A Ride of Peril Read online

  A Shade of Vampire 46: A Ride of Peril

  Bella Forrest

  Contents

  Also by Bella Forrest

  New Generation List

  1. Serena

  2. Serena

  3. Aida

  4. Jovi

  5. Aida

  6. Vita

  7. Serena

  8. Phoenix

  9. Phoenix

  10. Serena

  11. Phoenix

  12. Serena

  13. Vita

  14. Aida

  15. Vita

  16. Serena

  17. Serena

  18. Jovi

  19. Aida

  20. Serena

  21. Jovi

  22. Phoenix

  23. Serena

  24. Serena

  25. Jovi

  26. Field

  27. Serena

  28. Jovi

  29. Jovi

  30. Serena

  31. Vita

  32. Jovi

  33. Serena

  34. Serena

  35. Aida

  36. Serena

  37. Serena

  38. Field

  39. Vita

  40. Serena

  Novak Family Tree (You may need to turn the page to see it!)

  Read more by Bella Forrest

  Also by Bella Forrest

  THE GENDER GAME

  The Gender Game (Book 1)

  The Gender Secret (Book 2)

  The Gender Lie (Book 3)

  The Gender War (Book 4)

  The Gender Fall (Book 5)

  The Gender Plan (Book 6)

  The Gender End (Book 7)

  THE SECRET OF SPELLSHADOW MANOR

  The Secret of Spellshadow Manor (Book 1)

  The Breaker (Book 2)

  The Chain (Book 3)

  The Keep (Book 4)

  A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES

  Series 1: Derek & Sofia’s story

  A Shade of Vampire (Book 1)

  A Shade of Blood (Book 2)

  A Castle of Sand (Book 3)

  A Shadow of Light (Book 4)

  A Blaze of Sun (Book 5)

  A Gate of Night (Book 6)

  A Break of Day (Book 7)

  Series 2: Rose & Caleb’s story

  A Shade of Novak (Book 8)

  A Bond of Blood (Book 9)

  A Spell of Time (Book 10)

  A Chase of Prey (Book 11)

  A Shade of Doubt (Book 12)

  A Turn of Tides (Book 13)

  A Dawn of Strength (Book 14)

  A Fall of Secrets (Book 15)

  An End of Night (Book 16)

  Series 3: The Shade continues with a new hero…

  A Wind of Change (Book 17)

  A Trail of Echoes (Book 18)

  A Soldier of Shadows (Book 19)

  A Hero of Realms (Book 20)

  A Vial of Life (Book 21)

  A Fork of Paths (Book 22)

  A Flight of Souls (Book 23)

  A Bridge of Stars (Book 24)

  Series 4: A Clan of Novaks

  A Clan of Novaks (Book 25)

  A World of New (Book 26)

  A Web of Lies (Book 27)

  A Touch of Truth (Book 28)

  An Hour of Need (Book 29)

  A Game of Risk (Book 30)

  A Twist of Fates (Book 31)

  A Day of Glory (Book 32)

  Series 5: A Dawn of Guardians

  A Dawn of Guardians (Book 33)

  A Sword of Chance (Book 34)

  A Race of Trials (Book 35)

  A King of Shadow (Book 36)

  An Empire of Stones (Book 37)

  A Power of Old (Book 38)

  A Rip of Realms (Book 39)

  A Throne of Fire (Book 40)

  A Tide of War (Book 41)

  Series 6: A Gift of Three

  A Gift of Three (Book 42)

  A House of Mysteries (Book 43)

  A Tangle of Hearts (Book 44)

  A Meet of Tribes (Book 45)

  A SHADE OF DRAGON TRILOGY

  A Shade of Dragon 1

  A Shade of Dragon 2

  A Shade of Dragon 3

  A SHADE OF KIEV TRILOGY

  A Shade of Kiev 1

  A Shade of Kiev 2

  A Shade of Kiev 3

  BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY

  Beautiful Monster 1

  Beautiful Monster 2

  DETECTIVE ERIN BOND (Adult thriller/mystery)

  Lights, Camera, GONE

  Write, Edit, KILL

  For an updated list of Bella’s books, please visit her website: www.bellaforrest.net

  Join Bella’s VIP email list and she’ll personally send you an email reminder as soon as her next book is out. Tap here to sign up: www.forrestbooks.com

  Copyright © 2017 by Bella Forrest

  Cover design inspired by Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations LLC

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  New Generation List

  Aida: daughter of Bastien and Victoria (half werewolf/half human)

  Field: biological son of River, adopted son of Benjamin (mix of Hawk and vampire-half-blood)

  Jovi: son of Bastien and Victoria (half werewolf/half human)

  Phoenix: son of Hazel and Tejus (sentry)

  Serena: daughter of Hazel and Tejus (sentry)

  Vita: daughter of Grace and Lawrence (part-fae/human)

  Serena

  The Red Tribe camp site was the scene of absolute carnage, with succubi bodies scattered everywhere. Some had been consumed by the fires still crackling here and there. The smell of burnt flesh turned my stomach. Where it hadn’t been charred, the once red grass that covered the ground at the base of the mountain was glazed in silver blood.

