“High, if Valaine succeeds in her task,” I said, doing my best to tell the truth without breaking their hearts. Mine was already in tatters. I couldn’t let them suffer, too. “And I have faith in her.”
“What if the Darklings kill Valaine like they intended? Will that save Kalon?” Ansel asked.
I shook my head. “No. It would be too late for Kalon if that were to happen. I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not a good idea. The only one who can stop the Black Fever forever—the only one who can undo what has happened to Kalon—is the Unending. No one else.”
The boys exchanged fleeting glances. “Do you know if our mother is still with the Master and the other Whips in the palace, where Lumi last saw her?” Tudyk murmured, gripping a stick tightly in his hands. I wasn’t sure what to make of his emotional state.
“No, I’m sorry.”
“I miss her.” Moore sighed, his shoulders dropping. “I mean… I know what you mean. I get it. We all agree it’s the truth. But I miss her.”
“She’s your mom. Of course you miss her,” I replied. “But that doesn’t change the fact that she’s harmful—to you and everyone else here. I don’t think she’s been a good influence. Frankly, we don’t intend to let Petra anywhere near you.” I frowned. “That might not be what you want to hear, but it’s the truth. You belong here in Roano with your brother. Not out there doing Petra’s dirty work for her. She’s messed you all up pretty badly, and I won’t let her harm you anymore.””
Movement caught my eye somewhere to the right. Trev was walking toward us accompanied by a ghoul. It was one of the survivors from Dieffen, I realized, though the creature didn’t seem familiar. The look on Trev’s face told me everything I needed to know. He was in the worst of moods, and I had an idea why.
“What’s the latest on Kalon?” he asked as he reached us. “Seeley mentioned something about a sleeping spell, but I didn’t catch the details. I need you to tell me, Esme.”
“Kalon is okay for the time being,” I said. “The Time Master put him in one of the Soul Crusher’s interdimensional pockets. He slowed his biological clock down, too. Days will go by out here, while only hours will have passed in there. It’s the only thing we could do to slow down the Black Fever’s evolution.”
My blood simmered whenever I mentioned Kalon’s condition. Part of me wanted to curl up in a dark space so I could cry the rest of my days away. Despair circled me like a hungry vulture, waiting for my surrender, eager to tear me apart and shatter the last of my defenses. But looking at Kalon’s brothers, I couldn’t bring myself to give up. We were spiraling into a kind of madness, and I wasn’t sure how it would all turn out. I only knew how I wanted it to turn out.
Love had blossomed in my soul, which had become bonded to Kalon’s forever. What we had was unique and out of this world, and it made the thought of losing Kalon so much worse. But he was still here. I had to remember that. I hadn’t lied to the boys earlier. His survival depended on Valaine, but I had faith in her. What worried me was that Valaine might not have faith in herself… she’d been through so much and was frequently oscillating between anger and sadness, determination and abandonment. I wasn’t sure which one she’d pick in the end.
“Is he awake?” Trev replied after a moment’s thought, his gaze wandering over to the boys.
“No. He’s in a state of deep sleep, which further contributes to keeping the Black Fever from advancing,” I said.
“I suppose I can’t see him?”
“No. I’m sorry. He’s in isolation,” I answered quietly, knowing how bad this must feel for Trev. He and Kalon had been best friends for years. Hell, Kalon was the one who turned him into an Aeternae. They had a long history together, and the inability to do something to help Kalon was clearly eating away at Trev. I reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. “I can’t promise you he’s going to be okay,” I added, my voice wavering, “but I can promise you we’re all going to do everything in our power to save him.”
Trev gave me a weak smile, then shifted his focus to the boys. “You’re not doing it right,” he told them. “You need more than a bunch of sticks to put together a shelter.”
Tudyk and Moore stopped, staring up at Trev. “What do we do then?” the youngest asked.
“Rocks. You need rocks,” Trev replied. “Come on, I’ll help you. Let’s gather as many chunks of stone as we can. We’ll carry them back here, and you’ll have cover by nightfall.”
