A Shade of Vampire 63: A Jungle of Rogues Read online

  A Shade of Vampire 63: A Jungle of Rogues

  Bella Forrest

  Contents

  Also by Bella Forrest

  Problems reading?

  New Generation List

  Family tree

  1. Draven

  2. Aida

  3. Harper

  4. Draven

  5. Derek

  6. Sofia

  7. Claudia

  8. Derek

  9. Sofia

  10. Elonora

  11. Kailani

  12. Rose

  13. Elonora

  14. Kailani

  15. Derek

  16. Derek

  17. Kailani

  18. Elonora

  19. Dmitri

  20. Rose

  21. Elonora

  22. Rose

  23. Elonora

  24. Dmitri

  25. Elonora

  26. Elonora

  27. Kailani

  28. Elonora

  29. Rose

  30. Dmitri

  31. Vesta

  32. Elonora

  33. Derek

  34. Derek

  35. Harper

  36. Draven

  Read more by Bella Forrest

  Also by Bella Forrest

  HARLEY MERLIN

  (Brand new fantasy/romance/supernatural series!)

  Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven (Book 1)

  THE CHILD THIEF

  (Action-adventure/romance.)

  The Child Thief (Book 1)

  Deep Shadows (Book 2)

  Thin Lines (Book 3)

  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)

  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)

  A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES

  (Supernatural romance)

  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 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)

  Series 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)

  Series 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 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 soon 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

  Draven

  We were one step closer to finding out more about Strava and the Draenir—creatures that had once inhabited the planet, before a devastating plague that wiped them all out. We were in desperate need of answers regarding what happened before Ta’Zan was created, as well as the years leading up to his Faulties and their stasis inside the cave pods. Ta’Zan had gone from a completely unknown individual to the universe’s greatest enemy, in the span of a few days.

  He’d kidnapped our GASP founders, he’d taken down two of our ships with the help of his newly devised Perfects, he’d captured approximately six-hundred of our agents, and he was currently hunting Ben and Rose’s team, who’d gone to Strava to find Derek and the others. On top of that, Ta’Zan’s Perfects were practically invincible and impossible to kill, from what Serena had told me via Telluris, while I was away on the fire star with Bijarki and Shayla.

  Things weren’t looking good—not for us, not for our families and our friends, and certainly not for the In-Between. If Ta’Zan and his Perfects found a way to reproduce our space-travel technologies, we were all screwed, as his only objective was to go out and destroy every creature that was beneath his creations, genetically speaking. That meant billions of us, on every planet within his reach. Death and destruction were imminent, and none of our abilities and tools seemed to work against this new nemesis.

  Bogdana, the oldest fae known to us, could shed some light on what had happened before Ta’Zan, and what had led to the Draenir’s downfall. She knew about Ta’Zan and his creator, Mudak Marduk, a brilliant Draenir dedicated to genetic engineering. She had information, and she was willing to help us, provided we took her back to Strava with us.

  An all-out war wasn’t going to work on Strava, so we had to come up with a better and smarter plan. It involved sending a small extraction team over there to assist Ben and Rose’s crew in getting Derek, Sofia, and the others out of there. Once on site, they were going to try to dismantle Ta’Zan’s projects from the inside, hopefully with the help of some of his disenfranchised Faulties. The worst-case scenario, at this point, was to just get our people out of there, including the fleet survivors, and to destroy the entire planet from the outside. That took a lot of power and a very cold heart from each GASP member and ally involved. It meant killing thousands, even millions of Perfects who’d been indoctrinated into a superiority mindset, as well as the less fortunate Faulties.

  But that didn’t guarantee a permanent solution, either, since the Perfects could still regenerate after being frozen in space. The chances that they’d just wander through the cosmos to another planet were slim to none, but still present. Destroying Strava didn’t automatically mean destroying the Perfects, but it was brutal and decisive enough to at least stop Ta’Zan from fulfilling his goal of universal domination. As long as they were all disabled, we could eventually figure out how to kill them, permanently.

  There was a sense of urgency here, of the most grueling kind. Each day that went by brought us closer to Ta’Zan and his Perfects taking flight. The moment they were to leave Strava’s orbit, it would all be over. We would all die.

  But none of us were ready to think about that for more than two seconds, so I dismissed it for the time being. We hadn’t exhausted our options and resources yet.

  Taeral, Sherus and Nuriya’s promising hybrid son and prince of the fire star, had joined us on our quest to find Bogdana, deep in the woods of Red Canyon. He and his guards accompanied us as we came back to Sherus and Nuriya’s palace, thankful to have persuaded the old fae to help us.

  There was, however, something about her that didn’t sit right with me. First, she had physically aged in a fashion normally impossible for her species. Granted, she was the oldest living fae, and she’d reached an age that no one had thought was possible. But still, her appearance made me think something else must’ve happened for her to look so old.

