Blood Solstice: Part Three in the Tale of Lunarmorte (7 page)

Marion
nodded. “With imprisonment.”

“
You know the Council didn’t do anything wrong.”

She threw
her hands up. “Lucien, I don’t know anything. I thought I believed
her about the Council… maybe… I don’t know. But taking you and
Ryder? Telling me Caia betrayed the Coven…”

Lucien
growled, rushing forward. He almost blasted into the plexiglass
without thought but Ryder was fast, grabbing a hold of his shirt
and tugging him back. “Caia didn’t betray the Coven. She found out
your sister was playing with the dark side.”

Marion
shook her head, her wide eyes filled with fear and confusion. “No.
No. She couldn’t be… we… our family are the ones who put the Coven
to right.”

“
Then why did she take the pack kids?”

Marion
frowned. “What do you mean?”

Lucien
snorted. “You’re telling me you didn’t see us come to the Centre
with all the pack kids in tow?”

“
I missed your arrival.”

“
That’s a nice way to put it. Almost as if we came here by
choice.”

“
Lucien, I’m so sorry. Maybe if I could speak to
Caia-”

“
CAIA’S GONE!” He roared, causing her to stumble back in
shock.

“
Lucien,” Ryder cajoled, pulling him behind him. Ryder turned
more gently to Marion. “Caia was kidnapped before we were. Not by
your sister. We don’t know who has her.”

The witch
stiffened. “How is that possible? Are you sure it was
kidnap?”

Ryder snarled this time. “Her blood was at the scene of
the
kidnap
.”

“
Oh goddess,” Marion gasped, running her trembling hands
through her wild hair as she digested the news. Finally she looked
up, her face taut with determination. “I’ll find her.”

“
So your sister can have her killed?” Lucien spat.

Marion
appeared appalled by the idea. “No… she would never…”

“
Before you go making any statements of assurance on your
sister’s high moral standing, why don’t you go into the altar of
Gaia. To the right of the statue you’ll find a small metal stud
imbedded in the marble flooring. The slab opens up revealing an
entrance to an underground lab, where your sister is running
illegal experiments on lykan children. Possibly even
vampyres.”

A little
bit of her usual fire suddenly flared in her eyes. “I don’t believe
you.”

“
Would you believe Caia? She’s the one who found it. That’s
the reason she went to the Council. They were investigating her
claims. I guess they found out it was true, otherwise, why would
Marita have them imprisoned.”

She shook
her head, dazed… “No,” she whispered.

Lucien
sighed and stepped slowly towards her. “Marion, please. We need
your help. Please just check it out. If we’re right you have to get
us out of here, we have to free the Council and those
children.”

At her
continued silence, Lucien pushed, “Please, Marion…”

“
I have to go,” she blurted out, and just as suddenly as she
had appeared she was gone.

Ryder
looked over at him. “Do you think she’ll check it out?”

Marita
was still Head of the Coven, and despite the controversy over her
imprisonment of the Council, a good majority of the Daylight’s at
the Centre still seemed to trust her. It didn’t help matters that
she had won them a number of great victories over the last few
months (all of which were Caia’s doing but most Daylights didn’t
know that). She was a powerful being, and one with a hell of a lot
of support. It would be foolish to go against her. Especially a
Daylight. She could see the treachery coming in the trace if she
thought to look. And he was guessing Marita was keeping a close eye
on the major players, including her very own sister.

Lucien
dropped to the floor, pressing his back up against the wall. “I
don’t know. Marion is a brave woman, but sometimes going into
battle is easier than facing the awful truth.”

***

Life as a
lykan was growing increasingly dull. For instance, there were very
few ways to express yourself – there really was only so much
growling and snapping you could do. Jaeden huffed and once more
circled her mother’s legs. She felt the stroke of her mom’s fingers
through her fur and relaxed a little. Yes. She needed to relax so
she could come up with a plan. Her wolf eyes took in the pack,
excluding all six of the pack children who had been taken. She
growled again, worrying over the fate of her beautiful, innocent
niece, Jaela, and Jaela’s three cousins.