  Thick pillars of smoke rose from the embers of what had once been tents. This site had been home to dozens of fierce, beautiful succubi who now lay lifeless before us, defeated by a horde of Azazel’s Destroyers and traitorous Sluaghs. The Red Tribe was no more, and our strongest alliance was suddenly our weakest.

  Hansa was on her knees, heaving and struggling to control herself. Tears streamed down her cheeks. I wanted to hold her and tell her that everything would be okay, but how could I? We all knew it would only get worse from here.

  Azazel had wiped out her entire tribe, her family, in one organized attack.

  The spell was always an optical illusion, so someone must have known where to look to find the succubi’s camp. Someone had known where to come or who to follow to deliver the deadly strike.

  “I will kill them all,” Hansa growled.

  Draven stood next to me, his brow furrowed and lips pursed, tension throbbing in his jaw. Bijarki was close, his eyes wandering around us, his hands balled into fists at his sides. The pain marring his otherwise beautiful features was undeniable.

  “Each and every one of them… One worm after another… I will slice them up and feed them to the beasts!” Hansa roared. She stood.

  Her leather garments were drenched in succubus blood, and her hands trembled. I saw in her face a tidal wave of pure, uncontrollable rage.

  “Hansa, I am truly sorry for what has happened here,” Draven said in a low voice. “Where do we start?”

  “Don’t trouble yourself with such details, Druid,” she spat back. “This is my war to wage against the Sluaghs!”

  “But who did this? Who betrayed you? Who will you go after?”

  “All of them! All of those filthy parasites! I will destroy them until there are none left to feed off the bodies of my
sisters!” she shouted, her eyes wide and glassy. “Krol,” she growled in a lower, more menacing voice. She looked around like a vulture seeking prey.

  “Aida saw him in a vision.” I remembered her account of that encounter. It hadn’t been easy to forget, the Sluaghs were creepy as hell.

  “It was my generals that he met the other day. He’s the traitor. He’s the one I’m after.”

  “We’ll get him. Together,” I said, placing my hand on her trembling shoulder. “We’ll do this together, Hansa. Your loss is our loss. Remember that.” I was trembling too, not just from the devastation around us, but from the fear that Hansa instilled in me. She was terrifying with such rage coursing through her veins. I looked around, wary of asking the one question that I knew I had to ask. We had so little time left against Azazel.

  “Hansa, we will get them,” Bijarki added in a calm tone. “But you will not do it alone. You and Anjani may very well be the last of your tribe. You can’t leave her alone to fight a battle you know you’ll lose on your own. There are so many of them and only one of you.”

  “I will take as many of them as I can before I fall! My sisters deserve retribution!”

  Bijarki raised his voice. “Damn it, Hansa! Snap out of it!”

  She stilled, and from the way she stared at him, for a moment I feared for his safety.

  Several moments passed before she took a deep breath, followed by another and a dozen more, until her shoulders dropped.

  We all waited patiently for her to regain her composure.

  She looked around, swallowing back the tears, and nodded slowly.

  “Okay then, what’s the plan?” she finally asked.

  I could hear a sigh of relief leaving Bijarki’s lungs. He waved an arm around at the camp. “We need to find the book, first,” he said. “Then, we need to burn everything down. We leave nothing behind, not a sliver of meat for the Sluaghs to occupy. Some must be lurking in the waters nearby, since they know where the Red Tribe is now…was.”

  We made our way to the remains of her tent, a jumble of burned animal skins and lumps of charred wood beams. Black smoke still rose from the middle, unraveling upward in trembling rolls. She frowned as she took the details in.

  “The passage stone,” she said.

  We all froze as soon as we realized what she was talking about.

  “It’s gone,” Draven said.

  I gasped. “Oh no. What…what do we do?”

  Hansa and Bijarki started digging through the remains.

  “The passage stone is a peculiar instrument,” Draven explained. “If one travels through a passage stone without a specific destination, one may pop out anywhere in Eritopia. There are thousands of these scattered throughout Eritopia, most of them lost—dumped in lakes or at the bottom of the seas or forgotten inside a volcano or in the darkness of a pit. It’s extremely risky to take the way of a passage stone without knowing where you’ll come out on the other end. No one is foolish enough to try it.”

  “But if you do know where you’re going,” I added, “it requires your blood.”

  “Exactly. Nobody besides you, Anjani, Hansa, Bijarki, Jovi, and myself know of the passage stone at the mansion. Even if they have Hansa’s stone, the chances of them landing in my house are minimal.”

  “It’s still a risk though, isn’t it?” I asked, unable to shake the feeling that we were still open to an attack from the inside.

  “It is, but even Azazel won’t venture through a passage stone without knowing where he’s headed. Even if he does find out where the mansion is, unless he knows there’s a passage stone beneath it, he won’t get in.” Draven lowered his voice.

  I watched as Hansa pulled pieces of wood, smoky strips of fabric, and animal furs from the mess that had once been her home. As soon as she reached the warm ground beneath, she dug her fingers into it and scooped out as much as she could. Bijarki found a wide piece of metal that was sturdy enough to be used as a shovel blade and joined her.

