A Shade of Vampire 75: A Blade of Thieron

by Forrest, Bella

  “No. I’m good. Stop hovering. I love you,” I shot back and motioned for him to lock the cell door behind me. I heard Zane chuckle behind him and turned to face Ledar.

  The young former Hermessi child was understandably surprised to see me here. He sat on his bed, elbows resting on his knees. The inside of his cell was as gloomy as I’d expected—nothing but gray walls and a single square window with meranium bars that allowed him a view of the city. Always within his reach, yet so far away.

  I shuddered at the thought of spending the rest of my life in a cube like this. Ledar, however, deserved it. Instead of siding with us living creatures and his brethren, he’d chosen to serve the Hermessi in their quest to destroy us. On top of that, he’d turned against his own father. Granted, Ramin had not been present in Ledar’s life, and that had been a big mistake, but still, it wasn’t enough to justify this level of treachery, especially since Ledar had gone as far as to try and kill him. It was unforgivable from every possible angle.

  “What are you doing here?” he growled, but didn’t move.

  Measuring me from head to toe, his gaze settled on my twin swords. He could see their hilts poking out from behind me. I also carried knives in my boots, but I hoped I wouldn’t have to use them.

  “We need to talk,” I said. “You mentioned having information. It’s time you hand it over.”

  His smirk quickly got on my nerves. “I thought you said I was useless to you. Is that no longer the case?”

  “I figured you were just desperate to get out of the mess you got yourself into by showing up on Neraka,” I shot back. “Then, I heard you were trying to negotiate for better prison conditions, still claiming you had potentially useful Hermessi intel. So, I thought I’d come by and see what it is you’ve got to share.”

  He stood up and leaned against the window’s edge, crossing his arms. “I don’t think I can trust you.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh lightly. “Okay. Then let me make something clear. The Hermessi on Neraka have no use for you anymore, and therefore no reason to break you out of jail. Meanwhile, you’ve been running your mouth to the prison guards about intel on the Hermessi and the ritual, and Ramin isn’t here to protect you. Do you really think you’ll survive another day in here, unless I have you moved to another location?”

  His expression shifted. It went from arrogant self-assurance to sheer dread. I couldn’t read his emotional aura, which was pretty much the only thing I hated about daemons, but his body language couldn’t elude me.

  “What are you talking about?” he murmured, eyeing me nervously.

  “Ledar, you’ve been telling people you’re ready to betray the Hermessi for better prison conditions. Do you really think Neraka’s Water, Air, or Earth Hermessi will let you live much longer? Granted, you’ve still got the Devil’s Weed on you, but word travels fast, my friend. One of those prison guards is bound to say something to someone at some point, and a Hermessi will eventually overhear it. How do you think you’ll die? Sudden drowning? Or maybe this cell will just collapse and crush you? Can the Air Hermessi suffocate you, maybe?”

  Suddenly, he was putty in my hands, as he slowly turned around to face me. His fingers twitched nervously, and I was ready to play out the rest of my cards. I crossed my arms and smiled at him.

  “Tell you what, Ledar. Provided you give me good and useful intel, I will make sure you’re moved to another prison. Maybe one above the ground, with courtyard privileges, so you can get some sun and fresh air once a week or so. I’ll also have a steady supply of Devil’s Weed for you to wear, at least until we resolve our Hermessi issue. If you don’t, I’ll just turn around and walk out of here, wishing you the best of luck,” I said. “You tried to kill this planet’s Fire Hermessi to take his place. Rest assured, none of the daemons of Neraka like you. They will go to zero trouble to protect you.”

  “Do you promise?” he asked, a muscle ticking angrily in his jaw.

  “I always keep my word.”

  He would’ve been stupid to turn me down. This prison was one of the most dangerous for someone like him. Its high-security quarters held some of Neraka’s deadliest daemons, many of whom had been fervent supporters of Shaytan. They were soul-hungry monsters, and they would never pass on an opportunity to torment or even kill Ledar—by comparison, his crimes weren’t half as bad, though still atrocious. If the Hermessi didn’t kill him, the other prisoners surely would as soon as he stepped into the courtyard.

