“We’re going on another trip,” I told my beloved, gently caressing his face as he slowly blinked, trying to reacquaint himself with his surroundings. He looked good—Time’s spell had certainly helped keep the Black Fever under control. “We can’t stay in Roano any longer.”
“They found us?” he asked.
I gave him a soft smile. “Not yet. But they know where we are.”
“They’re ready to leave,” Time interjected, gazing out the window. “Soul, Phantom, and Morning are taking care of Tristan and Valaine, weird glow and all.”
“What’s going on? You took your brother out of the interdimensional pocket, as well?” Kalon asked while I helped him get up. He wobbled but managed to stand on his own, though I could see his knees were shaking. It broke me to see him like this, as opposed to the strong and relentless Aeternae who’d first stolen my heart. My love for Kalon had only grown more powerful, but without the Unending’s liberation, I was bound to lose him. The thought terrified me.
I took a minute to briefly talk him through everything that had happened since we’d last spoken. He was understandably upset and saddened by it all and expressed relief at Thayen’s return.
“What about Kelara?” he asked. “How is she faring?”
“Dream is handling that particular problem. They had to put another collar on her to keep the hunger under control,” I replied. “We’re hoping Death might have a solution, since she hasn’t eaten a soul yet. In a sense, I can sympathize with her. I remember my first few weeks after I was turned. The hole in my stomach, good grief… I imagine it’s the same, just maybe worse for Kelara.”
“Is she conscious?”
“Yes, and constantly apologetic whenever she finds the strength to speak,” Time said. “As if she’s somehow responsible for any of this.”
“Come on, let’s get you out of this tower,” I told Kalon as he put an arm over my shoulders. “The faster we leave Roano, the better.”
By the time we reached the ground level, our entire crew was ready and headed for the south tower, where we’d agreed to meet up. From there, the Reapers would teleport us all somewhere else, preferably as far away from the Nightmare Forest as possible. The desert had been mentioned a couple of times, considering how barren it was, home only to lost and wandering souls, for the most part.
Trev did a remarkable job of keeping all the ghouls in one place, including the few dozen we’d recruited from the campsite. We still had most of the Vision horses, as well, cared for by the Orvisians. The overall atmosphere was an odd mixture of sadness and hope. The former defined by mourning over Kalla’s passing, and the latter amplified by Thayen’s return. This didn’t feel like a loss, though.
The Visentis boys shrieked and laughed as they rushed over, collectively hugging their brother. Kalon laughed lightly, struggling to keep himself upright as the boys smothered him with affection.
“Thank the stars for Time’s quarantine tweak,” I chuckled, ignoring the tears pricking my eyes. I had promised Ansel, Tudyk, and Moore that we would do everything in our power to save Kalon. I intended to keep my word, but with how things had been going lately, doubt was worming its way into my heart. It was becoming increasingly more difficult for me not to wonder what would happen if we failed.
“Kalon, you look okay,” Ansel said, beaming at his older brother. “How are you feeling?”
“Not at the top of my game, I’m afraid,” he replied, ruffling Tudyk’s and Moore’s hair at once. “I’m only out for a bit. Esme tells me the Reapers have a… pod or something for me?”
Moore nodded and guided us to one of the carts, where a metallic pod had been installed with Lumi’s and the Reapers’ joint efforts. A similar contraption had been put in place for Tristan and Valaine. “This is it,” the boy said. “They’re going to put you in here. Soul came up with a way to make the interdimensional pocket mobile but still tethered to him. I didn’t quite understand the details, but—”
“It’s basically a hibernation chamber,” Tudyk said, cutting him off. “You go in, we can’t see or reach you, but you’ll be safe.”
“Look at Tristan and Valaine here,” Ansel replied, nodding at the cart next to us. The pod was wide open as Caleb and Hunter gently placed Tristan, then Valaine, inside. They were both still glowing, but they looked like they were sound asleep before they disappeared into the interdimensional pocket, and Caleb shut the pod cover tight. Doubt poked me again, but I refused to give it any attention. I trusted my brother. I knew they’d eventually find their way back to us.