  Second, she didn’t want to tell us more about Strava and the Draenir unless we brought her with us. According to her, she was bored. She wanted to get back in action. But my instincts told me to be careful, to be wary of a secondary endgame that could be dangerous to us and our mission.

  Nevertheless, we were too desperate, and too determined to survive, to let Bogdana’s shadiness get in our way. I made an executive decision and I stuck with it. Fortunately, both Bijarki and Shayla were with me on this one.

  “Are you sure you can trust her?” Nuriya asked me, right after she took me and Taeral aside during an audience with her and Sherus upon our return.

  I shrugged. “I’m not sure we have a choice, at this point,” I said. “She’s got information, and she wants to be a part of the extraction crew. Whatever comes next, I know we’ll need her intel.”

  Nuriya glanced at Bogdana over her shoulder. The old fae was conversing with Bijarki, Shayla, and Sherus. The fae queen frowned, then looked at her son, Taeral, who was standing next to me. “What do you think, darling?”

  “Her usefulness outweighs the risks, as far as I can tell,” Taeral replied. “I don’t trust her, and I’m sure she’s got another reason for going back to Strava, but I doubt it would have a real impact on our mission. Of course, without knowing what that other reason is, all we can do is speculate.”

  “Maybe she’ll tell you once you get to Strava,” Nuriya muttered, crossing her arms.

  “I plan to ask her as soon as we set foot there,” I replied. “The bottom line is that Bogdana has information that may prove crucial to our mission. We might even prevent more senseless deaths. Who knows? I just think we need to try everything we can before we make a decision about Strava and its fate.”

  “You’ve considered complete annihilation, haven’t you?” Nuriya asked me, no longer bothering to hide her concern. I nodded slowly. “You have our full support, no matter what you decide, Draven,” she said. “I trust your judgment. I trust GASP. I know you wouldn’t opt for complete obliteration unless it was the only choice. Whatever happens, the fae of this fire star are right behind you, and I’ll make sure the others are, too.”

  I gave her a warm and thankful smile. “You are most kind, Nuriya. We need all the help we can get.” I sighed.

  “Speaking of which,” Taeral interjected, “I’d like to go to Strava with Draven’s team, Mother.”

  That took both Nuriya and me by surprise. He’d mentioned nothing about such an intention, not even on the way back from Red Canyon—though that had been a short trip, as Shayla had opened a small portal for us to go through, connecting Bogdana’s house in the woods to Sherus and Nuriya’s palace.

  “I’m sorry?” Nuriya blurted out.

  Taeral’s shoulders dropped as he exhaled. “Mom, I’m of no use to anyone here. Our allies need all the help they can get, and you know that I can be of help.”

  Nuriya shook her head, then made her way over to Sherus, who looked at us with a confused expression. Taeral followed her, determined to make himself heard.

  “I’ll have none of this foolishness!” Nuriya exclaimed, giving Sherus the kind of look that demanded he get involved. Judging by his expression, however, that was a thread he wasn’t yet ready to pull. From what I’d seen so far, Taeral was quite determined and self-sufficient. While I understood Nuriya’s desire to protect him, the young prince was already an adult, and a powerful hybrid, too. He carried the abilities of both fae and jinn in his genes.

  “What’s going on?”
Sherus asked, feigning ignorance. I knew the strategy. I’d used it with Serena a few times, when the discussion topic was too hot or sensitive to immediately delve into. His aim was to get Nuriya to talk about it and get it out of her system, hoping it didn’t sound as bad once she voiced the issue aloud.

  “Your son wants to go to Strava with Draven, Bogdana, and the others!” Nuriya said. “He’s suicidal. I’m not having it!”

  “Mom, we’ll die if we let Ta’Zan win. I’ll die either way,” Taeral insisted, then looked at Sherus. “Dad, if I go, at least I have a shot at survival. I can do something. You know me! I’m not reckless. But I’ve given this some thought, and—”

  “What thought?” Nuriya cut him off, her cheeks flushed. “You were gone for a few hours!”

  “Well, yes, but I’ve been thinking about helping GASP since we got the news about the fighters we lost on that fleet,” Taeral replied. “Mom, Dad, I’m not being reckless or disregarding my station. I just genuinely believe I could be of assistance. You both know I can hold my own. I promise I won’t do anything unnecessarily dangerous, but I have to do something. I can’t just stay here and wait for someone else to fix this.”

  Sherus didn’t say anything. Instead, he watched Bijarki and me, measuring our reactions, as if waiting for us to agree or disagree with his son. This was a sensitive issue, and I didn’t want to get on anyone’s bad side, but even I had to admit that having Taeral on our side could easily increase our chances of success. A powerful creature like him could definitely come in handy. Realistically speaking, after what I’d seen from the Perfects, I doubted he could actually tip the scales in our favor, but keeping him on the sidelines couldn’t do any harm.