A Shade of Vampire 41: A Tide of War
Bella Forrest
Contents
Also by Bella Forrest
The “New Generation” Names List
1. Benedict
2. Ruby
3. Hazel
4. Ben
5. Julian
6. Ruby
7. Ash
8. Hazel
9. Hazel
10. Benedict
11. Sherus
12. Tejus
13. Ben
14. Ash
15. Tejus
16. Julian
17. Hazel
18. Derek
19. Ben
20. Benedict
21. Hazel
22. Tejus
23. Derek
24. Grace
25. Bastien
26. Sherus
27. Tejus
28. Benedict
29. Ash
30. Hazel
31. Benedict
32. Rose
33. Ruby
34. Hazel
35. Sofia
36. Tejus
37. Ruby
38. Hazel
39. Benedict
40. Derek
BONUS SNEAK PEEK!: The Secret of Spellshadow Manor
Bonus Chapter 1
Bonus Chapter 2
Bonus Chapter 3
Bonus Chapter 4
Bonus Chapter 5
Read more by Bella Forrest
Also by Bella Forrest
THE SECRET OF SPELLSHADOW MANOR
The Secret of Spellshadow Manor (Book 1)
The Breaker (Book 2)
THE GENDER GAME
The Gender Game
The Gender Secret (Book 2)
The Gender Lie (Book 3)
The Gender War (Book 4)
The Gender Fall (Book 5)
A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES
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)
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
DETECTIVE ERIN BOND (Adult thriller/mystery)
Lights, Camera, Gone
Write, Edit, Kill
BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY
Beautiful Monster 1
Beautiful Monster 2
For an updated list of Bella’s books, please visit her website: www.bellaforrest.net
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Copyright © 2017 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.
The “New Generation” Names List
Arwen: (daughter of Corrine and Ibrahim - witch)
Benedict: (son of Rose and Caleb - human)
Brock: (son of Kiev and Mona – half warlock)
Grace: (daughter of Ben and River – half fae and half human)
Hazel: (daughter of Rose and Caleb – human)
Heath: (son of Jeriad and Sylvia – half dragon and half human)
Julian: (son of Ashley and Landis)
Ruby: (daughter of Claudia and Yuri – human)
Victoria: (daughter of Vivienne and Xavier – human)
Benedict
We walked away from our family and friends, leaving them to face the enemy while we searched for the jinn that GASP and Tejus still believed could be hiding somewhere in Nevertide. I couldn’t speak for Julian, but walking away—along the main road that crossed the land, in the opposite direction from the cove—was one of the hardest things I’d ever done.
I didn’t look back. I kept my eyes on the road ahead, the map that Tejus had drawn clutched in my hand. There would be a turn-off that we had to take to make our way up to the Dauoa Forest. Until then, we just had to keep going straight, moving as briskly as we could. On the main path we were exposed, but the further we walked, the less I felt like we were in danger. Nevertide felt like a ghost land. Empty land which had once been farmed was now burnt, smoke still wafting up into the sky. Parts of the earth had fallen into the craters caused by the earthquake—huge pits where the ground had just slid into nothingness, caverns so deep that none of us, not even the Hawks, Ridan or jinn, could make out the bottom.
Yelena walked by my side, but we didn’t speak. In the distance, we could all hear the sounds of the battle starting. I doubted that any of us had much to say. We were all lost in our own thoughts, no doubt wondering whether or not any of this would be successful—the battle or our mission. And if it wasn’t, how long we would manage to stay alive.
I was glad that we’d taken Ridan, Horatio and Aisha with us now. I’d been skeptical at first because it kind of felt like they were babysitting us, but I’d had my fair share of experiences in the forests of Nevertide and I didn’t really relish the idea of venturing inside them again without some magic on our side.
Along with the two jinn and Ridan, the half-Hawk boys Field, Fly and Sky had joined us. I didn’t know them very well, even though Field was technically my half-cousin, or something like that, but the Hawk boys tended to keep to themselves. They were friendly, but they intimidated me a little. Maybe it was because they looked so cool. They were all tall, with toned muscles that made them look tough despite their long hair, and I had always been jealous of their wings. They protruded from their shoulder blades, each feather as black as night and so sharp at the tip that they looked like daggers.
r /> Yeah. The Hawks were badass, and sometimes I wished I was one of them.
I glanced over at Julian. For a while now he had been intermittently looking up at the sky. I guessed he was checking to see if we were being followed by the shadow. I didn’t bother doing the same—we would all feel it long before we saw it, that strange sense of dread and sickness that swirled in the stomach and made the hairs on the back of our necks prick up.
