A Shade of Vampire 77: A Fate of Time

by Forrest, Bella

  "We'll be with you all the way," Seeley replied. "I hope I speak for Soul, Widow, and Phantom when I say that it's our duty to make sure you all reach Death in one piece, and with Thieron in your possession."

  Herakles grinned. "That's so sweet. I could cry."

  "Ugh. Let's go!" Riza urged them, as the cave trembled from a distant, catastrophic impact. I didn't need to see what was going on out there. Just the thought of the Hermessi's active presence on Mortis was a clear enough indication that they were out for blood and destruction.

  "Remember not to touch the crystal eggs," Taeral reminded us as he jumped in.

  One by one we followed, the pink water enveloping our bodies. I welcomed the chill as I swam downward, following Taeral and Raphael. The others were right behind us, as we kept a tight formation on our way down.

  For a moment, there was only silence and water, and I could've stayed like this forever. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option, so I kept moving. Around us, the crystal eggs had grown larger since the last time we'd been here. Touching them would've thrown me back with an electric jolt—and that wasn't even the scary part. We had no idea what was growing inside them, but, given the local Hermessi's allegiance and their liberal access to these primordial waters, I figured it couldn't be anything good or fluffy or friendly.

  Determination seemed to fuel Taeral as he swam deeper, headed straight for the bottom of the tunnel, where a light began to shimmer. The natural wormhole had sensed our approach and was beginning to open up.

  "Amelia, watch out!" Riza screamed through the breathing device's comms system.

  I froze as a black shadow swooshed past me. It tackled Raphael, and my heart jumped in my throat. Looking to my right, I saw where it had come from. A broken crystal egg. The others were cracking open, as well. Shills. Dozens of them, more vicious than ever.

  Raphael managed to rip his attacker's throat out, blood spreading crimson through the water. "Hurry," he said, his breath short. "They're all coming out!"

  We didn't stand a chance. Before we could move farther down, Shills had already surrounded us. They darted through the water, their long claws and sharp fangs targeting our critical body parts.

  Riza and Taeral zapped themselves in different positions, cutting through the beasts' torsos. Riza had a sword and was proficient at beheading the Shills. Taeral, on the other hand, had Thieron. He had no idea what it would do or how to use it properly, since he lacked Death’s knowledge, but it seemed powerful enough to deliver deadly blows—he'd broken Brendel into thousands of little pieces with it while it had been still incomplete. From what I could tell, Thieron was acting as a sharp weapon, cutting through the Shills like a knife through butter.

  It was one thing for Death to wield a complete Thieron, and a whole different thing for Taeral to do it. The living had not been designed to toy with such a powerful weapon, whether they were destined to become Reapers, like Taeral, or not. Even so, it was a good blade, and I had no time left to wonder whether Taeral had yet to find some untapped potential inside it or not.

  One of the Shills knocked my weapon away, and I found myself scrambling for a knife. I couldn’t reach my weapon in time, as it got bumped up and away between the Shills. Varga fired a pulverizer pellet at it, and Taeral found a moment to slip me Yamani’s scythe. “Take it! Use it!” he said.

  I grabbed it and swung it against the creatures who came at me, eager to avenge their fallen beast brother. Raphael, Herakles, Eva, and Varga continued firing their pulverizer weapons, shooting glowing blue pellets left and right at every single Shill that tried to take them out.

  Lumi and Nethissis worked their swamp witch magic, helping us kill more of them faster, but it still wasn't enough. More Shills kept breaking out of their crystal eggs, and, to make matters worse, a bright orange light began to swell above the pink water surface. "Brendel…" I managed, and slashed across a Shill's chest, drawing blood.

  A pulverizer pellet from Herakles finished the job, turning the creature into ashes.

  "A little help here would be nice!" Varga shouted, addressing the Reapers.

  There were so many Shills around and between us that I couldn't even see Phantom or the others. Heck, I was so busy trying to stay alive that I simply didn't have time to keep track of our sort-of-dead allies.

