A Shade of Vampire 80 A Veil of Dark - Bella Forrest Page 0,1

can keep a charade up for only so long, after all. They’re bound to slip up if they’re being dishonest.”

“It’ll also be a good opportunity to figure out exactly how much they know about the palace basement and those hidden access routes,” Derek added. “While we’re out, Amal and Amane will keep working on the protein. Petra will be in later today to discuss the Black Fever, too. Apparently, there have been a couple more cases among the Aeternae staff.”

Amane frowned, taking a moment to look at us. “I thought the carrier girl, the Rimian, was isolated.”

“She was. But she’s probably not the only one with the virus in her bloodstream,” Derek said. “Maybe do another round of tests?”

“We just did, three days ago,” Amal replied. “This doesn’t make sense.”

“I trust you two will handle it,” Sofia said. “Now that you’re together, our odds of stopping the Black Fever before it spreads beyond control are twice as good.”

“I guess… We need to figure out what accelerated the cycle this time around,” Amane murmured, looking at her sister. They both wore their white hair pulled up in tight buns, their orange eyes glimmering with fear and curiosity. “We’ve managed to establish that the Black Fever might affect our vampires as well.”

“Wait, what?” I croaked. Having spent the past couple of days mostly sleeping through my recovery, it was only natural that I had been left out of the loop on a few aspects of our mission here. “You mean to tell me we might get infected?”

“It’s not as bad as you think,” Amal assured me. “Additional screening measures have been put in place inside the palace, with plans to go national—the blood Sofia brought you has been tested and it’s clean, so don’t worry about that. Also, we’ve watched the virus react to vampire blood under the lens. You’re wired differently than the Aeternae, even though you are susceptible. In a vampire infection, the Black Fever would cause serious discomfort and a pretty painful feverish state, but it wouldn’t kill you. We’d have to pump you full of fresh, untainted blood in order to remove the Black Fever from your system.”

“Could we be carriers, too?” I asked, allowing the sense of relief to soothe my stiff muscles. The worst-case scenario regarding vampires and Black Fever had somehow been avoided, thanks to our biology. But it also raised a question we’d posed before: Was there a chance that vampires were, in fact, related to the Aeternae?

Amal shook her head. “No. It would manifest in a vampire. It wouldn’t lay dormant. Also, the Black Fever is a lot more difficult to catch for your species. An infected Aeternae would have to bite or scratch you for you to get it.”

“So, it’s not airborne for us,” Tristan concluded, and Amal shook her head again. “Thank the stars.”

“Regardless, you’ll have to be careful,” Amane warned us. “As you know, during its incubation period, the Black Fever barely manifests, and certainly not through any clear symptoms.”

“Silver linings, huh?” I chuckled and immediately winced, a burning pain in my side reminding me that I was still as fragile as an egg. I hated being like this, but I had no choice. I had to tough it out and be careful.

Tristan’s brow furrowed as he looked at me. “How’s your memory from that night? Do you remember anything more?”

I thought about it for a moment, finding myself utterly disappointed. I exhaled sharply and gave my answer. “Not really. No. I know the ginger-haired Darkling was severely injured but not dead by the time I got slammed into the wall and cut with the scythe, but everything else after that is a major fuzz. They found her dead, right?”

“Mm-hm. Along with the others. But there was nothing else. Just the occasional death magic runes on chains and discarded cuffs. Stuff they left behind, likely as they rushed to evacuate the basement,” Tristan replied.

“Reaper magic. I mean, I thought we had our hands full already, but this is going up to a whole new level of terrifying and weird,” I said. “They were pretty quick to clear out the basement, though, weren’t they?”

“Yes. I wonder what exactly they were keeping down there.” Derek sighed. “And until we find Zoltan, or at least a Darkling we can get to talk, I doubt we’ll figure it out on our own.”

“Has anyone talked to Taeral about this?” I asked. “After all, he’s got Thieron. His direct link to Death. I know she’s probably