A Shade of Vampire 73: A Search for Death

by Forrest, Bella

  It all came to a sudden halt, as Fallon-Kabbah breathed out, wearing a satisfied grin. “I must say, there’s nothing more insulting than a foreign Earth Hermessi trotting into my world like he owns it.”

  “Holy crap,” Varga gasped, still holding me close.

  “That was quite a pulse,” Lumi complimented Kabbah, genuinely astonished. “I could feel it rippling across time and space.”

  I didn’t need anyone to tell me that. I’d felt it. It had sent a powerful message to the elementals who had come after us just now. Kabbah had stopped everything, and, judging by his heavy breathing, it had taken quite an effort to pull it off.

  “Meh, they’ll be back at some point,” Fallon-Kabbah replied and looked at me. “I wanted to thank you, little Lamia hybrid.”

  “What? Me? Why?” I blurted, uncomfortable at having his full attention.

  “Your harsh words back in the Volcrum Caves,” he said, smiling still. “They hit the right spot.”

  “I’m confused,” Nethissis murmured, watching me with sisterly concern.

  “You were right,” Fallon-Kabbah continued. “I can do so much more. Therefore, here I am.” He chuckled, his arms stretched outward.

  “Thank you,” I said. “We are forever in your debt.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Herakles grumbled, scowling at Fallon-Kabbah. “Why can’t you just come talk to us without possessing Fallon? I don’t get it. It’s messing with him.”

  Fallon-Kabbah scoffed. “He’s a good conduit. I wouldn’t have been able to pull that dazzling number just now, had it not been for his strong, hybrid body. So zip it,” he said and shifted his focus back to me. “We don’t have time to dilly-dally, Eva. As we speak, Brendel is being advised by my virulent reaction to her lieutenants’ invasion of Nevertide. This puts my daughter at risk, so I need you all to move fast once we’re done with this conversation.”

  Without a second to waste, we all nodded in agreement.

  “What do you suggest?” I asked.

  “Well, first of all, cover your asses,” he said, producing a fresh bouquet of Devil’s Weed from behind him. He tossed it over to us. Acantha caught it and distributed the sprigs evenly among us. “Brendel pulled a fast one on you between worlds, and you didn’t even see it.”

  “That was a crappy magic trick,” Varga muttered.

  “Brendel has bested many people, young vampire-sentry. Do not feel ashamed,” Fallon-Kabbah replied. “Making things disappear is just one of her many skills, when she’s in good shape. Which, I’m afraid, is the case. Her influence is growing. And that brings us to the next topic of our meeting. Word has it—and word travels fast among the Hermessi—that you met with Death and got yourselves a mission.”

  I smiled. “You didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who listens to gossip.”

  Admittedly, I did enjoy yanking his chain, even with the risks such lines implied. He seemed to like it, too. We’d established a strange rapport where, despite the constant possibility of him snapping me in half if I pissed him off, he still allowed me to poke and prod him. An anti-friendship, of sorts.

  “You’ve been lucky so far,” Fallon-Kabbah said. “But now it’s time to be smart. I did some digging while you were away, and I figured out a few things. You know, the old-fashioned putting of two and two together. I believe you’ve been acquainted with a concept of Thieron, so far?”

  “We were told about it, yes,” Taeral replied. “Finding it is our objective. Death needs it to stop Brendel and her Hermessi.”

  Fallon-Kabbah nodded. “Indeed she does. But she doesn’t know where its pieces are. The thing is, you brave little things, if you find one piece, it will lead you to the next, then the third. All you need is to find the first, Eirexis.”

  “Okay, that sounds fantastic. Where, though?” I replied dryly. “Where do we even begin our search?”

  “Didn’t I just tell you that I’ve been doing some digging?” Fallon-Kabbah sneered at me. “You impatient, dazzling creature, you.”

  I couldn’t help but feel flattered. The Earth Hermessi of Nevertide sure knew how to surprise and compliment me, despite his biting snark and evasive demeanor.

  “I take it you know where Eirexis is?” I asked innocently.

