A Shade of Vampire 70: A Breed of Elements

by Forrest, Bella

  That much I could openly admit to myself. I was drawn to Inalia.

  But I didn’t think anyone else had noticed. Especially not Trap Mellon, who’d only seen me a couple of times. Am I that obvious?

  “I don’t know what you’re referring to,” I muttered.

  It prompted a chuckle from both Raphael and Varga. I shot them a cold glare. It was enough to wipe the smirks off their faces.

  “Are you okay with the high chancellor’s assistant abducting an ambassador of the Foreign Outreach Department like this?” Varga asked Trap, steering the conversation back where it was meant to be. “Or were you in on it?”

  Trap shook his head. “I didn’t know what he was up to until it was too late,” he said. “Nalyon Martell has loyalists in the Armed Forces, and more often than not, I find myself at odds with his operations. This isn’t the first time my people have been used for political purposes.”

  “It doesn’t say much about you, as a leader, does it?” I shot back. “You know, since Nalyon can just take your troops and order them around to fit his needs.”

  Trap’s forehead smoothed. I’d hit a nerve. “You don’t understand the intricacies of our government,” he hissed.

  “But I do understand the army, and how orders are passed down the ranks,” I replied. “Your soldiers shouldn’t even look at Nalyon unless you give them the go-ahead. Face it, Trap. The high chancellor’s assistant is making a fool out of you.”

  “Think I don’t know that?”

  “Why don’t you do something about it?” I asked.

  “I tried. I’ve brought it up with the high chancellor, more than once. Every time, Nalyon gets reprimanded, then, two weeks later, he’s back at it again,” Trap explained. “Rest assured, I hate that bastard probably as much as you do. He’s been up to some real hinky business lately, and I refuse to let myself or my troops be a part of it.”

  “Then tell us what we need to know. Help us,” Raphael said. “Personally, I’m concerned as to why we’re being blamed for the temple incident. We were the ones who got attacked.”

  “Is he pinning the fire templar’s murder on us, too? Because that was obviously murder,” Amelia added. “His house was probably burned down to conceal evidence. It’s a universally applicable tool to hide one’s tracks. I’ll bet you a ton of gold.”

  Trap measured each of our expressions carefully, then smiled. “I see why Eira took such a liking to you people.”

  “Speaking of Eira, where is she? And where did Nalyon take Inalia?” I asked.

  Trap sighed deeply, then stood. He was taller than most of us, but he didn’t use his imposing frame to intimidate us. If anything, his posture spoke of obedience and friendliness.

  “I don’t know why he’s pinning the temple and the templar’s death on you,” he said. “But I’ll make sure it doesn’t stick. I’ll bring the issue to Emperor Tulla directly, if I have to. I think it’s time Nalyon Martell found another job, anyway—preferably in some remote farming district. He’s done enough damage to the city and the Rose Domain already.”

  “He must have some agenda. We just need to figure out what it is,” I replied, crossing my arms.

  “I’ll handle that. Don’t trouble yourselves with it. Just stay out of sight until the alert issued on you and your crew is canceled,” Trap said. “As for Eira, she’s not here. And she had nothing to do with Inalia’s abduction. Once I heard what Nalyon had done, I snuck Eira out of here and sent her away.”

  “Why’d you do that?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

  I was ready to bet he knew more about her and Inalia than he’d let on. Trap chuckled softly.

  “Because I know what she is, and I know why Nalyon took Inalia in the first place,” he said. “I know Eira is different, Taeral. For heaven’s sake, I trained the girl from the day she joined the Armed Forces. I noticed her abilities, even when she thought she was doing a fine job of hiding them. But, you see, a Hermessi child’s nature is impossible to keep under wraps forever. It eventually bubbles back to the surface.”

  “Didn’t think you’d know anything about the Hermessi children,” Eva murmured.

