Page 52 of Bright Soul

“It’s…” She circled her hand vaguely. “Like, it’s the darkness between worlds. Less like space and more like a plane of existence that links a universe together. It’s what the dimensional peoples escaped through to come to Earth…and also what Myuna traveled through to get here.”

“Fuck,” Ben muttered.

“Agreed,” I rumbled.

“Auric is a Vess. That’s a title that means…” She seemed to search her memory. “Voidwhisperer. He sacrificed one of his eyes to the Void so he can better sense it and use it.”

Auric glanced our way, maybe hearing his name. One eye was wholly a cloudy white. The other had a teal glow, with an unusual pupil like one black line with two darker blue scratches on either side of it. When he flicked out a forked tongue, he resembled Phaeron’s unchanged form, complete with heavy claws and mouthful of sharp teeth.

His horns and build were different, though. He had one impressive backswept horn, and the other, on his blinded side, was cut short and resembled a tree trunk with a crack on the side. “Was the horn a sacrifice to the Void, too?” I asked.

She considered and answered in a voice combined with another woman’s. “No, that’s new within the last two centuries.”

Both Ben and I flinched and pivoted her way. “Sorry. Did that startle you?” Cress asked in her usual sweet tone. “I wanted to take Braza out into the sunshine, and she just so happens to know this guy already.”

I only relaxed when she further explained that Braza was the name of the powercore. She sounded like someone Cress trusted deeply. I’d found her judgment dubious in the past, but it hadn’t been wrong about Ben…and it seemed it wasn’t wrong about Phaeron, as conflicted as I felt about him.

When he turned and beckoned to Cress, she didn’t hesitate to come forward. Madigan shifted to cover my post while Ben and I both accompanied her for protection.

Auric hissed something at Phaeron, who smiled politely while responding in a tone of warning.

The powercore’s voice flowed into my head. Braza felt familiar, carrying the reassuring electrical presence I’d served for decades in Moongrove Library.“Auric asked if Phaeron claims Cress in name only, and his response was to threaten to break his other horn if he’s rude to any of you.”

My stone lips curled toward a smile. I’d gladly help if it was necessary.

Phaeron switched to English. “My mate, Cress Darkmore. Her anam cara, Ben Evenstar. And her protector, Geo.”

“Charmed,” Auric replied flatly. His single eye held a full sentence of judgment as he took in the four of us together. “As I was telling the prince, I’m here to wage war on Myuna the White. You lot are a hodgepodge in need of a Vess. I felt her arrival, as she ripped a wide hole through the Void and that has to be repaired. Plus, I later heard this one’s silent screams trapped within the darkness and thought I’d be saving his sorry hide again.” He tipped his good horn toward Phaeron.

He replied by resting an arm around Cress. “While I appreciate that you would rescue me, I’m pleased to inform you that my mate has already done so.”

They had another verbal spar in their language. It seemed Phaeron won the quick exchange.

“I am Auric,” he said toward the rest of us with a hint of reservation. He tugged the collar of a fine suit tailor-made to cover his thick barrel of a chest. Tattoos peeked from his sleeves and covered the back of his clawed hands. “Once a power and a threat, a leader of a resistance, now doomed to tiptoe around human-dimensional conflicts lest the rest of my Vrassorm brothers and sisters get crushed between prejudice and threat. I’ve saved this kid a time or two. Who knows, maybe I’ll save you lot with what I have planned.”

“I’ve known Auric most of my life. He is an elder of our kind,” Phaeron supplied, and I realized he was the one Auric had called a kid. How mind-bogglingly old the Vrassorm must be to make such a claim.

“So, is joining us part of this plan?” Ben put in.

“I suppose so. On my way here, I sensed the scope of the rip where Myuna landed. If I had the proper support, I could catapult the bitch back where she came from and seal the hole behind her,” he said.

Phaeron frowned. “The Void most certainly does have a lingering presence around her.”

“Wait,” Cress said, holding up a hand. “When my friends say you made unnaturals disappear…were you sending them into the Void?”

“That’s right.” He bared his fangs in a vicious smile. “They’ll wander a while before its chill overtakes them, then they’ll be broken down until only their voices and memories remain to haunt its nothingness forever.”

“That’s kind of fucked up,” Ben muttered.

Cress shivered from more than just a cold breeze. “Myuna’s victims don’t deserve that,” she said. I quickly muttered in agreement with her.

“If you intend to stay here, you will save the Void treatment for Myuna herself,” Phaeron added.

For a moment, I thought Auric would step into the Void and leave with how disgustedly he looked at the four of us. “Fuckin’ hell,” he muttered. “Fine, you soft-hearted fools. But even the Void cannot save you if an unnatural rips out your throat.”

Phaeron grinned and clapped the other dimensional on the shoulder. “I’m pleased you’re here, old man,” he said with affection. “I must face the judgment of this group for my own deeds, but I imagine they will offer you entry and a room if you attempt to play nice.”

We turned and approached the hospital and the cluster of supernaturals guarding it. Madigan listened to Phaeron’s explanation of why Auric was there, then her red helmet turned toward me. “Can we trust this as fact?” she asked.

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