A Shade of Vampire 89: A Sanctuary of Foes

by Bella Forrest

  That made sense. “Sure. Sounds like a good plan. But we’ll have to run really fast and as far away from here as possible. Once this place blows, the clones will head this way. Hordes and hordes… not to mention Haldor. He’s never too far behind.”

  “We can use these,” Thayen said, holding up two packets filled with a shimmering white powder. Timers had been fitted on the side, with colorful wires connecting the device directly to the packet. “High-grade explosives, for when we don’t have dragons handy. We can detonate them remotely with this,” he added, showing me a small remote. “Jericho knows how to operate them.”

  We met up with Dafne, Jericho, and Soph back in the main hallway of the armory. The front door waited ahead, slightly ajar. Behind us, a back door could be unlocked within seconds with one of the keycards we’d swiped off the vampire guards. Jericho and Thayen agreed to mount explosives in each of the rooms, connecting them to a single small remote, while Dafne and Soph gathered a few more supplies and extra uniforms for us to use.

  “Blending in will be key,” I said once we were all together again. I’d had a couple of minutes to consider our strategy going forward. Sneaking around wouldn’t be an option for much longer. While I was clearly the clones’ target, Thayen and the others could still infiltrate this twisted society, since doppelgangers had been made after each of them. A good shelter was needed for me, and I’d finally figured out where I’d be safest, at least for one or two nights. “We’ve got uniforms and the lay of the land already. I’m going to stand out unless we find a way to make me over into something less… Daughter-ish.”

  “That makes sense,” Thayen replied. “And we’re ready to blow this place to smithereens, but where to next? We can’t move freely for a while. The clones will investigate the armory. We’ll need a place to lie low. The cabin is no longer an option, for obvious reasons, and the cave is too far away, since we need to stay on this side of the island and search for their prisoner quarters.”

  I nodded. “Right. Which got me thinking. If we try really hard to go underground and into the wild, of which there is plenty even in this fake Shade, Haldor will eventually find us. But if we hide in plain sight, we’ll stand a better chance of playing them all. The redwood treehouses would be perfect for that. Each high and far enough apart that they’re not easy to examine for… well, trespassers,” I added with a soft chuckle.

  “But they’re likely to be inhabited,” Soph replied.

  “True. Including mine. But I live with Mom and Dad in one of the highest residences. HQ, who I believe to be the clones’ maker, was unable to make copies of my mom and me. So, if the fake Shade is as faithfully reproduced as possible, it means the only doppelganger we’ll find in their version of my house is my cloned dad,” I said. “While it makes me sick to my stomach to even say it, we just have to kill my dad, and we’ll have a treehouse to ourselves for the foreseeable future.”

  Dafne grinned. “Haldor will never think to look for us there, and the explosion here will keep everyone else busy and scrambling long enough for us to get in and take care of the clone.”

  “And from that treehouse, we can plan our next few moves. We can use the canopy and upper branches to move around. Fewer chances for someone to spot us from the ground, given the titanic height, but we’ll still have to watch out for dragon and Hawk clones,” I said.

  “Sounds like one hell of a plan,” Thayen replied, nodding appreciatively.

  Once the explosive charges were set, we sneaked out the back door with our backpacks full and made a run for the redwood residences farther west. About a hundred yards later, we sought shelter behind the bushes, with Dafne and Soph watching our backs while Jericho armed the remote and established its wireless connection to the explosive charges. He pushed one button, and the explosion tore through the armory, making the entire forest tremble.

  The soundwave rippled outward and brushed past us with a hint of heat. Soon this whole place would be crawling with clones—and probably Haldor and his shadow hounds, too—so we swallowed invisibility pills, put our garnet glasses on, and climbed up the nearest wild redwood, taking to the canopy for slightly safer travel.

