Blood Solstice: Part Three in the Tale of Lunarmorte (12 page)

“
No!” Morgan yelled. “I swear to you, Caia-”

Before
Reuben could make that next unmistakable move towards him, Caia
moved across the room with speed that surprised her as much as it
did them. She stood in front of Reuben facing Morgan down (well as
much as she could at her diminutive height).

Pulling
on her best acting skills, Caia scowled at him, and used just a
little of her magik to force him back from her. She could tell by
the widening of his eyes that he felt it. “Alexa wants to fight.
She’s a grown-up and it is her decision… not yours. And Reuben’s
right… when Lucien and Ryder are absent then the Elder’s and I are
in charge. Last time I checked you weren’t either one of us. Now
the Elder’s have raised no concerns over Alexa’s involvement so
that leads me to believe they think she should be allowed to make
up her own mind.” A rumble of grunts from the Elders confirmed
that. “I suggest you swallow that decision gracefully-”

Malek
stepped forward interrupting, “I wan-”

He
snarled as Caia pushed him back but she was unimpressed. “Don’t
interrupt. Your father said no. You’re still underage,
Mal.”

Morgan
looked as if he wanted to strangle someone. “You’ll understand when
you have your own children, Caia.”

She
sighed, trying desperately to hold on to the hard-ass act. “Morgan…
if I don’t get enough people to help me fight Marita… we won’t have
a future, let alone the possibility of little Caia and Lucien’s
running around under our feet.”

For a
moment he gazed at her in strained silence and then nodded curtly
before leaving the room with his arm around his wife. Malek
followed in their wake, disgruntled mumblings trailing at the back
of him.

Caia
turned to face the room. “I feel like I’ve been run
over.”

“
You handled that like a leader.” Reuben nodded and she could
have sworn there was pride in his eyes. Vanne looked sad and Caia
knew he was still thinking about Marion. The Elders were a little
shell-shocked, but Jae, like Reuben, was smiling smugly.

“
You kicked ass.”

She felt
a hand on her arm and looked up to see Alexa smirking. “Thanks. I
mean it. I’m totally pumped to do this.”

Caia
glanced over Alexa’s long nails and saw her suddenly as a lykan, a
strong, lithe black wolf with powerful form. “I have no doubt that
you can take care of yourself.”

Vanne
coughed, drawing back their wandering attention. “As interesting as
this little window into pack life has been, I do suggest we get a
move on.”

9 – Game
on

This was it. Caia glanced around at everyone gathered
outside
Magic Fitness
. She couldn’t believe who had turned up to pull through for
this coup. Phoebe MacLachlan stood hands akimbo, muttering
instructions to three burly male MacLachlans whose faces were
pinched with concentration. Alfred Doukas’ eldest son gathered with
nine other representatives of the Council’s families all ready to
take on Marita and her soldiers. Their fury crackled around them
like the sky before a lightning storm. As for Pack Errante, Caia
had Magnus, Alexa, Jaeden, Christian and Lucia, Aidan and Irini.
The others had been left behind under the protection of Ella,
Dimitri and Morgan. As for Vil and Laila, Caia had sent them both
back to hide out at Ryder’s apartment. Reuben and Vanne stood off
to the side with their heads together and Caia watched them
suspiciously.

“
Something we need to know boys?” she asked in
irritation.

“
No.” Reuben shook his head. “Just going over the plan one
more time.”

“
Everyone knows the plan. You create a distraction in the
reception whilst Jaeden and I head towards the containment centre.
You follow when you get the chance. Lykans use your noses to follow
our trail, magiks use the lykans to follow their trail. OK?” She
looked around them waiting for a nod of agreement from them all.
The magiks from the Council member’s families all stared at her in
awe and she could tell they were thinking – ‘Who the hell is this
kid?’ Nothing for it now, though. They had all agreed to
this.

“
OK. Let’s get off this street before someone calls the cops,”
she cracked. It was dark and there was no one around. She hoped.
Caia turned back to the door and used her magik to pop the lock.
Like quiet mice in a churchyard they all made their way inside and
followed her to the room with the portal.