“I think we turn here,” I said, seeing an old, dilapidated stone barn. I checked the map that Tejus had made. The barn had been marked as the turning point. Now we would go off road, traveling north till we reached the forests.
“We should fly ahead,” Field replied, turning to his brothers before looking off in the distance.
“Agreed,” said Ridan. “Let’s all meet again at the foot of the forests.”
The landscape was bare, but it dipped and rose at certain points. Some of the grassy hills were so high that we could only see the tips of the mountains from where we stood.
“I can’t actually tell from this map how far it is to the forest,” I mused, staring down at the piece of paper that Tejus had shoved in my hand. It had been drawn in a hurry by the sentry, and there were no proper landmarks detailed from here to our destination.
“Hopefully not far,” Fly replied. His gray-blue eyes scanned the torn sky, and the boy shuddered. “We’ll check the coast is clear, then come back and pick you up.”
The Hawk boys, in perfect unison, jumped up, springing off the balls of their feet. In mid-air, their wings expanded and they shot up into the sky, then soared off in the direction of the mountains—Ridan joining them.
“Wow,” Yelena breathed, “they’re so cool.”
I sighed. “Yeah, they are.”
“Wouldn’t you want to fly if you could?” she murmured.
“Yeah… We should keep moving anyway.” I started to head off the path, kicking the dry stones with the toes of my boots.
Horatio and Aisha followed us, speaking in hushed tones that I couldn’t hear properly, but every so often I heard them mention Riza, their baby girl. I imagined they were both missing her.
My backpack was starting to feel heavy, and I trudged along, wishing that I had thought to ask the Hawks to carry us.
“They’re heading back,” Aisha announced, stopping.
I could see the faint pinpricks of the Hawks in the distance. I dropped my bag down and sat on it, waiting for them to arrive.
In a matter of moments, they dropped down on the ground gracefully, knees bent and arms outstretched, before their wings folded back up and they stood upright.
“It’s not far,” Field informed us. “But the forest is massive. It could take us days, months even, to search it properly. Ridan’s waiting at the forest entrance for us.”
I was startled by his assessment. None of the sentries had told us that the forest was that big. It worried me. We just didn’t have that kind of time. We’d have to hope that luck was on our side or we’d be in major trouble.
“Don’t worry.” Horatio smiled at me. “Once we’re in the forest, Aisha and I can try to feel them out. It should be easier once we’re in their vicinity. They might have put up barriers around where they’re hiding.”
“What if it’s only one of them? Will you be able to find just one?” I asked.
Aisha and Horatio looked at one another.
“It would be harder,” Aisha conceded, “but not impossible. But it’s unlikely that it will be one jinni on their own. We are tribal creatures, and from what we’ve seen of the entity’s power, it doesn’t sound like just one jinni could accomplish locking him in the stones.”
“Okay.” I nodded, feeling reassured. “Let’s get going then.”
“Aisha, Horatio, are you okay to get there on your own?” Field asked. “There’s a tree stump directly in front of us, about three miles ahead. Let’s meet there?”
“We’ll be behind you. We’re slower when we don’t know the land,” the jinni replied.
Field faced me, arms outstretched.
“Ready, little man?” he asked.
“Ready,” I muttered. I turned around so that he wouldn’t be carrying me like a baby. Field wrapped his arms around my waist and held on tight. Fly did the same to Yelena, who looked way over-excited, and Sky picked up Julian.
A split-second later we were hurtling through the sky—the ground miles below, the trees, fences and the occasional wooden hut all looking like they were part of a kid’s model toy. Traveling by Hawk wasn’t as comfortable as using vultures like the sentries did, but I certainly felt safer.
We touched down on the dry earth, facing the forest. I straightened out my t-shirt that had ridden up on the ride. Yelena looked a little bit dazed, and Julian seemed happy to have his feet back on solid ground. Ridan approached us from a nearby tree.
“I’ve seen nothing so far, but I don’t like the feeling of the place,” he announced. “we need to be careful.”
A moment later, Horatio and Aisha appeared a few feet from the stump Field had mentioned. We all gazed at the forest.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Julian said, his voice barely audible.
“I know what you mean,” I replied.
“Ash saw goblins in here, and the blind wolf things that he and King Memenion had battled.” He pulled a face, his fingers resting on the sword tied to his waist.
“I think Queen Trina was the worst thing in there though,” I replied, trying to make myself feel better.
