“I take it you’re coming with us?” I asked the Soul Crusher.
“You look like fun to be around,” he replied.
Rolling my eyes for the millionth time since I’d met him, I slipped incomplete-Thieron into my thigh strap and reached out to the crew. We linked hands, and I teleported them out of this place. The worst was yet to come, as the Soul Crusher had warned me, but, even so…
We’d made it farther down the line.
Eira
We were back in the Fire Star’s royal fae sanctuary, having left the bottom of the ocean behind. I had yet to fully wrap my head around what I’d done earlier against the Hermessi, but there was one thing that had become clear in the meantime. Something had clicked inside me upon exiting the Soul Crusher’s puzzle. Whether it’d had anything to do with the old Reaper, I wasn’t sure—and I doubted he’d tell me. But I felt different. Stronger. I’d tapped into an internal force that I’d always known was there, yet I’d never dared to even consider approaching.
But push had come to shove back there, and I’d had no other choice. I’d pushed myself so far that I’d delivered serious damage to numerous Hermessi. I’d even kept Brendel distracted. Later, I knew I’d have to just sit down and think about this properly. There had to be a reason for all this.
Nuriya cried tears of joy when she saw us. First she took Taeral in her arms, holding him tight and laughing and sobbing at the same time. “I can’t believe you’re here, alive and well… My sweet, sweet, insanely stubborn child,” she said.
Taeral laughed, a weight lifted from his shoulders. “It’s good to be back, I’ll tell you that.”
Moments later, Aisha and Horatio burst through the door, thrilled to see their daughter. They’d been on the Fire Star lately, helping Nuriya out with kingdom-related issues. Without Sherus, Nuriya needed all the support she could get. In an instant, Riza was snuggled between her parents, the three of them giddy and crying at the same time—after all, who knew when they’d see each other again, given our complicated and dangerous mission?
Taeral brought them up to speed on everything that had happened down there, and they listened carefully—especially Nuriya, who digested every word while her gaze occasionally wandered across our enhanced group. She politely waited for Taeral to finish before nodding at the Soul Crusher and Seeley. “Who are these two?”
“I’m what your son just referred to as ‘crazy, older-than-time psycho Reaper’ in charge of protecting Zetos,” the Soul Crusher replied, visibly amused. The guy had a thick skin. “Actually, brief correction. No longer protecting Zetos.”
“And this is Seeley.” Taeral introduced the second Reaper, whom we’d all met previously, on Hellym. “He’s the one who saved us from Yamani.”
Nuriya measured them both from head to toe, offering a soft nod. “I owe you my gratitude,” she said. “You brought my son back to me, which is more than I could’ve hoped for, given our wretched circumstances.”
“To be honest, Taeral did most of the work,” the Widow Maker replied.
Seeley smiled. “It was always about him, in a way.”
“You didn’t get to tell us exactly why you’re here, why Death wants you here,” Taeral said to him, his brow slightly furrowed.
“Oh, he’s been with you since you left Mortis. You just didn’t see him,” the Widow Maker blurted, drawing Seeley’s scowl.
“What?” I croaked, stunned by the revelation.
Seeley took a deep breath, raising his hands in a defensive gesture. “I wasn’t allowed to physically intervene until now,” he said. “Death had orders for me, and most of them I cannot discuss with you. Just know that I may or may not be able to assist you, going forward.”
“Are you serious?” Taeral snapped. “After all this crap, you may or may not assist us?”
“He’s yanking our chain, isn’t he?” Varga asked rhetorically and looked at Seeley. “You’re messing with us, right?”
Seeley shook his head. “I’m afraid not. I was ordered to interfere earlier, so you could get to Zetos in time. I can only do what Death commands, which is why I don’t want to promise something I might not be able to follow through with. Let’s just leave it at that.”
“What about you two?” Amelia asked the Widow Maker and the Soul Crusher.
“Widow and Soul are free Reapers now. Unbound by the rules, as part of the deal they once made with Death for their service in protecting Thieron. They can do as they please,” Seeley explained.
