A shade of vampire 72 a.., p.20
A Shade of Vampire 72: A Conspiracy of Realms, page 20
Avril rushed into the sanctuary, surprising everyone.
“Hey, you!” Mona said, eyes wide. “Didn’t know you got back to The Shade!”
“I wasn’t supposed to, but we’ve got trouble, and I needed to tell you myself, not via the comms line,” Avril replied, as Derek, Sofia, Brock, Arwen, and Kiev gathered around her. I was close enough to almost feel the angst coming from Avril—she was utterly distraught. “Something happened on multiple fronts.”
“What is it?” Derek asked, his jaw locked and tense.
“We’ve lost contact with Taeral and Varga’s crews,” Avril said.
“What do you mean you lost contact?” Sofia croaked, no longer able to hold it together. I could understand why she was coming undone. She’d held strong for days, now, and Avril was bringing the worst kind of news. “The comms aren’t working? Telluris?”
“Neither.” Avril sighed. “And we don’t know why. We knew that neither form of communication was 100 percent bulletproof, but we can’t pinpoint what the issues are this time. I’ve alerted Ash and Ruby about it, so they can send some sentries and the dragons they have on Nevertide after Varga and his team.”
“When did you last hear from them?” Brock asked, exchanging a quick glance with Kiev.
“About forty-five minutes ago, after they reached the mountain,” Avril said. “And we last spoke to Taeral while they were in that abandoned city on Hellym, approximately twenty minutes ago.”
“This doesn’t make sense,” Sofia murmured. Derek put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close in a bid to comfort her.
“That’s not all,” Avril added, increasingly uncomfortable.
My heart would’ve been in my throat, had my body not been sealed in its crystal casing. I could still experience intense emotions—some stronger than before, even. The dread was unmistakable.
“Our cult members have been rendered useless. One of the Hermessi started messing with their bodies, making us take the crystal hand-casings off—they sent us a message. Said we won’t win this, no matter what we do, and proceeded to make all the cult members suffer from the same symptoms. We had to put them all to sleep,” Avril continued.
“Hold on… what? What symptoms?” Mona blurted, eyes wide with shock. She’d helped devise the crystal casings, after all. I wondered how Corrine would react, once she got the news, too. Ugh, she’ll blow a fuse.
“The prisoners claim to be in a lot of pain, saying their hands hurt. You know we locked their hands in crystal casings to stop them from using their elemental abilities,” Avril explained. “Now, they’re developing terrible blisters underneath, but if we take the casings off, they’ll unleash their powers. They’re in agony with them on, so our only solution was to put them to sleep. They’re useless now, since we can’t interrogate them.”
“I take it you’ve had some incidents on Mount Zur, then, to reach that conclusion,” Derek replied.
Avril nodded. “With Jax and Heron. They’re both okay, and so are Safira, Shayla, and the subject they were interviewing. But the Hermessi who snuck inside her managed to tear a hole through that wing. It couldn’t do more, since it wasn’t a Calliope Hermessi, but if it was able to supercharge one fae like that, I’d hate to find out what it could do to all the others in our custody.”
“So, the Hermessi’s influence on the cult members works only when they’re awake,” Arwen concluded. “That’s still something.”
“Yeah. At least for now,” Avril said sadly. “I’m sorry I don’t have better news.”
“Harper is on a mission with Ramin. That connection of theirs is being put to good use,” Sofia said. “Maybe she’ll come back with something good.”
“Soul-walking in hostile territory? Leave it to Harper to handle the crazy.” Avril scoffed. “Please tell me she’s okay.”
“For now, yes,” Sofia replied.
I had every reason to be worried. Only, things shifted from bad to worse when I noticed Seeley’s expression. He wasn’t even paying attention to that conversation anymore. His brow furrowed, a muscle nervously ticking in his jaw, he kept surveying the sanctuary, as if looking for someone.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him.
“Nothing for you to be concerned about,” he replied bluntly.
