A Shade of Vampire 63: A Jungle of Rogues

by Bella Forrest

  “But you said he’s also extremely dangerous,” Ridan replied, frowning as he looked at Amane. “Which is it?”

  “Both,” Amane said, giving him a weak smile. “We don’t know what his state of mind is. Sure, he’s had disagreements with Ta’Zan—and pretty big ones, if he got himself booted out like this. But there’s no way of knowing if he’s still blindly loyal to his maker, or if he harbors any resentment. The latter would, of course, work out in our favor, but it’s not guaranteed.”

  “And if he’s in a foul mood, it’ll mean trouble for us,” Kallisto added. “Raphael is definitely one of the heavyweights from the first generation of Perfects. His wings are a perfect white, his beauty is breathtaking, and his voice sounds like a song from the sunny skies. Or the murmur of water trickling down the mountain stones. But his wrath… his wrath is devastating and destructive. Many of his brothers and sisters fear him. Including Little Miss Perfect here.” She snickered, looking at Douma.

  “It’s a risk we’ll have to take,” I said. “After all, we’re halfway through our journey already, and we need some allies in this fight. Samael is right, too. More creatures will follow if a Perfect joins us. It must mean something when one of the most powerful stands against their maker and says this isn’t right.”

  “Yeah, it’s all about the influence,” Samael agreed. “The rogue Faulties are already dealing with this aching sense of abandonment, which we can certainly understand as rejects ourselves. If they see someone like Raphael helping the outsiders, they may be tempted to think twice about going back to Ta’Zan, especially since you guys are talking about a free and better society. It sounds nice.”

  “I hope we convince him,” Leah muttered. “Otherwise, if we get the other side of the Raphael coin, we’re beyond screwed. I’d like to keep my head on, if possible.”

  A foreign chuckle made us all freeze. I didn’t immediately figure out where it was coming from, but my body was already stiff with dread.

  “The level of delusion here is downright stellar.” A male voice pierced through the darkness.

  I instantly shot to my feet, quickly joined by the others. I looked around, then stilled when I noticed Elonora staring at something behind me. One glance over my shoulder told me everything I needed to know.

  We were in spectacular trouble.

  “Abaddon,” Amane croaked, her eyes wide with horror.

  The Perfect standing about thirty feet away from us was different from the others we’d seen. There was something about him that inspired the worst of feelings. He was beautiful, as if carved from marble, with short black hair. One eye was blue and the other green, just like the other males from his species. At first sight, nothing stood out when comparing him to his siblings.

  But Abaddon felt different. His sly grin had a psychopathic vibe. The kind that made me want to run, as fast as I could. My fighting instinct was damaged in his presence. He inspired fear of the most primal kind.

  He had his arms crossed as he leaned against the trunk of a nearby tree. His white silk tunic was tightly wrapped around his muscular physique, his wings tucked behind his back but visible. He didn’t carry any weapons, but neither did the other Perfects. Their speed, their strength, and their claws were more than enough to destroy their target, whatever that was.

  Judging by his position and the look on his face, he’d been standing there for a while. I hadn’t heard him move at all. And Amane hadn’t sensed him either—the horrified look on her face told me that much.

  “In the flesh, sweetheart.” Abaddon sneered. “Nice chat you’ve all had, but I’m afraid it’s time to go.”

  Oh, he’d definitely been listening for some time, now.

  Elonora

  Fear gripped my throat, almost suffocating me.

  But I couldn’t let it get the best of me. Not now, as all hell was about to break loose.

  My hand moved slowly down my side, my fingers wrapping themselves around the handle of my soul-eater. I readied myself. A storm was coming.

  “I didn’t feel you get close,” Amane murmured, not taking her eyes off Abaddon.

  He laughed. “Oh, darling! When I go hunting, I make sure my prey doesn’t sense me,” he replied, then pointed at a small device on his left wrist. “This beauty here blocks out my energy signature. Which, by the way, is how you’re able to sense us. Your deadbeat sister figured it out without you.”

  “Funny that you call her names, when she’s the one who helped you get closer without detection,” Amane spat. “You’re one ungrateful piece of trash, aren’t you?”