Sebastian’s parents sat in the corner clinging to one
another, the remainder of their family – Seana and Sunday – also
taken, leaving them momentarily completely childless. A sort of
numbness seemed to have descended over them and Jaeden let out a
small howl in sympathy. Her mother’s hand swept through her coat
again and she trembled, trying to rein in her anxiety. She had to
think.
Think.
The
pack were all stuck inside Lucien’s house, with a spell around it
keeping them trapped inside. She could smell five magiks
surrounding the house. There had been more when they came. Marita
utilised her opportunity well, descending on her and Ryder’s mating
celebrations as soon she realised Caia wasn’t going to come so
easily.
Caia
, she
whined. She could still smell her blood on the car outside. What
had happened to her friend? And it was bad enough being parted from
Ryder, their night stolen from them, but for the pack to lose their
Alpha… on top of having the children taken from them and not
knowing why (although she had the unsettling feeling it had
something to do with the lab Caia said she’d found). The pack were
shaken. Frightened. Desolate, without the guidance of their young
leader, and in no frame of mind to take on the Head of the Coven.
They all feared the worst, but Jae would know if something had
happened to Ryder. He was going to be OK. He and Lucien were
together, looking out for one another. Still… she would feel a lot
better if she had some kind of plan to get him back.

Hmm.

Jaeden
padded away from her mother and wandered into the kitchen. A magik
was standing on the porch, but he was a few metres from the kitchen
doors.

She was
fast. Perhaps not as fast as Caia and Lucien, but fast enough to
get past the magik.

Plus, it
wasn’t like he could do anything to her while she was in lykan
form. Her head swivelled back, gazing towards the hallway. She
wished she could tell her parents where she was going. There was
nothing for it, though…

Bracing
herself mentally, she hopped up on to the kitchen table, backing
towards the near edge.

One. Two. Three.

She sped
along the long wooden table top and as she neared the end of its
length she leapt, pushing her wolf body with enough force to smash
through the glass of the kitchen door. Ignoring the fragments of
glass that sliced through her skin and clung to her pelt, Jaeden
shot down the porch and into the woods, delighting in the outraged
shouts of the magik behind her. Five minutes into the forest she
began to feel guilty leaving the pack when she was their only
defence, but she needed to get to Vil and Laila. Three heads were
better than her lousy one, especially when it was clouded with fury
and fear.

She
followed the woods along the highway. Then came the difficult task
of keeping out of sight as she made her way through the town.
Garbage cans and cars came in handy, but when she turned up a back
alleyway a few blocks from Ryder’s apartment building she surprised
a drunk who mistook her for a dog. He kept scrambling at her and
even managed to grab her tail. With a huff of unease, Jaeden swiped
at his trouser leg, creating shallow scratches across his skin. He
howled as though he had been shredded and Jae used the moment to
bounce off the wall and soar behind him, dropping to the ground
with ease before running out of the other end of the
alley.

Making it
to the apartment led to another problem. She had to wait forever
for someone to come out of the building to get in, and sneaking
past them as if invisible was impossible. The woman who opened the
door shrieked in terror, clearly not mistaking her for anything
other than what she was. Jaeden raced up the staircase and slammed
into Ryder’s door, hoping Vil would be suspicious enough to check
the peephole. That woman would be calling animal control and she
really needed to be back in human form before they got
there.

Her
racing heart almost stopped when the door peeled away from the jamb
slowly and cautiously. She didn’t give him a second to hesitate.
She threw herself into the gap and past him with her lykan
strength, and gave a wolfy laugh at Vil’s shocked.
“Hey!”

She shot
past a startled Laila, who dived out of her way, and loped into
Ryder’s room, his cent enveloping her and bringing her anger back
to the surface.

She
missed him.