“
Lykans.”

All
except Jaeden began the change, magiks and everyone else looking
discreetly away as they undressed and began the bone-cracking
transformation from human to wolf. After what seemed like forever
the last of them had changed.

“
Vanne.” She turned to find him. He brushed his way forward
with Reuben. They had decided it would be best if he and the
vampyre went first because no one would attack Vanne, giving them
the element of surprise when the others arrived at the back of
them.

With
that, he put his hand to the glass and it shimmered and congealed,
turning into what looked like liquid mercury. Without another word
he disappeared into it with Reuben holding onto his shoulder. Once
they were through, the glass re-solidified. Ignoring the flurry of
butterflies in her stomach and the fact she may be sending these
people to their deaths, Caia placed her own hand on the glass and
re-opened the portal. When it was ready she ushered them all
through.

At last
it was just her and Jaeden.

“
You ready, Cy?” Jae whispered, her usually tan face pale with
fear.

She shook
her head numbly at her friend and clasped Jae’s hand tight. “Nope.
We’ve got to be brave though.”

“
I will if you will.”

At that
they both drew in a huge shaky gulp of air and stepped into the
mirror. She barely had time to get used to the feeling of
travelling by portal when the shouts and screams hit her ears. On
instinct she dropped to the ground pulling Jaeden with her, and a
blast of power flew over their heads and splintered the wall at
their backs. Heart pounding in her chest, Caia looked up to see the
reception at the Centre was a battleground already. Lykans were in
the middle of chewing up magiks, battling it out with lykans from
the Centre and bouncing off of protective shields. Water, fire and
earth exploded everywhere, mixing with blood and the pressure in
the atmosphere created by air magik. She swung her gaze around
seeing their way out of the reception was blocked by two magiks who
were fighting off a lykan.

“
Reuben!” Caia yelled to the vampyre as he choked the life out
of a younger vamp as if he were merely a rabbit caught in a trap.
He grunted in question as he shook the boy and let him drop. She
indicated the blocked pathway and he nodded. His body was a blur as
he crossed the room and shot his entire weight into one of the
magiks. The warlock barely had time to scream as his body flew
backwards into the wall with such force the brickwork cracked all
around him. He stuck there almost comically for a minute before
collapsing to the ground. Reuben seemed to say something to a
lykan, Alexa it seemed, and she tore off after the injured magik to
finish him off.

“
Jeez, I never knew he could move that fast. The
son-of-a-bitch never moved that fast, not once when we were out
hunting,” Jae whispered loudly in her ear.

Caia
smirked. She wasn’t surprised Reuben had been careful to keep quiet
about how powerful he really was. It was probably one of the many
reasons he had lived as long as he had. She waited and readied
herself as he took the other magik in hand. “OK, you ready. We have
to move fast.”

Jae
braced herself like an Olympic sprinter and gave a determined
nod.

“
Go!” Caia yelled and off they shot, dodging fighting
supernaturals and trying to ignore the howls and snarls and
screams, praying that their side were the ones winning.

They
never slowed, even as they made it out of the reception and into
the quieter corridors.

“
The elevator,” Caia puffed, already feeling the burn of
energy in her legs.

They had
almost made it when out of nowhere a tall, broad-shouldered vampyre
came rushing around the corner, his lips drawn back so they could
see his lengthened fangs. He swooped on Caia but Jaeden was already
in front of her, unsheathing a steel axe from a belt she had
strapped to her hip. Caia watched in awe as Jae ducked the
vampyre’s punch and jumped his side swipe, smashing her elbow into
his face in the same motion. Dazed he staggered back, allowing Jae
a few more punches in, including an uppercut that sent blood
spraying out of the vampyre’s nose. Caia was sure Jae was about to
be declared the winner, when, with a terrifying hiss, the vamp
blocked another of her punches and grabbed her arm, twisting it
behind her back to secure her in a chokehold. Caia didn’t even have
time to aid her before Jaeden used her telekinesis to thrust him
from her and pin him to the wall. She was on him in a second,
slicing the blade of her axe into his neck with such force it tore
through his skin and bones and lodged into the wall behind him. His
head rolled off his body and onto the floor before bouncing to a
stop. Blood and all sorts of nastiness oozed out of the top of his
decapitated corpse. A sudden need to upchuck overwhelmed Caia. She
was never going to get used to the violent art of
decapitation.

