A Shade of Vampire 66: An Edge of Malice

by Bella Forrest

  Within seconds, I was right by her side, both of us walking out of the lagoon. But she… she was strange. Pale as a sheet of paper, her eyes glassy and white, her lips purple and peeling. Her skin was bruised and scratched. The soft fabric of the dress she wore was rotten. This creature had Draenir features, including the pointy ears, but she looked as though she’d been submerged for a very long time.

  She looked like a corpse.

  “Is… Is that you?” I asked, my voice barely audible.

  We kept walking until we reached the shore. Lumi and the others were astonished, their eyes wide and their mouths gaping. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one seeing her. She was real, and also extremely dead, though moving.

  I heard her joints crack whenever she took a step forward.

  “What the hell is that?” Taeral croaked.

  “A zombie?” Hunter replied, raising an eyebrow.

  “This is not a graphic novel!” I said, slightly frustrated, then shifted my focus back to the strange creature. “Are you the water Hermessi?”

  She stilled, slowly moving her head to look at me. Those eyes, as literally dead as they were, seemed to glimmer at the sight of me—the slightest flicker of light, as if she recognized me.

  “Out here, you may call me Aya,” she said. Water poured from her mouth when she spoke, and her voice was cold and raspy.

  “That’s not her body,” Lumi concluded, unable to take her eyes off her.

  “What the…” Taeral gasped, taking a couple of steps back.

  “Well… I don’t… I don’t have a body of… of my own,” Aya tried to speak again. She seemed to be having trouble with the body, specifically with its motor functions. This Draenir must’ve died a long time ago, and she was as stiff as any corpse would be, hence Aya’s difficulties controlling her.

  “Wait, where’d you get this body from, then?” Vesta asked. “The Draenir from these parts have been dead for more than a hundred and fifty years. There’s no way they’d be so well-preserved. We would’ve spotted them.”

  Aya was now having a hard time with the upright position. I offered her a hand, trying to wrap my head around what we were all witnessing: a water Hermessi possessing a Draenir body. Cross that one off the bucket list.

  “This… This body fell in the lagoon,” Aya managed, water constantly trickling out not just from her mouth, but also from her nose and ears. “It’s a deep bottom… Subzero…”

  “Holy crap, this Draenir body was preserved at freezing temperature on the bottom of the lagoon,” Kailani concluded. “How deep is it to allow such a cold environment?!”

  “Hundreds of feet, for sure,” I said. “Is this how you manifest in reality, Aya? You take over bodies?”

  “Sort of... Yes. But only the willing,” she whispered, then dropped to one knee. Several bones broke in the process, making all of us cringe. “This girl… She was a believer… before the plague. She would’ve allowed me in… but she’s dead… hence the… stiffness.”

  “Oh, wow,” Bijarki murmured.

  “Night of the living dead, anyone?” Serena blurted.

  “You can’t even stand anymore. What’s happening?” Lumi asked Aya.

  “I… pulled the body from ice. It’s thawing and decomposing unexpectedly… fast,” the Hermessi replied. “Its muscles are too stiff.”

  “Ah, I get it,” Bogdana said, nodding slowly. “A Hermessi needs a living body to manifest itself properly. Otherwise, it struggles. Case in point.”

  “This is as creepy as the Sluaghs, I kid you not,” Bijarki replied, then joined Taeral behind the rest of the crew. These two were not at all comfortable in Aya’s presence, and she noticed.

  “I am sorry. This was… the best I could do,” she gurgled, then collapsed on her side.

  Vesta dropped to her knees to try and care for her, but there wasn’t much she could do. After all, she was dealing with an animated corpse.

  “Don’t you have other options? Other means of manifesting?” she asked Aya.

  “I… I need permission,” Aya managed.

  Vesta frowned, slightly confused. “For what?”

  “To… use you, for a moment.”

  “Vesta, don’t,” Zeriel warned her, his hand clutching his sword already.

  Lumi motioned for him to stand down. “Relax. Our weapons are useless against her. She’s water. She could drown you in an instant, Tritone king.”

  “Okay,” Vesta replied, incredibly brave and determined.

