Infiltration and surveillance, on the other hand, were my two new favorite words. These creeps had ruined enough in our lives already. It was time to strike back and beat them at their own game.
Astra
Berserkers.
Punishers of the afterlife. It boggled the mind, and I had absolutely no reference for them whatsoever. What existed beyond the realm of Reapers and Death was still a mystery, one that the scythe-carriers had insisted on keeping secret. The Soul Crusher had once said that he and his kind didn’t know much about it, either—and that even if they did, they would never tell us. It simply wasn’t our business to know, or theirs to divulge.
Brandon’s presence brought up a slew of questions on top of those we’d already raised about this alt-Shade, the clones, the so-called HQ, and everything else that was wrong with this place. I wanted to find out more, of course. I also had to admit that wondering about Berserkers did take my mind off whatever horrors my mother and friends were going through. It was a rather peculiar balm for my alt-Shade-related anxieties, but I welcomed it nonetheless.
Invisible and with garnet glasses on, our backpacks fully equipped, and our pulverizer weapons loaded, we made our move and left the treehouse behind. Shortly after we left the residences, I could hear some of the clones coming back from their search, murmuring among themselves about what happened. They blamed us—“the originals”—who should’ve been dead a long time ago, according to them.
I had a hard time getting Brandon out of my head, wondering also why he’d chosen to reach out to Dafne and Jericho first instead of me. He’d shown himself to me first, more than once. Or maybe I had just spotted him before the others. Deep down, I actually enjoyed his attention, if only for a few moments. Snap out of it, Astra. There are bigger issues at hand here.
We took the less traveled paths through the woods but steered clear of the completely virgin wilderness. The latter seemed to be Haldor’s domain, and I wasn’t sure how protected we were against him, even with our invisibility magic and trace cleaners. After all, Brandon had been able to find us. He’d said the same thing. It worried me that we couldn’t find the truth of this place—no, not worried. Frustrated. We’d made some progress, sure… but it didn’t feel like it was enough.
My parents and uncles and aunts, my grandparents and great-grandparents and all their friends… their generations had dealt with troubles of their own. They’d nearly died on multiple occasions. They’d averted the end of the world itself in one form or another. And I was complaining to myself about how hard it was for us. I’d had it easy for most of my life. Everyone in our crew had had it easy compared to those who came before us.
We were fortunate enough to reach the Port without any issues. By keeping a moderate distance from the clones and by steering clear of the deepest wilderness, we’d found a middle ground of sorts for our movements. We huddled behind one of the last redwoods that overlooked the ocean, its dark blue waters rippling beneath the unseen pale glow from above. The view sent shivers down my spine as I remembered the first time we’d come through.
“Berserkers,” Thayen muttered, as if mirroring my own thoughts. “I never thought I’d live to see this day.”
“We should’ve asked if Myst was one of them,” Jericho replied.
“Maybe she isn’t. Myst belonged to the light, if you remember. Brandon and Haldor are definitely part of the same… what do we call it, species? No, not species…” Soph whispered, equally befuddled.
Beyond the trees, the Port lay quiet in the night. The lighthouse wasn’t functional. It only stood tall against the indigo sky, a silent giant made of stone and iron. The warehouses were guarded, however. “They weren’t here before,” I said, keeping my voice low.
“Security must’ve been heightened since word of our arrival spread,” Thayen replied. He pointed toward the main entrance to the underground cells. From our position, it looked like a small concrete cube with iron snakes curling out from its walls. No one had ever bothered to redesign and repurpose the cells and their entrance in the real island, and no one bothered to do it here, either. “I’m counting fifteen guards. Five vampires.”
“Two fire dragons, four Maras, and four wolves,” Jericho added, his brow furrowed. “There’s a lot of sand between us and them. They will spot our tracks unless we figure out another way to get to that entrance.”
This was one of the moments where I deeply regretted not having worked harder on my ability to teleport. Of all the gifts bestowed upon me by the blood of the Daughters, this had been the hardest to tap into. I’d never needed it before, however, and I’d often thought that there was no point in forcing something that just didn’t want to manifest. Nevertheless, my friends could’ve used my help right now… and I had nothing.
