A Shade of Vampire 87: A Shade of Mystery

by Forrest, Bella

  I understood, but it didn’t make me feel any better. Unending had kept this from me. “You should’ve said something,” I told her.

  “There was no point in bringing it up,” Unending replied. “It obviously wouldn’t work…”

  “What about putting Unending’s soul into the fixed body of someone who’s recently crossed over? Wouldn’t that work?” I asked.

  “It wouldn’t, because I have never devised such magic to begin with. Maybe the words and the subwords could be combined to make up a spell, but I would not play with the universal balance like this. It would be a crime,” Death insisted, then paused for a moment. I had a feeling she wanted to say more, but chose to stick to her guns, instead. “Let me make this perfectly clear. Unending, Tristan, you will never be able to have children of your own. Get that foolish thought out of your heads. If you insist on starting a family, you will find plenty of orphans in this world to look after. Personally, I think you two are crazy to even adopt. One of you isn’t even alive, but hey, GASP is a champion of unconventional families, I suppose.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Unending said, her brow furrowed. Perhaps she’d picked up on the same hesitation I’d noticed. “I don’t.”

  “Maybe you refuse to believe me. There’s a difference. Besides, you’d make a terrible mother. You’re as volatile as I am, no matter how hard you deny it. You’ve never really lived. All you know is death and millions of years of suffering. What could you possibly do to enrich a child’s life?”

  “Now you’re just being mean,” I said quietly, fighting against my own discouragement to defend Unending.

  “Yeah, but she kind of had it coming, don’t you think?” Death retorted.

  “Ah. So you’re still bitter about the seal,” Unending observed coolly.

  Death threw her head back laughing. “Your impunity will never be forgotten, if that’s what you’re trying to say. I am gracious and polite. I try, at least. But then you come in with these wild dreams of wanting to give birth, and I can’t help but be blunt. No, Unending. Don’t make me out to be the bad guy in this situation. I’m not. You’re the one who wants the impossible, and you’re the one who can’t accept that you can never have children. The sooner you accept it, the easier it’ll be.”

  “No. You’re holding something back!” Unending snapped. “I know you. I know every single tick and tone and sound you make. And right now, you’re being deceptive.”

  Death stood up, straightening her back and raising her chin in defiance. For almost a minute, I thought she would continue with the denial. But the barely noticeable smirk said something else. “You’re more astute than I thought. Fine…”

  “Holy smokes,” I mumbled, realizing how accurate Unending’s reading had been of her maker—not to mention mine.

  “You have something. You know of a way,” Unending said.

  “I know of a way, but I cannot guarantee it will work. I have never had the chance to verify it myself. It’s only a rumor at this stage, and an absolute monstrosity,” Death replied. “But if you’re able to verify it for me, I will gladly give you permission to do it. I’ll expect something in return, of course.”

  Unending took a step forward, driven by curiosity. “Tell me.”

  “There have been stories circulating among the Reapers in the lower circles. Stories of one of their own, a Reaper named Anunit. She was a good friend of the Spirit Bender, and apparently, she learned a few tricks from him. I assume they’re death magic spells that use words and subwords she shouldn’t even know, words and subwords I’d refuse to combine, like I said,” Death explained. “Thing is… They’re saying she has given a few Reapers the chance at a new life. She put them inside the bodies of the recently departed, and they were able to live again. With the original souls gone into the afterlife and the vessels magically fixed, Anunit has been able to do exactly what Tristan suggested. Which is horrifyingly wrong and illegal in every sense. These Reapers are riding bodies that do not belong to them…”

  My mind was a complete blank as I listened. Unending, on the other hand, wanted to know more. She’d yet to be convinced. She exhaled sharply. “Unbelievable. How did Anunit acquire this ability… or spell? When did this happen? How come none of us First Tenners knew about her?”

