A Shade of Vampire 79 A Game of Death - Bella Forrest Page 0,121

living room door. My mother’s voice became a hurried whisper, and my father called out, “Yes, we’re in here.”

I pushed the door open to reveal three weak attempts at smiles.

“Hi, everyone,” I said cautiously.

My uncle sat in the armchair to my left, across the coffee table from my parents. His platinum hair was slicked back in its usual fashion, his trim gray suit predictably impeccable, even at this late hour. He whisked two papers from the coffee table and into the depths of his shiny leather briefcase, but not before I recognized the emblem in the header—Bureau non-disclosure paperwork.

“Lyra! We weren’t expecting you home so early,” he said warmly, and I couldn’t help but smile back at him. No matter how tired I was, I always had extra energy for Uncle Alan. “A successful operation tonight, I hope?” he asked, wavering slightly as he stood with the help of his cane.

The memory of crashing into frigid water jolted my mind. “Mostly.”

My parents weren’t as good as my uncle when it came to pretending nothing was wrong. I met their worried eyes, looking at each of them in turn. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, Lyra, we’re fine,” my mother said, her usual tenderness returning. “Come and sit with us.”

I moved to join my parents, teetering lightly—but mostly from exhaustion at that point.

My father eyed me with concern. “Are you hurt?”

“Nah, she’s just being a baby.” Zach followed me into the living room. “Big Bird got the best of ya tonight, didn’t he?”

I shot him a glare and eased onto the couch. My muscles sighed with relief as I sank into the cushions.

“Lyra enjoyed her first snatch-n-fly tonight, didn’t you, sis?” Zach smiled.

“Are you okay?” my mother asked.

“Oh, she’s totally great.” Zach leaned a hand nonchalantly on the back of Uncle Alan’s chair. “She and birdie even went swimming together!”

If my knives had still been attached to my leg, they would’ve gone flying. I kept my eyes locked on my smirking sibling, glaring the daggers I couldn’t throw, while I explained to my horrified parents. “We’d hit the target multiple times, and I thought it was eradicated, but it bounced back and caught me off guard. It was the biggest redbill I’ve ever seen.”

My parents tried to stay stoic, but they exchanged a glance. Zach’s grin faded, and his eyes darkened. Uncle Alan wrung his hands.

“I need to get to bed,” I said, breaking the sudden quiet I’d created.

“The Scottish ogre is calling us in at 4 AM,” Zach said, stretching his arms toward the ceiling.

“Special summons in D.C., apparently,” I added, rising from the couch.

My mother sighed. “It’s always something these days.”

“Get plenty of rest, you two,” Uncle Alan said.

I smiled again—entirely for my parents’ sake this time. They suddenly looked fragile… older than I’d ever seen them, and so much smaller than they did when addressing soldiers and coworkers at the Bureau.

I steadily lumbered down the hall to my bedroom. The mere sight of my bed was pure bliss. The weight of the day had finally taken over. I was thankful that the ache from my leg had started to quiet.

Too exhausted to change, I slid into bed in my uniform fleeces. I’d had to sleep in much less comfortable uniforms, that was for sure.

But I didn’t sleep. All I could manage was staring at the ceiling, counting the circles of my ceiling fan and listening to the nighttime hums of our residence. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt the redbill’s claws wrapped around my body, saw the dark feathers looming as I tilted my head back… and all I could hear was my mother’s protest. Papers and signatures aren’t more important than human lives…

I didn’t know exactly what I’d overheard in the living room, but something didn’t feel right.

Darklight Chapter 3

Our seats vibrated as the chopper carried us over the still-sleeping territory below. The tiny window behind my head offered only dimly lit veins of highways and the deep violet and bronze of sunrise.

We’d transferred off the Bureau plane outside of D.C. and would only be in the chopper for a few more minutes. The team was in our usual circle, though somewhat cramped in the smaller aircraft, listening silently as Captain Bryce gave us the rundown. His tone was sharp—even at six o’clock in the morning.

“We’ll split into three teams once we reach our destination,” Bryce barked. “All three teams will be on the ground; Teams A and B will enter the site, and Team C will be