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

It yawned, stretching lazily, enjoying the belly rub. My arm was getting tired—this was one big animal to pet! And… a male. Okay… As if sensing my intention to withdraw my hand, he sat up on his hind legs, then brought his head down and nuzzled my face.

“You are ridiculously friendly, dude! I like you!” I smiled, stroking his thick, muscular neck. He was roughly shorter than an Asian elephant, at a little over two meters, and made me feel so small, yet his ability to exude so much affection made me think of him as a gentle giant. “I’ll bet those collars make you mean, but you’re not mean by nature, are you?”

The pit wolf huffed again, as if understanding what I’d just asked, and slowly shook his head as he stared at me. A thought crossed my mind then.

“Do you understand what I’m saying?”

He didn’t take his eyes off me, but didn’t react, either. Maybe I’m overestimating his abilities…

“Can I call you Jack?”

He blinked a couple of times, then nodded once. Oh, hell…

“I don’t know why, but I think Jack suits you.” I shrugged, watching his expression carefully for any sign that he could, in fact, understand me. “Jack is the name of a guy I know back in my world. He lives in Hawaii. It’s a beautiful island; you’d love it. Anyway, Jack is a human. A big one. He’s like… a gentle giant. Kind of like you.”

I heard Patrik inside the mine—a metal pick hitting a hard wall, scraping and crumbling sounds followed by another clang. Both Jack and I looked around, checking for hostiles nearby. We seemed to be in the clear for the time being.

“I don’t understand why you’re here, though,” I said to the pit wolf. He nuzzled my face again, licking my ear in the process. “Is it because I released you from that collar, maybe?”

He groaned and hid his face against my chest, knocking me over. I laughed and got up, gently stroking his back.

“It’s okay now, Jack,” I murmured. “I promise I’ll do the same with every pit wolf I see out there. It’s not fair that they use you like that. You must have been so miserable…”

A couple of minutes went by as I replayed the scene from earlier in my head. Jack had known exactly where to jump and what to bite into in order to deliver a deadly blow.

“Jack, can you see the daemons?” I asked, though I wasn’t sure I’d get an answer. The pit wolf seemed selective in his responses. Jack let out a long and low growl. “I’m not sure what to make of that answer, but I’ll just assume it’s a yes, for now. Or that at least your senses are sharp. Really sharp.”

Patrik emerged from the cave with a handful of red garnet crystals. He handed them over, and I shoved them into my backpack, while he stared at the pit wolf. Jack held his ground, but seemed to accept Patrik near him… and me. Which was good. The last thing I needed was a repeat of our kiss at some point in the near future, and Jack jumping out of nowhere, biting Patrik’s face off…

“Is it friendly?” Patrik smirked, slowly reaching a hand out.

“He hasn’t eaten me yet,” I replied, patting the pit wolf’s head. “I named him Jack. It’s a he. I saw… them.”

Patrik laughed lightly as Jack licked his hand.

“He definitely likes you,” he replied, watching with slight amusement as Jack lifted his massive weight back onto all fours, towering over me while sniffing and slobbering over the entire right side of my face. How could I push this massive lump of love away? I was head over heels already!

We walked back toward the city, moving through the tall grass. Jack stayed by my side, constantly looking around and sniffing the air. Once we reached the main road, however, the pit wolf wavered and yelped, shaking his head.

I looked at Patrik, then patted Jack’s back as he sat on his hind legs.

“I think it’s best if you stay out of sight, buddy,” I said gently. “The Maras, the Imen, they don’t know you like we do… They will get scared and try to hurt you. Stay in the shadows, okay, Jack?”

As if understanding everything I’d just said, the pit wolf licked my face one more time, then shuffled through the grass until he disappeared behind a thick layer of shrubs climbing up the mountainside.

Patrik and I returned to the main road, heading back to the Broken Bow Inn. We’d done everything we could for one day. The rest of our mission revolved around the Spring Fair, opening the next day.

I occasionally glanced over my shoulder and caught flickers of Jack’s red eyes in the dark woods beneath. This time it wasn’t a feeling—I knew for a fact that I’d see him again, and soon.





Harper





(Daughter of Hazel & Tejus)





Several hours passed as we waited in Mose’s hut, but there was no sign of him. I kept scanning the area, watching daemons as they moved around, but I couldn’t see Mose anywhere.

“What if he’s not coming back?” I asked, breaking the silence that had settled over us for about ten minutes. “What if they’ve detained him? Has he told you anything about why they might come looking for him in the first place, Lord Kifo?”

“No, and that’s what bothers me the most,” Caspian replied, leaning against the wall as he peeked through the window. “He is leading an underground resistance, of sorts, but they can’t possibly trace it back to him. He’s been extremely careful until now… I don’t get it.”

“A resistance?” Jax frowned, still sitting next to Hansa by the small firepit in the middle. “A resistance against what?”

“Against King Shaytan,” Caspian explained. “Believe it or not, there are plenty of daemons out there who don’t agree with this… lifestyle of theirs. They’re not all monsters.”

“No, only the ones in charge.” I scoffed, shaking my head slowly.

“Daemons are not born evil, Miss Hellswan.” Caspian’s jade gaze pierced through me like an intense laser beam. “They are made evil by the system in which they’ve been raised. However, there are daemons who reject the doctrine, who refuse to hurt other creatures. But soul eating is a powerful tool that the king uses to enslave his own people. All it takes is one taste, and that’s it. It becomes nearly impossible to break free. You have to feed again. And again. And again. The hunger manifests in the form of excruciating pain, and it takes a lot of strength and support from others in order to break free. And what support can these creatures get from a society that is convinced there’s no other way besides eating souls in the first place?”

“You talk as if you’ve experienced this firsthand,” I muttered, watching the colors around him change to a deep red with waves of dark gray. Something bothered him. I’d struck a nerve.

“I’ve seen the effects of it. I’ve seen what it looks like when the soul courses through your veins, and I’ve seen what it does to your body once you deprive it of such powerful energy,” Caspian replied, shifting his gaze to what lay beyond the window.

“What do we do, though?” Blaze interjected, while Caia played with the flames in the pit, her fingers moving as she raised little swirls of fire from the pile of burning wood. “We can’t just stay here forever…”