A Shade of Vampire 84 A Memory of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,44
pulling farther back—desperate to reach the Reaper—when the orb came at us. It looked like a miniature blue sun, the heat it released making my skin sizzle. It would burn us all to a crisp if it hit us. Or something much worse.
One of the Knight Ghouls scrambled off the ground. Danika must’ve released whatever hold she’d had on them in order to create the orb. Maya whimpered, but the ghoul jumped and took the full brunt of the spell. The blue light swallowed him whole, disintegrating him in the process. He was gone in the blink of an eye, and the orb was still coming for us.
For a moment, I doubted I’d live another moment. But Sidyan’s grip on my wrist changed everything. I heard Danika screaming. “No! Get back here! No!”
A split second passed. The orb was inches away, burning so hot that I cried out from the pain until… it vanished. It all vanished. The cell. The room. The palace. Danika. Drezel’s head. The Knight Ghouls. The thundering of Darkling boots in a nearby hallway.
We’d escaped. Slipping through the fabric of space, I allowed myself a smile.
I’d live another moment after all.
Esme
I’d just brought the blood satchels over to the boys’ shelter when a flurry of voices erupted nearby. I turned just in time to see Rose and Caleb rush up the main road toward the city center.
“He’s back!” Rose shouted.
“Derek,” I muttered under my breath, then ran after them.
Sofia and Thayen were making their way to the center from the western part of the old city. Kalla, Kemi, Arya, and Mira weren’t far behind, while Kailani and some of the Reapers came in from the north. I could see the watchtower from here. A painful little pang throbbed inside my heart as I thought of Kalon. He was up there, sound asleep, and I had no way of helping him. This sense of helplessness had me constantly on edge, but my only option was to accept that it was out of my hands.
Easier said than done.
As soon as I made it to the city center, I saw Derek in the middle with Lumi, Sidyan, and a severely injured Maya. The Reaper knelt to check her wounds while Lumi took a couple of deep breaths before Kailani jumped and wrapped her arms around the swamp witch.
Sofia reached Derek in the blink of an eye, showering him with kisses. He held her close for a while, letting her love him with everything she had. I didn’t need to imagine what their separation must’ve been like. Thoughts of Kalon sent another jolt of pain through my heart. He was still close by, yet I missed him so much already.
“You’re alive,” Sofia managed, tearing up as she cupped Derek’s face, fondly looking up at him. He smiled gently. “Thank goodness you’re alive, baby.”
“I’ve missed you,” he replied. “Sofia, you were the only thing that kept me going in there. You have no idea how good it feels to see you, to hold you again.”
Soul scoffed. “How much longer do we let the sugary stuff go on before we get down to business? We’ve got a Spirit Bender issue to discuss, apparently.”
“Shut up and give them a minute,” Kelara shot back, nudging him in the ribs. Nethissis and Seeley looked particularly gloomy, as did the Night Bringer. The Widow Maker’s mask prevented me from seeing his expression, but I was pretty sure he was equally miffed—about what, though?
“I know you’ve only been away for a matter of days,” Sofia told Derek. “But it felt like a lifetime to me.”
“Hush, darling. I’m here now. That’s all that matters,” Derek whispered, dropping several kisses on her pink cheek before he looked up at the rest of us with a solemn expression. “Soul is right, I’m afraid. We have a lot to talk about.”
“You mentioned the Spirit Bender,” I said to Soul. “What’s that about?”
Seeley gave me an apologetic smile. “We only just heard from Sidyan ourselves. He communicated it to us while he was still in the palace.”
Derek exhaled sharply and gave us the full account as we gathered silently around him with increasingly heavy hearts. The Spirit Bender had taken a spectacular set of precautions, it seemed, making good use of the words he’d learned from Death. No one had seen this coming, not even his creator. And definitely not the Reapers, who were still reeling from the shock.
That wasn’t even the worst part. Upon hearing what his mother had done, Thayen