  Abaddon’s expression darkened, sending chills down my spine. “Careful, sweetheart. You don’t want to get me angry. You know how I tend to… let loose.”

  “I take it Ta’Zan sent you out to get us?” Rose asked, drawing his attention. Her frame was loaded with tension, her shoulders stiff and her back straight.

  “Well, given Araquiel’s incompetence, my intervention was deemed necessary,” Abaddon retorted.

  I used my True Sight to look around, especially behind him. He couldn’t have come alone. My heart stopped for a second.

  He hadn’t.

  “We’ve got company,” I said.

  Sonic booms ruptured the silence of the jungle, as shadows darted forward from the darkness. Within seconds, Abaddon was joined by Araquiel, Oriphiel, Elyon, and ten other Perfects. Given their strength and abilities, we were vastly outgunned in this scenario. However, we had no choice but to fight. They were bound to have the disruptors on them, preventing Kailani from zapping us out of here.

  Araquiel didn’t seem pleased to be around Abaddon, though. His aura flared an angry red whenever he looked at his new companion. I stole a glance at Douma and noticed her emotions: she was equally unhappy to see Abaddon, but she was also worried. Then Abaddon saw her and snorted a chuckle.

  “My oh my, Douma. You’ve really let yourself go!” he exclaimed.

  I’d been using my True Sight before, though. I should’ve spotted them. The thought refused to let me focus. I needed answers.

  “How come I didn’t spot you?” I asked. “I would’ve seen you coming from up to three miles away, but I didn’t.”

  Abaddon sneered. “Yeah, I figured one of you had better eyesight,” he replied, “based on how you were able to elude my siblings so far. So, I thought of a novel approach. We used a series of mirrors, strategically positioned through the jungle. We moved them around as needed and observed you all from afar.”

  “When we saw that our mirrors were definitely fooling you, we kept moving,” Araquiel added, his jaw tight. “They deflect the light, depending on your position and their orientation. They allowed us to move in closer without you spotting us.”

  “I don’t get it,” I murmured. “I should’ve been able to see through them.”

  “It depends on where you’re looking. This is our technology, blood sucker. It trumps your good eyes,” Abaddon replied.

  It suddenly made sense. The trick was ingenious. I had to assume that the mirrors were made of some special material that blocked my True Sight, and that they moved them around as they advanced to keep themselves hidden from me.

  I scanned the area again, and it confirmed my bloodcurdling conclusion. I saw the glimmers in the distance, placed in different spots throughout the woods. I couldn’t see through them, and I’d missed them because I hadn’t been looking for mirrors. I’d been looking for Perfects. Dammit.

  Abaddon grinned. “Bet you’re feeling dumb right now.”

  “Not dumb,” I said. “Slightly annoyed, but I think I’ll feel much better once I slice your head off.”

  Araquiel groaned, rolling his eyes. “Can you please not set him off? Surrender now and save yourselves, because Abaddon isn’t here to ask you nicely.”

  I was slightly surprised by his words. Looking at the other Perfects, I could tell that no one seemed pleased to be here with Abaddon. I couldn’t help but wonder what it was about him that made him so difficult to b
e around, even for his own brothers and sisters.

  “Don’t be stupid,” Abaddon said. “Put your weapons down and come willingly.”

  “Abaddon isn’t just an insanely good tracker,” Amane replied. “He’s also insane. The fact that Ta’Zan sent him out is very telling, actually. It means he’s desperate enough to let him loose, just so he can catch us. I’m willing to bet Araquiel and the others are supposed to keep him in check and stop him from going berserk and killing us, but none of them have dealt with Abaddon before. Not like I have, anyway.”

  “What do you mean?” Ridan asked her.

  Amane smirked, while Abaddon seemed to reach a simmering point. “Abaddon is highly unstable. Not one of Ta’Zan’s finest moments. He wasn’t allowed outside the compound before because he’s simply too toxic and destructive. He flips out over the tiniest of issues. I mean, you’re utterly screwed if he compliments himself and you don’t agree with him. Loose cannon, this one.”

  “So, why are you so hell-bent on riling him up, you fool?” Araquiel spat. “You know damn well this isn’t a laughing matter!”

