Blood Solstice: Part Three in the Tale of Lunarmorte (8 page)

But this…
if Lucien was speaking the truth about the children? Oh Goddess.
Who was she to trust? Her sister was clearly maniacal at this point
and Caia had been lying to her for weeks.

You have to look. You have to know for yourself.

Heaving the weightiest of sighs, Marion stood. Her legs
trembled so badly she had to grasp the pew behind her. She took a
moment to bolster her courage, to remind herself of
whom
she was, how strong
she had always been. She couldn’t let her strength desert her now…
now when she needed it the most.

With
tentative steps she stood above the marble slab. Very slowly and
gently she pressed her finger on the near invisible
stud.

Whoosh!

She
watched, silently horrified, as it opened, a blast of cool air
whipping across her skin. Peering down into the sub-basement, dread
settled in her stomach. Quietly she made her way down the ladders
attached to the wall and found herself standing in what looked like
a hospital corridor. Like a surreal nightmare it felt as if she
wandered forever through white hallways, garishly lit with
fluorescent lighting, her heeled boots echoing ominously as she
approached what was sure to be an unwanted reality. The next
corridor she turned down into was different than the others, wider.
A door sat adjacent to a large viewing window.

Another
door further up the corridor on the opposite side, another
window.

Her chest
reverberated with the pounding of her heart and she clutched her
stomach at the welling of nausea and fear. Her heart began to race
out of all control and then stopped as the words on the door shot
through her with the impact of a shotgun blast.

Laboratory 1: lykanthrope

Oh Gaia, no.
No.
She squeezed her eyes shut. No, her sister couldn’t be
capable of this.

Anger,
unlike anything she had felt for it was mixed with the cruellest of
disappointment, surged through her, and she took the door knob in
hand and thrust it open.

“
Hey! You can’t be-” a magik in a lab coat rushed at her, only
to be cut off as she blasted him against the far wall with enough
force to render him unconscious. He slumped helplessly to the
ground, papers flying up and then fluttering slowly to the floor
all around him. Tears filled her eyes at the sight before her.
Seven frightened children stared back at her from within cages,
wide-eyed and pale.

“
Marion?” a child whispered and she stumbled back in
recognition. It was Seana Trey, and in the cage next to her was
Joaquin Barton. They were Pack Errante kids. Oh Gaia. Oh
Hades…

“
I didn’t want you to find out like this.”

Marion
whirled around to face her sister whose eyes seemed to plead with
her.

“
This isn’t what it looks like.”

“
Where are the others?” Marion asked numbly. “Where are the
other pack children?”

“
They’re safe… in another lab further down.”

“
Safe? How so? They’re being experimented upon! This is
completely immoral, not to mention illegal!”

Marita
sighed. “Illegal to whom? There is no longer a Council, Marion. I
am the law now.”

“
What are you doing?” Marion cried. “This isn’t you. You
wouldn’t do this. You wouldn’t torture and experiment upon innocent
children!”

Marita
flinched. “I’m not torturing them.”

Marion
gazed at her aghast. Had her sister gone completely mad? “What do
you call putting them in cages?”

Her
sister’s shoulders slumped, her marble poise deserting her under
some invisible crushing weight. “Certain sacrifices have to be
made, sister. Don’t you see? Before Caia, the Midnights were
winning.”

“
Oh goddess, Marita, if father knew who he had left to the run
the Coven-”

“
Father!” Marita spat. “
He
was the one who told me things needed to
change.
He
was
the one who told me we needed to be more ruthless in our dealings.”
She smirked as if enjoying her latest revelation. “Father was the
one who left the plans for the laboratories. He believed that
experimenting with genetics was the only way to win the war. And he
was right. If the Midnight’s were winning before Caia… with her… we
will be destroyed. But these children are the key.”

Marion
shook her head in denial. “How on earth could he think that? How
can you?”

“
Because he was proven right.”

Marion
stared at her blankly.

Her
sister smiled. “Jaeden. She has telekinetic abilities, has had ever
since her time with Ethan.”

“
He tortured her! Do you intend to do the same to these
children?!”

The look
of outrage she was hoping to see appear on Marita’s face at the
mere suggestion did not, and in that moment it felt as if her
entire world was shattering into a million unglue-able
pieces.

“
I am hoping it will not come to that. But if it does… so be
it. We need an army of ‘Caias’ to win, and if we can’t have that
then the next best thing is an army of ‘Jaedens’.”

“
This is madness. We were winning. With Caia on our side we
were winning!”

“
No! That filthy Midnight bitch was never on our side! She
went to the Council to have me killed so she could be Head of the
Coven! Head of both Covens, Marion… do you have any idea how
powerful that would have made her?”

Marion
felt the tears running down her cheeks. “She went to the Council
because of what she found down here. She would have saved us,
Marita. It was prophesised-”

“
It was not! It was prophesised that her birth would bring an
end to the war… it didn’t say how.”

Marion
shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. She would have saved us. Now
we’ll be lucky if she doesn’t turn to the Midnights for what you’ve
done. Let them go. Let the Council go. We’ll plead your case. It’ll
be OK. I promise.”

Marita’s
pinched expression gave way to disgust. She glared at Marion with
such rage that Marion knew… for Marita there was no going
back.

“
You are either with me, or against me.”

Marion
straightened, her steel spine suddenly finding itself again. “Then
I’m against you.”

For a
moment an utter sadness flitted across her sister’s face. And then
just as suddenly it was replaced with anger. “Then I’m
afrai-”

Marion
didn’t give her time to finish. She gathered all her strength and
pushed her energy force out at her sister, knocking the witch off
her feet and out of the door, only to smash her against the
opposite corridor wall. With a sweep of her arm she created a high
wall of fire across the doorway and turned to the children, melting
each lock on the seven cages.

