Brandon got ahead of our group, the shadows on him fading away as he led us far from the scorched clearing. Soon all the fire and smoke would draw the clones’ attention. We knew it, and so did he. “Who the hell are you?” Soph asked from behind me.
I was simply staring at his true form, though he had his back to us. Short black hair with a bluish sheen. Black leather covering his body, wrists and fingers loaded with silver. His arms were bare, with sculpted muscles and skin as pale as pearls. He glanced over his shoulder, and I saw those blue fires once more. “I’m the guy who just saved your asses, so keep running. It’s time to get you to the armory. The clones will mobilize for the cabin.”
My heart skipped a few beats. He knew what we were up to. He’d not only helped us, he knew what we were doing, where we were going. I wanted to believe that Brandon might be a friend, but he was like Haldor. They belonged to the same strange species. But Myst was nowhere to be found, and we’d almost gotten our asses handed to us back there. By some miracle, this stranger had come to our side and had pulled us from the blackness of this place yet again.
This was scarcely the time to pick and choose our allies. Fate had brought Brandon to us. That had to mean something… Right?
Astra
He led us through the woods, faint shadows swirling from his bare shoulders. He ran, and we ran with him. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. In the midst of the earlier madness, it was clear to me that the man who had helped us was also connected to Haldor, our enemy. We knew little to nothing about either of them, yet one had chosen to be a friend while the other was determined to hunt, torment, and eventually kill us. Oddly enough, Brandon had also accomplished a most incredible thing. He’d helped me tap into my power. Truly tap into the force I’d been living with my whole life, yet I’d never been able to fully exploit. It made me quiver.
“They’re not far behind,” Soph said, her breathing ragged as she kept up.
We made our way up a stony path, a snaking trail that cut through the northwestern parts of the redwood forest. I could hear them growling, sniffing our trails as they advanced after us. Thayen, however, wasn’t convinced that we were in better hands with Brandon than with Haldor—despite that, he didn’t slow down.
“You’re like him. You’re like Haldor,” Thayen said.
“Thanks for pointing out the obvious,” Brandon replied without so much as a glance back at us. “But I assume you’re referring to what we are, not who we are. Because in that sense, my fanged friend, I am nothing like Haldor.”
“Then prove it,” Thayen shot back. “Tell us what’s going on with this place! Who are you? What are you? Why is there a copy of our island and our people?”
Brandon chuckled, giving me just one brief, over-the-shoulder look. “Is he always mouthy like that?”
He was talking to me, and I was stupidly speechless for some reason. Truthfully, I’d thought he didn’t really exist. I’d thought my vision of a dark figure helping us had only been a hallucination, or perhaps my brain’s way of coping with this strange land and its even stranger inhabitants. I’d even thought my instincts were manifesting through flickering delusions, because if I were to assume that he was real, I would’ve had to ask questions I thought I’d never get the answer to—questions Thayen had just raised and which Brandon was actively avoiding.
I couldn’t look away from the blue flames he had for eyes, either. They were the most hypnotic I had ever seen, not unlike Myst’s. Yes, Myst. Her name had slipped from my mind with all this chaos, but now was a good time to mention her. “What are you?” I asked him. “You and Myst and Haldor. What are you?”
“Ah. You’ve met Myst. I told her to stay out of this. She just wouldn’t listen. Stubborn thing, that one. I’d have said she was stupid, but I’d be lying. Myst is truly tenacious, which can sometimes be confused with utter stupidity, since only an idiot would stay in this place after everything she has seen and heard. Then again, leaving isn’t an option for her, so…”
“Keep talking in riddles like we have any clue!” Soph snapped. “Tell us about this place! We deserve to know who it is that’s trying to kill us, at least!”
Brandon refused, pointing straight ahead. “We’ll reach the armory soon. Get ready for an infiltration. It will likely be guarded on all sides and at every access point.”
