A Shade of Vampire 81 A Bringer of Night - Bella Forrest Page 0,26

gathered in one spot, desperately holding on to one another as they looked toward Valaine in fear.

She was okay, albeit somewhat confused. She was back to her normal self, her skin smooth and her black eyes clear. Lumi helped her up, and Valaine gave her a soft smile. Lumi, of all people…

“What… What just happened? What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to figure out whether I was dreaming or this was actually happening. It had to be real, though. Valaine looked as shocked as I felt, perhaps even more confused, since she’d never met Lumi before.

But she was alive, and that was what mattered most to me. We’d lost each other in the middle of that scuffle, and the Darklings had obviously had some pretty destructive protocols in place. At least we’d caught Zoltan. This fight had not been for nothing.

“Ah, kiddo… I wish I’d had a better choice,” Lumi mumbled, staring at me.

What did that mean? How had she gotten to Visio in the first place? Gosh, there were so many questions piling up already, I worried I’d lose my mind by the following nightfall if she didn’t give me some answers, and soon.

Tristan

They were gone. The entire cluster of ghouls and Darklings led by Veliko were gone. They’d vanished into thin air, using that complex spell they’d all been chanting—death magic that had likely destroyed two of their ghouls. The creatures left behind were scared and whimpering. They huddled together, staring at Valaine.

“Are you okay?” Lumi asked.

Valaine nodded slowly, looking around. Only a couple of Darklings were left alive, along with eight of our gold guards. I’d hoped for better numbers at the end of this fight, but alas… the Darklings had proved that strength in numbers alone wasn’t enough to secure a victory. The element of surprise had helped, though. And we had Zoltan.

“Rudolph, get off him,” Lumi instructed the ghoul. Why did that name sound familiar? I’d heard it before, but I wasn’t sure when or where. “And fetch me his scythe. You know its owner still needs it. He’s not going anywhere anymore.”

“What… What happened, exactly?” Valaine asked.

“Veliko is what happened. That treacherous little turd. He wanted everything, but he accomplished almost nothing with that idiotic stunt he just tried to pull,” Zoltan snapped, his ego tattered. Rudolph growled as he got off the Aeternae, baring his fangs in a menacing sneer as he collected the scythe off the ground. “You’re just as bad,” Zoltan hissed at the creature.

“You two know each other?” I replied, fascinated by the exchange.

Zoltan scoffed but refused to answer. Lumi shook her head in dismay. “Zoltan knows Rudolph very well. He made him,” the witch said.

“Wait, what?” I blurted, shaking my head in disbelief. Was this some kind of twisted nightmare? What the heck was going on here? Obviously, Valaine and I were missing a lot of information, and apparently Lumi knew more than she was telling us.

“Zoltan and the Darklings have been capturing Reapers and forcing them to turn into ghouls,” Lumi replied. “We don’t know how the process works, exactly, but Rudolph is just one of their latest victims. He used to be Caia’s Reaper, as well as Vesta’s guardian, back in the sanctuary on Calliope, if you remember.”

I nodded. “I knew that name sounded familiar.”

It broke my heart to see a Reaper reduced to this. The ghoul lowered his head, as if he were ashamed of what he’d become. “It wasn’t his fault,” Lumi said in a bid to reassure the creature. She pointed at the other ghouls. “They’re not to be blamed for anything.”

“So, our assessments were correct,” Valaine murmured. “The Darklings are using ghouls for their operations.”

“It appears so,” I said. “But Lumi, what are you doing here?”

Lumi sighed. “It’s a long story, Tristan, and I’m afraid I’ve already told you all I can about this. No one knows I’m here, and it has to stay that way. I’m dead serious. I’ve already broken a massive rule by revealing myself, but I had to. You kids were on the losing side, and I couldn’t let Zoltan take any more of our people.”

“You don’t belong here,” Zoltan grumbled, his eyes throwing daggers.

“And you should’ve seen this coming, you arrogant fool,” Lumi replied. She moved her attention back to Valaine and me. “You two need to make sure this bastard gets punished for what he did to my Nethi. At least you got him. Do whatever you want, but try to get some intel out