Blood Solstice: Part Three in the Tale of Lunarmorte (35 page)

“
What was that for?” she asked as she nuzzled his jaw and
neck.

For a lot of things,
he thought
dazedly. But mostly for being the most extraordinary person he had
ever had the honour of knowing. He kissed her again. “For making me
more proud than I have ever known.”

She
smiled sweetly, blushing. “Yeah?”

Lucien
nodded, chuckling at her modesty. “That was some
speech.”

“
Do you think they’ll say yes?”

Gods, he
hoped so.

Instead
of answering he began to make love to her, knowing if they did say
yes he would follow Caia to that battleground; he would fight for
her because he loved her; he would fight for his pack and the hope
of a future in which their children could grow up untroubled by the
war. It was a cause he believed in. And one he was willing to die
for.

30 –
Battle Fever

The
answer was a resounding yes. Not just from the Council, who had
voted in Caia’s favour – with the exception of Benedict and the
elderly magik who had raised his own concerns – but from the
Daylights themselves. First the Council spoke with those at the
Centre and Caia was blown away by their eagerness to march into
battle. When their plan to bring the war to an end was put forth
the walls shook and the floor thudded with the stamping and
animalistic cries of the supernaturals. They were ready for it.
This was what they had been waiting for. Their enthusiasm seemed to
ease some of the Council’s apprehensions, and preparations for the
spell began.

Not too
many days after that Caia was invited to take part in casting the
spell that would request willing Daylights to fight for their cause
as well as those Midnights, who would never see themselves working
side by side with other supernatural races, to meet them in battle.
It was a moment immensely powerful for Caia, as she joined hands
with the Council and added her energy to the summons, connected to
these nine people in the exhausting spell that required the
combined strength of these incredibly gifted magiks. The spell took
a great amount of control and precision; their message was sent out
mentally to all supernaturals and had to be called in pace with
each other. A pendulum swung in the middle of the circle with a
slow click to keep the time of each sentence in their minds to
ensure they spoke out as one. When at last they could be sure the
message had been delivered they broke apart, their limbs trembling
with weariness.

***

The door
to Alfred’s suite blew open and Reuben marched inside with Lucien
and Marion at his back. “We have visitors.” He grinned.

Caia
shook her head still dazed from the spell. “Visitors?” To steady
herself she grabbed a hold of Lucien’s arms as soon as he reached
her.

Marion
was smiling triumphantly. “Daylights who want to fight.”

Alfred
scowled. “Why are they here now? We gave them the battle date,
which isn’t for another two weeks.”

Reuben
was grinning from cheek to cheek, rubbing his hands excitedly.
“Some of them want to train with the best.”

Caia
couldn’t help but smile back at him. The vampyre had been waiting
an especially long time for this moment. Last night he had
presented her with a gift.

“
What is it?” She had eyed the black box
suspiciously.

Reuben
shrugged. “A token of my gratitude.”

Tentatively she had taken the box and opened it to reveal a
tiny, ancient coin. “Reuben?”

“
It belonged to my mother. It was one of the two coins that
should have been placed upon her eyes when she died to pay for her
passage into the underworld. When Hades made her a vampyre she took
revenge upon her father who had thought so little of her to leave
her unprotected in the afterlife. She became a monster because of
him. She took these coins from him after she had drained him and
she carried them with her always as a reminder of why she was the
way that she was. I think it offered her forgiveness when no one
and nothing else could. When I was ten she gave me this one and
told me to always remember who I was and to never be ashamed of
it.”

Caia
shook her head slowly. “Reuben, I can’t take this from
you.”

“
Please, Caia,” he had insisted. “They say that hope dies last
and I think that is true. I thought I had given up hope a long time
ago, but I hadn’t. And because of you that hope was not in vein.
When we fight the Midnights, when we meet them on that battlefield,
it will be because you have reminded us of who we are and why we
shouldn’t be so unsure of ourselves that we would let a race of
people keep us down for centuries under the decree that we
should
be ashamed of
ourselves. Take the coin, Caia. I hope it will always remind you of
what you have done for an old creature like me and all the young
creatures who deserve a chance to live without
persecution.”

Caia had
placed the coin under her pillow, keeping it safe until she left
the Centre and could find a more secure place for the
keepsake.

“
There is one visitor I’d like you all to meet,” Reuben spoke
to the Council, and everyone turned towards the door. Caia gasped
as the tall, elegant warlock strode into the room, dressed as
dapper as ever in an expensive three piece suit and
greatcoat.

“
Nikolai,” she breathed and hurried to shake his hand. He
smiled kindly at her and then gazed warily over her shoulder. Uh
oh. The Council.

As she
feared, when she spun back around the Council had all lined up,
prepared to defend or attack, Caia wasn’t sure.

“
He’s not an enemy,” Reuben snapped at them. “I’ve already
explained Nikolai’s position.”

“
Well forgive us for being a little unsure,” Alfred snapped
back. “You’ve just allowed the Regent of the Midnight Coven into
our midst.”

“
Ex-Regent,” Nikolai corrected and spread his hands in a
surrender gesture. “I’m not here to harm anyone. I’m here to
fight
with
you.”

The
Council seemed to sneer collectively at them and Caia felt a rush
of annoyance. OK, so she understood they were nervous about having
a Midnight among them but they didn’t treat Laila and Eliza with
suspicion.

“
I can vouch for him,” she intoned, suffusing authority into
her words. “He’s on our side. The Petrovsky’s have been on our side
for three centuries.”

“
We have only Reuben’s word on that,” Benedict
huffed.

Caia exhaled in exasperation. They needed someone to soothe
the situation. She looked around and met Marion’s gaze.
Laila,
she
mouthed.

Marion
nodded and hurried away.

