A Shade of Vampire 82 A Circle of Nine - Bella Forrest Page 0,30

option. If we raise enough hell, maybe Unending will sense us, too. Maybe she’ll react… wherever she might be.”

A sense of clarity washed over me as I watched each of these First Tenners reach the same conclusion. Even Soul, the master of counterarguments, seemed close to falling off the fence and picking the better side.

“Our resources are limited,” I added. “We’re not allowed to bring in more Reapers. But we should be able to work with the ones who are already here. Maybe Death will loosen up some more if she starts seeing results.”

“You’ve managed to free my sister and me,” Night said. “That should count for something.”

Phantom nodded. “And if we start following the Darklings, and we actually find Unending? Yeah, I can see Death changing her tune on Reaper cooperation.”

“You think she’ll actually let us bring in the whole force?” Widow asked her.

“Maybe. We just need to figure out what the Darklings’ limits are while they’re leading us to Unending. I’m sure they’ll get us where we need to go,” Phantom replied.

“Okay, fine!” Soul growled, stretching his arms as he jumped off the cylindrical stone. “Fine! Let’s go talk to your buddy Seeley, and let’s see what we can do to push forward. The more time we spend doing nothing, the more troublesome the Darklings will become.”

“Aw, look at Soul caring about the living and stuff.” Phantom giggled.

“Don’t get cute. It’s just not right for the Darklings to keep messing with souls and Reapers alike,” Soul said. “On that point, Kelara and I agree. Not so much on everything else, but let’s see where this show takes us, huh?”

I had confidence in my approach. And now that I had all the First Tenners’ support, that confidence had suddenly grown to astronomical proportions. After everything Seeley had told me about the Darklings and their operations, I knew we couldn’t just stand back and do our own mission without interfering. They’d gotten away with too much for too long.

It was time for us to strike back. Mercilessly.

Seeley

“You told Kelara?!” Sidyan shouted, his jaw still on the ground.

I’d made the executive decision to share all our findings with Kelara, and I stood by it, despite Sidyan’s outrage. He had a point, since we’d already gone against Death’s orders and risked severe penalties upon her release. But there was just too much at stake to keep playing by her rules, especially when she couldn’t come here herself and sort everything out.

“I know you’re upset,” I said calmly. “But I—”

“She will obliterate us!” Sidyan replied, a vein throbbing nervously in his temple. “Dammit, Seeley, I’m in enough hot water as it is for having kept Maya. We weren’t supposed to tell anyone about our mission here!”

“They can help!” I insisted. “Kelara said she’d talk it over with the First Tenners. Hopefully, she’ll convince them.”

“Oh, so it’s not even a done deal yet. You told her without any assurance that they’d actually help.” Sidyan gasped. “Good grief, you’ve signed our death warrants.”

“Technically speaking, you’re both already dead,” Lumi interjected. She seemed amused. Not that I could fault her. From the outside looking in, our situation was, by all possible definitions, ridiculous. Here we were—two Reapers, a gang of obedient ghouls, and a powerful swamp witch—and we could do nothing more than just follow the Whip around, hoping she might lead us to the Master of Darkness. All while Nethissis languished in rune chains, guarded by Atlas.

“You know what I mean!” Sidyan hissed. “Don’t tell me you’re on his side!”

“I’m on our side,” Lumi retorted. “The right side. And it’s done. Seeley made this decision without talking to us, probably because he knew you’d blow a fuse. Case in point, here you are, boiling over.”

“Death will be so angry,” Sidyan said, pinching the bridge of his nose. He closed his eyes for a moment, clearly struggling to regain a calmer sense of self. “Damn.”

“I had to do something,” I insisted. “We’ve been standing out here for hours unable to do anything. Petra’s got the upper hand, and I cannot for the life of me let her have this victory, no matter how small you might think it is. We need help, and Death isn’t sending anyone our way. Fortunately, I happened to learn that Kelara was bringing Soul, Phantom, Widow, Morning, and Night over to Visio. How could I not bring up our issue, huh?”

“Quite easily, if you had any regard for the rules,” Sidyan answered.

“Oh, screw this!” Lumi burst out. “Nethi is in there.