  My heart raced as I made my way up through the branches. The closer I got to the strange and empty sky, the heavier my soul felt. Once more, I was reminded that there was something about this place, something that ate away at us. Below, we watched throngs of clones running toward the orange flames that had swallowed the armory, plumes of black smoke reaching for the heavens. Someone barked orders. Someone else passed them along.

  We’d made some trouble. I allowed myself a smile. We’d pulled one over on them.

  Thayen

  Reaching Astra’s treehouse by way of the redwood crowns was a lot easier when the entire island’s attention was focused on the armory explosion. I figured clones would be swarming around that area for at least ten to twelve hours, trying to pick up our tracks. Soph had used the Elmin Essence we’d found in the armory to force our scents away. It would keep Haldor and his shadow hounds at bay, too. It was a shame we hadn’t had those vials on us to begin with. Only a few drops were needed, and our enemy would not be able to follow us.

  That must’ve been how some of the clones had gotten around the real island. How they’d moved and gone about their business without anyone even noticing that they weren’t the real Isabelle, or the real Caleb or Rose or one of the many others they’d mimicked.

  The Novak residence that Phoenix and Astra had built for their yearly trips to The Shade had been faithfully reproduced here, as well. It was large and minimalistic in style, with sequoia paneling and a dark red, thatched roof. Despite its simple straight lines and pointed corners, the house did a fantastic job of blending into its environment—unlike most other homes, this one was higher and easier to miss from below, and better protected by the canopy above.

  We settled on a neighboring branch, watching the ground for a while. The clones were black dots that poured out of the treehouses and down the thick redwood trunks. They scattered eastward where we’d left the armory in tatters. A horn sounded repeatedly and loud enough to make my brain hurt, likely an alarm. Above, the shadows of dragon clones flew in the same direction, huffing and roaring as they approached the scene of the crime about a mile away.

  “That worked like a charm,” Jericho said, unable to wipe a grin off his face.

  “Well, it’s a good thing you paid attention during explosives class,” I replied. “Personally, I was never interested. Naturally, I regret it now.”

  “Hey, man, it’s okay. I feel a lot more useful,” Jericho shot back, then nodded at Dafne’s backpack. “I believe I’ve got one of those ‘easy on, easy off’ suits in there, right? Courtesy of the now-defunct armory?”

  Dafne nodded. “Two, actually. One for me and one for you. We’ll change into them once we get settled in Astra’s treehouse.”

  “Good. I’ve inhaled so much dust from wearing these rags that I’ll probably sneeze hard enough to burn down the island,” the fae dragon muttered.

  Once the area below cleared, we knew most of the treehouses would be empty. Yet a light kept flickering in Astra’s treehouse, and we hadn’t seen anyone come down from it. I had a feeling we’d find Phoenix’s clone in there, perhaps not that interested in what had happened to the armory. If the loud ringing alarm hadn’t given him the urge to leave, then maybe he was doing something even more interesting.

  We used hand gestures to communicate as we spread out and approached the treehouse from different angles. Dafne and Jericho took the roof, where a skylight could be jimmied and opened with a little bit of fire, since its frame was metallic. Soph took the back door, while Astra and I snuck directly through the front.

  For the first few seconds, it was eerily quiet, but then we heard the repeated clacking of a keyboard from the bedroom on the ground floor. Astra and I exchanged glances, and she gave me a faint nod. Soph reached us from the back, silently signing that the kitchen was clear. A step c
reaked from above. We stilled and waited, our focus split between the bedroom and the stairs leading up to the first floor.

  Once Dafne’s bare feet descended from above, I knew the top was also clear, so I could focus on the bedroom, where the clacking continued. It sounded like a typewriter.

  Astra took the lead. We’d agreed that when it came to clones of our loved ones, we’d each have to handle them as a means to retain our mental strength and to prove to the enemy that they had not broken us—that they would never break us. Astra wasn’t fond of killing, however, and she chose not to wherever possible, so Soph stayed close, ready to finish what Astra started. The Daughter stormed the bedroom and put her glowing hands out.

