A Citadel of Captives
Page 1
A Shade of Vampire 62: A Citadel of Captives
Bella Forrest
Contents
Also by Bella Forrest
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New Generation List
Family tree
1. Sofia
2. Derek
3. Draven
4. Bijarki
5. Elonora
6. Kailani
7. Ridan
8. Jovi
9. Hansa
10. Sofia
11. Rose
12. Elonora
13. Kailani
14. Elonora
15. Kailani
16. Ridan
17. Elonora
18. Rose
19. Kailani
20. Elonora
21. Dmitri
22. Elonora
23. Kailani
24. Elonora
25. Rose
26. Kailani
27. Vesta
28. Kailani
29. Elonora
30. Harper
31. Draven
32. Bijarki
33. Draven
Sneak Peek BONUS Chapters!
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
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Also by Bella Forrest
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Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven (Book 1)
THE CHILD THIEF
(Action-adventure/romance.)
The Child Thief (Book 1)
Deep Shadows (Book 2)
Thin Lines (Book 3)
THE GENDER GAME
(Action-adventure/romance. Completed series.)
The Gender Game (Book 1)
The Gender Secret (Book 2)
The Gender Lie (Book 3)
The Gender War (Book 4)
The Gender Fall (Book 5)
The Gender Plan (Book 6)
The Gender End (Book 7)
THE GIRL WHO DARED TO THINK
(Action-adventure/romance. Completed series.)
The Girl Who Dared to Think (Book 1)
The Girl Who Dared to Stand (Book 2)
The Girl Who Dared to Descend (Book 3)
The Girl Who Dared to Rise (Book 4)
The Girl Who Dared to Lead (Book 5)
The Girl Who Dared to Endure (Book 6)
The Girl Who Dared to Fight (Book 7)
HOTBLOODS
(Supernatural romance. Completed series.)
Hotbloods (Book 1)
Coldbloods (Book 2)
Renegades (Book 3)
Venturers (Book 4)
Traitors (Book 5)
Allies (Book 6)
Invaders (Book 7)
Stargazers (Book 8)
A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES
(Supernatural romance)
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)
Series 6: A Gift of Three
A Gift of Three (Book 42)
A House of Mysteries (Book 43)
A Tangle of Hearts (Book 44)
A Meet of Tribes (Book 45)
A Ride of Peril (Book 46)
A Passage of Threats (Book 47)
A Tip of Balance (Book 48)
A Shield of Glass (Book 49)
A Clash of Storms (Book 50)
Series 7: A Call of Vampires
A Call of Vampires (Book 51)
A Valley of Darkness (Book 52)
A Hunt of Fiends (Book 53)
A Den of Tricks (Book 54)
A City of Lies (Book 55)
A League of Exiles (Book 56)
A Charge of Allies (Book 57)
A Snare of Vengeance (Book 58)
A Battle of Souls (Book 59)
Series 8: A Voyage of Founders
A Voyage of Founders (Book 60)
A Land of Perfects (Book 61)
A Citadel of Captives (Book 62)
A Jungle of Rogues (Book 63)
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
THE SECRET OF SPELLSHADOW MANOR
(Supernatural/Magic YA. Completed series)
The Secret of Spellshadow Manor (Book 1)
The Breaker (Book 2)
The Chain (Book 3)
The Keep (Book 4)
The Test (Book 5)
The Spell (Book 6)
BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY
(Supernatural romance)
Beautiful Monster 1
Beautiful Monster 2
DETECTIVE ERIN BOND
(Adult thriller/mystery)
Lights, Camera, GONE
Write, Edit, KILL
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Copyright © 2018 by Bella Forrest
Cover design inspired by Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations LLC
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New Generation List
Dmitri (s
on of Victoria and Bastien – half human and half werewolf)
Elonora “Lenny” (daughter of Ash and Ruby – vampire-sentry)
Varga (son of Ash and Ruby – vampire-sentry)
Kailani “Kale” (daughter of Brock and Arwen / granddaughter of Corrine and Ibrahim – witch)
Hunter (Sofia’s adoptive brother / adopted son of Aiden and Kailyn – werewolf)
Vesta (daughter of Idris and Rayna – water fae)
Family tree
If you’d like to check out the Novaks’ family tree, visit: www.forrestbooks.com/tree
Sofia
It was difficult to keep a positive outlook in the face of everything that had happened. If it were just us captured by Ta’Zan, it would be different. Our worst-case scenario in that instance would be a possible eternity spent in this place, while Ta’Zan lifted the genetic material he needed to create his Perfects and continue his quest to design the ideal supreme creature.
