A Shade of Vampire 26: A World of New Read Online Free

While the ogres were not exactly a species we wanted to help, given their penchant for human flesh—particularly that of newborn babies—hunters gaining control in any place within the supernatural world would be good for nobody.
    I was half torn over destroying the hunters in this realm first, while we were here. But we would have to come back this way anyway for the portal. Our first priority had to be the werewolves—especially in light of the mutant attack. We didn’t know how many had survived, how many had managed to flee, or what the hunters were doing there now.
    Thus, I instructed the dragons to continue forging ahead to The Woodlands.

Grace
    T he Woodlands was so densely populated by trees, I feared we might not even be able to spot the IBSI’s buildings from above. But thanks to a high pole rising through the treetops—perhaps some kind of power or communication pole—we didn’t have difficulty. Then we caught the glinting of fluorescent lighting through the treetops’ foliage. We had arrived.
    “We ought not descend too low,” Derek said, “lest they’ve installed more sensitive alarms.”
    “Our first protocol will remain the same as regular missions, of course,” my father said, sitting behind me with my mother—all of us atop Tyron. “And what is that, Grace?” he asked me.
    “Rescue any humans or other innocents,” I replied.
    “Exactly,” my father said. “Lucas and Kailyn,”— he looked to the fae who were now hovering in the air—“you’ll come with me to do the initial scoping out, I assume.”
    “Of course,” Kailyn said.
    My father slid off Tyron, leaving my mother and me on the dragon’s back, while he, Kailyn and Lucas gathered together and thinned themselves.
    I wished at times like this that I had the ability to fly and thin myself like my father did. I would be far more useful on these missions.
    The trio descended on the treetops and disappeared through the leaves. We waited in tense silence, listening and hoping that they would not take too long, that they would meet with no obstacles on the way.
    I doubted anything would happen to them, being creatures that the hunters had still had little chance to study, but one never could be too sure with these people. There was an unsettling mystery to their operations, many things about their technology still did not make sense to us.
    I released a sigh of relief as, about half an hour later, the trio returned. As they arrived at our level, my father said, “We searched the buildings. Found no humans—or other innocent creatures. Just hunters and an enormous basement of their mutants. They also have a wide clearing around the back of the buildings where they keep the beasts. Hundreds and hundreds of them.”
    They must’ve slowly but surely transported them all through the portal from their base in the Philippines.
    Derek paused, his eyes settling on the quiet compound beneath us. “All right,” he said in a deep voice. “Then let us begin.”
    Everyone among us who could hover—namely the witches, fae and the jinn—remained in the air, while the rest of us remained in our positions. The fae began rummaging through our supplies of weapons, gathering explosives, while the witches and jinn worked on creating a sturdy shield beneath us to protect us from any retaliation we might receive from the ground.
    And then the first bomb was dropped. It shattered the peace of the woods, followed immediately by strangled cries and screeching. Hunters and mutants. I found it rather ironic that these explosives had been provided to us by the US government.
    By the time the fae had rained down three in quick succession, the entire compound was a storm of fire and smoke. But we had only just begun.
    The dragons began descending. I steeled myself as they each took a deep, sucking breath before shooting out torrents of deadly flames directly toward the buildings.
    I couldn’t help but feel that this might be overkill.
    If the place had