Myst seemed conflicted. I accepted the secrecy part, though I didn’t really understand it. We weren’t supposed to know about her or Haldor, sure. But they’d come to us. That privilege was done and dusted. She wanted to tell us more, but she abided by rules unknown to our kind. In the end, despite our pleas, Myst just sighed and gave us one morsel we’d already tasted. “They don’t like the light. None of the shadow creatures. Fire. Lightbulbs. Magic. Whatever illumination you can throw at them. It weakens them.”
“Can they be killed?” Thayen asked.
She shook her head. “I’m sorry. Goodbye.”
Before we could say another word, she vanished. Simply faded away into the twilight like a distant memory. For a second, I worried I might have imagined it all. But that would’ve meant we’d experienced some kind of mass hallucination, since Thayen, Soph, Jericho, and Dafne had seen Myst too.
“That was… unexpected,” Soph murmured, staring blankly at the spot where Myst had stood just a moment before. “And weird. There are a lot of weird things in this place. It’s not just me thinking it, right?”
“No, no, you’re onto something,” Dafne replied flatly.
“We have to keep moving,” Thayen said, taking the lead. We stayed close, continuing our trek through the redwood forest. It was only a matter of time before Haldor would find us again and set his shadow monsters on us. We needed better leverage, and we had a good chance of finding it in the form of weaponry and other supplies in the armory behind the training halls.
We had a long walk ahead of us, littered with different sorts of trouble. Funny enough, Haldor wasn’t even our main concern. There were clones living here, clones who impersonated us and hurt the ones we loved. My dad had often said that for every problem there would be a solution. He’d learned it from his parents, who had learned it from theirs. He’d also experienced it firsthand during the Eritopian troubles. Something good had come out of that mess, though.
Something good would have to come out of this one, too. Eventually.
“Do you feel your mom, by any chance?” Soph asked. “I know you two have a special bond as Daughters. The possibility just occurred to me.”
“I’m not sure. I feel a lot of things right now, so it’s hard to make sense of every emotion. But I know I would feel her if… if she died. Every Daughter would sense the death of a sister,” I said, taking comfort in this rather grim fact. It meant that Mom was alive. That was all that mattered.
“Okay, so… at least there’s that,” Dafne muttered, giving me a sympathetic smile.
The woods seemed the same as we went deeper in. Back home, I would’ve marveled at every tree and shrub I came across, but out here the drabness persisted and muffled the alt-Shade’s intended appeal. Then again, I doubted that whoever made this place had done so with the intention of imitation as flattery, but rather imitation as necessity. Something told me it had to look as close to ours as possible. The people in it had to look as close to ours as possible. But why?
Thayen stopped walking, carefully scanning our surroundings. His nostrils flared and his ears twitched, but the frown on his face looked more confused than concerned. “What’s wrong?” I asked him in a hushed tone.
“We’re alone.”
“And how is that a problem?” Jericho asked.
Thayen grunted softly. “I’m not sure. I would’ve expected Haldor and his shadows to stick around, at least maintain a limited distance. He’d know that Myst had left us, and he would absolutely be able to track us through these woods. You heard her earlier. They’re strongest in the darkness. Yet we’re completely alone right now.”
“Normally, I’d count it as a blessing, but you’re right. It’s odd,” Soph agreed.
“Okay, from the top, then,” Jericho replied. “What do we know so far?”
“Not enough to survive whatever they’re about to throw at us,” Thayen said, straightening his back. “I mean, we know they might have one or more of our people in this place. We know they’re really good at copying us but only up to a point, since some of the clones were faulty or had different enhancements, which means they’re no longer interested in acting as mirror images to break us. We know there are people like Myst and Haldor around, but their allegiance is ambiguous, at best. Yeah, we don’t know enough to even draw up a coherent summary.”
