DETECTIVE ERIN BOND
(Adult thriller/mystery)
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Copyright © 2019
Nightlight Press
Cover design inspired by Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations LLC
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Main Cast List
Amelia (daughter of Erik and Abby Novalik – vampire)
Eva (daughter of Azazel and Tamara – druid/lamia/vampire)
Herakles (creation of Ta’Zan – Faulty)
Raphael (creation of Ta’Zan – Perfect)
Riza (daughter of Horatio and Aisha Drizan– jinni)
Taeral (son of Sherus and Nuriya – fae-jinni)
Varga (son of Ashbik and Ruby Goode – vampire-sentry)
Family tree
If you’d like to check out the Novaks’ family tree, visit: www.forrestbooks.com/tree
Taeral
My father had gone missing, and Brendel was responsible.
No one else could’ve done this. No one else had reason to hurt me as much as she had. He’d already been stricken by the Hermessi’s influence, but that hadn’t been enough to pull me away from my mission. We’d all agreed that maybe Brendel had done it to persuade me to stop searching for Thieron’s pieces.
But it was too late to turn back, and no reason—not even my father’s survival—was good enough for us to stop. Plus, we’d gotten Eirexis, Thieron’s handle. It had come at a great cost, with Acantha sacrificing herself in order for us to claim it. Surprisingly, it had also given us a new ally. The Widow Maker was one of the first Reapers in existence and, until yesterday, the guardian of Eirexis.
Free of his duty, he was now eager to help. He sided with Death on this, and it was already a commonly accepted fact that Death didn’t want the ritual to happen. Still, I worried it wasn’t enough to give us a clear shot at winning this battle.
The Hermessi’s influence was still growing, and it had claimed the first fae of the soon-to-be five million that they needed to annihilate life in the In-Between and the Supernatural Dimension. Of all the universe’s planes, these two were the most vulnerable, and were where the Hermessi had been most active since the beginning of time. The Earthly Dimension was momentarily clear of any potential ritual damage, but it was still vulnerable to Hermessi from other worlds. We already knew from Ramin’s intel and his own incursion into Yahwen that Brendel planned to use Hermessi children, forcing them to ascend, to become full Hermessi, and to spill out into the Earthly Dimension and populate its many barren planets.
That was part of the reason why she’d abducted so many of them, hiding them on Yahwen, in the oldest twenty-planet solar system of the In-Between. Incidentally, that system was also where Brendel intended to complete the ritual—though we weren’t sure whether it would be on Yahwen or on one of the other nineteen planets. She’d also taken the children to persuade their parents to support the ritual. That hadn’t worked as well as she might’ve hoped, since Ramin still fought against it, and Kabbah had risen to fight Brendel directly.
By taking over Fallon while we were on Cerix, Kabbah had given us the moment we’d needed to get Eirexis. We’d ended up removing another prime minister from the planet’s leadership, throwing diplomatic efforts for a loop. To be honest, I worried no stable relationship could be forged with any new world as long as the Hermessi continued their efforts to destroy us.
“There’s an upside to what’s been going on in the fae sanctuaries,” my mother said in the early hours of the morning. “We know the fae’s spirits are there, and that their resistance to the Hermessi’s influence is making the elementals’ rise stagnate. They are still more powerful than they’ve ever been, but we’ve managed to buy a little time, thanks to the fae spirits and their Reapers.”
We’d spent most of the night trying to get some rest. I’d woken up every hour just to check for news about my father, but nothing had come through. We needed the sleep, though, more than anything. Our Cerixian adventure and the losses it had come with had taken their toll on us. We were spent and close to exhaustion, both mentally and physically.
“That’s one silver lining,” I replied, refilling my backpack with healing potions and invisibility capsules. These two had become essential to every single mission, and Lumi always made sure we had as many as we might need or might be able to carry. “The other is that we did get this,” I added, gently tapping Eirexis, which I’d strapped to my thigh.
Amelia had helped fashion two sets of straps for me—one for Eirexis, making sure I wouldn’t drop it or lose it under any circumstances, and one for Yamani’s scythe, which was still a valuable weapon against the Hermessi. It had led me to Eirexis, and I would never part from it.
“Phoenix and Dmitri have teamed up to scour every intelligence source we have across the GASP Federation,” Mom said. “The whole of the In-Between and the Supernatural Dimension know that your father was taken. We’ll find Sherus, I promise.”
The rest of the crew joined us in the throne room, which had been sealed off from public access and surrounded by dozens of vampire and werewolf guards. With the Devil’s Weed on us, we wouldn’t be discovered right away, but Brendel and her cohorts were bound to come over soon enough… since Zetos was here, on the Fire Star.
Unable to get the image of my father’s empty crystal casing out of my mind, I thought of what we’d tell Lidera, his sister. “Where’s Lidera these days?” I asked my mother.
She lowered her head, sadness dwelling beneath her eyelids. “She’s in the quarantine on Purgaris. Lidera has spent the last couple of years traveling through Eritopia. When the Hermessi influence hit, she was studying with the young Druids in charge of Purgaris. For her safety, she’s being kept there, protected, for now.”
“She doesn’t know about dad, does she?”
“No. I wouldn’t tell her yet, either, given everything that’s going on. She’s better off staying there in relative safety,” my mother replied. “Relative” being the key word here. There was only so much GASP could do to protect the fae from the Hermessi’s growing influence.
“Okay, we’re ready to deploy,” Varga announced.
Indeed, they’d all brought their backpacks and swords and pulverizer weapons, and they all shared a similar expression of determination, along with the kind of spunk I loved about each of them.
Eira gave me a soft smile. “How are you?”
We hadn’t spoken since late last night, after we’d all gone to our rooms. Just to be careful, my mother had arranged for our accommodation in the servants’ quarters, making sure none of the fae still in the palace knew that we were there. Secrecy was of the utmost importance, given that the Hermessi cult had spread to non-fae, as well. I’d thought about going to Eira, just so I could be near her, but I didn’t. She’d needed all the rest she could get.
“Eager to do this,” I said.
I knew she was worried about me after my father’s abduction, but that was a painful topic that I couldn’t bring myself to address. My mother had assured me that GASP was doing everything they could to find him. I needed to focus on finding Zetos, instead.
“Any word about Sherus?” Amelia asked.
Lumi and Nethissis were still mostly quiet and grieving. I doubted they’d gotten much sleep last night, but the anguish was bound to gradually subside. Time had a way of healing all kinds of wounds, even those left behind by wonderful people who’d chosen to die so that the rest of us could survive.