“Screw that! My whole world is a mess! Nothing you tell me can make me feel any worse, but not telling me will! So spit it out.”
I left Avril with Derek, Sofia, and the others, turning around to face Seeley. He’d crossed his arms, too. I’d learned enough about him to know he only did that when he was stressed or under some kind of pressure. Otherwise, his hands rested casually in his pant pockets.
He exhaled sharply, giving me a cajoling frown. “Your persistence is getting on my nerves. But fine. Since you’re dying to know, I just noticed we’ve got a Reaper missing.”
“Huh?”
“A Reaper. Missing.”
“I got that!” I replied. “How is that possible? Why? Who was he or she guarding?”
“He was looking after Caia. And I didn’t even see him slip out. It seems the others didn’t see him go either, and they are equally concerned,” Seeley said.
I would’ve given anything to be able to see the other Reapers, too. Not to mention the other fae like me. But Seeley was in the foulest of moods, and for good reason, apparently. I didn’t want to piss him off further. I did fear for Caia’s safety now, without a Reaper watching over her.
“What will happen to Caia?” I asked.
“Nothing, yet,” Seeley said. “We’re here. She’s safe.”
But what about Taeral and Varga and their teams? Oh, there was so much going on at once that my very soul was burning up. If I’d still had a physical head, it would’ve been dangerously close to exploding.
So many things were happening, most of which made little to no sense.
Where will this end?
Harper
We were assigned two guarding positions on the south side of the stone temple. At least, it looked like a temple to me, with grand structural pillars sculpted into massive winged creatures and a plethora of symbols in bass relief on the cornices. Vegetation grew all over it, its vines swirling and stretching and blooming in red flowers here and there. No one had been here in a while, that much was obvious.
Inside, it was dark, but we could hear the murmurs of voices. The Fire Hermessi we’d joined on this assignment were annoyingly quiet. Ramin had tried to ask some questions, but he was repeatedly told to mind his own business and just stand guard.
A couple of hours passed in wretched silence, as I took in our surroundings. Even without my True Sight, I was able to spot other stone structures rising between several trees, approximately thirty yards to the south. Smaller buildings, most of them covered by dirt and greenery, but artificial in their design. Nothing else had survived from what appeared to be an ancient civilization long gone, but that just made me even more curious as to how they’d perished in the first place.
They’re holding the children in here, aren’t they? I asked Ramin.
Yes. I can feel Ledar’s presence.
Your son?
Yes. He’s here. I know it, Ramin replied.
I was itching to go in and find them, but I knew we had to be careful. We’d made it this far, past Brendel’s watchful eye. We couldn’t risk premature exposure, but we still had to make our way in there, eventually. However, I needed to tell Ramin the truth of what I’d already discussed with Caspian and the others, regarding his son, Ledar. You should know… I don’t think we’ll be able to get your son out of here. It would draw too much attention to what we’re doing, I inwardly said to him.
I didn’t expect to be able to walk out of here with him, regardless of what I might’ve said. I let my emotions get the better of me if I gave you that impression, Ramin replied. But I do intend to at least make sure he’s okay and warn him of what’s coming. Provided GASP finds this solar system, that is.
They had to. I’d done my best to memorize as much as I could on the way in. Every planet’s appearance and position, nearby constellations, and the galaxies we’d passed by. The one thing that irked me was that I couldn’t retrieve a soil sample. It would’ve helped to make an interplanetary spell to bring the GASP crews directly here, to Yahwen.
Ramin picked up on that thought. I cannot give you a piece of Yahwen, Harper. You cannot carry it in astral form. But I’ve collected and hidden a pebble inside my fire. I will hold it until we meet again in the physical plane.
My whole being swelled with the anticipation of that moment. However, until then, we still needed to find our way into the temple, where the Hermessi children were being held. So far, it had been quiet here. The Fire Hermessi assigned to this place were quiet and said nothing to each other, simply standing in their fiery forms at various points around the building.