  Another Shill rammed into me, and I shot my hand out. The scythe sliced through its soft, reddish stomach. I kicked it away, trying to swim down and put some distance between us, but the Shill was twice as angry and all the more determined to eat me.

  A bright flash blinded me for a split second. When I opened my eyes, I found the Shill right in front of me, its many beady eyes wide, unflinching, and its large mouth gaping. A curved blade poked out from inside. Behind it, Seeley glanced at me, slightly amused. He pulled his scythe back, and the Shill died in a puff of blood, its massive body floating upward, toward the surface.

  "Thanks," I murmured.

  More flashes of light followed as Soul, Phantom, and Widow made their way through the Shill crowd, cutting and slashing away. The corpses they left behind were pulled up to the surface, which made me quiver.

  "This is just so damn creepy," Raphael said, looking up. He briefly checked me from head to toe, gently gripping my arm just below a deep gash. "It'll heal by the time we reach Strava."

  "I didn't even feel it," I replied.

  "You guys, do you think we should get the heck out of dodge before Brendel gets to us?" Phantom asked, floating through the water like a lit-up firebug. She was glowing white, and I couldn't help but marvel at her appearance. The remaining Shills around her turned away, apparently blinded by her peculiar shimmer.

  It gave Varga and Eva the opportunity to pulverize them and clear the path for us below. We didn't hesitate, resuming our swim to the bottom, while the orange light grew brighter above.

  "She's coming!" Kabbah announced. "Brendel! She's here!"

  "Yeah, figured that one out already," I replied dryly, moving my arms and legs as I followed Taeral and Raphael deeper and closer to the intense white light waiting for us at the end of the underwater tunnel.

  We slipped through it, one at a time, and found ourselves suspended in the white space between worlds. Once more, the shadow of melancholy brushed over me. It seemed like years ago… the last time we'd been here. Oh, what a trip that had been, with the Hermessi coming after us.

  "They'll follow us through!" I shouted, remembering Brendel's previous attempt to catch us in the white space. "Brendel! She'll come through!"

  Phantom shook her head. "Your friend Kelara was right. Hermessi shouldn't be able to do that. Not without help."

  We floated through the blankness as I thought of Strava. Phantom, Widow, and Soul joined forces and gathered round the pink water hole of Mortis. They put their hands together as the wormhole began to close, the liquid inside it turning bright orange—a sign that Brendel was awfully close.

  "What are they doing?" Nethissis asked, staring at them.

  "I… I'm not sure," I replied.

  "They're sealing the wormhole," Seeley said.

  Varga was the first to express his astonishment, while the rest of us were simply baffled. "What? How? Can they do that?!"

  "Obviously we can, since we're already doing it," Soul replied, his gaze fixed on the wormhole.

  "I thought you weren't supposed to meddle in the affairs of the living," Herakles said. I couldn't see his mouth beneath that breathing device, but I knew he was smiling. Heck, so was I. This was a much-needed reprieve.

  "The moment Death vanished, all bets were off," Seeley explained. "Perhaps I am not as brave as the First Ten, but even I can see why they're doing this. Once we find Death, I'm sure we'll answer for our law-breaking, but until then, I'm completely on board with their endeavor."

  "At least Brendel won't come after us this way," I concluded.

  The wormhole closed up completely, vanishing into the white space, never to be opened again. The Soul Crusher, the Widow Make
r, and the Phantom floated toward us. While Widow's expression was concealed by his gimp suit, I could easily tell that both Soul and Phantom were satisfied with their actions.

  "Brendel is obviously worried you'll find Death before it's all over," Soul said. "I, for one, have discovered that I take great pleasure in tormenting her."

  "Which makes you the perfect ally." Lumi chuckled softly.

  "Mind you, there are things we still cannot do," Phantom warned us. "We cannot bring back the dead or whatever, but we can still help you end this quest."

  "We must find Death, first," Widow added. "She is still the key to everything."

  I was shaken to the core by everything we'd just witnessed. Months ago, I would've thought a dinner party at The Shade with lots of people was my greatest challenge to overcome. Yet here I was, battling Shills and Hermessi and all kinds of horrible products of the universe, desperate to save my world from destruction.

