Moonlight(Pact Arcanum 3) (25 page)

“You will present our proposal to the Guild?”

“Yes.”

“The Nexus thanks you for your service, Rafael Tervilant.”

Rafael turned around, his eyes red in barely controlled fury. “I’m not doing it for you.”

“Even so.”

Rafael growled. “Turn it off, Ballista.”

The virtual screen winked out.

Rafael turned back to the window, looking out at the uncaring stars.
No comfort there.

His AI spoke into the silence. “A large data file has been uploaded to your workstation.”

Rafael took a deep breath and let it out, then walked to his computer terminal. “Show me.”

CHAPTER 32

December 2042; the Citadel, Lunar Farside; One month later

Jeremy sat quietly in the block of seats designated for family, ignoring the soft music of the chamber orchestra as he tried to get Antonio to drink from the bottle of formula in his hand. The infant kept pushing it away, however, projecting an image of a red square into Jeremy’s thoughts, which they had all come to understand meant ‘no’. Finally, Jeremy gave up and put the bottle down on the chair next to him.

“So this is the Miracle Child.”

Jeremy looked up at Lorcan. “He keeps saying he’s hungry, but he won’t drink.”

Lorcan watched Antonio with narrowed eyes, seeing the baby’s irises shift from yellow to green. The child’s disorderly shock of white hair was a stark contrast to his tan skin, a few shades darker than Jeremy’s. “Can I hold him?”

Jeremy shrugged. “Sure. I don’t think Toby or Layla would mind, and my arms are starting to get tired.”

Lorcan sat in the seat next to Jeremy, and gently lifted Antonio from Jeremy’s grasp. As he settled the baby against his shoulder, Lorcan looked at Jeremy again. “How did you get roped into nursemaid duty? I thought you hated children.”

Jeremy snorted as he fitted a plastic cap over the tip of the bottle of formula. “I don’t hate children. I just find the responsibility of being around them to be a little intimidating. You always have to be so careful.”

“So why ask you to babysit?” Lorcan’s voice sounded amused while he rocked Antonio back and forth.

“I’m the family member of last resort. Nick is trying to keep Toby from having a nervous breakdown, and his mom and Faith are off with Layla, doing whatever secret things women do at weddings.”

Lorcan laughed softly. “As I recall, your own wedding was a somewhat simpler affair.” The Daywalker gazed around the rest of the Conservatory, the amphitheater at the apex of the central tower of the Citadel. The guests mingled in small groups in the aisles or sat in the tiered seats to listen to the orchestra. Overhead, the stars blazed brightly from the black sky beyond the armored glass dome.

Jeremy grinned, remembering. “We didn’t want much. Just enough ceremony to make everything legal and room to host the reception afterward. Nick always had a soft spot for the Embassy in Ottawa.” He glanced at the guests seated in the seats above them. “Any plans Toby had to keep this small went right out the window as soon as Layla and Mrs. Jameson put their heads together.”

“Nemesis always had a flair for the dramatic,” Lorcan said with a smile. He glanced down at Antonio and noticed the baby’s half-closed eyes had turned blue. “Have you noticed any pattern to the color of his eyes, or is it random?”

“Yellow is hungry, green is satisfaction, and blue is happiness.” Jeremy watched the baby’s eyes close while Lorcan continued his smooth back-and-forth motion. “I’m impressed, Ruarc. He doesn’t usually take to strangers quickly. You’re a natural.”

“I helped raise my sister’s child when I was mortal.” He stroked his index finger under the baby’s chin. “Some things don’t change.”

Antonio’s eyes opened, and he moved his head to catch Lorcan’s finger in his mouth. Lorcan stared at the baby’s eyes when they locked with his.

They were red.

A sharp pain stabbed through Lorcan’s hand, and suddenly he felt a blood magic bridge open in his mind. An image came to his mind of Toby smiling, and he was suddenly awash in a sea of warmth. The image shifted and he saw Layla, while the pervasive emotion changed to something softer, more contented. The bridge faded when Antonio opened his mouth and released Lorcan’s finger, revealing a pair of fangs that would have done any vampire proud. Then the sharp teeth retracted into the baby’s empty gums and disappeared, his eyes shifting back to blue when the lids closed and he went to sleep.