“Astra, what do you think?” Soph asked me, a hopeful glint persisting in her red eyes.
“I doubt this is a good time to try teleporting again. It didn’t work before… and I’m bad under pressure,” I replied, lowering my gaze for a moment.
Dafne gave me a gentle nudge. “It’s okay. At least we asked. It wouldn’t be fair of us to expect you to do everything for us. I mean, you’re a wondrous source of light and elemental magic, anyway. Anything more, and you’d be perfect.”
“Yeah, no one likes perfection,” Jericho chuckled.
“Except the Perfects,” Thayen shot back, and it took some effort to stop ourselves from laughing out loud. This was still enemy territory, after all.
As I looked out at the sea of sand that stretched between us and the entrance to the cells, I got a better idea. I felt a smile stretching my lips, and the others quickly noticed. “I think I have a way to get us across, but we’ll have to move fast and in a straight line. Hopefully they don’t have any red garnet eyes up in the trees to see us from above,” I murmured.
From this angle, we could dash across the sand and reach the entrance to the cells in less than twenty seconds. All we had to do was synchronize our bolt with the guards’ position. Thayen checked their movements, one finger tapping on his knee as he counted. Once we determined the guards’ patrol pattern, we were ready to move.
Soph climbed up the redwood and checked the surrounding areas. A few seconds later she came down, clearly satisfied by her survey. “I didn’t see anyone up there. The other dragons are still flying over the armory area.”
“Okay. On Thayen’s count, you start running in a straight line toward the entrance. Keep your heads down,” I said, while Thayen eyed the guards carefully. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Thayen dashed forward when he gave the signal, leading Soph, Jericho, and Dafne. The guards were wearing garnet glasses, so we had to move quickly before any of them turned and saw us. I was last, pushing energy through my hands in the form of soft barriers that glided over the sand, creating a low whirlwind effect. It managed to keep our tracks unseen, brushing them away behind me as we moved.
Finally, we reached the cement cube and flattened our backs against its southern wall just as the dragon clones turned the corner. We followed quietly and watched them go farther down the beach, while the others took the warehouses on another sweep. The entrance consisted of an iron gate with a chain and padlock keeping it shut. All Jericho had to do was grip the padlock tightly, the fire from his hand melting it into bright orange chunks that simmered into the sand.
Once we passed the gate, our fae dragon carefully put the chain back on with slow movements so as to not make any noise and hoping the guards wouldn’t pay attention to details like missing padlocks. We glided down the stone steps leading underground. The farther we went, the colder I felt. The temperature had dropped significantly by the time we reached the deep basement level. We were still for a long moment, submerged in the semi-darkness.
Torches burned on the corridor’s stone walls ahead. There were no other guards in sight, but Thayen picked up some suspicious sounds. “I’m hearing Field and Aida,” he whispered, his vampire hearing yielding more than my
ears ever would. “Their clones, that is.”
The main corridor wasn’t our only way through. This whole place was a maze. It was merely a question of turning left or right at the correct intersection, and we’d reach the cells. Moving quickly and quietly, we followed Thayen through a multitude of narrow hallways, since he knew this place best—assuming its layout was identical to the original island’s cells, of course. It was a dizzying journey as we turned corners and constantly looked over our shoulders, trying to keep our wits about us as murmurs emerged nearby.
“Okay, you’re all fed now,” Aida’s clone said, her voice echoing toward us.
I pressed my lips into a tight line, knowing we’d see her just beyond the next corner to our right. Thayen gave me a brief glance over his shoulder as he kneeled behind it, then craned his neck slowly to look down that hallway. He motioned for me to join him, while Dafne, Jericho, and Soph kept watch behind us.