  Months ago, I wouldn't even have imagined someone like Raphael coming into my life and turning it all upside down. Now, I couldn't even think of a future where the two of us weren't together. However, before we could get there, we'd have to finish the job. We'd have to get Thieron back to Death.

  And, as Widow had so clearly put it, we needed to find her first.

  Floating through the white space and headed toward a new wormhole that would lead us into Strava's pink waters, I made that my primary objective. Find the one entity that dominated the cosmos and give her back her powers. For only Death could save us now.

  Eva

  We reached Strava effortlessly after we got out of the white space and through the local pink water hole. Amelia communicated our position to Derek and Sofia, then we made our way to the top, reaching the peak of an old mountain. Around us, one of Strava's many islands unraveled in strips of golden beach and lush green jungle. Birds chirped from the bushes, and the ocean lapped at the shore with slow and lazy waves.

  The sun was up, so I was quick to put on my hood, mask, and goggles, much like Varga and Amelia. But it was beautiful. I would've given anything to feel the warm light on my face again. Maybe I would, once this was all over. Listen to you, so optimistic.

  It wasn't a bad dream to hold on to. I'd chosen vampirism because of the powers it offered, but its downsides had started to weigh on me. I knew I would never be able to consume any food besides blood ever again, but the prospect of GASP figuring out a way to replicate Derek's day-walking protein was still on the table.

  "Is everyone okay?" Lumi asked, checking each of us with motherly care.

  "In one piece and as pissed off as ever," Raphael replied, hands resting on his hips.

  Varga pulled me into his arms and held me close for a sweet moment. "I know we've yet to talk about that dream, and that it may be a while before we get to do so, but… I just want you to know I liked our part of it."

  "Yeah, I'm partial to it, too." I giggled, my face hidden in his embrace. I could hear his heart thudding nervously in his chest. It echoed mine.

  "Well, that was interesting," Herakles said, pursing his lips at the three First Tenners. "Now, would you like to tell us more about your brothers and sisters? If Kelara went after the traitor among them, she might obviously be in trouble. The more we know about them, the better."

  "Kelara is a fighter and a survivor," Seeley replied. "She'll be in touch as soon as she can."

  "Did you not see what that Reaper did to the others, back in the throne room?" Herakles asked, downright exasperated. "What if the same happened to her?!"

  Seeley wasn't moved. He stood by his statement, not allowing himself any kind of fear—at least, none for us to see. "I trust her. She'll contact me when she can."

  "That's Seeley-speak for 'I'm crapping my pants,' just so you know," Soul muttered. It earned him a scowl from the much younger Reaper, but, as usual, Soul wasn't even remotely fazed. "Anyway, I think we have bigger fish to fry with finding Death and whatnot."

  "Also, we might have trouble," Kabbah said, nervously glancing around. "We are not alone here."

  "Ugh, great. What now?" I sighed, following his stilled gaze. About fifty yards to our left, standing atop a stony ridge, were four Hermessi figures. It didn't take a specialist to identify them as Strava's elementals—Aya included among them.

  The Reapers swiftly moved into a defensive position, while we clustered together, ready to teleport out of there at a moment's notice.

  "How'd they find us?" Taeral asked.

  "As we are so close to the ritual's completion, communication among the Hermessi, even across the galaxies, has been significantly improved," the Fire Hermessi replied. "We can talk to one another now, almost in real time."

  "Brendel has put out a warning for you," the Air Hermessi added. My skin crawled just from hearing her name. "We were all advised to stay close to our planets' pink waters."

  "So here we are," the Earth Hermessi said. "Staying close to our pink waters. Just like she asked."

  Instinctively, I moved closer to Varga and Taeral, ready to link hands if needed. Yet something told me to wait it out. Something felt… off.

  "Are you here to fight us, then, Aya?" Taeral asked the Water Hermessi.

