A Shade of Vampire 88: An Isle of Mirrors

by Forrest, Bella

  “I just need to dig deep enough.” I nodded slowly as I looked at Isabelle’s clone.

  A cold grin spread over her face. “What? You want to try poking through my head again? Your previous failure wasn’t enough, so you’re here to embarrass yourself further?”

  “Something tells me that by the time I’m done with you, that smile will be long gone,” I shot back, narrowing my eyes as I tried to latch on to whatever tendril of energy I could pick up. This was a matter of opening myself up more. It required focus.

  I felt the power inside me. The shard was alive, making my heart hurt a little whenever I tapped into it. I followed that sensation and allowed it to expand and take over my body, then my spirit. A flame brewed in my throat as the shard became an incandescent presence within, its influence spreading out like wildfire.

  “You can’t twist me around,” the clone said. “I’m not designed for this stuff.”

  I needed to get the inferno under control, focusing the heat onto my target and increasing its strength until she could no longer resist it. Something between us connected, and my heart tightened a little as I made contact. This felt different than the first time. Either I was finally doing something right, or the shard had learned to follow my lead a little better. Sometimes I thought of it as a sentient entity of its own.

  The clone’s grin vanished, and her nostrils flared.

  “There we go,” I whispered, pushing myself and digging deeper into what I’d found. She was definitely there in spirit, though it wasn’t a real spirit. She was animated by something, and I’d managed to tap into it. Describing it in terms that made sense would’ve been a titanic feat, so I chose to concentrate on what I could understand—the electrifying layer that surrounded her core, through which my glamoring had just pierced. Isabelle’s clone was fighting back, rejecting me, but I wasn’t done yet.

  Slowly raising a hand, I reached out toward her. As if that force inside her might respond. As if it might come out to touch me so I could grab it and squeeze it into submission. My fingertips pricked, and I closed my fist, breathing heavily as the doppelganger gasped.

  Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening.

  “Thayen, wait,” I heard Soul say.

  But I couldn’t wait. I’d found the very center of the clone, and I was about to take control. Every atom in my body tingled, my head as light as a feather. I wanted this more than anything, and I would do anything in my power to get her under my command.

  “Thayen!” Soul shouted.

  Something tickled my lip. Instinctively, my tongue flicked out and caught the taste of blood. This was supposed to mean something, but my mind had slowed down, and I couldn’t process it. For only a second, I looked to the right, where they’d all gathered just behind the glass pane, each of them worriedly focused on me. No, not worried. Terrified.

  “What is it?” I asked, my voice barely audible.

  “Your nose is bleeding,” Astra replied, pointing at me.

  “Yeah… I can taste it.”

  “I think you need to stop for now,” Soul said. “I don’t think that’s supposed to happen, kid!”

  I shook my head and chose to keep pushing instead. “Nah, I’ve got this.”

  She was squirming in her seat, and I could feel her agitation in my chest. Astra was banging on the glass, but I ignored her. I was too close to achieving something here, and I couldn’t bring myself to lose this opportunity. Not with what was at stake.

  “I’ve got you,” I said to the clone.

  “Thayen, stop! I think bending a fake soul is having a negative side effect!” Astra reached me in a matter of seconds, and I felt her hand gripping my wrist, but I was sliding down a strange spiral of weird sensations. I had lost control, and I wasn’t even sure when it happened. A second earlier, I’d managed a perfect hold on the clone’s faux spirit, and now… I was flailing and coming apart at the seams, unable to pull myself back into the present.

  “What’s happening?” I heard myself ask. An infinity of white covered my eyes. I couldn’t see anything anymore.

  “You’re passing out, Thayen,” someone said. Maybe Astra. Or maybe Soul. I wasn’t sure anymore. It was as if my body had suddenly divorced my soul, leaving me behind at the crossroads between consciousness and eternal sleep.

  My sense of space vanished, and I felt like I was floating for a split second before I hit the ground. The light was quickly replaced by darkness, a deep sleep sneaking up on me and pulling me deeper into the abyss.