  “It’s been on Cerix for at least four million years, since Thieron was snatched from Death’s hands,” Fallon-Kabbah replied.

  Eira sucked in a breath. “Whoa.”

  “On Cerix?” I repeated, stunned by the revelation.

  Was this the universe playing a trick on us? How could all the roads lead back to Cerix like this? We had a history with that place, and we’d only been there for a few days. We’d taken Eira away from it to keep her safe. We’d lost Inalia to it. And now, we were expected to just… go back?

  Then again, what choice did we have?

  The worlds that we knew and loved, along with the many others we had yet to discover, depended on us to do this, to find Eirexis, then the rest of that damned scythe, so Death could do her part in stopping the apocalypse. So, yes, if our journey was to take us to Cerix next, we had to go, regardless of the risks.

  Taeral

  Returning to Cerix was incredibly dangerous. Even Inalia couldn’t help us once we got there. Eira would be in danger, too, since Brendel had made a habit of abducting Hermessi children and keeping them hostage to force their parents into submission. Acquis’s intervention was out of the question, because of that. Eira had left Cerix for that precise reason, so as not to put her father at risk, so he could continue to do his secret work against the others.

  But it seemed as though we had no other choice.

  “Do you know where, on Cerix, exactly?” I asked Kabbah.

  He shook his head and narrowed his eyes at my scythe. “That pig-sticker might come in handy. Just pay attention.”

  “Thank you,” Lumi said. “Kabbah, your support is incommensurable.”

  Fallon-Kabbah shrugged, wearing a sheepish smile. “Least I could do. Not much else to expect from me, for now, though. I’ll have my hands full with Brendel in no time.”

  “Good luck with that. Now, let Fallon go already,” Lumi snapped.

  Kabbah chuckled softly. A split second later he was gone. Fallon exhaled sharply, his skin recovering its pearlescent shimmer as he gripped his own throat, coughing and catching his breath. “He really needs to stop doing this.”

  Varga hugged his parents and asked the guards to take them to their safe spot. “The palace should be off limits until we resolve this,” he said. “The Hermessi have become far too brazen, even on Nevertide.”

  “You be safe, my son,” his dad replied.

  “I will do my best. I promise.” Varga smiled.

  Amelia notified Rose of our impending arrival as we made our way out of the throne room and into the portal chamber. It was barely standing, parts of the ceiling and the roof above already collapsed, revealing a starry night sky. But the portal was there, seemingly unbreakable by the wrath of the ritual-obsessed Hermessi.

  We bid our farewells to Ash and Ruby, watching them leave in the company of their sentry guards. There were underground tunnels connecting the palace to various locations across the empire, including a safe bunker where the emperor and his family would be housed, in case of emergency. This certainly qualified as that.

  “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” I said as we stopped in front of the portal, its mist dark and gray.

  Lumi prepared the coordinates for The Shade and completed the portal’s activation, while the rest of us watched her, lost in our thoughts. We were exhausted but pumped up, unwilling to let go, determined to keep fighting until we found our way out.

  “You heard Kabbah. The Hermessi’s strength is growing,” Amelia replied. “Time is not on our side.”

  “But it’s not too late. We have a location for Eirexis. It’s a lot more than what we got from Death,” I said, frowning.

  “We don’t know what we’re walking back into,” Raphael chimed in. “Ce
rix could be hostile by now, for all we know. Emperor Tulla is a great guy, sure, but… if the Hermessi are running the show there, what are the odds we’ll have it smooth once we get there?”

  “Minimal to none,” Eira replied. “But it needs to be done. I’m okay with it. You have my full support, as always.”

  Looking at her, I once again realized how amazing she was. No matter what the universe threw at her, she kept a clear head and muddled through. Shills? Not a problem. Titans? Meh. Even as the Hermessi had come after us, she’d pushed through. Hell, during our conversation with Death, she’d been firm and, despite her fear, unabashed.

  We were headed down a dangerous rabbit hole, the kind from which it was possible that none of us would emerge victorious, but even so, it was a path that had to be pursued.