“They’re going to be okay,” Kalon said, giving me a sideways glance. Even now, he seemed to understand exactly what was going through my head. “Valaine is the fiercest creature I’ve ever known. Except you, of course.”
“Yeah, she’ll pull through,” I replied. “I just want us to hear from Unending. We need to find out how to break those damned seals already. The clock is ticking—for you, too. I wonder how long until she wakes up.”
He hugged me, pressing his lips against my forehead. I welcomed the warmth of his embrace and the sweet love in his kiss. I wanted this moment to last forever, but alas. Nothing really lasted forever. Softening in his arms for a second, I thought of a future where the two of us survived. Setting it as my objective seemed like the most natural thing to do. Our lives had become intertwined and impossible to separate. The best we could do going forward was to make sure we stayed together, no matter what. Despite the adversities, we’d given Corbin a run for his money. We’d turned the tables on the Darklings.
“Esme, we need to put Kalon back,” Time said, giving me a tense smile. He hated having to break us up like this. “It’ll be better for his condition.”
“It’s okay,” Kalon replied, moving back as he tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, then whispered: “I love you.” His fingers tickled my skin, and I shivered slightly with delight and longing. It would be a while before we’d be reunited again.
“I love you, Kalon,” I replied, my heart throbbing.
“We’ll all see each other again soon,” he said, this time addressing the whole crew.
He gently moved away from me and hugged his brothers. He gave me one last smile before Time walked him to the pod and helped him get in. I watched Kalon disappear inside before the Reaper shut the cover, and I dug deep inside myself for that last sliver of hope I’d kept close to my heart. I needed it now more than ever.
“We’ve gathered all the supplies and weapons we have left,” Sofia said. Thayen was by her side, hand in hers at all times. “We’re not doing great in terms of pulverizer pellets, so we’ll have to be careful with how we fire those.”
“Let’s hope we don’t have to use them ever again,” I replied.
A deep and heavy sigh left Derek’s chest. “Everyone is ready to leave. Kelara has been secured, as well.” He looked somewhere to his left, and I followed his gaze.
The affected Reaper stood next to Morning now, a thick iron collar fastened around her neck. Her eyes darted all over the place and sweat covered her face, but she was doing her best to keep it together. Soul stayed close to her most of the time, but because he was tasked with creating and maintaining the interdimensional pockets, we needed him to look after Tristan, Valaine, and Kalon. He was doing a stellar job despite the constant strain in his voice. I could tell Kelara’s situation tormented him, but he refused to let it consume him altogether. I had a feeling something else had been bothering Soul—he wasn’t the type to share, and I couldn’t yank it out of him, either. Whatever was troubling him, he’d deal with it himself. He knew he could count on us for pretty much anything, if he needed help. The First Tenners weren’t the type to reach out, though.
“Okay. I’m doing one last head count to make sure we’ve got everybody,” Amane said, stepping away from Ridan and her sister. Murmurs erupted from the crowd around us—it didn’t sound like the usual chitchat we’d grown accustomed to. There was a stench of fear swelling, engorged by gasps as we all
turned to face the city’s southern gates.
“What is… oh…” Amal’s voice broke.
I froze once I realized what we were dealing with. Beyond the protective shield, people had gathered. Most of them were Darklings, and they’d appeared out of nowhere. No one had spotted them. None of the magical alarms we’d put in place around the city had gone off, either. They must have used death magic to conceal their presence. In hindsight, this moment seemed… inevitable.
“They moved quickly,” Widow grumbled, crossing his arms.
“Wait, it’s not just Darklings anymore,” Trev said, his brow furrowed as he took the whole sight in. The southern gate was about a hundred yards from our position, and we could see everyone clearly. “They’ve got city guards with them, too.”
“Not just city guards,” Mira murmured, her eyes rounded and glistening with dread.
