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“Yes. I still can’t believe I lost such a valuable piece of jewelry. A family heirloom, no less. I’m sick about it.”
“Davian would never hold it against you, Jade. Despite the pendant being priceless, he wouldn’t fault you. He was much more concerned about the fire wraith’s attack on you and the severity of your injuries than the necklace having fallen off during the assault.”
“That’s very kind of him. Doesn’t make me feel any better, though.” They wove their way south. “I’m going to search on hands and knees until I find that damn thing.”
“I’ll help you,” Sheena said. “I can look at night while you’re out on patrol. I have excellent vision and the moonlight will catch the diamonds, which the star is reported to be covered in.”
“You’ve never seen it?”
“No.” She appeared fascinated by the prospect. “I’ve heard it’s stunning. But that’s really all I know about it. There are some hush-hush rumors from centuries ago, yet no one has ever confirmed anything. Except that it’s a gorgeous work of art.”
“That it is.”
The icy ground crunched beneath their feet, blending with the sounds of nature.
Jade asked, “How long have you been a vampire?”
“Not long at all. Seventy-two years. I was born in 1982.” Though she looked to be no older than twenty-eight or -nine.
“Born? Or is that when you became a vampire?”
“I’m a purebred. Both parents are vampires.”
“Interesting.”
“We come from a long line of them,” Sheena explained. “The coven I belong to is mostly comprised of my relatives. But when the king—Davian,” she corrected for Jade’s benefit, “built the castle and needed an assistant, I didn’t mind leaving my family because so many demons from his alliance intended to settle nearby or within the castle walls. I’ve told you before, I prefer company.”
“I’ve been enjoying it more than isolation recently. I suppose it was easier to not get too close to anyone after my parents died.”
Jade stopped abruptly. They’d reached a road that cut through the forest. She glanced over her shoulder, back toward the direction from which they’d come. She’d veered off course while talking with Sheena and they’d ended up at the one place Jade had avoided for over fifteen years.
“What’s wrong?” Sheena asked, alarmed. “I don’t hear or see anything abnormal. What is it, Jade?”
Her insides tightened and her breathing picked up a few notches. “This is where my parents were killed. I subconsciously brought us here.”
She turned to the woods they’d just exited, bewildered.
Sheena asked, “This isn’t your normal route?”
“Not at all. I haven’t been here since…” Her voice trailed off.
She walked back to the edge of the trees. Her stomach coiled.
“I hid right over there.” Jade gestured toward a thicket of tall pines. Nausea rose within her, but she attempted to tamp it down. “My parents took this road to a neighboring village one night. I was supposed to stay behind, with Michael’s family.”
The vampire instantly appeared by her side. “Of course you didn’t do as you were told.”
“Of course not. I followed them. I was just about to pop out onto the path, knowing I was far enough away from Ryleigh that they wouldn’t send me back, when two wolves came out of the forest on the opposite side of the road. I crouched down, concealed by shrubs.”
Unable to stop the flood of memories, Jade was instantly transported to that gut-wrenching day when she’d witnessed her parents’ ruthless murders.
Yet she felt slightly detached from the recollection and her voice held a distant timbre as she said, “My father pushed my mother behind him as the shifters advanced on them. He reached for his sword. She had one too. Mine. She was too scared to pull it from its casing, though.”
Sheena asked in a soft voice, “What did renegade shifters want with your family?”
“My father was the leader of the village,” Jade told her. She had no concrete answers, but said, “Perhaps they wanted to start at the top and work their way down. If they eliminated him and the slayers, the people within the borders would be easier to kill and they could take control of the village. Set up camp at the base of the castle as they awaited their army to arrive and take on the king’s men. At least, that’s what the slayers deduced, and I’ve always subscribed to that theory.” Further consideration made her add, “This is probably the reason I was so adamant about following Toran when the fire wraith’s soldiers arrived before Davian’s.”
Jade crossed to the copse she’d indicated. She reached out a hand and her fingers grazed the bark of a wide trunk. An ominous sensation slinked through her.