“Oh. Okay. So, how ‘bout it, Soul, Widow?” Amelia replied, narrowing her eyes at them. “Still with us, or will you scamper off like cowards now that the going’s getting tougher?”
“Hey, tone it down,” Widow said. “I actually helped back there. And I’ve already said yes. If you’ve got issues with Soul, by all means, rip him a new one, but don’t smack me down too.”
Soul chuckled, his arms crossed. “Poor Widow here has a point. I’m the one who tormented you. Tell you what. I’ll hang around for a bit, mainly to… let’s say make it up to you. To be honest, I cannot bring myself to not exact some misery on those elemental sons of bitches. It’s because of entities like them that Death sealed us into Thieron for its protection, to begin with.”
“Do you think she knew we’d serve against the Hermessi, specifically, when she got us into it?” Widow wondered.
“Probably. But you know the old hag would rather die than admit it,” Soul replied, then burst into laughter. “Well, you know what I meant.”
Since Death couldn’t die, I could see the humor in his statement. But something else drew my attention. Seeley was quiet, avoiding eye contact with most of us—particularly Nethissis and Lumi. I couldn’t help but wonder what that was about; however, I doubted I’d get anything out of him.
Taeral took my hand in his, smiling at me. “You did amazing out there. I didn’t even know you could do all that.”
I was literally drained of any power. I’d need weeks of sleep to recover what I’d lost at the bottom of the ocean. But I owed him and the rest of the crew an explanation for the sudden shift in my Hermessi ability. “I didn’t know it until we got out of the Soul Crusher’s puzzle. Once I got my powers back, it was as if they had come back with new layers peeled back. Like my father’s knowledge had transcended time and space to reach me, to force me to reach my full potential. I’d spent most of our time in the puzzle feeling useless without my powers.”
“You weren’t the only one.” Amelia chuckled.
“Still… I was always on the outside looking in, somehow,” I continued. “But I knew I could do more for us, for the world.”
Taeral wrapped his arms around me and held me tight, leaving me breathless. “You did more than that,” he whispered in my ear, not caring what anyone else had to say. I softened in his embrace, the entire world disappearing for a few moments. Enough for me to remember what had driven me to push myself the way I had, back in the ocean. It was him. It was all because of him.
“You are valuable to this team, Eira. Don’t you ever forget it,” Lumi said to me as Taeral moved back, his gaze still fixed on me.
“Thank you,” I replied, smiling. “I know it’s what Inalia would’ve wanted, as well. She believed in you all, and it would’ve been foolish of me not to do the same.”
“She believed in you, too,” Eva cut in. “It’s why she wanted Taeral to bring you along. Do you really think she considered you so vulnerable and defenseless that you couldn’t be left on your own after what happened on Cerix?”
Come to think of it, Eva was right. After everything we’d learned about Brendel and her operation, there was one thing that had become painfully clear. Her machinations had never been aimed at the Hermessi children as victims, but rather as successors in the worst-case scenario. As long as we were alive, she could kill our parents if they didn’t fall in line, all the while threatening them with killing us to force them into submission.
What a horrible being she was…
“Oh, speaking of,” I said. “What of Derek and Sofia’s mission for Yahwen?”
“We’ve been out for a while. Eira’s on point. What do you know, Mom?” Taeral asked Nuriya, who, in turn, smiled broadly. Aisha and Horatio were practically beaming. I instantly knew that they had good news.
“They’re back in The Shade,” Aisha replied. “It was a success, and Ramin and his rebels helped. Granted, it was touch and go for a while, but they made it. The Hermessi children are safely in The Shade, including your father.”
Our cheers could not be contained, especially Taeral’s. There was too much good news, and we’d forgotten how to deal with such successes, after all the hell the Hermessi had put us through. But it was about time that things swung our way. We’d earned it. We deserved a better shot at saving our worlds.