But this wasn’t just about us anymore.
Our kids were out there looking for us. Two of our ships had been utterly destroyed by Ta’Zan’s Perfects. A couple-hundred lives lost. Hundreds more captured. All we could do was hope that our loved ones had not been on the ships that had gone down, or at least were among those who had survived the attack.
This was a new and downright frightening situation, since we knew for a fact that Ta’Zan intended to take his creations out into the universe and conquer every nook and cranny of the In-Between. He didn’t even intend to keep the existing species alive. He’d said he’d keep those willing to serve, but we all knew that no nation would so easily renounce its sovereignty. No, he planned to replace them all with his Perfects—carefully engineered hybrids that had been made possible because of us. Derek and me, Xavier and Vivienne, Lucas and Marion, my father and Kailyn, Corrine and Ibrahim, Claudia and Yuri, and Cameron and Liana… We were indirectly responsible for the existence of Ta’Zan’s perfect killing machines.
We were held prisoner by a combination of technology and magic; we didn’t know what type of magic it was—only that it was nothing that Corrine and Ibrahim had dealt with before. Something new and complex, deeply intertwined with Ta’Zan’s scientific methods. And we couldn’t even fight our way out of this place. After all these years, all our trials and tribulations, we’d been rendered virtually useless by Ta’Zan and his strange magi-tech, as we called it.
We only had two things working for us at this point. First, Ta’Zan had yet to make a decision on whether the Faulties would live or die, since he still considered his first creations useful, but that didn’t stop us from exploiting that avenue and planting a seed of doubt in the heads of Isda and her Faulty siblings.
Second, Ta’Zan seemed to have a bit of a soft spot for Derek. He’d taken my husband out of his glass box and had given him a tour of the facility, while the rest of us stayed back. It was a good opportunity for Derek to scope out the building and to better understand what Ta’Zan was planning and doing. Of course, the conclusion was terrifying and grim, but at least we knew more about what and who we were up against.
“How are you feeling?” I asked Derek.
He lay in his bed, still reeling from what he’d seen outside. Derek had witnessed the aftermath of our fleet’s destruction—the ravaged ships falling apart and plunging toward the ocean in fiery chunks, the numerous escape pods intercepted by the Perfects, the third space vessel pulling back to avoid destruction and capture.
It had taken its toll on him, since he’d never seen so many of our own, of GASP, get caught like that. We’d grown accustomed to being stronger together, numerous species from three different dimensions, working to promote peace and prosperity wherever we ventured. All of a sudden, GASP seemed helpless and small, compared to Ta’Zan’s Perfects, whom he was mass-producing at incredible speeds. Despite our years of experience, we had every reason to be afraid, not just for ourselves, but for our families, The Shade, and all the planets that were going to burn once Ta’Zan ordered his creatures out to conquer everything.
“The headache is starting to subside,” Derek muttered, resting his forearm over his eyes. “But there’s nothing I can do to overcome this helplessness that’s eating away at me.”
“Don’t go soft on me now, Derek,” Lucas replied. “We still have a shot at doing something, even if we’re stuck in these wretched boxes.”
“I know, I know.” Derek sighed. “I tell myself that, as well. I just have these momentary relapses that I need to get over. I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”
“You care, that’s why it feels like this,” Kailyn said. “We’re in this together, Derek. We’re all feeling this way, but we’ll get through it. We always do.”
Corrine stood up and looked around for the millionth time. She’d made a habit of quietly studying the underground cave we were in, as if she’d spot a detail she’d missed before. Anyone else would’ve thought she was going crazy, doing the same thing, over and over, and expecting different results each time.
