A Shade of Vampire 77 A Fate of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,39

already standing on the eastern edge. His fists burst into emerald flames as lights emerged from the clouds, flickering anxiously in different elemental colors. The Hermessi were coming. Normally, I would've said this was to be expected. But leading the pack was Brendel. I recognized her orange fire anywhere, these days.

"How did she know to come here, to this mountain?" Eva breathed, horror widening her yellow eyes.

"The pebble," Seeley replied, realization dawning on him first. "This was a trap."

"What?!" Taeral shot back.

It made sense. As the lights grew bigger in the clouded sky, and as lightning webbed across with bright, nerve-wracking flashes, I understood. "The Spirit Bender took Death. They were here, at some point, long enough for Death to leave us a message," I said. "Whether it was suggested by the Spirit Bender in the first place, or whether he let her do it… it doesn't matter. Leaving the pebble here was deliberate. The energy signature… Spirit knows his brothers better than anyone else."

"He knew we'd be coming," Soul concluded, his lips twisted with disgust and anger. "You're right, Seeley. We walked right into a trap."

As the Hermessi descended upon us, led by Brendel, we all became aware of an impending reality. There was no more running from the Hermessi leader, not this time. This was our turning point, the moment in which we'd fight to the very end. We would either win, or we would lose.

Whatever the outcome, this was unavoidable. Brendel had had enough of us, and, with the Spirit Bender's help, she was determined to do everything in her power and beyond to put an end to our mission.

As scary as that was, it gave me more hope than anything else. It meant that we were still a threat to her. It meant that we still had a shot at stopping the ritual.

Eva

"Gather closer," Taeral advised us. "I doubt she's letting us leave this time."

Riza was the first to notice that she could no longer teleport. "That bitch! She cut us off again," the jinni snarled.

"It was bound to happen," Taeral replied. "We were meant to waste our time looking for Death until we reached this spot. The Spirit Bender lured us here so he could serve us up to Brendel."

The truth of his words echoed deeply inside me, making my bones ache. We'd been played by the very creep we were trying to find. He'd already found us, and he'd sent Brendel our way, just to make sure we didn't bother the ritual.

We moved into a tight circle, drawing our pulverizer weapons first. There wasn't much we could do with them, but the pellets were still powerful enough to at least annoy them. Our strength in this fight belonged to Lumi, Nethissis, and Taeral and Riza's magic, along with Eira and Kabbah's Hermessi mojo. My Druid spells were weak, but I could still try something. The aces up our sleeves were, of course, the Reapers who'd sided with us, and I had a feeling Taeral might play a decisive role, as well.

Remembering Thieron, an idea shot through my head, faster than the lightning above. With the Hermessi growing bigger and brighter as they approached the mountain, I figured we'd have to take drastic measures in order to survive and win this, and there was one thing we hadn't tried yet.

"Tae, do you think Thieron will be of any serious help here? I mean, do you think you can get something more out of it than the last time you used it against Brendel?" I asked, my gaze fixed on the incoming Hermessi.

"I can definitely try," he breathed. “What other choice do I have? I’m not a Reaper, though, and I’m certainly not Death… I’m not sure what I can do with it now that it’s complete.”

"Don't be daft, boy!" Soul replied dryly. "It's already weird that you were able to use just two-thirds of Thieron so effectively against Brendel. Dial it up to eleven, and let's find out what you can do!"

"There's no clearer sign that you're a good fit for Thieron," Phantom added, drawing my attention. She was smiling at Taeral in a way that made me swell with pride.

He nodded slowly, as the air thickened and heated around us. The night was illuminated by dozens of Hermessi, with Brendel at the lead. They were close enough to make my skin tighten and my nerves snap, the blaze of their fire drawing sweat from my temples.

With shaky hands, he raised Thieron, his mind focused