  She'd been an ally before. Could she have given in to Brendel's demands, along with the others? Would she really sell us out to that flaming chunk of evil? My mind operated at fast speeds, but I couldn't be sure of the answer. The Hermessi didn't have faces of their own. I couldn't analyze their expressions or their heartbeats to figure out whether they were being deceptive or not.

  Aya stepped forward, her blue flames flickering vivaciously. "Your federation saved our children from Brendel. Whatever allegiance we owed her, it disappeared the moment you took our heirs from her grasp."

  "We are here to protect you," the Fire Hermessi said. "It is known that Brendel will personally check every planet with GASP affiliations first. She will scour them until she finds you, and Strava is no exception. But she doesn't know where you're going, so it might be a while before she gets here."

  "Told ya," Phantom chimed in, wearing a most satisfied grin.

  "There is not much we can do against her. She has killed many of our brethren during your fight on the Fire Star. Some of those planets will die out, for their vanquished Hermessi did not have children of their own to take over. But those who can save the worlds that remain… they are in your care, and I hope GASP will help them get back home to do their parts, when this is all over," Aya added.

  "Cerix was doomed to die in about three days," Eira gasped. "Time is already running out for those planets!" She looked at Taeral with a pleading frown. "We didn't even consider that after the Fire Star. You need to do something!"

  "You're running out of time, as well. I suspect this will all be over, one way or another, in the next twenty-four hours," the Air Hermessi replied. "Whether you win or not, the Hermessi children who need to replace their makers will still answer the call. They will find their own way back home if your people are not around to help them."

  "The only way our people will not be around to help them is if they all die," Taeral said. "In which case, I assume the ritual will be completed and the Hermessi will have all the power they need to get the children wherever they need to be. So, technically speaking, and like Soul already said, we have bigger fish to fry. Am I getting that right?"

  Aya nodded. "Yes. We are only here to inform you of our support. Whatever happens, the planets will find a way to survive, in the grand scheme of things. I suppose what really matters now is that you survive, as well."

  "Thank you, Aya," Taeral replied. "We need all the help we can get."

  "Your friends from GASP will be thrilled to see you," she said. "For what it's worth, we never wanted the ritual to happen. I'm afraid Brendel's influence and dangerous schemes put us all in very difficult positions."

  "Even so, and despite all the lies and deceit, you pointed us in the right direction before it was too late," Lumi interjected. "It matters more th
an you might think, and for that, we will be forever grateful."

  Taeral looked at us. "We should get to the GASP base," he said. "We need to sit down and think things through."

  "You go. We'll stand by the pink water," the Air Hermessi replied. "Should you need our assistance, I'm sure Eira here will be able to summon us."

  Eira frowned. "So, Kabbah is not the only Hermessi I can talk to. I can reach out to any of you, whether you’re known to me or not?"

  "You're a Hermessi child, and our powers have grown substantially with the ritual's advancement, as you know. So, yes," the Air Hermessi said. "You must only think of us, specifically."

  "I don't have your names," she murmured.

  "You will know them when it's time to call us," Aya replied. "Now, go. Whatever you need to do, get it done fast and leave. Brendel is unhinged."

  We didn't need to be told twice. Linking hands, we were teleported across dozens of islands and straight into the Stravian GASP base. Our sudden apparition in Amal and Amane's lab startled them. Vials dropped and crashed against the diamond floor tiles—a distant reminder of the structures that had once been dominant on this planet under Ta'Zan's tutelage. Ridan damn near burst into full dragon mode before he realized it was us.

  "Whoa there, Flamey!" Raphael blurted, putting his hands out in a defensive gesture. "This room ain't big enough for you to go all out on us, buddy!"

  Ridan breathed a sigh of relief, clearly thankful that he didn't need to rip out of his GASP leather suit to fight unexpected intruders of the hostile kind.

  "Also, dude! What kind of reaction was that?!" Varga said, struggling not to laugh. "It's just us!"

  "Well, just you and four Reapers. Oh, and a friggin' Hermessi riding for free in Fallon's body," Ridan responded with a serious face, then burst into laughter and darted across the room to catch Herakles in a bear hug. "Ah, I missed you!"