  “Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Oriphiel added, raising her eyebrows at us.

  Amane chuckled softly. “Not at all. I just know that if we set this powder keg on fire, it’ll be fun to watch you trying to contain him,” she retorted.

  “That powder keg will be fixated on killing you,” Douma interjected. “Don’t be foolish, Amane. Surrender yourselves, now.”

  Having Douma confirm Abaddon’s insane and murderous nature didn’t feel any better. If anything, it just made things worse, much like pouring salt on the wound. We were in one hell of a mess right now, but I had a feeling that Amane was already weaving a plan to flip the odds a little bit more in our favor. Said plan just happened to include pissing Abaddon off to the point where he could no longer be controlled.

  “Douma, I thought you knew us well enough by now to realize that it’s just not how we roll,” Dmitri muttered, drawing his soul-eater.

  Rose gave him a sideways glance. “You know what to do,” she whispered, and Dmitri nodded in response. He was going to keep Douma from the Perfects. The last thing we wanted was to have her rejoin her brothers and sisters.

  I focused on Abaddon for a moment, in an attempt to syphon some energy from him. He growled at me and… blocked me out. How is this possible?

  “Listen, I’m not going to ask again,” Abaddon snapped, his breathing getting heavier and more uneven. Rage was already seeping through him, inflating his chest and swelling the veins on his neck and temples. “Stop trying to use your dumb little tricks on us. Whatever you throw at a Perfect, father fixes it.”

  “We can still bleed you dry,” I muttered.

  “It’s your head I’m ripping off first!” Abaddon shouted, an angry vein throbbing on his temple.

  Amane was right. It didn’t take much to get the guy to blow up, and all the Perfects looked wary of that exact scenario unfolding in the following minutes. I chuckled.

  “Holy crap, Amane is right, guys!” I said. “Look at the Perfects. They’re quaking in their tunics right now. They were ordered to bring us in alive, but Abaddon will make their job harder if we make him flip out.”

  “How easy is it to make Abaddon mad?” Nevis asked, smirking.

  “Ridiculously easy. Stop!” Araquiel spat.

  Abaddon glowered at him. “You make it sound like I’m a complete psychopath. What, you think you’re better than me?”

  “That’s not at all what I said,” Araquiel tried to reason with him.

  The tension loaded the air around us with a heavy type of energy, the kind that made it more difficult to breathe. It was time to turn the temperature up even more. I figured that if the Perfects got busy trying to stop Abaddon from killing us, it could work out in our favor and make it easier to escape. Having thirteen Perfects busy containing one loose cannon seemed a better option than fighting eleven highly focused killing machines.

  Of course, that was still problematic for us, since it meant that the loose cannon would be exclusively focused on killing us, but it kept the others in his crew distracted. In the end, how much damage could Abaddon do, mostly on his own?

  You’re about to find out.

  “Face it, Araquiel, you’ve really backed yourself and your siblings into a corner this time.” Amane chuckled.

  “That’s all on you and your new friends, Amane!” Araquiel shot back.

  “I take it this is my cue to kill everybody?” Abaddon cut in.

  “NO!” all the Perfects responded at the same time.

  Abaddon laughed—but it wasn’t a relaxed chortle. It was a maniacal cackle, the kind that preceded slasher film bloodbaths.

  “No? Oh, that’s too bad!” Abaddon burst out. “Because since you’re all so eager to contain me like I’m some mindless animal, I might as well be the mindless animal you’re all afraid of!”

  The Perfects were all stiff now, their worried gazes fixed on Abaddon, who was slowly but surely coming undone and spiraling out of control. Clearly, it really didn’t take much to set the guy off, and Amane knew that all too well.

  “Man, you all messed up on this one.” She giggled, then shifted her focus back to Abaddon. “Do you know why Ta’Zan kept you under his foot this whole time? Because you’re so damn easy to bait, it’s absolutely hilarious!”

  “Better to be easy to bait than easy to kill,” Abaddon hissed, his scowl burning with hatred and pure animal hunger.

  He darted toward us before the Perfects could hold him back.

  All of a sudden, the balloon filled with fire and fury had popped, and it was up to us to dodge its contents and get ourselves out of this situation alive.

