“A beautiful lie,” Kalla grumbled. “They’re there, all right. Some are the first Aeternae ever made. They were present when the Unending came, when the Spirit Bender messed with her. They live on an isolated island, yes… but not because they want to. It’s because they have no other choice.”
Trev nodded. “I’ve heard rumors about that. Some of the Seniors wanted to die, so the Darklings put charms on them to prevent suicide. Their influence spread deep in the empire’s government, and they were able to take all the Seniors—that is, everyone past the age of two million years—to an island. The idea was to keep them away from the rest of the Aeternae because they didn’t want anyone hearing the Seniors complain about how badly they wanted to die and move on.”
“It’s just one island, not more?” Kalon replied. “I’ve been told stories about the retirement communities, about how the ocean was sprinkled with such beautiful and peaceful safe havens.”
Kalla sighed. “One is what I know of, but there could be more. They’re not allowed to ever leave their exile. The Darklings have outposts set up on the water around the island I’m aware of, loaded with some kind of death magic designed to push back if the Seniors come close. It won’t kill anyone who tries to escape, since it would beat the purpose of their torture, but the magic acts as a barrier. The Darklings will stop at nothing to keep them there. The Seniors know and remember the truth of their species, of their origins, and the Darklings can’t let them go public with that. Not after they manipulated historical records.”
As I tried to imagine these Seniors, an idea dawned on me. “What if we go there?” I asked. “What if we get them off that island and figure out a way to break whatever charms the Darklings put on them?”
Kalla gave me a broad smile. “That’s why I decided to tell you about them, darling. They deserve freedom and the right to a clean death. Plus, they’re old enough to fill in the blanks on all the information we’re missing about the Aeternae’s early days, the Unending, and the Spirit Bender.”
Kalon straightened his back, blue eyes glimmering with excitement. “We should go, Esme. Ridan and the others can handle the raid on Dieffen, right? We should go to that island and speak to the Seniors.”
“We can take one of the shuttles and evacuate them,” I said.
“And you bring them back here. They’ll be safe in the heart of the Nightmare Forest,” Kalla replied, “especially under the Reapers’ protection.”
Our team was strong, especially since we’d joined forces with the First Tenners, but Kalla did have a point: we needed intel. The Darklings would never deliver, probably not even under extreme torture. Valaine had certainly tried. But the Seniors had a bone to pick with the Darklings.
If they were so eager to die, we could offer them a way out. All they would have to do is tell us everything they know about Visio’s early days with the Aeternae and the Unending. An added bonus would be their allegiance and combat assistance—I certainly wouldn’t say no to that if they offered.
Our plan was growing, but I felt positive about it. Encouraged, even. The Darklings needed to be attacked from multiple angles, and using the Seniors against them sounded like one of the best options we had. My first challenge was to get us onto the island and into the Seniors’ good graces. They had to be pissed off and were likely unsociable, but I knew they’d soften up as soon as I told them our plan.
There was a better end in sight than what the Spirit Bender had planned for Valaine, and I was determined to give her a way out of this fresh hell. It would leave the Aeternae vulnerable, but it was the only option that made sense, considering how unbalanced Visio had become under the Darklings’ tutelage.
Esme
Kalon and I excused ourselves as the night advanced. We left Sofia with the rest of the crew to talk about the Dieffen mission, while Tristan and Valaine went for another walk around the village. The inn was dark and quiet, so I lit some candles in the main room, while Kalon poured us a couple of glasses of animal blood.
“To be honest, it’s not that bad,” Kalon said after a sip. “I guess I would call it an acquired taste.”
“It would be a gracious first step in separating yourself from the other Aeternae, particularly the Darklings,” I replied, settling in a loveseat by an eastern window. He joined me, his leg pressing into mine as he made himself comfortable.
“I’d like that. However, for the time being, you all need me at my full strength. I’ll have to get some Rimian or Nalorean blood.”
