An Isle of Mirrors (A Shade of Vampire #88) - Bella Forrest Page 0,66

If only she’d stuck to telepathic communication. I worried she’d done this on purpose, but I couldn’t understand why she would gleefully sabotage her own operation.

“Yes. And I doubt she’ll let us go without a fight. Hence our need to hurry before she comes to,” Unending said. “Death’s order is usually enough to hold a Reaper back, but you saw her earlier… completely unhinged. I think the isolation, like you said, plus some sloppy Reaper design work on Death’s part might have screwed with Joy’s spiritual circuits.”

“I still don’t get why Anunit insisted on showing up. She was basically the catalyst for this hot mess.”

“Me neither.” She sighed.

We were missing some information, and I was determined to fill in the blank once we got out of here. That was our greatest challenge at the moment—retrieving the Mixer and escaping from the village before Joy’s wrath caught up with us.

Thayen

Jericho and Dafne stood by, ready to intervene if needed, but Astra unleashed what I assumed was the little Daughter energy she had left, dropping to one knee right afterwards. It burst out as wave upon wave of glimmering pink waves that crashed into the clones before they could touch us. She was back up a few seconds later, though I wasn’t sure she’d have much fight left in her. Richard’s doppelganger fell backward hard, crying out from the pain her power had inflicted.

“Don’t say I didn’t want to help.” Jericho sighed, crossing his arms.

Voss and Chantal’s clones managed to duck, dodging the worst of the hit. They bolted toward Astra, but Soph and I were quick to stop them, launching into combat without hesitation. “We really need one of them alive!” I shouted, as Chantal’s clone tried to burn me to a crisp. Dafne knocked her away with a swing of her leg, and the clone landed at Soph’s feet.

“I got it from here,” Soph said.

I spotted Astra close by. She had reached Richard’s copy, her hands flashing pink like an intermittent beacon. Her arsenal had definitely been close to depletion, but she wasn’t done tormenting him—not after everything he and his ilk had put her through. Astra grabbed him by the throat, the pink glow sinking into his skin. He screamed in agony as the energy spread and covered him whole, while she became paler with every passing second.

One of Voss’s bladed wings nearly slit my throat open. It was time to try something new, as the circumstances no longer allowed for more classical combat. He’d already whipped out his black spray bottle, eager to use it on me. I hadn’t tried my glamoring on a moving target before, but what other option did I have?

I needed to get to Astra before she hurt herself. I could hear Richard’s clone’s screams turning into tortured gurgling as the pink flames consumed every inch of his flesh and bones and skin. What she was doing to him was the stuff of nightmares, and I knew she had to be extremely furious to resort to such gruesome methods. Astra had always been the peacemaker, yet the clones had brought out the darker side of her.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Voss’s double hissed, then tried to spray me with the black stuff. I put both hands out and released the mental lassos I’d been brewing. I felt the connection forcibly establish. The sharp tips pierced his being and took hold of the fake soul he had inside. He stilled, horror settling across his face as he realized what was happening.

“On your knees,” I ordered him, my voice low and cold as ice. My skin tingled, anger heating up my insides, making my stomach tighten into a fizzling clump of anxiety and rage. “On your knees!” I snapped, and Voss’s clone was forced to kneel on the ground.

Soph had her foot on Chantal’s clone’s throat, boot pressing hard until I could hear the bones snapping. The daemon princess looked at me, one eyebrow raised. “You said keep one alive. Voss’s cheap-ass copy is one. We don’t need her, do we?”

I shook my head.

Chantal’s clone opened her palms, fireballs forming in angry shades of yellow and orange. She was about to torch Soph, but she wasn’t as fast as she would’ve wanted. A split second later, her spine was crushed, and the fire fae knock-off was dead. With Voss’s double under my surprisingly effective control, I was able to briefly check on Astra again. Nothing was left of Richard’s doppelganger except for a small pile of black