  Phoenix’s clone jumped from his desk chair and whirled around just in time to see the pink light swelling until it swallowed the whole room. Soph darted past Astra and sneaked behind the doppelganger, swiftly trapping him in a headlock. With one merciless snap, the daemon princess broke his neck, and Astra’s pink light faded.

  “This is so weird,” she sighed, staring at the doppelganger’s glassy eyes as Soph gingerly settled him on the floor.

  “Sorry for killing your fake dad,” Soph replied.

  “You were right,” Dafne chimed in, casually checking the room. “Since they can’t copy you or your mom, they left Phoenix’s clone here on his own.”

  I approached the typewriter which he’d been working on and glanced at the current page. “What the…” I murmured as I plucked out the sheet to get a better look. The same words had been typed over and over. “I have nothing, I am nothing, but together we are everything.”

  The others moved closer to read, as well. “Whoa… talk about obsessive,” Jericho said.

  “I have nothing, I am nothing, but together we are everything,” Astra breathed, clearly troubled by these words.

  “What is it?” I asked, while Soph looked through the other pages, which were filled with the same phrase, repeated across an entire stack. I figured Phoenix’s clone would’ve kept going until he ran out of paper, since he hadn’t even sensed our presence in the house.

  “It’s something my mom would say to my dad in more trying times,” Astra replied, her gaze drifting back to the clone. “It was this idea that their bodies and material possessions didn’t matter. They’re nothing, they have nothing, but when they’re together, they’re all they need. They’re everything.”

  Soph sighed. “Makes me wonder what compelled this guy to keep writing that, considering he was never given a clone of Viola or you.”

  “We have the house to ourselves,” Astra said with a slight shudder, leaving the room. The sight of Phoenix’s double and those words had definitely troubled her. I figured she’d need some space and a few minutes to get it out of her system. “There are three rooms above, plus the living room down here. The terrace goes around the house, so we can use it to keep watch.”

  About an hour later, the dark quiet settled over the redwood forest. The clones were busy around the armory, conducting their investigation and likely searching for us. They had no idea we’d taken shelter up here. The sequoia crowns were thick and weighted down, flanking the south and west sides of the house. I had a good vantage point from there, too, with a clear view of the world below.

  The lights were out in the other treehouses. I imagined Haldor and his shadow hounds sifting through the woods around the armory, angrily wondering where we’d gone. I imagined the other clones bumbling around like idiots, trying to figure out how we’d made it all the way there. One thing was certain, though. We’d sent a clear message that we were not to be messed with. They’d had the upper hand in the real Shade. Out here, we’d proven that we still had what it took to fight them, one way or another.

  Driven to survive and exact justice, we—the real Shadians—had demonstrated that it took more than just physical qualities to be true supernaturals. Just because they looked and talked like us didn’t mean they could ever be us. They were murderers. Liars. Thieves. They were nothing like us, and the mere fact that they’d tried to blend in like that was a vicious insult. Paying them back in kind and infiltrating their fake world felt like a reasonable form of revenge.

  Astra was soaking in the ground floor bath. We’d agreed to leave her alone for the next couple of hours. She needed her rest—the day had already taken a significant toll on her energy levels. Syphoning off the likes of Haldor wasn’t something she’d wanted to consider, mainly because she didn’t know what kind of energy they were made up of. That was the risk of being a sentry in this day and age—not every energy was good to feed on. And we respected her decision. It was better to have a tired and recuperating Astra than an injured or incapacitated Astra after syphoning off the wrong person.

  Dafne and Jericho had rummaged through the pantry and the annexed basement below and found enough food in the fridge and freezers to last us a couple of weeks. I had my thermal flask blood, so I’d be okay. Soph was occupying one of the rooms on the top floor, and I’d taken the first watch out on the terrace.

  I enjoyed the silence. For the first time in days, I felt like I could breathe. Behind me, beyond the wooden wall, I could hear Dafne and Jericho working something out in the kitchen—the clinking of porcelain bowls, the chime of stainless-steel cutlery rattling together, the rush of running water. They were preparing dinner, I realized, having lost track of time altogether.

