A Shade of Vampire 90: A Ruler of Clones - Bella Forrest Page 0,46
he’d let on, otherwise Regine’s denial wouldn’t have affected him this way. “Hrista was faultless. Pristine. White and bright and without sin. Giver of joy and love and emotions normally reserved for the living. It was literally her ability. It still is, in fact. She can soften one’s soul.”
“Ability?”
“You must’ve noticed a pattern among us and the Valkyrie,” he replied, giving me a brief glance. “In terms of individual skills, I mean.”
I nodded once. “Haldor controls the shadow hounds. Which is what you’ll become if they destroy your spirit animal, the Aesir called Hammer. Am I getting this right?”
“You are, yes,” he chuckled, though there was little humor in the pale blue fires of his eyes. “Fun fact. We Berserkers and Valkyries consider the shadow hounds to be Haldor’s Aesir. Among ourselves, anyway. They’re obviously not, but we choose to think of them as such because we don’t want to be reminded of the fate that awaits a Berserker or a Valkyrie if their Aesir is destroyed. But, anyway, back to special abilities, yes, like you said, Haldor controls the shadow hounds. And Torrhen has the third eye.”
“That he sees everything with. I got that, too. And what’s your ability, exactly?”
Brandon pressed his lips into a small and playful smile. “I never showed you my ability. It’s better if I don’t show it to you yet. I like surprising you.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of his statement. There was a playful undertone, but that didn’t lessen my curiosity. No, it only made me want to know more about Brandon the Berserker, about Hammer, and about his special ability. The persistence of my stare made him throw his head back with laughter. I was glad that he was unwinding, at least. Brandon’s anger had affected me more than I’d thought.
“The Valkyries have special skills, too, though I’ll let Myst and Regine tell you what theirs are. It’s not my business,” he continued.
“What about Hrista?” I asked. “What’s her ability? The joy-bringing? Is that really a thing?”
“Hm… no. I would consider it a talent, or perhaps a side effect of her powerful spirit, at most,” Brandon replied. “Hrista’s ability is much worse and far more dangerous. She reads souls, Astra.” Whenever he called me by my name, my skin tingled and the blood rushed through my veins. There was a certain seriousness in his address, demanding my full and unlimited attention. “She reads souls, and everything she finds inside a person, well… Hrista is very good at using our own nature against us. We’re all just open books for her to read and play with.”
I was a half-sentry. There wasn’t much I could do, other than reading someone’s spiritual aura, albeit shoddily. I could identify a state of mind or a general sensation. I could also detect the presence of a living soul inside a body. That was my best, actually. But what Hrista could do struck me as truly dangerous. Being able to see that deeply into someone’s soul… the idea scared me. I sure didn’t want her ever doing it to me. There’s no telling what she might find if she dug deep enough—even things I’d forgotten about. Thoughts I’d thrown away ages ago.
“Knowledge is power, I suppose.”
“Indeed,” Brandon said. “Like I said back in the cave, Hrista is behind this. The longer I’ve stayed with you and your people, the more convinced I am that I have a better shot at getting Hammer back with your help than with my brothers.”
“Aren’t you afraid they’ll destroy Hammer right now?” I asked. “Why haven’t they done it so far? You’ve screwed the Berserkers over more than once by interfering on our behalf.”
Brandon smiled. “That’s the one thing Hrista never truly understood about Berserkers. No matter how mean or how dark or how vicious we are… we appreciate and revere the spirit. Destroying someone’s Aesir is not done lightly.”
“I can appreciate and understand that, but then… why does Haldor have so many destroyed Berserkers?”
“It’s his talent. They’re drawn to him. It’s kind of hard to explain, really. Aesirs are lost or destroyed in many ways. There are occasional skirmishes between the Berserkers and the Valkyries. There are souls that are simply too powerful and dangerous, and some of my brothers underestimate them, thus losing their Aesirs in the melee… point is, the shadow hound is what remains of a Berserker when his Aesir is vanquished, and they all flock to Haldor, whether they like it or not.”