A Shade of Vampire 84 A Memory of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,20
once, and I could barely keep myself together. I’d taken on this task for the sake of truth and righteousness, but she was right. I was doing it out of love, too. It was by far the most powerful of the feelings that had driven me.
“How do I set you free?” I asked.
“I can’t remember. Not yet, anyway,” Unending replied. “It’s in here, Tristan.”
The vessels brought their hands up, pointing fingers at their temples with incredible synchronicity. I focused on Valaine in an attempt at concentration, to make sense of what I was seeing and hearing. I’d become so detached from myself while lingering in this nothingness that I could barely think. My synapses were faltering, and the last thing I needed was a slow mind.
“You’re lashing out,” I said. “You’re out of control.”
“I wish I could stop. I really do.”
“You have to help me, Valaine.”
“Say my name, Tristan.”
“Valaine.”
“No, say my real name,” they replied.
I let out a deep sigh. I heard it, like a sullen whisper. “You have to help me, Unending.”
Valaine smiled, as did the others. “It sounds so good rolling off your tongue like that.”
“Can you help me?”
“I don’t know. I can try, but like you said, I’m out of control. I want it all to stop.”
My patience abandoned me. I cursed under my breath and reached out, pulling Valaine into my arms and hiding my face in her long, silky hair. “You have to help me,” I told her. “You have to wake up and put an end to all this. I will go with you to the end of the world, beyond all the realms, known or unknown. I will do whatever it takes to set you free, but please… please, Valaine, wake up.”
Seconds passed in gloomy silence, but I felt her softening in my embrace. A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth as her heartbeats matched mine. We were one, and nothing else mattered. The other versions of the Unending vanished like mirages in a cooling desert. The night wrapped itself around us, the chill rushing through my limbs. I hoped she’d hear me.
Upon opening my eyes again, I found that we were surrounded by a different kind of darkness. This one felt real and suffocating, like noxious gas filling my lungs and shutting down every organ in my body. My blood thickened, and a wave of pain crashed through me, making me whimper in agony. Still I refused to let go of Valaine.
We were in the tunnel, in the heart of the very darkness she’d lost control of. It swirled and raged around us and beyond, spreading far and wide. Valaine was catatonic, kneeling only because I held her up. Her eyes remained fully black, her head tilted back slightly. Eons of suffering rippled out of her, feeding the frenzy, amplifying everything.
“Tristan,” Morning said, making me turn my head.
Phantom stood beside her. Soul, Widow, and Night had joined them. Kelara must’ve stayed ahead to teleport the Orvisians farther away—I figured she had better range, now. The Reapers’ brows were furrowed, and sadness lingered in their galaxy eyes as they looked at us. I didn’t need to hear their thoughts to know what they were thinking. I could smell the defeat from a mile away. But I wasn’t ready to give up.
“She’s going to kill everything and everyone,” Phantom said quietly. “All our wards… nothing has helped. We’ve been trying.”
“How are you still alive?” Soul asked, looking astonished.
“She wants me to help her,” I replied. “She told me.”
“Valaine is out of it,” Night muttered, a single tear escaping from the corner of his eye.
“No, Unending. Unending wants me to help her,” I said. It got their attention. Night was the first to get closer, though he was clearly uncomfortable. Whatever this energy coming out of Valaine was, it had enough of an impact to affect the First Tenners. No wonder I’d seen Seeley run away. It probably would’ve been worse for him—not to mention Rudolph or Nethissis. Only I remained standing somehow, in the company of Death’s first Reapers.
“You spoke to Unending?” Night asked, his head cocked to the side.
I nodded. “In the nothingness. Where we usually go to look for memories. That’s where she is. I seem to have come back on my own this time.”
“What did she say?” Morning asked, her eyes widening. Hope was a fickle and dangerous thing, but she couldn’t really help herself. They all wanted their sister back.