  The portal’s mist changed its color, from dark gray to deep blue, and Lumi turned around to face us. “Nothing ahead of us is going to be easy or harmless. We’re in for a world of pain, and it may be that not all of us will make it back to tell the story,” she said. “But it beats dying on our knees, at the mercy of these elemental sons of bitches. So, unless you’ve got something better to do, it would be my honor if you all joined me back in The Shade, where we can regroup and prepare for Cerix.”

  “I think I speak for all of us when I say that we’re in.” Raphael chuckled.

  Indeed, we were fully dedicated to this mission. I took Eira’s hand in mine as we stepped through the portal, following Lumi to Earth. And as the world warped around us, the witches’ wormhole taking us across dimensions and back into The Shade, I knew for a fact that I’d surrounded myself with the most extraordinary creatures. I was proud to serve with them, and I was eager to save the world with them.

  Eira squeezed my hand and gave me a delicate, soft smile, and, in that moment, something sparked inside of me. Something changed, ever so slightly, and it put everything into a different perspective. I wasn’t doing this just for myself or my parents or my friends, or even purely for the noble sake of keeping millions of worlds alive.

  No, I was doing this for Eira, because she deserved a life of her own, free of the Hermessi’s threat and away from the death and destruction that the ritual would’ve brought into her life. One way or another, Eira wasn’t going to die on this quest—if the Hermessi wouldn’t have allowed it because she was a Water heir to Cerix, Death had permanently stamped her until she found Thieron for her.

  Whatever the end, Eira would live through it. So, I wanted her to live through the closest we would ever get to a happy ending: an averted ritual, a pleased Death, and at least three dimensions of the universe saved. Later, perhaps, I’d ask her out… It was a future worth fighting for.

  Seeley

  I didn’t even need to reveal myself to ask Phoenix for his help. His astral map had been carefully laid out across three screens, complete with coordinates for Mortis. I felt somewhat insulted, knowing that a living creature had learned about Death’s location before me. However, I took comfort in the fact that I wasn’t the only Reaper she’d kept in the dark about it.

  She’d passed messages to me through other Reapers, and I’d spoken to her throughout most of my existence, telepathically. I’d known there was something wrong with her, that something had happened during the previous Hermessi ritual, but she’d always avoided the subject with me. I’d learned to be grateful for the little attention that she gave me. She didn’t even speak to most of my colleagues. It had always made me feel a tad special.

  Standing in Phoenix’s room and staring at the astral map, I realized that I finally had a way of reaching her. I could go there and see her, in person, like I’d wanted from the day I’d died, from the moment I’d been made aware of her existence.

  In the background, conversations thrived. The Daughters, Viola, and Phoenix were gleefully discussing the possibilities that had arisen from the revelations about Thieron, Death’s scythe. I, on the other hand, couldn’t avoid the tinge of bitterness that had settled in the back of my throat. Death had never told me that she’d lost Thieron. There had been rumors, of course, but not much else in my rank.

  With Reapers spread across nine circles of command, information was usually carefully dispatched according to our levels of clearance. I’d made it into the sixth circle, but only the first, second, and third circles were privy to all the juicy details that had only come to me in the form of measly rumors. Well, this was my chance to confirm a few things.

  It took me a while to gather the courage to leave Phoenix’s computer room. I’d talked a big game in front of Vesta, and I wasn’t one to scare easily—not usually. But I had to admit, the thought of walking up to Death and confronting her did make my insides churn.

  “They’re on their way to The Shade,” Viola said after a brief conversation with Amelia through their soul connection. I was still amazed, to this day, at how the Druids had once managed to reproduce a form of communication that had been created solely for Reapers. Telluris was, in fact, the way in which we were all connected in this realm between life and death, though we didn’t need a spell. All we had to do was think about the Reaper we wanted to reach, and swoosh—the channel was open.

  “Are they okay?” Phoenix asked.

