“Good. So, you guys get ready, take some time to get to know Acantha and Nethissis a little better, and I’ll meet you all back here in…” Kailani said, glancing at Ibrahim. “How long till you find Mortis?”
“A couple of hours, tops?” Phoenix replied.
Kailani nodded energetically and shifted her focus back to us, finishing her sentence. “And I’ll meet you all back here in two hours!”
That sounded like quite the plan, and I was the first out the door to implement it. Eva was second, followed by the others. My pulse was racing with a strange composition—excitement, for we would finally go where Death lived; fear, for we would finally have a chance to talk to Death, and there was no manual on how to do that without getting ourselves obliterated, in case we got on her nerves; hope, for we were, in fact, one step closer to potentially stopping the Hermessi and their end-of-days ritual… and steely determination.
For I was in no way, shape, or form ready to say goodbye to this world without at least first experiencing Eva’s touch and kiss and everything else that she had to offer. The Lamia-vampire princess was a warrior, a fighter like I had not seen in a long time. There were layers there, which I looked forward to peeling away, one at a time, until I reached the core and experienced the full intensity of her.
Behind me, Nethissis cleared her throat, as if to tell me she was still there. We walked down the hallway, headed straight for the armory, and I thought to myself… This is going to be an interesting trip.
Vesta
After having learned that Harper was on her way back to Neraka, hidden inside a ghoul, I was quite conflicted in my emotions. Zeriel was on edge, too. Not to mention Derek and Sofia, though Derek had spoken in favor of Herbert. He remembered his own encounter with the creature and had tried to assure Sofia and Zeriel that Harper would likely be okay—Herbert was still in Ibrahim’s service, and would suffer dearly if he welched on the deal.
Varga and his newly enhanced team were getting ready to go to Mortis, thanks to Herbert’s memories. Taeral and his crew were still stranded on an unknown planet, and they’d reported some strange, spirit-related activity there. I’d tried to talk to Seeley about it, but the Reaper had put the lid on his information stream. According to him, he’d already told me enough to get him in trouble if I survived this second ritual attempt.
In the meantime, my angst didn’t subside. It only grew more uncomfortable, occasionally making it difficult for me to even concentrate. How could I keep my head clear, given my circumstances? I’d been forcibly kicked out of my body, with only my life-chain tethering me to it, and its links were still blackening further. More and more fae had been brought into the sanctuaries over the past few hours, each of them like me, souls barely holding on to their flesh. I was staring death in the face, with zero intention of leaving.
Seeing Zeriel by my crystal casing was, by far, the most painful part of this experience. We loved each other deeply, in a way that, according to Seeley, made our bond unique and everlasting. Zeriel was tormented over my situation. I could see it in his eyes as he gazed at my unconscious body in what I’d begun to refer to as “my premature coffin.”
“Caia’s got five black links on her life-chain, now,” Seeley said, his voice low. He’d been doing this for the past hour, at least, sitting on top of my crystal casing, at my feet, and counting the infected links on the other souls’ life-chains. I couldn’t see them, but he would sometimes tell me the numbers. Ben had five links compromised. Grace only three, but it was only a matter of time before more would be affected. Hers had been a sporadic development—at first, just one link, then two at once.
“Either way, it’s not looking good,” I grumbled. Even so, a part of me was so enraged, so determined to live, that I couldn’t possibly accept death as an outcome. In my mind, I’d been going over ways of getting some messages across to Zeriel. He’d felt me, earlier, and that had encouraged me to think of something more concrete. After all, I wasn’t dead yet. I could still be useful.
It was only a question of finding the right method of communication. One that would allow me to tell Zeriel that not only was I still here and very much conscious, but that I also had a Reaper on my side who’d given me some pretty important information. It wasn’t as much as I would’ve wanted, but it was certainly more than what Varga and the others had.
“Your friends have Yamani’s scythe, remember?” Seeley replied. “Their odds just increased, if only by a smidge.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “How will a scythe help them against the Hermessi?”
His expression turned to stone. “I’m not at liberty to say.”
“Then don’t bother telling me,” I snapped and resumed my quiet gazing at my fiancé, the mighty Tritone king, my beloved goofball. He was smiling, his eyes moving as he took every part of me in, as if he’d never see me again.
“You’re grumpy.” Seeley sighed.
“Wouldn’t you be, if you were in my shoes?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Sorry, Vesta. I’ve distanced myself from the emotional side of things. I don’t process these situations with as much empathy as you’d like. It’s not personal.”
“It’s fine. What irks me is that you know a lot more than what you’re telling me, and I’m worried that, among these chunks of information, there is something that might help my friends when they reach Mortis,” I said. “It’s not your soulless attitude. I’ve actually gotten used to that.”
Seeley didn’t respond. Unless he’d be willing to tell me everything he knew, he’d already understood that I wasn’t interested in any excuses or additional insights into his motivations for withholding this knowledge. I only cared about results.
I focused on Zeriel instead, trying to make myself visible. I wasn’t sure how or if I’d be able to do that, since Seeley had been pretty specific that the living couldn’t see spirits, but I wasn’t dead yet. Maybe there was a loophole in the system that I could take advantage of. I willed myself into it, staring at the crystal casing in front of him.
Moving toward it, I could feel the energy bubbling inside me. My will was stronger than ever, and, when I got closer to the crystal… it reacted. A thin sheet of frost formed on its surface, prompting Zeriel to suck in a breath and straighten his back.
“Oh…” he murmured, eyes wide as he stared at the frozen patch, which was only about ten centimeters in length and width, uneven and shallow.
“This might work,” I said, almost feeling Seeley’s persistent stare.
I desperately needed Zeriel to know that I was here. I’d seen him fading away over the past couple of days. There were dark rings under his eyes, and he’d lost some weight, too. All this was taking its toll on him, and I wanted him to have at least an ounce of my hope and ambition. He didn’t know the things I knew, though he was likely aware that my soul was still around. He’d been talking to my body, but even that had become rare. More often than not, he’d just watch me, silently, probably not knowing what to say, maybe thinking I couldn’t hear him, anyway.
So, I wanted him to hear me.
The frost was only a first step, and I was already feeling tired, but I knew that, if I managed to do this, I could go even further.
“I can do it,” I whispered, mostly to myself, and pressed my ethereal finger on the frosted glass. I gasped, realizing that, despite my semi-transparent form, I could feel the chill traveling through my arm. Even more importantly, I’d left a print, a warm print in the frost.
“By the stars…” Zeriel mumbled, shaking like a leaf.
The last thing I wanted was to scare the daylights out of him, so, before he might think of backing away and getting the heck out of dodge because it was obviously haunted, I pushed myself further.
I wrote something, praying to every single entity out there to let my message be seen. It worked. I managed to leave three very important words for him on that frosted crystal. He stilled and leaned closer to get a better look.
“Z, I’m here,” he read out loud. “Holy…”
He looked around a couple of times, probably making sure that no one could see him as he exhaled and simply teared up. I would’ve given anything to be able to hold him, but, unfortunately, that wasn’t an option right now. But I could improve my communication skills and talk to him, bring him back to his old self, the one who would do anything to keep me safe and happy.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Seeley snapped, sliding off the crystal casing. He glowered at me, arms crossed, but I could tell that he was also stunned. “How in the world did you just do that?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not done yet,” I said with a giggle.
“Vesta, don’t do something you might regret later,” Seeley replied.
“Like what, tell Zeriel about you people being here, for example? You’re damn right I’m going to tell him.”
