A Shade of Vampire 75: A Blade of Thieron

by Forrest, Bella

  “Oh, he has a point,” Widow added. “Brendel knows where GASP hails from. Once she’s done turning the In-Between and the Supernatural Dimension upside down, she’ll come here. She’ll find a way to come here.”

  “Hopefully, by then, we’ll have found Phyla,” I replied.

  “Do you really want to gamble on ‘hopefully,’ bucko?” Soul asked me. I didn’t have an answer. I wanted to say no, but I was too tired. I just wanted a moment with my father. Everything else could wait a while.

  “Right now, Brendel is in a thousand pieces back on the bottom of the Fire Star’s ocean,” I said. “She’ll take a while to put things together, to start searching for the children and so on. In the meantime, I’d like to see my father, if it’s okay with you.”

  No one objected. They waited outside. I could feel their eyes on me. I went inside the glass house, and Corrine finally noticed me. She jumped from the low armchair and hugged me with all her might.

  “I knew you’d make it back. You and cockroaches, Tae, I told you many times. You’ll survive anything.” She chuckled.

  “I’m actually luckier than cockroaches, remember? I’ve got Death’s mark on me.”

  “You’re also much better looking,” she replied, wiggling her eyebrows at me. She’d always been like this with me. Playful and kind, sometimes foul-mouthed, and full of sage advice. Corrine was like a second mother to me, for all the wisdom and care she’d bestowed upon me over the years.

  Glancing down at my father, I let a sigh come out from the pit of my churning stomach. “How is he?”

  “Oh, he’s fine, Tae,” Corrine said. “He’s stable and in a deep sleep.”

  “He’s not as glowy as before, is he?”

  “No. You noticed, huh?” She smiled. “Nothing escapes you, does it?”

  “But why?” I asked.

  She gave me a shrug in return. “Wish I knew. It likely has something to do with his distance from the Hermessi that are influencing him. We’re in a different dimension here.”

  “He’s still affected, though.”

  Corrine grinned, and confidence oozed out of her. It felt invigorating. “Only until you find Phyla, fix Thieron, and give it back to Death.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh lightly. “You make it sound so easy.”

  “And you make it look easy. I mean, here you are, with two thirds of it strapped to your leg,” she said, nodding at the incomplete scythe. “Who’d have thought, huh?”

  My father sucked in a breath, wheezing sharply, and Corrine and I jumped back and away from him, out of sheer reflex. He sat up, glowing brighter than before as he cracked open the crystal casing from the inside. I wanted to get to him, but I knew, deep down, that it wasn’t him.

  “Tae,” Corrine murmured.

  Behind us, the crew, Derek, Sofia, Fallon-Kabbah, and the Reapers mobilized. They’d already seen what had just happened.

  “Don’t move,” I whispered to her, horror gripping my heart so tightly, it would soon explode. I knew who this was, possessing my father. The fear had tagged along with me from the Fire Star, as much as I’d tried to keep it at bay. “It’s not my dad.”

  He turned his head to look at me. Raising one hand, he flicked his wrist and sealed the glass house around us. No matter what the crew did, they couldn’t get in. Not Kabbah, not the Reapers, not even Riza. It didn’t stop them from trying, but whatever magic Brendel was using, it was powerful even in the Earthly Dimension. This was new and unexpected, to say the least. She’d made it here, somehow.

  I knew this was Brendel. Only she’d be savvy and determined enough to pull something like this off. Naturally, I had a lot of questions about how quickly she’d recovered and what methods she’d used to find us, but keeping my father safe was still a priority.

  “Did you really think you’d get away from me?” she asked, using my father’s raspy voice.

  “What… Who are you?” Corrine replied, her eyes wide with shock.

  “You are lucky, Taeral. I don’t have as much power as I’d like in this place, but it’s enough to hold your friends at bay and to kill your father, if I want to,” Brendel said, ignoring Corrine.

  “Please, stand back,” I said to the witch. “It’s Brendel.”

  The Fire Hermessi sneered at me, and it felt awfully weird since she was doing it through my father. My blood ran cold, as my worst nightmare threatened to come true, all the way down to a most dreaded epilogue. “I’ll ask you one last time, Taeral. What will it be? Your father’s life? Or Thieron?”

