Purity War

by Laurel Night

  “How are you doing, by the way? Shaline dropped that bombshell on us about you being pregnant and then we went to the meeting and haven’t really talked about it.”

  “I’m okay,” Em answered. “Honestly, I think I’m kind of in shock. I mean, I knew it was a possibility, so I had some time to prepare myself I guess. But I really hadn’t thought about the implications of what a pregnancy as my new human/vimpiri hybrid would be. So, I haven’t given a lot of thought to it yet. On the plus side, it looks like it will be a while before things change, so there’s that. Maybe once we get past this drama, we can slow down and really figure out some details. For right now, we’ve got bigger issues.”

  “Fair,” I answered. “But what now? Do I need to just step back and let Mick handle it? If he doesn’t think Jakob is up to anything, he will not be paying attention. You saw how dismissive he was. He probably won’t even mention it to Shaline.”

  “You might be surprised,” Emily said. “Don’t forget that he is a prince and an honorable one at that. I don’t think he’d tell you he planned to speak to his mother about it if he didn’t intend to. We should give him a chance and see what he does with the information. Besides, we need to find out what Shaline learned from The Records.”

  “Fair. So what are we going to do in the meantime? I can’t just sit here, waiting.”

  A mischievous smile crept onto Emily’s angelic face. “I think we should convince Todd to make himself useful.”

  As Emily told me her plan, a matching smile rose to my lips. Maybe Todd wasn’t as useless as I thought.

  DEEPER SECRETS

  MICK

  Lucy’s far-fetched speculation swirled in my head as I descended to the hidden chambers in the salt mine. Surely she was just projecting the corruption of human society onto the Vimpiri. We’d never had such antics in our world. Jakob pressing for a vote was an odd move, but I chalked that up to his being passionate about the possibility of the Lost Warriors, and perhaps, in a small way, to the influence of human society.

  But was Lucy right, that living here could have such a profound effect on how our people viewed our society? If I was willing to accept the Jakob called for the vote under the influence of human politics, was it that much further of a stretch that he might think we needed a new system altogether?

  Either way, it was not up to me to decide. I would share Lucy’s concern with Mother and that would be enough. She could decide what to do with it from there.

  As I neared the small lounge that she preferred to work in, raised voices caused my pace to slow. I could differentiate between the cool tones of my mother’s voice, but there was a deeper voice, a male voice, that sounded angry. There was a second male voice, slightly higher than the first, and a second female voice that I believed to be Shanii’s. She also sounded upset, although not as angry as the two I assumed to be my father and Drake. I couldn’t make out the words, but it didn’t sound like a pleasant conversation.

  Resolved, I knocked at the door. The voices silenced, then a moment later the door opened. Drake stood before me in the doorway, his face flushed. He didn’t seem surprised to see me, and his angry demeanor didn’t change.

  “Excuse me, Mick. I was just on my way out.” He brushed past me, followed by Shanii who looked uncharacteristically flustered. She hurried after him but didn’t acknowledge me except with a small worried smile.

  When I finally entered the room, I found out who the second male voice belonged to. Jakob was just taking his leave of my father, and he nodded in my direction as he passed. My mother and father were standing in front of the love seat, and the matching looks of concern on their faces confirmed what I suspected: whatever had just been said, it didn’t end favorably.

  “Mother, father,” I greeted them with cheek kisses and a quick embrace before we sat. “What happened?”

  Mother sighed. “Jakob wanted to know what The Records told me. I told him it was not his concern, and that I would let him know when I had made my decision, along with the rest of the Vimpiri. He did not like that answer and said he felt he had a right to know. When I asked about the stunt he pulled, calling for a vote in the meeting when he knows it is not our way, he became even angrier. He accused me of being out of touch with the needs of our people, of being more concerned with maintaining my position than the future of the Vimpiri.” She rubbed a hand slowly across her brow, and father took her hand and held it gently in support. “Drake sided with him, and Shanii tried to mediate, but Drake accused her of being more loyal to us than her mate. It was not pleasant.”

  “Mother…” I hadn’t intended to say this in front of anyone else, but since it was only Father and not Shanii or Drake, I decided it was now or never. “You don’t think Jakob could be attempting to stir up unrest, do you?”

  Mother eyed me curiously. “Unrest? Why would he do that? It is not our way to be confrontational.”

  “Yes, I know, but first the move with the voting, and then this,” I gestured, indicating the confrontation that had just transpired, “Have you ever seen something like this before? It’s not our way, either.”

  “No, it’s not our way,” she agreed. “I have seen something similar, once, but it ended swiftly.”

  “Really? What happened?” This was news to me.

  “There were some accusations lobbied against me, similar accusations, not long before we fled from home,” she answered softly. “We didn’t have time to address them before we were forced to flee, and then it was never brought up again. I figured everyone knew they had bigger issues to deal with, and the accuser… we lost him during the escape.”

  “So he was acting alone? It was just one person?” I didn’t miss that it had also been a male.

  “I don’t know. There was only one Vimpiri who addressed me, in private. I have no way of knowing if he was alone or had others that agreed with him. It was bizarre, but I didn’t end up having time to deal with it before everything else happened.”