Glancing up at the sky, I realized why they were so focused on building shelters. Clouds gathered in lazy charcoal rolls overhead. Rain would be upon us by nightfall. The reddish haze was painted over with an incoming storm. As lightning flashed above, I watched Trev take Ansel, Moore, and Tudyk with him to find rocks for a shelter. I found a sense of comfort in knowing that the former Rimian was looking after them in Kalon’s absence.
While they were off to do their thing, I headed back to the city’s old center, where ghouls had begun returning with prey from the Nightmare Forest. We needed fresh blood for the Aeternae, and the creatures had brought back everything they’d been able to gather after feeding themselves. They’d returned with an impressive variety of large predators and plenty of deer-like animals, so I got to work.
Filling a couple of satchels with fresh blood, I set them aside for the Visentis boys and Trev. It was the least I could do, considering that Kalon had basically gotten himself involved in this mess because he wanted to do the right thing. Because he’d refused to leave me behind when Valaine’s darkness came for us.
Derek
I’d spent the past half hour trying to jimmy the lock on my cell. Naturally, it was warded with death magic, but that hadn’t stopped me from trying. It was better than sitting around doing nothing. Maya had recovered a nail from one of the corners of the room, possibly from a former piece of furniture. It was long and hard enough to do the trick. Hopefully.
I could hear the internal mechanism of the lock clicking as I wiggled the nail in there, but I had no luck actually opening the damn thing. Sweat dripped down my temples, and anxiety gnawed its way through my stomach, spreading fire up my throat. I’d become claustrophobic, desperate to get out of here. Hours had passed since I’d broken the green bead, and still I’d seen no sign of Lumi and Sidyan.
I’d become convinced that something had happened, and that I might have to leave this place on my own. That, in itself, offered a series of challenges, since I knew there were at least two Darklings posted outside, just beyond the iron door. The lock was charmed, and I was pretty sure Danika had put other measures in place to stop me from leaving. Maya could take me away, but she couldn’t get past the steel bars of my cell, each one covered in warding runes.
“If only I could get past these,” I muttered, running my fingers down one bar. I felt the power of each carving tickling the tips of my fingers. Each carried a certain weight, a dark energy I could almost sense somewhere in the depth of my being.
Maya growled, equally frustrated, her beady eyes glimmering as she analyzed the runes. She bared her long white fangs for a moment, shaking her head and stepping back, as if telling me she couldn’t do anything about this, either.
“Well, I know they’ve warded this place to stop Reapers from taking me away, but what are the odds that they might’ve overlooked something on the physical side of things?” I asked a rhetorical question, knowing Maya wouldn’t have the words to answer. I was only fooling myself. Danika was a stickler for details, that much I knew for sure. She would never leave a lock I might be able to break.
A single thud sounded outside. I stilled, and seconds later, I heard a second thud. Two bodies had fallen—likely the Darklings guarding my cell room. The iron door opened, and in walked Lumi and Sidyan.
The Reaper cast a delicate, shimmering spell across the room, and narrowed his eyes as he analyzed every corner carefully. “This place is clear, for now,” he muttered. The twinkling layer vanished, the dark stone returning to its original sleek sheen.
“We must be careful with what we say, nonetheless. You never know.”
Relief washed over me with such a crippling intensity that I nearly lost the strength in my knees. I’d been worried sick, with several hours’ worth of time spent wondering what had been holding them back. All sorts of scenarios had crossed my mind, most of them dark and bloody and heartbreaking.
“Took you forever,” I muttered, unwilling to show my concern, since both Sidyan and Lumi appeared to be okay.
“I’m sorry,” Lumi replied as Sidyan closed the door behind them. “We couldn’t get to you sooner. We had to evacuate Orvis.”
“What?” I croaked, my blood running cold.
“Corbin showed up with a whole friggin’ army. They followed some of our people from Dieffen. It’s a long story—I’ll fill you in once we get you out of this place,” Lumi said.
