A SHADE OF VAMPIRE 48: A TIP OF BALANCE BELLA FORREST CONTENTS Also by Bella Forrest New Generation List 1.Phoenix 2.Serena 3.Aida 4.Jovi 5.Serena 6.Serena 7.Jovi 8.Aida 9.Serena 10.Field 11.Jovi 12.Aida 13.Phoenix 5/509 14.Vita 15.Jovi 16.Serena 17.Phoenix 18.Aida 19.Phoenix 20.Phoenix 21.Aida 22.Jovi 23.Serena 24.Aida 25.Vita 26.Phoenix 27.Jovi 28.Serena 29.Vita 30.Aida 31.Serena 32.Serena 33.Serena 34.Aida 6/509 35.Vita 36.Aida 37.Phoenix 38.Aida 39.Aida 40.Aida Read more by Bella Forrest ALSO BY BELLA FORREST THE GIRL WHO DARED TO THINK (New!) The Girl Who Dared to Think (Book 1) The Girl Who Dared to Stand (Book 2) THE GENDER GAME (Completed series) The Gender Game (Book 1) The Gender Secret (Book 2) The Gender Lie (Book 3) The Gender War (Book 4) The Gender Fall (Book 5) The Gender Plan (Book 6) The Gender End (Book 7) THE SECRET OF SPELLSHADOW MANOR The Secret of Spellshadow Manor (Book 1) The Breaker (Book 2) The Chain (Book 3) 8/509 The Keep (Book 4) The Test (Book 5) A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES Series 1: Derek & Sofia’s story A Shade of Vampire (Book 1) A Shade of Blood (Book 2) A Castle of Sand (Book 3) A Shadow of Light (Book 4) A Blaze of Sun (Book 5) A Gate of Night (Book 6) A Break of Day (Book 7) Series 2: Rose & Caleb’s story A Shade of Novak (Book 8) A Bond of Blood (Book 9) A Spell of Time (Book 10) A Chase of Prey (Book 11) A Shade of Doubt (Book 12) A Turn of Tides (Book 13) A Dawn of Strength (Book 14) 9/509 A Fall of Secrets (Book 15) An End of Night (Book 16) Series 3: The Shade continues with a new hero… A Wind of Change (Book 17) A Trail of Echoes (Book 18) A Soldier of Shadows (Book 19) A Hero of Realms (Book 20) A Vial of Life (Book 21) A Fork of Paths (Book 22) A Flight of Souls (Book 23) A Bridge of Stars (Book 24) Series 4: A Clan of Novaks A Clan of Novaks (Book 25) A World of New (Book 26) A Web of Lies (Book 27) A Touch of Truth (Book 28) An Hour of Need (Book 29) A Game of Risk (Book 30) A Twist of Fates (Book 31) 10/509 A Day of Glory (Book 32) Series 5: A Dawn of Guardians A Dawn of Guardians (Book 33) A Sword of Chance (Book 34) A Race of Trials (Book 35) A King of Shadow (Book 36) An Empire of Stones (Book 37) A Power of Old (Book 38) A Rip of Realms (Book 39) A Throne of Fire (Book 40) A Tide of War (Book 41) Series 6: A Gift of Three A Gift of Three (Book 42) A House of Mysteries (Book 43) A Tangle of Hearts (Book 44) A Meet of Tribes (Book 45) A Ride of Peril (Book 46) A Passage of Threats (Book 47) A Tip of Balance (Book 48) 11/509 A Shield of Glass (Book 49) A SHADE OF DRAGON TRILOGY A Shade of Dragon 1 A Shade of Dragon 2 A Shade of Dragon 3 A SHADE OF KIEV TRILOGY A Shade of Kiev 1 A Shade of Kiev 2 A Shade of Kiev 3 BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY Beautiful Monster 1 Beautiful Monster 2 DETECTIVE ERIN BOND (Adult thriller/mystery) Lights, Camera, GONE Write, Edit, KILL For an updated list of Bella’s books, please visit her website: www.bellaforrest.net Join Bella’s VIP email list and she’ll personally send you an email reminder as soon as her next book is out. Tap here to sign up: www.forrestbooks.com Copyright © 2017 by Bella Forrest Cover design inspired by Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations LLC All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. NEW GENERATION LIST • Aida: daughter of Bastien and Victoria (half werewolf/half human) • Field: biological son of River, adopted son of Benjamin (mix of Hawk and vampire-half-blood) • Jovi: son of Bastien and Victoria (half werewolf/half human) • Phoenix: son of Hazel and Tejus (sentry) 14/509 • Serena: daughter of Hazel and Tejus (sentry) • Vita: daughter of Grace and Lawrence (part-fae/human) PHOENIX ow do we get her back?” “H Serena’s voice was cracked. The color had deserted her face, leaving her with pale lips and red, teary eyes. We were still in the grotto, the air riddled with dust particles from Field’s wall-punch- ing and Draven’s obliteration of the passage stone. I had never seen either so upset and capable of destruction. Then again, no one had betrayed us like this before. We’d never lost a friend to the Destroyers, either. 