Inalia was about ten yards to our left, and I figured she’d be our best way in, since, in a way, she was still a rebel at heart. Maybe… What if she’s too afraid of the backlash to help us?
Having heard my inner reasoning, Ramin decided to act on it. He quietly moved toward her, and she turned her head to watch us in our approach.
“What are you doing?” Inalia asked. “You need to maintain your position at all times. You heard the big chief earlier.”
“I just need to look inside,” Ramin said. The windows had been carved on the other sides of the temple, leaving us with no other way to peek through. And Ramin needed to speak to his son, anyway. I figured we could get away with this, if we were cautious enough.
“You’re forbidden. I’m newer than you at this and was still able to understand that,” Inalia said. I honestly felt sorry to see her like this.
“Inalia, my son is in there,” Ramin replied softly. “I just want to go in, check that he’s all right, and then I will quietly resume my post, I promise. I wish I could better explain my concern as a father, but, one day, you will have a child of your own, as tradition demands, and you, too, will understand.”
Maybe she’ll even look back on this moment and regret that she stopped you from doing your duty as a parent, I thought.
“Perhaps, when it’s your turn to be a mother, you will even look back on this moment and regret your decision to stop me from doing my duty as a parent to my future successor,” Ramin said, following my lead. “I would certainly let you see your son, if the roles were reversed.”
And he added some extra sugar, on the house, too!
Still, it didn’t seem to work. “Orders are orders.” Inalia sighed. A moment later, she turned her head to the west, her flames burning brighter than usual. “I hear some noise coming in from that side. It might be suspicious. I’ll go check. Stay here.”
She went down the few steps that elevated the temple, then farther away from us. I understood then that, while she couldn’t explicitly grant us access, she could at least pretend she’d heard something. Plausible deniability, Ramin. This is her way of helping us, because you and I both know she heard nothing out there. Let’s go!
Without hesitation, Ramin took us inside.
The temple looked even bigger, bathed in darkness. The windows were mostly covered with vines, allowing only a few solitary rays of sunshine to slip through. However, they weren’t the only source of light. Scattered across the darkness were small fires, tiny glows around which about three hundred Hermessi children gathered, in clusters of one to two dozen each. They whispered to one another, but they all stilled and turned when they noticed us in the southern doorway.
We need to be careful and quiet, I said to Ramin. You don’t want to scare them.
He walked forward, while I surveyed the hall in whatever detail I could capture. These were Hermessi children from all over the In-Between and the Supernatural Dimension—at least. They were of different species. Some I recognized straightaway as fae or jinn or witches or Druids, and so on. Others were eerie and downright surreal, in exotic shapes and sizes. Some were too tall, compared to the rest of their cluster gathered around the flames. Others were small, so small that I could easily compare them to children, even though they seemed adult in their development.
I saw big black eyes, almond-shaped green eyes, and even multiple sets of beady blue eyes per head. Hair in various shades and styles. Ears that were round or pointy. Fangs in different sets and rows, some more menacing than the others. Scales and smooth skin. Fur and horns. Claws and wings. By the stars, there were specimens here that GASP had yet to discover!
Most importantly, they were all Hermessi children, precious and rare. And one of them was Ramin’s son. He’d mentioned Ledar being a daemon hybrid, so I immediately started looking for the buffer kids, ideally with horns and red eyes to match the physiognomy of the standard daemon. From our encounters with Inalia and Eira, we knew that the children took the shape of their local host and the elemental abilities of their Hermessi fathers or mothers.
Do you see him yet? I asked Ramin.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he kept moving, slow and cautious, as all the Hermessi children’s eyes were on us. “I’m not here to hurt you,” he eventually said, his voice surprisingly soft. “I’m here to protect you, to keep you safe, like all the other Hermessi out there.”
Whispers traveled across the hall as the children seemed to exchange opinions. I couldn’t read their auras without my sentry body, but I didn’t need to in order to tell that they were all fearful and suspicious. Only a handful, gathered around one of the fires, seemed more confident and curious. They were the ones who caught my eye, especially since I recognized the curled horns and the red eyes on one of them.