He had a point, but Kalla had a very simple and ironclad rule. No one was allowed to feed on Rimians or Naloreans while in Orvis. It had kept the village safe and healthy and peaceful, so it was no wonder that she was unwilling to bend that rule.
Resting my head on his shoulder, I thought about what awaited us tomorrow. Trev and Ridan would handle the Dieffen raid, joined by Hunter and Kailani, Rose and Caleb, Nethissis, Seeley, Lumi, and Sidyan. Reapers would be part of that detail, too, along with a significant number of ghouls. Everyone else would stay back. Sofia would be under observation by Amal and Amane, but she would also look after Prince Thayen. Valaine and Tristan would work on those memories of the Unending, aided by Morning and Phantom.
And the two of us would head out to the remote island in search of the Seniors.
“Do you think we’ll be enough?” I asked Kalon after a long silence. “Just you and me versus the oldest Aeternae?”
“The shuttle will get us to the island unnoticed. From there, we’ll just have to be discreet and blend in. There are thousands of Seniors, but they probably know one another by now, so we might stand out if we make a public appearance upon landing. But we can move around unnoticed. We can use invisibility pills and disguises once we assess the situation. I think we can pull it off.”
“Until we find their leader?”
“If you could call them that, yeah. There must be a Senior there who calls the shots. That’s the Aeternae we need to talk to,” Kalon said. “We’ll have to make a pretty compelling case before he kills us, that’s all.”
I almost laughed. “You make it sound so easy, Kalon.”
“It’ll be anything but that. However, I trust I’ve got the right partner for this.” He gave me a warm and playful smile.
I raised my head to look at him as he took the empty glasses and set them aside.
“How are you holding up?” I asked. “Are you feeling better about your little brothers?”
Kalon looked at me for a while, his gaze softening. “There isn’t an hour gone by that I don’t regret what happened to Simmon and my uncle Aganon. Had my mother not involved them, maybe they’d still be alive. I’ll never forgive her for that, just as I’ll never forgive her for poisoning Ansel, Moore, and Tudyk’s minds, as well. So I guess the answer to your question would be that I’m angry at my mother. I’m grieving. I’m frustrated. But I’m also hopeful that this trouble won’t last forever. That we will prevail, and that you and I will get a chance to explore whatever future might be left for us.”
“Despite your pain, you’re optimistic,” I said, keeping my tone light.
He brought a hand up to cup my face. Pulling me closer, he placed a light kiss on my lips. I closed my eyes, basking in its softness, as his voice made my heart sing.
“I only have you to thank, Esme. Had you not come around, I’d still be pushing the Darklings away or worse.”
“Worse?” I asked.
“I think my mother’s next step in convincing me to join the Darklings would’ve been my brothers. I would’ve seen that Ansel, Moore, and Tudyk were already turned, and I would’ve ended up becoming a Darkling myself just to protect them, to keep them under my wing and away from the faction’s more dangerous operations,” Kalon said. His voice broke. He could imagine no greater sacrifice. Forsaking his own ethos to protect his brothers.
“Then you definitely got lucky when I showed up,” I quipped, not wanting him to descend into that dark spot. He’d lost enough, and his mother was s
till a threat. I wanted his morale to be high, his eyes wide, and his heart open.
“Moore isn’t taking this very well,” Kalon said, looking away for a moment. “Tudyk will be okay. He’s a little older, and he’s got a bit more strength. Moore might be physically self-sufficient, but emotionally he’s still bound to our mother.”
My heart broke for the kid. “Do you think there’s anything else we can do to help him?”
“I’m not sure. Tudyk and Ansel won’t let him out of their sight, but I worry that if our mother comes along, Moore will make a poor choice.”
“He still relies on her. It makes sense. Maybe it’s best if Ansel and Tudyk focus on keeping Moore away from Petra. And keeping Petra out of their conversations,” I suggested. “Perhaps she should become that unpleasant topic that everyone avoids. I know she’s your mother and all, but—”
“It doesn’t make her our master,” Kalon replied. “She messed up. She claims to love us, but all she does is get us into trouble. She’s serving the Darklings in a high capacity. She’s got the knowledge to end all this, yet she chooses to perpetuate the Unending’s suffering. Not all mothers are good people, Esme.”