  “How did you get here?” I replied, trying to stall while I thought of a solution.

  Her power was limited here. She’d said so herself. It meant she couldn’t get to the Hermessi children. She clearly couldn’t get the other Hermessi through, either. But she’d made it all the way here, just to exact her revenge—because that’s what this was. Revenge.

  “I could waste a minute or two to explain, but what’s the point?” she muttered, gritting my father’s teeth. Ugh, the creep factor was up to eleven. What Brendel was doing was downright appalling. “Last chance, Taeral. Your father or Thieron? What’ll it be?”

  I took incomplete-Thieron out and pointed its blade at her. My hand was trembling. I’d lost my edge the moment she’d entered my father’s body. “I could hurt you again.”

  “You could, but you’d be killing your father in the process,” she said. “Is that what you want, Taeral? To kill your father?”

  “No!”

  “You should’ve said so from the beginning!” she continued, completely ignoring me. “Here, I’ll do it for you. And then, when I catch you near Phyla, I’ll kill all your friends and make sure you never complete Thieron. You’ll have lost your father, your loved ones, everyone that ever mattered to you, and you’ll have lost the world, too.”

  “Stop, Brendel, don’t do it,” I murmured, frozen by the inevitable that was about to unfold.

  “You’ve messed with me for the last time,” she added. “I’ll get the children back, soon enough. Don’t you worry. I know where they are. I’ll finish the ritual, and I’ll bring all my might into this universe, too. I’ll wipe you all out. But, until then, let me leave you with a parting gift.”

  I couldn’t use Thieron here. It wouldn’t kill her, anyway. It would just kill my father. There were no options left for me. My father’s body shuddered, and I cried out in pain, almost feeling the link between us being severed.

  In an instant, Brendel was gone, and my father fell back into the crystal casing. Only, he no longer glowed. His breath… was gone.

  “Dad… no…” I managed, my vision getting foggy.

  Something in my chest broke into a billion pieces which I’d never be able to put back, ever again. I heard the others shouting and screaming outside, banging their fists against the glass walls. I dropped to my knees, unable to even look at my father, because I knew what was left of him. Just his body. His soul had been severed. He was dead.

  The door sprang open, Brendel’s magic finally worn off. Boots thundered in my ears. Rushed steps as they gathered around him. I leaned back on the glass wall, crying. I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t control myself. Derek tried CPR. Corrine struggled with magic. Lumi gave it her best shot.

  Nothing worked. I was deaf and numb and inconsolable. Brendel had just killed my father.

  Sofia

  To say that we were all devastated would’ve been an understatement. This had been a blow to all of us. Not just to Taeral, but to the whole of GASP. My heart ached as I wondered how we’d even break the news to Nuriya. How could we tell her that after we’d managed to save her husband, our dear friend, Sherus, Brendel had somehow found a way into The Shade and killed him?

  Minutes passed in grieving agony for everyone present. Even Fallon-Kabbah was unable to speak, astonished by the feat that Brendel had accomplished. The Reapers were equally befuddled, simply staring at Sherus.

  “She can’t use him here,” Taeral managed after a while.
>
  “What do you mean?” Derek asked.

  Eira was on the floor, next to Taeral. Raphael and Amelia joined them, as did Eva and Varga, and Riza and Herakles. Nethissis and Lumi were shaken up, keeping Corrine company. She, too, had been crying. I’d completely ignored the tears that I’d been shedding. My pain didn’t matter, compared to what Taeral had to be feeling.

  “She can’t use him as a weapon here, like she did with Crane, back in the Calliope sanctuary,” Taeral clarified, his tone low and flat. He was all cried out and ashen. Unable to move. And there was nothing we could do for him. “That was all the power she could use here. To keep you out and… to kill him. I don’t know how she got here, she wouldn’t say, but it had to be something she’s never done before. A trick we knew nothing about.”

  Despite her murderous rage, Brendel had, in fact, let precious information slip earlier. None of the Hermessi could come through into The Shade—not until the ritual was completed. The children were still safe here, at least for a while.

  “How did you get through, Kabbah?” I asked, trying to make sense of a few things. Wrapping my head around Sherus’s death was simply too much. I chose to focus on everything else, so as not to collapse.

