River Cast: Part Two in the Tale of Lunarmorte (28 page)

Maybe Marita
was just praying.
Maybe I’m being a
paranoid idiot
.

Maybe you
should hurry up and follow her in and find out what the hell she’s
up to!

Grunting at her own
idiocy, Caia pushed the door open as quietly as possible, her eyes
sweeping what appeared to be an empty altar. A flicker of movement
from the far right of the room caught her attention, and she gazed
in confusion at the sight of auburn hair disappearing in front of
her very eyes. She blinked rapidly. What the...

The front row pew
obstructed much of the view of that area but Caia rushed forward,
sure she had seen what looked to be the top of Marita’s head
disappearing into the ground. She searched the area in front of the
pews to the right of the statue of Gaia, her eyes devouring the
floor. And there, a glitter of metal caught her eye and she hurried
closer, dropping to her knees in her fear and excitement. The
tiniest stud of gold metal was stuck to the floor, sitting on the
edge of one large slab of marble. Tentatively she reached forward
and touched it.

Whoosh!

Caia strangled a startled
cry as the slab peeled open in one fluid movement, revealing a
secret entrance. She forgot to breathe as she peered down inside
what she was sure very few people knew even existed. A ladder was
attached to the opposite wall, leading down into a brightly lit
hallway that was clinical in appearance.

Goddess Caia,
what are you getting yourself into now?

With a bolstering gulp of
air, Caia grabbed a hold of the first rung and began to descend
into an underground hallway, her footsteps light and her breathing
restrained as she made her way down. It was hard to ignore the
rushing blood in her ears as her adrenaline took control but as her
eyes washed over the thankfully empty corridor she strained to do
so in order to hear the approach of the enemy.

Listen to
yourself
, she snorted.

There wasn’t
a sound, only what appeared to be a silent endless white tiled
corridor with fluorescent lighting. What was this place? And why
didn’t anyone know about it? Or did they? Well, she was down here
now so she might as well get on with it. Caia crept forward in
quick little steps, her brain yelling
idiot! Idiot! idiot!
with each
one.

And that’s when she heard
it. She stopped, wincing at the squeak her Converses made on the
tiled floor. Her ears perked up and a chill burst down her
spine.

Cries!
Children’s cries! Snarling. Hissing. She could make out at least
five different voices in the mix. Oh dear goddess! She pelted
forward in a greater hurry and stupidly spilled around the corridor
as it veered into a left. A figure disappeared into a door up ahead
without noticing her (thank goddess -
Idiot!
) and with a sigh of relief
she continued forward at a quieter but still quickened pace. The
door, which had
laboratory 1:
lykanthrope
printed across it, sat
adjacent to a long window, and cautiously Caia strained over trying
to look inside without anyone noticing her.

What she saw...

“
Oh my
go-”

Her breath cut off as she
watched Marita talking to a tall man dressed in a navy lab coat,
their eyes going over whatever information he had on the clipboard
in his hands. In front of them were five children, their faces
contorted with all manner of misery.

Caia felt bile rise in her
throat at such a familiar sight.

She had seen this before.
With Jaeden.

Each child was locked in a
cage surrounded by magik, magik that was keeping them from
changing. There was no evidence of physical abuse on their bodies
but rows of test tubes sat on trays attached to each cage, a
variety of liquids in each. Caia felt a rush of anger as her eyes
found the face of a small girl; she couldn’t have been more than
ten years old, her huge eyes had a haunted look no person, much
less a child, should ever have cause to feel. White heat shot
through Caia’s body and she gasped spinning back, her body pressed
against the door as she tried to gain control over herself. As she
shuddered into some kind of normalcy she saw another door further
up, another window. More children. Perhaps another race. Vampyre
maybe?

At the sound of footsteps
drawing closer from the other side of the door, Caia took off, her
eyes searching the ceilings and walls for cctv camera as she made
her way back to the entrance. There was nothing.

No
, she thought, her lip curling in
rage,
Marita wouldn’t want evidence of the
existence of her little experiments down here.

Caia clambered up the
ladders and shot out of the entrance, thanking the gods for the
quiet of the altar as she pulled the marble slab back down into the
floor. She hurried out of the altar and back into the halls of the
Centre, desperate to wipe off the invisible filth that now clung to
her skin. She had no idea what Marita was doing with those
children, what her end game was. Then Marita’s voice rang in her
head like an alarm.

“
I wanted you
to stay and help me train an elite force of lykans I’m working
on.”

Oh Artemis, is that what
she was doing? Trying to make a stronger army by experimenting on
children? Oh Hades no. It was unthinkable.

And just a
theory
, she reminded herself.

But theory or no, Marita
had crossed the line, and Caia’s plans had instantly changed. She
was in no mood to take things slowly now. No. Now she had no
compunction whatsoever in destroying the bitch in any way she
could.

***

Marion was waiting for her
outside of Marita and Vanne’s suite and Caia called upon her best
acting skills to greet her normally. Still her mentor seemed to
detect something and Caia shrugged her off, explaining it away as
exhaustion.

She was surprised by the
quick hug Marita gave her, and had to desperately hide her
revulsion as she returned it. It was with deep relief that she
returned the more sincere hug she received from Vanne. Did he know
about the children? Oh goddess, she hoped not.

“
We’re glad
you are OK,” Marita said genially. “You are quite the little
wonder, aren’t you.”

It was hard to tell
whether she was being sarcastic or not.

“
Caia
Ribeiro?”

Caia turned around to see
two distinguished looking people peering at her in astonishment.
One was a stocky older man, perfectly coifed in a designer suit,
and his companion a small, compact woman whose movements reminded
Caia of a little bird.

