A Shade of Vampire 90: A Ruler of Clones - Bella Forrest Page 0,42

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“And who are you, exactly?” Dafne asked, eyeing the younger-looking Regine.

“She’s my little sister,” Myst replied.

“Her sister. Forget the ‘little’ part, since I’m technically older than she is,” Regine said flatly, giving Myst a smirk. “I was made before Myst. She only calls me ‘little’ because I’m shorter.”

Myst smiled. “Well, that and you’re extraordinarily feisty. Typical little sister behavior.”

“And Hrista is also your sister,” Soph said. She and Dafne had joined Jericho in situating Voss, Isabelle, and Chantal so they could rest comfortably, gently wiping their faces with wet cloths and helping them drink sips of water and eat a few bites of food before they drifted back to sleep. It hurt me to see my friends so weak, but I found comfort in knowing it was only a temporary state. We’d taken them away from the clones. They’d be okay. And Isabelle would answer the many questions I’d been waiting to ask her ever since we’d learned she’d been taken two months ago.

“Hrista…” Regine murmured, then gave Myst a sullen look. “You told them about her?”

“You know what? First, I need to know how the hell you made it into this place,” Myst snapped. With their weapons loaded and refreshed by Astra’s light, the Valkyries seemed brighter and more energetic than before. “And why in Order’s name would you leave Purgatory?”

“I came here looking for you,” Regine said, lowering her gaze. “I just… I followed some of the Berserkers. I remembered you telling me you thought they were up to something. Not all of them, but some… and after you vanished, I figured I might as well make myself useful and pick up where you left off.”

Jericho smiled. “So, both of you hitched a ride with a Berserker to get here? Is that the only way in from Purgatory?”

“Basically, yes,” Myst replied. “Though obviously neither of us knew it until it was too late, we also cannot leave. Not without the Berserkers, and none will take us. Whoever is calling the shots in this place—this ‘HQ’—they’ve got a tight lid on every portal in and out.”

As we exchanged experiences about how we had each come here, it soon became obvious that unexpected accidents had triggered these unexpected arrivals into the fake Shade. Regine seemed sad as she sat on the black, hard ground, crossing her legs and staring into the small fire Jericho had lit for warmth.

“I worried about you,” she said to Myst. “Following in your footsteps, I ended up fighting Baldur. He was an absolute nightmare to deal with, but he knew he’d never beat me, so he chose to slip through to this place in a bid to get rid of me.”

Myst chuckled. “The idiot thought it would be enough to be rid of you…”

“Right?” Regine snorted a laugh. “So, here I am. What now?”

“There’s a lot we don’t know about this place,” Myst said. “But the one certainty I do have is that Hrista is here. I can feel her sometimes, like warmth flowing through me and filling my spirit to the brim. I just can’t seem to find her.”

Regine gave me a curious look. “And what’s up with Mr. Soul Manipulator here?”

“I call it glamoring,” I replied, smiling. I still had some misgivings regarding the origin of my power, but I kept them to myself. “It’s a newly discovered ability.”

“Well, don’t try it again with any of us,” Regine warned. “It could get you killed. Our spirits are supercharged raw energy. Trying to manipulate one of us, Valkyrie and Berserkers alike, would be like swallowing an entire sun.”

I offered a slight nod. “Yeah, I noticed. There weren’t many options at the time, though. It sucks to feel useless.”

“You’re not useless,” Myst replied, motioning around us. “These creatures have clearly chosen you as their leader. You have the clarity and the drive required to survive this. Personally, I don’t see what good you’ll do if you kill yourself trying to ‘glamor’ a Berserker. Haldor’s shadow hounds cannot be killed, either. They’re former Berserkers, spiritually destroyed when their Aesirs were obliterated. Torrhen sees through everything, magic and non-magic alike. He can even see into your soul or hear your thoughts if he has the time and the tranquility for such a task. And you’ve already seen what Brandon can do with his twin blades.”

Her words filled me with pride. It felt surprisingly good to receive her validation more than anyone else’s, likely because of what she was and where she’d come from. It also added an