  “I see.” This was a new development, I had no idea that happened. “So what he said was similar to Jakob?”

  “It was a different issue, but yes that person accused me of caring more about my position than about my people. It was such a surprise, the statement took me aback. I had written it off as a fluke, perhaps an undiagnosed illness, since I never heard about it again. Until now,” she amended. “I’m not sure what to do with it. He has an agenda with pushing for the vote at the meeting, but I can’t say I understand what it is.”

  “Do you think he might try to find some way to justify replacing you with someone else? If he could convince everyone that you were no longer taking care of their best interests, do you think people would attempt to overthrow you and the council?”

  “That is… difficult for me to imagine,” she said, her tone solemn. “Jakob and I have been friends for a very long time. My first instinct is to reject the idea. However, I would never have imagined several things he has done in the last few days, so it is not completely out of the realm of possibility.”

  “I’m not trying to make you paranoid or upset,” I added quickly, “but Lucy brought it up, and I promised I would bring her concerns to you.”

  “Thank you,” mother answered, a small smile on her lips. “Your honor in keeping your word is admirable.”

  I nodded silently, accepting this praise. “May I ask what The Records told you?” The Records were the ghostly memory of vimpiri queens of the past. The queen could commune with them to seek knowledge and wisdom in times of need.

  The smile fell from her face. “As you know, they can’t tell me what to do. All they can do is advise me of events that happened in their lifetimes. With your friend Todd, it helped to learn that a vimpiri male had successfully paired before with a being of another species.

  “This time there was no such help. Having never faced the possibility of eventual population decline and death of our species before, they were silent when I asked. I inquired about the vimpiri that paired with another specie
s, but apparently it was never a fruitful union.”

  “Did you ask them about the implications of Emily’s pregnancy? Surely they had some ideas about it.” As soon as the words escaped my lips, I remembered that my father knew nothing about it.

  Her eyes widened, and she glanced at my father, who appeared shocked. “I did not. Shanii was with me, and I have not yet informed her of the pregnancy, as they requested it of me for advice only. It is not my decision to share that with anyone but the four of you who were there. I also had not shared that information with your father, as you can see.” Turning to him, she said softly, “Please forgive me, the knowledge was in confidence and I was not at liberty to share. I must now ask you to keep this to yourself until Emily and Todd decide to share.”

  My father stared at me, his eyes still wide attempting to think through the implication of this new information. He nodded, then swallowed and added, “Of course. I will make no mention of it.” His eyes drifted to Mother, then off to a corner as he continued to think.

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have mentioned it,” heat rushed to my cheeks. What was I thinking? I was becoming no better than Lucy, just saying whatever came into my head without thinking it through.

  “I understand. The implication of compatibility of our kind with humans is very exciting, particularly to you. It is something I have been considering a good deal throughout the last few days.”

  “So, have you decided to allow the Lost Bachelors to pair with humans then?” I asked, a note of excitement creeping into my voice.

  “I have not yet made my decision, son. I will inform you, and the rest of the Vimpiri, when I have. Until that time, please do not ask me again.”

  I should have anticipated this response, but it still sent a twinge through my heart. She was under no obligation to tell me, as one of her subjects, what she was thinking. As her son, I had no more rights than any other vimpiri. However, I had hoped she would be more indulgent given my situation with Lucy.

  “I understand,” I replied stiffly. “Well, I will not take up more of your time, I’m sure you have a lot of issues that require your attention. Please let me know if I may be of use to you.” I rose quickly, and they mimicked me. After exchanging quick kisses I left, with only one thought on my mind:

  How was I going to convince her to make the right decision?

  ***

  LUCY

  Despite Todd’s status as a bit of an oddity, given his relationship with Emily, no one he reached out to was hesitant to speak to him. We asked him to contact Lost Bachelors and find out what they truly thought about pairing with humans; if any of them had experienced what he and Mick felt. A few mentioned they had felt something unusual but had thought little of it because of the ‘collective knowledge that such a thing was impossible.’ Many were confused about what Jakob had said and admitted they felt compelled to vote with him because it seemed not agreeing with Jakob was tantamount to wanting to abandon their entire community.

  For now, we advised Todd to keep the knowledge about Emily’s pregnancy secret—we didn’t know what kind of hornet’s nest that would stir up and Emily was still grappling with the knowledge. Todd, for his part, was overjoyed. Now that the shock had settled, he was ecstatic that their ‘pairing was blessed with offspring’ and he couldn’t contain his self-satisfaction about it. He wasn’t like a human father-to-be—or at least the ones you see on movies—insisting on fluffing pillows and fetching things for their newly pregnant wives. However, Emily wasn’t exactly your typical pregnant woman, either. She didn’t seem any different—superpowers notwithstanding—and demanded no special treatment.

  By the end of the night, Todd had talked with roughly fifty of the Lost Bachelors, a decent sample size of their population. Enough to determine that we were on the right track, at least. Mostly, they were open to the idea of pairing with human women and felt tricked by Jakob’s speech. It was enough to suppose that most of the paired Vimpiri would feel that way as well.