The
children were frightened by the height and heat of the flames at
her back and she found herself hurriedly coaxing them out of their
cages. What she was about to do no one had ever survived… but the
children… the children would be OK. There wasn’t any other
way.

“
Marion!” Her sister shrieked.

“
Hold tight to me,” she urged the children, grasping them
roughly to her, making sure each little hand clasped her
arms.

The pain
was excruciating. A communication spell should never be used to
transport more than two beings, the kind of power needed to do so
could rip a person apart, and that, coupled with the fear of
hurting any of the children, only made the agonising burning in
every molecule of her being that much fierier.

At the
sudden silence she opened her eyes and gasped in relief. They had
made it. Saffron blinked back at her from her perch on her sofa.
They were in Saffron’s home, a place she knew for some mysterious
reason, Marita could never find in her trace. And Saffron was
incredibly choosy about who was invited.

One of
the children suddenly brought her attention back to them as he
threw up on her boot.

“
What?” Saffron yelped and moved towards them. She blurred
across Marion’s vision, and the room began to slowly turn itself
upside down. She burned like ice all over. The pain. It was just
too much.

“
Marion!”

Her body
began to fall apart, her mind with it, and she descended into the
darkest of peace.

***

Caia
almost jumped back in shock as Jaeden rushed at her, but was
pleasantly surprised as her friend’s arms tightened around her,
pulling her into a suffocating hug.

“
Oh gods, am I ever glad to see you!”

Caia
smiled and gently pried her back at arm’s length. “Blame Reuben for
my sudden disappearance. He’s the one who kidnapped me.”

Jaeden
hissed at the revelation and turned to stab Reuben with her
ferocious glare. “What exactly does that mean?”

Caia
momentarily ignored her to smile at Laila and Vil, who were quietly
watching them all. “You guys OK?”

They
nodded mutely.

“
Caia?” Jae demanded.

“
Sit down. Please. This needs to be quick.”

Despite
that statement it took a little longer than she had hoped to
explain everything, especially with Reuben jumping in constantly to
fill in the parts she had missed out. She finally got through the
tale when his cell rang and he went off into the other room to
speak with Nikolai. When he returned he hadn’t looked concerned so
Caia had continued on. Whilst Vil and Laila were looking on with
ever-growing fascination, she could see Jaeden turn a shade darker
with rage as the tale unfolded. When Reuben explained how he had
masked Vil’s trace so Marita couldn’t find them, Caia almost rolled
her eyes at the hero worship in their gaze.

“
Wow.” Vil smiled widely at Reuben, his pale eyes glittering
in fascination. “You masked my trace? Thank you.”

“
From us both,” Laila added sweetly.

“
Hey, hey!” Jae jumped to her feet, a growl burrowing out from
the back of her throat. “Don’t thank him!” She turned on Reuben,
her eyes brimming with outrage and hurt. “You tricked me. Lied to
me.
Used
me!”

Caia was
completely unsurprised by his stoic nod and matter-of-fact
response, “Yes.”

Jaeden
stilled.

Oh goddess
, Caia groaned
inwardly.

“
Yes?” Jae whispered. “Yes? That’s all you have to say. I
could kill you!”

As she
lunged towards him Caia threw up an invisible barrier between them
causing Jae to bounce gently back off of it. She snarled and
whipped around to glare at her.

Caia
shrugged wearily. “Believe me, it was for your own
good.”

Her
friend snorted. “Like he would dare hit me back.”

I wouldn’t be so sure.
Caia raised
an eyebrow and they both looked at Reuben who shrugged. “If the
attack is unprovoked… I hit back.”

“
Unprovoked,” Jae spluttered.

For Gaia’s sake.

“
Jeez, Reuben, could you at least try here?” Caia
pleaded.

“
OK, maybe she’s been a little provoked.”

“
You used her. She thought you were her friend.”

“
She
is standing right here,” Jaeden
snapped.

Reuben shrugged again. “I
am
her friend. It was just… necessary. I don’t
apologise for what is necessary.”

Jae
snorted. “Oh.” She crossed her arms over her chest defensively.
“So, coming on to me was necessary was it?”

Well...
Caia hadn’t known about that part.

Reuben
grinned. “Nah, that was just fun.”

“
You’re a creep.”

“
I’ve been called worse.”

Sure that
if she let them, their argument would continue on into the wee
hours of the morning, Caia stood up to interrupt, “If we’re done,
may I suggest we get a move on.”

“
Please.” Reuben nodded.

Jaeden
didn’t look too happy about her grievance being dismissed so
casually but she nodded reluctantly along with Vil and Laila and
sat back down again. “What’s the plan?”

Taking a
deep breath, Caia began to lay it out for them. “First we approach
the families of the Council members who have been imprisoned.
Believe me they will be happy to help. Second-”

“
Wait,” Vil suddenly interrupted, “I know Reuben is masking my
trace, but how on earth can we contact all those people without
Marita being alerted to it?”

The
vampyre’s expression didn’t change. He responded blandly, “I’m
masking a number of traces at the moment. Another few shouldn’t be
a problem.”

“
Another few,” Jaeden grunted, “We’re talking about at least
ten magiks.”

“
More actually.” Caia sighed. “After we gather some magiks
from that group, I’m going to approach the MacLachlans for help.
Including Phoebe, they have another four lykans amongst them
capable of fighting. After that we’re returning to Lucien’s, where
Reuben will mask the trace of the guards and the entire pack so
Marita won’t be alerted to the fact that we’ve taken the guards out
and rescued the pack.”