  “Fallon. He’s my body,” he explained. “Brendel doesn’t have a fae hybrid to hitch a ride on. None of them do. Taeral and Fallon are the only two who can actually carry us.”

  “What about other Hermessi children?” Derek replied. “Could the elementals use them?”

  “The children are already here, so no,” Fallon-Kabbah said. “If they find others in the In-Between or the Supernatural Dimension, they could try, though.”

  “We’ll seal off The Shade, then. Close the portal. Open it only when necessary, and under strict supervision,” Derek concluded, his brow furrowed as he sat in the chair next to Sherus. He gave the fae king a slow nod. “I’m sorry, old friend. I truly am.”

  “I should’ve seen this coming,” Taeral muttered, staring at his father.

  “You couldn’t have,” I said. “Tae, none of us saw it. Brendel was ahead of us, somehow, at least where The Shade is concerned. Someone told her. Someone betrayed us.”

  “Someone helped Brendel, far beyond telling her where to find you,” Seeley interjected. But the look on his face told me there was more, but he wasn’t ready to share. I’d not met Reapers before, but there was a sense of wisdom coming from Seeley—he seemed like the kind of person who’d only speak if he had something concrete.

  Taeral’s back straightened, as if jolted by a rush of electricity. “I can’t see him.”

  “What do you mean?” Amelia asked him.

  Thieron was still in his hand. He touched Yamani’s scythe, too, just to be sure. But it didn’t seem to work. “I can’t see my father’s spirit,” he said, then glanced at Seeley. “Surely, he wasn’t reaped so quickly.”

  Seeley sighed and shook his head. “After your Mortis episode, all the Reapers across all the dimensions were instructed to hide the spirits from you,” he replied. “Of both the living and those under the Hermessi’s influence. It’s why you couldn’t see anyone, not even your father, in the fae sanctuaries. Why you can’t see him now.”

  Taeral’s eyes grew wide. “I hadn’t even thought of that, but… now that you mention it, I understand. Why were such instructions given?”

  “Because you’re one of the living, in possession of a scythe. It’s technically against the rules and considered cheating,” Seeley said. “Hence, you’re blocked from seeing Sherus or any other spirit.”

  “I want to see him,” Taeral declared.

  “It wasn’t my rule. I can’t override—”

  “Dammit, Seeley, you Death-drone!” Soul snapped. “If you don’t let the boy see his father, I will. He deserves that much!”

  Seeley scoffed, clearly displeased to be in the minority in this, since we were all throwing arrows at him over it. Widow nodded. “Do the right thing, Seeley.”

  He did. He raised his scythe and whispered something against the blade. A moment later, a translucent, shimmering figure emerged from the air. It was Sherus, understandably sad and angered by what had just happened.

  “I’m so sorry, son,” he said.

  Taeral shot to his feet, suddenly energized. “Dad… No, I’m… I’m the one who’s sorry. I couldn’t save you.”

  “I’m going to get my ass whipped for doing this,” Seeley grumbled, but Soul shushed him, eager to witness this exchange between Sherus and his son. I now understood why Amelia had kept referring to the old Reaper as a “functioning psychopath.” He was sort of getting off on this scene, and it made my stomach turn itself inside out.

  “Don’t, Tae,” Sherus said. “She had you locked down. Either you killed me, or she did.”

  There was no soul-chain link left. It had been destroyed, and Sherus was now a ghost, a lost spirit. But who would reap him? I looked at Seeley, but he didn’t seem keen on doing it. I doubted Soul or Widow had been tasked with it—they were free Reapers, after all. And surely, we would’ve seen or heard an assigned Reaper the moment Seeley had revealed Sherus. This was against the rules, and therefore would have drawn some kind of protest.

  “What happens to me now?” Sherus asked, glancing at Seeley.

  Surprisingly, he didn’t have an answer. “I’m not sure. There’s no one here to reap you. Your guardian Reaper is nowhere to be found, but I will find an answer soon. I’ve already reached out to the higher office.”

  “The perks of telepathy,” Soul grumbled.

  “It’s not fair,” Taeral said, shaking. “Brendel killed him deliberately. Not the Hermessi’s influence. It’s not right. It’s not natural. My father deserves another chance, and you need to give it to him!”

  “Death hasn’t said anything yet,” Seeley replied.