“Right, speaking of… Danika plans to bring the Spirit Bender back,” I replied. It didn’t bear waiting. I’d been dying to tell them about this from the moment I’d first learned it myself. Sidyan froze, galaxy eyes wide as he gawked at me. Maya purred by his side, pleased to see him intact.
Lumi was as pale as a sheet of paper. “I’m confused.”
“The Spirit Bender took precautions,” I explained. “He made a copy of his soul and tucked it inside a crystal, which was fragmented into twelve pieces. One fragment was then implanted in each of the twelve Whips. If the pieces are reunited and his soul is extracted from the crystal, the Spirit Bender will return with all the memories he had up to the point he made the copy.”
“What in the ever-living—” Lumi was about to let out one hell of an expletive, but she stopped herself with a deep breath.
“I know. It’s insane. The pieces are passed on from one Whip to the next through some kind of ritual. But in order to bring the Spirit Bender back, the Whips have to be sacrificed, since the pieces are embedded in their hearts. The issue is that Danika and Petra found a loophole,” I added. “The shards can also be transferred from the Whip to a close blood relative. In Danika and Petra’s case, it’s their sons. Danika put hers in Thayen’s heart when he was just a babe. Petra has run off, stating she’ll do the same to one of her boys before Danika gets to her. I had to tell you this now before anything else happens. It’s important.”
“You’re absolutely right, it’s important,” Sidyan blurted. “I thought we’d gotten rid of that son of a…” His voice trailed off as he closed his eyes for a moment, keeping them tightly shut. He breathed out before looking my way again. “I’ve passed it on to the Reapers. They’ll disseminate the information accordingly.”
“We have to leave,” Lumi reiterated. “I’m sure the Darklings are just dying to get to us, and those guards outside couldn’t have been the only ones keeping you here.”
“Well, the cell is warded, so I need Sidyan here to work his magic,” I replied dryly.
The Reaper knelt before the lock and used the tip of his scythe to fiddle with its interior mechanism. I figured a professional tool of death magic would be infinitely more effective than the rusty old nail I’d been working with.
Lumi kept an eye on the door, her ears twitching as she listened to every sound.
“Is everybody okay?” I asked her while Sidyan kept working the lock, his lips moving in the utterance of a spell to assist him.
“Yeah. We all made it out of there,” Lumi replied. “It was a collective effort—we’ve got about two hundred Seniors on our side now. Esme and Kalon came through for us, big time.”
“And Sofia? Rose?”
“We found a safe place,” Lumi said. “You’ll see.”
A snicker broke the silence, making us all jump. We looked around, trying to pinpoint its source, but I couldn’t see anything. “Damn, I was hoping you’d tell him the location of that safe place,” a familiar voice said.
“Drezel,” I mumbled, fear tightening in my chest.
He finally appeared in front of the northern wall, scythe in his hand and a grin slitting his face from ear to ear. “I watched you first, from another room, using a little spying trick. My eyes were the wall,” he said. “I waited, wondering what you hoped to achieve with that flimsy little nail of yours. Of course, I knew someone was coming for you, and when I heard that your people had escaped from Orvis, I figured some of them would come for you, sooner or later. Lo and behold, I was right. So, I thought I’d make my way down here and meet your friends. Have you had time to catch up yet?”
“Do you have any idea how skeevy it is to spy on people like this?” I retorted, putting on a disgusted grimace. “We put your kind on official records back home.”
Drezel had seen me, but he’d not heard me or our conversation prior to his sneaking into the room—at least that was what I’d gathered from his statement. Splitting this particular hair didn’t do much good, anyway. The Darkling cat was out of the bag now.
Sidyan refused to even look at him and instead remained focused on the lock. “I don’t have time for this garbage. You two need to handle him.”
“Easy for you to say.” Lumi scoffed, her hands glowing white as the Word hummed from within her. She was ready for a fight—so was Maya, for that matter—but I wasn’t sure they’d be enough. Drezel wasn’t bold enough to fight us on his own.
