“I take it you’ve met Joy?”
Unending cleared her throat. “You cannot be serious.”
“What? I like danger,” Anunit replied dryly. “Plus, I wanted to be here when you got the Mixer in case Joy decides to go all wrathful on you two.”
“You want to be here in case we’re obliterated by Joy? You failed to mention the capabilities of her scythe, by the way,” Unending shot back. “Or the fact that she’s not as powerful as a First Tenner, but rather technically a First Tenner!”
The Reaper shrugged. “I needed you in there. The less you know, the better. Trust me. So, where is it? Where’s the Mixer? I can take it off your hands now.”
“We don’t have it yet,” I said. “We were in the middle of getting to it when you insisted on bringing us out here. Seriously, do you ever think before you do something?”
Anunit shot me a sharp grin. “Always. Well, then. I’ll be right here waiting. Please, go fetch my Mixer so we can move on to the next trial. I honestly don’t have much more time to waste on you two. If you want a living body and a chance at making babies, Unending, this is how you do it.”
“There’s no point repeating yourself like this,” I murmured.
“I was right to doubt you.” Joy’s voice shot from behind like a bullet aiming for the back of my head.
Unending and I spun around just as Anunit disappeared. What sort of games was she playing? Had she lured us out here for the sole purpose of discovery? Because I doubted we could stop Joy from descending into a frenzy—both Death and Loren had been clear on how easily she could blow up.
“Believe it or not, there’s a solid explanation for this,” Unending tried, though I could tell from the strain in her voice that we were springing for a long shot here. “I did tell you that Anunit doesn’t know we’re hunting her.”
Joy brought her scythe forward, massive and threatening, its blade glowing a cold and unforgiving white. “I’m not buying it. You’re too friendly, and it sounded to me like Anunit is doing you some kind of favor. Getting you a body? That’s her specialty! Unending, you lied to me. You’re consorting with a criminal,” she replied. “Wait until Death hears about this.”
“Death knows! She’s the one who sanctioned this!” Unending replied.
“No!” Joy screamed, her eyes bulging with rage. “No! Did Spirit send you to get the Mixer? Are you lying to Death, maybe? I wouldn’t put it past Spirit to get you and Anunit to do his dirty work for him!”
I gasped. “Spirit was destroyed. I thought you knew that!”
“He had tricks up his sleeve! He’s not really gone! He can’t be!” Joy was spiraling out of control, and the speed at which she was falling apart was unnerving. I wondered how much worse her issues had gotten since Spirit’s departure and betrayal.
“We destroyed him twice,” Unending said. “Once, twenty-one years ago. And the second time on Visio, where he’d left a backup of his soul. He’s gone, Joy. He’s gone forever.”
Joy didn’t put the scythe away. If anything, she was only getting angrier, if not hateful toward us. I wasn’t sure how we’d be able to navigate this unexpected conflict. “Because of you. Because of you, I’ll never see him again.”
“Oh, Joy…” I sighed. “I thought you were over him.”
She revealed the broken love chain again. “Does this look like I’m over him? It needs to be complete again. It needs him, and you… you took him away…”
How had we gotten to this point? I was utterly baffled, no longer able to even follow this fractured conversation. The only thing that I knew clearly was that Death would need to have Joy replaced in the village, because she had lost her mind in isolation. Maybe Death hadn’t tried all that hard when she’d made Joy… but this Reaper needed comfort and special care more than anything else right now. And we needed to get the Mixer—this had suddenly become a dangerous challenge, since neither of us could stop Joy from lashing out.
“We can still try reasoning with her,” Unending told me through telepathy. “But she looks a bit lost right now. Or… we can do something more… extreme.”
“Like?” I replied in my mind.
“Trust me?”
I sighed deeply, giving her a small smile. “Always,” I said out loud.
Joy bolted toward us, light flashing from her scythe’s enormous blade. Unending disappeared and caught the Reaper from behind, one arm clenched around her neck. She drove her scythe into Joy’s side. The scream that followed made my blood curdle—but it was short. Too short to have been heard beyond the village’s outer circle of white stone igloos. Unending had worked her magic, and Joy was on the ground, hurt and unconscious.
