A Shade of Vampire 84 A Memory of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,32
wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Kalon. Those few kicks I still had in me… I planned to use them until my last breath.
Sofia
We appeared out of thin air on the very edge of the continent.
I took a deep breath, welcoming the cool ocean breeze into my lungs. The tunnel’s damp closeness had been suffocating. This felt like freedom, and I was filled with newfound energy. Looking around, I tried to do a head count, but my mind was a mess. Picking up on my angst, Rose was quick to ask the others to check among themselves and make sure no one was missing. Some minutes later, I could breathe with greater ease. The Orvisians were all here, alive and well, as were the Seniors. Approximately four hundred present and accounted for. Ridan was okay and stood flanked by Amal and Amane. Rose and Caleb were with me, along with Thayen and the Visentis boys. Trev and the ghouls had stuck together for some reason, along with the Vision horses.
Nethissis and Seeley were accompanied by Rudolph, Lumi and Kailani, Hunter, Sidyan, Soul, and Kelara. Tristan also appeared, joined by Esme, Widow, Morning, Night, Valaine… and three Reapers I couldn’t immediately identify. There was something familiar about them, stemming solely from their appearance. Taeral had described them to me with a level of detail that made them almost recognizable.
“What just happened?” I asked, still catching my breath.
I’d seen the darkness of pure death and misery coming after us in the tunnel. I’d guessed it had something to do with Valaine, but we’d all been too busy running for our lives to communicate, let alone take a moment to investigate. Now that we were topside, I needed answers. Everything had happened so fast, my mind struggled to catch up as I pulled Thayen closer to my side, determined not to let anything bad happen to him.
“A number of unpleasant things,” Soul said, looking rather annoyed. “Valaine let off some steam, though she had no intention of doing such a thing.”
“That explains the darkness we’ve all been fleeing,” Mira said softly, giving Valaine a concerned look. “You seem better now.”
“I am, thanks to them.” Valaine gave the three new Reapers a friendly nod. “They figured out a way to contain these… episodes.”
“And who are you, exactly?” Mira asked the strange Reapers.
“The Time Master, Dream, and Nightmare,” Soul said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Our siblings. The last of the First Ten.”
Time gave us a quick rundown of what happened in the tunnel with Valaine, though he didn’t provide very many details about how he was able to absorb her devastating darkness. We now knew Taeral had pushed Death into sending Time, Dream, and Nightmare our way, and we had a better understanding of the danger posed by Spirit’s legacy. We were also told he’d stayed behind to keep Death company in the absence of the First Tenners. Lumi, Kailani, and Nethissis were particularly fascinated by the basic elements of death magic—the words, the sub-words, and the sounds.
Lumi was quick to make the connection between death magic and the Word. Time confirmed that the two forms of magic were primordial and at the source of every other power in existence, including the jinn and witches from the Supernatural Dimension, and the Druids and Lamias from the In-Between.
“We’re pretty much screwed then,” Kailani concluded. “The possibilities are endless, given the number of words and sub-words in combination with sounds, so we can’t pinpoint exactly what formulas the Spirit Bender used for the Unending’s seals. We need the higher-ups among the Darklings to tell us. Or Unending herself, provided Tristan gets to her again.”
“Provided I also get Unending to remember,” Tristan said. “It’s complicated.”
“Where’s Kalon?” Ansel asked, his brow furrowing as he looked up at Esme. She shuddered, her eyes glistening as she tried to keep herself together. Just seeing her like this felt like a kick in the gut.
“He’s ill,” Esme replied. “The Reapers are keeping him in a deep sleep and subtle form to prevent him from infecting other Aeternae. We were too close to the darkness when it hit. Tristan and I are vampires, and we seem to have a better recovery rate. Kalon wasn’t as lucky.”
“No!” Tudyk gasped, horror gripping him and his brothers. “Not Kalon…”
“I’m sorry,” Esme said. “I tried to get him away from it, but we both fell under its influence. He pulled me back, then I pulled him back… I was weak. Not fast enough.”