A Shade of Vampire 77 A Fate of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,72

Brendel had a ritual to uphold. Such foolishness.

The taste of defeat lingered bitterly on the tip of my tongue as I slowly turned my head to look around. In the sea of white, I saw Varga and Eva, their heads covered but their eyes wide and filled with dread. Amelia's hand shaking as she tried to hold the scythe. Raphael, still and speechless. Riza and Herakles standing back to back, unable to utter a single word, their gazes fixed on me. Lumi and Nethissis's expressions were impossible to read, as they were possessed by the Word, but I knew the entity had nothing left to say.

Kabbah was astonished and heartbroken, glowing green with rage through Fallon's body. Kelara stood motionless as a shadow slipped past her. Seeley, Soul, Widow, Phantom, Dream, and Nightmare were all dismayed, their starry eyes coated with… tears. They were all breaking down as the light continued to cover the lands, headed our way with its unstoppable wave of destruction. The ghouls and the specters had stopped, too. No one could move anymore.

Beneath the ice, close to my feet, I saw Death.

She gave me a soft smile, and it didn't make a lick of sense. The Spirit Bender had just cut me, and the entire universe was about to fall apart. What the hell was she so giddy about?!

"Now, stand back and watch," Spirit said, amusement dripping from his voice. "Watch as it all comes down, before Death's own eyes!"

I managed to turn around and face him, but that was all. My body was no longer mine. My soul had been hijacked by his. He grinned, reaching out a hand.

"Give Thieron to me, boy. It's too big a toy for the likes of you," he added.

The worst part was that I couldn't stop myself as I brought Thieron up, ready to give it to him. Eira screamed from somewhere in the crowd. "Tae! No! Don't do it!"

Everything stopped.

The distant boom went silent. The air stopped flowing. I was frozen. Conscious, but still and unable to do or say anything. For a moment, I'd thought it was part of the Spirit Bender's wretched game, until I noticed that he, too, was quite literally paused.

Time had come to a sudden halt, and the Time Master's voice echoed across the paralyzed skirmish. "The thing about hate is that, while it does do a decent job of motivating an individual, it also blinds them."

He sounded so calm, emerging from the crowd of frozen specters and ghouls, moving past his motionless brothers and sisters, his scythe back in his hand. He gave Kelara an appreciative smile. "Thank you, little sister. You may not be a First Tenner, but you've proven yourself worthy of being my sibling, as much as the others," he said, then walked toward Spirit and me.

None of us could move. Time was paused, but we could all hear and see this moment. My heart wasn't even beating anymore. My breath was gone. The only comfort I got from this conscious blip was that I wasn't the only one. The Spirit Bender was just as helpless. While I couldn't see any emotions in his galaxy eyes, I knew there was dread in his blackened soul. This was not something he'd expected.

Kelara had taken advantage of her last attack on Spirit, joined by Seeley and me, to find and snatch the Time Master's scythe. We'd all known he'd have it on his person, unwilling to trust anyone, even a ward or magic seal to keep it from us. But he'd failed, and Time now had his full powers back.

Against the white backdrop, he stopped by Spirit's side, giving him a sympathetic smile. "You know, when Death first made us, I was in awe of you. I wondered what kind of creature you must have been, to have brought such spirit-bending abilities with you into our version of the afterlife," Time said. "I admired you. I loved you like a brother. Even when you were sullen and angry and eager to find a way to move on, to join the dead beyond… I was by your side, despite the light-years between us. I forgave you, more than once."

He raised a hand and caressed Spirit's bony cheek.

"You were the only one who refused to accept his fate. At first, I found that to be somewhat admirable. It showed great strength of character. But you should've learned, eventually, that there are things in this universe that you simply cannot change. Instead, you let