  Even here, they were allowed a weekly half-hour outside, and Ledar had yet to experience that type of gathering. I had a feeling he knew what would happen to him.

  “I can also torture you and get my answers that way,” I continued, not liking his hesitation. “No one will care if you scream, and I won’t stop until you tell me everything and beg me to kill you, to end your misery.” A smile tested the corner of his mouth. “If you don’t believe me, I’m more than happy to do a demonstration. I am a vampire-sentry with absolutely nothing to lose, at this point, Ledar. Either you help me get ahead of the Hermessi somehow, or we all die. I will flay you alive, if I have to.”

  He sighed, his shoulders slumping. With his back against the window, he scowled at me and nodded, his voice loaded with contempt. “Fine. Where do I start?”

  “I don’t know. What information do you have that you consider to be useful to us, given our stated mission to stop the Hermessi’s ritual?”

  “The Hermessi children,” he said. “Since you and Ramin first visited Yahwen, more of them have been swayed into helping Brendel. By the time I got here, more than half were already on her team. They were promised worlds of their own, powers that they could only imagine upon their ascension… much like me.”

  My stomach churned, realizing that Derek and Sofia were walking into one hell of a problem. “What else?” I asked, knowing he wasn’t done. If I were to reach out to my great-grandparents, I might as well have all the data I could give them in one go.

  “In return, all the children have to do is fight anyone who comes for them, including their own Hermessi parents, should they try it. Not to mention GASP. You guys are the worst, according to them. At the top of the enemy list, so to speak,” Ledar grumbled. “Brendel knew that, as soon as Ramin managed to escape from Yahwen, he’d send someone to rescue the children. She put measures in place.”

  He noticed the look on my face and grinned. He was about to say something, but I raised my hand to silence him. “Don’t. I know what you’re about to say.”

  “You sent people over there, didn’t you?”

  I threw a mental barrier out, strong and concentrated enough to punch him in the gut. He doubled over, coughing and gasping. “I told you not to,” I snapped. “What else? Come on, Ledar, don’t hold out on me.”

  Wheezing, he managed to straighten his back and eventually caught his breath, one hand resting on his stomach. My barrier was bound to leave a bruise. I gave him a few more seconds to gather his thoughts, ignoring Zane’s laughter outside. He and Caspian had been watching through the small grate on the cell door.

  “I heard one of the guards talking earlier,” he said. “They mentioned that Sherus is missing. The Fire Star king. Right?”

  My blood ran cold. “What do you know about him?”

  “Brendel had plans for Sherus before she took him. I know she took him. He’s a Hermessi child.”

  “Whoa. Wait, what?” I croaked, feeling my eyes bulging. I quickly understood the ramifications of Sherus’s condition, and it made my knees weak. We hadn’t heard from Nuriya regarding Taeral for more than a couple of hours, when they were still testing faster ways to search for Zetos.

  “I’m sure you know how easy it is to confuse a fae with a Hermessi child,” Ledar replied. “From what Brendel said, that was the case with Sherus. His father, the patron Hermessi of the Fire Star, didn’t want anyone knowing about him. For good reason, if you think about it. Kind of like what Ramin did for me. Only, I wasn’t a fae to confuse my Hermessi child
abilities with my elemental powers, like Sherus. I’ve always felt out of place.”

  “Yeah, sorry to hear that. I’ll take a moment to feel sorry for you later,” I shot back dryly. “Go on about Sherus. If he’s a Hermessi child, what will Brendel do with him?”

  He shrugged, further pissing me off. “I think she still has to make up her mind, since he’s also under the Hermessi’s influence. Right now, she’s using him as leverage against Taeral and Pyrr. She didn’t want the Fire Star to turn against her. Sherus will either be awakened and convinced to ascend as a Hermessi if Brendel decides to kill Pyrr, or he’ll die when five million fae are affected.”

  I gasped, feeling my throat close up. Taeral needed to know this, as soon as possible. My great-grandparents, too.

  “But what you’ll definitely find useful is that Sherus is being kept on Yahwen, with the other children,” Ledar added.