  It’s on.

  Rose

  I was definitely on board with Amane’s unspoken plan to rile Abaddon up and keep the other Perfects busy trying to contain him, but, at the same time, I was genuinely terrified of the damage that Abaddon could do if he got to any of us.

  The moment he shot toward us, however, there wasn’t a second left to think—only to react.

  Ridan, Zeriel, Ben, and Vesta were the first to cut Abaddon off, giving Samael the few moments he needed to put his wrist against my lips.

  “Drink!” the Faulty said. “You need some extra juice!”

  I didn’t think twice. I immediately sank my teeth into his skin and drew blood, suckling as much as I could, while Ridan, Zeriel, Ben, and Vesta threw everything they had at Abaddon. Behind me, Douma cursed under her breath. As soon as I felt Samael’s blood rush through me like raw energy, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Elonora drinking from Douma’s neck.

  We only had seconds left, as Araquiel and Oriphiel came straight for Abaddon, while Elyon and the others surrounded us and proceeded to attack. They weren’t going to kill us, but they sure as hell weren’t going to take us down nicely.

  I got busy quickly with Elyon, while Elonora, Nevis, and the others paired up and took on the other hostiles. Leah slipped by Dmitri’s side and helped him keep two of the Perfects at bay, in a bid to hold on to Douma, who wrestled against her restraints, utterly frustrated.

  Abaddon was impossible to contain, though. Within seconds, Araquiel and Oriphiel were no longer enough to hold him back. Ben and Vesta threw fireballs at all three, but that just made Abaddon even angrier. Ridan and Zeriel moved around and tried to hit Abaddon from behind.

  They were quickly intercepted by two other Perfects.

  Amane and Kallisto fought viciously against three of them, while Elonora, Nevis, Kallisto, Hunter, Rasmus, and Samael handled the rest. Elyon was a handful already, but I knew I needed to take him down quickly, as things with Abaddon got worse, fast. Araquiel and Oriphiel kept blocking him from his attacks against Ben and Vesta, but he managed to slip through several times.

  Whenever he did, he cut deep with his claws. Ben was on the ground at one point, bleeding profusely from an open wound on his abdomen.

  Kailani muttered and
cast spells left and right, temporarily crippling Perfects while Hunter swerved around them and cut them with his soul-eater. The focus of our efforts was to get close enough to slash them with our charmed swords. The more blood we drew, the slower the Perfects got.

  “Don’t be stupid!” Elyon growled. “Stop it now, before Abaddon loses it completely!”

  He came at me with his claws out, hacking and slashing with his long and sharp claws. Left, right, left, right—I dodged each hit and brought my sword out in wide arcs, cutting his forearms a couple of times. He didn’t immediately feel the effects of my soul-eater, but when I dashed to his side and sliced into his hip, he cried out in pain and dropped to one knee.

  I heard Abaddon snarl just as I managed to cut Elyon’s head off.

  Looking around, I could see the fight was getting more vicious. Blood sprayed all over, some splashing my face. Not all of it was ours, but Zeriel and Vesta were down and severely wounded. Abaddon lunged at Vesta, his fangs protruding, eager to tear through her.

  “Abaddon, stop it!” Araquiel grunted and rammed into him in an attempt to throw him off course, while Oriphiel moved toward Vesta.

  Zeriel lay on his belly, groaning from the pain, covered in what had to mostly be his own blood. He had trouble getting back up, his fingers fumbling through his satchel for healing potion. It hit me then that we’d been so wrapped up in Abaddon’s presence that we’d overlooked our invisibility paste supplies.

  I scooped some from my plastic pouch and swallowed it, then rushed toward Oriphiel. She was about to slap some kind of collar on Vesta’s neck, when she spotted me and froze. I felt my skin tingle as I vanished from her sight. She blinked several times before her eyes popped wide open, as she realized what was going on.

  Caught off guard, Oriphiel jumped up to defend herself, but didn’t see me coming. I grabbed a handful of her long black hair and pulled her head back. I tore into her throat, ripping out the skin, the flesh, and the tendons as I drank the gushing blood. I needed more than Faulty blood for what came next.