“We can fly ahead here too,” Sky suggested. “Check there’s nothing lying in wait. The place seems so quiet though…”
“That’s what worries me,” I muttered.
“It’s unnatural,” Aisha agreed. “The whole of this place is too quiet—not just the forest.” The jinni looked around, shaking her head in disapproval.
Yelena tugged on my sleeve.
“We should get moving,” she hissed. “Whatever’s in that forest can’t be worse than the shadow.”
She was right. I might not like the silence, and the way the trees seemed to be looking at us like they were alive, but it was better than the shadow. Anything was.
“Okay. Yeah.” I nodded to Field and Ridan. “Fly on ahead. Let us know if you see anything.”
They leapt up into the air again, and the rest of us entered the forest on foot.
“We’ll stay with you,” Horatio murmured as we thwacked thorn branches down with our feet. I was grateful that the jinn wouldn’t go on ahead—I had the feeling that we were unwelcome here. Whatever creatures had made the Dauoa forest their home certainly weren’t friendly.
I picked up a fallen branch, removing the leafy twigs at the top till it made a walking stick—and weapon. Yelena did the same.
We stuck together, none of us wanting to veer ahead or lag behind. Field dropped in alone, making me jump, but only to tell us that the coast was clear for the next mile or so. I thanked him, and he flew on again. I looked up, trying to see the Hawk boys. I could hear the faint rustle of their feathers as they flew around us, but the trees were too densely packed together for my human eyes to make them out.
We carried on.
About a mile into the forest I stopped. The others did the same. I could distinctly hear rustling noises in the undergrowth that weren’t being made by any of us.
“Guys…” Julian unsheathed his sword, his eyes darting in the direction of the noise—but it was surrounding us, fast.
“Stand back,” Horatio demanded. He and Aisha stood in front of us, their eyes fixed on the forest floor.
The rustling stopped suddenly, and I heard a child-like giggle coming from behind a large bush. A second later, a group of about fourteen goblins had surrounded us. Their black, beady little eyes observed us with malice. One of them grinned, showing rows of razor-sharp teeth.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake.” Aisha sighed, smiling at Horatio.
He sniggered just as the goblins tore toward us, thei
r claws reaching out, their mouths open.
Then, without warning, the goblins vanished.
“Huh? Where did they go?” I stared at the two jinn. Then I felt a sharp pain on my ankle, like a mosquito bite. Looking down, I realized that the goblins were still attacking…they were just now about the same size as my thumb.
“Ow!” I yelled, shaking the creature off me.
“Aww,” Yelena cooed, bending down to inspect the horde of angry little goblins. She straightened up pretty quickly, rubbing her finger.
“That’s cool.” I grinned at Aisha.
“Couldn’t you make them disappear?” Julian grumbled, kicking at them with his boots. “It’s like we’ve just stepped on a hornets’ nest.”
Ridan, Field, Fly and Sky shot down, landing a few feet away.
“What’s the hold-up?” Field asked.
“We were ambushed by goblins!” I said.
“Where?” growled the Hawk.
“Here,” I replied, kicking one of them in his direction that was trying to scramble up onto my boot.
“Oh.” The Hawks laughed.
Yeah. It was all hilarious when you had magic powers or wings. Try being mortal. Goblins didn’t seem so funny then.
“Let’s get moving,” I sighed, picking my walking stick back up. I hoped Aisha and Horatio could deal with the rest of the creatures in the forest so easily—I had a feeling that the goblins would be the least of our problems.
Ruby
I didn’t know how long it had taken me to get to Ghouls’ Ridge. The passing of time stopped being measured in minutes and hours, and was replaced by Ash’s labored breaths—eternities taking place between each inhale and exhale, never knowing if each would be his last.
I was dimly aware that the dawn was starting to rise as I reached the imposing cliff-face. How I’d even got to my destination was a mystery, and one that I owed to the bull-horse more than my own navigation.
The creature came to a standstill right by the entrance to the small passage which would lead to the Impartial Ministers’ home. It could go no further, and it would be up to me to carry Ash’s body through the narrow opening where the cliff met the sides of the valley.
“Ash?” I whispered, moving the hair from his brow. His skin was cold and damp. He groaned, but his eyes were closed. Before I disembarked from the bull-horse, I checked his wound. The blood had slowed down to a trickle, but he’d lost a lot of it. The GASP-issue shirt I’d pressed against the open wound was soaked through. I hated the idea of moving him, terrified of making the wound worse, but I had no choice—the immortal waters might be the only way I could save him.