  I caught a glimpse of Aya’s faint smile, before the light faded from her eyes. Water gushed out from the body, through the pores of her skin, her mouth, her eyes, her ears and nostrils. It quickly formed a puddle in the white sand, from which a thin stream emerged, slithering like a snake.

  A split second later, it rushed up Vesta’s nose. The young fae fell backward, coughing and choking—practically drowning. I moved to help her, but both Lumi and Bogdana put their hands out, keeping us back.

  “Don’t. She’s adjusting,” Bogdana said.

  “How do you know?!” Zeriel demanded, shaking with anger, desperate to get to Vesta.

  “I just do,” Bogdana retorted.

  “Yeah, that’s not going to fly for much longer,” Lumi muttered. “You will tell us, whether you want to or not, sooner or later,” she added, then looked at Zeriel. “Leave her be. Look.”

  Indeed, Vesta was calm now, her body no longer twitching. Her eyes were white, though, sending shivers down my spine. We all waited for her to speak. My nerves were stretched, dangerously close to their breaking point. Vesta, like everybody else on my team, was my responsibility. I didn’t want anything to happen to her, but I was aware of the risks here. Despite my attempts to keep a clear head, I worried.

  “This is much better,” Aya spoke through Vesta. There was no water coming out, no difficulty in moving. She had good control over the fae’s body.

  “Aya,” I replied. “I hope you won’t hurt Vesta, in any way.”

  She shook her head. “I would never. She trusted me with her body. It is my temple. Rest assured that it’s only temporary. I do not like dwelling in bodies. I am water. I am limitless.”

  “So this is how you manifest,” Lumi murmured, trying to get accustomed to the idea that she wasn’t talking to Vesta anymore. Zeriel, on the other hand, was livid. Quiet, but certainly not happy to see Vesta being possessed like this.

  “I need a vessel, yes,” Aya explained. “I could take over a Draenir body, but it is much easier with the fae. Their cells are connected to the elements, in ways in which the Draenir will never be.”

  “You said that the girl you brought out was a believer,” I said, pointing at the corpse. “Did the Draenir believe in you?”

  Aya smiled. “I think you know the answer to that, Ben.”

  “Not really, no. I might have an idea. I could assume, at best, that they did, based on our findings so far. But I cannot be sure until you confirm,” I replied.

  “There was a secret cult of the Draenir, yes,” Aya said. “In the towns and villages, mostly, but never in the cities. The Draenir were creatures of science, basing their work and their existence on the combination of their ancient magic and their technological advances. They didn’t encourage belief in the Hermessi, and we didn’t really mind, you know. Fire still burns. Water still flows. The world goes on.”

  “You are stronger when more people believe in you, right?” Lumi asked.

  “Indeed. But you should ask yourself, how many of us wish for more power? I, for one, was always content with what I had. As long as I exist, as long as water trickles down the mountain, I am free and happy. I need nothing more,” Aya replied.

  “There’s a problem here, on Strava,” I said, switching to the main subject, the only reason why we’d reached out to her in the first place. “Ta’Zan is doing something awful. He’s defying the laws of nature; he’s making his Perfects at a rate that the planet cannot sustain. He plans to go out and destroy the other worlds, and it’s not
fair. We cannot let him do that, but we need help. We need your help.”

  Aya didn’t respond. Instead, she measured each of us from head to toe.

  “Ta’Zan thinks he’s better than nature because of the creatures he’s designed. He thinks he’s above nature, but he’s taken it to a horrifying extreme. He wants to kill everyone who isn’t as strong or as powerful as his Perfects. Billions of lives hang in the balance,” Draven added.

  “He’s going to—” Serena tried to add to the conversation, but Aya cut her off.

  “I know exactly what he’s doing. We all do,” she said.

  “All?” I asked.

  “All four of us,” Aya replied with a smile. “Water, fire, earth, and wind. We can see it. We can feel it. We know where this is going.”

  “And where do you think it’s going?” Lumi asked.

  “Death and destruction. Strava will be suffocated. It cannot keep up with the numbers,” Aya said. “Which is why I’m here, talking to you.”

  Lumi frowned. “Why just you, though? Where are the others?”