“We also know they want me dead, but they haven’t killed my mother,” I added, my stomach churning at the thought about her. “Let’s stick to the original plan, Thayen. Let’s head for the armory. We need invisibility magic if we’re to infiltrate this place and find out where they’re keeping the prisoners. I’m just as rattled in regard to Myst and Haldor, but it doesn’t change our core objective.”
He wanted to agree with me. I could see it in his eyes. But part of him drew back, keeping him focused on the mystery—on Myst, most likely. I’d seen the impact her presence had made. It was hard to pull away from her. Truthfully, I was also very curious to know more about her and her powers, to understand her origins and history. But she’d left us, and we didn’t have a second to spare dwelling over Myst’s departure.
Hooking my arm through his, I pulled Thayen from his thoughts and continued the trek through the forest. All around us, the permanent night thickened into black shadows and cold gusts of wind. Every breeze made the crowns overhead rustle, the leaves shivering in the absence of a moon. I’d yet to figure out where the faint light was coming from, but it was weak. It barely did anything to light our path. Fortunately, we were supernatural creatures. The darkness wouldn’t break us. The things that dwelled in it, however… they might.
I wondered about my father. He had to be worried sick. My grandparents. Derek and Sofia, too. Hell, I was willing to bet the entire island was mobilizing to figure out where we’d gone. Our unexpected trip had happened so fast that I hadn’t even thought to leave a message behind. I was certain they’d find the tracks and put two and two together eventually.
“Psst. Look over there,” Jericho whispered, bringing our party to yet another sudden halt. We stilled in the silence of the night, following his gaze to where lights flickered. A settlement, I realized.
“I don’t think that’s supposed to be here,” I murmured, going through my mental map of The Shade. A mile to our left, we’d find the treehouse residences, and farther out would be the witches’ sanctuary. To the right, where the lights were, there should be nothing but wilderness.
“The armory is in that direction,” Jericho said. “We might as well pass by and observe these freaks while we can. It looks small.”
Thayen frowned. He didn’t like it, but he, too, was curious. “We make no sound whatsoever. We don’t get closer than fifty yards. We don’t spend longer than five minutes.”
We nodded in shared agreement.
There was a logic behind this decision. First, we needed to observe the enemy every chance we got. A small village in the middle of nowhere was a safer bet than, say, the Vale. Second, it was close to our path anyway. If there was one thing I’d learned from GASP, it was that no opportunity could be wasted. We had been trained as agents, not as cowards. We were fighters, not scared little children.
This was a recon mission, and it could very well yield answers that we desperately needed.
Jericho
I had a feeling we’d find out more from this place. We had plenty of blank spaces to fill as far as the fake island was concerned, and the fact that they’d gone to the length of attacking me with my father’s clone had set a fire in my body I could not put out. They’d violated our home. The integrity of our world. To me that was unforgivable, and a price had to be paid.
We cautiously snuck through the woods until we got closer to the settlement. From this angle, I had a better view. Of course, Dafne’s presence had a tendency of throwing me off my game, but I’d managed to pull through every time. It wasn’t her fault. I’d just never seen a creature so beguiling. We shared our hybrid commonality, yet other than that we seemed t
o be complete opposites of one another. I didn’t mind. It just bothered me that she was impossible to read. I couldn’t tell if she felt the same way, and I wasn’t sure I could act on my growing feelings without knowing if it was mutual. I wasn’t sure I could take this further. Dafne kept me on my toes, and I was equal parts thrilled and concerned. I’d never been rebuffed before, yet the concept of Dafne’s potential rejection did not sit well with me.
She stayed by my side as we took our surveillance position on the eastern edge of what appeared to be a small village. Some of the people living here seemed familiar. I had seen them in The Shade before, though only in passing. Humans. Vampires. Even a couple of Maras from Calliope who’d moved to our realm after the destruction of Azazel. They’d built small houses here, but none in the trees. They’d stuck to the base, using wood and whatever stones they’d been able to extract from nearby. A fire burned in the middle, and someone was roasting skewers loaded with vegetables while the others brought out armfuls of wooden bowls and cutlery from their homes.