  My consciousness slipped through my fingers.

  Astra

  (Daughter of Phoenix and Viola)

  Thayen was on the ground. I kneeled beside him, listening to his slowing heartbeat. A sense of urgency came over me, and I placed my palms on his chest. I wasn’t sure what I was doing, merely following my instincts.

  The clone’s breathing was ragged. Thayen’s control over her had come to a sudden halt. He’d really pushed himself this time. Soul was checking her vitals, though she seemed to improve with every second that passed.

  “How is he?” Soul asked, giving me a worried look.

  “I’m not sure,” I replied, allowing the energy within me to reach through Thayen and jolt him back into consciousness. The surge was sudden and powerful enough to make him gasp sharply as his eyes popped open. “There we go.”

  “What the…” Thayen managed, blinking rapidly as he tried to assess his surroundings. A glimmer of familiarity was evident in his gaze as he quickly scanned the hospital room. He remembered where he was and what he’d been doing. That was a good sign. “How long have I been out?”

  “Half a minute, tops,” I said. “Are you okay?”

  He nodded faintly. “I think so.” I helped him into a sitting position, checking his pulse in the process. “How did I black out? I mean, I blacked out, right?”

  “There’s some confusion persisting,” Soul noted. “Not unexpected, considering how your lights went out. You overexerted yourself, Thayen. You pushed too hard, and your body couldn’t take it. Plus, Astra might be on to something. Bending a fake spirit might take more practice and strength than what you currently have to work with.”

  “It makes sense,” I said. “A fake soul would function much like a normal one, therefore making it susceptible to glamoring. The “moral codes” are learned, along with the concept of right and wrong, and therein lies the true difference between us and them, I suppose. At least we know I can, in fact, glamor a fake soul… but its toll is worrying.”

  “I thought my vampire nature was good enough to hold my power,” Thayen replied as we both got up. He frowned as he stared at Isabelle’s clone for a moment. “How is she?”

  “She’s fine. A little woozy, perhaps,” Soul said. “Listen, your vampire biology sustains the shard and the glamoring power, but if you overuse it—if you force yourself beyond your physical limits—stuff like this is bound to happen. You will never reach the peak of your ability this way. Take it easy.”

  Thayen scoffed. “We don’t have time for me to take it easy.”

  “Deep breaths, come on,” I told him. “You just need to take a moment and find a better approach, that’s all. You caught her for a short while, so we know there’s a possibility you can control her forged spirit, despite yesterday’s attempt. You’re capable of more than you can imagine, Thayen. But we can’t risk you hurting yourself in the process.”

  I pulled out the chair across from the doppelganger, and he sat down, carefully measuring his breaths. He’d already accomplished something incredible in proving that the clones weren’t as immune to his glamoring as we’d thought—Isabelle’s clone had been impressively good at resisting him the first time around, but on his second try he’d managed to find cracks in her defenses. We’d all seen her break into a cold sweat.

  “There is hope,” I whispered in his ear. “If you keep poking, she’ll eventually cave in. You just can’t damage yourself, because if you’re our only way of finding out what s
he and the other clones are up to, then we absolutely need you awake and healthy.”

  Thayen smiled. “Roger that.”

  “Feeling better?” Soul asked, then gestured to the clone. “She’s stable.”

  “Screw you,” the doppelganger shot back. She gave Thayen a nasty look. “You’d better stay away from me, freak.”

  I chuckled softly. “I think you hit a soft spot.”

  “Oh, I most certainly did,” Thayen said. He wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead with the back of his sleeve and repositioned himself in front of the table. Facing Isabelle’s clone, he placed his hands on the table. “Time for round three.”

  “Just don’t overdo it,” Soul replied. “We’ll try as many times as needed until she breaks.”

  “I am totally on board with that,” Thayen said and took another steadying breath.