  My head spun. The room moved, and my chest burned. Holy crap, this was unexpected. Taking deep breaths, I was quick to regain my composure. “So, security is going to be even tighter with Sherus there, right?” I asked.

  Ledar nodded. “Definitely. Expect all the hostility you can get from these entities.”

  I looked over my shoulder, finding Caspian’s and Zane’s heads in the door grate’s frame, their eyes wide and mouths gaping. They’d heard every single word, and they understood what it all meant.

  “You know we have to tell Derek and Sofia, right?” Caspian said, his voice low.

  “Try to reach them,” I replied. “Don’t stop until you reach them. I’ll finish debriefing Ledar, in the meantime.”

  My hands trembled, so I balled them into fists as I turned my head to focus on Ledar. I heard Caspian’s boots in the hallway as he moved back to get in touch with Derek and Sofia via the comms system. If that failed, he could talk to Phoenix, first, with whom my great-grandparents had set up a Telluris link. Zane stayed close to the door, watching Ledar like a hawk.

  Ramin’s son was nowhere near as menacing as before his powers had been taken. He didn’t take his eyes off me, aware that I was his last line of defense against the Hermessi and anyone else who might want to kill him.

  All in all, I had an advantageous position here, and I knew Ledar would tell me absolutely everything he knew, if it would get him out of this place and into a safer prison. The promise of being above ground was a delicious bonus to someone who’d spend the rest of his life behind bars. Then again, the rest of his life could easily translate into a couple of days, maybe four or five, tops, if Taeral and his crew failed to get Zetos.

  There wasn’t much else I could do for Taeral, though, except get as much as I could out of Ledar. I braced myself and continued with my line of questioning. Ledar answered as best as he could. I could tell that he was trying to oblige. He definitely wasn’t a fool.

  But my mind was no longer here. Not completely. It wandered through the In-Between, toward Taeral and Yahwen, as I hoped that something good might come out of this, eventually. It has to work. It just has to.

  Taeral

  Pyrr had a choice to make, and I wasn’t sure he’d make the right one.

  Brendel was at a point where desperation was kicking in, and that was when unpredictability could reshape the entire battle. A wounded animal was dangerous. Even though she was a Hermessi, her behavior could still resemble that of an injured beast. With my father’s life in her fiery hands, it limited my options—and Pyrr’s, too.

  The hostile Hermessi kept coming down, dozens landing around us, their flames bright and colorful as they rose and walked toward us. The elemental circle closed and tightened around my group, and I knew we only had seconds left to get something out of Pyrr.

  “What are you doing?” one of the visiting Hermessi asked. “Take them down, already. If we have to interfere, you know what Brendel will do to your son.”

  Pyrr didn’t answer, but I felt the temperature rise. The winds intensified once more, and the clouds above expanded and darkened everything. For every word that the Fire Hermessi of the Fire Star did not say, his allies spoke more through their actions.

  “Tae, we really need to go,” Eira said to me.

  “Link hands,” I muttered.

  We did, and I tried to get us out, but something stopped us. This wasn’t the first time. We’d had this issue before, and it had been Brendel. This felt different, however. It didn’t feel like a blockage caused by a single, much more powerful Hermessi, but rather the collective effort of multiple elementals.

  “Oh, I think they’ve learned something new since Cerix,” Riza replied, horror imprinted on her face.

  “They’re blocking us again,” I said. “And I don’t know how they’re doing it.”

  “Our power grows a little more with every fae that falls under our influence,” Pyrr explained. “With every day that goes by, we learn to do new things we couldn’t even imagine before.”

  One of the visiting Water Hermessi stepped forward. “Enough, Pyrr. You’re clearly hesitant, but we are not.”

  Lumi and Nethissis’s hands lit up white. Herakles was the first to notice. “Guys, it’s about to get bad… really, really bad.”

  The Widow Maker took out his scythe, and it was the first time we were all seeing it. Unlike the one I’d gotten from Yamani, the Widow Maker’s was huge, with a thick, short handle and a massive blade that rivaled Raphael in size.

  “Where has he kept that thing until now?!” the Perfect croaked, unable to take his eyes off it. “It’s not like it fits in a pocket!”