Jericho and Dafne had shifted back into their humanoid forms. They only had two minutes’ worth of pause to dress up as soon as we put some distance between us and Haldor. Soph had snatched some clothes from the cabin along with the bag on her shoulder—the shirts and pants, though old and dusty, had come in handy for both dragons. Sure, Jericho’s were a little tight and Dafne’s were hilariously oversized, but it was better than running the remaining half-mile buck-naked. We couldn’t risk exposure with two full dragons in tow.
“I could just burn you until you speak the truth,” the fae dragon muttered, his eyes shooting daggers at Brandon. The stranger wasn’t impressed.
“Maybe save your fire to make light and keep Haldor and the shadow hounds away.”
Jericho would’ve liked to respond to that, but Brandon was right. We needed to conserve every ounce of strength and energy we had left, considering we had yet to expose the mystery of this island and those who occupied it—clones and blue-fire-eyed individuals alike. The Great Dome rose ahead, and we slowed down, taking cover beneath umbrella-like shrubs that sprawled across the forest floor, most of them concentrated around the bases of redwoods.
Brandon brought an index finger to his lips as he looked back at us, though we already knew to be quiet. For about five minutes, we studied the area ahead. The Great Dome was currently occupied. I had counted about eight clones in there, but I didn’t know who they were. I’d only seen their silhouettes through the frosted glass panes. There was one ability I’d failed to develop growing up as a half-sentry. Sure, my emotion reading was abysmal, but I had absolutely no true sight ability.
“Five hundred yards north of the Dome,” Thayen whispered. “The armory.”
“You’re leading us there, but… do you know what we’ll find in there?” I asked Brandon. He seemed amused, as if I’d asked the silliest question.
“The clones are designed to imitate you. To fool you. In order for that to happen, they were given a fake Shade with all the amenities—the armory included. They need weapons here too, though for different reasons,” Brandon muttered. At least we’d not been wrong about the motherlode of supplies we’d been hoping to reach.
Jericho scoffed, shaking his head slowly. “Yeah? Then explain the disks and the weird cube sound-bombs and the black mist canisters they used against us. Those served a purpose, and they’re not made with our magic or tech.”
“Those are proprietary instruments,” Brandon replied, obviously not caring much for the subject. “Your stuff has been copied and stored in the armory, should they require it. Pulverizer weapons, healing magic, charmed armor and protection equipment, invisibility pellets, and garnet glasses. Swords and knives, bows and crossbows, hatchets and axes, shields and other warfare paraphernalia that you folks like to use to murder one another—it’s all been replicated.”
There it was. Disdain for our kind. It was blatant and deliberately expressed as such. Brandon wanted us to know that he didn’t like us. Still, it begged the question once again. “I don’t understand… Why did you choose to help us?” I asked, offering a faint smile. “Don’t get me wrong—we are certainly grateful for the assistance. Twice you’ve guided us to shelter, and now to the armory we’ve been trying so hard to reach. We just want to know why. You owe us nothing, so—”
“Damn right,” he cut me off. “Just take the helping hand, half-Daughter. It’s the best I can do, considering the nightmare this whole place has turned into. Later, you should also remember the following statement: I did not choose to be here. I have no allegiance but to my liege beyond this realm. I serve no one here.”
Thayen frowned. “What is that supposed to
mean?”
“It means we’ll probably see each other again, but under different circumstances,” Brandon replied. “Just try to get yourselves out of here as fast as you can. The clones will show you no mercy. Haldor is still behind you, thirsting for your lives. This is no place for a handful of Shadian pups.”
I wanted to respond, but the shadows swallowed him whole, and he became black as night, his features gone except for the haunting blue fires in his eyes. A split second later, he dissipated like a thick mist against the rocky ocean shores, scattering away from us. We were on our own again, breathless and astonished by the rollercoaster our second day in this alternative Shade had turned out to be.
“Typical,” Dafne grumbled, crouched low beneath a giant leaf with oval holes and a thick purplish stem. “They come in, rock our worlds, then leave us wanting more. So uncool.”
“I am truly at a loss for words,” I whispered, looking at Thayen.
He sighed deeply, seeming resigned. “At least we got their names. We know Myst needs light, while Haldor and Brandon need darkness.”