I think that’s him, I thought, beckoning Ramin to follow my gaze.
“My son is here, among you. And I would like to speak to him,” Ramin continued, and nodded at his child. “Ledar.”
The daemon hybrid’s eyes grew wide. He blinked several times, a glimmer of familiarity present in his crimson irises as he stood up, slowly. “You’re… You’re my father?” he managed, his voice shaky.
“I’m sorry we’re meeting like this,” Ramin replied, gradually closing the distance between us and Ledar. “I was assigned to guard you and the other children, and I just had to come in and talk to you.”
Ledar seemed quiet, but not stunned. It was as if he’d expected this moment, somehow.
“You’re the Fire Hermessi of Neraka.” Ledar finally spoke.
“I am. And I am sorry I couldn’t be with you or near you as you grew up,” Ramin replied, and I could almost feel his angst and grief. He’d separated himself from Ledar completely in order to protect him. Yet here he was, at the mercy of the ritual Hermessi, held as leverage to get Ramin’s cooperation. “I wanted you to have a life as close to normal as possible, son. I’m aware of your fire abilities; it was only natural that you would develop them. But I have watched you grow, I know what kind of person you are… and I am so proud of you.”
Ledar’s expression softened for a moment. “This is the first time we’ve spoken to anyone other than each other since we were brought here.”
Ramin was now just inches from his side, lowering his voice so only Ledar would hear him. The rest of the daemon’s group had stayed back, keeping their distance from the Nerakian Fire Hermessi. “There is a rebellion rising among us,” Ramin whispered. “This will soon be over, and you will all be free to return to your homes, your lives, your freedoms.”
“What do you mean?” Ledar murmured.
“Allies of ours will come get you and everyone else to safety. I promise. You have no role to play in this war, and you don’t deserve to have your lives torn apart like this. Now that I’ve found you, I promise you, Ledar, you will not be a prisoner here for much longer. I will save you, my son.”
Ledar smiled gently. “What makes you think I’m a prisoner here?”
The question came so swiftly, I didn’t realize how deeply it cut until I felt the spasms of horror taking over my being and blocking me from any kind of reasonable reaction. I was frozen inside the pure fire of Ramin, who, in turn, was understandably confused.
“What… What do you mean?” he asked Ledar, who chuckled.
“What makes you think I’m being held here against my will?”
It hit me then why he and his group had not seemed frightened by Ramin’s appearance. I couldn’t speak for every Hermessi child in this place, but I was willing to bet that at least Ledar and those closest to him had crossed sides. That they were ready to serve the ritual Hermessi. To populate new worlds and to fall in line with the new order that would follow.
I didn’t need my sentry abilities to feel Ramin’s heart slowly breaking, as the realization dawned on him, too.
He’s not on your side, I said to him.
“When did they turn you?” Ramin asked.
Ledar smirked and briefly looked back at the northern entrance, beyond which other Fire Hermessi were standing guard. “We have a rebel intruder in the temple!” he shouted.
Urgency blasted through us, and Ramin took a step back. “I’m your father! Why would you do this? Why would you do this to me?!”
“Because I’ve never met you before in my life. Brendel came to me. She took me in. She gave me purpose and meaning. You, on the other hand, you just… bailed!” Ledar retorted.
Fire Hermessi entered the room, their flames burning menacingly bright. Most of the children moved away, seemingly terrified and aware of what was about to happen.
“You… You shouldn’t have done that…” Ramin managed.
I could feel him heating up, as if I’d gotten myself stuck inside a rocket about to be launched into space. Everything burned with pure, unadulterated rage and grief, and I experienced every atom of it as if it were my own.
“You should’ve remained loyal to your kind. Turns out I’m a better Hermessi than you will ever be,” Ledar said, sneering at Ramin in a way that made me want to break his neck.