  “It manifests when I need it,” the Widow Maker replied dryly. “One of the perks of my age.”

  A moment later, we were under attack. The Earth Hermessi struck first, sticking their green fire hands into the ground. Thousands of spikes shot up to pierce us at once, and Lumi and Nethissis retaliated with multiple energy pulses.

  The air rippled outward, fracturing the spikes as they reached toward us. I only had Yamani’s scythe to work with, but I knew it was enough to at least cut some of the Hermessi. Raphael and Eira used their elemental powers—the Perfect had fire, and the Hermessi child of Acquis had water. Neither skimped on their resources.

  Raphael cast fireballs around in a frenzied flurry, enough to confuse the incoming Fire Hermessi and to keep them busy, if only for a few seconds. Eira drew water from the clouds above and brought down thick columns of water against the Fire Hermessi.

  Nethissis and Lumi were focused on engaging the Earth Hermessi, while Amelia, Riza, Herakles, Eva, and Varga did their best to handle the Air and Water attacks. Everything fathomable by the mind of an elemental was cast against us. Fires that could turn flesh to ashes in a matter of seconds, held back only by our meranium alloy shields. Shards of ice that could slice through us with deadly ease, stopped by our blades and by the pulverizer pellets. The Stravian weapons didn’t work against the Hermessi themselves, but they could still disintegrate the materials used to kill us.

  I held my pulverizer weapon in one hand and Yamani’s scythe in the other. I fired five or six rounds, then used the scythe to slash at the incoming Fire Hermessi. Pyrr didn’t get involved, and that gave me a sense of hope. However, I was too busy defending myself and my crew to also try to get him on our side.

  Time moved faster—or we did. I wasn’t sure. But it all unfolded in vivid and rapid flashes. The Widow Maker vanished and reappeared in different positions around our crew, casting attack spells I’d never seen before and cutting through multiple Hermessi with his enormous scythe. The latter seemed much more efficient, as it temporarily disabled the elementals’ humanoid form, in a fashion similar to what I’d seen from Kabbah and his insane green fire beams back on Cerix.

  “Pyrr, you can’t let them do this,” I said and dodged a cluster of fireballs aimed at my head. More came at me, but I fired more pulverizer pellets—to my dismay, they didn’t work against the flames, but they went past and managed to destroy the rapidly growing spiky vines that were reaching toward Herakl
es and the others around him.

  “My son’s life is more important,” the Fire Hermessi said. “As long as Sherus is at Brendel’s mercy, I cannot help you.”

  “But you’re not attacking us, either,” Eva hissed. “That’s got to say something!”

  I swerved to the right and slashed at a Water Hermessi’s blue flame figure. The scythe went right through his chest, and, for just a moment, the flames around the blade turned to water. Droplets splashed across my face as I moved back and tried to get closer to Pyrr.

  All around me, the fighting became more violent. I heard Amelia cry out in pain. I caught a glimpse of Riza joining Herakles, Eva, and Varga as they fired their pulverizer weapons. Lumi and Nethissis were quickly getting tired, and the Widow Maker was hard at work and hurling curse words left and right.

  “Now would be a great time to do something,” he snapped, though I couldn’t figure out who he was talking to. The entire crew was engaged in combat, and blood had been drawn from most of them, already.

  “Pyrr, you can stop this,” I said to the patron Hermessi of my planet. “You can stop this. You’re more powerful than all of the outside Hermessi because this is your land, your home.”

  He didn’t say anything. The Water Hermessi shook the cut I’d left in him off, regaining his full figure, and came after me again. He cast ice shards as big as my legs at me. I fired a couple of pulverizer shots, then cut down the third one before it could pierce through my shoulder.

  With swift movements, I slipped the scythe back in its thigh holster and reloaded my weapon, which had been redesigned since the Strava incident to hold up to ten pulverizer cartridges. My hands were shaking, but I managed to slip the pellets into their allocated space. I nearly dropped the tenth as the Water Hermessi lunged at me.

  Pyrr’s fiery arms swung down and forced him to stop. They didn’t have eyes, but I could tell that they were staring at each other with hostility. My heart skipped a beat. Was this it? Had Pyrr finally made up his mind?