“What part of ‘I was merely asking’ did you not understand?” I retorted.
Kelara cursed under her breath and pulled herself up. She took out her scythe and kneeled before Death. “Would you be so kind as to hold out your left arm, please?” Kelara asked.
Death raised her eyebrows, genuinely curious. “What are you up to?”
“I think I’m dealing with a scythe seal, this time,” she said. “It will take all the energy I’ve got left, both mine and borrowed, to put into my blade, and I’ll probably sleep for the rest of the year afterward, but it’s worth a shot.”
Death nodded slowly, stretching out her left arm. Kelara used the scythe’s sharp tip to trace around one of the black runes, whispering an ancient Reaper spell. The outline lit up white, and Death hissed from what sounded like pain.
“We’ve tried several spells, so far,” Dream said, her gaze fixed on Death and Kelara. “This is pretty much the last resort. Nightmare and I had to give her some of our energy to do it.”
“That’s why you were sitting by the water hole together, like besties?” I asked.
Kelara continued to fill the rune with light from her spell, sweat beads already glistening on her forehead. Death cringed, closing her eyes. She was uncomfortable, to put it mildly. I’d never seen her like this. So… vulnerable.
“Kelara needed some First Tenner juice for this,” Nightmare replied with a shrug.
“Why couldn’t one of you do it?” I asked.
“It’s a spell I made up myself,” Kelara gritted out, still focused on her work.
The revelation hit me in the chest like a sledgehammer. “Whoa. What?!”
“It’s a spell I made up my—”
I cut her off. “Yeah, I got that part, Kelara. How is that even possible?”
Death smiled. “She didn’t know she had it in her. You’d be surprised by how many of you have this potential, if you only gave yourselves to it.”
“I’m confused.”
“You and me both,” Dream replied. “But our momma’s kind of right. No one ever said we couldn’t make death spells of our own. And the death spells we know didn’t all come from her.”
Nightmare chuckled. “Fun fact, right?”
Suddenly, I was the one on the outside, looking in and feeling like a complete stooge. “I’m sorry, when did this become common knowledge? Because I certainly wasn’t in the loop. I thought you were the one who gave us all these spells,” I said, scowling at Death. Maybe I wouldn’t have had the same courage, had she not been trapped under the seals.
Death shook her head. “I never said that.”
“You never not said that,” Dream retorted.
“Listen, you’re Reapers. That means you’ve got threads of my power inside you. Most of your kind have very little, like, say, the lower circles. Kelara, Seeley, and others from the fourth circle and above, well… you got a bit more. Enough to work with and make your own spell. You’d need a lot of spare time for that, though, which Kelara has had, since she’s been here with me,” Death explained. “She’s had time to push herself and explore.”
“We didn’t tell you because we weren’t sure it would work,” Kelara said, finishing her light-coloring work on the rune seal. “This is my first attempt, mind you.”
“I still don’t understand how the seals work, exactly,” I replied.
“No one really does.” Death sighed. “They are modified versions, made by the Spirit Bender. He took his time and learned some new tricks while he was plotting my professional demise.”
“Oh, so we’re not even dealing with the classic Thousand Seals,” I concluded.
“Bingo,” Nightmare said, grinning. “How’s it going, Kelara? Think we can drop it down to 998 seals before the turn of this century?”
Kelara was shaking, the spell draining her of every wisp of energy left in her Reaper body, but she didn’t give up. I had to admit, I respected her even more for what she was doing. She grunted as she scratched through the glowing rune with the tip of her scythe. As soon as the blade found clean skin again, a faint pulse erupted from Death—faint, yet powerful enough to knock Kelara back.
She landed on her hind, gritting her teeth. “Damn.”
“You did it!” Death exclaimed, breathing deeply. “I feel a tad lighter already!”
“Wow, you make it sound like the Atkins diet,” Dream muttered.
“I did it!” Kelara gasped. “Finally!”