  Isabelle’s clone didn’t look too comfortable in her seat. He scared her. She probably hadn’t thought he’d have such an effect on her. This was as new to her as it was to us, which meant that her superiors—whoever they were—didn’t have a full grasp of what Thayen’s glamoring entailed. That shortcoming could work in our favor going forward, provided we got even a snippet of useful intel from this creature.

  I understood Thayen’s time-related frustration. Isabelle was still missing, and we weren’t likely to find her anywhere in The Shade. The faster we broke the clone down into some kind of submission and cooperation, the better our odds of saving my cousin. Isabelle’s double was restless, but Soul pinned her down, his hand clamped on her shoulder. “Sit still,” he said. “Let loose, Thayen.”

  “No,” the clone mumbled, her fear obvious. “Stay out of my head.” A smirk fluttered across Thayen’s lips.

  “I think her defenses are weak,” I said.

  That was all Thayen needed to try again. I could almost feel the electricity surging and charging the air around us. The hairs on the back of my neck tickled, and I felt the need to inhale deeply, as my head felt suddenly lighter than usual. I was closer to Thayen as he used his ability this time, and I seemed to be reacting to it. It was an interesting sensation, as if my fingers were mere inches away from lightning itself. If I touched it, I would be thrown back against the wall—or at least that was what it felt like.

  I stayed completely still while Thayen opened himself up and pierced through the clone’s resistance. She grunted, dry swallowing as he dug deeper. She started shaking, but he didn’t let go. Soul had been right. Thayen was getting better with each use of his power, and it showed in the speed with which he was dismantling the clone’s defenses.

  “Tell me, who sent you?” he asked, his voice as cold as a winter storm. It sent shivers down my spine, spreading over my skin like frost across the glass in the middle of a sudden blizzard. “Speak. I want the truth.”

  “No…” she blurted, shaking. She was under tremendous pressure, her shoulders lowered and her fingers twitching. It was as if Thayen had dumped a truck on her back, and she was struggling to keep it from crushing her.

  “Who sent you? Who are you? Where did you come from?” Thayen demanded. Sweat covered his face, but he seemed to have a better grip than during the previous attempt. “Tell the truth!”

  “No!” she cried out. The pain must’ve been horrendous to make her react like this.

  I had little sympathy for her, however. She’d tried to kill me, and she had very likely taken my cousin from us. No, whatever Thayen was doing to her, she deserved it. “The more you resist, the worse it’ll get,” I said. “Is it worth it?”

  “If the rivers run red with your blood? Yes,” she hissed, but Thayen slapped the tabletop hard enough to startle her.

  “Who sent you?”

  “I… I can’t!” the clone replied, her beautiful features crooked from the pain and the anger. She felt helpless, and I didn’t need my weak aura-reading to tell me that. It was written all over her face.

  “Tell me!” Thayen pushed and pushed until she finally snapped.

  “You… you can do anything, but you can’t stop it,” she whispered, blood dripping from her nose.

  Soul leaned in closer to Thayen with a troubled look. “Your nose is bleeding.”

  “Hers is, too,” he replied, keeping his focus on the clone. “Come on, tell me.”

  “You… you can’t stop what’s coming,” Isabelle’s clone said. “I’m not the only one. We… we are many. Unstoppable.” Her eyes rolled into her head, and she slumped over the table.

  Thayen gasped, and I instantly gripped his wrist, checking his pulse again. “You know the drill,” I told him. “Deep breaths. In, out, in, out. Slowly.”

  He followed my lead, and I gave him a tissue to clean his nose. There was less blood than before but still enough to warrant some concern. Thayen had limits, and we didn’t really know what breaking them would mean.

  “She’s unconscious but alive,” Soul declared, briefly touching the clone’s back with his scythe, the blade glimmering white as it analyzed the creature.

  “Did you hear what she said?” Thayen replied.

  “We all did,” Rose said from the other side of the glass panel. The others remained gathered around her, concerned looks on their faces. I couldn’t really blame them. Isabelle’s clone had held on tight against Thayen’s attacks, but she’d still let something slip.

