“Let the boy out so that his shard can be used to complete the Spirit Bender,” Corbin shouted, “and I promise you all a quick and painless death. It’s time to return Visio to normal. It’s time to restore the empire and its immutable forces!”
“Oh, and while you’re at it, bring Valaine out, as well,” Spirit said. “Those of you who bring her out for me will get to live. I think that’s a pretty generous offer, considering what I’ve learned about you all over this past hour. Frankly, I am disappointed to hear there are still Aeternae among you who are foolish enough to think they can override my seals or my rulings.”
“He talks a lot, doesn’t he?” Trev muttered.
“Spirit always loved the sound of his own voice,” Time replied dryly.
“That aside, he’s the supreme adversary. What the hell are we to do?” Hunter asked. “He’s come back sooner than we anticipated. Dammit, he wasn’t supposed to come back at all!”
Time exhaled sharply, closing his eyes for a moment. “This is what we know from Danika—specifically from what she told him during his captivity. This is a copy of the Spirit Bender. This means that the Reaper before us is not the Spirit Bender who almost succeeded with his Hermessi revolution. He almost certainly lacks the memories of the past four to five million years and doesn’t have the experience of the Spirit Bender who managed to have Death’s scythe stolen.”
That meant that our enemy lacked some crucial knowledge—stuff we hadn’t told Corbin about, or Danika, or any of the other upper-echelon Aeternae who’d turned out to be Darklings. I didn’t want this to be the end of the road, though I had to admit that the Spirit Bender at our gates did not bode well for us.
But Time was right. We couldn’t give up. Not yet. As long as Unending was with us, we still had a shot, no matter how slight and fragile.
Soul was the first to stand against the currents of adversity. “I’m not letting these scoundrels win. I will burn this whole planet down before I give Spirit the chance to wreak havoc again.” He paused to glance at Kelara, who gave him a feeble but warm smile. “He’s done enough damage, both directly and by proxy. This ends here.”
“It’s time,” the Night Bringer said, giving Time a stern look. “We all know what Death said. This is it. This is his moment.”
“Yeah, why don’t you go ahead and ask Death about that, huh?” Soul replied, still miffed. It was confusing even for his fellow First Tenners.
I felt like I’d been left out of the loop here. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re not going to like this,” Seeley grumbled, hands sliding into his pants pockets as he pursed his lips and stared at his shoes.
“Death’s permission. You’re right,” Time said, a devilish smile dancing across his lips. “You’re absolutely right, dear brother. We still have one weapon we haven’t tried yet.”
“What is he talking about?” I asked Seeley, well aware of my repetition. I would ask a thousand times if that’s what it took for someone to answer me.
“For what it’s worth, we wanted to tell you,” Sidyan interjected, giving Lumi an apologetic look. “We were under strict orders to keep quiet and not allow him to reveal himself unless we came face-to-face with the Spirit Bender himself.”
“Right, now he gets to show his face,” Soul muttered, and Widow gave him a nudge.
“Cut it out. What’s wrong with you?” he asked, and Soul shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter. Okay, so, do we have permission from Death or not?” he replied, looking at his brothers and sisters.
I groaned with frustration. “Come on, out with it already.”
“They’re talking about me.” A familiar voice echoed around us. Seconds later, Taeral appeared in the middle of our group holding Death’s scythe, Thieron, in his hand. My breath left me. My heart stopped.
What was going on?
Soul
“I’m giving you fifteen minutes!” the Spirit Bender shrieked from the southern gates. “Fifteen minutes to come out with Thayen and Unending before I start tearing Roano down piece by piece, pebble by pebble, until there’s nothing left but blood and dirt!”
I hated him. I had never liked him much to begin with—his whining about having to be a Reaper and his inability to move on and accept his fate had made him downright unbearable as a colleague and as a companion. The Spirit Bender had never been easy to be around, but I’d never thought he’d stoop to such foolish levels. I doubted I would ever forgive Death for being so generous with him in terms of words and sub-words, but it was too late to change that now. The damage had been done. Besides, I was already mad at her for plenty of other reasons, but at least she’d finally allowed Taeral to reveal himself. I wasn’t sure what her angle was at this point, given Taeral’s earlier disclosures. All I could do was hope they’d work out in our favor. I couldn’t even tell the others about the previous conversation I’d had with the Fire Star prince, which made my anger about his revelation somewhat… misplaced. It didn’t matter. He was out. What came next was more important.