He had only been gone a little over 24 hours but she missed
him with every molecule of her being. She wished he was here.
Helping her through this. She whacked the door shut for privacy and
began to change, revelling in the burn and crack of the
transformation. Finally, she lay in human form, her body drenched
in sweat. That was the fastest she had ever gone through the
change. At the sounds of Vil and Laila’s anxious whispering Jae
struggled to her feet and began rummaging through Ryder’s clothes.
She found a large
Death Cab
t-shirt and a pair of shorts, the waist of which
was held up with one of his belts. She opened the bedroom door only
to be confronted by Vil, who in his nervousness shot out a stream
of energy. She felt a wave of nausea overcome her.

“
Jaeden!” He yelped and suddenly the overwhelming feeling
disappeared. “I’m so sorry… we just… I was…”

“
It’s OK,” she assured him, brushing off his apology. “I get
it. It’s OK.”

“
Are you alright?” Laila approached her cautiously.
“Something… is wrong… yes?”

“
You bet.”

After
ushering them into the sitting room, Jaeden explained the full
scope of the situation.

Vil paled
considerably. “What are we going to do?”

Jaeden
looked at them wide-eyed. “I don’t suppose you guys would consider
helping me take those guards out?”

“
Of course.”

“
What? Are you crazy?”

Both
replies were said in unison. Jaeden laughed. She wasn’t surprised.
For all her gentleness and appearance of fragility, Laila was brave
and strong from her experiences. Vil… well, he just didn’t want
anything bad to happen to Laila.

A new
voice entered the fray, “Yes. She is crazy. But that’s why I’ve
always liked her.”

She
gasped along with her companions and turned to find Reuben standing
in the doorway. Oh Reuben, thank the gods! He would help. He could
get the gang. Just as these thoughts rushed through her, and just
as she was about to throw her arms around him in delight, another
figure stepped into the doorway. Smaller. More feminine. But just
as familiar.

Jaeden
lurched to a stop. Oh thank goddess.

A slow
grin spread across her face. “Caia?”

5 –
Sacrifice

It was
strange to find herself at this age so lost and afraid. It was
strange to find that she was so unsure at any age, as she had
always found confidence in who she was and the powerful family she
belonged to. Marion trembled, drawing in a deep breath as she sank
into a wooden pew in the front of the statue of Gaia. Having
spotted the metal stud in the marble flooring that Lucien had
spoken of, Marion was now taking a moment to decide what to do; if
in fact there was anything she could do.

That
morning Marita had held a meeting in the largest of the training
rooms, requesting the presence of everyone who lived, worked and
trained or served at the Centre. There had been much upset when
Marita had imprisoned the Council; some fighting broke out but they
had managed to deal with the people responsible and had put them
out of the Centre. All portals known to outsiders were shut off
after Daylights (the families of Council members to be exact) had
gotten into the Centre with the sole purpose of rescuing the
prisoners. There would be more rescue attempts, they were sure, as
the news took its time to reach other Daylight supernaturals around
the world. Marita had to act fast to prove the Council’s treachery…
or a war within the coven would begin. So far, luckily for Marita,
none of the Daylights had taken the time to be organised and their
attempts were shut down immediately by Marita’s soldiers. But
unrest within the Centre itself was growing anew. Marion had wanted
it to, had wanted some sense shaken into her sister. How could
Marita hold Pack Errante against their will? How could she hunt
Caia? It was… insane.

The
meeting, however, had done nothing to soothe Marion’s fears.
Although there was discontent, primarily amongst Caia’s friends
within the Travellers and lykans, Marita had managed to contain the
threat of rioting by announcing her plans to create a new Council –
assuring everyone she had no intention of turning the Daylight
Coven into an autocracy. Moreover, some seemed willing to accept
her claims that Caia was working for the Midnights and that she had
convinced the Council, with her supreme powers, to work against the
Daylights. Why wouldn’t they believe her? Marita was part of a
noble family, had been their faithful leader for years. And more
importantly, it was becoming apparent there was still a great many
Daylights who were just as ruthless in their belief as she was.
They would do anything to win the war, to destroy Midnights, and it
was only now Marion was realising that meant sacrificing their own.
How could Marion possibly stand against her sister and such
odds?