“
Caia.”
Marita gestured to them. “May I introduce Alfred Doukas and
Penelope Argyros.”

It did not fail Caia’s
notice that both these council members had Greek names. Did that
mean that their family was from way back when? Was that what it
took to be a council member? A lineage that could be traced back
the gods? If so... these were definitely the people she needed to
impress.

“
It’s an
honour.” She shook their hands firmly, with a deliberate soft smile
playing across her face. They seemed taken aback by her. She
doubted she was what they had been expecting.

“
No.” Alfred
grinned back. “This is an honour for us. We came because we’ve
heard extraordinary things about you, Miss Ribeiro.”

“
Please call
me Caia.”

“
Of
course.”

What followed was almost
like an interview. They wanted to know about her upbringing, about
Ethan’s death, about the attack against the MacLachlans. They
wanted to know what her plans were from now on. She shoved what
she’d just witnessed to the back of her brain and told them that
she was considering a position offered to her by Marita, but that
she hadn’t decided whether to take it yet. Instead she told them
about the pack, describing them colourfully, explaining how much
they meant to her. It was safe to assume that Alfred and Penelope
were enchanted by her, and thankfully seemed to approve of her
loyalty to the pack, first and foremost.

“
It says a
little something about your character.” Penelope nodded, smiling
earnestly at her.

The ‘interview’ seemed to
be drawing to a close when Penelope twittered, “And this substance?
That transformed Marita’s first-lykan-in-command, what was it
exactly?”

Caia shook her head, a
vision of Anders panicked eyes when he realised he was going to die
flashing through her mind like an arrow of guilt. “It was something
Pierre Du Bois and his partner Thierry Cotillard had paid human
scientists to work on. They had daemons on their payroll capture
lykans and had these scientists working on their genetic make up
for the past five years. Impressively, they hid it from the trace
and I didn’t know to look deeper. A mistake I won’t make again.
Anyway, I’m sure if Ethan had known about it he would have wanted a
part in it, especially as they had a breakthrough. They were able
to concoct a liquid from taking chemicals in a lykanthrope body and
combine it with the magik utilised in natural materialisation to
transform a lykan in wolf form back into a human. I don’t
understand how it works but there’s a lab, here in Paris, where the
liquid is kept. The human scientists have all been
killed.”

Alfred scowled. “Are we
sure that their breach has been taken care of? No human is left
alive that is aware of supernaturals?”

Caia shook her head. “I
couldn’t be sure. I just know from what I could see in Du Bois’
head that the men and women he was using are dead. Whether or not
those people told others...”

“
Point
taken.” He shook his head disturbed. “This lab must be
destroyed.”

Marita coughed delicately
from behind them and they all looked to her questioningly. “Perhaps
it would be prudent to analyse the lab; discover what we can about
this formula?”

Oh you would
like that, wouldn’t you?
Caia thought,
concealing her disgust.

“
No,”
Penelope chirped, shivering a little, “the idea of Magik’s
experimenting on other supernaturals... I think its best that
information goes no further than these four walls. The last thing
we need is giving the wrong people inspiration.”

Well
said.

Caia pinned Marita with
her gaze, hoping to see a glimmer of guilt or some kind of betrayal
of her own experiments. There was nothing. She was so cool.
Definitely not an enemy to take lightly.

“
I agree.”
Alfred nodded gravely. “Best to destroy it immediately.”

Marita shrugged as if it
made no matter. “Fine, I’ll have someone take care of
it.”

“
I’ll do it.”
Caia sprang to her feet. No way in hell was she letting Marita or
one of her slugs near that place. “Right now. I’ll go right
now.”

Penelope and Alfred beamed
at her, clearly impressed with her offer. “That would be wonderful,
Caia, thank you.”

Marita threw a strained
smile her way. “Aren’t you exhausted, dear?”

“
No. I want
to do this. I want every inch of that place levelled.”

“
I’ll send
someone with you just in case.”

Why, so they could spy
around, find the information Marita wanted anyway? She didn’t think
so.

Caia shook her head. “I’d
prefer to choose someone to go with me.”

“
Of course.”
Alfred nodded and then seared Marita with a penetrating look. “Caia
should have whomever she feels most comfortable in the field
with.”

“
That would
be Lucien, then.” Marita almost sneered at her.

“
No.” Caia
shook her head. The last thing she needed was complicating this
with Lucien thrown into the mix. No. There was only one person she
believed could be trusted. Someone so principled they were cold
with it. “I want Phoebe MacLachlan.”

Marita seemed surprised by
this, but Marion was smiling. “Mutual respect,” she
muttered.

“
What?”
Marita asked in agitation, but it went unanswered as Marion swept
towards Caia outlining the plan she had in mind. Alfred, Penelope
and Vanne thought it was a sound one, and it was with a sigh of
relief that she left the suite with Marion in tow.

As the elevator descended,
Marion snorted.

“
What?” Caia
queried wearily.

She shook her head.
“Nothing. I just... well I haven’t seen someone use that kind of
charm since my grandmother. She was some lady when she was Head of
the Coven; had the Council eating out of her hands all of the time.
I knew you were likeable, Caia, but I was unaware of the amount of
charisma you can unleash when you want to. What are you up
to?”

She laughed her off. “I
was just being friendly. I think it’s important that the Coven
believe in me considering my lineage don’t you? Also... I’m working
towards making Marita aware that I have no intention of staying at
the Centre.”

“
Ah, I see.
Subtle. Nice. I’m sure my sister will be pleased to hear that,
another piece of good news,” she muttered wryly.