Kelara was battling ghoulishness, and I was wracked with guilt and helplessness. The Darklings had come to Roano, and they were expecting us to simply surrender. Hell no. I hadn’t spent millions of years locked away inside Zetos for the Spirit Bender to come along and ruin my newfound freedom. No. A thousand times no. And I’d be damned if the Darklings would get to lay a hand on any of these people. Not Thayen, not Unending, and certainly not Kelara.
“Taeral, what are you doing here?” Esme blurted, unable to believe her own eyes.
“I’m sorry,” the fae prince said with a sigh. “I had no choice. I was under strict orders not to interfere unless absolutely necessary. ‘Necessary’ meaning needing to deal with the Spirit Bender directly. Orders kept changing, but I guess an encounter with the Spirit Bender became the tight limit for my involvement. It’s complicated. Let’s just leave it at this, for now…”
Poor kid was conflicted and trying not to lie to his people. I felt sorry for him. Lumi shot forward and gave him a not-so-gentle shove. “You’ve been here this whole time?”
“It’s not his fault. We enforced the secrecy, as well,” Sidyan replied. It was all Lumi needed to turn around and slap him hard across the face. I liked the swamp witches. They had spunk in them. And Sidyan had a thing for Lumi, though he’d worked hard not to show it. It was about time she put her boot down his throat. Someone had to wear the pants in that relationship.
Nethissis chuckled, but her humor faded quickly when Lumi shifted her focus to her. “Uh-oh,” Nethissis murmured. “Lumi, I promise I would’ve said something. They swore me to—”
“Secrecy! Yes! All of you undead peeps were sworn to secrecy!” Lumi snapped. “Whoop-tee-friggin’-doo! What about the rest of us?” She looked at Taeral again. “We could’ve used you so many times before now! You could’ve helped Kelara, at least. Look at what Corbin did to her! She’s one soul away from becoming a ghoul, for Pete’s sake.”
“Okay, for the record, ow!” Sidyan cut in, massaging his reddened cheek. I had a feeling his own emotions were creating this effect, like a sentimental illusion. Or maybe a Word servant simply had the ability to smack a Death servant into oblivion. I’d have to ask our maker later. “Second of all, Taeral couldn’t exactly reveal himself to or get anywhere near the Master of Darkness. He’s got Thieron, Death’s scythe. Imagine if Corbin got the upper hand somehow and took Taeral down!”
“In all fairness, the Master of Darkness has made it difficult for us more experienced Reapers. Taeral is still new and armed with the most powerful weapon in existence, over which he has very little control,” Time grumbled.
“Then why can’t he just go over there and whack Spirit like he did the last time?” Ridan cut in, his brow stuck in furrowed mode.
“It’s a little more complicated,” Taeral replied. “I can explain… at some point.”
“At some point,” I said, trying hard not to lay it all out. Fortunately for Ta
eral—and myself, actually, I knew Death’s wrath and what it entailed in case of civil disobedience. Her orders were sacred.
“Taeral, I can’t believe this,” Sofia said, gasping. “And you’ve been quiet this whole time…”
“We almost died more than once,” Kailani said to him. “Where the hell were you?”
“Mostly around Roano,” Taeral replied. “I’m sorry. I’ll say it a thousand times if I have to, but Death ordered me to keep my distance. She trusted me with Thieron, the weapon you all know how hard we fought to retrieve for her, and she didn’t want me falling in the Darklings’ traps. Look at Kelara…” He paused and took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second. “Besides, I’ve got some limits on Thieron, courtesy of Death. There are fewer seals keeping her down, and she’s forcing me to do—or, better said, not to do—certain things. Like I said, it’s complicated.”
