Blood Solstice: Part Three in the Tale of Lunarmorte (9 page)

“
That’s at least forty people, how-”

“
Maybe more,” Reuben interrupted, irritation bubbling under
his tone, “It’s not a problem.”

“
Oh yeah, I forgot you’re like a million years old or
something. It’s completely gross how decrepit you are… thank
goddess I didn’t go down that road. Ugh, can you
imagine-”

“
Jae,” Caia warned and her friend’s eyes glittered back darkly
as if Caia had betrayed her. “I know you’re angry, you have every
right to be. But I need us all acting as a team if we’re going to
do what we’re about to do.”

“
Which is what exactly?” Laila enquired quietly.

“
We’re going to break Lucien, Ryder, the pack children and the
Council out of the Centre’s prison… and then we’re going to take
the Centre from Marita.”

“
Holy-”

“
No frickin’-”

“
Oh my-”

“
Be quiet,” Reuben’s cold voice rumbled around the room like
an earthquake. Silence settled in its wake.

Caia rolled her eyes at him but refrained from commenting.
“Look, we can do this. Vanne told us that I still have a few
followers in the Centre, including a lot of the Travellers. He’s
very kindly re-opened the portal at
Magic
Fitness
so we can get in. We’ll go over
the strategy for takeover once we have everyone assembled and ready
to fight.”

“
You really think this will work?” Jaeden bit her lip
nervously.

“
As long as we can get the Council out, then yes.”

Suddenly
a blur of colour erupted in front of Ryder’s television and Saffron
was before them, her usually expressionless face twisted in rage…
and grief.

Reuben
was the first to shoot out of his chair.

“
Saffron?” He queried, striding towards her quickly. She
braced a hand against his chest, her fingers curling into his
shirt. Her uncharacteristic display of emotion put Caia on
immediate alert.

“
Reuben,” she hissed, her wide blue eyes searching his. “It’s
Marion.”

Caia felt
her breath leave her. “Marion. What about Marion?”

Saffron
realised they weren’t alone and let go of Reuben’s shirt. She
didn’t move away from him, however, their body language betraying
their close relationship. “Caia.” She nodded deferentially at her.
“Marion is… I tried everything but…”

“
What’s happened to her?” Caia demanded, fear pulsing through
her veins. Not Marion, not Marion. Please…

“
The children told me she found them in their cages in some
lab. That Marita appeared and Marion fought her before bringing the
children to me via a communication spell. I was just lounging at
home when she appeared before me with five children gripping onto
her. And then she collapsed. She... couldn’t withstand the energy
depletion created by travelling with five other beings.”

Grief
marred Saffron’s every word and Caia shook her head in denial. “No.
Take me to her.”

“
Caia-” Reuben tried to interrupt.

“
No!” She yelled, angry tears blurring her vision.

“
She’s gone, Caia,” Saffron whispered, her own tears rolling
quietly down her cheeks. “She’s dead.”

6 –
Compartmentalising

“
I can’t take much more of this man,” Ryder’s grumble reached
him from his place on the floor. The Hunter was sitting with his
back against the cold brick wall, his knees drawn to his chest and
his head tilted back to stare blankly at the ceiling. Lucien
wondered if the ceiling was any more interesting than the blank
wall he was staring at from his seat on the metal bench at the back
of the cell. Another few hours passed and yet it could have been
days. Their constant worrying over Caia and the pack had filled the
cell with so much tension Lucien was sure one spark would blow the
whole place up.

“
I can’t hear anyone else down here, can you?” Lucien asked
softly.

“
Nope. Not a damn thing.”

Lucien
grunted. They had tried to let the change happen, to shift into
lykan form numerous times, but there was no getting around the
spell cast around the cell preventing them from doing it. This
helplessness was sure to drive him crazy. If not that, then the
constant images of Caia would. He growled and threw his memory of
finding her blood on the car out of his mind.

“
Lucien?”

“
I’m OK.”

“
Uh-huh. Just think about other stuff.”

Despite
his dismal mood he found himself smirking at his friend. “It is
scary how well you know me.”

Ryder chuckled. “Nah, it’s just scary how other people think
you’re
actually
hard to read.”

Scowling, Lucien scoffed, “I am hard to read. I’ve
perfected
being
hard to read. If I wasn’t, Caia wouldn’t have taken so damn
long to come to her senses now, would she?”

“
Not to criticise your mate, but she’s kinda dense when it
comes to you. I mean… she’s attracted to you for a
start.”

“
I could say the same thing about Jaeden.”

“
When Jae agreed to be my mate she provided the world with an
example of her supreme intellectual and emotional
superiority.”

Lucien
snorted. “I’d like-”

“
Ssh,” Ryder interrupted gesturing for him to be silent. He
jumped to his feet noiselessly.

Immediately Lucien’s own ears perked up, and he heard the
sounds of footsteps approaching. They shared a wary glance just
before Marita appeared before them. His heart, seeming to perceive
something he didn’t, began to pump loudly in his chest at the sight
of her. Usually so together, so coiffed, Marita stood before them
somewhat dishevelled, her eyes filled with a war of
emotions.

“
I’ve come to update you,” she informed them crisply,
hollowly. “My sister, under your suggestion, found the laboratory.
She was… unwilling to reach an agreement with me and foolishly
tried to fight me off.” She stopped as if trying to compose
herself, and when she looked back at him he was almost knocked off
his feet by the fury he saw there. “She took the children on a
suicide mission.”

Ryder
tensed just as he did. Lucien cleared his throat, hating to ask.
“What does that mean?”