“Yay! 998 to go! Pop the champagne, will ya?!” Nightmare sneered.
Death laughed lightly, shifting her attention to me. “Good. Now that that’s out of the way, tell me, Seeley, what news do you bring from The Shade?”
She sounded as though she’d just finished a waxing session at the local spa. Death baffled me beyond belief sometimes, but I’d learned not to dwell much on her moods and temperament. She was an entity beyond my full understanding, and I’d had to get used to it.
“Derek and Sofia have put together a small mission for Visio,” I said.
Kelara was still in awe of what she’d just accomplished, her smile bursting with sheer satisfaction. “I totally did it,” she mumbled, mostly to herself.
“They’re going after the source for the day-walking protein,” I added, noticing Death’s expression light up. I was giving her excellent news, it seemed, though I wasn’t yet sure what it all meant, in the grand scheme of things.
“Oh, Seeley, this is great,” Death replied, glancing to the side for a moment.
The wheels in her cosmic head were turning, and I would’ve given anything to be able to hear her thoughts. What drove her? What did she want from these people? What purpose did that protein serve for Death, and why did she need me out there, shadowing Nethissis and her team?
Whatever her next directive would be, I was determined not to go until she answered my questions. I deserved that much, after all the errands I’d run for her thus far.
Kelara
This was going to take forever.
I’d spent the past month tapping into potential I hadn’t even known I had, thanks to Death shedding some light on several aspects of Reaperhood, including the one she’d just explained to Seeley, about her energy being in all of us. It had not been easy, but once I’d become aware of it, I’d actually been able to harness this power, to create this new spell.
She’d said that I was quite proficient, since I’d been able to concoct something so complicated on my very first try. Naturally, I felt encouraged to do more, to try more, to go all the way to my limit, wherever that was.
At first, I’d started out with some brief meditation exercises, just something to put me in touch with my inner self. It had sounded like a yoga session, until I’d felt it snap inside me… the power surging, itching to be let out. From there to crafting a spell that would break one of Spirit’s seals had only been one additional step. I’d let my hand and my scythe do most of the work, focusing on the seal’s structure.
Reaper magic was funny that way, keeping its secrets close until one of us poked it hard enough to make it react. Nevertheless, it was better than nothing. I’d accomplished something incredible today, after months of trying all sorts of previously made death spells, courtesy of Dream and Nightmare, all of which had failed. I’d have thought the Reaper twins would’ve brought some big-league mojo into the game, but nothing they’d conjured had managed to resolve our problem.
We’d finally broken the first seal since Silence, and we had 998 more to go. My only hope was that they wouldn’t all be as iffy as this one. Seeing Seeley back had done a decent job of upping my morale, though. Not that he was very good at being encouraging, but I did get a kick out of impressing one of my peers.
“You must stay with them,” Death said to him, referring to Derek and Sofia. “Go with them to Visio and tell me what you find there.”
“Okay, I’m going to need a little bit more to go on,” Seeley replied.
It didn’t sit well with Death. “Are you ques
tioning me?”
“Uh-oh,” Nightmare mumbled. Dream nudged him in the ribs, hard enough to shut him up.
“No. I simply want to know what it is I’m doing chasing these people around,” Seeley said. “I could be here with you, helping the seal-breaking operation move faster. Or out with Soul and the others, looking for the remaining First Tenners. It feels like I’m missing important information, and I’d very much appreciate it if you could enlighten me. That’s all.”
Death thought about it for a moment. She certainly didn’t like anyone doubting her. However, given her current condition, maybe it was time she put more trust in Reapers like Seeley. He’d served her, flawlessly, for more than a thousand years. I would’ve trusted him with my life and my afterlife.
“Seeley, I wouldn’t send you out with them if it wasn’t important,” Death finally said. “Chances are their trip for this protein will yield more than just the possibility to walk in the sun again. It could very well get us closer to breaking these seals within days, rather than centuries or millennia.”
