A Shade of Vampire 80 A Veil of Dark - Bella Forrest Page 0,37

all this, and I grew increasingly anxious. There was something about this Darkling—maybe the simmering rage in his eyes—that made me uneasy. I found that I feared him and Zoltan more than I did all the ghouls put together.

“I suggest you keep your mouth shut, unless you want to become the next Ignatius,” Veliko replied, and pulled the ghoul closer to Zoltan, while Seeley and I remained on the side. He raised the scythe and slashed at the beast. Wounds opened, ashes spreading outward as if spewed by a volcano. Ignatius wailed and screamed from the pain, but Veliko wasn’t done.

“Oh, wow,” I managed, covering my mouth with both hands.

Veliko kept cutting away at the ghoul. Every blow caused more ashes to spray outward. He hacked and slashed until there was nothing left of Ignatius but a pile of grayish dust that was quickly stolen by the wind.

Silence fell heavily over our corner of Astoria. Other Darklings and black guards watched from a safe distance, their expressions sullen and darkened by discontent. No one liked Veliko, but they all feared him. No one dared to object to what he’d just done, but it clearly wasn’t the first time he’d done it.

Seeley breathed out shakily. “This isn’t possible,” he whispered.

The Reaper’s scythe was not supposed to work like that. Only Reapers could destroy ghouls in this particular fashion. What the hell was going on here?! Ghouls could be killed in their physical form by cutting off their heads, but what Veliko had accomplished here was something that had, until now, been a key characteristic of Reapers, as well as Death and her Thieron.

People like Veliko were not supposed to be able to wield a Reaper blade like that.

“That was a mistake,” Zoltan warned the seething Darkling. That was all he said regarding the matter, though. No punishment. Nothing else. I wondered if Zoltan feared Veliko, too, or if it was just a matter of respect. “Ignatius would’ve been useful.”

“He was a shoddy tracker and a mindless soul-eater,” Veliko said, dusting the ashes off his scythe before he hid it back under his cloak. “He should’ve been terminated sooner.”

“We’re a ghoul short, now,” Zoltan grumbled.

Veliko pointed at Seeley, and my soul became paralyzed. “You can make this one more useful.”

“And you can shut the hell up already,” Zoltan shot back. “I told you I’ve yet to decide what I’m going to do with him. You’re in no position to force my hand. I’ve already tolerated enough from you, Veliko. Don’t push it.”

It hit me then that I was witnessing the beginning of a power struggle. Zoltan was the Darkling Scholar and leader of this entire garrison. Veliko was strong, intimidating, and obviously dedicated to the cause. He also resented Zoltan for what had happened to me—which actually made sense. It was only a matter of time before Veliko would challenge Zoltan. Today wasn’t that day, though. Veliko cursed under his breath and sat down, crossing his legs in front of Ignatius’s rune chain.

Fiddling with its engraved links, he looked up at Seeley. “I take it you didn’t see this coming?”

“This isn’t normal,” Seeley replied. “You’re not a Reaper. How are you able to kill a ghoul with a scythe?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Veliko sneered.

“We should focus on our primary mission,” Zoltan interjected, equally unwilling to explain how an Aeternae was able to destroy a creature that only Reapers and Death herself had had the power to eradicate. “I’ve sent scouts back to the Green Road.”

“And I’ve ordered the Darklings’ retreat from the imperial city,” Veliko said. “After the dungeon incident, I think we’re safer if we just let the foreigners run around until they get tired. Hopefully, they’ll leave once they get their day-walking protein.”

“That’s wishful thinking,” I muttered. “No way GASP will let my death go unpunished. It’s just not in our nature.”

Seeley wanted to respond, but he didn’t want to give my presence away. Instead, he focused on Zoltan and Veliko. “The foreigners won’t let Nethissis’s death go unpunished. I know them well enough to understand that whatever you try to do, it will end in miserable failure.”

“See? We need to give them a scapegoat,” Veliko said, narrowing his eyes at Zoltan.

“Why are you looking at me? Are you planning a coup, perhaps? They consider me responsible for the girl’s death,” the Scholar replied.

Veliko grinned. “All options are on the table right now.”

Zoltan stood tall, taking Seeley’s scythe out. “By all means, come at me, Veliko, and I will