  “I don’t care!” Taeral snarled, and Raphael and Herakles had to hold him back. Fury was taking over, and it was a difficult thing to control. I knew that better than most.

  Soul groaned with frustration. “Come on, bucko! You are seriously disappointing me right now! What did I tell you earlier about listening to your instincts?”

  We all paused, confused by what the Soul Crusher had just said.

  “I really don’t have any patience or time for your stupid mind games,” Taeral replied, gritting his teeth. “If you have something to say, just say it.”

  “Tae, wait,” Eira murmured, her eyes wide as she seemed to catch on, one step ahead of us. “He didn’t say it without a reason. He knows something.”

  The Soul Crusher smirked. “It just so happens that she’s right. But it’s getting really tiresome having to explain it all to you.”

  “You never explained anything in the first place,” Raphael retorted.

  The Widow Maker grabbed the Soul Crusher’s arm and twisted it around his back. It seemed to hurt enough to make him howl. “I’ve had enough of your crap. Less than an hour out of Zetos, and you’re already getting on my nerves,” Widow growled. “Out with it, already!”

  “Ow! Ow! Ow! Okay! Dammit! Stop!” Soul whined, and Widow let him go. The “functional psychopath” Reaper moved his arm around, wincing from the pain. It was good to know they could still experience that, if only at the hands of other Reapers. “No one is reaping you, Sherus, because your death wasn’t planned. It’s not in the books. A Hermessi deliberately offed you, not their… what did you call it? Influence.”

  We looked at one another, wondering if that was all that Soul had to share. Judging by how Widow had crossed his arms and kept glowering at him, I had a feeling there was more.

  “What happens to him now?” Taeral asked.

  “Two options. One, you give a Reaper time to be assigned to Sherus, given his current one is… I don’t know, missing? Or, two, you get Phyla and use it to resurrect him,” Soul replied.

  Heat washed over me as the realization sank in. Taeral was beyond astonished, his lips parted in shock. Amelia couldn’t help but gasp.

 
; Noticing our collective befuddlement, Soul rolled his starry eyes and proceeded with a much-needed explanation. “You’ve already learned that Eirexis can heal anything. But it can’t bring the dead back, obviously. Zetos can cut through anything, though I’m not sure whether you’ve already realized that or not.”

  “No,” Taeral said. “But I did see the damage it inflicted upon Brendel.”

  “Which makes it all the more intriguing as to how she managed to put herself back together so quickly, but we’ll mull that over later,” Soul said. “Point is, each of Thieron’s pieces has an independent power, a sliver of Death herself. Eirexis is healing. Zetos is… well, cutting. And Phyla, bucko… Phyla is the most important. It’s the gemstone of life. It takes life, and it gives it back. So, if you find it, if you get to it, if you get past the Phantom, you will have a shot at getting Daddy dearest here back.”

  Minutes slipped by in leaden silence as Taeral and Sherus stared at the Soul Crusher. None of us dared speak. There was so much tension, I worried our heads might explode.

  “And you didn’t think to mention it sooner?” Sherus finally replied. “Ideally before my son collapsed, grieving and crying his heart out?”

  Soul chuckled. “Where’s the fun in that?”

  The Widow Maker groaned with frustration. “On behalf of Death and all of us in her service, I apologize for him. He’s irredeemable, I’m afraid.”

  “I don’t really care right now,” Taeral said, a glimmer of hope lighting the embers in his eyes. “I know I have a way of saving my dad. That’s all that matters.”

  Corrine settled next to Sherus’s body. “I’ll keep him safe. Preserve him with all the magic at my disposal. You get Phyla and bring him back, Tae. Okay?”

  Taeral nodded, giving her and Sherus a warm but sad, heartbreaking smile.

  “All in all, it’s just one more reason to retrieve Phyla, if you think about it,” Herakles chimed in. “Save the world, save Sherus… save all of us.”

  We still had a shot at this, and that was all that mattered. The Hermessi had some limits, and we’d delivered a crippling blow to Brendel, despite her evil retribution. We had two pieces of Thieron in our possession already. The number of influenced fae grew slightly every day, but all of us were making efforts to slow the process down, to derail the enemy and to give Taeral and his crew the time they needed to pull through with this mission for Death.