This only proved one thing. The Hermessi weren’t all-powerful. They could still be stopped. Brendel would come after us, eager to pay us back for what had been done against her. It would get messy and bloody and horrible… I knew it.
As Taeral took my hand in his, keeping me close to him, I realized that I was no longer that afraid. We’d made it through to this point in our existence. The future was just one more leap ahead. All we needed to do was measure our movements and outsmart Brendel at every turn.
“This leaves you with one last task, as part of your mission to Death,” Nuriya said, after a while. “Finding Phyla. Do you know where to go?”
The Soul Crusher cleared his throat, his lips pursed for a second. He had our full attention, if that was what he’d been waiting for. He was the only one who knew where Phyla was, after all.
“Care to share?” Taeral asked him, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
“Ooh, you’re not going to like it,” Soul replied, though he was clearly dying to tell us.
“Just out with it already.” Herakles sighed, shaking his head in frustration.
“It’s on Aledras,” Soul said. “Right next to Yahwen. There’s a reason why Brendel tossed it there.”
“There where, smack in the middle of the enemy’s lair?” Raphael blurted.
Soul nodded. “It’s where the ritual is meant to be completed. Aledras is where Brendel and the Hermessi will carry out the end of days, as soon as they acquire the five million fae they require to power it up.”
The thought was chilling, but at least we knew where we had to go next and what we were up against. Phyla couldn’t be easy to retrieve. We were all aware of it, though none of us dared say it out loud. We couldn’t stay here much longer. Pyrr and the local Hermessi had turned to our side, but Brendel and the others would soon come after us.
On top of that, we were exhausted. We needed to just sit down and rest for a bit. “If we’re to go after Phyla next, we’ll need to replenish ourselves,” I said.
Lumi nodded. “Absolutely. We cannot go to Aledras with empty batteries. But we can’t stay in the In-Between while we rest.”
“Let’s go back to The Shade, then,” Amelia replied. “It’s safer there than anywhere else, right now.”
“You go ahead, my darling,” Nuriya said to Taeral. “I know you’re looking forward to seeing your father again. Aisha, Horatio and I will join you when we can. I need to delegate here for a while first.”
Personally, I looked forward to returning to The Shade. I’d quickly fallen in love with that place. A haven for supernatural creatures from all known dimensions. Where eternal night stretched across most of the island, and redwoods rose proudly, reaching for the starry sky. Where people from all walks of life came together to celebrate life.
The very life that the Hermessi were determined to snuff out. Not on my watch, they won’t.
Taeral
Fallon-Kabbah and the three Reapers joined us in The Shade, where we were welcomed with warmth, hugs, and kind words. Sofia and Derek, Rose and Caleb, Mona and Kiev, and all the other GASP founders were present, beaming at us as they escorted us into the Hermessi children’s new sanctuary.
They’d been given lodging on The Shade’s beach extension, in spacious glass apartments overlooking the midnight ocean. Those deemed hostile had been cuffed and locked inside their dwellings, but the friendly ones had been allowed to roam freely through the entire Shade, as their hearts desired.
“Of course, we’ve fitted all of them with tracking bracelets, just to be sure we know where they are at all times,” Sofia explained as she and Derek took us to the extension. The rest of GASP had stayed behind, preparing a feast for the evening—which we’d all agreed was well-deserved.
“Won’t they be able to remove them?” Amelia asked.
Sofia shook her head. “Not without our safety codes. We’ll also be warned if they try to get off the island or if they’re too close to the portal.”
“That’s understandably restrictive, yet it doesn’t make me feel any better,” Varga muttered.
We were all on the same page. But Derek put it best. “In times of war, tough choices must be made. In the end, the Hermessi children’s safety is all that matters.”
“Where’s my father?” I asked, my pulse already racing at the thought of seeing him back and as far away from Brendel as possible.
Derek pointed at the first glass house on the extension. “He’s there. Corrine is always with him, making sure he’s cared for. They had to put him in a crystal casing, though. We’re not sure how the Hermessi’s influence can affect him all the way here in the Earthly Dimension, but, since he’s still under it, we figured we couldn’t risk it.”
