An Isle of Mirrors (A Shade of Vampire #88) - Bella Forrest Page 0,93

the soul fae’s archives. She scratched each of the symbols off with the tip of her scythe while Loren was sound asleep upstairs in his house. We’d tricked him and his people, and it made me feel bad, but we had to get this done for a multitude of reasons.

“This is no longer just about us and our desire to start a family,” Unending said as she destroyed the last of the charms. “It’s about what Anunit’s game is. There’s something fishy going on here, and I intend to find out what the play is.”

“I wholeheartedly agree. And if we complete the trials and get what we’ve come here for, even better,” I replied, watching as she took hold of the Mixer and slipped it into her dress pocket. “I just don’t understand why Anunit wrecked this for us. We were so close to getting this thing out without anybody suspecting a damn thing…”

Unending gave me a fleeting look. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

She put her hand on my shoulder, ready to teleport us out of here, but something hit us with such force that we were thrown against the far end of the tunnel. We hit the floor, limp and breathless for about a minute as we tried to figure out what the hell had just happened. Joy’s voice echoed through the entire underground, and I had my answer.

“You traitorous bastards,” she hissed, giant scythe in her hand as she stormed toward us. “You betrayed us. You betrayed the Reaper order! You took Spirit away from me! You’re consorting with Anunit!”

“Again with this nonsense! Didn’t Death tell you to butt out?” Unending replied, with no patience left for Joy’s volcanic temperament.

“I don’t care! She’s not here! She cannot see your treachery like I can!”

Holy crap. Joy had absolutely lost a few marbles while being stuck here, playing the babysitter to the soul fae. It hadn’t been immediately noticeable at first, but it was impossible to deny now. “You’re not making any sense,” I managed. “If Death gave you an order—”

“She’ll thank me later!” Joy snapped.

“Okay. We’re not getting through to each other, here. If you would just let me explain,” Unending began, but the Reaper wouldn’t have any of it. Her blade sparkled white as it cast a rippling pulse at us. It hit Unending in the chest, and she cried out in pain.

“Stop! Just stop!” I said, raising both hands in a defensive gesture. Joy definitely had the abilities of a First Tenner, considering she was able to hit Unending like this.

“I’ll make Death understand your betrayal,” Joy replied, completely ignoring me as she channeled all her rage at my wife. “I’ve always said you were a bad apple. She told me I was overreacting, that I’d never even met you to truly know you. Well, look at you now, huh? You put Loren to sleep. You’re breaking my seals. You’re stealing! Traitor!”

Joy was about to hit her again, this time from a shorter distance. Unending’s scythe had ended up on the stone floor between us. “I’m not stealing! Our deal with Anunit for a body! Death greenlit all of this! It’s not my fault you won’t listen, dammit!” she said.

“You destroyed Spirit!”

“We had no choice!” Unending shot back.

My body reacted before I was even aware of what I was about to do. Joy was too focused on Unending to consider me anything close to a threat, so I grabbed my wife’s scythe and slashed at the Reaper’s stomach.

A glowing cut opened, and Joy screamed with a mixture of shock and pain. I was just as astonished, since I hadn’t seen this coming. I wasn’t even sure why I’d thought I could use Unending’s weapon. My instincts had made that decision for me.

Liquid light poured from Joy’s wound. She dropped her weapon and tried to cover the cut with trembling hands as she stared at me in disbelief. “How… how?” she managed.

Unending scrambled back up, grabbing her scythe in the process. She hooked an arm through mine, and we were gone. Darkness enveloped us both, and only Joy’s wails of fury and desperation followed us away from the village and its underground tunnels.

We appeared in the middle of the woods about three miles south of the soul fae village. I wondered about Loren and Sissa, about how their lives would turn out over the years. Clearly, I was no longer welcome among them—not to mention Unending. We’d just stolen Death’s artifact, and we were about to