Blood Solstice: Part Three in the Tale of Lunarmorte (37 page)

The
Daylights stood in the same crescent formation. Up front from the
left in the first two divisions stood faeries in the shape of big
cats (when Caia had enquired about the choice, Saffron had shrugged
and told them that faeries tended to have an affinity for them and
felt stronger as a feline), panthers, leopards, tigers you name it
and they were it, purring and growling and bussing up against one
another with affection and encouragement. Vampyres made up the
third division centre in line and the last two all lykans. Guarding
the lykans from behind were magiks. The second division of the
second line was made up of more vampyres, who along with the third
branch of magiks, stood to defend the Council who led from the
back. The fourth on the far left was made up of magiks who waited
behind the faeries in front.

Yeah,
they were already to go alright, Caia exhaled slowly.

“
Caia,” Alfred’s voice echoed through the lines by the use of
a spell. “It’s time.”

Everyone
had attempted to talk her out of speaking with the Midnights,
telling her that it would make a target of her. But as they would
already recognise her as soon as she got close enough because of
the gods little IM, Caia decided to go ahead with it. Trying to
ignore her trembling nerves she looked to Lucien, who even in wolf
form managed to throw her a bolstering look. She stepped forward
from her front line amongst the lykans. Caia strode with
determination, her shoulders pulled back, her head held high, her
face devoid of expression.

Standing
at the half-way point between the two Covens, and utilising the
nifty speaker spell Penelope had taught her, Caia addressed the
Midnights, surprising herself with the maturity and authority that
rang in her words. “I am Caia Ribeiro. The gods have seen fit to
tell you who I am and what I have done. I have given the trace
magik back to the gods, freeing us all from Galen’s revenge.
Without the trace, I believe we can begin to build a road to
peace.”

She heard
the snickers and the roars of outrage and denial amongst the
Midnights. She hadn’t expected anything else. They hated her and
her kind.

“
You don’t believe me but it’s already begun. I am
half-Midnight and yet I stand and fight with Daylights, I stand and
fight with two other Midnights who are willing to die for
us.”

“
And they will!” Someone screamed out at her in the
distance.

Ignoring
the sickness that roar encouraged, Caia forced herself on. “You
don’t believe our world can exist in peace but the trace that bound
us to the war is gone. And after today… so will the war itself
be!”

War cries
of support and growls of anticipation battled against roars of hate
and disdain. Caia turned her back on the Midnights, showing them
she was unafraid of them, and walked ‘calmly’ back to her spot on
the front line. Her insides felt as if they had all snapped
apart.

Lucien
nudged her leg and she ran her hands through his pelt in
thanks.

A
rumbling sounded in the distance as a first wave of daemons began
moving as one towards the Daylights.

“
Faeries!” Alfred cried from the back. “Take out those
daemons!”

A
thundering exploded in Caia’s ears as the faeries leapt forward as
one. Their large paws pounded into the ground propelling them
forward at awesome speed, their muzzles drawn back, their eyes
focused on their enemy. Caia’s heart raced in her chest knowing
Saffron was amongst them.

“
Magiks on the left flank move forward.”

The awe
of the beauty of the faeries race across the beach, the blur of
colours, momentarily made Caia forget what their goal was. And
then, as she had known they would, three hundred yards from their
target the leading faeries, many of whom were leopards, shifted as
smoothly and as wondrously as a waterfall. The ground shook under
their feet and what sounded like trumpeters deafened Caia as they
turned from graceful feline into over-sized elephants and massive
rhinoceros’ with lethal tusks. A cry rose amongst the Midnights but
they weren’t quick enough to defend the daemons who were crushed
beneath their feet. Some of them managed to scamper out of the way
and attempted to clamber onto the shapeshifters to pierce them with
their weapons. They were merely shaken off and trampled underfoot.
Behind those faeries leapt those still in cat form. They launched
around the mass of bodies and huge mammals to attack the Midnight
faeries behind the daemons.

An order
rose from the Midnight Council and faeries in the front line moved
into help whilst the magiks that had stood to the far right closed
ranks, covering the gap made in the line.

She
watched on in horror as screams and whines rent the air as cats
fought cats, and vultures whooped onto elephants and rhino’s,
pecking at their eyes to blind them. Even from her position she
could see blood flowing in the sand.

“
Vampyres!” Alfred bellowed. “Front and second line! Move
forward!”

As the
vampyres sped off in a blur of movement, led by Reuben, Caia felt
the earth behind her tremble as the magiks who had guarded at the
back of her closed in, in front of the Council. The vampyres were
in amongst the battle in no time and the urge to throw up grew
greater as she watched the mass of struggling bodies. Most of the
elephants and rhinos had disappeared in the crowds. Caia assumed
they were either wounded or found fighting as a cat more efficient.
When the magiks guarding the Midnights front line suddenly moved in
on the battle sparks of fire and cascades of water crashed through
the air onto the scene. Caia felt the change in the atmosphere as
air magiks began to fight; she watched as huge rocks came out
nowhere and crushed the Daylights underneath them as earth magiks
triumphed.

It all
seemed like moments but Caia knew she had been standing shivering
with terror for a long time.

“
Lykans!” Alfred screamed. “Take out those magiks!”

As the
wolves rushed across the sand Caia morphed instantly into her own
wolf self and ran with them. The sand didn’t kick up around them as
they sprinted and the ground acted as a wonderful springboard for
their flight. The air rushed by in fragile lightness and Caia
realised just how perfect the spellcasters had made this terrain
for them. As lykans collided into the fold, tearing magiks who
screamed in outrage, gore and body parts flying, clamping jaws on
necks sending spurts of blood splattering, Caia changed. Instantly
she had to put up a shield as rocks and earth shattered against it.
She caught the eye of the magik who had targeted her and narrowed
her eyes, flooding his lungs with water. He gasped and fell to the
floor. At that she turned, pulling witches and warlocks off of
lykans and faeries with her magik, dousing vampyres who had been
set on fire, rescuing faeries by sending up shields. She was
battered and targeted, exhausted by her need to defend not only
herself but others, whilst being on the offensive at the same
time.