Dream and Nightmare’s heads twisted so fast, I worried they might’ve snapped their necks as they turned to gawk at her in disbelief. “What in the world are you talking about?!” Nightmare croaked.
“I only have more questions now,” Seeley said, unwilling to let go. Death was definitely holding back. Even I could tell.
”I need you to trust me. I would tell you more, but I’m not sure whether I’m right or wrong on this, which is why you must stay close to them and report back to me as often as you can,” Death explained, sounding rather frustrated. “Please, Seeley. Just trust me. I’m asking you to do this for all of us, not just for me.”
Seeley exhaled, understandably exasperated. “I have never doubted you. Never. And I have always done what you asked of me, without hesitation or opposition. But I’ve gone out on a limb one too many times, and I’m honestly tired of getting myself in trouble without knowing why. Because, let’s face it, we all know this isn’t going to be a tame ride. Nothing that involves GASP or the Shadians is without unexpected twists. That much we’ve learned, just from the Hermessi incident—not to mention their previous expeditions.”
“Like I said, your mission might get us closer to breaking the seals faster,” Death said. “It’s only a hunch. And I will get into the specifics of it all once you tell me what you find there… wherever ‘there’ is.”
“You know, we actually share Seeley’s frustration here,” Dream replied. “It wouldn’t kill you to tell us more.”
“You might find that telling the whole truth for once is actually quite liberating,” Nightmare added.
“I’m not telling you more until I understand what is at the source of that day-walking protein. Period,” Death replied dryly.
Seeley nodded once. “Okay. But I promise you, this is the last time I’m going in blind. I’ll stay close to Derek and Sofia. I’ll investigate and let you know what I find. But when this is all over, if you still keep secrets from me, secrets that might get me or others hurt in the process, I swear I’m done with all of this. I’ll go back to reaping people and not giving a crap about what you or the upper circles are up to.”
“So, you’re leaving the search for the First Tenners to Soul and his crew, then?” I asked, changing the subject. “The Unending, the Night Bringer and the Morning Star are still out there, and we’ve yet to learn anything new about them.”
“Also, why won’t you tell us the reason for wanting us all back here together again?” Dream asked. We’d tried asking before, but Death had kept quiet about it. Whatever the motive, it had to be big enough to warrant all the remaining First Tenners.
Death nodded, her galaxy eyes twinkling a little brighter. “Soul is due to return with updates soon. He promised he’d have something for me by the third full moon. We’re reaching it shortly on Aledras, aren’t we?”
We all gazed up at the twilight sky, a white pearl rising in the growing darkness. “Indeed, we are,” Dream said.
“As for the reason why, I doubt you need it right now. I’d rather keep you all on your toes. Your curiosity is rather irksome.” Death sighed, then glanced up. That was the end of this particular conversation again. She definitely wasn’t ready to talk just yet.
“I cannot wait to see Unending again,” she murmured, appearing to almost forget that we could hear her as she stared at the night above.
“Can I say something?” I interjected, my legs still too weak for me to get up. It was impressive that I was still conscious, though my eyelids were getting droopy. Death gave me a curious glance. “You speak of Unending with… love, if I’m not mistaken. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I know you love us all and so on, but I’ve noticed you tend to light up whenever you hear her name, in particular. Why is that? What makes her special?”
Death let a deep sigh roll out of her chest, as if eons of solitude and sadness were tumbling out. I’d clearly struck a chord. “She was my first. My very first,” Death said. “In a way, she’s like my first child. You never forget or stop loving your first, do you?”
“It’s always been like this,” Dream replied, staring at the water in the ice hole. There was a tinge of jealousy in her voice. I figured they were more like siblings, after all. They all yearned for their mother’s full and undivided attention. “I often resented Unending for it. She was the coldest to Death, yet she’s the one Death loves most.”
“I love you all,” Death said, looking somewhat guilty, even pained to have to defend herself like this. I kind of felt sorry for her.
