A Search for Death (A Shade of Vampire #73) - Bella Forrest Page 0,85
focused on me, even after I disappeared. That made my part of the mission even more dangerous.
“You don’t like me holding this scythe, do you, Baethal? I do remember I nearly slit your throat with it not that long ago,” I said.
Wrik and Theoth scowled at him. They didn’t know.
“You may be able to hurt me with it, but you cannot kill me. Only a Reaper can kill another Reaper,” Baethal said.
Theoth groaned. “You shouldn’t have told him that.”
“There are more of us than there are of them,” Baethal replied, visibly angered.
“Change of plan,” I said to our team. “We’re all going to the palace.”
I’d thought this through. We were all better off together, especially if the Reapers were going to come after me—they couldn’t take their eyes off my scythe, and the thought bothered me.
“Are you sure?” Raphael replied, his voice low and his gaze set on Baethal. “We could keep them busy here.”
“They’ll come after me, whatever we do,” I whispered. “You can keep them busy outside the palace, while Eira, Lumi, and I go in.”
“Makes sense,” Herakles chimed in. He looked at Riza. “You ready to kick some Reaper asses?”
Riza giggled. “Frankly, I look forward to seeing what these creepers can do.”
Lumi gave me an approving nod. “We’ll have to be fast,” she said. “You know they won’t let you out of their sight.”
At first, I’d thought the Reapers would be skittish about anyone else holding the scythe—but that meant they would’ve intervened much sooner, since Amelia had been in possession of it. No, things got extra tense after I’d taken hold of it, which reinforced my decision to bring the whole crew with me to the palace. From there, they’d keep the Reapers at bay for as long as they could, using every single weapon and spell and ability in their arsenal. All I needed were a few seconds to zap myself, Eira, and Lumi inside, where Death was bound to be waiting.
From there, we’d see what would happen. But we had to get there first.
“You’re remarkably stubborn.” Baethal sighed. “I’m afraid you’ve left me with no other choice but to kill you, Taeral, Prince of the Fire Star.”
He knew my full title, though that shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Even so, it didn’t deter me. On the contrary. It made me feel like this was a good opportunity to show him and the rest of his cohort why I’d been given that title and why, one day, I would lead the Fire Star.
“It’s going to get crazy, fast,” I muttered. Taking Eira’s hand in mine to begin with, I nodded. “Link hands.”
One by one, as the Reapers descended upon us, my crew connected physically to one another, until we were all linked. I took a deep breath, and we vanished, shortly before the scythes came down from multiple angles, glistening blades aching for our throats.
In the split second of darkness that followed, I braced myself for what would come next. For Death wouldn’t let herself be approached with ease…
Taeral
This was as close as I’d gotten to the waterfall palace. I’d managed to teleport us all outside the beautiful structure, its paper walls and sturdy, red-painted wooden frame towering over us. The modular roofs looked even bigger from where we now stood, like slate-stone giants bending beneath the weight of the sky itself. From inside, candlelight flickered in every room. The plateau was simple and covered in short grass, and waterfalls gushed from beneath, pouring down into the ring-shaped pond from which streams began to slip outward through the tall forest. The sound of running water overlapped with the tomb-like silence of this place.
Amelia walked over to the edge and looked down the mountain, while Varga used his True Sight to survey the woods and the palace’s interior. The pull I’d felt earlier was even stronger now, my body fighting to stand in one place, every muscle tense in its resistance. I could barely think straight, my chest aching.
“Oh, this isn’t good,” Amelia said, looking at me. Her expression said it all. “I can see ghosts, even without your scythe, and they’re making their way up the mountain.”
“Quite a few,” I mumbled, also worried the Reapers weren’t far behind. The rest of the crew spread out, ready for a violent offensive from multiple angles and determined to allow Lumi, Eira, and me to get inside.
“Hundreds,” Amelia replied.
“What’s the view from the inside, Varga?” I asked, bracing myself for the worst.