A Shade of Vampire 90: A Ruler of Clones - Bella Forrest Page 0,51

energy focused on this place and on the World Crusher.

“How do you know what she looks like?” I asked.

“Come see for yourself,” the apparent leader of the Ghoul Reapers shot back with a cold grin. He pointed at the black marble lectern, upon which an ancient tome rested. From where I stood, its black leather binding was visible, along with thick, white, paper pages.

I walked over to the Ghoul Reapers, wary of the hungry looks on their drawn faces. Tristan kept to my side, our minds and souls connected and in strict agreement: we desired the truth more than anything, and that book had it all. Everything that Death had kept from me over the ages was right there, waiting.

Once I reached the lectern, Eneas motioned for me to climb up. “Why are you all keeping your distance from it, though?” I asked, noticing how the Ghoul Reapers stayed back—they were close, just not close enough. There was something in their body language and general distance from the tome that bothered me. They stood close enough to it to make me want to join them, yet far enough away to pique my curiosity.

“Don’t you feel it?” Fileas replied, pursing his lips.

“Her anger? Absolutely,” I said. “That fire must have been burning for ages.”

“Yeah, well, maybe you’re stronger as a First Tenner or something, but for us, it’s sickening and toxic to touch the damn thing,” Fileas explained. “It didn’t feel like this at first. We used to be able to flip the pages and read the stories. These days it’s hard to even be around it.”

I looked at Tristan, and he gave me a small nod. I believe in you, he said through our telepathic bond. This must be done. I’d take your place, but…

No, this is my burden to bear, I replied. It’ll be okay.

That wasn’t a certainty, but rather a hope I was clinging to. I couldn’t turn us back now. We had come too far, and there was too much depending on this moment for me to call it quits. Tristan had fought valiantly to get us into this temple. Anunit had dragged us through two other trials and had revealed startling truths about Death. This third one was the worst. I couldn’t even fathom stopping now. Not without more information.

The tome was a beautiful work of art, not just a crafty seal serving as the eternal prison of Death’s first Reaper. Its leather binding was smooth and seamless, silver threads swirling across the cover in leafy embroidery patterns. I followed the central stem with my index finger, noticing how it formed the infinity symbol, the delicate leaves making it harder to observe. Beneath this elegant formation, ornate letters had been sewn in a cursive fashion. “Tales from the Crusher of Worlds,” I read aloud.

“It’s a compelling read,” Deas chuckled.

Filicore scoffed. “You need a hard stomach to go through it.”

“I’ve earned that right, thanks to my champion,” I replied. “Make yourselves comfortable. I think we’ll be here a while.”

Malin put an arm around Tristan’s shoulder. “We can watch over him, if you’d like.”

“My husband is not to be touched.” It was a statement. Not a warning, and they all knew it. Tristan came to stand beside me, as the lectern was fortunately wide enough to fit us both. “We will both read the World Crusher’s story.”

“How did she do it, anyway?” Tristan asked Eneas. “I get that the book is her seal, but is that how the spell is supposed to work? Did it allow her to write in its pages from the inside?”

Eneas shook his head once. “It’s not how it’s supposed to work, but it’s how she has made it work. That rage of hers has a certain effect on its immediate surroundings, the seal included. She can’t break the damn thing, but she’s been able to put her thoughts down on paper. It’s how she’s passed the time since Death locked her down here.”

“And you used to be able to read her stories,” I said.

“Yes. Until we started turning into… this,” Filicore sighed, pointing two thumbs at himself in bitter disappointment. I felt sorry for him and his brothers. None of them had chosen this. They weren’t told that it would happen. They’d come here, proud and noble and eager to serve Death, only to have their souls poisoned and gradually incinerated by the World Crusher’s timeless fury. It broke me to see them devolved into these creatures, but there wasn’t anything I could