A Shade of Vampire 80 A Veil of Dark - Bella Forrest Page 0,18

it to a painful extreme, forcing the planet into permanent daylight, keeping the people awake to avoid unimaginable pain. Whatever Spirit had done to her, it had pushed Morning toward desperate measures, and the locals were dying of exhaustion and sleep deprivation.

Since we’d arrived here, five had fallen, lifeless and pale, their bodies unable to sustain them anymore.

“You’re killing them off,” I declared, anger making me feel like I could easily burst at the seams. “You’re wearing them out.”

“I try to draw this daylight energy I need from the elders,” Morning replied, the multitude of flat voices making me quiver. “I leave the young ones alone, especially the babies. In their fifteenth year, I take over. I’ve separated them for that purpose. The couples who conceive are sent away, temporarily released from my hold until the children are born. The parents come back to places like this one, where they live to serve me, and their offspring are raised far from here. It’s a shaky and faulty system, but it’s the best I can do to stop Spirit’s curse from tearing me into mindless shreds. I will spend an eternity atoning for what I’ve had to do here, if you free me.”

“What do you remember about this curse that Spirit put on you?” the Widow Maker asked.

We settled in the middle of the village, where large square rocks had been placed in a wide circle. The locals must’ve used them for gatherings, before. While I didn’t really feel physically tired, I did welcome the opportunity for a brief rest while we put our heads together and tried to figure out how we could set Morning free. Death had urged us to find a way, since she needed all the remaining First Tenners to help break the rest of the seals she’d been under.

“Not much. I’m not even sure whether it’s a curse or a seal. I often get the two confused,” Morning said.

“Death said it’s an ancient seal,” I replied.

“It probably is. I don’t know.”

“She also said we need to find your body,” I added.

“I doubt that is doable. I don’t have a body anymore,” Morning said. “It’s been like this since I lost my individual form. Everything is hazy. Little makes sense. All I can do is force myself to stay awake, because if I fall asleep again, the pain… oh, the pain… it’s like I’m forced into a cauldron filled with boiling, melted gold. It’s bright and almost mesmerizing, but the burn goes through, and… forgive me, I’m rambling again.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Soul mumbled, staring at his bare feet, his toes wiggling through the soft green grass.

“We need you to focus,” Phantom said, her gaze wandering from one local to another. They shuffled around us, unable to focus on anything for too long. They were the closest I’d seen anyone get to a zombie. “Look back on what it was like when you first found yourself in this form. Think, Morning. There has to be a way for us to break this magic. Otherwise, we will spend an eternity trying to save you.”

“I must admit, I do feel a little better knowing that you’re here,” Morning replied.

“So, the Spirit Bender lured you here, right?” I asked, trying to get her back on track. The longer we stayed here, the longer it would take to free Death, and I needed her at full capacity so she would fix whatever the hell was happening on Visio. Seeley was in the wind, not to mention Rudolph and his crew. Nothing seemed right anymore, and it made me more anxious than ever.

“He did, yes. I remember him whispering something in my ear,” Morning said. “But he vanished for a few minutes before that, while I called out to my brother, the Night Bringer, thinking he was here. I couldn’t feel him, but I did capture traces of him. Dark little threads, enough to get my hopes up. I didn’t even realize Spirit was gone until he came back.”

Silence settled over the village, while Soul, Phantom, Widow, and I looked at each other, waiting for her to continue.

“Then what happened?” Soul spoke, and the locals straightened their backs, as if suddenly alert again. It was a subtle reaction from Morning, I realized. Her fractured mind had wandered off once more.

“He whispered something,” she said. “I recognized some of the words. It was death magic, for sure, but nothing I’d ever heard of before. I remember wondering what it was that he