A Shade of Vampire 24: A Bridge of Stars Read Free

is I,” he murmured.
    Claudia clutched Yuri’s arm for support. The blood drained from her face, and it looked like she was about to faint. “Oh, Lord…”
    Yuri ushered her to a seat on the opposite end of the table.
    “There will be time for questions later,” my father said, as the last of our Council—Jeriad—entered.
    From what I could see, the only member missing was Aiden, who would no doubt be overwhelmed in a teary reunion with Kailyn.
    As the door snapped shut and Jeriad took his seat, my father began, “First, acknowledging the elephant in the room.” He pointed toward Lucas and Jeramiah. “Yes, these men you see before you are indeed Lucas and his son Jeramiah.”
    Questions erupted but my father steamrolled over them. “We need to set our immediate attention on freeing the Nasiris from the Drizans.” My father went on to explain our predicament and my promise to the fae. “There could be great danger involved,” he went on, eyeing everyone sternly. “And even if all of you were willing, I think we should make this a party of no more than ten. What do you say, Aisha?” He turned on the teenage jinni. “You should tell us everything you know about the Drizans.”
    Aisha parted her dry lips, shoulders still sagging. “They’re worse than animals,” she murmured.
    “Tell us about their lair,” I urged. “Is it possible for us to penetrate it?”
    “Not me,” she replied in a strained voice. “I’ve been banished from The Dunes.”
    “What?” I asked.
    “I’ve been banished. Kicked out. Expelled. There’s no way that I can go anywhere near the Drizans’ palace.”
    Oh, crap . And to think that I’d been so excited on seeing Aisha at first, even going to the extent of considering that she might be up to help us solo; now she was telling us she couldn’t even set foot in the realm of the jinn.
    “Jeriad.” My father turned to the shifter. “It seems we will need to call upon your help once again in dealing with the Drizans.”
    Jeriad’s eyes darkened. “Freeing the Nasiris is not something that we can request. Not after we just agreed to give them to the clan. I must also make clear, Derek, that although my people were on decent terms with the Drizans in the past, and they owed us a favor here and there, we’re certainly not the best of friends. They might even consider capturing the Nasiris as the settlement of their dues to us.”
    “But we have to try,” I said to Jeriad.
    “There must be something that we could offer in return… an exchange?” my mother suggested.
    Both Aisha and Jeriad looked doubtful.
    “I’m not sure what on earth would entice Cyrus enough to give up my family,” Aisha said miserably. “Certainly no amount of material wealth.”
    “I have a suggestion.” Jeriad spoke up, standing and beginning to pace up and down. “While it would not be wise to ask them to relinquish the Nasiris, perhaps… just perhaps… the Drizans themselves would agree to help you fulfill the fae’s demands.”
    That was certainly an interesting proposition. We had to hope that the dragons really did have enough sway left for the Drizans to agree to such a favor.
    “Then what about my family?” Aisha asked, looking distraught.
    “I do not know, maiden,” Jeriad replied, his brows furrowed.
    I turned to Aisha, actually feeling compassion toward her. Too much had happened since my stay in The Oasis for me to continue seeing her as the annoying, jealous teenage girl she’d always conducted herself as.
    “Aisha,” I said, placing a hand on her shoulder, hoping to offer at least a little comfort. “We need to just take this one step at a time.”

Ben
    I t was decided that we would return to The Dunes via the portal in Lake Nasser. Aisha assured us that this was the best way to reach the realm of jinn. I recalled traveling through that portal with Aisha and being curious about the strange world of black sand we’d landed in on the other side. At the time she’d