Lorcan stared down at the puncture marks on his finger until they healed, and then he wiped away the blood with his thumb. Turning his head, he looked into Jeremy’s stunned face.

“Do we tell them about this now, or should we wait until after the ceremony?”

Marina District, San Francisco, California

Andrea examined Noah’s midnight blue tuxedo critically. “What is that, a rental?”

Noah tugged at the collar of his shirt, trying to get comfortable. “Hey, I don’t do formal much. I have only one suit in my whole wardrobe.”

Matt laughed. “You should have taken Nick up on his offer to have it fitted, man.” He looked in the mirror once more to settle the bow tie more precisely over his perfectly tailored tux. “What good is having friends with money if you don’t take advantage once in a while?”

Ethan snorted as he looked out the window of Toby’s apartment. “We have money, Matthew.”

Matt grinned at him. “Not
vampire
money. Did you read that story in the paper about Nick’s finances? They say he has billions of dollars hidden away, all over the world.”

Andrea sighed. “Guys, if you’re ready, we have to get going. We’re already late, and we’re all in the wedding party, for God’s sake.”

Ethan and Matt walked to the teleport gateway in the center of the room. Noah joined them after giving his jacket a final tug to settle it on his shoulders. Andrea looked them over and decided they were presentable, then ordered her AI to jump them to the Citadel.

They were enshrouded in a soft white glow that washed away their surroundings. When it cleared, they were standing on the glowing blue design of the Citadel master gateway, beneath a clear dome that allowed them to see the perpetual night sky. Andrea looked around and found Rafael waiting patiently at the edge of the gateway, beyond the transmission core pillars. She snapped her fingers to draw the musicians’ attention and led them to meet the Nightwalker.

Rafael smiled at them. “Took you long enough. I thought we were going to have to send out a search party.”

Ethan shrugged. “A traffic accident held us up from meeting Andrea and Noah at Toby’s apartment. Not all of us can teleport, you know.”

Rafael stared at Ethan with an unreadable expression. “No, I suppose not,” he said finally. “Since none of you have been to the Citadel before, Toby asked me to be your guide. Is there anything you need before we head up to the Conservatory? Security is tight, since the entire Council is attending, so you probably won’t be able to leave once we arrive.” He glanced from face to face and nodded. “All right, follow me.”

Rafael climbed up onto one of the raised disks that surrounded the master gateway and waited until the others had joined him. “Ballista, initiate transit for five to tower alpha one, Conservatory level.”

“Armistice Security has restricted access to tower alpha one for the duration of this event. Identify.”

Each responded with the unique security codes that had been issued to all of wedding attendees. The AI was silent for a few seconds before speaking again. “The security codes and voiceprints are confirmed. Teleport ready.”

“Execute.”

The flash of white light came again, and they found themselves in an open space surrounding the upper level of the amphitheater. The crowd of wedding guests had thoughtfully left a clear space around the area of the teleport gateway, but the rest of the space was packed with attendees from all over the Armistice, others of Toby’s human friends, and a few of Layla’s trusted allies from within the Court of Shadows. The background noise of their conversations filled the acoustically perfect space, free of the muffled quality created by the mystically reprocessed atmosphere that filled the rest of the Citadel. Here, the oxygen from the Arboretum on the second level kept the air fresh.

The five of them stepped off the gateway, and Rafael led them toward one of the wide staircases, which led down to the stage at the base of the amphitheater. While they walked, however, Andrea caught a mental ripple of surprise rolling through the crowd. Just when they reached the stairs, she touched Rafael’s arm. “Wait.” He turned his head to look quizzically at her, but stopped and waited until the other three joined them.

Andrea looked around while the sound of conversation dropped away. Several of the guests stared openly at them, their faces showing various expressions of shock.

Noah was the first of the three musicians to notice something wrong. He raised a hand to silence Ethan and Matt’s conversation. More of the guests had begun to face them, and it was obvious that the three humans were the focus of their regard. Uncomfortable at the harsh scrutiny, he glanced at Andrea. “What’s going on?”

Andrea looked intently at the guests, feeling the crowd’s jumbled surface thoughts. They were mostly surprised, and some were … awestruck? She focused her attention on Noah, and the bottom dropped out of her world when she saw
exactly
what the others had, and what it meant.