  “For a long time, I just thought they were legends, snippets of folk tales passed around from one domain to another, lost through multiple generations of Cerixians,” Trap said. “But Nalyon isn’t the only one with spies in the outer domains. When he heard about Hermessi children in Hadeen, I was the first to be notified about his desire to make further inquiries in that area.”

  “This is stunning to me,” Amelia said. “I was convinced that none of you folks knew about the Hermessi children’s existence. I’m still wrapping my head around their existence myself.”

  Trap sighed. “You’re foreigners to us, Amelia. Why would we immediately jump in and tell you everything we know, including things we’re still trying to understand ourselves? We know little to nothing about your civilizations. It’s beyond reasonable that we wouldn’t spill the beans straight away.”

  A few seconds passed as Trap’s argument sank in. He did have a point there.

  “He’s looking to use them to power up the domains, isn’t he?” Amelia asked. “A Hermessi child’s energy is of titanic proportions. Your current systems are nothing, compared to that. And I’m inclined to assume you’ve got a swamp witch spell for such an endeavor, too.”

  Trap nodded. “It’s a spell we’ve never used before, because it involves harnessing much more energy than what we’re getting out of the winds, the waters, and the sun.”

  “Is that why he’s trying to frame us?” I replied. “Because he knows we’ll get in the way?”

  “That sounds reasonable,” Trap said with a faint shrug.

  “Where did you send Eira?” Eva asked.

  “I told her to hide. I didn’t give her a specific place to go. But I did send a few of my trusted soldiers to the Hadeen Domain, to watch over her mother’s house. I don’t think Nalyon knows about Eira, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Eira’s got a handle on her powers. Inalia doesn’t.”

  “So you think Eira will go back to her mother’s?” I asked.

  “Maybe. Like I said, better safe than sorry,” he replied. “Though, frankly, I’m more inclined to believe that Eira will be looking for Inalia, instead of hiding. She’s a fighter, and she’s fond of the ambassador. They pretty much grew up together. There’s a deep bond there.”

  It was my turn to chuckle. “Yeah, that sounds more like Eira to me. I doubt she’d hide anywhere. Not with Inalia trapped by Nalyon, volatile as she is when she’s under duress. I bet Eira’s out scouring the streets of Silvergate as we speak, looking for Inalia.”

  Trap’s expression turned from mild amusement to genuine grief and concern. “Then, please, save her. Save them both,” he said. “Get Inalia away from Nalyon, and stop Eira from being targeted, too. If he figures out what Eira is, she’ll be in danger. They’ll both be done for, because drawing energy from their bodies can’t possibly mean anything good for them. I’m just using my sense of logic here. And knowing Nalyon as well as I do, I can already see the girls strapped down and essentially tortured continuously, until the life fades out of them. Eventually, they’ll die, and I doubt that’s something Nalyon understands. Or maybe he doesn’t care. According to legend, the Hermessi children aren’t immortal. They live incredibly long lives, but their human component makes them susceptible to death, eventually.”

  “Can you tell us the actual legend, then?” I asked Trap. “We’re missing some information, obviously…”

  Trap nodded. “I can tell you what I remember. Some of it was written down, but some was passed down orally across generations. It all starts with the Hermessi as the life givers. The natural elements—raw, untamed energy that fuels the water, the earth, the air and the fire into motion to create the perfect conditions for life on Cerix. They’re sentient entities, as you already know. I’m not sure about other worlds, but in ours, they were fabled to have walked the earth in Cerixian flesh, occasi
onally. There was also talk about some strange cosmic event at some point… it threw everything out of balance for a while, but then something else happened and it all went back to normal.”

  “Cosmic event?” I asked.

  Trap shrugged. “Like I said, I don’t know the details. A specialized scholar on the Hermessi might be able to tell you more, but there are few of those left these days. But we do know that, while they walked the earth in Cerixian flesh, the Hermessi fused with their hosts temporarily. It allowed them to not only experience real relationships with Cerixian women, but it also produced heirs. Hermessi children. There were ancient rumors about one of them getting caught and used by the Samotarcis king—this was long before the Cerixian Empire unification, you see. Like their Hermessi parents, the children have the elemental energy inside them. So, it seemed logical to assume that they could be turned into—”

  “Living batteries,” I concluded, going back to a previous assumption I’d made about Inalia. It struck me hard in the stomach, but it made sense now, just like it had done before. “All types of energy can be channeled and used.”