“I know. I’m just sorry yours turned out to be so… evil.”
Kalon sucked in a breath and reached an arm around my shoulders. He caught me in a hug, his heart thundering in his chest as he looked at me lovingly. “Enough about her. Let’s talk about tomorrow. I’ve given some thought to your earlier concern,” he said, his eyes searching my face. “The two of us are enough for the island, but we should have some kind of backup. Emergency assistance or extraction, perhaps.”
I thought about it for a moment, my mind already rushing through dozens of possible scenarios about how tomorrow might go regarding the Seniors’ reaction and willingness to help. I couldn’t involve the Dieffen team, since they all needed to concentrate on taking out the Darklings there.
“I’ll talk to Morning and Phantom. Perhaps they can jump in to help us,” I replied. “I got a new earpiece from Sofia so I can communicate with anyone in my team, including my brother. I can reach out to Tristan, and he can send one of the two Reapers to help us if we need them.”
Kalon dropped a kiss on my cheek. “I think we’ll be okay. You’re quick to look for solutions.”
“And you praise me a little too much.”
“I’m in awe of you. I can’t help it!”
He made me laugh. Looking around us now, I didn’t see anything to remind us of the kind of trouble we were in. We were alone, cuddling on a loveseat, crickets chirping outside as the night stretched over the forest. We were inseparable and eager to do something right, despite his family and the risk of losing his immortality at the end of this journey. Sure, I might be able to turn him into a vampire, but he would no longer be an Aeternae, either way.
For now, we were just two souls coming together. Our lips touched, and our hearts zinged. Tomorrow was still far away. We had tonight, and we’d have to make the most of it, just like we’d have to make the most of every other moment fate gave us. It could all end in the blink of an eye, and the mere thought made my chest hurt.
Whatever happened, I knew one thing with crystal clarity: Kalon would survive this. I would make sure of it. I would do whatever it took so that he might live that future he’d mentioned. The future he deserved.
Derek
Hours passed in silence, the night settling outside. I couldn’t see anything because of the walls, but my hearing was sharp. I recognized the songs of nocturnal birds from trees surrounding the palace and the gardens. Maya revealed herself and sat next to my cell, her big black eyes following me as I paced back and forth.
“They’re insane,” I muttered, hoping she’d at least understand me. With everything I’d witnessed and learned, I needed someone to simply listen to me, to the many thoughts that had gathered in my head. “They’re going to bring the Spirit Bender back.”
I wasn’t sure I’d gathered all the intel I needed, so there was no point in breaking the green bead to get myself out of here. That was also my only way of reaching out to Lumi, and I didn’t want to risk bringing her over just to share the news about the Spirit Bender. I figured I’d get more out of Danika before calling on the swamp witch to get me out. There were aspects of this whole story that bothered me, and I felt like I could miss important details if I left now.
“I mean… they’ve been killing the Unending for years, over and over, just to preserve all that Spirit put in place. To keep themselves in power,” I said, looking at Maya. “You know as well as I do that if the Unending gets free, she’ll make them all mortal again. That’s what I’d do, if I were her.”
Maya nodded slowly, and I felt a little less crazy for talking to her.
“I can only imagine what she’s been going through, especially now that she knows her father is leading the charge against her. Poor Valaine.”
The door screeched open, and Maya vanished. Danika came in, casually holding a heart in her hand. My throat closed up as I watched the blood dripping from her fingers onto the stone floor. She gave me a sideways glance.
“I have a proposition for you, Derek.”
“You don’t even realize how crazy you look,” I muttered.
“I’m merely doing my job,” Danika said. “We have to bring the Spirit Bender back before we lose it all.”
