His words carried heavy meaning, forcing Brandon to put his swords away. His words also made me wonder… it meant that Haldor’s shadow hounds were destroyed Berserkers reduced to mindless forms of darkness. I’d been inclined to think they were some kind of Aesir for a moment, but this revelation certainly proved otherwise.
Jericho was the first to react, and he wasn’t happy. “What the hell are you doing?!”
“I can’t,” Brandon replied. “You don’t understand.”
“Don’t be a coward,” I snapped. “We need you!”
Brandon didn’t even look at me. His fiery blue eyes were focused on Astra. Viola stood right behind her, unable to do much against the likes of Torrhen. Not while she still had the runes on her, anyway. “I hope you can forgive me,” he muttered, then vanished in a puff of black smoke.
Just like that, we were one ally down, and it pleased Torrhen. “There we go. A man with sense. What about you, Valkyrie? Will you keep at it? I don’t mind destroying you. I never liked your kind. Self-righteous and sanctimonious bitches, the whole lot. Well, Hrista’s got a flavor of her own, I’ll give her that—” He was forced to step back as Myst swung her sword and nearly sliced into his face. It made him laugh.
She tried to hit Torrhen again, but he blocked her light sword with his dark daggers. The clatter their blades made was different than the usual kiss of steel. It rang hollow and flat—the sound made my skin crawl and filled me with dread. I wanted to have faith in Myst’s abilities, but there was something about this Berserker that made me nervous for her, despite her strength.
“Thayen, we have to get them out,” Viola whispered, pointing to the door behind Torrhen. Myst kept attacking, and he continued blocking her hits without so much as a shuffle to the side. He’d broken our invisibility magic, and we had no other way of getting past him.
“Let’s get this party started!” the Berserker howled, then swung both knives at Myst. She brought her sword up to defend herself, but the blow was powerful enough to throw her back a couple of yards, their blades releasing a flurry of white flashes in the process.
Astra released a barrier toward him, but Torrhen merely waved it a way with a flick of his wrist. It bounced back and smacked the half-Daughter in the chest. She cried out and nearly fell, but Viola held her up. Torrhen was about to come after Myst when Jericho threw several fireballs at him.
The flames didn’t do much. The shadows slipped off the Berserker’s massive form in response to the brief light, revealing more of his leather and silver armor and the intricate details swirling across his chest. The motifs looked ancient, the ridges of their design blackened by time. The fire barely made Torrhen scowl. He didn’t care for the fae dragon; he had his sights set on Myst.
“I’ll keep him busy,” the Valkyrie said as she walked past me and went straight for Torrhen’s head. The light from her blade danced over every pane of frosted glass around us. She was incredibly agile, I noticed, wishing I could do more to help her.
Though it made my blood boil, I knew I was virtually helpless against the likes of Torrhen, considering that my last hope had been the pulverizer weapon. Since that didn’t do anything, either, my options were extremely limited. I glanced over to Astra, Viola, and Jericho. We had to get the others out of the glass house. Myst was putting herself through hell to make it possible.
My legs moved. I was about to find a way to sneak around Torrhen when a familiar growl emerged from nearby. I froze on the spot, and so did the others. We knew what was coming. The shadow hounds burst into sight all around us, like flying shadows. One blew past me and cut my arm, drawing blood.
I heard Jericho snarl, then saw him drop to his knees as another one of Haldor’s fiends pounced on his back, viciously clawing at the fae dragon. Astra pushed a barrier out and threw the shadow monster away, but it wasn’t enough. More of them were coming from every corner, from the main alley of the alt-Shade’s extension, from between the glass houses, and from the ocean itself. It grew suddenly dark, and my blood ran cold as Haldor made his presence known, standing proudly atop the very glass house where Isabelle, Voss, and Chantal were held.
Myst was having enough trouble with Torrhen already. Haldor would only make it worse. It angered me that Brandon had abandoned us, though I did understand why he’d had to do it. Had it been me in his shoes, maybe I would’ve done the same. They’d taken his Aesir. And if Torrhen had spoken truthfully, Hammer’s destruction would turn Brandon into a shadow beast like the many pets of Haldor. At this point, it didn’t matter for us, though. There was no time. We would have to make do with what we had.