Panting, my wife offered a wry smile. “Well, this is not how I expected this evening to turn out, my love.”
“Will she be okay?” I asked, my pulse racing.
“Yes. She’ll be sore and pissed off, but yeah. I’m afraid we need to move much faster now, however,” Unending replied. “I’m not sure how long she’s going to stay under. I’ve never done this to a First Tenner before, and if Joy is as powerful as one of us, we might only have minutes.”
I moved away from the protective shield and took her hand in mine. “Then we need to acquire the Mixer fast.”
“We’ll deal with Anunit when we hand the artifact over. She’s got some explaining to do for this deliberate mess. I don’t even know how I’ll reason with Death about this incident. I injured her precious guardian of the soul fae,” Unending said.
Inching closer, I pressed my lips against hers. It was a tiny moment of peace and sweetness in the heart of madness, and we both needed it. “We’ll figure it out together. Let’s just get what we need and vamoose. Joy will want our heads on pikes when she wakes up.”
We rushed along the stone paths, taking advantage of the fact that most of the soul fae were still by the riverbank. Loren and Sissa had the Mixer, and we needed to get them to cooperate without arousing any suspicion. Joy’s lights were out, but for how long? I wasn’t sure. Time wasn’t on our side anymore; that much was an indisputable fact.
I wondered how our odds of success had shifted over the past five minutes, but I decided against dwelling on it too much. The stakes were incredibly high now that Unending and I were pretty much on our own, skating across unknown and dangerous territory. We only had each other to rely on.
Thayen
We managed to confirm a few more originals on our way to the Great Dome, but we had yet to fully understand what had happened at the terrace alley near the hospital. With all our communications down, our access to information was severely limited. At least we took some comfort in knowing we’d cleared some of our people, but it didn’t feel like much of a victory. We needed a better way to identify and keep track of each other with the sudden spike in clones swarming through The Shade.
Astra had done a brilliant job of memorizing the names of everyone she’d tested. The word “paladin” was now the single most important key to our safety, though we were nowhere near breathing a collective sigh of relief. It was also a short-term solution. We knew we needed something more reliable in the long-term.
The night stretched over the redwood forest, long shadows keeping us company as we headed toward the Great Dome. I could see the clearing ahead and the portal’s slender silhouette, the moonlight bouncing off its stone frame with iridescent flickers. As we drew closer, the hall emerged with its brass-like skeleton and enormous glass panels. I remembered how hard Dmitri, Jovi, and Phoenix had worked to renovate it about five years ago. Of course, Corrine and Ibrahim had helped with magic, but most of what we referred to as “the new Great Dome” was due to the labor of those three.
“We need to be careful,” Jericho warned as we walked. “There’s no telling what we’ll find there.”
I had to agree. “We’ve spent most of our journey in the woods, away from Shadian structures. At this point, even a house could be a hot spot of danger. My biggest concern is how many shimmering portals migh
t have opened since this morning. We don’t even have an estimate for the number of clones potentially among us.”
“Thayen… something’s wrong,” Astra interjected. The color had drained from her face as she stared ahead. She slowly raised a hand to point in the direction of the Great Dome. “Look.”
We all followed her gaze, stopping for a moment as threads of smoke became visible. Some of the glass panels on the east side of the structure had been shattered. A fire had burned inside, I realized. Knowing that it was my parents’ favorite council meeting spot, a sense of urgency came over me, my legs moving before I could formulate an intention to run.
“Thayen, wait!” Dafne called out. I’d left everyone behind.
Bolting through the woods, I reached the Great Dome in the blink of an eye but found myself breathless. From afar, the signs of damage and the traces of what had obviously been a violent attack weren’t evident. From where I stood, however, it was painfully clear. The portal we’d used to reach the Supernatural Dimension and the In-Between had been disabled. Its misty form was gone, and I could see the nearby trees through its stone frame. The symbols had been scratched off, too.