Crouching beside Thayen, I peered around the stone corner and froze. Aida and Field’s clones were standing in front of a cell block. I counted five prisoners visible between the thick iron bars: Isabelle in a muddied white nightgown; Richard in his GASP uniform, parts of it slashed and scratched off as if he’d been in a fight with a wolverine; Voss in jeans and a black shirt, cuts still healing on his arms; Chantal, also in a GASP uniform, though she looked a lot better than Richard; and my mom. She was alive. I had felt that she was alive, but it was good to see it with my own eyes.
“What else did HQ say to do, besides feeding them?” Field’s clone asked Aida’s.
She checked a tablet, then slipped it into her back pocket. “They want the Daughter up to HQ. Time for some tests, apparently.” Aida’s doppelganger seemed bored and not at all comfortable with being there. “Come on, let’s grab the bitch and get out. This place gives me the creeps.”
“Coward,” Field’s double said, chuckling. There was no love lost between them, which was an odd sight. Then again, they were only meant to look like our people. They weren’t supposed to have actual feelings for one another, and since this was their home, they had no reason to pretend, either. “Open her cell, then.”
Aida’s clone rolled her eyes and pressed her thumb against the padlock on Mom’s cell.
“What are you doing?” Mom gasped, vanishing somewhere to the back where I couldn’t see her anymore. My blood boiled, and I wanted to intervene, but Thayen’s hand caught mine, holding me back.
“Wait,” he whispered. “We need to see where they’re going. There must be another exit on that other side, because these two didn’t come in the way we did.”
“What about the others?” Jericho hissed.
“You, Dafne, and Soph get them out. Jimmy the locks, override the fingerprint readers, whatever it takes. Then follow us,” he replied.
Obviously, they would also give Voss, Richard, Isabelle, and Chantal invisibility pills and any garnet lenses they could spare, while Thayen and I would stay close to Aida and Field’s clones to find out more about what they planned to do with my mother as we followed them out.
It made me uneasy, but Thayen was right. We needed the truth, and killing these two fakes now wouldn’t help us with that. Carefully, we got up and inched closer to the cells, while Aida’s clone dragged Mom from the cell. I almost cried when I saw her again, her pink hair a knotted mess, her face covered in dirt and soot. Only her eyes were unchanged, a vibrant and angry purple as she glared at her captors.
“I don’t understand what you people are trying to accomplish,” she told them.
Field’s clone backhanded her so hard she nearly fell over. Again, I felt Thayen’s grip tightening on my wrist, his way of telling me to hold back. We could take them if we wanted to, but they seemed to be headed in a different direction now, dragging my mother along with them. The exit was far behind us, yet the doppelgangers were going out via another passage. I gave Thayen a nod, understanding why he’d wanted us to wait before intervening.
Considering how complicated this underground maze was, we needed a second exit for our escape, anyway. We’d deal with Field and Aida’s doubles then.
“Come on,” Field’s clone muttered as he led Mom and his companion down the narrow hallway. A blue light flickered ahead, and they stopped. Behind us, Dafne, Soph and Jericho were cautiously approaching the other cells, ready to get our friends out. “Ugh, what now?” the double said.
“A Berserker,” Aida’s copy grumbled, crossing her arms as she leaned against the food cart she’d brought with her for the prisoners.
Ahead, a figure emerged through the blue light. His eyes were oddly familiar, as was his broad-shouldered frame. My heart stopped as I recognized Brandon beneath the fading darkness he’d surrounded himself with. “I’m here for Pink Lady,” he said.
I gave Thayen a confused look. He looked as stunned as I felt.
“HQ sent you?” Field’s clone replied, his tone implying absolute boredom.
“Of course,” Brandon said. “They want you to clean out ten more cells. Haldor’s transporting new prisoners from the Vale.”
“I thought we weren’t opening new portals,” Aida’s double protested.
Brandon smirked. “Change of plans. Now hand Pink Lady over.”
My stomach churned as I noticed the runes that had been mercilessly carved into my mother’s arms. Deep cuts that had turned dark red, foreign magic that likely stopped her from using her Daughter powers. She fought against Brandon’s hold when Field’s clone handed her over, but there was no resisting the Berserker. The sight before me didn’t make sense. I’d thought of him as an ally.
