“It doesn’t make sense, though. Why did he put himself and his Faulties into stasis, then, if the plague was never lethal to them?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Perhaps he could no longer take the wails of death, the stench of Draenir corpses rotting all over,” Rakkhan murmured. “Point is, as long as Ta’Zan doesn’t know we’re alive, we have a shot at survival.”
I let a soft groan slip, trying to untangle certain corners of the painting I’d made in my mind—the complete scene of Strava, the Draenir, and the creation of Ta’Zan.
“Wasn’t Mudak aware of the kind of person that Ta’Zan was becoming?” I mumbled.
Rakkhan gave me a weak smile. “He was, but he couldn’t bring himself to terminate him. He considered himself Ta’Zan’s father. We begged him to kill Ta’Zan, but he couldn’t. Instead, Ta’Zan played us all like fiddles and ran off with most of our research and notes. Despite their personal differences, Ta’Zan was overwhelmed with rage and grief when Mudak died. He never forgave us.”
Based on what Rakkhan was telling me, Ta’Zan was a true monster. The intelligent and eloquent type, but a monster, nonetheless.
I felt bad for threatening Rakkhan and the Draenir with exposure. They’d been through enough already. They deserved a better life.
We had to find another way.
We had to destroy Ta’Zan, at any cost.
Elonora
Raphael brought us straight to the Draenir camp, smack in the middle of Merinos Island. Those frequent breaks had definitely helped, because I was well rested and full of energy. I could see perfectly with my True Sight, and I’d been rendered speechless by the view before me.
We were hidden behind trees, just fifty yards from the camp.
Amane had insisted that she, Kallisto, Leah, and Samael stay back. I found that to be somewhat suspicious, but our circumstances required silence, not questions. I took comfort in the fact that Kallisto, Leah, and Samael were just as confused, but Amane was firm in her demand.
I scanned the camp and covered my mouth to stop a squeal from escaping. Raphael, Nevis, Ben, and Rose were the first to notice my reaction. They couldn’t see what I’d just spotted.
“Serena, Heron, Avril, Lumi, some lady in red, Bijarki, and a young guy are here, along with nine Mara wards,” I whispered.
Rose blinked several times, as if having trouble registering the information. “Wha—What?” she croaked.
“They’re here,” I murmured, then scanned the camp again and found myself smiling. “Draven is there, too. On the other side, coming up from a basement inside the wooden cabin. There’s an older Draenir with him.”
“Probably one of the original survivors,” Raphael said.
Hope lit me up on the inside, accompanied by relief and childlike enthusiasm. Help was here! But… how did they know to come here? Why didn’t we get any messages from them? Why didn’t they tell us they were coming? I had loads of questions, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to get my answers just yet.
“What do we do?” Kailani asked.
I glanced over my shoulder, noticing the look of concern on Amane’s face. There was something off here, because I could see the fear practically oozing out of her. She was keeping the Faulties back, but she seemed to be the only one who knew why.
“They seem peaceful,” Rose replied, narrowing her eyes as she surveyed the camp.
“Should we just engage them?” Hunter suggested.
Rose shrugged. “Worth a shot. I mean, our people are already down there. They don’t seem under duress. Granted, there are youths with… what the hell are those?”
I zoomed in on Serena’s group again and spotted the weapons that the young Draenir around them were carrying. They reminded me of military-grade automatic weapons of Earth’s military forces, but with glowing segments on the sides.
“Serium-powered,” I said. “Those… Those are weapons of some kind.”
“Is Serena in trouble?” Rose replied, visibly alarmed.
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Her emotions are quite mellow. Concern and angst, but no fear, no sense of threat to her life,” I said, reading Serena’s aura, then the others’. “The same goes for the crew. They’re all calm.”
“Then let’s just go talk to them,” Rose replied.
“You go,” Raphael said. “I’ll hang back with the Faulties here. I suggest you leave Douma with us, too,” he added. “Technically speaking, we’re hostiles. We don’t want to scare the Draenir, so maybe first ease them into this alliance, shake some hands, make some friends, yadda, yadda.”
I gave him a half-smile. “Worried they won’t like you at first sight?”
“What’s not to like?” he retorted, equally amused.
His grin faded when he spotted movement somewhere behind me. He froze.
I turned my head to find about twenty young Draenir males with serium-powered weapons pointed at us.
“Nobody move,” Rose ordered us, keeping her voice low.