By the time Astra, Jericho, Dafne, and Soph caught up, my heart was pounding as I stormed into the Great Dome. For a moment, I feared the worst at the sight of bodies on the ground, until I realized they were all alive and breathing. “In here!” I shouted, then rushed to my father’s side first. He’d taken a blow to the head, but his wound had already healed. He was groggy—still halfway between conscious and asleep—but he was okay. I checked him from top to bottom before moving to my mother, who was on the floor next to him. Astra was already verifying their souls, apologizing for the physical discomfort. It would never be any less weird, but it was a necessary measure, and no one seemed to mind.
Mom had also suffered some crippling hits, but nothing she couldn’t recover from with her vampire nature. “Mom, talk to me,” I said, gently slapping her cheeks until her eyes popped open, and she saw me.
“Thay, honey!” she cried out and instantly reached out to hug me. I held her close for a moment while Dad groaned and managed to push himself into a seated position. Astra put a hand through his chest.
“I’m sorry about this,” she murmured. He squirmed as she pulled her hand back, smiling. “It’s you, all right…”
“Ouch… Good to know,” he replied, then looked at me, while Astra moved to check Mom next. “Son… where’d you come from?”
Soph, Jericho, and Dafne were already helping the others wake up. The attack had caught Corrine, Ibrahim, Claudia, Yuri, Liana, and Cameron in here. For a second, I wondered why they’d been gathered inside the Great Dome, since they were all practically retired. Xavier and Vivienne had been told to stay on Neraka, where they’d been visiting with the Manticores. Lucas and Marion, on the other hand, were nowhere to be seen.
“What happened in here?” Soph asked, loudly enough for everyone to hear. Gradually, the Shadians gathered themselves and stood, stretching their arms as they tried to overcome the headaches they seemed to have. “Clones?”
“Yes. And much to our shame, we got our asses handed to us,” Ibrahim grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck, a pained expression on his face as he looked around. The council table had been shattered, and it looked like at least half the chairs had been used as weapons. The floor was covered with tiny shards of glass, and a draft was persistently blowing through the broken panels on multiple sides of the structure.
“How many of them?” Jericho asked, one hand resting on Cameron’s shoulder as he checked him over to make sure he was okay. “They did quite the number on you, I see,” the young dragon added, pointing at the dried blood covering half of the vampire’s face.
Over in the corner, Dad fumbled through a box filled with medical and magical supplies that had survived the skirmish. He gave cloths and bottles of potions to Corrine, who quickly started using them on what injuries remained on her and the others. Most cuts and bruises had already healed, but Liana was still holding her side, blood pouring from a half-opened gash. She pressed the potion-imbibed cloth onto the wound, hissing from the pain. “Bastards. I’ll torch them all, I swear. Every last one of them, including the two who had the audacity to look like my husband and me.”
I gave Mom a startled look. “You were attacked by your own clones?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “That was the terrifying part. They stormed the Great Dome and mingled into the skirmish. Everything happened so fast, we didn’t even know who we were fighting—our friends or their disturbingly perfect copies.”
“They knew we were in here,” Dad added, looking around angrily. “They counted on our confusion, and it worked. I hesitated more than once, not knowing whether I was about to tear out Ibrahim’s throat or his clone’s, and it blew up in my face.”
Jericho cursed under his breath. “That means they were highly organized. Targeting this place because they knew who’d be in here. They were banking on confusion, and they got it.”
“If they keep this up, if they intensify their attacks in this particular manner, I’m afraid we won’t survive,” Corrine said, her brow furrowed as she finished patching the last of Ibrahim’s wounds. “There are more of them now, and it’s only going to get worse.”
Astra nodded slowly. “Dozens more, if not hundreds. We saw one portal opening up about a mile south of here, but I’m willing to bet breaches occurred across the island.”
“What’s their endgame? Are they still just coming after you, love?” Liana asked Astra.