“And almost everybody here wants us dead. There’s also that,” Soph quipped, making Jericho snort in amusement.
Thayen’s lips stretched into a smile. It faded as he raised his head above the shrubbery and glanced ahead. About forty yards stood between us and the Great Dome, with its gilded steel frame and expansive glass panels. The meeting taking place in there was supposed to be private, and the panels had been obscured with a frosted white effect, revealing only the silhouettes I’d counted and the delicate azure glow of a screen mounted on the wall inside. “So, eight clones in there. We might find more around the Dome. Notice the absence of a stone portal,” he whispered.
“They don’t need it. They have their shimmering access points,” Jericho reminded us. “Quick question, just to double-check—in case we do come upon one of their portals, do we go back home, or do we keep investigating?”
It made all of us turn our heads to glare at him. The fae dragon looked amused.
“Kidding, obviously. I just wanted to gauge the team morale,” he added.
“I’d leave right now, if I could. But my mom and Isabelle and who knows what other Shadians they’ve brought here are being held somewhere. Plus, we still don’t know what they’re after,” I said.
“That’s cool, Astra. Honestly, I was only trying to make sure we’re all on the same page and maybe lighten the mood a little,” Jericho replied.
Thayen’s brow furrowed as he studied the surrounding woods. “Well, Brandon just left us here, like an absolute jerk. He’s clearly made of the same cloth as Myst, even if they do seem to belong to slightly different species, if ‘species’ is the right word.”
“Yeah, one is dark, the other is light,” I said. “It’s odd, don’t you think?”
“I do. Well, at least we’re this close to the armory, and Brandon did confirm we’ll find what we need in there,” Thayen replied.
Jericho crinkled his nose, clearly still doubtful. “Should we really trust the guy?”
“So far, the ones who’ve helped keep running away from us. It’s the ones who keep running toward us that we need to worry about,” Thayen said.
Light on our feet, we snuck from bush to bush every few minutes, carefully taking time to listen and make sure no one had spotted or heard us before moving on. It was a slow and sometimes agonizing process, but without any invisibility magic, it was our best shot at reaching the armory without riling up any of the clones. The Great Dome seemed undisturbed as we moved past it, the silhouettes inside gathering around the table, their muffled voices barely reaching us.
I didn’t have a vampire’s senses, but we did have a vampire with us. “Thayen, can you hear anything of what they’re saying?” I murmured.
He shook his head once. “It’s garbled. Distorted. I’m not sure how they’re doing it, but it’s like every word they’re uttering is broken down and reassembled, the syllables all wrong.”
“Must be some kind of auditory scrambler,” Soph whispered. “I’m hearing the same nonsensical gibberish. I think it’s supposed to prevent anyone from eavesdropping on their conversation.”
Thayen continued advancing through the woods, finding his next hiding spot in a round bush with an abundance of long, straight, spiky leaves. He moved on to another redwood, then another. We followed, one by one, repeating the earlier pattern of long minutes spent listening and watching and sniffing for any kind of threat.
Finally, the armory entered our line of sight, a cubic building with its wooden façade designed specifically to mimic the redwoods around it. The armory wasn’t supposed to be easily found for those who didn’t know The Shade. It held our most dangerous and lethal weapons, after all. And, as expected, it was guarded by eight clones. I recognized three of them from GASP—copies of vampires who’d been tasked with protecting the armory back home, too. The other five were people I hadn’t crossed paths with personally, but Thayen knew who they’d been modeled after.
“Lower ranking lieutenants. They usually patrol Sun Beach and the Port,” he said quietly. “Vampires, all eight.”
“Yeah, we can take them,” Jericho replied. “Easily.”
“Well, aren’t you the boldest among the bold,” Dafne muttered, visibly displeased with the fae dragon’s statement. “You’re forgetting they’re clones with dirty tricks up their sleeves.”
Jericho shrugged. “We’ve dealt with them before.”
