A Shade of Vampire 90: A Ruler of Clones - Bella Forrest Page 0,1
a little. It also felt odd not to have his full attention, though I could see him stealing glances whenever he thought I wasn’t really looking his way. It was a game we were playing, it seemed. “This world grows and develops by feeding on the life energy of its inhabitants. The force circulates through it—from the budding leaf to the ripening fruit, from the living and breathing clones to the giant redwoods. In order to exist, this world needs life force. But unlike your world, it’s not endless. It’s not unlimited. It’s just a pocket between dimensions, neatly sealed and containing limited resources.”
“Hence why it feeds on us,” Thayen concluded.
“Exactly. Your bodies replenish your energy through sleep, only now you’re forced to do it more often than before. Six to eight hours nightly for proper functions. It’s the standard effect for everybody,” Brandon said.
It applied to each of us here in the same way, then.
“Like regular humans would,” I said.
The Berserker shrugged. “Point is, the clones go through this as well, so there’s a day and night cycle happening here, even if this place is covered by darkness all the time.”
“Therefore, the clones all sleep at once, during the so-called night.”
“Yes. And that’s when we want to make our move,” Brandon said, his stern gaze fixed on the distant lighthouse. It flickered faintly in a thick grayish mist, its light rotating slowly across the nothingness of the ocean before returning across this false Shade. “Hopefully, our Valkyrie lady will return with useful information.”
I turned to face him, and it made him grow suddenly tense. Why? I had a feeling the Berserker was revealing more than he’d intended through his body language. “What’s your deal with the Valkyrie? As a Berserker, I mean… you haven’t told us much.”
“And I don’t really plan on telling you more,” he replied with a cool grin. “Like I said, you’re not even supposed to—”
“Know about you and your realm, yeah, yeah, you’ve said that before,” I shot back, rolling my eyes. His demeanor toward me was uneven. Sometimes, he was warm and called me Pinkie. At other times, he gave me icy smiles and kept me at arm’s length. It confused me. Then again, I was just as inconsistent toward him. “But we’re here. We’re supposed to be helping each other. We’re supposed to trust each other. How can we do that when we know little to nothing about you? You keep saying you don’t know much about HQ, but I have a hard time believing that. I have a hard time fully trusting you.”
Thayen watched us closely, his gaze often settling on Brandon. I could see he didn’t fully trust him, either. Most of what the Berserker had done for us had been to our advantage, but I couldn’t quite get over the incident in the dungeons. He’d ratted us out once. What were the odds it would happen again when we’d least expect it? Still, I couldn’t stop myself from hanging onto this idea of him as a safe haven. In this wretched darkness, Brandon had brought light. A strange light, given his obscure nature, but a light, nonetheless. There was something about him I found difficult to ignore. Something that made my heart beat a little faster whenever he glanced my way. I struggled to reconcile these two sides of my clearly disrupted emotional spectrum.
“Any suspicion I might have about HQ is worthless without concrete evidence. To me, only one thing matters, whether you care to believe me or not,” Brandon said, slowly raising his chin. “They have Hammer. The best I can do is help however I can without drawing attention to myself from the leadership.”
“Okay. Then how can you help?” I asked.
“I know more than Myst, for starters,” he replied, giving Thayen a wry smile. “I suggest you try and keep it professional. She’s way above your pay grade.”
“Whoa.” Thayen’s eyes widened as he sat up straight. “Whoa, there. What are you talking about?”
Brandon laughed throatily, throwing his head back at the same time. “Oh, come on. She obviously rattled you. It doesn’t come as a surprise. The Valkyries have the same effect on everybody else, me and my brothers included. They’re beings of beauty and light, of grace and wisdom. You can’t look away.”
“I’ve never seen a creature like her before. Or you, for that matter. I think I’m allowed to be rattled,” Thayen replied, crossing his arms.
Below, it was quiet. The only sound was the emerald canopy