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

“We know more now than we did four hours ago,” Harper replied, her voice low.

“We most certainly do,” Jax added. “We now know the caliber of the threat present in the Valley of Screams, and we also know that there’s at least one Exiled Mara on this mountain who knows more about them than you all pretend.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Caspian frowned.

“There was someone there with us,” Harper replied. “I couldn’t see his face, but he moved fast. A little too rude for my taste, but he helped us. He knew where to hit the beasts effectively. The eyes. That little morsel of information saved our lives, because we were outnumbered in there. Hell, even with five of us against one, the odds would’ve still been in the invisible entity’s favor.”

“How do you know he was from here, then?” Caspian’s eyes narrowed to two jade slits.

“We saw him ride out toward the mountain. He has an indigo horse, which might help us narrow down his identity, since Darius said there aren’t many of those here,” Harper said, then hissed as the nurse applied healing paste on her cut.

A moment passed in awkward silence as we all looked at each other.

“But Harper asked a good question earlier,” Jax said, staring at Darius. “Why did you run ahead? We didn’t even see you once we found ourselves surrounded by deadly entities.”

“I must apologize,” Darius replied, staring at his feet. “I was overwhelmed. My instinct was to run, given the danger we were in and the speed with which I’d lost sixteen of my people. I wanted to go back, but I lacked the courage. We have never faced something like this before. Never…”

“I am sorry for your losses,” Hansa said slowly. “What matters now is that we’ve seen the enemy, sort of, and we understand that the threat is real.”

“We can reconvene in the morning and discuss the next steps.” Darius nodded, unable to make eye contact with any of us anymore. “We should let the wounded sleep and recover.”

He didn’t wait for a reply. He left the room, and I caught a glimpse of him through one of the windows as he got on his horse and trotted up the mountain alley. Caspian, however, didn’t budge or say anything for another minute, his eyes fixed on Harper’s.





Harper





(Daughter of Hazel & Tejus)





Caspian made no effort to hide his displeasure, but there was something else burning in those jade eyes of his, something that made me too self-conscious and vulnerable. The nurse finished applying the bandages, and I pulled my sleeves back on, wincing from the pain in my shoulder.

I looked up, and he was still glaring. I lost my patience.

“Why do you keep looking at me as if you’d like to see me burning on a stake?” I asked, prompting everyone in the room to look at him.

“I’m not looking at you in any particular manner, Miss Hellswan,” Caspian replied, suddenly turning into a block of ice. “You should, however, mind your tone when you address the Five Lords of Azure Heights. You’re an agent on foreign soil right now, and you should be respectful of our society and our limits. While you’re okay barging into the Valley of Screams like a mindless hero and getting yourself and your friends killed, the rest of us have a much stronger conservation instinct. You are in no position to hold that against any of us, particularly our nobility.”

“So you’re okay with running off and hiding in the mountains?” I shot back, though I did notice Jax and Hansa’s scowls, aimed directly at me.

“We do what we must to survive.” Caspian held his ground. “As I said, Darius is one of the Five Lords of this city. If he falls, our people are vulnerable. He wasn’t even supposed to be in there with you tonight, but he feared we’d never see you again if he didn’t at least try to keep an eye on you all. If he’d died because of your recklessness, the Exiled Maras would have had a very difficult time seeing you as friends and allies. We are willing to help you as best as we can, but you must also be respectful of our customs and us, your hosts. We do not live the way you do, nor do we expect you to understand that.”

I didn’t exactly have a comeback for that one. In fact, I felt a little silly. Sure, I had been ready to charge into that Valley of Screams, but the Exiled Maras hadn’t been. They’d been losing people for two years now, and it most likely had something to do with those invisible creatures. I shouldn’t have held it against Darius like that. They weren’t all built like me. Like us.

“That being said, we shall see you tomorrow.” Caspian walked out without bothering to wait for a reply of any kind.

A minute went by in absolute silence. The nurses continued looking after the Iman girl and Patrik, removing the rest of their bloody clothes, wiping their bodies clean, and covering them with crisp white sheets.

“Telluris Draven!” Hansa called out, her eyes closed. It didn’t work, and the failure made her let out an inaudible grumble.

“Telluris Draven!” Jax tried as well, then leaned into the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. “This is useless.”

“And this Valley of Screams is a serious issue,” Hansa replied, visibly frustrated. “We could do with some GASP assistance.”

“We’re clearly not going to get any,” Heron muttered, glancing at his brother. “Telluris isn’t working, we’re cut off from Eritopia, and, from what Hansa told us on the way here, whatever is in those gorges is now hunting closer to the city.”

“If not in the city,” Avril added.

“Let’s go outside and talk,” Hansa said, walking toward the door. “Let’s leave Patrik and the girl alone to rest.”

We all agreed and left the infirmary, stopping outside on the edge of the platform. Three moons loomed over us in white, pale orange, and amber, while darkness swallowed the world beyond the mountain.

Hansa had already brought the others up to speed with the invisible entities, what they looked like—or at least what we’d managed to see from the air rippling around them—and their attack style. They were cold and calculated, aiming to hurt first, incapacitate, then kill.

“They like to play with their food,” she added, looking out toward the Valley of Screams, “and the night is their best friend, which doesn’t bode well for the Exiled Maras.”

“This leads us to conclude that those who disappeared might be dead already,” Jax said.

“I don’t think we can say that for certain until we speak to the Iman girl,” Hansa replied. “Maybe they abduct them, keep them somewhere for some time, then kill them. Right now we don’t know for sure, and we must consider every possibility.”

“True, but I wouldn’t hold out hope for the Maras and Imen who went missing two years ago,” Heron interjected. “The ones abducted over the past few weeks, maybe, but not that far back. Let’s be realistic.”