I caught a glimpse of Viola sneaking past Torrhen and Myst, the shadow hounds darting left and right as they went for Astra and Jericho first. The creatures must have identified them as sources of light that had to be destroyed. Viola was quick enough to slip away relatively unnoticed. I dropped as one of the shadow hounds lunged at me, then scrambled around Myst and Torrhen, while Haldor laughed from the flat rooftop.
By the time I caught up with Viola inside the glass house, a terrible scene was unfolding. She’d been pinned down by Isabelle, while Voss and Chantal watched, smiling. They were clones, all three of them. Haldor’s laughter grew louder, practically mocking us. “It’s a trap. It was a trap from the very beginning…”
Cursing under my breath, I took swift action. There was nothing I could do against the Berserkers outside, but the clones… these bastards were mine.
“Hey, Isabelle!” I shouted. She growled as she looked at me, no longer touching Viola and eager to jump me instead, until she saw the weapon. I fired a pulverizer shot, and she exploded into a cloud of gray ashes. The other two joined her in the nothingness as I emptied my clip on them both. Viola jumped back up, giving me a horrified look.
“This is wrong on so many levels…”
“I know.” It was all I could manage as we rushed back out to find the melee growing increasingly violent. I was itching for some action. They’d made me the leader of this group, yet I was useless against the Berserkers. It killed me to watch everything unfold around me like this.
Astra and Jericho stood back to back, casting light and fire at every shadow hound that tried to attack them. Haldor had come down, casually approaching them with his black whip loose, eager to bite into them. Viola left me in the doorway and joined her daughter and the fae dragon, producing light of her own to keep the shadow hounds at bay. For a while, it worked, until Haldor lashed his whip at them.
All three ducked, but the whip would certainly strike them eventually.
I felt helpless on the edge of this battle, and the thudding of incoming clone guards rushing up the main extension alley didn’t help, either. Myst was thrown back, landing on her back with a grunt of pain. Still, she refused to yield. My friends were three against Haldor, but the Valkyrie was on her own. With Brandon gone, our edge was gone, too. Worst of all, Isabelle, Chantal, and Voss weren’t here. Only the ashes of their doppelgangers remained. Either Myst had been wrong since the beginning, or Torrhen and his Berserkers had swapped Isabelle and the others out for copies, in anticipation of our arrival.
We were losing precious time and hurtling toward a bloody end. I was no match for the Berserkers, and Myst on her own wouldn’t be able to hold them and the shadow hounds back.
“Where did you take them?” Myst asked Torrhen. Panting, she pulled herself back to her feet, gold and steel armor jingling as she moved. The darkness persisted around us, blocked only by the Daughters and the fae dragon’s light. “Isabelle, Voss, Chantal. Where did you take them?”
“Finally, she figured it out,” Haldor chuckled, tightly gripping his black whip as he circled Astra’s cluster. He was biding his time, patient in his pursuit, knowing that it would only require a second’s worth of distraction to take them down. For now, however, their combined light held him and his shadow hounds back.
“You’ll never find them,” Torrhen said. “We didn’t bring you here to find them.”
/>
He raised his long black daggers and lunged at Myst once more. She dodged him and swerved, lashing out with her sword in one swift motion. The illuminated blade cut through the shadow, making him shriek from what I hoped was pain. It wasn’t enough to bring him down, though. No.
But it did make him angrier.
Haldor muttered something under his breath, and two of the shadow hounds moved away from their position near Astra to focus on the Valkyrie instead. They nipped at her ankles first, fangs hitting metal once, twice… by the third bite, their sharp, jet-black canines had pierced Myst’s protections, sinking deep. She screamed in agony and fell. All Torrhen needed to do now was deliver his final blow, and I had no idea what that would mean for the Valkyrie.
