed while we were still out there, so the timeline’s a bit fuzzy.”

I slowly raised my hands to stop the conversation from going any further. We needed to brief Hansa, Patrik, and Jax as soon as possible. These findings could have an impact on our strategy going forward. And we also needed to get some sleep.

“Listen, let’s go back to the infirmary and brief the others on all this,” I said, gripping the back of my neck with one hand to relieve some of the tension. My muscles felt as though they were carved from stone. “The sooner we do this, the quicker we can get some shut-eye. I’m feeling broken, and will come apart if I don’t get some Z’s…”

“Harper’s right.” Heron nodded, then patted Blaze on the shoulder. “We’ll leave you two to finish the whole protection spell mojo, and see you downstairs in a bit.”

I walked past Caspian, my hand brushing against his.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said slowly, and I looked over my shoulder, nearly melting when his eyes found mine. That warmth was so strange and unfamiliar, yet so wonderful, it nearly eclipsed the horror of everything that had happened up to this point.

“See you,” I mumbled, not sure what else to say. He baffled me.

We headed back to the infirmary, where Jax, Hansa, and Patrik were going over the gorge map. Avril and Heron briefed them on their findings from the mansions’ ruins, and I broke the news about the Maras’ craftsman:

“Master Dresdel was killed and his workshop ransacked. They looted his ephelis reserve. So, at least the source of the explosives used is confirmed. The weird part is that Master Dresdel got his head cut off sometime between twelve and twenty hours ago.”

Jax, Hansa, and Patrik gave each other a round of confused looks.

“Wait, that doesn’t make sense.” Hansa frowned. “It doesn’t fit our timeline.”

“Yup,” I replied. “It means they were already planning and preparing the attack, long before we got back from the gorges.”