An Isle of Mirrors (A Shade of Vampire #88) - Bella Forrest Page 0,8

put a protective shield around their new home in the jungle, impenetrable by the elements’ wrath, with a self-contained environment designed to keep them alive and healthy. It irked the Hermessi, of course, but they couldn’t do anything about it. With time, they just looked away, focusing on the other species that came afterward. And so, the soul fae survived, albeit in small numbers. I think Death tweaked their fertility rate to keep them under control. She needs the soul fae, but she can’t let them get out of control.”

“How so? Why would she even intervene in the course of nature? It’s the one thing she’s been so adamantly against,” Unending said, giving me an irritated look. “After her Visio speech, this really bothers me.”

“It’s hypocritical of her, I agree,” I replied.

“Like I said, she needs the soul fae,” Anunit repeated with a cool grin.

“What for?” I asked.

“Spirit’s ability is characteristic of the species. They can bend souls to their will. Any kind of souls. Reapers included. I’m thinking Death is keeping the soul fae as some sort of emergency backup plan, in case… I don’t know, she can’t control our kind anymore. When Spirit convinced Brendel to steal Thieron, I figured she’d unleash the soul fae, but she didn’t because she still had our support. I guess things weren’t dire enough to warrant the soul fae’s revelation, at least in her mind. Death has gone to great lengths to protect them, to make sure no one found out about them.”

Unending cursed under her breath. “Not even us…”

“Yes, well, our maker isn’t perfect. Thing is, Thieron isn’t the only item stolen from her. Spirit snatched a few things himself. Things she’d hidden in other worlds before she had them all moved into the Vault,” Anunit added. She had my full attention, but Unending was horrified.

“Huh?” she managed.

“He snatched some of her artifacts before they were gathered and stored inside the Vault. You know about the Vault, right?”

Unending looked at her, then at me. “I don’t know about the Vault,” I replied, though I wasn’t sure why. This whole conversation was turning into a messy blur.

“It’s a collection of the artifacts Death created over the centuries, long before Spirit rebelled. Objects imbued with death magic and a purpose. Some small and insignificant to most, while others could shift the balance of power in any empire. They used to be stored in various realms, for safety,” Unending explained while Anunit nodded in agreement. “About nineteen years ago, after Spirit’s demise, Death built the Vault. She ordered the Reapers to search every location she gave them and to retrieve the objects she’d hidden there, to put them in the Vault. It’s supposed to be a secure location. Remote and known to a select handful. We’re only supposed to access it with her permission, and only if she deems it necessary.”

“That might’ve come in handy during the Visio war,” I said. Of course, I understood the timeline, but damn, it would’ve been nice to have had such artifacts handy in our fight against the Darklings and the Spirit Bender.

“Had it existed twenty years ago, sure,” Unending said. “Most of the objects there were stored elsewhere until Death had the Reapers comb every known dimension for them. Some have been retrieved. Others are still missing, no longer where she thought they’d be. Those, apparently, were stolen by Spirit. I don’t know why Death didn’t create the Vault from the very beginning, but I reckon she didn’t expect Spirit to turn against her. Once Spirit became such a capable enemy, Death probably didn’t want to risk moving and exposing them. Maybe they were safer where she’d left them, until his demise. At least, that’s an explanation that makes sense to me—Death had already lost some objects to Spirit, so she couldn’t take a chance and lose the others, too. Once he was gone, she built the Vault and centralized everything there.” Unending looked at Anunit. “What did he take? And what was he planning to do with the artifacts?”

“Well, I don’t know about all of them, just the one he brought here. Spirit stole it long before the Hermessi’s rebellion, before he even emerged as an adversary of Death, if I remember correctly. Spirit told me he’d left it inside the soul fae village because it was the safest place he could think of. I believe he once had the intention of using it to do a trade with Death for something else, though that never