A Shade of Vampire 77 A Fate of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,6

in the park."

"We'll be with you all the way," Seeley replied. "I hope I speak for Soul, Widow, and Phantom when I say that it's our duty to make sure you all reach Death in one piece, and with Thieron in your possession."

Herakles grinned. "That's so sweet. I could cry."

"Ugh. Let's go!" Riza urged them, as the cave trembled from a distant, catastrophic impact. I didn't need to see what was going on out there. Just the thought of the Hermessi's active presence on Mortis was a clear enough indication that they were out for blood and destruction.

"Remember not to touch the crystal eggs," Taeral reminded us as he jumped in.

One by one we followed, the pink water enveloping our bodies. I welcomed the chill as I swam downward, following Taeral and Raphael. The others were right behind us, as we kept a tight formation on our way down.

For a moment, there was only silence and water, and I could've stayed like this forever. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option, so I kept moving. Around us, the crystal eggs had grown larger since the last time we'd been here. Touching them would've thrown me back with an electric jolt—and that wasn't even the scary part. We had no idea what was growing inside them, but, given the local Hermessi's allegiance and their liberal access to these primordial waters, I figured it couldn't be anything good or fluffy or friendly.

Determination seemed to fuel Taeral as he swam deeper, headed straight for the bottom of the tunnel, where a light began to shimmer. The natural wormhole had sensed our approach and was beginning to open up.

"Amelia, watch out!" Riza screamed through the breathing device's comms system.

I froze as a black shadow swooshed past me. It tackled Raphael, and my heart jumped in my throat. Looking to my right, I saw where it had come from. A broken crystal egg. The others were cracking open, as well. Shills. Dozens of them, more vicious than ever.

Raphael managed to rip his attacker's throat out, blood spreading crimson through the water. "Hurry," he said, his breath short. "They're all coming out!"

We didn't stand a chance. Before we could move farther down, Shills had already surrounded us. They darted through the water, their long claws and sharp fangs targeting our critical body parts.

Riza and Taeral zapped themselves in different positions, cutting through the beasts' torsos. Riza had a sword and was proficient at beheading the Shills. Taeral, on the other hand, had Thieron. He had no idea what it would do or how to use it properly, since he lacked Death’s knowledge, but it seemed powerful enough to deliver deadly blows—he'd broken Brendel into thousands of little pieces with it while it had been still incomplete. From what I could tell, Thieron was acting as a sharp weapon, cutting through the Shills like a knife through butter.

It was one thing for Death to wield a complete Thieron, and a whole different thing for Taeral to do it. The living had not been designed to toy with such a powerful weapon, whether they were destined to become Reapers, like Taeral, or not. Even so, it was a good blade, and I had no time left to wonder whether Taeral had yet to find some untapped potential inside it or not.

One of the Shills knocked my weapon away, and I found myself scrambling for a knife. I couldn’t reach my weapon in time, as it got bumped up and away between the Shills. Varga fired a pulverizer pellet at it, and Taeral found a moment to slip me Yamani’s scythe. “Take it! Use it!” he said.

I grabbed it and swung it against the creatures who came at me, eager to avenge their fallen beast brother. Raphael, Herakles, Eva, and Varga continued firing their pulverizer weapons, shooting glowing blue pellets left and right at every single Shill that tried to take them out.

Lumi and Nethissis worked their swamp witch magic, helping us kill more of them faster, but it still wasn't enough. More Shills kept breaking out of their crystal eggs, and, to make matters worse, a bright orange light began to swell above the pink water surface. "Brendel…" I managed, and slashed across a Shill's chest, drawing blood.

A pulverizer pellet from Herakles finished the job, turning the creature into ashes.

"A little help here would be nice!" Varga shouted, addressing the Reapers.

There were so many Shills around and between us that I couldn't even see Phantom or the others. Heck, I