There it was. Either Death had given him the green light to tell the others about her more recent orders, or Taeral was trying to go around her directive, looking for a way to reveal his limitations. I wondered was Death was thinking about, now that Spirit was sort of back. I planned on taking Taeral and the other Reapers aside as soon as we caught a minute together—this needed further discussion and input from all the First Tenners in Roano.
“For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re here,” Hunter said, giving Taeral a wide grin. Kailani scowled at him, but the white wolf offered a shrug in return. “Hey, better late than never. If he’s revealed himself now, it means he’s going to help.”
“Let’s not dwell on what could’ve or should’ve been,” Morning interjected. “The Reapers all agreed to keep this quiet for Taeral’s safety. Well, and our own. Death’s orders are not something you’d want to break, believe me.”
“You and the Reapers kept this quiet,” Lumi said to Nethissis.
The ghost smiled meekly. “They couldn’t exactly hide him from me. I’m dead, remember? And I was there when he saved Tristan and Valaine in the tunnel. By the time Taeral tried to hide himself from me, too, I’d already spotted him. Seeley begged me to keep my mouth shut. Sorry!”
“In the tunnel?” Esme asked, her gaze darting around. “Oh… I thought I saw something back there. The bright light. Was that you, Tae?”
Taeral nodded. “It was one of my allowed interventions,” he said. “Death dispatched me with Time, Dream, and Nightmare to join your team. Under no circumstances could I intervene or reveal myself, unless the situation absolutely demanded it. Sadly, those directives were recently… tweaked, and I have a hard time understanding why. But so far, you’ve all done a stellar job considering the circumstances and your limitations. To be honest, my knowledge of death magic is flimsy, at best. Death has been teaching me spells, but believe me, the only reason I got to tag along was basically to use Thieron against the Spirit Bender himself.”
“Then why can’t you use it against Spirit now?” Esme asked, still confused.
“The directive was tweaked,” I muttered, repeating Taeral’s previous statement.
“And he can’t do squat?” Esme replied, her blood likely boiling.
“I’m not sure. Waiting for her to tell me. Telepathically,” Taeral said.
Esme rolled her eyes. “Oh, for… gah! This doesn’t make sense.”
“Yeah, I feel you,” I sighed.
“Let’s take a few deep breaths,” Derek advised. “I’m sure Tae would like to tell us everything he knows. Clearly, and judging by the constipated look on his face, he’s still limited with his disclosure.”
That didn’t sit well with any of us, but considering Death’s inability to tell us anything from the very beginning and her penchant for secrecy, this wasn’t exactly the greatest shock of all. A few moments passed in awkward silence while Kailani discreetly explained a few things about Taeral to Mira, Kemi, and the other Seniors. Derek chuckled softly and gave Taeral a friendly pat on the back.
“At least you’re here now. We’ll take any help we can get.”
“You’re not forgiven, though,” Lumi insisted, pointing an angry finger at the fae prince. “But worry not, Taeral. You’ll make it up to us someday.”
“Gladly, I promise,” Taeral said. “And yes, I’m here now, and I will do my best to help with what Death allows. It sucks, I know, and I’m sure we’ll all get the answers we deserve, but until then, this is all I’ve got. I couldn’t assist Kelara because of Corbin, and I was nowhere near Kalla when Arya did what she did. I couldn’t exactly follow each of you around, so I kept a relative distance, consulting with Death and learning some smaller attack and defense spells. Then something happened, and she told me to let this issue with Spirit follow its natural course...”
“Nothing natural about it, if you ask me, but okay,” I replied.
“You stopped Unending’s darkness in the tunnel,” Ansel said to Taeral. “You saved us. Our brother, too… right?”
Taeral smiled. “I did my best. I regret I wasn’t able to stop the progression of the Black Fever, too, but if we set Unending free, we’ll have a shot at saving Kalon. I’m sure of it.”
“Okay, enough with the berating and the apologizing,” Sofia said, raising her voice. “The Spirit Bender and Corbin are out there, and they’ve given us a tight deadline. We all know what will happen if we don’t meet it. But we can’t surrender Thayen and Valaine. Tae, now that you’re with us, maybe you have an idea?”