I couldn’t let that happen. Reaching out a hand, I took advantage of how useless the Berserkers thought I was, since not even the shadow hounds felt the need to take me on, too focused on the strongest in our group. The tendrils of my glamor extended and shot right into Torrhen’s head. It made Haldor laugh. “Watch yourself, Torrhen. This one’s a spirit bender.”
“That’s annoyingly familiar,” the all-seeing Berserker muttered, then stilled when our souls made contact. Despite Myst’s earlier warnings, my glamoring was the last resort. My last and only weapon against these bastards. I’d done it with Haldor before, and he had almost killed me. Maybe I was crazy to try it again with Torrhen, but what other choice did I have? We were outnumbered and outgunned, with clones coming in hot. Another minute here, and it would be over for us. The darkness would prevail.
My insides tingled. The more I used this ability, the stronger it made me feel. It was as if a part of me had been itching to do this again. There was something about the Berserker’s spirit that thrilled me. I held on tight and manifested my influence, drawing energy from within to make my will known. “Stop,” I said, my voice dropping low.
To my astonishment, Torrhen gave me a troubled look. The shock quickly turned to anger as he realized that I had managed to get a pretty good grip on him. All eyes were on us now. Astra’s. Viola’s. Jericho’s. Haldor’s. Myst’s. The Valkyrie was livid. “No,” she said quietly. “No, Thayen, you don’t know what he can do…”
It was too late. I felt Torrhen’s power flowing through me. It took me a second to understand that by glamoring this particular Berserker, I’d also granted him access to my soul. This was a two-way street. Suddenly, I was on the receiving end of enough power to fill an atomic bomb.
The burn spread through my body. My muscles stung as if they were being peeled off the bone, one by one. I heard myself cry out in agony, and a sneer worked its way across Torrhen’s face. He’d turned the tide against me so fast. Myst was right; I was woefully unprepared.
“I’m going to kill you slowly,” he said. “Your audacity deserves nothing less.”
He grunted, and a pulse of pure heat exploded inside me. I dropped to my knees, my breath cut short, the pain unbearable. Myst screamed as she struggled to release herself from the shadow hounds’ fangs, Astra too far away to reload her glorious sword. I had a feeling the end was unavoidable now. At least I’d go down fighting.
Light flashed, a tongue of pure white that licked at Torrhen’s face. The connection between us snapped. I was free again. In terrible pain, but free. The light transformed into a figure. A female figure with gold and steel armor much like Myst’s. Long, silky blonde hair. Incandescent blue eyes.
Another Valkyrie.
“Regine?!” Myst said, utterly stunned.
The Valkyrie looked younger, perhaps a teenager—at least physically. She threw Myst a cool grin. “Did you really think I wouldn’t find my way to you eventually?”
Torrhen was furious, growling as he covered half of his face with one big hand. “You flaming little bitch!”
“Who let you into this realm?” Haldor hissed, equally displeased with her presence.
It didn’t matter. We had two Valkyries now against two Berserkers. I was an absolute mess, but Astra caught my wrist and forced some of her healing power on me. My friends were okay—this mattered the most. On top of that, the shadow hounds weren’t happy about Regine’s arrival. Some of them backed away, visibly frightened by the sharp glow of her sword. Emeralds and yellow diamonds gleamed, encrusted into the hilt.
Regine was a game changer. She was the opportunity we needed to get out and find Isabelle and the others. This battle was not lost after all—it was only just beginning.
Unending
One thing was clear regarding the Ghoul Reapers of Biriane—Death had left them to wither here, doomed to never leave. They had been tasked with further securing and enforcing the magical protections around the World Crusher’s sigil spell, but her wrath had infected them, much like my wrath had caused the Black Fever on Visio.
