“This is insane!” she gasped as we bolted down the stairs, headed for the main exit.
Pulling on our hoods and masks, we put the glasses on and swallowed the pills. Within seconds, we were unseen, free to flee without anyone spotting us. Derek quickly reached out to Amal and Amane via Telluris about this. They were still at the palace. It didn’t make me feel any better, though. We’d barely escaped capture, and Danika had allowed her grief to turn her into the very thing she’d once claimed to despise—a despot. She would likely go after the twins, too.
Acheron was dead, and Thayen’s life would never be the same again.
Neither would ours.
“What do we do?” I asked, unable to let go of Valaine’s hand as we ran through the imperial city’s streets. Whistles blew somewhere behind us. Orders were shouted. Vision horses neighed as soldiers mounted them, determined to find us and bring us back.
“We don’t get caught,” Derek said.
“Where do we go?” Valaine asked. “I can’t think straight right now. That pulse took everything out of me… I don’t even remember how I did it…”
“We’ll figure that one out later,” I said.
“I’ve already alerted Amal and Amane,” Derek breathed as we turned a corner. “We just need to find a place to hide and figure out what we’re going to do.”
“Maybe call in the cavalry?!” Sofia croaked.
“Acheron is dead. He was the one who was supposed to greenlight bringing more GASP troops to Visio,” Derek reminded her.
Valaine cursed under her breath. “Let’s just find shelter first. Wait!” she gasped, finally focusing. “I know a few places around the city.”
We were all in agreement. We couldn’t rush into anything that could potentially spark a war. We, as a Shadian nation, had been through enough already. Danika had gone overboard, but maybe this wasn’t the end of the line for us.
Maybe we could still find a way to untangle this mess before anyone else got killed. Of course, this whole development had put a dent in my plan to go after my sister. I now had to figure out a way to send her a message and let her know that the imperial city was no longer safe for her.
Amal
As soon as Derek spoke to us through the comms system, Amane and I packed everything we could in our shoulder bags—the microscope, some of the glassware, and our tablets, along with as many samples as we could fit in the pockets.
Our only problem was Nethissis. We could already hear the gold guards shouting down the hallway outside on their way to arrest us.
“What do we do?” Amane asked, shaking with fear. “We can go invisible and take her with us, but we won’t get far… the invisibility pills won’t work on her! Besides, we have to get Ansel out of Tristan’s room, too.”
Panic threatened to paralyze my brain, but I couldn’t give in.
I had to find a solution. We’d been entrusted with her body, and Nethissis deserved an honorable funeral. We couldn’t exactly just leave her behind. I hated myself for having to do this, but I decided it was our only choice until we could find another way to get her body out of the palace.
“Grab her legs,” I said.
“What? What are we doing?” Amane asked, her eyes round and glimmering orange.
“Remember the secret staircase?”
Her expression lit up. Over the weeks we’d spent here, Amane and I had taken the occasional break to explore the entire floor without anyone keeping an eye on us, and we’d discovered a hidden door in the wall paneling. It led to a narrow staircase downstairs, ending in one of the dressers of a guest room.
My sister and I had speculated about what the staircase was for, figuring it must’ve been used for servants to move around undetected. Assuming, of course, that the Rimians and the Naloreans working here weren’t as compliant with the empire as we’d thought. Whatever the reason, it didn’t really matter.
The guest room at the bottom of that staircase was currently unoccupied.
“We can put her in that dresser,” I said. “At least for a couple of days, until we figure out a way to get her out of here safely. I mean, we’ll be invisible. We can sneak back in.”
“Yeah, we just have to sneak her out…”
The invisibility pill wouldn’t work on Nethissis because she was dead, so this was our only other option. We lifted her off the table and snuck through the secret door, bags on our shoulders. We pulled the panel shut and stopped to swallow our invisibility pills. Once we’d donned our red glasses, we made our way down the staircase.
Just in time, too, as we heard the door burst open back in the study room, the gold guards snarling and searching for us.