Marita
hissed like a snake readying to strike. “She did a communication
spell with five children clinging to her. I know her destination
was her faerie Saffron’s, where despite much investigation I’ve
never been able to find – treacherous bitch. I know she reached
there.” She stiffened and bleakness flashed across her eyes before
disappearing altogether. “I know the children survived. I know she
died. The spell is too much for any witch or warlock, no matter how
powerful.”

What? Was
she saying…?

“
Is…” he shared a brief look of horror with Ryder, “Is Marion
dead?”

Marita
nodded, her lips pinched cruelly. “Thanks to you.”

His blood boiled instantly. “Thanks to me?! Thanks to
you!
What am I supposed
to tell Caia?! I will kill you for this! I will-”

His last
words were cut off as he was blasted back against the wall, his
head connecting with eye-watering accuracy on one of the shelving
units. He slumped to the floor trying to focus his vision. In all
that pain all he could think about was how devastated Caia was
going to be. Marion meant the world to her.

“
I don’t care what Caia thinks,” Marita clipped. “She
was
my
sister.
This is
my
pain,
not
hers
! Any
thoughts I had of granting that little perversion of nature you
call a mate mercy is gone now. She is the reason our Coven is
falling apart, that my sister, one of the greatest magiks of our
time, killed herself trying to save some low-bred lykan
pups!”

“
Do you hear yourself?” Ryder countered, as Lucien got to his
feet. “You sound like a Midnight.”

Marita
flinched. “How dare you? I have no racial prejudice against other
species, but no society, natural or supernatural, can survive
without class order. My sister, a witch of noble lineage, should
not have had to die for five common lykans.”

A growl
erupted from Lucien’s chest so suddenly he was just as taken aback
as the insane witch in front of him. “Your sister was a hero. She
has upheld her place within your ‘noble lineage’ as you call it.
You… have shit all over it. And you can bet when you travel to the
Underworld the dead won’t be as understanding as the idiots in this
Centre pandering to your lunacy.”

She made
no comment but he was satisfied by the paling pallor of her skin.
She narrowed her eyes and straightened her shoulders, pretending
his words hadn’t affected her. “I just came to warn you that your
time is nearly up. I will be executing the Council in a few days
and with it… I will be executing you. By then I hope to have found
your precious mate so she can witness your death. Before I send her
to her own.”

***

She
couldn’t catch her breath. She could feel the others hovering
outside the bedroom door, their worry and grief adding to the thick
claustrophobia she felt clawing at her throat. How could Marion be
dead?

A sob caught in the back of her throat, but she refused to
let the tears spill. They all thought she was in here crying her
heart out but in truth she was trying to plug the hole the death
had made in it. She was trying to force her brain to switch off, to
pretend that Marion was alive, that she hadn’t died trying to
protect the children
she
had left alone down in that lab. Oh goddess, it
was like losing Sebastian all over again.

No,
she snarled at herself,
physically shaking her head as if she could empty the thoughts
right out of her ears.

“
Caia,” Reuben’s cool voice filtered through the
door.

She took
a deep breath. She could do this. She had no other choice but to do
this. Slowly, she made her way to the door and peeled it open,
unsurprised by the four anxious faces staring back at her. Caia
frowned. “Where is Saffron?”

Jaeden’s
lip trembled a little. “She’s gone back to look after the children.
She’s keeping them safe whilst we…” she stopped, her huge blue eyes
glimmering with pity. “Caia, are you going to be OK?”

She
shouldered past them, quite a feat considering how small she was
compared to the three of them acting as a wall. “I don’t want to
discuss it.”

“
But, Cy-”

“
I said I don’t want to discuss it.” She whirled around on
them, completely unaware of how much she looked and sounded like a
young queen commanding her army to obey. Jaeden stiffened a little
but nodded, clamping her mouth shut. Reuben was staring at Caia in
admiration (unnerving, to say the least) whilst Vil merely looked
uncomfortable. Laila, however, slowly made her way towards her and
Caia braced herself. If the girl said anything comforting she knew
she was going to fall apart. But the Midnight merely placed a
soothing hand on her shoulder and said softly, “We should go to the
Council member’s families at once, Caia.”

At her
touch, an almost medicinal peace flowed through her and the lump at
the back of her throat eased, her lungs opened up allowing the air
to flow freely.

“
You’re right.” She nodded stoically, feeling far more
confident she could continue on with the plan, despite her
grief.

Jaeden
strode forward, the pity gone from her face to be replaced with a
far more familiar determination and mulishness. “We aren’t going
anywhere until we rescue the pack.”

“
Jaeden-” Reuben began to warn her, but Caia help a hand up to
quiet him. She took a brief moment to enjoy the little power she
had over the formidable vampyre.

“
She’s right.” Caia nodded. “We’re taking the pack back
first.”

“
That gives us less time to gather the families of the Council
and the MacLachlan pack.”

“
How so?” Jae glared at him.

“
Because Marita must be checking in with her guards that
surround the pack. What happens when she checks in and she gets no
answer?”

Jae
curled her lip sardonically. “What… you can’t muddle their trace
with that little masking trick of yours so that she thinks
everything is OK?”

“
Uh…” Reuben stopped and scowled at her. “Yes. I can do
that.”

Jaeden
chortled at her little victory. “Not so much with the smarts, are
you?”

“
I’ve just been given very trying news. Marion was a good
person and a portentous ally. Forgive me if I’m not thinking
straight.”

At the
mention of the witch they all tensed, waiting for Caia to react.
She glared at the vampyre. “The big bad vampyre, who would
sacrifice his own children for this war, actually feels
grief?”

His dark
eyes narrowed, and quite suddenly he looked nothing like a young
gang leader and very much like a dangerously old being that could
rip them all apart in seconds. “Don’t provoke me, Caia. I am not in
the mood.”