The front line consisted primarily of Darklings clad in their black leather cloaks, scythes shimmering and ostentatiously visible. Right behind them, the evening shadows danced across gold and silver armor. There were hundreds of guards present, and probably more were being stationed around the city. I saw Crimson soldiers, too, their red shoulder capes fluttering in the wind. Worst of all, however, were the throngs of civilians they’d brought along. Every Aeternae man and woman willing and able had joined the convoy, and they all looked like they would love nothing more than to break through.
“Oh, look at that. We’re so screwed,” I managed, barely able to feign sarcasm as I went over Petra and Danika’s words regarding public opinion and how the Darklings had been working to influence it. Basically, the whole of Visio had gathered behind the Spirit Bender’s faction. Thousands of civilians had left their homes and lives behind, and they’d all come to Roano in support of the Darklings. With the Black Fever claiming so many lives since we’d first arrived on Visio, desperation and the promise of salvation and continued immortality had turned the people to the dark side, quite literally.
Seeing them all like this made me queasy. And that wasn’t even the worst part.
“I think the Darklings finally convinced everyone that their cause is just,” Kemi said, giving Mira a nervous glance.
“Without us or GASP to oppose them, it seems like an expected outcome,” she replied. “We all saw this coming, though I suppose none of us wanted to admit it.”
“We were all hoping the Unending might wake up before it went this far,” one of the Seniors chimed in, shaking his head in disappointment. “The world itself has turned against us.”
“And there’s Corbin,” I muttered, spotting Valaine’s father as he made his way through the crowd, pushing various Aeternae aside. His gestures were sharp and brusque—the mannerisms of a man who’d lost his patience. He stopped right in front of the shield’s edge. Even though he couldn’t see past it, he knew we were here. After all, we’d tangoed before back in Orvis. “We’re clearly locked in. They must’ve put death magic wards in place.”
The Night Bringer grunted softly. “Yeah. We’re stuck. Son of a—"
Without hesitation, I loaded my pulverizer weapon and stepped forward, aiming the nuzzle directly at Corbin. “Time to end this, once and for all,” I whispered, then pulled the trigger. The pellet shot past the protective shield but it never reached Corbin. It exploded mid-air, and I was baffled.
Corbin smirked, briefly admiring the cloud of silvery dust. Had he seen this coming, perhaps? It just pissed me off, so I fired another shot. Again, it exploded before it could reach him.
“I’m confused,” Sofia said.
“You and me both,” I replied.
“Thayen! I know you’re here, you little bastard!” the Master of Darkness shouted. “Come out! There’s someone I want you to meet!”
All eyes in our camp were on Thayen. The boy looked understandably terrified, but there was something else wrong. He was clutching his chest, his nose crinkling in what seemed to be pain. Sofia noticed, too. “Thayen, what’s wrong?”
“I… I don’t know. The shard… I think… Ow… I think it’s moving,” Thayen replied, his voice breaking as he struggled to breathe properly.
A figure emerged from the enemy crowd. A tall man clad in black-and-white leather, a double-bladed scythe mounted on his back. Chills rushed through me as my mind collected the pieces of the puzzle and put them together into a greater, truly horrifying picture. Time’s string of expletives pretty much confirmed what I was already suspecting.
“The Spirit Bender,” Time said. “He’s back.”
“That’s why the pulverizer pellets didn’t work on Corbin. Spirit stopped them. Crap, crap, crap…” I cursed, gritting my teeth. This was utterly terrifying, and I had no idea how to cope with such a turn of events.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Soul snarled. “How the hell is that even possible? I thought taking Thayen away was the one thing that stopped Corbin from resurrecting that SOB.”
“No…” Kelara croaked, her face suddenly white as she recognized the Spirit Bender. She’d met him before. He’d strung her along during the Hermessi revolt and made her think the Time Master had been behind that particular mess. “How can this be?” She looked at Soul. “Where the hell is he?!” I heard her whisper. Soul shook his head, motioning for her to keep quiet.
“Not now,” he hissed. “Trust me.”
Kelara seemed to accept his retort, but I couldn’t quite understand what they were talking about, and given what we were witnessing, I felt the need to ask. “Soul, Kelara? Is there something we’re missing?”
