A Shade of Vampire 84 A Memory of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,6

Aeternae soldiers as well, their figures fading into nothingness. I heard Corbin shouting, telling his people to get as far away from it as possible. He couldn’t see us yet, so Kalon and I descended into the tunnel as another round of explosions rocked the village, this time from within.

The Reapers’ charges had gone off, reacting to the shuttles’ destruction. The ground shook, and we slid across the mud of the tunnel floor. Phantom stood at the bottom with her arms crossed. She’d been waiting. The rumbles and moans of a village being destroyed echoed all around us. My skin erupted in goosebumps, and chills rushed down my spine as I pictured the chaos above us.

“Time to seal this off,” Phantom said.

Kalon grabbed my arm and pulled me up. Together, we started running, following the torches and the hushed voices ahead. Behind, I heard Phantom whispering. Briefly looking back, I watched her turn around and bolt towards us. In mere seconds, she’d caught up and even gone past us, moving like the wind. The tunnel entrance collapsed, chunks of dirt and stone falling in.

No one would know it was even there, assuming there was anyone left to look for us. The earthquakes continued, making the ground shake beneath our boots. We kept running, no longer looking back.

“Corbin made it out,” Phantom said, as if reading my mind. “He wasn’t the only one, either. Those who were fast enough joined him. We’re not done with them yet.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I replied breathlessly. “We got out. We’ll lose them eventually.”

All we had to do was keep running and make as little noise as possible. It seemed almost too easy. Kalon and I caught up with Tristan and Valaine, the rest of our crew visible ahead. But with everything that had happened, with all the twists and turns that had nearly gotten us killed, I couldn’t help but doubt the apparent simplicity of the task ahead.

What were the odds that we’d make it through to the west coast unharmed, or that we’d manage to elude the Darklings after months of them staying one step ahead of us? I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know the answer.

Derek

An hour had passed since I’d broken the green bead, and there was still no sign of Lumi or Sidyan.

The longer I stayed in this place, the more danger my people were in. I’d gathered enough intel, and there wasn’t much left for me to get out of Danika or Petra or any of the other Whips—not to mention Corbin.

I was also horrified by everything I’d witnessed. Danika had tried to kill Petra, getting her hands cut off in the process. Petra had fled and was currently in the wind, most likely searching for her sons. Her absence scared me the most, because she was now a threat to our crew. Petra was a resourceful and cruel Aeternae, and I knew she’d stop at nothing in order to accomplish her objectives.

I had no idea where Corbin was, but it couldn’t be anywhere good. Since their creation, the Darklings had been keeping a copy of the Spirit Bender’s soul. They’d stored it in crystal shards, each piece implanted in the Whips. Twelve shards that were now needed to bring him back. After all the trouble he’d put us through during the Hermessi wars, the very idea of dealing with him again made my blood curdle.

Danika had already killed two of the Whips to get the shards before she tried to do the same to Petra. The problem was that the high priestess had taught the Lady Supreme a couple of tricks, one of which involved transferring the shard to her next of kin. In Danika’s case, she’d chosen Thayen. The poor boy was in mortal danger because his own mother was ready to kill him in order to extract the shard, and Petra was about to implant hers into one of the Visentis boys for the same reason. Though enemies for now, Petra and Danika were working toward the same sickening end—killing their children in order to bring the Spirit Bender back. They were awful. Truly awful beings, and I looked forward to the day I’d see their heads removed. They didn’t deserve mercy.

Maya paced the room, and I could tell she was nervous. Unable to get past the rune-marked steel bars of my cell, she kept busy by sniffing the ground on a regular basis, shuddering whenever she brushed her stumped nose over the dried blood Danika