“I’d listen to what she says,” one of the Draenir males said, aiming his weapon at me, specifically.
“We’re not here to hurt you,” I replied. “We’re friends with the outsiders you’re already hosting in your camp.”
He scanned our group, then went pale at the sight of Amane and the Faulties. Trembling and overcome with sheer horror, he moved back, prompting the others to do the same, though they all kept pointing their weapons at us.
“It’s okay, they won’t hurt you!” I added, noticing the way he looked at Amane.
Deep down, I knew it had something to do with her reluctance to stay with our group while we monitored the tribe. She’d been keeping her distance for a reason.
“What’s going on?” Nevis asked, also noticing the Draenir’s distress regarding the Faulties. They hadn’t even acknowledged the Perfects as enemies, but they were terrified by Amane, Kallisto, Leah, and Samael.
“They… They might have it,” the young Draenir said, his voice barely audible. “You may have killed us all…”
Footsteps drew my attention to movement behind the Draenir. Within seconds, they were joined by Draven, Serena, and the rest of their crew, as well as the old Draenir I’d seen the Druid with. Serena lit up like the sun when she saw us, and moved to greet us, all smiles.
But the Draenir held her back. “Don’t!” the youth shouted.
“What? Why? They’re our friends, Wallah! We came here looking for them!” Serena replied, clearly confused.
The elder Draenir gasped when he saw Amane. “The plague! They might still have it!”
“Okay, now I’m officially out of my depth,” Dmitri muttered. “What the hell is going on here?!”
Draven and the others smiled at us. He then stepped forward and put a hand on the old Draenir’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “Rakkhan, let’s not be hasty here. These are my friends. They need to know.”
The older Draenir, Rakkhan, stared at us for a while, then gave Draven a brief nod and moved back, pointing an angry finger at Amane and the Faulties.
“Whatever you do, keep them away from our camp!” he demanded firmly. “As far away as possible.”
Amane didn’t seem surprised, and that angered me. “What’s up, Amane? Know something and not sharing with us?” I asked, my tone sharp.
She lowered her gaze, clearly ashamed.
“Oh, she most certainly does!” Rakkhan spat.
“What is he talking about?” Ridan mumbled, frowning at her.
“The plague,” Draven said. “The plague that wiped the Draenir out. Well, most of them, anyway, like we recently discovered,” he added, pointing at the young males behind him. “It wasn’t of unknown origins, like we’d been told. It was genetically engineered by Ta’Zan. And the Faulties might still be carrying it. Thing is, it’s not lethal to anyone but the Draenir, so we can’t have potential carriers so close to the camp, or else we’ll risk another outbreak. And there’s no cure for it, to this day.”
Eyes dar
ted from one cluster to the other. Shock and confusion dominated our auras, as all the attention gradually shifted to Amane, who still couldn’t summon the courage to look at us.
“Is that true, Amane?” Ridan asked, his fists clenched.
“Absolutely. She and her sister helped design it!” Rakkhan growled.
All of a sudden, we found ourselves in what appeared to be some truly overwhelming circumstances. Serena and Draven had put together a crew, which they’d brought to Strava. They’d somehow reached Merinos and found the surviving Draenir—which begged a decent question.
“The plague aside for a split second, did you guys know about the Draenir here?” I asked Serena and Draven.
They both shook their heads. “It was a surprise. We thought we were landing on the uninhabited island of Merinos,” Serena said. “We’ve been trying to get them to work with us for quite a while now. What about you?”
I pointed a thumb at the dashing Perfect standing behind me. “He told us. He saw them.”
Rakkhan was perplexed and motionless, his lower lip trembling. “You brought Perfects with you… Ta’Zan knows, then, doesn’t he?”
“Nope,” Raphael promptly replied. “We’re… what’s the word? Rebels.”
“Okay, now I’m even more confused,” Dmitri snapped, then frowned at Amane. “You knew about the plague. You made the plague. You knew that by coming here yourself, you were putting them at risk. Right?”
“It’s why I wanted to stay back. So I wouldn’t put them at risk,” Amane murmured.
Kallisto scoffed, clearly angered. “I knew there was something off about you, Amane. I knew you were hiding something!” she said, then looked at us and the befuddled Draenir. “I swear, we had no idea that we might be carrying the virus. We will stay back, I promise.”
