A Shade of Vampire 84 A Memory of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,5
be,” I said with a heavy sigh.
“We’re moving!” Caleb announced, taking Rose with him down into the tunnel.
Amal and Hunter were next, with Kalon urging them along. The Faulty gave me two small controls, each with a red switch and a wireless transmitter antenna. “Once we’re all down there, flip them both,” she said. “It’ll detonate the shuttles.”
Kalon and I held our ground and scanned the area around us. The Reapers were hard at work, while the remaining ghouls darted through the homesteads and scared the Vision horses out of their stables.
“What the hell are they doing?!” I croaked.
It soon became obvious, as the horses galloped toward us and into the tunnel. I counted twenty, and they would come in handy later. The ghouls chased after them, growling and snickering to one another. This was quite the feat they’d accomplished, considering that Vision horses and pretty much any other animal were a natural food source for the ghouls. They’d been instructed to do this, though. I could see Trev Blayne smiling as he watched the last of the former Reapers descend. He went after them, whistling and guiding them deeper underground.
“The shield will come down soon,” Phantom said, looking at me from the edge of the protective spell. “I’m calling our people back.”
“I’d love nothing more than to take all these bastards on!” Widow scoffed. “But the Master of Darkness is not someone to trifle with. Not until we figure out exactly how much death magic they know and what spells they might have learned from the Spirit Bender. They keep surprising us, and I’ve had enough of that.”
“No one is going to blame you if you run from the Darklings,” Kalon said. “We’re all in this together.”
Widow shook his head. “It’s not something I would be proud of.”
“We can whimper about it later!” Phantom snapped and pushed him away from the shield just as a piece of it came shattering down like broken glass. Several Knight Ghouls snuck through.
“Fire at will!” I shouted.
Kalon and I unloaded several pulverizer pellets into the ghouls and the Darklings who tried to follow them through. Seconds later, they were reduced to puffs of silvery ashes, and Phantom managed to patch the broken area with a death spell of her own.
“It’s not going to last!” Phantom said, grabbing Widow and joining us by the tunnel opening. She slid to her knees and drew several symbols on the ground with the tip of her scythe. “I’ll break these when we’re all down there.”
Parts of the shield came down, more shards of glowing magic falling from the dome. Light danced across its surface, now visible and luminescent. The protective spell was failing, finally succumbing to the Darklings’ attacks. Seeley and Nethissis returned, followed by Rudolph. Soul, Kelara, and Sidyan reemerged, as well. Night and Morning appeared last and were adamant that Tristan and Valaine go down into the tunnel immediately.
“Come on!” Morning said. “Your turn, sister!”
“What about you?” Valaine asked.
Night smiled. “We’re coming with you, of course.”
“Esme…” Tristan said, breathing heavily. “Don’t linger for too long. Please.”
“I’ll be fine,” I replied, nodding at Valaine. “Get her out of here.”
“The Darklings have breached the barrier,” Soul announced. “They’re coming.”
The Reapers quickly took Nethissis, Valaine, and Tristan into the tunnel, leaving only Kalon and me to handle the detonation. I took a moment to look at everything one last time. The black stone walls. The looming tower. The narrow and beaten paths. Orvis had been a good place to live, despite the dangers surrounding it. Despite the Nightmare Forest breathing over it with its rustling leaves and hungry growls. It had brought me closer to Kalon, and it had forced me to face the very truth of this world. I would miss it.
The Darklings ran between the houses. The gold and silver armor glistened as the soldiers advanced through the village from all directions. Corbin led the Crimson troops from the north side, as the last shards of the protective spell came down crashing and splintering, each piece twinkling before fading away.
“This is it,” I whispered, moving back.
“Let’s do this,” Kalon said, his finger on the red switch.
I nodded, and we both flipped them at the same time. Two balls of blinding white light expanded from the eastern edge of Orvis. They swelled brighter, then burst, releasing a devastating wave of pulverizer mist. It devoured everything in its path for a half-mile radius. Houses and stables vanished, turned to silvery ashes.