  Death sat back in her throne. “Well, you were knee-deep in Visio. Nightmare and Dream were prancing around on foreign worlds and shamelessly feeding on people’s dreams and nightmares. Night and Morning were trapped. Time, too. And Phantom, Soul and Widow were inside Thieron. We all know what Spirit was up to, but I’m willing to bet she learned it from him. Besides, I’ve kept a lid on the matter as best as I could, but… now that you’re here, asking for the impossible that Anunit seems to have made possible, I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone.”

  “I’m confused.” Unending frowned.

  “Don’t be. It’s rather simple. I’ve checked the rumor from my end, and there are about a dozen Reapers unaccounted for. The higher circle has been investigating the whereabouts of two thousand missing Reapers since we took care of Visio. Most have been traced back to different locations and situations. They ended up as ghouls or were banished into the nothingness. I’m pretty sure Spirit and the Darklings had a primary role to play in their demise. Of these two thousand Reapers, however, twelve have been an absolute mystery, and I’ve become more and more convinced it has something to do with Anunit,” Death said. “I think they’ve re-entered the living world. I won’t know until they die, unfortunately. I cannot track them into the world of the living. Anunit might bear the blame for that, too, especially if she’s using Spirit’s death magic knowledge.”

  “So, you’re telling me there’s a Reaper out there who’s avoided your detection, and who’s been bringing Reapers back to life?” Unending managed. “Pardon me, but I find it hard to believe.”

  Death scoffed. “I know, right? Spirit, that bastard, continues to haunt me from the nothingness… However, Anunit must be found. I trust you are capable of such a task. Find her, Unending, and get her to help you. If she can get you a functional body, as the rumors imply, you’ll get your chance at having a mortal life and a baby. Then, you’ll go back to being a Reaper.”

  My heart skipped and drummed maniacally. I wanted to smile and cheer, for we’d been given good news. But all this was coming with a downside. Death had asked for something in return, and until we knew what it was, I couldn’t rejoice in this fortuitous discovery. My worst fear was that she’d ask for the seal’s removal, rendering me and every other vampire defenseless before her.

  “And say I find her, somehow,” Unending said. “Say I find Anunit and convince her to help me. What then? What’s in it for you? What do you want?”

  “Oh, that’s easy,” Death replied with a grin. “I want Anunit brought to me in shackles. If she’s the real deal, I cannot have her loose and granting Reapers second lives. It’s not fair to me or to the many people who would’ve liked a second chance but never got one. It’s unconscionable to keep letting her do this, Unending. Don’t think she’s granting free wishes here, darling. Rumors go on to say she demands things in return. Imagine what she might be able to pull off if allowed to continue. The leverage she might end up having over certain Reapers. How it would all reverberate across our realm…”

  “You want me to get Anunit to help me, only so I can turn her in,” Unending concluded, crossing her arms.

  “Yes,” Death said. “Take it or leave it, though I trust you would be able to find someone like Anunit quite easily, given your talents.”

  “But Unending would be a living mortal, then,” I replied. “How could she possibly capture Anunit and deliver her to you?”

  “A mortal Unending wouldn’t be an incapable Unending. Her knowledge of death magic is vast. All she has to do is surrender her scythe back unto you, like she did on Visio, and you’d capture Anunit with Unending’s instructions. You two are rather brilliant together, so I trust it would work seamle
ssly. I have faith,” Death declared.

  Unending shook her head slowly. “You’re using me as your personal bounty hunter.”

  “And I’m also giving you the opportunity to fulfill this precious dream of having a child. I reckon we’ll both win if Anunit turns out to be the real deal, and you hold up your end of the bargain.”

  I was ready to say yes to Death’s proposal. It didn’t feel right that we might exploit a Reaper for our own benefit, but what Anunit had been doing, if true, wasn’t right, either. It was terrible. This was one of the few instances where two wrongs could potentially make a right. Unending seemed to feel the same way, as she offered Death a stern nod.

  “Fine. We’ll go out. We’ll find her.”

