A Shade of Vampire 78 An Origin of Vampires - Bella Forrest Page 0,3
it was worth it. Sofia walking in the day again, at my side, was worth whatever fate had in store for us.
Sofia
A shuttle had been prepared for us to travel to Trexus-2. It was to be engulfed in an interplanetary-and-tracking-spell fusion, and additionally equipped with serium batteries for us to use outside the magic bubble.
It had been set up on the beach, close to the glass house extensions, and it was now waiting for the final checks before boarding. Most of our senior officers were busy on various GASP assignments, but Ben and Rose had managed to take some time off so they could see us off on this journey. They were understandably worried, but Derek and I weren’t a helpless elderly couple. I could still slit a throat or two, if it came down to that.
Dmitri, Douma, Amal, Amane, and Lumi took their time with the shuttle and the final preparations for takeoff. Dmitri and Douma checked all the cables and serium batteries, making sure everything would work seamlessly on our expedition. The Faulty twins handled our equipment and resources, including food rations and their storage conditions. Lumi was preoccupied with designing the spell’s pentagram, upon which the shuttle would be placed before it ignited.
Derek and I stood beneath the sprawling fan of an old palm tree. It had been surprisingly hot during the day, despite the constant nighttime that reigned over The Shade. Ben and Rose stayed with us, along with Ariana, Anna and Kyle’s daughter, and Julian, her husband. The six of us watched quietly as the prep crew did their work around the shuttle.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to bring Tristan and Esme along?” Julian asked me.
He was concerned, as a father should’ve been, especially since we were taking both his children out of The Shade and all the way to the other side of our galaxy. However, Tristan and Esme were valuable to our mission, not only because of their anthropological expertise, but also because of their heritage.
“Kyle and Anna, may their souls rest in peace, would’ve wanted this,” I said. “It’s not just Tristan and Esme’s qualifications, but their interest in our mission, as well. They were adamant about coming with us, Julian. And they’re both old enough to join.”
“It doesn’t mean I’m comfortable with it,” Julian grumbled, crossing his arms.
Derek smiled. “Your children want to help us. Think about it, Julian. If we find a cure that allows us to be in the sunlight without it debilitating us, it’ll be a gamechanger for our species.”
“Just make sure they don’t get hurt out there,” Ariana replied, her shoulders dropping slowly.
She understood this better than Julian. Her mother had given us the vampire cure, thanks to her immunity. Unlike Anna, however, neither Ariana, Esme or Tristan had been born immunes. Immunity tended to skip a generation or two, so there was a chance that the next generation would be immune, and we’d often wondered how it might impact their lives, as a family. After all, it wasn’t like we could just ship an immune back to Cruor to get rid of this condition—as had happened to me, long ago. Amal and Amane had been studying Tristan and Esme’s blood for this, hoping to learn more about the dormant immune gene they carried, but they had yet to come up with a way to completely disable it. The twins were relentless, though, and I suspected they would get to the bottom of it eventually.
“They’re both more than capable,” I said. “They passed their qualifications. They’re agents of GASP now. I trust that Tristan and Esme will be instrumental to our mission.”
“Speaking of, where are they?” Rose asked, glancing around.
We saw Nethissis coming in, joined by Kailani. Nethissis had insisted on coming with us, and I didn’t see any reason as to why she shouldn’t. A swamp witch would always come in handy, especially in situations such as ours. She looked nervous, her gaze wandering across the beach until it met Lumi’s, close to the shuttle.
There was tension there. I could almost feel it. Lumi had objected to Nethissis’s decision to join us, but she hadn’t insisted on changing the young Lamia’s mind. There had been some mention of Nethissis needing some more time to recover from the Hermessi incident, but that had not been enough to keep her out of the crew. On the contrary, it had made Nethissis want to go out with us even more.