  “They’re not sure you can do anything, even if we help. They’re not sure if they can trust you with their power, their essence. If the Hermessi help, you will have the raw power of the elements at your fingertips. That is more than any fae could even dream of.” Aya sighed.

  “They don’t know us well enough,” Bijarki said. “But still, earth helped us, not just water. I suppose there is willingness, right?”

  Aya nodded. “I can talk to them. If you get more fae to Strava, the Hermessi will have more conduits through which to run their power. It doesn’t work seamlessly with other species. It might kill you, for example, incubus.”

  “Wait, you need more fae?” I breathed. “That’s it?”

  “Yes, Ben. We need the fae. They’re the ones we’re bonded to, on a molecular level. You see, the Perfects have become aggressive toward us, violently extracting earth’s resources. It’s why she helped you. She’s had enough, just like me. She just needs a little more convincing, much like the other two. We’ve been alone for so long, unknown to all, that we’re not used to people, to talking, to trusting others. We are timeless, but we do suffer,” Aya explained, then looked at Lumi. “I feel you differently. I suppose it’s your magic. It’s peculiar, but I like it.”

  Lumi shrugged. “Yeah, I said the same thing when I became an apprentice, a long time ago. So, Aya, if we manage to bring more fae to Strava, do you think the Hermessi will help us?”

  “I will convince them,” she replied. “Something must be done here. And the fae will be our conduits.”

  I scratched the back of my head, trying to think of a way to do what Aya was asking. The last time we’d brought more people to Strava, the Perfects had shot down our ships.

  “Bringing fae over here will be quite the mission,” I said. “The Perfects’ numbers are nearly doubled, compared to last week. And even then, they were able to destroy an entire fleet and take hundreds of our people prisoners. We’ll have to figure out a way to land the fae safely, without the Perfects intercepting them.”

  “We would have to distract all the Perfects with something big enough to draw their attention from an incoming ship,” Lumi replied, frowning. “We’ll find something to keep the bastards busy.”

  Aya nodded. “You do that. You make your plans. By the time you agree on something, I will return with the Hermessi’s decision.”

  “I really hope you’re coming back with a yes, though,” Taeral said. “Otherwise we won’t risk bringing my people here, only to get them imprisoned.”

  “Fair enough,” Aya said with a smile. “I must leave now. We will speak soon.”

  Before any of us got a chance to say anything else, the water gushed out of Vesta’s mouth, as if she’d been drowning this whole time. Aya was gone, and Vesta had fallen down on all fours, coughing and wheezing as she tried to catch her breath.

  “Holy hell. That… That was so… weird!” Vesta croaked.

  Zeriel dashed to her side, putting an arm around her shoulders. “It’s okay. She’s gone.”

  “What… What did she say?” Vesta asked, while we all stared at her, still wrapping our heads around the whole possession process. It made me nervous, reminding me of the Elders. I knew this wasn’t the case, but, still, after what I’d seen, I was well within my rights to at least be concerned.

  “You don’t remember anything?” Bogdana asked her.

  Vesta shook her head. “It’s all fractured and jumbled around, not making much sense. It’s like I was gagged and blindfolded, then tossed in the trunk while she took the wheel. I heard bits and pieces, but that’s about it.”

  “You had no control over your body whatsoever, huh?” Serena replied.

  “It wasn’t mine anymore. From the moment I gave Aya consent, I couldn’t move or breathe anymore. So, what did she say?” Vesta asked.

  “Well, she’s going to talk to the other Hermessi for us. And we need to bring a lot more fae to Strava. I think they’re like amplifiers for them. It’s the only way in which they can do something against Ta’Zan and the Perfects,” Lumi explained.

  “How many more?” Vesta murmured, blinking several times.

  “Hundreds, at least. My guess is, the more the merrier,” I said. “While they might’ve established fragile links with the swamp witches and Vivienne, it’s only through the fae that they can truly make a difference. So, the Hermessi will be like the endless and insanely powerful ammo to our guns, in a way.”