Except the Ghoul Reapers didn’t fall ill. Their fate was worse: they lost their souls. They couldn’t explain how they were even possible as a “species,” or why they didn’t hunger for souls. They were, as Eneas had put it, an “anomaly.” And anomalies required time and study to gain understanding. Time was not something any of us had handy right now. Besides, the Reaper Ghouls wanted to leave this place. They had other things on their tired, angry minds. Death didn’t know we were here, and even if she had known, I couldn’t turn to her for advice. She would almost certainly cancel the entire operation and order us home, thus keeping the truth beyond my reach. Tristan and I agreed that we couldn’t let that happen.
So we had to figure out another way to appease the Ghoul Reapers. Another way for me to get past them and see the World Crusher’s prison. I needed answers. I needed to understand why she’d been locked away in the first place. Anunit wanted us to release her as part of the third trial, but before we would be willing to do that, two things needed to happen. First, I would have to understand why the World Crusher had been confined here and denied her freedom. Second, I’d have to weigh the arguments for and against her release, and only afterward would I make a decision.
This was where Death and I were nothing alike. I thought of others before myself.
“So, what’s it going to be?” Eneas asked, his shoulders broad and tense. All six Ghoul Reapers had risen from the steps of the Temple of Roses, their half-moon blades thirsting for violence. Their balanced nature had been corrupted by the death of their souls. They were unstable and unpredictable entities, and I had no idea how this encounter would end. I only knew that we’d have to forge a path toward the truth. “Will you break the seals that keep us here?”
“I would need to confer with Death first,” I said.
“That’s silly. You know she won’t allow it. She left us here to rot!” Eneas replied, growing increasingly angrier.
“Perhaps I can convince her otherwise,” I insisted. “Think about it. Think about who I am and what pull I may have with her. You being stuck here is obviously wrong on so many levels, but if I go ahead and free you—provided, of course, that I can figure out the magic that’s binding you to Biriane—Death might punish me. And if there is one thing I’ve had enough of, it’s punishment.”
The Ghoul Reapers exchanged dark glances. They were wary, uncertain in their opinions of me. I needed to steer the conversation in a different direction. I had to find a way to distract them, since they clearly lacked the clarity required for reasonable conversation.
“Tell you what,” I said, as the evening began to settle around us. The sky was turning black and sprinkled with white stars, while the elegant ruins of the city became gray under the faded moonlight. The night made this place seem even lonelier. Empty. Devoid of life. Filled only with simmering rage and bitter resentment. And it was all Death’s doing. “I will discuss this with Death. I owe it to her, and it’s my duty as a Reaper. You haven’t forgotten your own duty, have you?”
Malin was the first to shake his head. “We’ve been nothing but faithful. Devoted to our mission. But we deserve better. If Death couldn’t bring herself to obliterate the World Crushe
r, why should we have to pay for her soft heart?”
“I completely agree. Nevertheless, protocols must be adhered to. Let me see what Death says to my request on your behalf,” I suggested. “No matter her response, I will make my own decision.”
It took them a long moment to understand what I’d just offered. One by one, their pale faces became illuminated with sly grins, their black eyes reduced to devious slits as they caught on. “You mean to help us either way,” Eneas said quietly.
“I mean to make my own decision,” I repeated myself, steering clear of any promises. “But in the meantime, you should at least grant me access inside. I only wish to see the book where she’s kept. Never have I seen a seal in the form of a book before.”
Deas pointed his scythe at me. “You get nothing for free.”
The longer I stayed here, the worse it felt. The World Crusher’s anger was poisoning me, though it would take much longer—perhaps eons—to kill my soul the way it had done to these poor fiends. Glancing at Tristan, I reached out telepathically. How are you feeling? I asked.
Okay, for now. Though heavier than usual…
It’s the World Crusher’s effect, I replied, then shifted focus back to the Ghoul Reapers. “Okay. I’ll fight you for access. A duel. Your best against me.”
None were strong enough to take me down, that much was obvious. And there was enough anger between them to make such a duel enticing to them. They obviously needed an outlet, and they wanted violence to blow off steam. I imagined the Ghoul Reapers had grown bored in this world. Its civilization had perished ages ago. They were probably tired of each other’s company too. My presence was something new.
A Shade of Vampire 90: A Ruler of Clones Page 8