  “A bit roughed up, but yeah. The Hermessi are scary powerful now,” Viola replied, understandably worried. I couldn’t blame her. I hadn’t had many encounters with the Hermessi, myself, but I knew they could be as evil as they were kind and nurturing. Fanaticism had this way of shifting characters, of making all kinds of entities lose sight of who they really were.

  I had a lot of questions for Death, and her complicated relationship with the Hermessi was certainly at the center of my attention. There were a lot of things I’d yet to understand, things that only she could clarify.

  “They know where Eirexis is,” Viola added.

  I was floored. Again, the living knew more than me. It was infuriating!

  No longer willing to listen to how Death had revealed more to the likes of Taeral than to me, the one she’d often referred to as her favorite agent, I allowed myself to slip across time and space, following the astral map I’d just memorized from Phoenix’s screens.

  I treaded the stars, careful and quiet, as I put my thoughts in order. I braced myself for the moment I’d meet her, making sure I displayed the appropriate demeanor. Death must not be insulted or upset, but the questions I had were bound to do just that.

  “At least I’ll find out if I’m really her favorite or not,” I muttered to myself as I skipped across a couple galaxies, which spiraled beneath me in a whirlpool of twinkling stars and colorful solar systems.

  As soon as I set foot on Mortis, I knew I was in for a strange experience. Paper lamps lit the path ahead of me, and bamboo and aspen-like trees rose proudly around, covering most of the night sky. Insects chirped in the distance. Leaves rustled as birds jumped from one branch to the next, occasionally squawking to make their presence known.

  I made my way up the path, ignoring the many spirits that wandered through the woods. The closer I got to the waterfall palace, the more I appreciated having spent an extra five minutes reading Phoenix’s report from Amelia, in which she’d accurately described the palace from the outside. It was reassuring, but I didn’t need anyone to confirm that Death was in there.

  I could feel her inside me, my chest contracting with every step I took to reach her. The spirits around the ring-shaped pond were restless. They scowled at me and tried to hurt me—but as soon as they saw my scythe, they vanished. Not that they’d ever be able to lay a finger on me, not even if I’d still been alive. I’d once been a fearless sentry, one of the first in my species. After my experiences with original ghouls, aggressive spirits would barely get a scoff out of me.

  When I reached the double gilded doors, my throat closed up for a moment. It was incredible… Death’s presence was so powerful, so intense. Impossible to describe, yet never to be forgotten. There was a warm sense of familiarity about it,
as if I was simply on my way to visit my favorite sister. I already loved being here, so close to my origin as a Reaper… to my maker.

  The doors opened before me, and I stilled.

  She was waiting for me. I knew it. And I had a lot to talk to her about. I hated what was going on in the sanctuaries. The fae’s impending demise was unnatural and awful, and it didn’t make sense that us Reapers should stand back, when, millions of years ago, Death herself had intervened. The rules were too stiff, and as much as I’d tried to follow them, watching Vesta’s plight had pushed me over the edge. Despite my steely façade, I felt awful for her. She didn’t deserve any of this. None of them did.

  “Come in…” a whispering voice beckoned me.

  How could I say no?

  I moved up the hallway, passing by the many rooms which Death had occupied with spirits. I recognized some of them—they all carried the mark, a small black spiral on the side of their necks. The sign proving that Death had reaped these people, personally. I’d come across them over the years. I’d reaped their sons and daughters, on more than one occasion. And to think my path had almost crossed Death’s on such occasions.

  I wondered why she kept them here, but it didn’t take long for me to connect the dots. Those I recognized had been visionaries and cultural icons of their time. Interesting creatures with extraordinary experiences to share—and if there was one thing I knew about Death, it was the fact that she simply adored stories. We’d spent hours weaving them to one another during my first century as a Reaper. It had been a way for us to bond, and our telepathic sessions had grown shorter over the years, but still, to this day, she couldn’t get enough of the experiences and tales I gathered from the world of the living.

  Four Hermessi stood guard outside her doors, and I knew one of them had betrayed Taeral and his crew, according to Viola. I scowled at them. “You should be ashamed of yourselves,” I said bluntly.