“Jeez, that was close,” Amane whispered.
“Come on, let’s get her to relative safety,” I mumbled.
It was weird to handle Nethissis like this, but given the surge of adrenaline flowing through me, I didn’t have time to worry about it. We did our part and carefully positioned Nethissis in the massive wooden wardrobe. The preservation spell kept her body warm and soft and easy to handle.
Once we were done, we snuck out of the wardrobe and locked its doors, hoping no one would need this room anytime soon. Considering the turmoil that had just taken over the imperial palace, I doubted anyone was in the mood to visit.
“Dammit, this is insane,” I managed, trying to catch my breath.
Amane took my hand with a reassuring smile. “We’ve gotten out of much worse, remember? Now, let’s get Ansel out of here too.”
I nodded and followed her outside into the hallway, unseen by anyone.
Yes, we’d been through much worse. But the Aeternae were not to be trifled with. Danika was troubled. Acheron’s death had messed with the decision-making part of her brain. Now she was guided by emotions, not by logic, and that could turn out to be extremely problematic.
Our work had to continue, and it would. We just couldn’t allow anyone to pin us down. After everything we’d endured under Ta’Zan, Amane and I were not going to let the Aeternae put us in chains.
Kelara
The fourth Beta element had given me a troubling glimpse into Cruor shortly after its last wood nymph had perished. I came out of that memory bawling like a little girl, shedding tears for every tree, every flower, every creature that had died from the Night Bringer’s pain.
The Elders reigned supreme, shapeless and black and angry…
After breaking it, I felt a titanic weight settle in my chest that refused to go away. It shot deep into my being, and I had difficulty walking. Soul was there to hold me up as we searched for the last of the Beta elements.
“Something tells me this one’s going to be the worst,” I groaned, the Night Bringer’s agony spreading through my limbs and turning my knees to lead.
“We have to end this,” Morning sobbed, leaning into the Phantom. She was suffering, too. The more I’d seen of what had happened to Cruor and the more of the Night Bringer’s memories I’d released, the more it hurt her.
Hell, even Soul, Phantom, and Widow looked worn out.
“Just a little bit longer,” I said. A bright light glimmered in the distance, and I knew, deep in my heart, that I’d found the fifth Beta element. “I think I see it.”
“Where?” Soul asked, following my gaze.
“The light,” I replied. “Don’t you see it?”
He shook his head. “Nah. Just stones and rubble.”
Then it had to be the fifth Beta element. If I was the only one who could see it, I was on the right track. Emboldened by this thought, I kept walking, albeit supported by Soul. We reached the ruins in a matter of seconds, as Phantom eased things up for us with a bit of Reaper world-treading. I was too tired and weakened to cover such a distance so quickly myself.
“Thanks,” I muttered, as Soul lowered me to the ground.
I knelt before a strange arrangement of rounded pebbles embedded in the ground. They were the source of the light, glowing brightly before me. They formed an eye, and eac
h of them had a symbol carved into its shiny surface.
“Yeah, this is definitely it,” I said. “My whole being is buzzing.”
Morning joined me, taking my hand in hers. Her eyes were puffy, her lower lip quivering, but she held on. “Let’s do this one together,” she whispered. “Maybe I won’t see anything, but I don’t want you to do this alone. He’s my brother.”
I gave her a soft smile and used my free hand to touch every stone, looking for the memory trigger. “Hey, Soul?” I asked.
“Hm?”
“If I don’t survive this, can you water my yucca plant? She’s grown a lot this past decade.” He didn’t seem amused, so I raised an eyebrow at him. “Did the joke fly past you?”
“No, I got it. I’m just flabbergasted that you think I’d care about a friggin’ plant,” Soul said.
I chuckled. “There’s the Soul Crusher I know.”
My fingers found the memory stone. The surge knocked me out.
I opened my eyes, and I was me.
