A Vial of Life (A Shade of Vampire #21) by Bella Forrest Page B

jinn flooded into rooms. There were so many of the Drizan jinn present, soon every level was swarming with them. My daughter, father and the other vampires moved with the dragons to stand safely in the central gardens on our request, while Derek and I followed Cyrus in search of Queen Nuriya herself.
    Cyrus’ instinct was that her apartment would be right at the top, and it appeared that he was right. We stopped in front of a door that was larger and more heavily ornamented than all the others. The jinni lost no time in breaking down the door.
    Before entering, he whirled back round to face us. “Wait here,” he said. “I will handle this alone.”
    And so Derek and I hung back. I peered anxiously down the shadowy corridor of Nuriya’s apartment as Cyrus disappeared down it. A few seconds later came a bloodcurdling scream.
    “No!”
    The anguish in the queen’s cry chilled me to the bone.
    “Please, Cyrus! Don’t do this to me! Not again!”
    As much as I resented the jinni for what she’d done to my son, and needed the bond to be broken, her cries of fear and pleas were hard to swallow. I didn’t want to think about what he was doing to her as her screams intensified.
    “You’ve already taken so much from me,” she sobbed. “Don’t take my family. Please! Don’t wreck me again! I’ve suffered enough.”
    Cyrus hissed, “Not enough.”
    “Freiyus is dead! You killed him along with our newborn! Take me, but spare my family this time. Please! They have done nothing to harm you!”
    Her pleas clawed at my chest and I found myself slightly out of breath. “What is he doing to her?” I murmured, a sick feeling settling into the pit of my stomach.
    Derek gave me a dark look.
    As Nuriya’s voice broke from her pleading, I couldn’t handle it anymore. I left Derek’s side and ran into the apartment.
    “Sofia!” Derek hissed, hurrying after me.
    I sprinted down the corridor to a bedroom whose door was left open. Nuriya, draped in a midnight-blue nightgown, now torn and awry, was being pinned up against the wall by Cyrus. His hands were clamped around her neck. Part of me wondered why she didn’t vanish, but I guessed Cyrus’ powers ensured that she couldn’t.
    I stood rooted to the spot, staring at the couple. Before I could have second thoughts about my intrusion, Nuriya spotted me over Cyrus’ shoulder.
    “You’re Ben’s birth mother,” she gasped.
    Cyrus twisted around to face us, a look of irritation in his eyes.
    “Why are you here?” he asked. “I told you to wait outside.”
    “Come on, Sofia,” Derek said, having arrived behind me.
    Even as my husband gripped my arm and tugged at me, I couldn’t take my eyes off of Nuriya’s terrified face.
    “Where is my son?” I asked her.
    She appeared to have reached levels of hysteria too high for her answer to be coherent. “Please!” she called to me. “Don’t let him do this to me! I only want the best for Benjamin. I only ever wanted to protect him, to make him my own! I’ve nurtured and helped him like he was born of my own womb, in ways that you never could. P-Please, don’t let the Drizans destroy my family!”
    It shook me how she was crying to me as though I was the one who had her by the neck. Of course, Derek and I were responsible for this raid. We were the ones who’d instigated it.
    Cyrus’ hand closed hard around the jinni’s neck, strangling her voice.
    “Did you not hear me, vampire?” he asked, his dark eyes digging into mine. “I asked you to leave. Fear not about your son. I will find your son, wherever he is in this place, and bring him to you. The Nasiris will be weakened, and their bond with him will be broken. Now go wait with the others in the gardens.”
    Beneath the surface of his politeness bubbled intense irritation. After all, in his eyes, it was none of my business what transpired between the two. His end of the deal was simply to free our son, no matter what method he chose to use.
    “Come on,