A Shade of Vampire 84 A Memory of Time - Bella Forrest Page 0,93
the Spirit Bender back,” Petra retorted, straightening her back as she looked at Seeley. “From what I’ve learned, the Spirit Bender was the one who sealed Death in the first place. If we restore his presence, our empire will survive and thrive forever.”
Widow leaned into Lumi. “Any luck yet?”
“With Word magic? No. I was hoping you might have something,” she replied.
“If Time—who’s better versed in this than we are—couldn’t hack it, I doubt we could.” Widow sighed, revealing his scythe. “But maybe some good old-fashioned violence will at least put a dent in the damn thing.”
He rammed the enormous blade into the defense spell. It blew back in a spectacular fashion, tossing him against the wall. His scythe dropped and fell down the stairs, clanging incessantly until it reached the ground floor.
“Dammit,” Widow muttered and went down to retrieve it. By the time he was back, we’d definitely learned something.
“Yeah, so good old-fashioned violence won’t help either,” Dream replied dryly, then pursed her lips as she scowled at Petra. “You’re going down for this, I promise you.”
“Mm-hm. Yes. Plenty of threats in the face of the inevitable. You’re all pathetic,” Petra said, unbuttoning Kalon’s shirt. She knelt beside him and cut a small incision into his chest.
“Don’t!” I screamed. “Dammit, Petra, don’t do this!”
Amane held me back, as I was about to kick and punch the crap out of the defense spell, even though I knew it would shake me to the core, and not in a good way. I struggled to free myself, but she didn’t let go even as I cried and called out Kalon’s name over and over, hoping he might hear me. Hoping he might wake up and stop Petra before it was too late.
“Kalon! Kalon! Open your eyes! Kalon!”
Petra snickered, opening the top part of her dress to reveal the smooth, pale skin of her chest. She cut herself the same way she’d cut Kalon, then pressed the tip of the blade into his incision. Almost instantly, a golden thread appeared, connecting the cuts. The blood became incandescent as Petra inhaled deeply and proceeded with an incantation.
“I thought the transfer would take weeks!” I said, alarmed by the speed with which everything was happening.
“Oh, honey, I know more words and subwords than Danika. There is more than one way to transfer a shard. I’ve had thousands of years to work my way up to this moment. Did you really think I’ve come unprepared?” she replied, wincing from pain. “Granted, it’s less comfortable than the old-fashioned method Danika used, but it does the job much faster.”
The more she spoke, the more horrified I became, unable to do anything to stop this madness. All I could do was scream and shout and hope my beloved might hear me before it was too late. “Kalon! Please! Wake up!”
“It’s no use,” Soul said, hands balled into fists. “We’re going to have to find another way to stop her.”
“How?” I asked, tears blurring my vision. I felt them running down my cheeks, and it just made me feel all the more useless, as I stood crying while my beloved’s fate was sealed. What were the odds I’d succeed in protecting Kalon from Danika once Petra transferred Spirit’s soul shard into his heart? As per Derek’s account from his prison cell conversations with the Lady Supreme, she was the one who had to extract the shards, since she’d started the process. She was the one who’d be coming for Kalon, and there was no stopping that maniac.
“I don’t know yet,” Soul replied. “But we did get Ramus’s heart away from Danika. Plus, she’s burned to a crisp right now, so I’m not sure how long it will be before she’s healthy enough to track us down again.”
“What do we do with the shard we got, then?” I asked. “Do we destroy it?”
“I’m not sure we can do that,” Soul said. “I’ve already tried. And it burn. Breaking the shard would only produce smaller pieces, still usable for a soul reunification, so that’s out of the question. Crushing it would produce the same result, though it would certainly lead to more tedious repair work, I suppose. Fire was our only option, and the pieces seem to be impervious to it. I’m worried Spirit might’ve foreseen this, too. He’s the type of overthinker to take precautions for pretty much anything.”
“That doesn’t mean we won’t find a way to destroy it,” Amane said, looking at him for some kind of confirmation.