An Isle of Mirrors (A Shade of Vampire #88) - Bella Forrest Page 0,75

almost kicked our asses more than once—in retrospect, however, there was really only one of him. In this case, we were dealing with at least dozens of creatures made solely to stir confusion and equipped not only with all forms of known magic, ours included, but also with spells that were simply out of this world.

It sounded awful to even think such things, but I would rather have dealt with Spirit than with these fiends. Spirit was a familiar enemy. He had limitations. I wasn’t sure what weaknesses we’d find in the clones, and whether it would be enough to stop them.

Soul and I spent another maybe twenty minutes talking and trying to keep ourselves from succumbing to anxiety and despair. He was doing a surprisingly good job of nudging my mood in a more positive direction.

“Do you think Sidyan and Lumi will ever be an official pair?” I asked him. We’d been dishing and gossiping about the Reapers in our close circle of friends, and the bond between a Reaper and a living swamp witch had been the subject of constant fascination for the past two decades, at least.

“I think Sidyan would like that,” Soul said. “Lumi’s the one holding back.”

“Really? I could’ve sworn it was the other way around.”

He shook his head. “Sidyan even spoke to Death about sanctioning their relationship. She moaned about it at first, but given the changing trends in our society, I think she just gave up trying to enforce those antiquated rules. It’s definitely Lumi who’s keeping him at arm’s length.”

“Why, though?” I replied. “I know she loves him…”

Soul offered a dry smile in return. When he realized it wasn’t enough of an answer, he sighed and gave me his lengthy opinion. “I think she’s afraid it might end badly. Think about it. She spent thousands of years locked in that Nerakian basement. She was tortured and demeaned. Lumi has some serious trust issues. Sure, she’s friendly and loyal to GASP, and she will tear down mountains for her disciples. But in the end, the path to her heart is wrought with trouble and distrust. I don’t think she’s got any control over it, however. She probably wants more out of this relationship with Sidyan, yet she can’t bring herself to fully trust that things might be okay for them in the end. If you look around now, you can certainly see what I’m talking about.”

“Yeah, this clone war is certainly unexpected.”

“And a good reason for Lumi to stay focused on the job. For what it’s worth, I think we’ll see Sidyan again soon. He can’t stay away from her for too long.” He chuckled.

Someone cried out. Soul and I looked for the source, observing commotion in the distance. Two people were running toward us in a loose zigzag pattern. Behind them, I could see Stan and Ollie getting bigger as they drew closer.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I managed. We didn’t move, but I could feel myself tensing with anticipation. Our ghouls had accomplished something incredible in a short period of time. They’d found Serena and Draven’s clones, and they’d succeeded in chasing them all the way here. I had no idea how they’d done it, but I was damn proud of them. “Yes, Stan! Yes, Ollie! Bring them over, boys!” I shouted, feeling a huge grin stretch across my face.

Soul shifted slowly, getting in position on the edge of his pentagram enclosure. By the time I looked out again, Draven and Serena’s clones were only yards away, nearly stumbling as they tried to escape the wrath of our ghouls. I’d have expected them to be more frightening and less frightened, but as I noticed a missing arm on Draven’s clone, I realized that Stan and Ollie had been pretty aggressive in their approach.

Draven’s doppelganger’s face and chest were covered in deep gashes, blood dripping as he ran faster. But Ollie pounced and rammed into him. The sheer force of impact pushed him right inside my pentagram. To my surprise, the marvelous loopholes of Reaper trapping pentagrams had struck again—normally, non-Reaper related items and beings remained subject to the laws of physics, regardless of the pentagram’s rules. A Druid or a Druid’s clone or any living creature could still get in. But Draven still had my scythe on him, so he shouldn’t have been able to come through. Yet he did. Draven fell so hard and so fast, he didn’t even see it coming. I caught a glimpse of Stan