A Shade of Vampire 91: A Gate of Light - Bella Forrest Page 0,8

body did things without me sometimes. “It’s their story to tell, should they choose to do so. But I can tell you about mine.”

“Truth be told, I’m dying to know,” I chuckled, well aware of how vulnerable and insignificant I was by comparison. I, a mere mortal (albeit gifted with vampiric immortality, but not invulnerable), standing before this marvelous creature of an afterlife realm, a being of light and pure wonder. Simply being able to look at her and talk to her was enough to render me dumbstruck, yet I couldn’t stop myself from asking more, from wanting more. “I mean, technically speaking, you already know what my special mojo does…”

She took a step back and slowly turned to face me, one hand resting on the bejeweled pommel of her sheathed sword. I’d taken to calling it Lightbringer. Even Myst had adopted it as its name, previously unaware that she had the liberty to do that. “Just to be clear, I have no control over what’s beyond my realm. I cannot disclose anything about it.”

“I know that.”

“What I can do, however, is project souls from the beyond. I’ve rarely had to use this ability in Purgatory, except when I was tracing a lineage or when one of us was investigating something. It doesn’t really matter. But that’s my ability. I can connect to a soul who has already passed through Purgatory, and I can… show their image before me. It allows for communication.”

To say that what she’d just revealed was unexpected would’ve been a gross understatement. The air was knocked out of my lungs as I tried to wrap my head around the concept. “You… you project and speak with dead people, basically,” I managed, running a hand through my hair.

Myst nodded once. “Yes.”

My heart was already racing, as if it knew exactly what I was about to ask her to do for me. “I’ve never told you about my parents.”

“Derek and Sofia. We’ve met,” she replied dryly, as if I’d just said the silliest thing.

“No, my birth parents. Acheron and Danika, of the Nasani dynasty of Visio,” I said. “They died when I was little. Derek and Sofia adopted me afterward.”

She stilled, her fiery blue gaze fixed on my face. “You’re an orphan.”

“I was,” I said, sighing. “I don’t think of myself that way most of the time—Derek and Sofia are my family now—but my mother… she was a monster. She had my father killed. She would’ve killed me too in order to preserve her immortality.”

Myst sucked in a breath, slowly bringing a hand up to her chest, as if to stop her heart from beating too fast. She didn’t have one, biologically speaking—none of the beings beyond the living realm had actual bodies—but the gesture spoke volumes nonetheless.

“Please, don’t tell me you wish to see her, of all the people who have died in your world,” she murmured, clearly horrified. Ignoring the painful pang in my heart whenever Danika crossed my mind, I chose to focus on Myst’s beauty, instead. I was momentarily speechless, mesmerized by the delicate lines of her face, but I managed to shake my head no in response. “Good,” she said, “because I have someone better in mind.”

Gently, Myst drew her sword and pressed one palm against its blade. Closing her eyes, she shone from within as if light flowed through her veins. Breathless as I beheld her, I barely noticed the luminescent figure that gradually emerged from thin air beside her. Only when his features became clear enough to trigger my most distant memories did I realize what the Valkyrie had done.

My heart broke all over again, but it overflowed with joy, too.

“Dad…” I whispered, my voice gone, my throat burning.

Myst had summoned my father’s ghost. The great Acheron Nasani stood in front of me, tall as an oak, smiling as if we’d never been apart for even a second. His spirit shimmered with love, and tears pricked my eyes as I accepted this new reality. My father was here…

Thayen

“Son? Is that you?”

My father’s voice was a soft echo of the past, yet it hit me with the brute force of a tidal wave as I struggled to stand upright. Myst was right beside us, observing quietly, but I saw the blue of her eyes flash white with intense emotion when I glanced at her.

“It is me,” I managed. “Guess I’ve changed.”

“You’re a grown man,” he said. “The years have been good to you, my son. You’re a handsome devil, huh?” A playful