A Shade of Vampire 89: A Sanctuary of Foes Read online

  A Shade of Vampire 89: A Sanctuary of Foes

  Bella Forrest

  Contents

  Problems reading?

  New Generation List

  Family tree

  1. Thayen

  2. Thayen

  3. Sofia

  4. Tristan

  5. Tristan

  6. Astra

  7. Astra

  8. Jericho

  9. Tristan

  10. Tristan

  11. Sofia

  12. Thayen

  13. Dafne

  14. Astra

  15. Astra

  16. Thayen

  17. Tristan

  18. Tristan

  19. Tristan

  20. Dafne

  21. Astra

  22. Tristan

  23. Sofia

  24. Thayen

  25. Astra

  26. Astra

  27. Thayen

  28. Tristan

  29. Astra

  30. Tristan

  ASOV 90: A Ruler of Clones

  Read more by Bella Forrest

  Copyright © 2020

  Nightlight Press

  Cover design by Okay Creations LLC

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  New Generation List

  Thayen - Adoptive son of Derek and Sofia

  Richard – Son of Jovi and Anjani (Wolf-Incubus Hybrid)

  Astra – Daughter of Phoenix and Viola (Daughter-Sentry Hybrid)

  Isabelle – Daughter of Serena and Draven (Sentry-Druid Hybrid)

  Jericho – Son of Caia and Blaze (Fae-Fire Dragon Hybrid)

  Voss – Son of Aida and Field (Wolf-Hawk Hybrid)

  Dafne – Daughter of Lethe and Elodie (Ice Dragon-Human Hybrid)

  Family tree

  If you’d like to check out the Novaks’ family tree, visit: www.forrestbooks.com/tree

  Thayen

  We’d made it to the other side of the universe. Or so it felt.

  Our Shade, but not our Shade. A different Shade. This version was dark and drab, almost colorless, but the design was identical to the place we called home. It was filled with clones of us—most of us, anyway. Some of these copies of us were disturbingly accurate, some were convincing but slightly flawed, and others were even partially improved. They all looked like us, and they could easily pass as one of us.

  The clones had taken something of ours. We didn’t know what, but it was precious enough to warrant the two-month presence of Isabelle’s clone among us for the sole purpose of stealing it. They had invaded our Shade. Attacked our loved ones. They had tried to kill Astra more than once. Her mother was missing, and it only made sense to blame the clones for that, too.

  After days of struggling to untangle the many unknowns that had been dropped at our feet, Astra, Jericho, Dafne, Soph, and I had managed to get to the source of the problem by following a clone through one of the shimmering portals. But there were things in this fake Shade that were scarier than the clones. Creatures made of darkness and shadows that could have torn us apart, had it not been for Astra.

  “If this is the same as our island, we won’t have daylight to help us,” Jericho said from the cave room’s narrow entrance. A corridor linked it to the outside, but none of us had dared to go through it again—we’d barely escaped with our lives. Claudia’s clone had brought the stolen object here after she’d killed Isabelle’s double. I doubted we’d find her soon, since we were stuck trying to figure a way to relative safety. This cave wasn’t going to hide us for long.

  “Those things, those shadows, they didn’t like your light,” Dafne said to Astra.

  Astra let out a heavy sigh. She’d barely said anything for the past five hours since we’d hidden in this cave. We would start losing track of time if we stayed here. We needed a plan. “Yeah,” Astra said. “But there’s only so much light I can create before I’m spent. The light I create as a Daughter requires more energy than I could syphon as a half-sentry on the run. We do have dragon fire,” she added, looking at Jericho. “Fae fire, too. But we’ll have to use our resources carefully if we’re planning to go outside again.”

  “It’s not like we have a better choice,” Soph said, getting up. She dusted herself off, wrinkling her nose at the sight of scratches and cuts marring her uniform. “But where do we go from here?”

  “I think the first thing we need to do is establish what this place is,” I replied, leaning against the uneven, jagged cave wall. The stone felt cold against my back, seeping through the fabric of my GASP attire. “It’s a copy of The Shade, which makes sense, if you think about it—copies of us coming from a copy of our world.”

  “Makes you wonder if there’s more beyond this alt-Shade,” Soph said. “Like a copied Earth or a copied Supernatural Dimension with a cloned Neraka in it. That kind of stuff.”

  “I wouldn’t put anything past whoever or whatever made this place,” Astra replied. “But there’s one thing I can tell you with absolute certainty—this cave doesn’t exist in our Shade. There’s nothing like this in the redwood forest. Not on this side of the island, at least. Which begs the question, what else might be different about the alt-Shade, as Soph calls it?”

  Jericho scoffed, adjusting his half-burnt robe, clearly uncomfortable with having so little to wear. “We’re not going to find out by staying here, that’s for sure.”

  “We have to go out again,” I said. “That’s obvious.”

