Blood Solstice: Part Three in the Tale of Lunarmorte (34 page)

She
nudged around with her energy. A giant, exhausted grin spread
across her face. Caia would never have thought she would ever be
this happy to be so alone inside.

The trace
was gone.

***

Jaeden
shot up from her chair at the exact same time Lucien did. At the
exact same time shocked exhalations poured out of the pack as they
gathered together in Lucien and Caia’s suite, waiting for the rite
to be over. An electricity had tingled through her nerve endings in
one sharp, smooth manoeuvre, and an instant understanding thrummed
in her being. It was like an IM from the gods explaining in one
concise note that Caia Ribeiro, the half-magik, half-lykan, had
existed as both Heads of the Covens and had just given the trace
back to the gods, unbinding them all.

“
You felt that?” she gasped around at them all. They nodded
totally bemused.

Reuben
glanced between them and Laila. “There is no longer a hum in your
energies to tell me who is Daylight and who is
Midnight.”

“
Yeah cos’ it’s gone,” Jaeden explained. “And it came with a
message about Caia and her giving up both traces. Telling us we’re
free.”

“
Which means the Midnights probably felt it too.” Lucien shook
his head in amazement, gazing at Laila for confirmation. She nodded
her head slowly.

“
They’ll know about Caia?”

“
Yeah, they’ll know about Caia,” he confirmed.

Jaeden
trembled and lowered herself slowly to her seat. What did this
mean? Now the supernatural world understood with perfect clarity
that there was no trace and no longer any Head for either coven…
was the war teetering on the edge of the end… or standing on the
precipice of bloody disaster?

***

Caia
stumbled back out of the caverns, her body shaking uncontrollably.
As she approached Penelope and Alfred waiting for her by the
elevator with guards she tightened the robe around her.

“
What the hell is going on up there?” Alfred was yelling at
the wall.

Huh.

Then Caia
noticed he was pressing his ear and she realised he was wearing one
of the ear pieces she remembered some of the staff wore at the
Centre.

“
Well, shut down the portals until we can sort it
out!”

Oh
goddess what was going on?

Alfred
threw up his hands in frustration. “Well, take those who have
already gotten in into the Court. But lock down those bloody
portals before every Daylight on earth shows up!”

“
Caia.” Penelope came towards her pale-faced and took a hold
of her arm to steady her. “Are you alright?”

Well I was until I saw you guys.
“I’m fine, what’s going on?”

Alfred
grimaced. “We have a problem.”

“
I’m getting that. What’s going on? The gods took the trace
back… I thought we would be good after that.”

Penelope
shook her head. “The gods removed the bind from us all. We all felt
it.”

“
You did?” Caia asked amazed.

“
Yes. But it came with a message about you being Head of the
Daylights and Midnights, of what you are and how you had given the
trace back to the gods. The Centre has been bombarded with
supernaturals demanding to know what is going on.”

Holy
Artemis. Oh this was a problem.

“
Do the Midnights know?”

Penelope
grew even more wan. “I think we better talk to Laila.”

29 –
Method in the Madness

Frustration tickled beneath her skin as she skimmed another
page. Nothing! The history section in this library sucked. Caia
groaned and waved her hand above the table, a glass of water
materialising in front of her. She gulped it down hoping it would
renew her energy.

The last
few days had been exhausting to say the least. Along with the
Council she had had to retell her story thrice over to large groups
that visited the Centre, demanding answers as to who she was and
why the trace was gone. Caia wasn’t shocked. A good population of
the Daylights had known of her existence, but there were those who
lived quiet lives away from the war who were blissfully unaware of
her. But now they knew and they seemed to know a Hades lot about
her… including this miraculous power she seemed to have that no one
else did. Some were hostile, but for the most part she was a
curiosity and pretty much their saviour. Freeing them all from the
trace had brought untold happiness to many of them. There were the
more conservative supernaturals who believed strong leadership had
been the key to winning the war, but for many it had been an
invasion of their privacy. Once the excitement and buzz had died
down, however, the questions such as ‘What next?!’ came battering
down on them. Would the war go on as it was? Would the soldiers
continue to train at the Centre? Or was the idea to infiltrate the
Midnights and find out how they were handling things?

For the
Council it was yes to all of the above. Saffron had been sent in
with a few other top faeries to spy on Orina Beketov and the
Midnight Council. The report came with the good and the bad. The
chaos of discovering Caia’s existence, that Ethan and Marita were
dead, that there was no longer the trace to bind them together in
war had put a temporary stop to Midnight attacks again – days
before their attack against the Krôls was meant to take place. The
bad news was Orina Beketov wanted to continue her war against other
supernatural races and was gradually winning over a very confused
Council. The Daylight Council took this to mean the war would go on
as it had done, and had recommenced classes at the Centre. Caia
wasn’t as convinced. In fact, she had an entirely different idea.
She knew from having had the trace for the past ten months that the
Midnight Coven was saturated with people who would gladly welcome
peace. An idea was brewing in her busy brain, one she had imparted
to no one, not even Lucien. But the library where she hoped to
discover all she needed to know was proving infertile.

Ugh, she really didn’t want to
have
to turn to Reuben for this one.
But it was looking more and more likely.

“
You look annoyed.” Phoebe MacLachlan strode through the doors
into the empty room, her dry tone somewhat relaxing after having
been in the library by herself for hours.

Caia
nodded and slammed the book shut. “I’m not having a good research
day.”

The Rogue
Hunter slid into the seat opposite her. “What are you up to,
Caia?”