  “Exactly. With the right minds and tools, an enterprising Cerixian would be able to do it. Provided he gets his hands on a Hermessi child,” Trap said. “In this case, it’s Inalia.”

  “Harnessing energy from Hermessi children would make Nalyon filthy rich, wouldn’t it?” Amelia replied, unable to hide her disgust. Trap nodded. “Figures. He won’t care if he kills them. He probably won’t be alive when they finally die, anyway. He’s just looking to secure himself and his family for the next few generations, at least financially speaking. He doesn’t give a damn about the repercussions.”

  “Remind you of someone?” Varga sighed, a bitter smile passing over his face.

  “Humans,” Amelia said. “They tend to do similarly stupid things back on Earth, because of their greed. Granted, they’ve stopped now, but, still… The instinct is still there. And anyone else with access to such sources of energy, for that matter. I’m sure Shaytan or Ta’Zan or the Exiled Maras would’ve done the same, if given the opportunity and said energy resources. It’s in evil’s nature to do such things, no matter where it is.”

  “Listen, Nalyon has too many friends in the Armed Forces for my comfort, but I can still help,” Trap replied. “You do what you have to do until you get Inalia and Eira to safety. I’ll mobilize the people I can still trust and work against Nalyon from the inside. All this crap needs to stop.”

  “Thank you, Trap,” I said. “But we need you to do something more. Look into the Hermessi cult. Black silk, faces mutilated with carved tattoos, porcelain masks. They have fire abilities that other Cerixians don’t.”

  “Yes. We’ve got a couple of cultist bodies in the Silvergate Mortuary. Your group wasn’t the only one they attacked. There was another incident, not far from where you were all arrested. Two of the assailants were killed, and their bodies were rescued before the rest of the place burned down and the other cult members escaped. I plan to speak to the physicians at the Mortuary first thing in the morning. We need to study the corpses and get as much information as we can.”

  “GASP can confirm that they’ve already spread across the universe,” I added. “This is the farthest they’ve gotten, as far as we know, anyway. They could’ve made it farther... And they’re exceptionally dangerous, too. We don’t know what they’re planning, which Hermessi they serve, or how many Hermessi are involved, but we do know they’re targeting us. Our crew, I mean. We’re digging deep, and they clearly don’t like it. It means we’re getting too close for their comfort.”

  “I’ll have the Armed Forces track them down,” Trap said. “We’ll find out who they are and what they want, eventually.”

  “Good. We’ll go get the girls now,” I concluded, ready to move on to the next stage of our mission.

  I stepped back, moving to link hands with my crew so I could teleport us out of the prison. I could hear soldiers in the hallway. It was only a matter of time before one or more of them would come around and spot us. We didn’t need any unwanted attention on Trap.

  “If you want to find Eira, watch the water,” he said. “She makes her presence known without even realizing it.”

  It hit me then as to who Eira’s father was. The Cerixian Water Hermessi.

  Amelia was way ahead of me. She’d already pressed the call button on her earpiece, telling Herakles and Riza to look for all the data available about the Water Hermessi. Smart vampire, indeed. I could get used to this insane amount of efficiency.

  A thought crossed my mind. “Do you have anything of Inalia’s or Eira’s? A personal object?” I asked. “We can do a tracking spell and find her quickly.”

  Trap considered it for a moment, then pulled one of the desk drawers open and produced a slim, silver bracelet, which he handed over to me. “It’s Inalia’s. She had to relinquish all metal objects aside from her uniform buttons upon imprisonment. Eira asked me to keep this safe. She said it was important to Inalia, and she didn’t want some clerk to lose it.”