  “But where do we go?” Astra asked. “What exactly do we do? How do we investigate without getting torn to shreds by those shadow people or whatever the hell they were? I’ve got most of my energy back, but I will need more with every burst of light I let out. I can’t syphon off you without leaving you vulnerable, either, and as I pointed out before, the light required to keep the shadow monsters at bay needs more energy than I could gather from any of you. This is the one thing I’ve never had to deal with back home… I’d just syphon off Mom if I needed it, but I rarely did.”

  “Your two halves are in conflict,” I concluded. “The Daughter and the sentry. The former is strong and usually feeds the other, but now it consumes more energy than the latter is able to procure. Which leaves you with limited resources all the time.”

  “Yes. The shimmering portal gave me an excellent boost, though I doubt we’ll come across others for me to feed on now that Claudia’s clone got what they came for.”

  Soph frowned. “We need to find out what they took. We can’t reach out to our people— there’s no Telluris or functional comms here. No way back unless there’s a portal, but like you said, what are the odds of that happening now? We can’t leave until we get to the truth. We need to know why this is happening so we can protect our people going forward.”

  I started pacing the chamber, my gaze wandering across the walls. There was a faint glimmer here and there—mineral deposits of some kind. I ran my hand over the rugged surface, feeling the abrasive particles scratching at my fingertips. “We can track Claudia’s clone,” I said. “Soph and I caught her scent when we got here. We can go back to the Port and pick up the trace from there. But that’s just one of our prioriti
es. Isabelle and Viola are still missing. It’s very likely they were brought here, since there was no sign of them in The Shade.”

  “Speaking of,” Soph replied. “We know they weren’t taken for their DNA material. Whoever made the clones infiltrated The Shade and lifted samples off nearly everyone. We didn’t see a copy of Astra or Viola. Maybe they can’t clone Daughters?”

  Astra gave a small nod. “It’s a possibility. It certainly explains why they were so eager to kill me. But if I’m a threat as a Daughter, why would they take Mom? Why not just kill her? I think we’re still missing key pieces of information here.”

  “You bet your pink hair we’re missing information,” Dafne muttered. “Okay, so number one on our to-do list is to find out what Claudia’s clone took from Isabelle’s clone. Number two, find the missing people. Number three, find out who the hell made these freakazoids in the first place, right?”

  “Right,” I said.

  “We need resources for that. Invisibility magic. More weapons, ideally pulverizers. Those will get the job done fast. Healing potions,” Dafne continued, standing up. “In other words, we’ve got to find a place to stock up.”

  “Well, assuming the layout of this alt-Shade is mostly the same as the original, and that its contents are more or less identical, we might find some useful stuff in the armory back behind the training halls,” Soph suggested.

  This suggestion gave me a sense of direction. “You know, you might be onto something. If we’re going to stand a chance against the clones and whatever those shadow creatures are, the armory is our best shot…if it exists.”

  From here, we had a relatively simple journey. All we had to do was stick to the redwoods and head northwest past the Great Dome. There were a few trails we could take that would help us avoid the more populated areas of the alt-Shade—assuming, of course, that this place was an accurate copy of our island, aside from the occasional extra cave. Once we got the supplies we needed, we could navigate the alt-Shade with greater ease. The clones had red lenses, so even if we had invisibility we’d be at risk—but it would be infinitely better than our current situation.

  “Something tells me we’re going to regret this,” Soph sighed as she moved closer to the exit. “I don’t mean to suggest we shouldn’t do it, but I wanted to point out the obvious now, just in case.”

  Jericho chuckled. “Hey, I’m good. I find myself in the company of some extraordinary people. I’m glad to have you all with me in these trying times. I wouldn’t want to face this with anyone else.”

  “Our parents must be terrified,” Dafne said.

  “They know what kind of daredevils they raised,” Jericho replied, giving her a slight shoulder nudge. It prompted Dafne to smile faintly. “Lethe is one hell of an ice dragon, and Elodie is one of the fiercest humans I’ve ever come across. Plus, you’ve proven yourself more than once in the battlefield. I have confidence in our ability to see this through.”

  I walked over and put my hand out, and Jericho was quick to place his over mine. “Caia is the fieriest of them all, and Blaze…well, let’s just say the Black Heights haven’t been the same since he came into this world. The two of them combined made you, my friend, and I can’t imagine anyone better to torch the asses of our enemies.”

  “How about you?” Dafne asked. “Visio prince, vampire extraordinaire with glamoring powers?” She chuckled. “Skill. Determination. A strong moral compass. You haven’t declared yourself the leader of this group, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that I’m grateful to have someone like you to follow as we navigate this nightmare.”

  She put her hand over Jericho’s and mine, then Soph and Astra joined in, both wearing expressions of hope and kindness. “Add a lethal daemon princess to the mix, and we’re already stronger than our enemy,” Astra said.