  “And if she’s actually—”

  Unending cut her off. “If she’s actually sending Reapers back into the world of the living, I will take what I need from her, and then I will bring her back to you. It is the right thing to do.”

  “If she isn’t what the rumors make her out to be,” I said, “what then?”

  Death shrugged. “Leave her be and start touring orphanages. Now, go. And good luck.”

  The screen doors slid open once more, and a cold draft swirled through, as if the palace itself was urging us to leave. It was a weird feeling but one I couldn’t deny. I took Unending’s hand and tried to head for the door, but she held me back.

  “No. I’m not done with her,” she said to me, then looked at Death. “Isn’t there anything else you could tell us about Anunit? Last known whereabouts? Anything?”

  Death grinned. “Oh, you are most definitely done, because I’ve got nothing. The ball is in your court.”

  “No!” Unending snapped. “Hold on. There are implications here. How do the bodies sustain a Reaper’s soul? How would a body sustain all my power? Will I be completely devoid of death magic, or partially, like I was on Visio?”

  “I figured you’d have such questions, but only Anunit can answer them,” Death said. With a single wave of her hand, the both of us were thrown out of the throne room. I landed on my back in the hallway, watching as the doors slid closed and Death’s mean stare disappeared behind them.

  Moments later, we were back on our feet and breathing heavily, trying to understand how things had taken such an unexpected turn. Unending cursed under her breath, hands resting on her hips. Sometimes, when she was angry, I could see the similarities between her and Death. They carried a similar stern frown, a lowered gaze that hid a sea of expletives, and an intensity that made me shake in my boots.

  “What just happened?” I managed, giving her a confused look.

  “That was Death with her bitch level turned up to eleven,” Unending replied dryly. “She just dumped one of her issues in my lap, and she expects me to fix it for her.”

  “Why would she do that, if not to help you, as well as herself?”

  “Spite? She plays her part well—pretending she’s not bearing a grudge the size of Earth toward me—but let’s face it, I did something almost as bad as the Spirit Bender. I placed a limit on her. She will never really forgive me, and this is her way of getting back at me. She’s making me do something unpleasant. She’s making me lie to another Reaper, because it’s the only way we’re going to get what we want, considering Anunit’s impending circumstances. The only thing that doesn’t make me feel too bad about this is the fact that Anunit is doing a terrible thing. She’s cheating the universe itself, and it certainly isn’t right. We’ll basically be her last customers before we take her in.”

  “It’s a little twisted, yes,” I replied. “But it’s our only option. Besides, we don’t yet know if it will work, considering you’re a First Tenner. We’re functioning on theories here. Let’s find Anunit and see what she has to say. I’ve got questions of my own.”

  I wondered how I would cope with Unending in a foreign body, but I remembered Valaine Crimson—I’d fallen for her in a different body. I’d quickly learned to love all of her past lives. In the end, it didn’t really matter. She was still my wife. My soulmate.

  If Anunit turned out to be a dead end, then yes… we’d have to renounce this crazy dream of having children of our own. I was perfectly okay with adoption, anyway. It was Unending’s soul that was aching for more, and it didn’t make her any different from women who attempted fertility treatments or IVF or even surrogate mothers. But the science of the living couldn’t help us. That was the only difference. I found comfort in knowing we wouldn’t be hijacking anyone’s life to get our family.

  She led the way down the hall, headed straight for the exit. I stayed close, my gaze still wandering through the half-open doors. There were at least a dozen spirits dwelling here, Death’s companions and anti-boredom devices, as Unending had called them. There had been more when Taeral had first come to the palace, but we knew most had been allowed to move on. They’d been replaced with newer spirits, after all. It made me feel sad that they were stuck in this place, but I also wondered what their rewards were like. Thelonious’s and Mina’s sounded like they might be worth the trouble.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, the palace doors widening ahead.

  “Outside, for now,” she replied. “I need to think this through. Searching for a Reaper who doesn’t want to be found will be like looking for a needle in a cosmic haystack.”

