A Shade of Vampire 68: A Purge of Nature Read online

  A Shade of Vampire 68: A Purge of Nature

  Bella Forrest

  Contents

  Also by Bella Forrest

  Problems reading?

  New Generation List

  Family tree

  1. Amane

  2. Raphael

  3. Herakles

  4. Derek

  5. Elonora

  6. Kailani

  7. Ridan

  8. Dmitri

  9. Amane

  10. Herakles

  11. Araquiel

  12. Elonora

  13. Ta’Zan

  14. Ta’Zan

  15. Rose

  16. Ben

  17. Rose

  18. Elonora

  19. Kailani

  20. Dmitri

  21. Ridan

  22. Elonora

  23. Derek

  24. Sofia

  25. Elonora

  26. Ta’Zan

  27. Rose

  28. Harper

  29. Amane

  30. Vesta

  31. Elonora

  32. Amane

  33. Rose

  34. Derek

  35. Ta’Zan

  36. Derek

  37. Rose

  38. Elonora

  39. Amane

  40. Dmitri

  41. Elonora

  42. Derek

  ASOV 69: A Birth of Fire SNEAK PEEK!

  43. Chapter 1: Varga

  44. Chapter 2: Elonora

  45. Chapter 3: Amelia

  Read more by Bella Forrest

  Also by Bella Forrest

  HARLEY MERLIN

  (New fantasy/romance/supernatural series!)

  Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven (Book 1)

  Harley Merlin and the Mystery Twins (Book 2)

  Harley Merlin and the Stolen Magicals (Book 3)

  Harley Merlin and the First Ritual (Book 4)

  Harley Merlin and the Broken Spell (Book 5)

  HOTBLOODS

  (Supernatural romance. Completed series.)

  Hotbloods (Book 1)

  Coldbloods (Book 2)

  Renegades (Book 3)

  Venturers (Book 4)

  Traitors (Book 5)

  Allies (Book 6)

  Invaders (Book 7)

  Stargazers (Book 8)

  THE CHILD THIEF

  (Action-adventure/romance.)

  The Child Thief (Book 1)

  Deep Shadows (Book 2)

  Thin Lines (Book 3)

  Little Lies (Book 4)

  Ghost Towns (Book 5)

  THE GENDER GAME

  (Action-adventure/romance. Completed series.)

  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 GIRL WHO DARED TO THINK

  (Action-adventure/romance. Completed series.)

  The Girl Who Dared to Think (Book 1)

  The Girl Who Dared to Stand (Book 2)

  The Girl Who Dared to Descend (Book 3)

  The Girl Who Dared to Rise (Book 4)

  The Girl Who Dared to Lead (Book 5)

  The Girl Who Dared to Endure (Book 6)

  The Girl Who Dared to Fight (Book 7)

  A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES

  (Supernatural romance)

  Season 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)

  Season 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)

  Season 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)

  Season 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)

  Season 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)

  Season 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 Ride of Peril (Book 46)

  A Passage of Threats (Book 47)

  A Tip of Balance (Book 48)

  A Shield of Glass (Book 49)

  A Clash of Storms (Book 50)

  Season 7: A Call of Vampires

  A Call of Vampires (Book 51)

  A Valley of Darkness (Book 52)

  A Hunt of Fiends (Book 53)

  A Den of Tricks (Book 54)

  A City of Lies (Book 55)

  A League of Exiles (Book 56)

  A Charge of Allies (Book 57)

  A Snare of Vengeance (Book 58)

  A Battle of Souls (Book 59)

  Season 8: A Voyage of Founders

  A Voyage of Founders (Book 60)

  A Land of Perfects (Book 61)

  A Citadel of Captives (Book 62)

  A Jungle of Rogues (Book 63)

  A Camp of Savages (Book 64)

  A Plague of Deceit (Book 65)

  An Edge of Malice (Book 66)

  A Dome of Blood (Book 67)

  A Purge of Nature (Book 68)

  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

  THE SECRET OF SPELLSHADOW MANOR

  (Supernatural/Magic YA. Completed series)

  The Secret of Spellshadow Manor (Book 1)

  The Breaker (Book 2)

  The Chain (Book 3)

  The Keep (Book 4)

  The Test (Book 5)

  The Spell (Book 6)

  BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY

  (Supernatural romance)

  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 send you an email reminder as so
on as her next book is out. Tap here to sign up: www.forrestbooks.com

  Copyright © 2018 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.

