A Shade of Vampire 81 A Bringer of Night - Bella Forrest Page 0,34
above their canines. It was such a painful thing to watch. The flesh trembled on their bones. There was hunger. Oh, so much hunger…
“What is happening?” I asked myself, but the words never left my lips. I kept carving, my fingers bleeding as they slipped under the pointed metal tip of my instrument. But I couldn’t stop. The message had to be written.
A spine-tingling growl made me glance over my shoulder. The infected creatures were attacking the healthy ones. They sank their fangs into their necks, looking for that crucial vein. Blood sprayed all over, glazing the stones of their huts red. So much pain…
When they were done feeding, the infected creatures fell to their knees, roaring and crying and scratching at their faces, drawing blood and cursing all the gods for what they had to do, for what they had to endure. What sort of madness was this?
“I can’t stop,” I heard myself say. “No matter what. The message…”
I kept working on the plaque, disregarding the sharp pain in my hands, occasionally wiping the blood with the corner of my linen-like shirt. I watched the red blotches spread across the fabric, like poppies blossoming above pristine snow.
Someone shrieked. Looking back again, I felt tension rising. The infected creatures were now attacking each other, ripping throats open to feed on more blood. The hunger was insatiable. Their minds were gone. They killed their own. Those who remained standing withered away in seconds, their bodies hollow and shriveled as the black mist abandoned them.
My heart raced as the column of poisonous darkness headed toward me. I hurried and finished my carving, but I couldn’t escape. As I got up and tried to run, the mist caught up with me. The force that had given me the message was gone, and I was all alone. The Elders invaded me. They consumed me, and I fell apart.
Screaming from the bottom of my lungs, I opened my eyes to find myself wrapped in the Soul Crusher’s arms as he pulled me away from the plaque. Tears streamed down my cheeks—an ability I thought I’d lost upon dying over a century ago. My pain was real. The ache in my heart was deep and sincere.
“It’s okay,” Soul said, stroking my hair as he held me tight. “Breathe, Kelara. Breathe.”
“Oh, wow. That was… That was horrible,” I sobbed, tilting my head back until it rested on his shoulder. I surrendered to the suffering I’d inherited from that creature. He’d seen his whole world fall apart, devoured and destroyed by the Elders.
“What did you see?” Soul asked.
I needed a minute or two to collect myself, to understand what I had just witnessed.
“That damn rune,” I managed. “What the hell is it? It did something to me.”
“It’s a memory letter,” Soul said. “It’s imbued with the memories of the creature who carved it, living or otherwise. It’s one of the few aspects of death magic that can transcend into the world of the living. I suppose it’s why the Night Bringer had someone carve it in the first place.”
“Wait… what?” My body grew suddenly stiff.
Pulling away from Soul’s embrace, I abandoned the pleasant feeling he’d just offered, allowing shock and anger to take its place as I realized why Soul had wanted me to touch the plaque.
“You knew what the rune did. You son of a bitch, you wanted me to experience that… that hell!” I shouted, pointing an angry finger at him.
Soul raised his hands in a defensive gesture, keeping a surprisingly straight face. “I didn’t know what the message entailed, Kelara. I just knew you’d be receptive to it. What did you see?”
“You used me!”
“I had to! I lack your sensitivity!” Soul shot back. “Now, quit your whining and tell me what you saw.”
“Oh, I ought to…” I took a deep breath, willing myself into a state of calm. I would get my revenge against Soul someday, but not today. I’d have to accept that. Digging through my entire experience, I formed a timeline to follow. “I think I saw the Elders’ invasion,” I said to him. “I saw the previous inhabitants of Cruor, and the black mist of Elders consuming them. I don’t think they were compatible hosts. You know, like the humans. The people of Cruor couldn’t adapt to vampirism the way the Shadians did.”
“Tell me everything, Kelara. Spare absolutely no detail,” Soul said. “The clearer our picture, the better we’ll understand what happened.”