  Once we were outside, I inhaled deeply, and my vision cleared, as if the world was making sense again. Nothing had changed, except for my mindset. We now had a viable chance at starting a family. It was only a chance, not a certainty, but it was better than what we’d come in with.

  We settled on the palace steps, staring up at the starry sky for a while. Neither of us spoke, sulking in silence as reality took its time to sink in. I wanted a family with Unending as much as she did. I wanted our children to grow up to be better versions of ourselves. I wanted all the love and joy that Esme and I had brought into our parents’ lives. And if Unending wanted to continue down this path, it was my duty as her husband and soulmate to support her until the very end.

  “Do you have any idea as to where we might begin our search for Anunit?” I eventually asked.

  “I’m not sure yet,” Unending replied, her shoulder gently pressing into mine. “But I’m going to figure it out. We’re going to figure it out... I just want to thank you for being so invested in this. Your support means the world to me.”

  I chuckled. “Hey, we’ll give it a shot and see where it leads us. And if we bag a criminal Reaper while we’re at it, it will be an added bonus. That aside, what a strange name she has… Anunit. I wonder what it means.”

  Looking at Unending, I could almost hear the wheels turning in her head. She gave me a broad and determined smile. She had an idea, and I had a feeling it was connected to my question. “I know how we can find Anunit, and I have you to thank once more, my love,” she said.

  “How so?” I asked.

  Unending kissed me deeply, hands cradling my face. Heat spread through me, and I reveled in the moment. My skin tingled as she pulled back and put on a bright smile. “There is power in a name, Tristan. A knowledgeable Reaper can do a lot with a name, so thank you for your curiosity. It sparked a flame in my head. I can use a name to track someone. Mind you, this won’t be easy. Ideally, I’m hoping we can find out more about Anunit, about her history, about what her reviving spell actually entails. There are still many unknowns, but we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

  That didn’t exactly answer my question, though, so I offered a frown in return.

  “You’re not going to like it,” Unending replied. “If Death hasn’t been able to find Anunit, imagine how hard it’ll be for us.”

  “But you can find her.”

  “Yes. It involves some previously untested death magic… but yes.”

  Taking a deep breath, I asked another question that I’d kept to myself until now. “If Anunit turns out to be the real deal, and if we somehow get you into a living body… do you know what will happe
n to vampirism? We depend on you in that sense.”

  “I would never allow anything to happen to my creation. Before I even take such a step towards life, I will make sure that no one suffers from my choice. I will devise the right spells to keep vampirism alive and untouched,” she said. “And if I cannot protect you and your people, then I will step back and… consider myself open to the possibility of adoption. I would never put you or anyone else at risk over this. Tristan, right now, we don’t know how this will work out. But we’ll find Anunit, and we’ll talk about every single risk and implication. I am not jumping head in first.”

  I took her hand in mine, my resolve stronger than ever. “Then let’s get on with it. I’d like to file for paternity leave in the near future, my love.”

  And I meant it. We were in this together, all the way to the end. Surely, there would be hitches along the way. I didn’t expect our journey to run smoothly or without unpleasant events. We were going to betray a Reaper after using her. There was nothing about the realm of the dead that was in any way reassuring. No, we had our work cut out for us, and chances were, it might blow up in our faces if we weren’t careful.

  But as long as we stayed together, and as long as we remained immovable in our objectives, I felt like we had a chance at making our seemingly impossible dream come true. Love had a way of breaking down any barrier, of crumbling any hurdle, and ours was the strongest love of all.

  Astra

  (Daughter of Phoenix and Viola)

  We stayed outside Isabelle’s room for a few hours. I refused to leave because I was determined to find out what had driven my cousin to try and kill me. Jericho, Voss, Dafne, and Chantal stuck around because they were just as curious—plus, they simply couldn’t wrap their heads around this. There had to be a reasonable explanation.