There was no one left alive on Cruor for me to see this through, which scared me. It meant I would be fully exposed to whatever I witnessed. But I felt someone holding my left hand. The Morning Star. Yes, she was with me, even though I couldn’t see her.
I was on top of a mountain. Darkness opened before me in the shape of a crater, eager to swallow me. To make me disappear.
Despair lingered in the air. It was thick and heavy, seeping through my skin. Black mist swirled around me. I followed its movements until he became visible…
“Ben,” I murmured.
He was alive, yet I hadn’t been put in his body to witness this. No, the Night Bringer had sensed my connection to him. I’d almost reaped Ben, after all. I was watching a moment in his life. A moment I’d only heard him talk about. A moment I‘d never wanted to see.
The Elder was headed toward him. I wasn’t sure which of the stranded Aeternae he’d been, but I could feel his hunger, his sense of alarm.
Ben knelt at the edge of the crater. The look on his face spoke of sadness and determination. This had not been an easy choice, but he’d made it. He lifted the vial to his lips.
“Oh, Ben.” I sighed, shuddering.
He was ending his own life. The elixir poured down his throat, and the Elder screamed.
My eyes stung as I watched Ben collapse, succumbing to the poison. He was dead, and the Elder, degraded by time and the Night Bringer’s influence, had no one left to influence or possess. This was the end of the line for him.
Without a body, without a soul to corrupt, the entity would eventually perish, and Cruor would be free of its last Aeternae curse. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to do much good. Not for many more years. Not until I arrived.
“Do you understand now?” The Night Bringer’s voice came into focus.
I couldn’t see him, but I knew he was there with me. We were both watching the Elder wail, surrendering to his misery, unable to hold his misty form.
“I do. You did everything you could, considering…”
“This has been too much and for too long,” he said. “Ben and so many other innocent people died because of me.”
“It wasn’t your fault. You know that. The Spirit Bender—”
Night cut me off. “He lured me here because he knew how dark I could be. How toxic, if ever deprived of freedom. My pain radiated through everything. I killed it all, and I couldn’t control myself. I became lost.”
“You struggled. You left behind these moments. You didn’t go down without a fight,” I said. “Now let me release you. Death needs her First Tenners back.”
Silence settled over the crater. Ben’s body was still, growing colder with every minute that passed. His spirit, however, was moving, wandering around in a haze, trying to figure out what he was… what had happened. All spirits were like that at first.
“Where’s the Spirit Bender?” Night asked. “I need to make him pay.”
“Oh, someone beat you to it, I’m afraid. Can we get out of here, please?”
A sigh brushed past me. Morning squeezed my hand.
I sucked in a breath, wheezing as though I’d been under water this whole time. The bright light that had drawn me to the fifth Beta element exploded from me. It turned everything white.
For a moment, there was nothing but a vast, pristine emptiness.
“Thank you,” Night whispered. I’d heard this before. From his sister. But the toll on my being was becoming too much. I felt stretched thin, like a canvas pulled in different directions. I was being torn apart.
When I came to, Soul had me in his arms.
No one said a word. Phantom and Widow were watching me, waiting for me to say something. Next to them, Morning and Night stood together, chromatic opposites of one another. She was bright and curly and all smiles. He was dark and sullen and sad. But he was here. He was back.
The Night Bringer was free.
“Took you long enough,” I muttered, my whole body aching—which was weird, since I didn’t really have a body. Then again, breaking a Beta element could make any Reaper feel like he was still alive, and not in a good way.
“I could say the same about you,” Night replied.
“You’ve been out for hours,” Soul said. “Snoring the hell out of those Zs.”
I glanced up at him, thankful to see his face. “Well, at least I’m still kicking.”
“Don’t be a meanie,” Morning replied, beaming like the sun. “She was tired. She needed to rest.”
“Oh, man,” I grunted as Soul helped me up. “This had all better be worth it.”
The lead in my knees was gone. I was still exhausted, but I felt more like myself than ever. Night was out, and his agony no longer tormented me. I could breathe again.