“Oh, God,” she said with a quick exhale.

The four men watched her in confusion. “What is it?” asked Rafael.

Andrea extended her mind to find the psychic signature she needed.
“Takeshi.”

The Sentinel answered immediately.
“What is it, Andrea?”

“We have a problem. I need your help as Director of Armistice Security. Is there a secure location nearby where we can meet?”

“Of course. We can use the Arboretum. The whole area has been cleared for security reasons. What’s wrong?”

“Meet us in the Arboretum, then. Bring Rory and Layla, as well.”

Takeshi’s tone sharpened.
“What’s wrong, Andrea?”

“If Rory is with you, ask him to look into your eyes and tell you what he sees.”

Takeshi was silent for a few seconds.
“We’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”

Andrea turned back to the others. “Rafael, can you show us the way to the Arboretum? We need to have a serious discussion.”

Rafael nodded and led them back to the gateway as the wedding guests silently watched. “Ballista—transit us to the Arboretum level.”

They were suddenly standing in an open space surrounded by lush greenery. Andrea walked away from the group and sat on one of the marble benches. She sighed when she looked into the expectant faces of the other four.

“Would someone like to tell me what’s going on?” Noah asked, his voice edged with irritation.

She faced Rafael. “Raf, are you shielding your aura right now?”

Rafael raised an eyebrow. “Of course not. This is the Citadel, not the outside world. There are no latents here.”

“Yes, there are,” Ethan said in a quiet voice, staring fixedly at Matt and Noah. “Or at least, there were.”

Matt’s head snapped around to stare at Andrea. “Sentinels? We’re Sentinels?”

Andrea nodded.

Noah shook his head in denial. “No. No way. Toby wouldn’t have kept that from us.”

Rafael closed his eyes and turned away from the others. “He wouldn’t have known. Only an Air Sentinel or a vampire reading you by direct physical contact with his senses open can easily detect a Sentinel before the Gift kindles. Toby would have had to test you with a spell with specific intent to identify you.”

Matt sputtered. “Then why didn’t he go ahead and test us?”

“He was supposed to,” Andrea said. “It’s a standard precaution before bringing any human into a Free People facility. We assumed that Toby had tested you for latency before bringing you to Anchorpoint when Antonio was born.”

Ethan sighed. “He was pretty distracted. I guess he forgot.”

Noah threw up his hands. “That’s just great! Come to a party and stay forever. Could this get any worse?”

“Yes, it can,” said Rory.

They all turned around to find the Triumvirate standing on the teleport gateway behind them. Rory and Take were dressed in matching black and gray tuxedos with the seal of House Jiao-long stitched on the breast pockets. Layla wore an elegant gown of white silk, discreetly edged with lace and pearls, a sheer veil hanging down her back from a headband of filigreed silver. Rory looked carefully at Noah, Matt, and Ethan in turn.

Rafael stood straight when he faced the Triumvirate. “It’s not an Armistice violation if they kindled by entering a Free People facility of their own volition. You can’t penalize Toby for this.”

Takeshi frowned. “He broke protocol by not testing them before bringing them to Anchorpoint. If they’d kindled then, he’d be on the hook for a class three breach.” He looked at the three musicians. “But that’s not the worst of it.”

Matt swallowed. “What then?”

Rory took a deep breath. “In every generation, the Winds have always found each other.”

Noah’s eyes went wide. “Oh, Christ. You can’t be serious.”

Rory looked at Matt. “The Wind of Water.” He faced Noah again. “The Wind of Earth.” Then he looked directly at Ethan. “And you know what you are already.”

Matt blinked and looked at Ethan. “What does that mean?”

Ethan said nothing, just stared at the floor.

Rory smiled, showing his fangs. “The Wind of Fire kindled earlier in the year, but we never found him.”

Takeshi scowled at Ethan. “We thought you were wearing a psychic inhibitor to shield your mind, but you weren’t, were you? You’re doing it yourself, just like you’re concealing your Gift so that none of us can see what you are.”

Ethan raised his gaze to meet Takeshi’s. “Yes.”

Noah growled and stalked toward his bandmate with his fists clenched.

Layla raised her hand imperiously, and Noah smacked into a wall of hardened air. “There will be no violence at my wedding,” she stated.