  “My clone isn’t the only one besides hers, then,” Richard replied, arms crossed. “For sure, there are more out there.”

  “We are many,” Thayen repeated. “We are many and unstoppable… That sounds creepy as hell.”

  “Where is she coming from? What lies beyond those shimmering portals? How did her makers get our DNA, to begin with?” Thayen asked, becoming increasingly agitated. “And if there are so many more of her kind, where are they? Are they already here?”

  Or were they on their way to The Shade as we spoke? What purpose did they serve? Why did they want me dead? Unfortunately, Isabelle’s clone had not given us much to go on except for more questions and no answers. I dreaded getting used to something like this. I loved a good mystery now and then, but this was not what any of us wanted or needed, and I worried I wouldn’t be the only one they wanted dead.

  Thayen wasn’t finished with the clone, however. Once she woke up, I knew he’d push her again. With each stab at her faux spirit so far, he’d gotten her to react. She’d told us something important, but we needed more. So much more…

  Tristan

  Anunit wanted us to pass her three trials before we sealed our deal. Her methods and motivations worried me, but I was also curious. I could see why Death wanted this Reaper apprehended, and I wondered what she would do once we delivered Anunit to her. Unending had spoken to me telepathically shortly after agreeing to the Reaper’s initial terms. She’d assured me that Death would likely remove her power and perhaps reassign Anunit to some remote hellhole as punishment for her deeds.

  We still had a long way to go before we got to that point, however, so I chose to focus on the present. If we pulled through—and if Anunit kept her promise, bound by death magic—Unending and I would have a family of our own to look forward to. While we’d already discussed the possibility of adoption, my wife was battling a powerful desire she’d inherited from the original soul she’d been based on. The more she remembered, the more human she seemed to me. Unending’s yearning for a child of her own was something I’d learned to respect and understand. And since we still had this chance with Anunit, no matter how strange, we owed it to ourselves to try it before turning her over to Death.

  “We cannot stay here much longer,” Anunit said as she took a moment to enjoy the view from Red River Mountain. The crimson stream poked through the rocky top and snaked its way along the jagged ridge before it went deep into the dark emerald woods. By the time it emerged at the bottom, swollen and much wider, the water was crystal clear. “Not that I don’t like this place, but we have work to do.”

  “I presume we’re getting started with
the trials?” Unending asked.

  “Well, you want to get down to business, don’t you?”

  “Of course,” she replied.

  “What does the first trial entail?” I interjected, eyeing Anunit carefully. I’d known enough people from all walks of life to be able to spot deceit fairly easily. Concerned she might not be telling us the whole truth, I kept a wary eye on her at all times.

  Anunit reached out with both hands. “We need physical contact for the journey, as you well know. Come on.”

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  Unending gave me a warm smile, and her voice resounded in my head with nothing but love and appreciation. “I’m glad you’ve got my back in this.”

  “The Feoinn Jungle,” Anunit said. “It’s where your first trial begins.”

  “What’s there?” I asked.

  “Will you just take my hand? I don’t like being in one place for too long, especially since I’m about to break the Reaper laws again for you two.”

  We did as she asked. As soon as our hands touched, the world warped around us as though the colors and shapes had been resting atop a still surface of water, and Anunit had put a brush through, swirling and mixing it all together. I felt dizzy for a moment, until everything fell back into place, and we were somewhere else entirely. We were in a different part of Rothko, judging by the alignment of stars in the sky, a corner of this world that seemed forgotten by the Aruni. It looked empty and uninhabited, a wild jungle stretching for thousands of miles, its trees the height of buildings and its waters restless enough to pound the stone that skirted the coastline.

  A variety of shades of green unfolded before our eyes—wavy trees as tall as Californian redwoods; sprawling shrubs with huge waxed leaves and brightly colored flowers sticking out in different directions; a moss-like carpet covering the entire jungle floor, with patches of pink and red blossoms here and there; and bright white rocks dotting the ground like nature’s own attempt at landscape gardening.