Jaeden
meanwhile was whistling as she cleaned the axe off on the vamp’s
leather duster and slid it back into place on her belt. She smiled
brightly at Caia and headed towards the elevator. Caia followed
her, glancing back at the dead vampyre in revulsion as his headless
body fell forward. She hit the button on the elevator and turned to
her friend. “You are way too comfortable with what you just
did.”

Jaeden
shrugged. “Vampyre Hunter, remember.”

“
Uh, bringing up your foray into illegal activities is not
reassuring.”

They
stepped into the elevator and whilst Caia pressed the button that
led to the containment centre, Jae grinned. “You are too sensitive,
Cy. You need to just shut down and get the job done. I thought
you’d done this stuff before.”

“
Yeah, but…”

“
But what?”

“
You were like… really good at it. You know quick, efficient.
And you seemed to… I don’t know… like it.”

She
shrugged, wiping the sweat from her forehead. “It’s kind of
exciting.”

Caia
snorted, “Yeah. Well I’m sure it’ll still be exciting in ten years’
time.”

Disgust
and horror crossed her friend’s features. “You think we’ll be doing
this in ten years’ time?”

“
This or something like it according to Reuben.”

“
What the hell do you mean?”

“
Well apparently we’ve all been naïve to think I’m somehow
going to end a two-thousand year old war in a year.”

Jaeden
grunted, “Well when you put it like that…”

“
I know, I know. He’s right. I’m an idiot.”

“
We’re all idiots. Look, let’s just get through this and worry
about tomorrow, tomorrow.”

The
elevator binged and the doors slid slowly open. Caia moved to step
out and looked up.

Oh crap.
Her cheeks flooded with
heat, her entire body froze.
Oh holy
Artemis.
Now they were in for
it.

Without
another thought, Caia shoved Jaeden back into the corner of the
elevator, jumped out of it and hit the button to send her back
up.

“
CY, NO!” Jaeden screamed at her in outrage as the elevator
slammed shut, leaving Caia to face Marita and the five magiks
before her by herself. They had positioned themselves in the
reception hall of the containment centre. The centre itself was
locked tight behind them. There was no way she getting into it
unless she went through these guys first. Marita’s face twisted
with an amalgamation of emotions. Grief, hatred, disbelief… more
hatred.

Caia’s
mind raced with some way to stall, counting on conversation to
somehow save her. But it seemed Marita was all out of conversation.
Before she could even protect herself a blast of power sent her
rocketing back into the elevator doors, her head jarring off the
steel with a sickening sharpness that seemed to shoot all the way
down her spine and into her toes. She began to crumple to the
ground and hadn’t even made it there before she felt the world
spinning, the air rushing through her hair and skin as she was
thrown across the room, her feet brushing the ceiling before the
energy released her and she dropped like a dead weight, her entire
body smacking into the floor with enough force to ricochet her chin
off the ground. With the impact the air rushed out of her lungs and
she clawed at the floor in panic, desperately trying to pull in
oxygen. Ignoring the throbbing of her chin and the blood that
trickled out of her mouth, Caia spat a tooth out and wheezed in
air. Through a curtain of her hair she saw the magiks
approach.

“
Have at her,” Marita said softly. “Make it slow.”

Fire
erupted along her arms and legs, the flames licking her skin, the
agonising pain of her crackling flesh like nothing she had ever
experienced before. Caia screamed in release, tears streaking her
face, the vomit-inducing smell clogging her nostrils. And then the
water began to fill her lungs and she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t
scream from either pain but only writhe in unimaginable torture. Oh
goddess, she couldn’t think. She needed to think!