Despite my recent irritation, I did understand why Death had insisted on secrecy regarding Taeral. The living among GASP in particular would’ve looked at Thieron as the ultimate solution, without understanding the toll that wielding the damn thing took on Taeral. The more I thought about it, I had to begrudgingly admit that there was a method to my maker’s seemingly insane decisions. I’d have to explain it to Taeral, as well, since she clearly hadn’t fully brought him into the loop. She probably worried he might’ve chickened out or something—wholly underestimating the Fire Star prince, which was a whole new level of foolish since he’d brought Thieron back to her, in the first place. Good grief, she’s exasperating!
Death’s most powerful weapon belonged in Death’s hands. Anyone else who used it got pieces of their soul drained, slowly but surely. The repercussions wouldn’t be dire, but the effects would eventually make their presence known—exhaustion and weakness, in particular. It would take Taeral decades of prolonged rest to pull himself back together after surrendering Thieron. He just didn’t know it yet.
As much as I’d wanted Kelara to be safe, I also understood some of Death’s motives. It irked me that she wasn’t upfront about it, but hey... Thieron could not fall into enemy hands—especially those of the Spirit Bender, who even in his copy version was still eager to make Death suffer. We all stood to lose in that scenario. I just needed to figure out, sooner rather than later, why she’d put limits on Thieron as of late. That still bothered me, and it was bound to bother the people of GASP, too.
“Death is well aware of what’s been happening, including Spirit’s unfortunate return,” Taeral said. He turned and walked over to Tristan and Valaine’s pod. “She says the only way to stop Spirit is to free Unending.”
“Good grief, we already know that!” Amal replied. I’d never seen her so restless before, though her current state of mind made sense. She’d been quietly toiling away at her projects despite the fear of potential death at the hand of Darklings, developing the day-walking cure and assisting all of GASP with her knowledge. Even with everything that had been going on, she certainly wasn’t going to let Spirit get her or anyone else killed. I liked that about Amal. She had spunk. “How do we do that if the Unending won’t even wake up?”
“I described the glowing symptoms to Death earlier,” Taeral said. “Apparently, Valaine and Tristan are stuck in a subconscious limbo. I have to wake them up.”
“Won’t that spoil the progress they might have made?” Derek asked. Taeral shook his head.
“No. The glow means that Unending is already
awake, but she’s having trouble getting back to the surface,” he said. “I need you to get Tristan and Valaine out of the pod.”
Without hesitation, Time and I opened the pod and brought the star-crossed couple out of their slumbering abode. I hated the thought of all the suffering that Unending had been put through. I was a grade-A sociopath, but even I wouldn’t have done this to her. She’d done no wrong in her existence. Her only fault had been that she’d fallen in love. For that, fate had cast all kinds of shade upon Unending.
Taeral knelt between them on the ground. Their skin glowed white, but they looked peaceful, deeply submerged in a magical sleep. He whispered a spell into Thieron’s blade, and shivers ran down my spine. Even though I’d been separated from Zetos, I could still sense its tingling whenever a spell activated it. He pressed it against Tristan, then Valaine’s forehead, and the glow began to subside.
“Hopefully, once they’re awake, we’ll be able to confirm Death’s theory that Unending is already conscious,” Taeral said.
Behind us, the Darkling and Aeternae crowd roared, the soldiers thudding their armored boots onto the hard ground. It was a battle cry, and it had a chilling effect on the rest of us. They were itching for a fight, while we were struggling to get one step ahead of them. For once. With Death still poking us in all the wrong places, even though we were doing all of this for her, too. The war had only just begun, and the Spirit Bender smiled, as if knowing the odds would be in his favor.
But was the universe really so screwed up? I doubted it.
Tristan
Somehow, I’d ended up in a strange place.
It was dark and filled with Aeternae women. They were all at different stages of pregnancy, their baby bumps glowing red, like stars in the night sky. I must’ve walked for hours, making my way in no specific direction.
A Shade of Vampire 85: A Shard of Soul Page 28