  Myst came to mind. Since I could now sit down and really digest the events of the day, her emergence at the center of my consciousness made sense. One look at her and I’d been hooked, unable to get her out of my head. I had never seen a creature like her, and I wanted to know everything there was to know about Myst and her kind. A being of light, I thought to myself. Whereas I belonged to the night with my vampiric nature. I wasn’t sure that mattered much. We’d both ended up here somehow.

  “This is the weirdest initiation yet,” I grumbled, remembering Jericho and Voss’s jokes about my GASP initiation. They’d been planning some complex prank for months to celebrate my official ascension as a GASP officer, but it had gone to hell with Isabelle’s clone. It would’ve been nice to wake up in the morning and realize that none of it was real.

  Only it was.

  “Whoa…” I heard myself say as I spotted something between the redwoods, about sixty yards from our redwood’s base.

  It was Myst. Her long golden hair was unmistakable. Her fiery blue eyes twinkled in the darkness. The faint glow that snuck through the canopy danced across her longsword as she moved quietly through the forest. She seemed to be walking, but I wasn’t sure of her direction. She stopped and looked my way.

  Her incandescent azure gaze found me in a split second, and I stopped breathing. How had this happened? What was she doing out here? How did she know to glance my way with such troubling precision? Every muscle in my body twitched as I sat up straighter. She clearly had my interest and maybe something more. I wasn’t sure. There were too many questions swarming through my head. Most revolved around Myst’s motives and modus operandi. Half of me wanted to doubt her like I doubted Brandon. The other half was at odds, however. The other half didn’t want to push her away by voicing suspicions—as if Myst were an ethereal vision that might scatter if troubled, even slightly.

  What would I do with it, though? I had so many questions, but my body wasn’t exactly helpful. All I could do was straighten my back and stare at Myst for several long, silent heartbeats. Until I finally found the strength to jump over the railing. I bounced from branch to branch before reaching the ground. Looking around, I felt relief in the midst of such desertion.

  But ahead, where Myst had been just seconds ago, there was no one. She’d already left. And I was left with no additional understanding, instead only more curiosity about who she was and what her role was in this entire alternative Shade clone mess. She had a part to play, and so did Brandon. We just had to figure out what that was.

  Tristan

  After the Festival of Lights celebrat
ion, one of Shezin’s priestesses came out to get us. She and the others had changed into black silks with gold embroidery from neck to chest, sprawling over their shoulders and upper backs. Matching gold bracelets jingled around their slender wrists. It took me a while to look away from the black tattoos on the priestess’s head as she guided us up the fifty steps and into the temple.

  Occasionally, she looked back at us and smiled, the gold paint stretching on her lips. “Our god Shezin wishes to host you within the temple. It is an honor bestowed on few,” she said.

  “We are humbled by his notice,” Unending replied.

  Past the painted columns, the darkness of the temple waited. Outside, the party continued as the Dainians scattered away from the temple and headed for the taverns. The sky was lit with billions of paper lanterns burning. They would turn to ashes by the time they reached the puffy gray clouds that had begun to gather slowly over the kingdom.

  We’d left Embry with the others, thanking her for her kindness and hospitality. Unending and I had agreed not to involve the Dainian girl in the next steps in our trial. If this situation were to end with Shezin dying, Embry didn’t need to be a part of it.

  The temple’s interior was architecturally impressive. The walls were uneven, white with pure gold cutting across in different directions—thick bands that captured the candlelight in its metallic reflections. The ceiling was covered in gold and white paintings of Shezin’s many miracles, sprawling across the gypsum canvas with poetic continuity. Almost everywhere I looked, I saw images of him bathed in the sunlight of glory and worship. It made me sick to my stomach.

  “You have a beautiful home,” I told the priestess. “It’s truly a sight to behold.”