We’d stumbled upon dinnertime in Weirdo Central, that much was clear. But Astra was right, their presence here didn’t make sense. I understood the slight differences in wildlife and other minor anomalies we’d encountered, but if the fake Shade was supposed to mirror the original, it still didn’t explain this place. Something was off.
I looked at Thayen, and he motioned for us to move closer. We’d yet to hit the fifty-yard limit. Carefully, I took the first steps with Dafne right behind me. At the same time, Thayen, Astra and Soph made their advance, keeping around ten feet between us. We found good shelter under some large shrubs and watched the villager clones for a while.
“They’re so strange,” Dafne murmured so softly that I almost didn’t hear her.
“Hm?”
“They’re strange,” she repeated, and I nodded once.
“They don’t belong here.”
“Look at that,” Thayen hissed, pointing. I followed his direction and saw it. Someone had come to the village from the north side of the woods. Caleb. Well, Caleb’s clone. The others were moving in a slow and steady rhythm—setting the bowls on the ground around the fire, adding the cutlery and some napkins, turning the skewers over so the vegetables would roast evenly, pouring water from the well into thick glass jugs, and cutting slices of freshly baked bread onto bamboo platters. They were the most harmless of clones, and that was what Dafne had found strange.
Caleb’s double, on the other hand, seemed irritated by their presence. “Listen up. Come here. Make a line in front of the fire.”
The others hesitated at first, until he sighed and rolled his eyes, taking out a small computer tablet. He tapped on its screen, as if writing something.
“I don’t have all day,” he added.
The clones left what they were doing and walked over to him, forming a line beyond the campfire. They didn’t seem happy to see him, and that just made this whole scene all the more surreal.
“Okay. Ida?” Caleb’s clone said, and a young vampire woman raised a hand.
“Here.”
“Good. Missa?” he continued, ticking names off his tablet list.
“Here.”
“Laurel?”
“Here.”
Caleb’s clone went through all the names, pleased to discover at the end of the roll call that he’d crossed everyone’s name off. The doppelgangers didn’t say anything else. Instead, they watched him with a mixture of contempt and fear. I could almost feel their emotions. For mere copies, they were remarkably expressive. Their eyes said more than their words ever would, and I wondered once more how and why they existed.
“Good to see you’re all here,” Caleb’s double said, putting his tablet away. “New orders from HQ. You’re not to leave until further notice. This is your spot, assigned to you upon request. We have yet to determine what we will do with you, but for now… you’re allowed to exist.”
Exist? That was quite the word he’d chosen.
Missa didn’t seem happy with this decision. “It’s not right. Everyone else gets to move freely across The Shade.”
“Well, you and your friends here lost that privilege when you refused to do your part. Everyone else works for their right to free movement,” Caleb’s clone shot back with an acidic smirk. By the stars, I hated his guts. The real Caleb was an amazing man. A strong man with a moral code and the kindest smile. This guy… this guy was a painfully obvious fraud.
“So, what—we stay here until HQ says we’re allowed to move? Is that how this is going to work?” Ida asked, while one of the Maras moved away from the line and took the skewers off the fire, worried they might get burnt. He gingerly placed them on a large, polished chunk of redwood, where fruits had already been cut, ready to be served.
Caleb’s clone disliked the Mara’s actions, but he didn’t bother with a reprimand, focusing on Ida instead. “Did I stutter the first time around?”
“I’d love to crush his skull with my bare hands,” Dafne whispered.
“I can hold him while you do that,” I offered, and the shadow of a smile danced across her face. She was an unreadable enigma most of the time, but then there were these tiny snippets when Dafne allowed me to see beyond her icy façade. I enjoyed making her laugh or at least smile. We seemed to be getting closer to one another, but I wasn’t sure it was enough to warrant a move on my part. Dafne certainly wasn’t like the other girls I’d come across.
“That’s the decision from HQ,” Caleb’s clone added. “Take it or leave it.”