Damn the
lykan. She was nosy and perceptive and persistent to a fault. She
was also extremely trustworthy, and Caia counted herself as one of
the lucky few that Phoebe trusted and respected.

“
I have a plan.”

“
I’m listening.”

When Caia
was done Phoebe threw her a look that would have been a smile if
the lykan had known what one was. “You need to look in the
archives.”

The what now?
“Huh?”

Phoebe
rolled her eyes and stood to her feet, gesturing for Caia to follow
her. She wound her way through the dark aisles of books until they
came to the back wall of the room. All Caia saw was another row of
bookshelves. She would be wrong.

Phoebe
approached the middle of the aisle and reached up to pull on a
thick bronzed leather tome. A creak, followed by a rumbling shudder
seconds later, and the middle of the bookshelf opened inwards like
double doors.

Caia’s
jaw dropped. “How did you know this was here and I
didn’t?”

Phoebe
shrugged. “I assumed the archives were public
knowledge.”

“
Uh-uh.” Caia followed her into a beautiful, well lit room
with no exit. In the middle was another library desk with green
bankers’ lamps, and bordering the entire room were shelves of
books. Walking behind Phoebe, she felt her gaze falling to the
mosaic floor where different tales of the gods were depicted in
stunning colour and splendour. She winced at the sharp tap her flat
pumps made against what was surely a masterpiece and should never
be trodden upon. Phoebe didn’t seem to be as bothered.

“
Here.” She indicated a row of books. “You should find what
you need.”

“
Phoebe, I need this to stay between us until I’ve done my
research.”

The lykan
nodded, her mouth firm and her eyes guileless. “Of course. It could
be a very good idea, Caia.”

She
smiled wryly. “So if they say yes, you’re in?”

Phoebe
snorted, “If there’s a fight, then I’m in.”

***

“
You want to do what?” Benedict screeched at her and Caia had
to stop herself from laughing at his outrage.

So the
Council were looking at her with a mixture of awe and horror. That
could mean anything right? Lucien was smiling up at her
encouragingly along with Marion and Reuben. Vanne seemed to be
chuckling as if he couldn’t quite believe her gall.

“
I think it’s the only way to end this,” she
insisted.

“
It’s completely insane and out of the question!” Benedict
bawled.

Caia
narrowed her eyes on him. OK, he wasn’t so amusing anymore. He was
just plain annoying. “Last time I checked there were eight other
people on this Council with a vote.”

He
growled at her, “By all means let us see you humiliated by the rest
of my colleagues for your depravity.”

She
gasped, “Depravity? I’m not depraved just because I have the
courage to actually do something about ending this war!”

“
Benedict,” Vanne warned quietly. “Insult her again and you
will have me to answer to.”

Caia
flushed under Vanne’s protectiveness but was glad for it because
the warlock immediately blanched and sat down. Despite his place
outside the Council no one had forgotten how powerful Vanne was.
Caia noticed Marion throwing him a mournful look. Caia sighed.
After this was all over she was going to have to do something about
those two.

“
Yes, let’s be civil,” Penelope agreed, before looking up at
Caia with worried eyes. “This is quite a proposal,
Caia.”

It was.
It really, really was. After the trace had gone, Caia had begun to
think about a measure that would help sort the wheat from the
chaff. No matter what happened there was going to be bloodshed but
Caia reckoned it would be better if the bloodshed happened in one
fell swoop and gave them the closure they needed to begin to build
a new world for supernaturals. She began to think about the battles
that must have been fought many years ago, when honour had been
settled on the battlefield. The history books in the library had
been of no real use until Phoebe had taken her into the archives.
It was there she learned of the spells cast to summon both Covens
to a battleground that had been cast in protective magik, shielding
it from human eyes. There, those brave enough to fight would
convene, and a great bloody battle would be fought until one side
had destroyed the other. It was a mighty style of warfare in which
even the faeries – who were utilised only for spying now – shifted
into their animal of choice and took part in the combat.

Caia
believed they should cast the old spell calling to those Midnights
who had no intention of ever making peace with the Daylights to
fight them on the battlefield.

“
Caia, most, if not all, of the Midnights will show up because
their pride and superiority will expect no less of them,” one of
the older Council members insisted gravely. “We’ll be completely
outnumbered.”

“
No.” She shook her head. “You have to trust me. When I had
the trace I felt them all. I felt such a need for accord, for unity
and harmony in them, that it broke my heart. There are thousands of
them who will meet us on that battlefield, who will never see us as
anything but lesser beings, but there are thousands of them who
will stay home and who will wait for us to come to them with an
offer of peace. Let us destroy those who stand in the way of
that.”

She saw
the glimmer of hope in their eyes, their indrawn breaths, the way
they leaned forward into her words. They wanted to believe but were
so afraid of it.

Trying to
contain her excitement, her desperation, Caia lowered herself into
a seat before them, her eyes wide and honest. “Have I not proven
myself to you time and again? Do you not trust me to protect out
people?”

Penelope
nodded, her eyes shining bright.

One down.

“
We can meet them in battle and win because all they have is
hate. And believe me, our weapons are a lot stronger than
hate.”

Alfred
suddenly looked determined. “The Council has a very big decision to
make. Perhaps you should retire to your room, Caia, and we will
call for you when we have come to it.”

***

As soon
as the bedroom door had closed Lucien drew Caia into his arms and
lifted her up into a searing kiss, wishing he could stay locked
like that forever. She gasped when he finally let her go but hung
onto him, wrapping her legs around his waist.