He’d led us here. We were supposed to get our prisoners out, thanks to him. What was he doing with my mother?
“Thank you,” Brandon said to the clones. “Now, do yourselves a favor and put on your red lenses. There are five originals trying to set the others free while you’re busy grumbling and protesting your current working position.”
“What?!” Field’s double croaked, already fumbling through his pockets for the glasses.
Aida’s clone was quick to put them on.
“Well, you keep complaining about how you should be handling the offensive, but you screwed up your first three operations. You’re lucky they didn’t throw you in the furnace instead,” Brandon added, looking directly at me, or so I thought.
“Can he see us?” I whispered.
“Oh, I can,” Aida’s clone retorted, sneering in our direction.
Anger and disappointment were tangled up in my throat, and I scrambled to figure out our next steps. Aida’s clone slapped her hand against a small plastic box on the wall. It triggered an alarm, which began blaring through the entire underground, making my skin crawl. Field’s clone finally found his glasses and grinned when he saw us.
“Why would you do this?” I asked Brandon, utterly outraged and achingly disheartened. I’d been foolish enough to try and trust him. Guess I had this coming.
Mom cried out my name, suddenly aware that I was there, but Brandon knocked her out by pressing his fingers into her temple. She fainted, and my skin burned with raw fury as I understood we had just been betrayed. If this was what he’d meant by “different circumstances” in which we’d meet again, I had a hard time buying it now since he had a hold of my mother!
Thayen was right there with me, but this place would soon be crawling with clones. Dafne, Jericho, and Soph had frozen outside the other cells, while Voss, Richard, Isabelle, and Chantal tried to get a better look at the hallway and understand what was going on. I knew they were terrified. What angered me the most was that we could no longer help.
Footsteps thudded through the corridors. Dozens, echoing toward us.
Brandon was dragging my unconscious mother away. Aida and Field’s doubles hurtled toward Thayen and me. My Daughter energy burst out of me like a volcano that had just erupted. There would be no mercy, not for the clones, and certainly not for the likes of Brandon. I had no idea how to take down a Berserker, but I wa
s suddenly determined to figure it out.
There was no way I’d let him or anyone else threaten my mother or my friends ever again. “This ends now,” I said, gritting my teeth and wholeheartedly believing in the words.
Tristan
Breakfast in the rooftop gardens accompanied by the priestesses was surprisingly dull. They didn’t utter a single word as they ate. Unending and I tried to start a conversation a few times, but it always fizzled into an awkward silence. The sun was rising above the temple, its rays dancing across the enormous garden. Reflections jumped in my eyes from the broken mirror pieces we’d left behind in the orchard patch—fleeting flickers of pure white.
I was under Unending’s protective magic, which allowed me to sit comfortably in the sunlight. I didn’t feel its warmth, but I was thankful to be in it without turning to ashes at the breakfast table. The blood I’d received, a Dainian donation, was absolutely delicious. The essence of Dainian life itself, squeezed into a delicate glass bottle. I drank it slowly, sip by sip, while Unending took her time analyzing each of the priestesses around the table.
“Where is Shezin?” my wife asked. This was the fourth attempt at making conversation. One of the priestesses looked up from her plate and smiled. This morning they’d opted for white silks and pink shimmer on their lips, pink agate pearls covering their chests and shoulders.
“He is preparing to receive a sacrifice,” she said.
As soon as the word came out of her mouth, I could tell she wasn’t comfortable. Unending and I exchanged glances, the blood settling heavily in my stomach. “Sacrifice?” I replied, eyeing the priestess curiously.
“Few among the Dainians know. Only those who make the sacrifice,” she said, her voice barely audible. Her sisters stilled, suddenly reduced to statuettes frozen in time with cutlery in their hands and food in their mouths, gazes fixed on her. The priestess noticed, and their reaction took her aback. “Our guests are bound to find out sooner or later. It might as well come from us.”
A Shade of Vampire 89: A Sanctuary of Foes Page 17