“No, it’s not right!” I snapped. “Ramin, you didn’t come here to say goodbye! You could’ve left me thinking you were dead, had you had no intention of saving yourself. No, you came here with a subconscious desire to be helped, and I will do anything I can to save you. There’s no way I’m letting Neraka fall into the hands of ritual loyalists!”
Catching on to the subject of our telepathic conversation, Zane cleared his throat, demanding our attention. “Surely, there is something we can do? I mean, isn’t there a way to help Ramin out of his Ekar form and back into his badass Fire Hermessi form?”
I glanced at Ramin. Even in his bird disguise, he couldn’t exactly hide from me. I could tell, from the way he blinked softly at me, that he was searching for a way back. He wasn’t ready to call it quits yet, and neither was I.
“There is no good way to save me,” he finally said to me.
That came with a hidden meaning, and he’d chosen those words carefully, as if to make sure he wasn’t the one who suggested it, directly. He was making me say it, and given how badly I wanted him to survive this, I played along. “Is there a bad way?” I murmured, bracing myself for whatever the answer would be.
Behind him, I could see the city of Infernis unraveling with dark towers and black stone houses. Beyond, the lava lakes glowed orange beneath the domed ceiling, with support pillars scattered across, uniting it with the ground level. Spiraling staircases worked their way up into the escape hatches. I remembered using those once, back when we were still dangerous intruders in the sorrowful kingdom of Shaytan. It seemed like such a long time ago. I actually missed the simplicity of that conflict. All we’d had to deal with, back then, had been soul-eating Exiled Maras and daemons. In hindsight, despite the dangers and the near-death experiences, it had all been manageable.
This was bigger than all of us, and I was amazed by the nature of our conversations today. Now, we were discussing ways to save a Hermessi, a natural element—an entity we knew little to nothing about to begin with. But Ramin had helped save us, more than once. I owed him the same.
“There is,” he said, after a minute of heavy silence.
“Well, what is it, then?” I asked, my hand gripping Caspian’s. He’d understood how much Ramin meant to me, and he was with me on this, all the way to the very end, whatever that might be.
“I would need a few allies to assist me.” Ramin sighed. “I’m pretty much defenseless. Right now, even your sword could kill me. Therefore, I wouldn’t be able to do it on my own.”
“We have to help him,” I said.
“Count us in,” Fiona replied.
“And I can easily bring my army in, if necessary,” Zane added.
“What do we have to do?” I asked Ramin.
“I cannot take on a Hermessi child on my own, but you can,” he said.
“You mean Ledar?”
“Yes. I need his Hermessi energy. I doubt you’d be able to subdue a full Hermessi, but you can capture Ledar and hold him down,” Ramin explained. “There’s an ancient spell I can use, one our kind made exactly for something like this, for a weakened Hermessi. Normally, I’d be able to replenish my form from a willing brother or sister. In this case, however, none are available for this endeavor, so I must use that same spell to draw power from my son. I admit, I’m not comfortable with the thought.”
“He betrayed you, Ramin. Pardon me if I don’t feel sorry for him,” I grumbled. “Will it kill him?”
The Ekar bird shook its head. “No. It will remove the Hermessi thread inside him. He’ll become a regular daemon, so to speak. I will be without an heir.”
“Well, your heir is coming over to kill you.” I scoffed. “So we’re going to help you pin him down, so you can take his power,” I added, and brought the others up to speed on what he’d just told me.
“I am down with that,” Fiona replied. “We’ll help capture the dweeb, and we’ll assist with the spell, too, if needed.”
“Agreed. Good plan,” I said. “Ledar made his bed, and now he has to sleep in it.”
“I made him so he’d take my place someday,” Ramin muttered. “This feels wrong.”
“I’m pretty sure you made him without thinking the ritual would be revived again,” I retorted. “And I’m even more certain that you didn’t have a son expecting him to turn against you with such ease. I’m sorry, Ramin, but you are better off surviving as Neraka’s Hermessi. Your world needs you, and so do we. Provided we survive this, you’re more than free to go out and find another Nerakian to bear a child.”
“One he should be close to, though.” Zane chuckled. “The absent father number clearly didn’t do Ledar much good.”
The Ekar lowered its feathery head. “The daemon king is right. I should’ve been there for Ledar. I should’ve let him know me, ever since he was a child. Maybe he wouldn’t have bought in to Brendel’s insanity as quickly or as easily…”
“You can’t change the past,” I said. “But you can make sure there is a future for you to try again.”
Silence settled over the room for a while. The warm currents from the city were scarce and weak now, barely moving the red organza curtains that adorned most of the residential chambers in the palace. The chill was ever present, seeping into everyone’s bones and preparing us for the impending death of the planet’s Fire Hermessi. Not going to happen. Not on my watch.