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  New Generation List

  Dmitri (son of Victoria and Bastien – half human and half werewolf)

  Elonora “Lenny” (daughter of Ash and Ruby – vampire-sentry)

  Varga (son of Ash and Ruby – vampire-sentry)

  Kailani “Kale” (daughter of Brock and Arwen / granddaughter of Corrine and Ibrahim – witch)

  Hunter (Sofia’s adoptive brother / adopted son of Aiden and Kailyn – werewolf)

  Vesta (daughter of Idris and Rayna – water fae)

  Family tree

  If you’d like to check out the Novaks’ family tree, visit: www.forrestbooks.com/tree

  Amane

  We were running for our lives and the lives of the people we desperately wanted to save. Billions of them. From all kinds of worlds, of different species and cultures. Old, young, or yet to be born. All of them, in this universe and the next.

  My body was aching. My ribs were bruised.

  Amal’s shoulder was bleeding a bit too much. Douma carried an unconscious Isda over her shoulder, carrying wounds of her own, and yet running like the ground was turning into lava. Raphael had it the worst, after getting himself impaled on a sharp stake during the initial crash.

  We’d tried to get out of the colosseum sooner, but Ta’Zan had shown up to talk to Douma and Raphael. We’d thought the devil-viper venom would keep him down for longer, but the bastard had developed an immunity to all Stravian toxins. By the time we did get out, the explosions occurred, in a devastating chain reaction.

  The shockwave knocked us down. Douma and Raphael crashed through the woods along with us. We’d managed to get ourselves back on our feet, for the most part, but Perfects were quick to storm the island from neighboring colosseums. Some helped Ta’Zan and those trapped within the debris, given that most of his capital city had come down—with the exception of a few laboratories and the diamond dome, which were both on a different structural system. But many Perfects spread out through the woods, looking for the culprits, the rogues and the Faulties that had fled the colosseum shortly before the explosion.

  They’d caught our scent, too.

  Douma and Raphael weren’t strong enough to fly us out of there, yet, so we resorted to running, fueled mostly by adrenaline. I ignored the throbbing pain in my ankle as I jumped over gnarly tree roots and jagged rocks poking out from the hard ground.

  About a hundred feet behind us, the Perfects were tracking us. They must’ve seen the blood we’d left in our wake. They knew we were injured, so they locked on to us, maintaining a steady speed, while we desperately tried to increase ours.

  The comms were down again. Ta’Zan had managed to get that done shortly after the explosions. I longed for the moment I’d see him turned into a pile of ashes. He’d more than earned a shameful death for everything he’d done.

  “They’re gaining on us,” Raphael breathed, grimacing from the pain.

  We’d managed to cover his stomach wound with torn pieces of our clothing, but he needed to rest for a little while in order for the healing process to accelerate. Douma was going to be okay, and hopefully Isda, too. The Faulty’s temple was bleeding, but, other than a few scratches and bruises, there wasn’t much else to worry about. She’d conked her head during the crash-landing, for sure.

  We’d left the labs in a hurry, with no way of taking any healing paraphernalia with us—not to mention weapons. It had taken forever to get the Perfect guards out of our workspace to begin with. I would’ve loved a pulverizer weapon at this point, but in its absence I settled for running.

  I carried the single most precious device in the world with me, stuffed in my backpack.

  “We can’t let them get the device,” I said.

  “Well, you heard Ta’Zan roaring earlier,” Amal replied. “He’ll want retribution for what we did.”

  Raphael chuckled lightly, then cringed from the pain induced by it. His wound forgave nothing. “I can only imagine what he’s feeling right about now. Especially after you betrayed him, too, Amal.”

  “I don’t want to be anywhere near him right now,” she muttered.

