A Shade of Vampire 78 An Origin of Vampires - Bella Forrest Page 0,1

by the whims of Brendel. Taeral still had Thieron in his possession at all times. He’d had no contact with Death and the Reapers since he’d last seen them on Aledras, but he’d been respectful of Thieron’s purpose. He never lost sight of it, but he didn’t use it. Personally, I was still grappling with the concept that he would become a Reaper upon his death, but Taeral seemed pretty comfortable with the idea.

Maybe Eira had played a part in that, as well. Still going strong together, the two had become quite the power couple among the fae. A Hermessi child and a Hermessi grandchild of water and fire, respectively, had captured the attention and fascination of most of the Supernatural Dimension’s fae. No one loathed the Hermessi after what happened. There was still reverence and awe toward the elementals. But they all knew to keep a certain distance. To not disturb the balance that Taeral and his crew had fought so hard to restore.

I lay back on our treehouse terrace, where I’d set up a lounger for my late-night pondering sessions. There had been a lot of those going on recently, as the departure day for our exploratory mission drew closer. Sofia joined me, wearing a white silk bathrobe. Her legs stretched out of it, the skin pale and milky under the moonlight.

“Penny for your thoughts?” she asked, smiling softly.

“Where would I start? There are so many,” I replied, putting my arm around her.

She nodded. “I know. A lot has happened since the Hermessi were defeated.”

“Any word from Harper and Caspian?” I asked, remembering that I hadn’t seen them at our last GASP meeting in The Shade’s grand hall.

“They moved back to Calliope, to White City,” Sofia said. “They’re taking a break from the federation for a couple of months. I get it. They’re exhausted. They need some time off, for themselves.”

I sighed. “Fiona and Zane are in a similar situation. They’re holed up in their Infernis palace, with baby Sophia and Zane’s mother.”

“Well, that’s understandable, honey. Their world was nearly wiped out. They had to part with their own child, hoping Sophia might live for a little while longer, in case the Hermessi completed the ritual,” Sofia said. She had a point. Taken on an individual level, the ritual had devastated a lot of people. Fiona and Zane were still recovering.

“You know, I’ve noticed how different our people are at coping with this kind of stuff,” I replied, remembering Taeral’s crew, in particular. “I mean, look at Riza and Herakles. How relentless they are, even after everything they went through.”

The two had moved together to The Shade, building their own treehouse not far from ours. They were happy, thankful to have survived the nightmare and always willing to take on new missions. Amelia and Raphael, on the other hand, were more into relaxing and spending as much time together as they could—not that anyone could blame them. Their bravery and resilience had helped save us all.

“They’re strong and young,” Sofia said. She laughed lightly. “Side note, you know Raphael has been making inquiries about proposal options, right?”

I stifled a chuckle of my own, remembering how he’d pulled me aside after a briefing to ask whether a romantic dinner was enough, or if he’d need something more elaborate to propose to Amelia. “Well, he’s studied our culture. He’s seen the extremes that some of us are willing to go to in order to get a yes out of our significant other.”

“I find it adorable. He thinks he’s being discreet about it, but obviously Amelia already knows he’s planning to pop the question,” Sofia added, leaning back into the lounger next to mine. “He’s so determined to make it right, when all she really wants is for him to ask her already, so she can just say yes.”

“Varga was quite simple in his proposal to Eva, if you remember,” I said. “Shortly after breakfast, less than two months after the ritual, he was already asking her to be his wife.”

Eva had moved to Nevertide to be with him, and Tamara visited often. The Lady of the Lamias had also gotten more involved in our GASP operations, and I, for one, welcomed her input. She’d shed much of her reserve since Eva had come back in one piece from Aledras. I remembered their engagement party as if it had been yesterday, for it was then that we’d learned about Trexus-2.

“I suppose a shared trauma such as the ritual does tend to