“I don’t think so,” I replied, looking at the Daughter. “They tried coming after us and after Isabelle’s clone, too, but they also attacked the terrace and the shop alley. The hospital was destroyed, as well.” We spent a few minutes sharing what we’d learned thus far, including our fighting experiences with the clones and their peculiar devices. The more Corrine heard, the more concerned she became, becoming restless and pacing the room.
Mom and Dad gave us all the details of their battle, in a bid to share as much useful intel as possible. But we didn’t have a lot to go on, just a confirmed suspicion that the clones were up to something bigger. Their scope extended beyond freeing Isabelle’s doppelganger and killing Astra. They’d moved to an invasion of The Shade itself, focused on sowing confusion, on throwing us off their tracks, and on causing physical damage.
The conclusions I’d begun to draw were starker than I’d hoped. We weren’t yet defeated, but it didn’t look good for our world. These clones—whoever they were, whatever they were, and wherever they’d come from—were bent on upending The Shade’s peace and order. They’d accomplished too much in a narrow timeframe, and I worried more damage would be done before we even had the chance to really fight back.
“Dad!” Astra gasped as Phoenix staggered into the Great Dome. He looked dazed, blood trickling from his temple. He bumped into the doorframe before dropping to his knees. Astra was quick to reach him, her hands glowing pink as she healed his injuries, then made sure it was actually him. The more she used this ability, the smoother it seemed to go—for her and for the person being tested.
“Phoenix…” Mom murmured, joining the Daughter. They helped him back up. “What happened to you?”
“Where’s Viola?” Dad asked, a frown casting shadows over his eyes.
“We were on our way here,” Phoenix replied, catching his breath as Astra’s healing began to affect him. “Viola, my mom and dad… they attacked. Clones of us. I don’t know how my wife and I got separated. We were suddenly fighting one another. Then we were fighting the clones. It got so confusing, so fast…”
Dad gave me a sideways glance. “I see they’ve found their favorite strategy.”
“Where’s Mom?” Astra insisted, gripping her father’s shoulders, desperation sharpening her voice as she waited for a better answer than what Phoenix had to offer.
“I don’t know. I woke up on the ground, my head throbbing. I realized I was clos
er to the Great Dome, though I’m not sure how I got there. There was no sign of her, or of Mom and Dad,” he said. “I looked for them.”
My mother hugged him tight, and he softened in her embrace while throwing his arm around Astra. He held them both close, his eyes shut, as he took a moment to gather himself. Silence settled over the room. It felt heavy, like stacks of iron pushing down on my shoulders. It made my heart sink, my stomach shrinking as I tried to process everything.
Dad looked at me. “How did you five make it all the way here?”
“We stayed close, and we’re using a safe word,” I said. “We’ll share the word with you. Paladin. It’s how we’re able to keep track of the originals in this place, at least for the time being.”
“However, we do need more,” Astra replied. “This is woefully overwhelming, and I’m afraid I’m not enough under these circumstances.”
“We had Soul, Kelara, Voss, and Chantal with us, but they headed east. They should be on their way here by now,” Jericho added. “Or so we’re hoping. Kelara gave Thayen a way to reach out in case we needed them, which we did, but it didn’t work. Either that, or something happened. But we agreed to circle back to the Great Dome eventually and then decide where we’d go afterward. They know the safe word, too. We’re hoping they’ll still show up...”
“The idea was to give it to as many originals as possible, to make sure we didn’t bring any clones into the fold later down the line. Without a clear idea of what the enemy is planning, we didn’t know what else to do.” Dafne sighed.
Soph nodded once. “At least we’re confirming some people along the way. When we meet them again, we’ll be able to confirm them without Astra shoving her hands into their chests.”
“The idea being to not let Astra get close to a doppelganger posing as one of us, yes. I understand. Very good thinking,” Dad said approvingly with a slight smile. “Well done.”
Some of us were together again—I was grateful to have my parents back—but Astra was understandably terrified, wondering about her mother and grandparents. Phoenix promised her they would eventually find them. “For the time being, we need to stick together and move forward,” he said.
A Shade of Vampire 88: An Isle of Mirrors Page 14