  “We need to dodge those creeps,” Douma interjected, briefly glancing over her shoulder. “They’re getting closer.”

  I only had one thing working for me, as far as the Perfects were concerned, thanks to my genetic makeup. It was time to put it to good use again. “Water. We need to get to a stream,” I said. “The Perfects can’t sense me when I’m near running water.”

  “It might help us hide for a few minutes, at least,” Amal replied.

  We both shared this trait, courtesy of Ta’Zan. He’d considered us so precious that he never wanted to lose track of us. He’d tweaked a couple of enzymes and added them to the Perfects’ design blueprint, making it so they could sense us whenever we were near. Unfortunately for him, however, not all the Perfects exhibited that ability. That gave me an edge more than once during my time in the wild.

  “I think there’s a river up ahead,” Raphael managed. “The colosseum got its fresh water reserve from three streams surrounding it.”

  “It’s the northern river, Nobis,” Amal said. “Yes. I think we’ve got another five hundred yards.”

  We dashed through the jungle, like deer chased by turquoise tigers.

  But we had to get away from them. We had to keep the mass memory wiper safe, and we had to get back to the others. The fate of the Perfects, too, depended on us. Even as they chased us, I couldn’t hold it against them.

  They’d been brainwashed by Ta’Zan from the moment they’d come out of their artificial wombs in the Creation Labs. Once their memories were erased, however, they were harmless, their minds clean and open to learning the truth. There were hundreds of thousands of them now, and they deserved a shot at life. I just didn’t see the sense in killing them all because of Ta’Zan.

  Tomorrow night, there was going to be a full moon. The only time we could perform the activation ritual for the Hermessi. All this running around and blowing stuff up had been a diversion for us to bring in the exact number of fae required for the ritual. We had to get to them, too, and keep them safe. Retribution was the air that Ta’Zan was breathing now.

  “We should go after the fae that landed in the winter-summer cluster,” Douma said.

  “I was thinking the same thing,” I replied. “Without the comms, we know for a fact that that’s where we’ll find Ben, Rose, and the others, too.”

  “The Perfects will be looking for them, as well,” Amal said. “Ta’Zan had scanners built to watch over the skies.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Douma replied, panting. She was completely worn out, most likely functioning on the basics of physics—an object in motion…

  We’d staged the destruction of the colosseum to keep most of the Perfects in that location and from the surrounding islands distracted so they wouldn’t check their screens and spot the shuttle coming in. Unlike the fleet attack, this was just a small ship. It had successfully entered the atmosphere, and it had landed somewhere in the winter-summer cluster, along with its seven hundred and forty-two fae.

  The Hermessi required a precise number of fae to use as conduits, to activate themselves and restore their full energy. Said energy could be used to powe
r the mass memory wiper I had in my backpack. It could erase Perfect memories on a thousand-mile radius, but its energy source was fickle. Our only other alternative had been a minimum of ten tons of serium, and that in itself was a time-consuming operation which we couldn’t afford, even with a bunch of witches and fae in our arsenal. Serium wasn’t easy to mine for.

  Without the device, Ben and Rose would’ve had no choice but to let the Hermessi activate themselves through the fae, then turn their wrath on the Perfects, directly. No amount of Ta’Zan trickery could resist the fury of a Hermessi’s fire. The Perfects didn’t stand a chance, and, to me, this felt wrong.

  If I were to be completely honest, the Perfects were more the work of my sister and myself than Ta’Zan. We’d both put a lot of time and energy into designing them. I didn’t want to see it all go down the drain.

  Isda moaned, jiggled by the jumps that Douma had to make in order to keep going. She was coming to. And just in time.

  Branches broke behind us.

  The only weapons I had were my diamond blades, strapped to my thighs beneath the dark blue silken tunic. I drew them, gripping the handles as I ran.

  Footsteps got closer. Wings fluttered.

  I cursed under my breath.

  “Too late for that river gimmick,” Raphael groaned.

  We all looked back and saw them. A dozen Perfects in dark green tunics. A glimmer of hope blossomed in my chest.