“You really don’t want to know,” Soul shot back. It didn’t make me feel any better.
“Now is not the time to keep secrets,” I said, but Time gripped my wrist for a second, giving me an intense look.
“Let it go, Esme. We’ll talk when it’s possible. We’ve got a bigger fish to fry here. A spirit-bending stinker, to be specific…”
I wanted to let it go, but something told me I was missing something important. Unfortunately, Time was right. The Spirit Bender had made his way back into this universe, despite the fact that we’d deprived him of Thayen. Morning and Dream were red-faced angry, lower lips quivering as they protectively huddled around Kelara. They’d spent enough time together on Aledras with her to feel a form of attachment. Widow shook his head, and I could see his galaxy eyes darkening. This was their brother, one of the First Ten, and the worst of them all.
“Not the family reunion I was hoping for,” the Night Bringer said, “but hey, maybe I’ll get to whip his ass for what he did to me back on Cruor.”
“I don’t understand,” Sofia mumbled. “How did Corbin bring him back?”
Thayen grunted from the pain. “I think he used eleven pieces. I think the Spirit Bender is incomplete, which is why this… this hurts so much.”
“The shard is reacting to Spirit’s proximity,” Dream said.
Nightmare pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’d say this can’t get any worse, but I don’t want to tempt fate.”
“Oh, don’t worry. Fate’s already been tempted,” Soul said, crossing his arms. He looked downright pissed off—not worried or anything, but angry. Truly angry. Something had happened, something the rest of us knew nothing about, and there was no way I’d get him to tell us. Maybe later, like Time had suggested. All we had to do was make sure there was a later to get to.
The Spirit Bender moved closer, pressing his fingers against the invisible protective membrane of the dome spell. The fabric rippled under his touch, making him smile. “I can feel you in there, Thayen. We are irreversibly connected,” he said, loud enough for everyone to hear. The people in our crew were speechless and mortified, but none dared to even move. “We will always feel one another.”
“What are the odds we can teleport out of here?” Trev asked Nightmare.
The Reaper scoffed. “Zero to none. We haven’t been able to teleport since we spotted the Darklings at the gate, and that’s Spirit knocking on our door. After Orvis, I d
oubt we’ll be able to tunnel our way out of Roano either. They’ll have put wards in place all around the city by now.”
“Kelara! Punishment awaits you!” Corbin shouted. “You’ve been a bad, bad girl! But there’s still time for you to atone, little ghoul! Come out here! Surrender!”
“It’s in everyone’s best interest if you do as you’re told,” Spirit added. “Or I will level Roano and everyone in it. It’s only a matter of time before I knock this protective magic down.”
Seeley came closer to us, joined by a startled Nethissis. “How are we going to handle this?” he asked. Nethissis gave me a worried look.
“He’s come for Unending, too, not just Thayen,” she murmured.
“I know. We can’t let him win,” I replied, though I had no idea how we’d weasel our way out of this mess.
“In case anyone is wondering, because I can almost hear your brains exploding even though I can’t see you yet,” Spirit said, his lips stretching into a contemptuous smirk, “I blessed the Master of Darkness with a great deal of my knowledge, including instructions on what might happen if he doesn’t have all the pieces of my soul. I spent years perfecting the recipe, and I took multiple variables into account.”
“What an arrogant snake,” Sofia hissed, baring her fangs.
“Point is, I’m me again, but I feel a little incomplete,” Spirit continued. “There’s a piece of me missing, and I sense it close by, lodged in the heart of a little boy who had no business running away in the first place. So come out, Thayen. If I have to come in there and fetch you myself, there will be hell to pay for every single person who’s currently shielding you.”
I looked at my brother’s pod, wishing there was something I could do to wake him up. Unfortunately, until the Unending came back to the surface, we were useless. All we had left was the protective spell around Roano—but that wouldn’t last long, considering who our enemy was.
A Shade of Vampire 85: A Shard of Soul Page 27