  “Plus, a Daughter-sentry who’s not afraid to push herself beyond all known limits,” Soph added with a warm smile. “I think Jericho’s right. We got lucky to be thrown together like this. We might not be GASP’s finest, and we might not even be the strongest around, but I’ll be damned if we don’t have the drive to kick these freaks to hell and back.”

  I took a deep breath and declared, “It’s time to reclaim our world and our freedom. The clones have wreaked enough havoc. They’ve taken our people and who knows what else. This is it. Our point of no return. We go forward, and we won’t stop until we accomplish every one of our objectives. We will find the necessary supplies. We will discover what the clones stole from The Shade. We will save Isabelle, Viola, and whoever else they might’ve brought over here. And we will get to the truth. Deal?”

  “Deal,” they replied in unison.

  I shared Jericho’s feelings about our crew. We were few but we had plenty of motivation. This wasn’t just about Astra’s mother or Isabelle or the attacks on our island. This was about the integrity of our world and GASP’s ability to fight its new and strange enemy. I had no idea what horrors awaited us outside, but we couldn’t spend the rest of our days hiding in this cave.

  Something strange and curious was out there. Something we had to understand, despite its frightful facets. I refused to let the clones get away with this, and even though we weren’t sure how we’d fare in the end, we were a solid team. That thought alone was enough to get my blood pumping as we made our way through the narrow corridor to the exit.

  Thayen

  By the time we left the cave, we were all feeling emboldened. It didn’t really matter if it was because of the hours we’d spent recuperating or because there wasn’t a single soul present within a one-mile radius. I just wanted us to hold on to this sensation and use it to move forward.

  Carefully, we took the less traveled paths through the redwood forest, allowing ourselves a little time along the way to explore this strange world. Yes, it had been modeled after our Shade, but the closer I looked, the clearer the differences became. There were slight aberrations, but they were there—in addition to the augmented darkness, the foliage was unlike the true redwoods of home, the leaves peculiarly shaped, and the ground itself felt harder beneath my boots.

  “Look at that,” Astra whispered, pointing at a cluster of tall bushes. The plants had long, slender branches with oval-shaped waxed leaves that moved under the nocturnal winds. The colors weren’t just faded, they were wrong; the greens were dirty, almost brown and rust colored, and the blossoms at the stem tips were violet and blue. “I haven’t seen anything like this in The Shade.”

  “The bark is all wrong, too,” Dafne added, touching one of the redwoods. “It’s hard to put into words, but it’s like someone put a lot of work into the details without the necessary knowledge of our home.”

  I nodded slowly. “The same was said of the fire fae and dragon clones that were susceptible to fire. They look and sound incredibly similar to the originals, but someone missed a few crucial aspects in their design. Or maybe nature simply works differently here than back home…”

  As we walked through the woods, we noticed other minor irregularities, such as dark green vines climbing up the oldest redwoods—the ancient ones that were at least four or five hundred years old and clearly dying. The crowns had dried up, but something told me the vines had played a part, as well. There were more paths, too, crisscrossing the forest and leading in different directions.

  “Do you really think we’ll find my Mom here?” Astra asked me after a while. We kept heading north, taking a longer route through the obscure wilderness to keep our distance from the settled areas. Somewhere far away, yet loud enough for us to hear, the automated voice droned on about the pink-haired half-Daughter. We hadn’t seen a clone since before we reached the cave, and I wondered where they’d all gone. “Be honest, Thayen. Your opinion really matters, you know?”

  I stopped and gripped her by the shoulders. “I am being honest. I’m convinced we’ll find her and Isabelle here, probably alive. I can’t guarantee anything, and I can only imagine how it’s making you feel, but I’m hopeful.�
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  “At the risk of repeating myself, I think we would’ve found their bodies in The Shade if they were dead,” Soph cut in, giving Astra a faint but warm smile. “We just need to keep looking.”

  “See, I’m totally okay with that. But it really bothers me that we don’t yet know what the endgame is here,” Astra sighed. “I mean, what was the point of that whole business back home? Isabelle’s clone spent two months with us for what, exactly? What the hell was that thing she had inside her that Claudia’s double killed her to obtain? Why bother to send so many of these freaks into The Shade to feign an invasion? Why are they so determined to kill me? Sorry, I know we’ve asked these questions before…”

  “Yeah, and how did they get our DNA to begin with? How are some of their clones coming out faulty, while others show up with tactical improvements?” Jericho added, rolling his eyes. “It’s annoying and frustrating. I feel you. But the only way we’re going to get our answers is if we stick to the mission we’ve agreed upon.”

  Astra sighed. “That’s true. It just bugs me.”

  “It bugs me, too,” Dafne replied. “The parameters of our mission keep shifting because we don’t have enough information. More than once, the clones were trying to get to Isabelle’s doppelganger, and this whole time, I thought it was because they needed her back in one piece. It turns out she had something they desperately wanted. Her survival wasn’t mandatory. And she knew that.”