A Shade of Vampire 40: A Throne of Fire(40)

“Julian, Benedict, can you tell us about what you saw at the cove?” Ash asked, interrupting my vengeance fantasies—fighting side-by-side with Grandpa and the rest of GASP, me wielding a sword like a pro.

All eyes turned to me, Lucas trying to hide a smirk. I looked to Julian for backup. He frowned at me, urging me to speak. Julian always disliked large groups.

“Well, we saw the bodies of the Acolytes,” I replied quietly. “And some weird energy barrier covering them—like something was sucking their energy, creating a sort of force field.”

“All the energy was going into the earth…that’s what it looked like,” Julian added.

“A conductor,” Yelena interrupted. “Obviously, the entity is using the bodies of the Acolytes to syphon off their energy to rise up—my guess is so he can become whole, so he can fight us.”

Smarty-pants.

“Okay,” replied Ash, smiling warmly at Yelena, “that’s a likely conclusion to draw—unless the shadows that we fought today are the entity itself?” He looked to Tejus, who shook his head.

“I’m not sure about that. I believe the shadow is the army that the book predicted. Yet because Hazel killed Queen Trina, I think we have bought ourselves some time. I don’t believe he is fully risen yet.”

“Who did Hazel kill?” my mom exclaimed.

I looked at my sister. She seemed uncomfortable.

“Our enemy,” I replied. “She was amazing. Wasn’t she, Tejus?”

The sentry smirked. “She was.”

“I think someone needs to bring us up to date with what’s been happening,” my grandfather said. “We are playing catch-up here and I need to understand what’s taken place. Sherus.” He turned to a copper-haired fae I’d never seen before. “Does this entity sound like it could be related to your visions?”

The fae nodded, eyeing the sentries with suspicion.

What’s his deal?

I’d never seen him around The Shade before. I leaned back into my chair as Ash and Tejus told GASP what had been happening and explained a bit about the abilities of the sentry species. To hear it all laid out, it sounded like some kind of bizarro fairy tale. I had a hard time believing it myself, and I’d been there! Every so often, my mom and dad would turn to me with panic-stricken eyes. To be honest, I’d been hoping they’d be more impressed with our brave deeds—but they just seemed worried. My grandpa also told us about the entity whispering to them as they passed through the portal. It seemed like he was everywhere at once, and the thought scared me—to communicate to them through a portal like that? It would have taken a lot of power.

“I can’t believe you’ve been through all of this,” my mom whispered when Ash and Tejus had finished.

“We’re fine, Mom,” I groaned, seeing Yelena stifling a giggle out of the corner of my eye. I’d like to see her parents act any differently. They’d react way worse—they weren’t even supernatural!

“Has it occurred to you that there might be jinn in Nevertide?” my grandfather asked Tejus.

“It has,” Tejus bit out. Now it was my turn to hide a smile—watching Tejus get it in the neck from my family was awesome.

“The threat of the entity rising delayed our plans,” he continued. “But if there are jinn here, they are well-hidden. I have not come across your kind”—he looked at Nuriya, Aisha and Horatio—“and before reading the book I had no knowledge of your existence.”

“Have you had any more luck in sensing anything here, in Nevertide?” my grandfather prompted the jinni queen.

“No, I’ve felt nothing, but it doesn’t mean that they’re not here. Jinn can cloak themselves well, if they don’t wish to be found. It’s unlikely we’ll just stumble across them by chance,” Nuriya replied. “Also, the jinn are the only creatures that would have been able to create those stones. But if they are not emerging now to re-bind the creatures contained within, perhaps they no longer reside in this land?”

“We should seek them out,” Uncle Ben replied. It was the first time he had spoken during the meeting, but everyone instantly paid him attention, even Tejus. He was just like that—a born leader, just like my grandfather.

One day I’m going to be like that, I promised myself.

“What about lands beyond the water, would they find a home there, perhaps?” the jinni queen questioned Tejus and Ash.

“We don’t know what lies beyond the ocean,” Ash replied, clearing his throat. “We don’t travel there. None of our kind do. We use the portal if we wish to visit the human world.”