An Isle of Mirrors (A Shade of Vampire #88) - Bella Forrest Page 0,19

Also, nice save,” he added, pointing at the object coming out of my pocket. I’d almost forgotten about the tool Voss’s clone had tried to use on the door to free Isabelle’s doppelganger.

Thayen pressed the distress button on his earpiece. We’d barely had a moment to breathe, let alone try and call for help again. “Can anyone hear me?” He was trying the general channel. None of the others had worked thus far, and I wasn’t sure this would do any good, either. “We need backup at the hospital right now,” he said. “Voss and Chantal’s clones attacked us. No sign of them for now, but Isabelle’s clone is secure… Come in! Any GASP member on this channel! Hello?”

“I doubt you’ll be able to get through to them,” Soul replied, stating the painful obvious. “My telepathic communications have been cut off, too. Whatever these clones are using, whatever kind of magic this is, it’s tampering with all our networks, undead or otherwise.”

“It was worth another shot. Desperate times, desperate measures, yadda, yadda… What the hell do we do, then?” Thayen asked, the scratches on the side of his face already healing. The clone’s bladed wings had sliced through his GASP uniform, leaving patches of skin exposed. He’d drawn blood, but nothing the vampire couldn’t handle.

I’d gotten off easy, too, with just a few bruises that would heal by nightfall. However, I knew this was just the beginning. It would get worse soon enough. Soul raised his scythe again, his brow furrowed as he went into fight mode. “They’re coming.”

“Who?” I asked. I got my answer as Voss and Chantal’s clones emerged seemingly from nowhere. They both wore red lenses. “Oh, crap, they’re using our invisibility magic!”

Soul took on Voss’s clone with his dangerous wings, but the doppelganger produced a device that released a black smoke-like gas. It hit the Reaper right in the face and immediately forced him screaming to his knees. “No! Stop it! No!” Soul cried out, covering his eyes.

Chantal’s clone sprayed the same substance at us. I managed to get back a couple of steps, and I also pulled my GASP-issued face mask over my mouth and nose, but it didn’t help much. The particles were spreading fast, reaching my nose through the filtering fabric as I inadvertently sucked in a breath. It burned right through me, making my head hurt. Reality warped itself around me, and I caught a glimpse of Thayen grunting as he collapsed into a fetal position.

Whatever this stuff was, it took effect very quickly, and the masks were useless.

Every muscle in my body ached, convulsions taking over with such violence that I feared my bones might break. I lost any sense of light and dark, of objects and space. Pain expanded like a heatwave, making me whimper before it pushed me over the edge and into a crippling state of despair. I had no control over myself or my emotions. I’d lost it completely.

Hitting the ground hard, I felt my lungs fill with water. Where had it come from? Was this even happening? I was drowning. I seemed to be drowning. Is this real? Struggling to breathe. Unable to survive. Death came knocking. I could hear her giggling in my ear, inviting me to just… let go. But why would I? No, I’d fought too hard up to this moment. I’d resisted their attacks. I was a Daughter. Drowning wasn’t a way to kill me. This didn’t make sense. Or was I not really drowning? Was this just a malevolent illusion? If so, how could I get past this deathly point?

“If Isabelle couldn’t take you down, then I will.” Chantal’s clone snickered as she towered over me, the reflective disk still in her hand. I wanted to throw out a barrier to push her away, but I couldn’t even draw a life-saving breath anymore, let alone defend myself.

Despair took over, my ears ringing and my heart thudding. The adrenaline rush made everything worse as the anticipation of my impending demise took center stage in my consciousness. This was it. I could smell it. The rancid stench of failure.

A spine-tingling roar broke through. Chantal’s clone screamed. Chills rushed past me as I inhaled deeply for the first time in what seemed like forever. The air was cold, and I managed to peel open my eyes just as a flurry of ice shards swooshed down after the doppelganger. I recognized Dafne in dragon form about fifty yards away, her jaws opened wide as she