A Shade of Vampire 77 A Fate of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,13

Ben croaked.

"Seeley told me." Rudolph sighed. "It was a brief telepathic transmission. I felt it my duty to tell the other Reapers, as well. We all deserve to know what's happening."

"And so do you," Sidyan added, looking at me. "We honestly don't know where this will lead. Death stopped the ritual before, over and over. We've never made it this far into the challenge. It's uncharted territory, even for the Reapers."

"We all thought we would do our jobs, no matter what," Malleus said. "As the ritual draws near to its end, however, I have to admit… I'm seriously doubting that this is the right thing to do. That you die, and that the Hermessi get their stupid do-over."

"It's not right at all," Rudolph muttered.

It struck me then that the Reapers were as lost as the rest of us. They were conflicted, no longer certain that the rules they'd been following throughout their existence were right in this particular case. Then again, what could they do? Reapers were agents of Death, bound in her service, with limited powers against the Hermessi. And if their creator was missing, the one entity who could put an end to all this, where did it leave them?

The irony was glaring enough to sting. Taeral and his crew had done the impossible. They'd completed the Thieron challenge, and now, Death had gone AWOL. How could this be? What kind of universe was this to allow such atrocities to take place?

"No matter what happens, at least we're not facing it alone," Vita ultimately said, giving her mother, her sister, and her grandfather a warm smile. "At least we're in this together."

"This is not the life I wanted for you," Ben replied.

"No one wanted this," Lucas interjected.

Thinking of Zeriel still out there somewhere, desperate to get back to me, I couldn't bring myself to surrender to the fear that had been circling me like a hungry vulture for days. Deep down, I knew Grace felt the same way. Lawrence wanted her back. He wanted their daughters back, too, and so did their husbands. Caia and Vita had children of their own who needed their mothers. River missed Ben. Not to mention his sister, Rose, who was spearheading GASP into any mission that could delay or prolong this stupid, horrible ritual.

But Vita was right, too. We were not alone in the darkness. We were together, and as long as our consciousness continued to exist, we could at least choose the way we'd go out of this world. I, for one, had no intention of crying or pleading for my life. Such endeavors would've fallen on deaf ears, anyway.

The sanctuary's hum grew louder, broken glass tinkling on the floor as the entire structure trembled mildly. Chances were this would end in tears and death, but it wasn't over yet. A part of me kept rooting for Taeral and his team. I knew they wouldn't surrender, either. They would scour the entire universe, if needed, until they found Death.

River

The evening set over Calliope in shades of gray and purple. A full moon rose over the woodlands surrounding Luceria, shadows sprawling across. Lights twinkled from the Mount Zur base, but few agents remained there. All the cult members had been left behind, with crystal casings on their hands and their cells locked down. We had our own people to worry about, and the Hermessi's followers were practically rooting for the end of the world, so there was absolutely no reason to bother with them.

The sanctuary could be seen in the distance, humming softly in the air. It was enveloped in darkness, but for the mild glow of the fae bodies inside. An emptiness worked its way through my stomach, scratching at the walls and spreading into a troublesome heat wave in my chest.

There was silence in the halls of Luceria. Most of the castle's inhabitants had been evacuated and dispatched farther east, along with the people who'd dwelled in the nearby camps and villages. We'd done our best to try to get them as far away from the sanctuary as possible—a protocol enacted across the entire GASP federation.

Only agents remained in Luceria, along with Draven and Serena. Jovi, Anjani, Jax, and Hansa had gone out to guide the refugees away from the area, but they would come back to Luceria as soon as they were done. I had Lawrence, Bijarki, Blaze, Marion, and Aiden with me, and Brock, Arwen, Kailani, and Hunter had also decided to stick around. The rest of our