“
There’s someone I want you to meet, Nikolai.” Caia smiled
brightly at him, trying to show the Council she wasn’t afraid of
the man. “She’s a Midnight as well.”

Nikolai
raised his eyebrows. “Little Eliza? Reuben told me her tragic
story.”

At the
thought of the poor girl, Caia’s smile dimmed. Eliza wasn’t having
such a good time of it. She wouldn’t speak to anyone and she
refused to join them in any social sense. The only person she was
unafraid of was Penelope who appeared to have grown quite attached
to the little girl. The Council had thought to place Eliza in a
home where she would be safe and free from abuse because of her
blood, but Penelope had requested that she be allowed to take care
of the girl and no one could think of a better situation for her.
Penelope was trying her hardest to see Eliza through her
grief.

“
No, not Eliza.” She shook her head. “Another special young
lady.”

Laila
drew forward and shook Nikolai’s hand as they were introduced. Caia
could see Nikolai was intrigued by her, not only because of her
unusual energy, but because such a tiny person of Midnight blood
had managed to gain the trust of the most important people in the
Daylight Coven.

“
It’s a pleasure to meet you, Laila,” he said
gravely.

Laila
smiled sweetly at him, her eyes shining with honesty. “You too,
sir. I much admire what you have done for Reuben and
Caia.”

As Caia
had hoped, the tension eased out of the Council like a deflating
balloon. Laila’s calming presence melted their distrust as they
watched her with the Midnight. In her short time at the Centre
people had grown to like Laila as much as Caia did and to trust
that, for some reason, she had a greater sense of intuition than
others. If she approved of Nikolai, could he really be that
bad?

Glad her
plan worked, Caia turned to Penelope. “Perhaps the Council would
like to sit with Mr Petrovsky to discuss his time with the
Midnights.” She glanced at Nikolai. “Would that be alright? You do
know who the major players are and we really don’t know much about
Orina Beketov.”

“
Of course.” He nodded.

Penelope
shrugged away from the Council, taking charge. “Mr Petrovksy.” She
took a hold of his hand a little tentatively. “I am Penelope
Argyros.”

“
A pleasure to meet you, Ms Argyros.”

“
Please, call me Penelope.”

“
Then you must call me, Nikolai.” He grinned at her, his eyes
twinkling.

Caia
almost laughed when Penelope blushed under his regard, a little
girlish giggle escaping her. “Would you care to sit down, Nikolai?
Some refreshments, perhaps?”

“
Please.” He followed her to the table as she gestured for the
rest of the Council to take their seats, Benedict scowling all the
way. “Coffee would be wonderful.”

Caia
grinned, satisfied, and squeezed Laila’s shoulder. “I don’t know
what we would do without you.”

Laila
smiled back at her in bemusement.

31 – City
of Light

Paris
smelled wonderful. It was a perfect day, crisp and clear. Caia
perused cool postcards and trinkets displayed on the shelves of the
stalls that lined the sidewalk at the River Seine, snuggled warm in
her duffle coat and the purple scarf Lucien had just bought for her
that morning.

“
Caia, what do you think?” Jae grinned, holding up a postcard
with four haggard old women in black witches’ hats and robes,
sitting around a table drinking tea. “It’s you, Marion, Laila and
Penelope in one hundred and fifty years’ time.”

Caia
snorted and reached for it. It was pretty cool. “If we buy four
postcards we get them for two euros.”

Her
friend’s eyes lit up and she immediately turned back to hunt for
three more funny cards. A sparkle caught Caia’s eye and she turned
to look at the cluster of different Eiffel Tower souvenirs. There
were little ones, big ones, medium ones, tiny ones on key rings.
Some were made of plastic, others of metal, but the one that caught
her eyes was a very kitsch little one on a key ring, the entire
thing sparkling with diamantes to resemble how the Tower appeared
during the lightshow. Apparently a lot of Parisians hated the
lightshow, but Caia loved it. She and Lucien had taken to sitting
on the window seat in their room at the Centre every night to watch
the Tower flash in and out of existence, a million brilliant
diamond lights bringing it to life in the dark.

“
Do you want it?” Lucien whispered in her ear, heating up skin
that had grown cold without a hat. She leaned back into
him.

“
Yeah, but I’ll get it.”

“
No need.” He reached past her before she could do anything,
lifting the key ring from the display he turned to pay the market
seller for it.

At the
sound of a giggle, Caia glanced over to see Jaeden had abandoned
the postcards and was wrapped around Ryder in a passionate kiss.
Caia immediately knew the tourists from the French. The tourists
were the only ones that paid attention to the couple as they passed
them.

“
Hmm, that looks nice,” Lucien murmured as he came around in
front of her to hand her the key ring.

Caia
smiled and took it from him, putting the gift deep into her pocket
for safekeeping. “Thank you.”

Lucien
frowned. “That’s all?”

She made
a face and reached for him, pressing a sweet kiss to his lips. She
wasn’t really into the kind of PDA that Jae and Ryder
were.

Knowing
it, Lucien threw her an amused look, and then put an arm around her
drawing her into his side. “Where to next?”

Tomorrow
was the day of the battle and Caia had wanted to escape from it all
for just one day, just one glorious day of normality and fun. She
was only eighteen after all. And she was in love and in the city of
Paris no less. It hadn’t taken much to convince Lucien, Ryder and
Jae to join her on a day out in the city where they could just be
young and have a great time.

That
morning they had a sweet breakfast of cakes and pastries from this
amazing chocolaterie and patisserie on the Avenue des Friedland.
Afterwards, they had strolled up to gaze at the Arc de Triomphe and
then wandered down the Champs-Elysées, where Jae ogled the clothing
stores and Ryder marvelled over the McDonalds restaurant which
sported the only white ‘M’ in the world.