A Shade of Vampire 84 A Memory of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,84
walked over to her, kneeling and pressing the blade against her cheek. “I’d love nothing more than to slice you into little pieces. You’ve been nothing but a pain in my ass from the day you set foot on Visio. Kalon is going to die, and it’ll be your fault. I want you to remember that. In fact, I think I’ll ask the Master to keep you alive, so I can torment you with that fact for an eternity. Danika’s not interested in that sort of punishment anymore, even though she’d been quite keen to try it on Derek, but I do see the appeal in spending forever to make you suffer.”
Whatever this spell was, it wasn’t affecting just our bones. It had quickly spread, disabling other important functions. I found myself staring at Petra, unable to formulate a single thought, a single word that might stop her. I was helpless and limp, a sack of meat and blood that was absolutely useless.
Petra got up, giving Sofia one last look. “I’m going to enjoy watching you die. But remember that I’m not doing this just for my own pleasure. It is necessary for the survival of our species. It’s nothing personal, as far as I’m concerned, but I can’t speak for the Master. You’ve really pissed him off, kids. And he’s the kind who holds onto a grudge forever.”
“Please…” I whispered, my lips barely moving.
“What’s that, Derek? I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of your own failure,” Petra retorted. The room was spinning, and it became increasingly hard to concentrate, to keep my gaze on a single object. I was losing my focus, and my eyes were starting to close against my will.
Petra’s heels clicked across the stone floor, fading somewhere in the distance. I couldn’t see anything. Darkness had taken over, wrapping me in its cold embrace, forcing me to surrender.
The blackout followed quickly, and I was but a blade of grass in the wind, bending to the will of the universe. Helpless. Damned and useless.
Kailani
The marshes were a sight to behold. About five hundred miles southeast of the imperial city, nature’s various forces had clashed, creating a peculiar but absolutely stunning environment. It reminded me of Florida’s Everglades back on Earth—just water and swirling mangroves and evergreen swamps—only bigger, wider, and brighter.
Visio’s mangroves were enormous, like wood-sculpted snakes that twisted and bent in and out of the perfectly still and brackish water, creating a strange and mesmerizing pattern of dark shadows between millions of massive shrubs. A species of lime-green moss spread across the surface, dotted with the occasional spiky yellow blossom. Cicada-type sounds emerged from beneath the mangrove forest, chirping in a steady, clicking rhythm.
Here and there, colossal trees reached for the reddish sky with perfectly straight trunks as wide as our Shade’s redwoods. At the top, their crowns spread out, heavy branches loaded with emerald and amber foliage stretching and bending under their own weight. Below, in the few spots of clear water that we could see, brightly colored fish and scaly lizard-type creatures moved, foraging for food around the mangrove roots.
Out here, the world was something else. There was barely a soul around except for the animals. According to Petra’s intel, some of the Aeternae had chosen to settle here, building small villages deep within the mangrove forest. The nearest city was Tusla, about fifty miles north into the mainland, easiest to reach by boat, following the river upstream.
Widow stood on the edge of the last piece of muddy land before the mangroves, his reflection calm in the still, greenish waters. “Lyriana Amos lives here?” he asked, the tone of his voice revealing his incredulity.
“Beyond the water, over there,” Hunter clarified, pointing to a cluster of small islands. They were bordered by shrubs, and the giant trees rose in the middle of each. Every patch of land had been cultivated, as nature had done her best to create a beautiful and unique ecosystem here. “Between those trees, see?”
Nightmare joined his masked brother, squinting into the distance. “Ah, yes… I see them. Houses. Who would want to live in this place? It’s damp and soggy all the time.”
“I wouldn’t mind it,” Dream mused, gazing through the water at a school of red-and-blue fish that swam between the swollen, gnarly roots. “It’s quiet. The marshes keep most people away. If I wanted privacy, this is where I’d come.”