“We need to go to Visio,” the Night Bringer said. “While I’d like nothing more than to kick back and celebrate my release, we have more work to do.”
“Visio?” I asked. “Why there?”
“Unending is there,” the Night Bringer replied. “The moment I caught a whiff of Prometheus and his people, I knew. I knew the Spirit Bender did his worst to Unending—not me or my sister or anyone else.”
I knew I was staring at him, but I couldn’t help myself, considering the bombshell he’d just dropped. Well, he was also drop-dead gorgeous, appearing as a surly young man with dark hair and full lips in a permanent pout. “You’re telling me the Unending has been on Visio this whole time?” I asked.
“Yes.”
Holy crap.
“Silver lining? You get to pal around with Seeley again,” Soul interjected, slightly amused. There he was. The jerk. The ruthless psychopath. He was back, and for some ridiculous reason, I was glad to see him again.
I’d need him and all the other First Tenners at their worst for what was ahead. If Unending was on Visio, that meant the planet was even more problematic than we’d first assumed. But at least the road led us somewhere. We were one step closer to undoing all the evil the Spirit Bender had unleashed upon the universe.
Derek
We met with the Faulty twins and Ansel close to a busy market, where we knew the guards would have trouble spotting us, then took shelter in an abandoned house on the south side of the imperial city. Surrounded by dilapidated buildings and rundown villas, the place was virtually empty. There wasn’t a single soul around, and we took turns standing guard by the window to make sure the gold and silver guards wouldn’t find us.
“This is a whole new level of trouble we’ve gotten ourselves into,” Amal mumbled, sitting on the floor. We’d lit a small oil lamp, enough to give us a little light. The window curtains, while old and tired and loaded with dust, were thick enough to obscure the view inside.
Tristan kept watch and Valaine sat next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. I felt sorry for her. She’d been nothing but kind and helpful and gracious. She didn’t deserve any of this.
“What about GASP?” Amane asked. “Do we bring them in?”
> Sofia sighed. “As much as I dislike Danika, that’s not the right way to go about this. She’s in shock. She’s grieving. We can still try to reason with her, but I think she needs a couple days to cool off first. Bringing GASP here would only lead to conflict.”
“The Darklings might jump to the Aeternae’s defense, and they’ve got death magic,” I said. “You all heard Zoltan. We don’t have Death on our side on this one. She’s doing… whatever, and we’re on our own.”
“He’s coming,” Tristan whispered.
I shot to my feet. “Ansel?”
Tristan slowly opened the door to let the boy in. Amal and Amane had picked him up from Tristan’s chamber on their way out of the palace, and he’d spent the past hour circling the neighborhood to make sure our area was safe for the night.
“They’re three neighborhoods over, combing every street,” Ansel said. “They won’t be in this area until the morning.”
“Good. That gives us time to come up with something,” I replied.
“We have to get Nethi’s body back,” Amal reminded me.
Running a hand through my hair, I let out a deep breath, but didn’t make me feel any better. “Esme is MIA with Kalon, Petra and the rest of her family are Darklings, and Danika’s grief nearly got us thrown in prison,” I said. “Acheron, our only hope in so many ways, is dead.”
“The Darklings did it,” Ansel confirmed. “I know they sometimes pay Naloreans or Rimians to do their dirty work for them. It’s rare but not unheard of. Remember Cedric Shatal’s assassination three years ago?” he asked Valaine.
“Oh, wow, Zoltan had his own brother killed?” She gasped.
“Why does that not surprise me?” Amane rolled her eyes.
It took me a while to get my thoughts in order. Once I regained my clarity, I went through each of our issues, one by one. Maybe the darkness that surrounded us helped soothe my tormented soul.
“We have to work out an action plan,” I said after a while. “Before we can get to Danika, we have to secure our own positions. We need a safer place. One that the Aeternae can’t easily reach.”
A Shade of Vampire 81: A Bringer of Night Page 25