“That’s understandable.” I sighed.
“And you, Kabbah? Will you stay with Taeral and his crew?” Sofia asked.
Fallon-Kabbah nodded. “It’s Fallon’s best shot at survival, and he knows it. He’s a precious fae hybrid. If any of the hostile Hermessi get their hands on him, we’ll all be in danger. Taeral is safer now than before, with two thirds of Thieron on him and three helpful Reapers,” he said, nodding at Seeley, Widow, and Soul. “But Fallon is still vulnerable without me. You all know how susceptible he is to Hermessi presence.”
“The future is a little brighter, then,” Sofia replied, as we made our way up the extension’s stairs. I welcomed the ocean breeze brushing through my hair and tickling my skin. Its salty taste lingered on the tip of my tongue, while my ears were delighted by waves rolling and rushing toward the sandy shore. This was a good place for my father to be. In the arms of the ocean itself, in a way.
“Mind you, none of us can guarantee Brendel’s defeat,” Seeley said. “We’ll do our best, but I don’t want anyone getting their hopes up too high.”
“That’s a ridiculous statement,” Eva said. “We’ll do our damned best, and that’s all that matters. We’re not five-year-olds, Seeley. We can handle the truth.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Can you?”
Eva didn’t respond. Neither did any of us. Could we, really? He’d asked a good, albeit difficult, question. Back on the bottom of the Fire Star’s ocean, I’d had a choice between Thieron and my father, my friends, my loved ones. I refused to accept the truth that Brendel had forced me into. Fortunately, I’d found another way.
How many times would I get away with that before reality came back to pin me down and demand my undivided attention? Before the worst-case scenario somehow found a way to stab me, to drag me back into the pits of despair, with no way out?
“All I know is that we are better off with the four of you on our side,” I said, stopping outside my father’s glass house. I could see him inside, resting in his crystal casing, his chest rising slowly with each breath. His amber glow persisted, but it seemed slightly more faded than the last time I’d seen him. Corrine sat next to him, mixing some herbs in a stone bowl. Undoubtedly some kind of additional protection spell.
“I suppose you’ve put Devil’s Weed on all of the Hermessi children.” Fallon-Kabbah sighed, his eyes following Corrine and my father.
“We have. The hostile ones are farther back, and there is a pro
tective detail here, at all times,” Derek replied. “We’ve secured them as best as we could, and we’ll start engaging them soon enough. I know many succumbed to Brendel’s request because they had no better option, but that has changed now.”
Seeley frowned. “I don’t see Sherus’s Reaper anywhere.”
“What do you mean?” I asked him, not liking his expression.
“Given his condition, there should be a Reaper by his side at all times. Yet there isn’t,” Seeley explained. “It’s not right. I’m going to look into this soon. Ghouls might catch his scent and come after his soul.”
“Can I trust you to keep an eye on him until then?” I asked, and Seeley nodded. “Thank you.”
“What about Whisper and Gennen and the others who still serve Brendel willingly?” Amelia asked, referring to Derek and Sofia’s account of their trip to Yahwen and its unexpected twists and turns. They’d been through their own brand of hell, from what I’d understood.
“We’ll have to reason with them, as well,” Sofia said. “Whatever damage Brendel did to their minds, I’m sure we can at least try to undo it.”
“How safe are they in here?” Soul asked.
“Brendel doesn’t know where the children were taken,” Sofia replied. “We’re in another dimension here, one that isn’t so easy for them to reach. Of course, that’ll change if they complete the ritual, but until then—should that come to pass—the children are safe here.”
“Unless someone figures out they’re here,” Soul muttered.
“What are you trying to say?” I asked him.
“That Brendel is no idiot,” Soul said. “I think the children aren’t safe anywhere, at this point. Don’t you have some other place to hide them? Some other planet in this dimension?”
A Shade of Vampire 75: A Blade of Thieron Page 24