“No need to go there,” Nightmare replied, smiling. “It’s okay. We didn’t like it at first, but we got used to it. We love you nonetheless, and we’ll never hold it against you.”
Dream mirrored her brother’s expression. “To be fair, I miss that stuck-up bitch, too.”
“Lots of love in this family,” Seeley replied, heavily amused.
“Yeah, they’re complicated,” I said, rubbing my face.
“I’m being gratuitously mean, and I don’t regret it,” Dream confessed. “Unending is a lot like us, but there’s also a goodness inside her. Something none of us ever had.”
“I doubt it had anything to do with how Death made us,” Nightmare mused.
Dream shook her head. “No. It was strictly character. Thing is, Unending’s powers made it difficult for her to settle anywhere after we were released from our duties. It made her often sullen.”
“Yeah, she had her dark days,” Nightmare replied.
“What powers are we talking about?” I asked, drawing scowls from the nightmarish twins.
“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” Dream retorted. It wasn’t an answer, but I doubted I’d get more out of them, anytime soon.
Love glimmered in the cosmic darkness of Death’s eyes as her lips stretched into a warm smile. “Yes. She is gifted, and she is powerful. She knows more than most of the Reapers put together, including her siblings.” Her demeanor turned back to business mode as she resumed her focus on Seeley. “Anyway… Don’t forget, Seeley. I need all the details you can spare about Visio. What kind of people live there, what they’re like. Everything.”
Seeley nodded once. “I’ll tell you everything I see and learn there. But keep in mind that I expect more information from you the next time we speak.”
“Hold on,” I said, frowning at Death. “How come you don’t already know anything about Visio and its people?”
“Last time I was out there, humanoid-like creatures inhabited that world. This was more than five million years ago. Not sure you remember, but Thieron’s absence sort of messed with my omniscience.” Death’s tone was dry.
My cheeks were hot. I’d learned a lot since I’d been around Death—about her quirks and limitations. About the entire hierarchy of the Reaper circles, particularly the First Tenners. But I was still eager to learn more about their respective powers, and how they all fit into the grand plan of creation and existence, across its many
planes and dimensions.
For now, however, it seemed like it was back to work. I would’ve loved to get out there with Seeley for a change of scenery. But I also looked forward to freeing Death from these seals. She looked so weak, so not herself. I wanted her free, back at full strength, wielding Thieron once more and restoring the order which Spirit and Brendel had so recklessly disturbed.
Derek
The shuttle was just about ready to leave, with Dmitri doing one last sweep and check of its systems and our supplies. I appreciated his thoroughness. He and Douma had wanted to come along, but they’d understood that we wanted to keep this mission small and effective.
I could not contain my smile anymore. This was an adventure we were embarking on, and however it would turn out, it would be a step farther away from our Hermessi horror. And that, I found exciting.
It was a little before noon, though we could only tell by our watches and not by the sky. The moon shone beautifully over The Shade, the wind rushing through the tree crowns. The scent of acacias blooming traveled toward the beach, filling my lungs with delicate sweetness. Even if we did find a day-walking cure for all vampires, I was sure we’d all feel conflicted about doing away with The Shade’s night. It was such an integral part of the place, threaded through the very heart of its history and our memories. Maybe we’d keep half of the island permanently in shade, just for nostalgia.
Either way, first things first. Don’t count your chickens, and all…
Esme and Tristan carried their backpacks inside the shuttle, then came back out and hugged their parents. Amal spent a few more minutes with Amane and Ridan. I could tell that Amane was on edge about this. Sisterly love was a wonderful thing to witness. Vivienne and Xavier had visited us the night before, and Vivienne had given me plenty of hugs and words of wisdom—not that I’d needed any, in particular, but what kind of brother would I have been, had I not let her tell me what was on her mind or in her heart?
A Shade of Vampire 78: An Origin of Vampires Page 5