“He’s got a point,” Thayen whispered. “Eight of them, five of us. I’ll take Harry and Paul over there on the west side. Jericho will handle the two dudes on the east side.”
“That leaves us with four,” Soph said. “I can drop two, easily.”
“Astra and I can take the other two, then,” Dafne ended the conversation, slowly taking one knee off the ground as she prepared to sprint toward the south side, where she and I had two clones to take down. Almost immediately, my fighting instincts kicked in.
Thayen smirked. “We’re set then. On my count, simultaneous attacks. We can’t let them call for help. The Dome is close enough for the others to hear. One. Two. Three.”
We bolted and spread out, moving through the shrubs like panthers on the hunt. As soon as I stepped into the clearing and our two targets saw us, I spotted the glimmer of recognition in their eyes. On the other side of the armory, bodies dropped with troubling thuds. I threw out a barrier. It knocked one of the vampires out while Dafne pounced on the second guard. He drew his claws and fangs, eager to tear her apart, but the ice dragon was agile and light on her feet.
He didn’t stand a chance, his head soon rolling on the grass. I reached my opponent, who was still on the ground, face up and grunting from the pain I’d inflicted. My barrier had shattered a few bones, at least. I grabbed him by the throat with both hands just as he was about to cry out for help. His voice faded into a breathless croak as I glowed pink and killed him with a single burst of pure energy infused into his body. He died under my gaze, burnt to a crisp, and I felt sorry for the life I had taken—real or fake soul, he’d been a living creature. This was the downside of our job. The other side of the coin. The reason why I’d always preferred scholarly endeavors as opposed to violence. Nevertheless, here I was, doing my duty for myself, for my family, and for my friends.
With eight vampires down, it was only a matter of time before someone stumbled upon them. For our safety, we dragged the bodies and heads away and hid them under a cluster of leafy bushes thick enough to keep them out of sight for a while. We only needed a few minutes inside the armory, and then we’d be gone.
Inside, we found everything we’d hoped for and everything Brandon had mentioned. Jericho and Thayen exchanged anecdotes about how they’d vanquished their vampire guards, trading tips on how to properly sneak up on someone. Thayen had had the advantage of being a vampire himself. The clones hadn’t even seen him coming.
We stocked up on everything we could carry: healing potions and r
ations of protein-rich bars that were usually handed out to non-vampire agents on long-range missions; thermally insulated blood bottles for Thayen to feed on, which could last up to a month unopened, per their labels; knives and swords and belts to mount them on; satchels with invisibility pellets galore; and pulverizer weapons, one each, with ten magazines that could fit with everything else in the backpacks, the latter found in a black metallic cabinet at the far end of the armory’s main room. There was even Elmin Essence, which Amane and Dmitri had come up with a couple of years ago—it was better than the black dust we’d previously used to hide our tracks. Therefore, it would be handy.
Since the clones were made after us, these supplies were valuable and necessary. But there were other rooms in the armory that were different from the ones in The Shade. Briefly going through each, I noticed spaces designed to hold various clone-specific items, such as the strange cubes that caused unbearable, ear-bleeding sounds, the reflecting disks, and plenty of black mist canisters.
Thayen joined me as I stared at an entire wall covered with aluminum shelves filled with the nightmare-inducing sprays, my blood running cold as I remembered what Haldor had done to Jericho and Dafne with his black shadowy mist. “It’s the same as Haldor’s, you know. The stuff in these canisters,” I muttered. “Only he seems to produce it naturally.”
“They probably found a way to bottle it up,” Thayen replied. “We could take some and use them against the clones…”
I shook my head, vehemently against it. “No. I wouldn’t wish those horrid sentiments and living nightmares upon anyone, not even these psycho copies of ours. This isn’t warfare. This is something infinitely worse, and I fear our souls would never recover if we stooped to their level.”
“Then we blow this place up. Make it harder for the clones, at least for a day or two. They’ll have to make do with what they’ve got on them, but the majority of their weaponry and ammunition is stored here. We could deliver quite the blow.”
A Shade of Vampire 89: A Sanctuary of Foes Page 12