“You have a dangerous challenge ahead,” Ramin replied. “You would have to capture and subdue Ledar as soon as he arrives. We must draw him away from the other Hermessi, for they will certainly be expecting him, and we must put Devil’s Weed on him so they won’t come looking for him.”
Upon hearing these details from me, Zane got up, hands on his narrow hips—a stark contrast to his broad and muscular shoulders. I’d yet to get used to the height different between him and Fiona. My cousin was so slim and petite compared to the bulky daemon king, yet perhaps fiercer and even more dangerous.
“Cool. So, we need a plan for this,” Zane said. “And we need it now.”
“I’m game,” Caspian replied. “It does make me feel more useful, given what our world is dealing with.”
I walked over to Ramin, noticing the ruby-like shimmer of his long tailfeathers. “There you have it. We’re saving your ass.”
“And I am humbled and grateful,” he said. “I only hope this succeeds. Ledar might have learned a few tricks along the way, so I ask that you do not underestimate him. His daemon nature is wired for survival, and he’ll take the removal of his Hermessi power as a sort of death, for sure. I know how Brendel’s charm works. I know how she made him feel. She tried the same with me, once, and I almost believed her.”
“We’ve taken down monsters before, much more powerful than a beefed-up Hermessi child,” I replied. “We’ll handle Ledar, and we’ll get you back on your feet.”
“Mind you, I will not be fully restored from a Hermessi child, but I will have more strength than now,” Ramin warned me.
“It’s better than you being stuck inside a bird, waiting to die.”
That much was true. I dreaded a world where Neraka didn’t have Ramin as its Fire Hermessi. I feared losing a true friend, as well. Most importantly, I loathed the thought of Brendel killing any more of our allies, of taking them away from us and crushing them under the pretext of “cleansing” the universe. Her folly had to be brought to an end.
Too many lives were at stake, and not just ours. There were trillions of innocent animals out there, sky-reaching trees, and wonders of nature that had sprung up over the centuries, for millennia on end. They all deserved a future. The natural cycle had to be maintained, and the Hermessi were supposed to make sure of that, instead of tearing it apart.
Our time was coming, whether Brendel liked it or not, and, while Taeral and his crew went out to get Death what she needed to stop the ritual, I had to do everything in my power to help from this angle. Saving Ramin gave our resistance a greater fighting chance ahead.
Vesta
Zeriel spent the night sleeping next to my crystal casing. Arwen had brought over a sleeping bag for him, after she’d noticed he wasn’t going anywhere after midnight. I didn’t mind it one bit, as I’d gotten to spend more time with him. I’d been too weak to try to communicate again, but it didn’t matter to him.
Just knowing that I was there, seeing and hearing him, had been a greater comfort than anything else. It soothed me, too, to have him near me. It kept my mind busy enough not to wander off into the realms of frustration, where thoughts of my inability to help them or myself had been reigning senselessly for days on end. Zeriel kept me calm.
Fortunately, Rudolph had also been quiet. My substitute Reaper had not been happy with having to babysit me, along with Caia—whom he refused to let me see. He’d spent the first hour complaining about Seeley and about how he always put his colleagues in such difficult situations. His frustration had simmered down, quietly, upon his noticing that I wasn’t even listening.
The sanctuary was quiet, though I’d heard Arwen and Brock talking about a dinner in the grand hall, with Derek, Sofia, and the other founders—it included Taeral’s crew and a surprise appearance from Tebir, the local Earth Hermessi. No specific details had made it back to us. I was dying to know what they’d talked about, but I knew they’d clarify everything soon enough.
Outside, the night was still the master of The Shade, but the non-vampires’ body clocks were still functioning. Zeriel’s breathing was slow and even, but his rapid eye movements had decreased—a sign that he’d be waking up in a short while. He was an early riser, like me.
I didn’t even realize Seeley had come back until he cleared his throat to make me turn around. I gasped at the sight of him standing next to Rudolph, who’d crossed his arms in protest.
“It took you a while,” the substitute Reaper grumbled.
“I saw Death,” Seeley said, looking at me. “I can tell you what had irked me earlier, now.” And he did. I learned all about Ben and Grace’s encounter, aided by Kelara, who’d allowed them to see each other. I learned about the hug and how it strengthened some of the links on their life-chains. And I was speechless. Hopeful, but speechless. “I wanted to talk to Death about it, and I did. Pleased to report I come with slightly better news than I’d hoped.”
“Wait, you saw Death?” Rudolph asked, his breath stuck in his throat.