Magik
came out of nowhere and Caia felt her lungs squeeze as they filled
with water. She fell to her knees, grasping at her throat as a
woman approached her with victory in her eyes. There was a blur of
movement and suddenly the water dissipated and she could breathe.
Reuben stood before her with the woman’s head in his hands, her
body already decomposing on the sand.

“
You’re welcome.” He grinned and then was off into the fight
at warp speed.

Her eyes
took in a sight she would never forget. The ground swam with blood
and pieces of supernaturals. Insides spilled out onto the sand,
limp hands trailing into the gore. Blank eyes of Daylights and
Midnights alike looked up at her as she stumbled over their bodies.
The noise of the battle grew muffled as she dove in front of a
tiger, a bolt of fire heading towards it. Her water hit the fire
and the magik cancelled out. The tiger growled and sprang at the
attacking warlock, its claws slicing Caia’s arm as it swiped at the
enemy. Caia hissed back a growl at the stinging agony and looked
down at the bleeding, oozing claw marks on her arms. Caia turned as
the warlock’s muffled screams reached her ears. She couldn’t
imagine how painful his death had been if a ‘scratch’ like this
hurt so badly. Dazed, Caia morphed her hand into wolf and back and
then spun around. Immediately her heart exploded in her
chest.

No!

Her eyes
darted from witch to warlock as one by one they pulled out vials of
golden liquid and threw it into the air, controlling it with their
magik as it descended on the nearest lykan they could find. A girl
shuddered back into human form, followed by an older female,
followed by Alistair MacLachlan. Stunned, she stood there unable to
comprehend that the fluid discovered by Pierre Du Bois had found
its way into Midnight hands again and she hadn’t known about
it.

A young
lykan girl went up in flames. Caia roared in disbelief and threw up
her hands, a tidal wave appearing amongst the battle. Like last
time she tried to avoid Daylights but was afraid some were soaked
despite it. The wave crashed down on two of the offending Midnights
and Caia rushed the water into their mouths. She saved Alistair,
and the Alpha began making his change back into wolf – Caia put a
shield up around him to let him do so. Once he had transformed she
focused on finding magiks with the fluid. A blasting of fire and
magik exploded above her head and Caia looked around to see
Daylight magiks approaching the battle. Thank goddess. One by one
she took out the witches and warlocks with the liquid; her body
bruised and bleeding from the hits they had managed to get past
her; her throat was dry from oxygen deprivation from having
encountered air and water magiks.

Satisfied
she made to take on another warlock when her neck began to prickle
in warning. A dark feeling crept over her. A sense of unreality
descending and Caia turned around slowly.

A flash
of black hair on the ground in the distance caught her
eye.

No.

Blasting
the man in front of her back absentmindedly, Caia stumbled through
the fight, her view of the body growing sharper.

No.

Being
trampled upon by fighting magiks and lykans, a naked Lucien lay
amongst the sand, bloody and empty. A hole burst through his chest
where his heart should be, his silver eyes blank as they stared
straight up into the heavens.

No.

Caia fell
upon him, her hand knocking away a vial with a tiny drop of golden
liquid. Her hands fluttered over the gaping wound
uselessly.

“
No.” She shook her head and then grasped his cold face in her
hands. “No.”

Caia
pressed on his shoulders. “Lucien, wake up,” she whispered and then
hissed as rocks smacked against her back sending her over him.
Sobbing, she lifted her face, now bloody from Lucien’s fatal wound,
and moved up his body to gaze into his eyes. He wasn’t in
there.

He was
gone.

An
unbearable pain ripped across her chest.

Something
inside her died.

Replacing
it was an unforgiving fury.

She
screamed with agony as a fire incinerated her insides, travelling
from her toes like a snake slivering up her body. It wound its way
around her heart and squeezed and seemed to burst the organ into
gory pulp. White light blinded her, and the sensation of falling
accompanied her scream of death, her soul begging for the
destruction of those who had dared to fight them for their right to
peace.

33 –
Laila

It was
the whispering that brought her out of unconsciousness. Followed by
the pain. The pain was like a harsh, pounding, mashing wake up
call. Her eyes flew open with a gasp and Caia shrunk back from the
white of the room.

“
It’s OK, it’s OK,” a gentle voice soothed her and she felt a
cool hand on her forehead.

Caia
groaned. This kind of exhausted, ‘been ran over by a truck’,
feeling was familiar and yet so intensified it was alien too. One
by one faces started popping up in front of her eyes. She blinked.
Jaeden. Ryder. Laila. Magnus. Marion.

“
Come on now, get back, let her rest,” Ella’s familiar voice
called from the bottom of the bed and her pack shuffled
backwards.

Her
pack.

Lucien.

“
No, no, no.” She started struggling violently with her bed
covers and then with Jaeden as her friend paled and tried to press
her back onto the bed.

“
Ryder, help,” Jae screeched and Caia thrashed against them
both, too weak to do any serious damage.

“
No!” she cried, tears gushing down her cheeks as the image of
Lucien lying murdered in the sand flashed through her mind. She
didn’t want to be alive if he wasn’t with her. Panic made her
hyperventilate and she struggled to draw breath.

“
Someone help her,” Jae pleaded.

“
Caia, breathe. Caia…
Caia
.”

Her heart
stopped at the voice and she drew in a ragged breath, her chest
opening up. Jaeden smiled at her and moved aside so Caia could see
past her into the next hospital bed.