  We all looked at each other, knowing the magnitude of the incoming challenges. Bringing more fae to Strava was going to be one hell of a mission. The Perfects had their eyes on the sky at all times—part of the reason why we stayed on the ground. And after what they’d done to our fleet, we definitely weren’t going to do that again.

  We needed a good diversion, enough to draw them all out and away from the fae’s entry point. That meant orchestrating something that was on a scale large enough to really matter. Something big and noisy. Looking at the two witches in our crew, I couldn’t help but wonder if they’d be enough to do the trick.

  One way or another, we were going to get more fae on Strava, so the Hermessi would help us reign the Perfects in and stop them from destroying their world and ours.

  Elonora

  Amane spent some time checking as many glass storage tablets as possible inside the town hall. Just as we’d suspected, most of them were historical and census records, but none mentioned the Hermessi.

  “We’ll have to look somewhere else if we’re to learn anything about the Hermessi faith. Though I wouldn’t know where,” Amane said as we left the town hall behind and met with the rest of our crew outside, by the monument.

  We all stared at it for a while, each of us wondering whether they’d believed in the natural elements here. According to Ben’s briefing, after his group’s encounter with Aya, chances were that the Draenir here had, in fact, worshipped the Hermessi. Setting aside the morbid weirdness of the Hermessi possessing bodies, we’d already made some incredible progress, and we were mere steps from cutting a deal with the universe’s most powerful entities.

  “I think I’ll just go ahead and follow my gut here,” I replied, looking at Amane. “That the Draenir here worshipped the Hermessi. Whether the big city peeps liked it or not, it doesn’t really matter anymore. At least we have confirmation from the Hermessi themselves that the Draenir believed in them.”

  “This begs a different question,” Nevis said. “If people used to believe in the Hermessi, throughout the universe, why did they stop? I understand that here, for example, the believers became extinct. But what about the other planets, especially the fae stars? What made them stop?”

  “We don’t know. Ramin, the fire Hermessi of Neraka, told Harper that people’s belief in them simply died out. That they moved on,” Varga replied.

  “Bogdana said the same thing,” I said. “Lumi had barely heard anything about them, and she’s as old as
time, basically.”

  “Why would anyone stop worshipping the elements, though, when they’re clearly insanely powerful?” Raphael chimed in, equally intrigued. “Something must’ve happened.”

  “Universally? That’s quite a stretch, don’t you think?” I replied. “Nah. I think people just moved on, they evolved. Maybe the Hermessi weren’t as present then as they were before. We could ask them the next time one of them takes over Vesta’s body,” I added, chuckling.

  “Gah, still creepy!” Dmitri said, shaking his head. “That poor girl.”

  “Hey, she consented. Apparently, they can’t take over without your consent,” I replied.

  Dmitri smirked. “Like I said. Creepy.”

  Ridan, Amane, and Kallisto looked up at the same time. It was well past midnight, and the lightbulbs bathed the mountain town in a warm amber light, the wind causing the leaves to tremble and the lights to flicker.

  “We’ll have to turn these off before we go,” Ridan said. “We don’t want anyone with wings and an obsession with genetic superiority to come down here and eventually spot the lights on. They’ll realize someone was around. Best not to risk it.”

  “Agreed. They may not see them from above, but they definitely would upon descending, for whatever reason,” Dmitri replied, then darted downstairs.

  A minute later, the town was swallowed by darkness. Faint lights glimmered in the sky—distant Perfects flashing around, many miles away. We gathered by the poisonous tunnel entrance, then held our breaths and ran through.

  “Okay. Now, we all know what we have to do,” Raphael said, staring at the jungle unraveling before us. “It’s time to pay Ta’Zan’s colosseum another visit.”

  “Oh, we’re going sightseeing again? Yay!” Varga quipped, sounding like a little boy excited to go to the zoo again. It made me laugh.

  We left the mountain town behind and rushed across the ocean water, thanks to Nevis’s frost. It was the fastest way for us to move around, in the absence of the fae and the witches in our crew—they’d been sorely needed for the Hermessi, and, based on the results of that encounter, it had paid off. I was more than okay with just running on Dhaxanian ice, since we didn’t have underwater pockets and teleporting, It was an agreeable trade off for getting the Hermessi involved.