16/509 “He knows everything,” Draven muttered, surfacing from the cloud of an- guish as he headed outside. One by one, we followed, unable to say much until the cool night air hit our faces and the sight of the mansion sank in. I looked at it, wondering how it had all gone so wrong, and how not even the Daughters’ ma- gic could stop those monsters from taking Vita. Rattled by a mixture of grief and anger, we paced around the front lawn, trying to make sense of everything. “Sverik played us from the beginning,” Draven said. Hansa and Jax stood next to Serena, who was slowly withering away. Aida was crouch- ing, eyes wide open and lower lip trembling. Field lowered himself next to Aida, finally having enough self-control to be aware of what was happening to her. 17/509 I looked over at the Daughter who was sitting on the porch steps with Eva and the two succubi. I felt her pain and sadness as she looked up at me, the corners of her mouth dropped into a frown. Violence was something that deeply troubled her. Bijarki was the last to come up from the grotto. His expression seemed carved out of gray marble. I could tell from the pained look in his eyes and the ribbons of red and black emotions oozing out of him that he was tak- ing Vita’s abduction hard. My inner-sentry felt everything he was projecting, though I had a feeling he wasn’t aware of it. “They probably caged him to take any suspicion away from him,” Draven added. “He was carefully implanted into this, and he played us a little too well.” “He knows everything,” Field said, look- ing down absently. “He knows who we are and what we’re planning to do.” 18/509 “The alliance,” Hansa completed his thoughts. “He knows about Mount Agrith and the rogues.” “How do we get her back?” Serena whispered, tears trickling down her cheeks. Draven stopped in his tracks when he saw her. Serena was devastated and unable to process anything. All she could think of was getting Vita back. She’d fallen victim to the same catatonic state as Bijarki and Aida. I wasn’t any better, and neither was Field or Jovi. Too much had happened at once, and our instincts had automatically started to prioritize things. Draven took Serena in his arms. She hid her face in his chest and sobbed, her cries muffled by the Druid’s shirt. “We need to warn them,” Jax said. “We need to get Vita back!” Bijarki lost his temper, his body trembling with rage. Draven gave Bijarki a sympathetic nod. 19/509 “We’ll get her,” the Druid said, trying to sound reassuring. “With all due respect,” Tamara stepped forward with a straight face and sad yellow eyes. “As much as you might hate me for this, I feel like I need to point out the obvi- ous. We cannot go rescue Vita now.” SERENA fought the uncontrollable urge to I punch Tamara. I felt Draven’s hands gripping my arms as if he’d felt me move and had a pretty good idea about what I was about to do. He held me there, giving me a sideways glance that begged me to find a sliver of patience and hang on to it for dear life. “You must be joking, Tamara,” Bijarki muttered in response. “Or, you must be 21/509 yearning to be thrown beyond the shield for the Destroyers to rip you apart.” Not exactly what I’d had in mind, but it did resonate with my reaction to the Lamia’s words. How could she say that? Vita was my best friend. We were family. She was everything to us, and, regardless of the con- sequences, we were going to save her. We would go after her. “I know it’s not what you want to hear right now,” Tamara replied, “but we are in no position to charge out and get Vita back. We’ll be dead the moment we set foot out- side the shield, and the passage stone is gone. Most importantly, the alliance is in danger.” “Azazel has Vita!” I shouted, no longer able to control myself. “We can’t all die because of that!” Tamara shot back. “We have to think this through. We have to prioritize.