A Shade of Vampire 84 A Memory of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,27
admiring its sculpted handle, its curved blade, and the slowly rotating Phyla. There was a bond between Death and her weapon. Thieron was, after all, an extension of her power. No matter who held this scythe, it would always belong to her. It would always respond to her with its full might and potential.
She pressed her lips against Zetos, the blade, and whispered something. After having learned so much about death magic and Word magic, I was inclined to assume she was using some of the basic words to make Thieron obey me for stronger spells. Ironically, she didn’t have the precise recipe of words and sub-words to break her own seals, but she could still program Thieron to work for me. The entire weapon lit up for a moment, and she gave it back to me.
“There are still limits on it,” she said. “I cannot remove those until I am free. But I gave you everything I could under the circumstances. Time will teach you some spells, should you need them. Only use it if you have no other option. Please, Taeral, I cannot stress this enough—”
“Be careful.” I cut her off. “I get it. Like Time said, I don’t even have to reveal myself. I’ll only use Thieron in the absence of any other option. Believe me when I say that I really don’t want to risk losing this weapon. Not after what we went through.”
“Go to Unending.” Death looked at Time, Dream, and Nightmare. “She needs you. All of you. You are of better use there helping her to freedom than you are here, struggling with each of these damned runes.”
“And the Darklings? What protocols shall we follow?” Time asked.
She released a deep breath, biting her lower lip. “I’m not sure. It would be unpleasant for you not to work with the rest of your brothers and sisters in arms. Follow their lead. See what they tell you. I trust Seeley’s judgment, despite his emotional attachment to Nethissis.”
“Whoa, the Lamia witch? Where’d you get that from?” Nightmare chuckled.
“I know everything about you,” Death reminded him with a dry smile. “Even the things you think you’re keeping from me. Therefore, I know what’s in Seeley’s undead heart.”
“A Reaper fell in love with a living creature who then became a ghost,” Nightmare replied. “That’s not impressive. That’s just weird.”
“Don’t be cruel,” Dream hissed. “It’s romantic. Star-crossed lovers, so to speak.”
“And you’re all digressing,” Time said. “We’ll follow the current protocols. Seeley is more or less in charge, and our First Tenner siblings will fill us in on all the details once we get there.”
Death lay on her back with her calves submerged in the ice water. A snowstorm was coming, painting the distant forests white until they vanished from sight. The temperature continued its drop, my inner fire dimming as I began to feel the cold. It seeped into my bones, stiffening my muscles.
“I don’t know how this will all work out,” Death said. “In the end, one way or another, sooner or later, I shall be free. I only wish to see you all still living when that happens. Be wary of the Darklings. My instinct tells me they have death magic they haven’t used before, words and sub-words mingled into proprietary spells left behind by the Spirit Bender. Even in the nothingness, he continues to haunt me.”
“What’s the nothingness, exactly?” I asked, as I’d heard this term before—not only from Death, but also from Tristan’s account of his trances with Valaine during their memory recovery sessions.
“I think the word is pretty self-explanatory,” Death replied dryly. “It’s the lack of life. The absence of light. The void, the true void where nothing exists. That is where Spirit is now. That is where Thieron sent him.”
“So he didn’t move beyond, into the world of the dead,” I concluded.
“No,” Time replied. “That would’ve been a gift to the Spirit Bender, since he would’ve taken his powers with him into that realm. Not a good idea, and Thieron knew it.”
The scythe carried Death’s reasoning and intelligence, too, I realized. “What’s the beyond like?” I asked. I’d wondered about it frequently after I’d been introduced to this new and fascinating facet of the universe, but I’d never dared voice such a question. With Death still trapped, I figured it was worth a shot, at least. She’d already told me so much, it would be a pity not to ask.