“And if we leave it?” Missa asked, raising an eyebrow as she crossed her arms. I couldn’t help but feel thankful for our naturally enhanced senses. Otherwise, I doubted we would’ve been able to see and hear with such level of detail.
“Then I’ll send Haldor with his hounds over to tear you all to shreds. But I figure you’ve learned something from Mona and Kiev’s rebellion last week. Surely you don’t want to end up like them,” Caleb’s clone replied. I understood the threat in his tone. It was meant to be obvious.
Dafne gave me a soft nudge. It made my heart skip a beat. “Holy hell,” she mumbled. “The clones are rebelling? Am I hearing that right?”
“I think so,” I breathed, trying to wrap my head around the concept. They’d seemed so in sync with one another before. Each of them determined to screw us over in one way or another. Yet here we were, struggling to make sense out of this encounter as Caleb’s double was dealing with a handful of disobedient clones. I’d thought this place was weird, but it had gone beyond that now.
“We’ll take it,” Ida said. “But with protest. We’re living, sentient beings. We’re not robots, Caleb.”
“No, you’re worthless. At least robots obey the commands they’re given,” he retorted with a sneer, then pointed at the campfire. “You’re lucky we even let you stay here. HQ wanted to have you all turned to food for the shadow hounds. I put in a good word for you.”
“That’s kind,” Ida muttered, and I could see her hands balled into fists. She was struggling to maintain her composure.
Dafne gripped my wrist. “They might be able to help.”
“How?” I asked, my eyes focused on the camp.
“If they rebelled, it means they’ve got a bone to pick with… management, I guess,” she whispered. “Think about it. They know everything that’s happening here. Who’s calling the shots. Who made them.”
I wanted to agree. In fact, a plan was beginning to form in my mind, though I was nowhere near the stage of something coherent. Dafne saw the potential in this clear strife between the clones. She had vision, and that only made her more enticing. It was damn near impossible to even think of getting close to her in the midst of this chaos, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to peel away at the layers that made Dafne, to understand each dimension of her personality, and to marvel at what she could accomplish, given the right opportunities. Maybe I could start by getting to know her better. Maybe then I’d be able to get a better r
ead of her expressions. The fear of her turning me down only proved that what I felt for her was all too real.
Dafne had the makings of a leader, for sure. And even though I was more of a solitary type, I would’ve liked to follow her. Turning my head slowly, I found her looking at me. Curiosity glimmered in her gray-blue eyes, but there was something else, too. Something I couldn’t quite read, but it sparked my interest. For a second, the forest in its entirety disappeared. The clones, too. The shadow hounds and Haldor. Myst and her secrets. The entire world vanished in a puff of smoke, and only Dafne and I remained.
It only lasted for a split second, yet I perceived it as the longest moment in my existence because I had her full attention. Maybe my affection was reciprocated, after all? No, it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t afford to make the wrong move here. Dafne’s words could cut deep, if she wanted them to. I’d need more than this fleeting look.
“Caleb, we have a problem,” one of the vampires said, and I snapped back into this hellish reality. He was looking in our direction, and everything felt suddenly wrong. Like a bomb that would soon blow up in our faces. “See?”
Caleb’s clone narrowed his eyes, then smiled. He’d seen us.
“Crap,” Thayen hissed.
That was it. The end of our observation, and the beginning of another nightmare. The other clones immediately went into attack mode as they ran toward us. Caleb laughed. “Attaboys! Do me proud! It’ll get you extra points with HQ!”
“We have to go,” Astra said.
A moment later, we were running. The armory would have to wait a little while longer. There was no way for us to get around the village anymore. We had to get as far away from these clones as possible—they weren’t the only ones who scared me. No, I knew Haldor and his shadow monsters wouldn’t be too far behind. I dreaded another encounter with them. I had fire on my side, sure. I was a dragon, too… but still, there was something about this world and the creatures in it that ate away at me slowly, deliberately.
A Shade of Vampire 89: A Sanctuary of Foes Page 6