Leah and Samael nodded in agreement, then grabbed Amane’s arm and moved back, putting more distance between us and them. The Draenir seemed to breathe more easily the farther the Faulties got.
I sighed, then gave Serena a soft smile. “Obviously, we have a lot to talk about.”
“Oh, absolutely,” she replied, then beamed at Rose and Ben. “Hi, Grandma! Hi, Great-Uncle Ben.”
While I was thrilled to see some familiar faces, the circumstances made it incredibly difficult for any of us to enjoy this moment. We’d just learned that Ta’Zan had created the plague responsible for the near-extinction of the Draenir, and that Amane, one of our closest allies, had helped create it. In addition, she and the Faulties could still be carrying the virus, unbeknownst to them.
We’d just come across the Draenir, and we were one step closer to devising the right strategy to eliminate Ta’Zan and save our people.
But something told me it wasn’t going to get easier in any way.
Derek
We were promptly collared and delivered back to the diamond dome, where the scuffle had already fizzled out. Some of the prisoners had sustained some injuries, but nothing life-threatening—just severely bruised egos, mostly.
My stomach churned as I set foot inside the dome once more. I would’ve loved to never see this place again, but Amal had betrayed us. I held Sofia’s hand as we both turned around to face Ta’Zan, who’d followed us inside, accompanied by Cassiel and Amal.
Lucas was taken to a nearby bed, accompanied by Marion, Corrine, and Vivienne.
“Wait!” Amal said, then handed a small bottle to Marion. “This will help him heal faster.”
Marion snatched it from her hand, scowling at her. “Screw you, traitor.”
Amal bit her lower lip, then resumed her position by Ta’Zan’s side, while Cassiel measured each of us from head to toe, his head cocked to the side. Amal didn’t seem too comfortable with the downfall of her decision and deceit.
“So, what now?” I asked Ta’Zan, raising an eyebrow.
“You resume your new life. You stop being foolish. You accept your role,” Ta’Zan replied bluntly. “I won’t waste much time with your stubbornness, Derek. My patience has a limit, and I hope you’re not foolish enough to test it further.”
“You didn’t win, though,” Xavier returned. “One of us did get out. This fortress of yours isn’t as impenetrable or inescapable as advertised.”
Cassiel chuckled.
“Do you think one of yours will be enough to even nudge my operations?” Ta’Zan said, slightly amused. “Varga may be out, but he is not invincible. Cassiel will track him.”
“Cassiel will also have to find him,” I replied, crossing my arms.
“Cassiel is an upgraded Perfect, in case you forgot,” Ta’Zan said. “I’ve recently learned that one of my wayward sons is aiding and abetting your people, which renders Abaddon, Araquiel, and the others rather obsolete. So, I’ve decided to let Cassiel handle it. He’ll track Varga. The vampire sentry will be looking for the outsiders, and he’ll lead Cassiel straight to them.”
“I was given orders to terminate them all, if they don’t comply,” Cassiel added.
“I thought that you were impressed by my people, that you wanted them alive,” I retorted, doing my best to keep my alarm from showing.
“Well, yes. But, if they become a nuisance, I cannot be bothered to waste too much time and too many resources in bringing them back alive. I told you, Derek. My patience has limits,” Ta’Zan said.
My heart was pounding. I worried for Elonora’s brother, but I had hope that he would succeed. He was as relentless and as determined as his sister.
With Cassiel on his tracks, he was in a lot of trouble. But Varga was just as cunning and ambitious—even more so with his sister’s life on the line.
We were stuck in here.
But Varga was out. And he could very well be the piece that could make or break everything.
Besides, we weren’t done trying to escape, either. We’d just gotten a taste of possible freedom. We were bound to try again, because that was our nature. That’s what Shadians did. When a door closed, we found a window.
And if a window was shut, we made a hole in the wall.
Ready for the next part of the Shadians’ story?
Dear Shaddict,
Thank you for reading A Camp of Savages.
The next book in the series, ASOV 65: A Plague of Deceit, releases October 11th, 2018.
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Love,
Bella x
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Read more by Bella Forrest
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A Shadow of Light (Book 4)
A Blaze of Sun (Book 5)
A Gate of Night (Book 6)
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Series 2: Rose & Caleb’s story
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A Bond of Blood (Book 9)
A Spell of Time (Book 10)
A Chase of Prey (Book 11)
A Shade of Doubt (Book 12)
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A Shade of Vampire 64: A Camp of Savages Page 25