  “We need to dig down a few feet,” Hansa said between breaths. “I buried the book at the bottom of the central pillar that held my tent together. No one ever dared to go in, and no one knew about the book besides Almus.”

  I looked around, a feeling of uneasiness prickling the back of my neck.

  “Are you sure all the Sluaghs are gone?” I asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Bijarki replied. “Some are probably still lurking nearby, waiting for us to leave so they can find new bodies.”

  “They won’t get that chance,” Hansa spat. “They might as well shrivel up and die! I won’t let them take any of my sisters!”

  “We need to do a body count,” Draven said. “Maybe not all your sisters were here at the time of the attack.”

  Hansa looked up at Draven, a glimmer of hope twinkling in her emerald gold eyes. She kept digging. “You might be right!” she replied.

  “I’m of no use to anyone right now,” I said. “I can help with the…counting.”

  She gazed at me for a second and nodded. Then, she refocused her attention on the soft, black dirt. I took it as her approval and went to the north side of the camp. I started counting from there, clockwise, making a mental note of each memorable detail—every scarlet feather, finely crafted medallion, or sword hilt, anything that would later remind me of that specific succubus. I recognized the one who had marked Draven as hers during our first night at the camp. She’d died cuddling a young succubus, both their bodies pierced with Destroyer arrows.

  I couldn’t help but cry at the sight of them. My eyes stung, and hot tears rolled down my cheeks.

  Fifty-seven… Fifty-seven… Fifty-seven… I repeated the same number in my head in an effort to keep a semblance of composure.

  Draven came behind me and wrapped me in his arms. The warmth of his body seeped into my back and relaxed my stiff muscles. I surrendered to his embrace and cried. His chin rested on my right shoulder, and his temple leaned into mine. We both looked down. He held me tightly as I let it all out.

  “She was the first to see the truth,” he said after a few minutes.

  I sniffed and gave him a sideways glance. My vision was blurry from the tears but still good enough to make out his gray eyes, the blade of his nose, and his soft lips. He was my rock and my refuge, and I still marveled that he was mine.

  “What truth?” I asked.

  He looked at me, his gaze softening and a faint smile tugging the corner of his mouth.

  “That I belong to you and you alone,” he replied. “She was the first to see it. And that’s how I will always remember her, no matter what happens next.”

  I felt the heavy weight on my heart lifting at Draven’s words, if only for a moment. Despite the death and darkness, he pointed to the little glimmers of light, giving me strength when doubt found a way to trickle into the back of my mind. How had we come to this? How had he become so important to me?

  We walked together for a while, as I counted the rest of the fallen members of the Red Tribe.

  Soon afterward, Hansa’s voice broke through the silence with a thundering echo.

  “Found it!”

  We rushed back to the center of the camp, where her tent had once stood tall and proud. She rose, holding up the second book of the swamp witches for us to see. She removed it from its protective covering, what looked like a triple layer of fabric and thick brown animal hide.

  “Can I see it?” Draven asked.

  Hansa nodded and handed him the book. I watched his fingers pass over the front side of the leather cover before they untangled the strings and revealed the multitude of pages inside. I recognized the markings from the first book I’d retrieved at Mount Inon—the same swirls and lines that formed the handwritten language, the geometric symbols and partial pentagrams that would help us perform powerful spells in our war against Azazel.

  “It is yours, now,” she told Draven. “Your father would have wanted you to have it, given the circumstances. Keep it safe.”

  Dra
ven nodded and closed the book again, stuffing it in the duffel bag that Bijarki had brought with him, where we also kept the first book. We all looked at each other, our expressions lighter than before. Despite the death surrounding us, we were still closer to destroying Azazel than we had been before. There was a faint idea of hope lingering in the air among us.

  “So, what now?” I asked.

  “We give my sisters a proper burial, and we leave nothing behind,” Hansa replied.

  Serena

  We spent a couple of hours gathering all the bodies in the middle of the camp, stacking them on top of pieces of wood. Several corpses had once belonged to the attacking Sluaghs, paler than the rest and lacking their heads, oozing black blood. According to Bijarki, silver blood turned black when the body was occupied by a Sluagh. We counted ten of them in total. I figured the succubi had put up quite the fight, to be able to decapitate ten of these so-hard-to-kill monsters. It was an impressive death toll, given that they’d been taken by surprise.

  Hansa and Bijarki piled on all the dragon tears they could find, then set the funeral pyre alight.

  The task had been a daunting one, and my arms and back were sore, but it was nothing compared to what Hansa must have felt at the sight of her sisters burning. Black smoke rose in heavy plumes, a sad contrast against the violent pinks and purples of dusk. Crickets chirped in the woods around us, while night birds began their melodious exchange of trills in the branches above.

  Hansa stood before the pyre, torch in hand. She turned around to face us, and I could see tears streaming down her dirty cheeks, revealing thin lines of smooth, silvery skin. The pain in her eyes tore me apart. I decided to offer my help.