“Whose heart is that?” I asked. She knelt and placed the heart on the same charred spot where she’d burned the first one. Whispering a spell, she watched the purple flames engulf the crimson organ, its muscle twitching and sizzling as the fire consumed it.
“Iklas. He was the second slowest among us,” she replied dryly, unaffected by what she had to do to meet her objective. By all possible definitions, Danika was a sociopath, and I wondered if she was even capable of loving anyone—including her son. She’d killed her husband, so what would stop her from doing the same to the boy if push came to shove? “I’m trying to take them down by order of physical prowess. Some of the Whips are smart, but not the most agile. Others have excellent instincts, but slower brain activity. Rodique was at the bottom of the pile. Iklas was right behind her. Anyway, these details are unimportant. Like I said, I need to talk to you.”
“What do you want, Danika?” I asked, unable to take my eyes off the burning heart. The crystalline shard was revealed, and she carefully scooped it out from the shimmering ashes and slipped it into a fine leather pouch.
“The Black Fever is doing quite the number on us,” she said. “Worse than ever, actually. We’ve already lost about three thousand Aeternae in the imperial city, plus thousands more in the provinces. Whatever made the curse manifest itself sooner has also made it much more aggressive. It’s killing us faster.”
I narrowed my eyes at her, though she couldn’t be bothered to look at me. “Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?”
“Corbin is mounting a full-scale operation to track Valaine down and kill her. Eventually, he will find her, and it’s very likely your wife and your friends will be stupid enough to try to protect her. They will die, and you will suffer. While that would give me nothing but joy, it would also reduce the Aeternae numbers to dramatic new lows. The empire cannot afford that. The faster we get to Valaine, the more of us will survive.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
Not that I had any intention of doing something—let alone something that Danika might require—but I wanted to know what she was planning. This conversation was going somewhere, and the more she talked, the more information I gathered.
“Come out with me. I’ll call a gathering and make sure your people hear about it. They’ll be there, for sure. You’re all foolish enough to follow one another into the pits of darkness and death if you have to,” Danika said. “Announce that you’re on my side. Make a public plea for Valaine to surrender herself. I’m certain if Sofia sees you on that stage, she’ll think twice before holding on to Valaine. You’re her husband. Valaine is simply someone w
ho needs to die in order to save lives.”
I laughed mockingly. “You’re joking, right? You want me to tell the people of Visio—and my people, too—that Valaine should surrender so that she can die?”
“It’s an option I’m giving you, Derek. Like I said, I’d love nothing more than to watch you suffer for an eternity, but I must worry about my empire first. I’ll sweeten the deal for you. I’ll grant you and your crew safe passage off this planet if you do this. You’ll get to leave Visio behind and move on with your lives, and we’ll get to continue our sacred traditions.”
“Your sacred traditions are unethical, unnatural, and illegal! The Unending doesn’t belong here, and you’ve been killing her and other innocents for too long,” I hissed. “There is no way I’m helping you get to her. Not after everything you’ve done.”
Danika shot me a cool grin. “And here I was, trying to be nice and reasonable. I told Corbin it wouldn’t work, but hey… it was worth a shot. We’ll do it my way, then. I’ll keep collecting hearts and shards, and I’ll bring the Spirit Bender back. May the universe protect you when that happens, because I’m sure our founder will be happy to punish anyone who stood in our way.”
I didn’t have a response to that. She’d made the kind of promise I knew she’d be happy to keep, and I would be on the receiving end of it. Until then, however, I had to play nice and get her back in her chatty mood. Despite my skin crawling, I also had a job to do.
“So Corbin is out looking for Valaine?” I asked.
Danika brushed the ashes into a separate leather pouch. “This will come in handy later,” she muttered, then looked at me. “Yes. He’s not entirely comfortable with all his Whips dying for this ritual. He’s hoping to capture Valaine before that happens, but he has advised me to proceed with my work.”
“I don’t understand why you can’t just ambush all of them at once,” I said.
A Shade of Vampire 83: A Bender of Spirit Page 11