However, I knew the witch well enough to understand her mindset. She was calculating possible escape scenarios, and our surroundings could prove themselves useful… maybe. I didn’t exclude the possibility that Corrine had yet to lose hope, despite the dire circumstances, or perhaps there was a sliver of madness fueling her. Either way, it didn’t really matter. We had no way of getting out of here through violence.
“Isda brings us food every six hours,” Corrine said. “I counted.”
“That explains why you’ve been quiet for so long,” Claudia replied, slightly amused.
“Well, I was curious,” Corrine said. “There are patterns here. We just need to keep our eyes open and observe them. They’ll come in handy later.”
“So, what do we do next? Wait for Isda and try to convince her to let us out?” Cameron said, his arms crossed as he sat by the glass wall separating him from Liana.
“No. She serves Ta’Zan,” Derek replied. “You know she won’t turn against him so easily. You’ve seen how she acts around him. She worships the guy.”
“We need to get to her, psychologically,” Xavier chimed in. “We’ve talked about this. We need to plant a seed of doubt. If Ta’Zan has yet to decide whether he’ll keep the Faulties alive or not in the future, it works in our favor, because it makes it obvious that he doesn’t cherish them like he does the Perfects. It’s bad enough that Abaddon and his siblings treat Isda and her people like crap. Imagine if she learns that her own ‘father’ doesn’t deem her worthy enough to get an automatic pass into the ideal world he plans on building.”
Vivienne nodded slowly, staring at the stream flowing by her bare feet. “She needs to know that Ta’Zan is undecided,” she said. “There’s one thing that we, all living creatures, have in common, and that’s the will to survive. That is so deeply embedded in our genes that not even a genius like Ta’Zan can change it. We all want to live and breathe. If that is threatened in any way, our survival instincts will kick in. It’s the same with Isda. You tell her that Ta’Zan might kill her and her siblings, and she’ll start thinking about it.”
“What if she confronts Ta’Zan over this?” I asked, analyzing all possible scenarios.
Vivienne shrugged. “He’ll either lie to her or tell her the truth,” she replied, then looked at Derek. “My dear brother, you were with Ta’Zan up there. You got to talk to him for a little while longer. Does he strike you as the brutally honest type? Or is he more of a deceiver? What does your instinct tell you?”
Derek sat up, then exhaled as he looked at his sister.
“He doesn’t care much for other people’s feelings,” he said. “He’s quite clinical in his approach. I mean, he’s cold to Isda. He doesn’t treat the Faulties like his children. He shows them no affection, but he acknowledges them as living creatures that are of some use to him. He uses the right words, but puts no emotion in them. I wouldn’t be surprised if he just tells her that he’s undecided about her right to live.”
&nbs
p; “That’s horrible,” Claudia murmured, visibly disturbed. “The guy’s a psychopath.”
“Yeah, but there’s more to him than that,” Derek replied. “He’s managed to form some kind of a bond with the Faulties and the Perfects, though I doubt it’s emotional for him. He doesn’t feel remorse for his actions. He thinks he’s in the right. If he finds you useful, he’ll treat you well. The moment you’re deemed unnecessary, however, he’ll wipe you out. I guess that’s what makes him so efficient. But, that does come with a weakness. He’s incapable of empathy. His Faulties, however, clearly have feelings. They love and worship him. If you tell them their father might want to kill them, it’ll throw them for a loop. Like Vivienne said, planting the seed of doubt will definitely cause a reaction.”
My father cleared his throat. “There’s something else we should take into consideration, as well,” he said. “The Faulties only know what Ta’Zan has told them. If we show them compassion and kindness, if we make them understand that it doesn’t have to be this way for them, we might be able to nurture that seed of doubt until it grows into something stronger.”
I immediately understood what he meant, probably because we were all thinking it. We’d been imagining it for hours, since we’d heard about the fleet’s destruction and the impossibility of dealing with Ta’Zan’s forces in a military fashion.
“Get the Faulties to sabotage Ta’Zan’s project,” I said. “Right. But I have to ask, what could the Faulties do to tear his work apart and stop him?”