  I took a second to admire the weave-like pattern of the bracelet. Simple, yet charming. And appropriately small, considering how delicate Inalia’s wrists were.

  “Thanks. I’ll see you soon, Trap. Stay out of trouble,” I said.

  He laughed. “I should say the same to you, but I know you’re too prone to trouble to stay away from it.”

  I couldn’t exactly disagree with him. As I teleported my crew back into the dark alley behind the prison, I became painfully aware that trouble was exactly what we were looking for right now. Inalia wasn’t going to be on her own when we found her. There would be armed guards present. Chances were, we’d bump into Nalyon Martell, too.

  And the thought made my stomach churn.

  Riza

  If there was one thing for which I was most grateful in this life, it was my ability to teleport from one place to another. It gave me exceptional advantages, especially when it came to sneaking in and out of buildings undetected.

  The library was mostly quiet at this time of night. In about an hour or two, the first employees would come through the double doors. In the meantime, however, the night guard was gleefully snoozing behind the reception desk, his feet up and his snore loud enough to ripple through the entire lobby area.

  I paid attention to it, hoping it wouldn’t stop until the morning, when we were long gone.

  Herakles and I were in the Hermessi section, and quite far from the reception desk. The guard wouldn’t have spotted us unless he came over. Still, I preferred the tranquility of knowing he was fast asleep in his seat.

  Herakles flipped through several manuscripts, focused on information about Brann and the Hermessi children. We were convinced that the Cerixians had recorded some stories about them, since the rumors were still alive in certain parts of the empire—according to what Taeral had shared from Trap’s account.

  I, on the other hand, searched for all the writings about the Water Hermessi and any cults that might’ve operated across one or multiple domains over the years. There was a grain of truth in all legends, after all. The fact that the Cerixians kept track of this stuff was incredibly useful. It saved us the trouble of going door to door and befriending complete strangers in our search for the Hermessi’s history on Cerix. It was about time our task got a little easier, given what was at stake.

  “What I don’t get is why the cults are after us,” Herakles grumbled, closing one leather-bound journal and moving to another. “I mean, we’re not feeble or incapable of defending ourselves. We’ve proven that, repeatedly. Why do they insist on these attacks, if they know they’re going to get creamed?”

  “Maybe they don’t know,” I said. “Maybe they’re just going on instinct, trying to defend their cult and their operations. Their ignorance works to our advantage, in the end.”

  “Yeah, but… If there’s one or more Hermessi behind this cult, I’d expect them to be a little brighter than this,” Herakles re
plied.

  A thought crossed my mind, and it was dark and scary enough to deliver a flurry of chills down my spine. “What if these cult attacks are meant as warnings?” I asked. “What if they’ll get worse and much more dangerous, as we keep pushing with the investigation?”

  Herakles looked at me, his lime green eyes glimmering with excitement. “Let them come, then. I’m up for a challenge.”

  I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at him. Ever the fearless warrior, this one.

  “Have you found anything so far?” I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

  Herakles made my senses spin, but I couldn’t let him know that. So I adopted the “cool cucumber” approach—inspired by Harper’s early days, if I were to be honest. Harper Novak had been nicknamed The Cucumber because she’d always shown exquisite self-control. It still was close to impossible to read the girl for any type of emotion. Of course, that had changed slightly since Neraka and her relationship with Caspian, but her “cool cucumber” legacy would never die.

  I kept my distance and defiantly stared Herakles down. I may be tiny, compared to you, but I’m no pushover.

  He beamed at me, showing me two books he’d already set aside. “I think we’ve got ourselves quite a reading list already.”

  “You like reading?” I asked, incredulously. Why did I find it so hard to believe?

  “Of course,” he said. “What, you think I’m all brawn, no brains?”

  I giggled. “I figured that was the appeal behind you teaming up with Raphael on absolutely everything. You’re the muscle, he’s the thinker. Well, technically, he’s the muscle, too. But he uses his brains more… I’m rambling. This made more sense in my head.”