“No one’s leaving,” he said, raising his scythe slowly. “The Master will want to take his frustrations out on someone, and you three are the perfect punching bags.”
A vicious fight broke out as Lumi unleashed all the wrath she could summon. Blinding white pulses shot from her hands, each aimed directly at Drezel’s head. He used his scythe to block most of the hits, while dodging the others. I was helpless behind the warded bars, forced to watch my friends battle evil without me.
Maya darted toward the Whip, her claws extended, but Drezel swerved and cut her across the back. It was deep enough to make her fall and land on her belly, screeching in agony. Lumi switched up her attacks with a mixture of energy shots and fireballs, moving around the room to keep Drezel in front of her at all times.
But the Whip kept trying to reach Sidyan, and Lumi on her own wasn’t enough to keep him at bay for very long. I crouched before the Reaper, adrenaline coursing through me. “How much longer?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” he hissed. “It’s a layer of spells that I’m dealing with, not just one.”
“Better make it quick. Drezel is coming for you,” I shot back.
Lumi was thrown against the wall by one of Drezel’s defense spells. Maya struggled to get back up and take him on, but she could barely move. The Whip sneered in Sidyan’s direction, and terror clutched my throat.
“Watch out!” I shouted, but it was too late.
A pulse escaped from Drezel’s scythe, but Sidyan dodged it. A second pulse followed, and Sidyan dodged it again. The third came too fast, however, and it caught Sidyan right as he swerved in for an attack. It hit the Reaper right in the chest, knocking him unconscious.
“Dammit!” Lumi snarled, pulling herself up. Every inch of her glowed white with the fury of the Word now, though I wasn’t sure it would be enough against a seasoned Darkling Whip. She fought him with everything she had, but he still had the upper hand.
Maya threw her head back and released a bloodcurdling scream. It echoed through the room and beyond. Moments later, it was met with low growls coming from beyond the iron door. Drezel frowned for a second but kept his focus on dealing with Lumi. As Maya finally managed to stumble toward Sidyan, four ghouls entered the room, coming straight through the closed door.
They were massive creatures with translucent skin and taut muscles, drool hanging from their fangs in viscous tendrils. At first, I thought they’d come for us, until I noticed the absence of collars, the standard method of keeping them under control. Drezel didn’t seem happy to see them.
“You have got to be kidding me,” he muttered and slapped a hand against the wall. Energy rippled outward, causing the bricks to tremble as dust fell off.
Drezel was no longer alone, and we were in deep trouble. The energy ripple I’d seen… it must’ve served as a signal to call the others. Perhaps he’d not expected such a quick reaction, as Danika walked in, wearing metal prosthetic hands while she waited for her own to grow back. The scythe had been fitted in one of them, its blade shining with thirst for blood and life. She raised it defiantly, giving me a sideways glance and confident smirk as she cast a spell against the Knight Ghouls.
They all fell to their knees, crying and growling in agony as Danika whispered an incantation, further amplifying their suffering. “You don’t walk away from the Darklings you were born to serve,” she said, and brought her scythe down. The motion forced the creatures against the hard floor with some kind of telekinetic power. They couldn’t move, and Lumi was on her own again.
Things didn’t look good.
A click caught my attention, and I saw Sidyan in front of my lock again, the cell door sliding open as Maya helped him up. He’d done it. I was free. Without hesitation, I stepped out just as Danika let a curse slip.
“I was going to keep you alive, Derek, but you’re more nuisance than pet at this point,” she added, pointing her weapon at me. Lumi attacked Drezel again, while the ghouls were continuously tormented by Danika’s spell. I had no intention of letting her win this one. I had a wife to get back to. A daughter. Our friends. They were all counting on my return, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to die in this festering nest of evil.
“Frankly, Danika, I’ve had enough of your crap,” I replied, my fangs and claws extending. There was no death magic on my side, but I had my will and my experience to back me up. Maybe it didn’t mean much to her, but who I was had always been my salvation, and I had to trust it would get me out of trouble this time around, too.
A Shade of Vampire 84: A Memory of Time Page 11