A Shade of Vampire 84 A Memory of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,42

a safe place,” Lumi said. “You’ll see.”

A snicker broke the silence, making us all jump. We looked around, trying to pinpoint its source, but I couldn’t see anything. “Damn, I was hoping you’d tell him the location of that safe place,” a familiar voice said.

“Drezel,” I mumbled, fear tightening in my chest.

He finally appeared in front of the northern wall, scythe in his hand and a grin slitting his face from ear to ear. “I watched you first, from another room, using a little spying trick. My eyes were the wall,” he said. “I waited, wondering what you hoped to achieve with that flimsy little nail of yours. Of course, I knew someone was coming for you, and when I heard that your people had escaped from Orvis, I figured some of them would come for you, sooner or later. Lo and behold, I was right. So, I thought I’d make my way down here and meet your friends. Have you had time to catch up yet?”

“Do you have any idea how skeevy it is to spy on people like this?” I retorted, putting on a disgusted grimace. “We put your kind on official records back home.”

Drezel had seen me, but he’d not heard me or our conversation prior to his sneaking into the room—at least that was what I’d gathered from his statement. Splitting this particular hair didn’t do much good, anyway. The Darkling cat was out of the bag now.

Sidyan refused to even look at him and instead remained focused on the lock. “I don’t have time for this garbage. You two need to handle him.”

“Easy for you to say.” Lumi scoffed, her hands glowing white as the Word hummed from within her. She was ready for a fight—so was Maya, for that matter—but I wasn’t sure they’d be enough. Drezel wasn’t bold enough to fight us on his own.

“No one’s leaving,” he said, raising his scythe slowly. “The Master will want to take his frustrations out on someone, and you three are the perfect punching bags.”

A vicious fight broke out as Lumi unleashed all the wrath she could summon. Blinding white pulses shot from her hands, each aimed directly at Drezel’s head. He used his scythe to block most of the hits, while dodging the others. I was helpless behind the warded bars, forced to watch my friends battle evil without me.

Maya darted toward the Whip, her claws extended, but Drezel swerved and cut her across the back. It was deep enough to make her fall and land on her belly, screeching in agony. Lumi switched up her attacks with a mixture of energy shots and fireballs, moving around the room to keep Drezel in front of her at all times.

But the Whip kept trying to reach Sidyan, and Lumi on her own wasn’t enough to keep him at bay for very long. I crouched before the Reaper, adrenaline coursing through me. “How much longer?” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” he hissed. “It’s a layer of spells that I’m dealing with, not just one.”

“Better make it quick. Drezel is coming for you,” I shot back.

Lumi was thrown against the wall by one of Drezel’s defense spells. Maya struggled to get back up and take him on, but she could barely move. The Whip sneered in Sidyan’s direction, and terror clutched my throat.

“Watch out!” I shouted, but it was too late.

A pulse escaped from Drezel’s scythe, but Sidyan dodged it. A second pulse followed, and Sidyan dodged it again. The third came too fast, however, and it caught Sidyan right as he swerved in for an attack. It hit the Reaper right in the chest, knocking him unconscious.

“Dammit!” Lumi snarled, pulling herself up. Every inch of her glowed white with the fury of the Word now, though I wasn’t sure it would be enough against a seasoned Darkling Whip. She fought him with everything she had, but he still had the upper hand.

Maya threw her head back and released a bloodcurdling scream. It echoed through the room and beyond. Moments later, it was met with low growls coming from beyond the iron door. Drezel frowned for a second but kept his focus on dealing with Lumi. As Maya finally managed to stumble toward Sidyan, four ghouls entered the room, coming straight through the closed door.

They were massive creatures with translucent skin and taut muscles, drool hanging from their fangs in viscous tendrils. At first, I thought they’d come for us, until I noticed the absence of collars, the standard