A Shade of Vampire 84 A Memory of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,83
going to find Kalon. You’ve lied. I know he’s here. He’s close by—I can feel him. I can feel all my sons when I’m near them. It’s quite literally the first spell I performed after each one was born.”
“Or I could pulverize you right here, right now. After what you just did to Moore, I’m absolutely certain they’ll forgive me,” Esme said and fired her weapon.
Petra slashed outward with her scythe in a diagonal motion, blocking the pellet’s trajectory. It exploded into shimmering blue dust, but the blade survived. Death magic objects didn’t belong to the physical realm, which apparently rendered them immune to pulverizer pellets. The high priestess sneered.
“Once I’ve located Kalon, I’m going to implant my soul shard into him. If Danika wants a sacrifice, it’s high time she gets the one son of mine who has been a constant disappointment. I’ve given him all the chances in the world, but he prefers consorting with a vampire wench.”
Esme shot another pellet, and Petra destroyed it again.
“We need another angle,” Sofia said under her breath.
“Then, once that’s done, I will gather my surviving sons, and we’ll move somewhere nice. Maybe a place down south, somewhere with a beach. Or maybe up north, where there’s only snow and ice as far as the eye can see. We’ll put it to a vote,” Petra continued. “Either way, you will lose, and the Visentis bloodline will live on.”
I moved slowly to my right, occasionally exchanging glances with Sofia, who carefully made her way to the left. We were going to come at Petra from both sides, giving Esme the opening she needed to take Petra down. The high priestess couldn’t take us all on at once.
But before we could do that, it was my turn to buy us a few more seconds. “So that was your plan all along. Get in here, pretend to be a captive, mess with Moore, then… this?” I asked.
“I knew you wouldn’t trust me completely,” Petra said. “But I needed some time in here for you to attempt to verify the intel I gave you. I just needed Moore close enough for me to do my thing. Fortunately, none of you could resist the idea of holding me prisoner. Predictable creatures, all of you.”
“And what will you do next? Give our location to Danika? You can’t really still be friends after she tried to kill you,” I replied.
“We share a common goal. And we both wish to live in order to fulfill it,” Petra said. “Now, enough of the chitchat. Which one of you wants to die first?”
Sofia smirked. “You still underestimate us, even after all this time.”
Petra didn’t get to deliver a snarky reply this time, as my wife and I launched our attacks. Esme gave us a second before she pointed her weapon at the high priestess again. Using my claws and speed, I took Petra on with all my might, each blow designed to rip her apart. Sofia did the same, and Petra had no choice but to defend herself using the scythe.
Esme released a third pellet. It almost hit Petra, but she ducked, leaving Sofia and me to stare blankly at each other for the briefest of moments. For every action there was a reaction, and I feared it was our turn to receive the latter, whether we liked it or not.
Petra muttered something under her breath and kissed the blade of her scythe. The gesture released a wave of peculiar and startling energy. It hit Sofia, Esme, and me right in the solar plexus, knocking us back and smacking us against the floor. It felt odd, as though my bones had suddenly vanished. They were still in me, but I could no longer feel them. I had nothing left to move with.
My body was now my enemy, as Petra stood over me and laughed, a satisfied grin extending from ear to ear. She looked down at me, unable to resist having the last word. “I won’t kill you, Derek. Our Master of Darkness wants that pleasure, and I wouldn’t dare deny him such a rare joy in this long and complicated life. You will all stay down here for a while, and I shall get on with my business. I’ve got a son to sacrifice. Not an easy thing to do as a mother, but a necessary evil in this case.”
“Don’t… Petra. Don’t... do it!” Esme managed, pinned to the floor and struggling to move, as her bones were paralyzed like mine.