Blood Solstice: Part Three in the Tale of Lunarmorte (39 page)

The people who loved her believed in her.
I can do this.
Caia threw back her
shoulders and threw open the doors. The high wall before them was
covered with plaques with lists of names of the supernaturals that
had fought with them and died during the Great Battle for Concord,
as it was now called. In the centre was the largest plaque with
Nikolai’s name scrawled across it in beautiful calligraphy. Below
it Caia had had the inscription from Oscar Wilde’s own tomb carved
into the stone for Nikolai. It read:

And alien tears will fill for him

Pity’s long broken urn

For his mourners will be outcast men

And outcasts always mourn

Caia
smiled as she passed it, knowing Nikolai would have loved it, an
opinion shared by Reuben. She strode up the stairs and into the
court, Lucien and Jae at her back, acting as her second and third
in command. The benches of the court were empty, but set up in the
middle of the room was a huge round table, and seated in
beautifully carved chairs that Lucien and his apprentice had worked
on for months (each chair depicted a moment in the Great Battle for
Concord) were supernaturals of influence and power. There were ten
of them. Four magiks, two faeries, two vampyres, two lykans and of
course, Caia… their Chairwoman. She strode to the largest chair at
the northern most point of the circle and Lucien pulled it out for
her. She stepped between it and the table and lowered herself upon
the comfortable cushion. Reuben, Saffron and Alfred stared back at
her amongst less familiar faces. Faces of people she knew she would
come to know very well over the years as she led them in the new
world.

It had
been a gruelling and exhaustive endeavour to bring them all
together, amongst them three magiks and a faerie who had once been
Midnight. But after the battle, and months of hard work, Caia’s
wishes had come true. The war had ended and in its place sprung
something new. These people before her, their actions and decisions
were only the beginning… for there was much work to be
done.

She
smiled at them in joy that this moment was finally here. “Ladies
and gentlemen, welcome to the first meeting of the United Council
of Supernaturals.”

Epilogue
– The Gods

Mount Olympus

“
I’m a little sad that it’s over,” Hemera sighed.

Artemis
shrugged. “The war is over, but there’s still going to be plenty of
action. We won’t be bored, I promise.”

Hemera
sniffed, feeling a little put out. “I bet it only lasts a
century.”

Artemis
grabbed her hand. “I’ll take that bet.”

Gaia, who
was dozing on the giant-sized cloudy bed with all its gold trimming
that used to belong to Hera and Zeus, groaned, “Ladies, please, can
we not just enjoy this moment.”

The two
goddess’ snorted at their mother. “New age wench,” Hemera
muttered.

“
You know if the war starts up again, she’ll,” Artemis
gestured to Gaia, “Just find another way to bring about
peace.”

Hemera
nodded. “That’s what I said… new age wench.”

“
I heard that,” Gaia murmured but didn’t move from the
bed.

Artemis
grunted and flopped down onto the floor. “I never thought I would
say this but I actually envy Hades. At least he’s got company in
the Underworld.”

“
And drama,” Hemera agreed.

“
And sex… not for me of course, cos’ I don’t do that sort of
thing, but it does spice the viewing pleasure up a bit.”

“
Not to mention he has torture down there.”

“
And a river.”

“
And creepy creatures.”

“
And Persephone.”

“
And cable TV.”

Artemis’
mouth fell open. “Since when?”

“
Oh he got that installed a few years back now.”

“
That son-of-a-bitch!”

“
Hey!” Gaia grumbled from the bed. “I take offence to that.
Especially since, if it weren’t for me, your life would be very
dull right about now.”

Her daughter, Artemis snorted, “It
is
dull.”

“
No, it would have been dull if we had let our children snack
on one another and bring the war to an end
that
way.”

“
Where is she going with this?” Hemera mused
suspiciously.

Gaia
sighed and pushed herself up to a sitting position so she could
glare at them. “For intelligent goddesses you really can be rather
dim-witted. This isn’t over ladies. We took away the
trace.”

They
stared at her blankly.

“
The
trace
,”
she reiterated. “The one thing that pulled down crime
rate.”

Their
eyes widened slowly in understanding.

“
Yes.” Gaia smiled. “Sooner or later, and it will be sooner,
our children are going to start to realise they have a freedom they
didn’t have before. No one checking in on them to see what they’re
up to; no one halting any nasty intentions they might have. Be
patient ladies.” Her mouth twisted in distaste. “Your need for
drama is about to be fulfilled. The repercussions are almost upon
us.”

The
End

ABOUT THE
AUTHOR

Samantha
Young graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2009, where she
studied ancient and Medieval history. Sam enjoys incorporating her
love of history into her writing, and is currently living in her
home county of Stirlingshire, Scotland, doing just that.

Visit
http://samyoungyafantasyauthor.blogspot.com
for more infor on Samantha’s upcoming
novels.