A Shade of Vampire 80 A Veil of Dark - Bella Forrest Page 0,16

asleep, basking in the hazy daylight. I could see the veins and muscle fibers through their translucent skin. Some were awake, their big, beady black eyes darting around, as if taking this whole new thing in. It was a new environment for them, too, and they didn’t seem like they knew what to make of it.

Most ghouls lost their conscience upon turning, but I could swear that I could still see it sometimes—a faint glimmer as they stared at the black guards and noticed the Reaper scythes hanging from their leather belts. It all boiled down to those blades, once their tools, extensions of their beings. I had a feeling they could still remember, sometimes, if only for a second, that they used to be more than these feral monsters.

Rudolph was seated on the edge of the enclosure, his gaze dark as he reached out and touched the invisible membrane surrounding them. It sent a shock through his body, much like lightning. He growled, unhappy with his conditions, but his mood quickly became chipper when he saw me.

“Shh,” I whispered, moving slowly so as not to rile up the others.

It was no use, though. One of his mates snarled and bared his ridiculously long fangs at me. Soon enough, the others joined in, too, hissing and drooling and looking at me as if I were a prime rib steak, all theirs for the taking, and yet out of their reach.

Nearby black guards looked our way, but they couldn’t see me.

“I wonder what’s got their panties in a twist,” one of them said.

The other shrugged. “Who knows? Once in a while, a soul still makes it well past death. Maybe it’s that snake witch lady,” he added with a dry chuckle.

“She’d be aching to get herself eaten. Suicide by ghoul.” The first one laughed.

“A-holes,” I muttered, shifting my focus back to Rudolph, who stayed put, unlike the other ghouls. I ignored them, keeping my eyes on my strange friend. “Hey… I promised I’d come back to check on you.”

Rudolph let a low purr escape his throat, not moving an inch as he looked up at me.

“We’re settled here for now, so it’s time to move to phase two,” I continued. “I need you to get super friendly with the guards. With Zoltan, in particular. The quicker they put you on just a collar and let you out of the enclosure, the better. We need a scythe, remember?”

He nodded once, briefly glancing over his shoulder. It prompted several ghouls to go quiet. Maybe they understood me. Maybe they were aware that I planned to stick it to their Aeternae maker. Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing at all, as far as the ghouls were concerned. They obeyed Zoltan and the Darklings, sure, but that didn’t mean they took any pleasure in it.

“Do you think you can communicate with the other ghouls? Maybe get them to cooperate a little bit? We need all the help we can get,” I said. Rudolph seemed to think about it before he offered a soft nod in return. All I could do now was to leave this with him and hope for the best.

I wondered what the process of making a ghoul entailed, considering the amount of time and persuasion one would’ve normally needed to convince a Reaper to eat a soul, in the first place. Whatever Zoltan was doing here, it was well beyond the familiar norms. He had some tricks up his sleeve.

“You know I’m not able to be around you for too long,” I said, pointing at the other, still snarling ghouls. “The ruckus they make draws too much attention our way. But I’ll come see you again later, just like before, Rudolph. Just stay focused. Get friendly. Make them rub your belly or whatever.”

He crinkled his crooked nose, exhibiting sheer disgust.

“I know. It sucks. But it’s the only way you’ll get close enough to snatch a scythe. I have faith in you, Rudolph,” I added, remembering Seeley’s words when referring to me. The Reaper believed in me, and I believed in the ghoul. What a bizarre circle of non-life we had here!

Walking back to the center of Astoria, I prayed to the Word and to the universe itself to not let this be in vain. We all deserved better—even the ghouls who’d fallen prey to the Darklings here on Visio.

I found Zoltan in a small gathering with more mature-looking Aeternae, some quite familiar. I’d seen them in the palace before, but I couldn’t