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

“Speaking of which,” Blaze interjected, frowning slightly, “it’s been a few days, and GASP has yet to come for us. They obviously can’t reach us via Telluris—shouldn’t they be flying out here by now?”

“I don’t know, Blaze,” Jax replied, shaking his head slowly as he gazed at the red eyes in the distance. “I’m sure they’ll be here shortly. Honestly, I’m too tired to pass any judgment on this right now. Let’s sleep on it, and let’s not forget that the asteroid belt is playing a crucial role in our communication and travel issues. Maybe they’re dealing with the same.”

Not fully satisfied with that idea, Blaze shrugged and headed up the stairs toward the Broken Bow Inn. The rest of the team followed, including myself. I kept glancing over my shoulder, the red eyes still watching.

My blood chilled and shivers ran down my spine. I cleared my throat and focused on the walk to the inn, going over everything that had happened throughout the day, while the others recounted their own versions of the events. There were different perspectives between us, but they all carried us forward toward our common goal—protecting those who could not defend themselves.

Our day so far had not been extraordinary, given the anti-climactic and yet explosive end. But we’d gotten Fiona back, and we’d killed scores of daemons back in the Valley of Screams. On top of that, we’d reset the protection spell over the city, and we’d even managed to snatch Demios out of prison, thanks to Fiona.

“Hey, Fiona.” I remembered the question that had crossed my mind earlier, the one I’d forgotten to ask. She gave me a quick glance over her shoulder. “How long do you think before the Correction Officers realize that Demios is missing?”

“I think by late morning at best.” She chuckled. “I ruffled his bed up. Made it look like he’s sleeping. They’ll probably serve him breakfast and notice something’s off.”

“What if they trace it back to us?” I asked. “Surely they’ll figure out there was something supernatural involved…”

“They’ll have to prove it before they even think of accusing us,” Jax replied, confidence adding some extra weight to his husky voice. “And I doubt that will happen while we’re out here, trying to keep them safe.”

He had a point. The Exiled Maras had no proof that we had anything to do with it. Either way, as long as Demios was free and out of their reach, it didn’t really matter. We finally had Arrah on our side. Soon enough, she would tell us more about the city and its people.

Looking around at passing Imen and Maras, I couldn’t help but shiver briefly. Their picture-perfect lives were crumbling before their very eyes. Their love of art and fashion was obscured by blood and ashes. Yes, they were a complicated bunch… but they didn’t deserve any of this.





Scarlett





(Daughter of Jeramiah & Pippa)





Once we reached the Broken Bow Inn, we picked up some blood from the bar on our way up to our rooms. Given the night’s events, the inn had decided to keep the bar open and offer us free blood.

“It’s our way of thanking you for being here and trying to keep us safe,” the Iman bartender had said, a sad smile crossing his face.

Patrik walked me to my room as we talked about the swamp witch magic we’d seen the daemons use. We stopped in front of my door, and I leaned against its frame, while he kept a couple of meters’ distance from me.

“Once Jax and the others get inside the daemons’ underground city, we’ll probably understand more about where they got the swamp witch magic from in the first place,” Patrik said, his hands behind his back.

“Yeah, I guess we don’t have enough to go on right now.” I nodded slowly, focusing my gaze on his face. His steely blue eyes drilled into me, but he wasn’t doing it on purpose. I figured it came naturally to him. “What’s important is that we know they have it and they’re not afraid to use it. I guess what we need to determine next is how much swamp witch knowledge they have to work with.”

“That’s right. Again, I think that will be revealed during Jax’s incursion into the gorges tomorrow,” he replied, slowly moving forward.

I took a deep breath, trying to adjust to the shrinking space between us.

“In the meantime, we’ll focus on the asteroid belt,” I said.

A moment passed in silence. Patrik then gave me a half-smile. My heart skipped a beat.

“Thank you for all your help so far, Scarlett.” His voice was soft, opposing the sharp blue in his eyes. “Especially in the gorges today. I’d be dead if it weren’t for you.”

“It’s my pleasure.” I tried to shrug it off, but he moved even closer, and my voice nearly disappeared. “I mean, it’s what colleagues do, right? Besides, I enjoy working with you. I’m genuinely impressed by your craft, as I’m sure I’ve said before…”

“You have, but I won’t get tired of it, just like I won’t get tired of thanking you for saving me, since this is… what, the second time now?”

The corner of his mouth moved a little, as if a smile were working its way to the surface, but he stifled it. He came across as relaxed, though that could easily be interpreted as tiredness. Either way, it felt like a good time to ask what had been bugging me since the morning we’d found Minah’s dead body in the infirmary.

“Patrik, I’ve been meaning to ask, but we haven’t had a chance, given everything that’s happened,” I started, choosing my words carefully. “The other day, when we found Minah’s body and Jax mind-bent you into remembering what had happened… you said you had a dream… and that I was in it. That at first you were dreaming about Kyana, and she then turned into… Well, she turned into me. Do you mind telling me what that was about?”

He stared at me for a while, and I waited patiently for his answer. A flurry of emotions trembled in his eyes, his brow furrowing slightly. He was taking his time formulating an answer, while I struggled to keep my pulse in check. Then a distant drumming sound caught my attention. Or at least, it seemed distant. It wasn’t. It was right in front of me, nestled beneath Patrik’s ribcage.

My vampire hearing was picking up on his heartbeat. Tumultuous, erratic, and thundering in his chest. He was nervous.

“It’s been a couple of really crazy days, Scarlett,” Patrik said, his voice calm, in stark contrast with his pulse. “To be honest, I’m having trouble making sense of what’s happening in my head, not to mention my dreams… It’s difficult to understand one’s subconscious, and as much as I would like to, I don’t think I can offer you an explanation. I think it just happened.”

He looked a little tortured, as if he wanted to say more but couldn’t—or worse, didn’t know what to say. He’d never thought he’d mention a dream of me out loud, in front of the whole team. It couldn’t be easy for him to actually talk about it.

Time to lighten things up a bit, then…