  Mick didn’t come back for the rest of the night. I went to bed shortly before dawn, and I heard his soft footsteps outside my door a few moments later. It seemed almost too perfect, as if he had somehow been waiting for me to go to bed before he came back. I tried to talk myself out of paranoia, but the question remained at the back of my mind.

  The next evening I rose early, before sunset, and crept out to the kitchen to wait for Mick. I sat at the island and waited. I didn’t have to wait long; a few moments later he strolled out and paused when he noticed the lights already on in the kitchen. He was still in pajama pants and a wrinkled v-neck t-shirt, his hair messy. He was on a mission.

  “Good morning—or, rather, evening,” I greeted. “Is it Nutella hour?”

  That elicited a small grin from his perfectly imbalanced lips. He strolled over and leaned against the counter. “You know me so well,” he teased. “You must be reading my mind. What am I thinking right now?”

  I pressed one hand to my forehead and furrowed my brow, pretending to listen. “You are trying to remember how much hazelnutty goodness is left in your secret jar… and if you have enough to share.”

  The grin spread further across his cheeks. “You have a gift.” He walked to the cabinet and retrieved the jar, then grabbed two spoons from the silverware drawer before returning to the island. After he plopped in a seat, he opened the jar and scooped out a large spoonful, then handed the laden spoon to me. “Peace offering?” His green eyes were enigmatic, glowing faintly despite the bright lights of the kitchen.

  “Accepted,” I took the spoon and smiled. After he helped himself to a mouthful of chocolate spread, we devoured our treat in silence. I slowly scraped the mound of spread down one layer at a time, allowing it to melt in my mouth before taking another layer from the spoon.

  When the chocolate was all gone, I leaned over the counter, dropping the spoon in the sink before it could tempt me to ask for another.

  “Mick,” I took a deep breath before I started. “I just wanted to say that I understand why you didn’t tell me about the ship, or the drifting rock that may be a ship, or whatever. I’m not mad at you for it. But I hope, in the future, you’ll still tell me things that you think might upset me. I don’t want us to have secrets from each other. I was mostly upset that I finally thought we were on the same page and then I found out there was another secret you weren’t telling me. I need more trust from you if this is going to work.”

  Mick finished cleaning his own spoon then dropped it in the sink and closed the jar. He kept his eyes on his hands the entire time, avoiding my gaze, while he thought about my words. Finally he looked up at me, his eyes startlingly bright. Immediately I was locked in his gaze. The depth of emotion it held took my breath away, and I couldn’t have looked away if I wanted to.

  “Lucy,” his voice was deep, and shook slightly, “I am so sorry. For someone who wishes to claim you as my mate, I have not treated you with the respect you deserve. I have to work past biases I’ve held for so long, I sometimes don’t realize they exist.” He reached forward and took both of my hands, pressing them between his own wide palms. “But I promise you, I will not keep anything from you again. You are correct. You deserve better, and I intend to give it to you.”

  I couldn’t help the tears that gathered at the corners of my eyes. They were there before I even realized it, and before I noticed the catch in my throat.

  Mick tugged lightly on my hands, and it was all the encouragement I needed. Sliding off my stool, I leaned into him, wrapping my arms around his warm torso while his slid around my shoulders and squeezed me to him. I rested my head on his chest, my face pressed between his shoulder and neck, and absorbed his warmth. His heart beat steadily, starting out rapid but gradually slowing along with his breathing. My unshed tears soaked into his shirt, and I remained there for several minutes, just reveling in the closeness of his body against mine.

  Eventually, he loosed his embrace, and I leaned back to look at him. His eyes met mine brie
fly, then drifted down to my mouth; and when he moved in to kiss me, all I could taste was Nutella.

  THE COUNCIL

  LUCY

  After we cleaned up and had breakfast at dusk (I was entirely too used to this nocturnal lifestyle now, I couldn’t think about what would happen when Emily and I eventually returned to the real world) Em, Todd, and I explained what we had found out last night to Mick.

  “So, if I understand correctly, you’re saying that the Lost Bachelors you checked with don’t really care to wait for the chance there might be Lost Warriors on their way, or at least don’t care to make their peers wait?”

  Emily nodded. “Exactly.”

  “And they only voted that way because Jakob made it sound as if they were dooming the Vimpiri to extinction?”

  “Right.”

  “And what am I supposed to do with this?” Mick lifted his hands in a gesture that demonstrated his confusion. “Mother and Shanii were there, they witnessed this whole conversation. They can draw their own conclusions about how people voted and why.”

  “They were,” I answered, “But they may not have all the insight. What you can do is make sure they know how people felt about that vote, which is they felt pressured to choose between their people and their own desires. Shaline and Shanii can draw their own conclusions about Jakob’s motives. You know our thoughts, but if he’s trying to make a case about the desires of the people, the queen should at least know what the people actually want.”

  Mick shrugged. “Okay, I’ll tell them. I imagine they will have a final consultation together before they call a meeting. I expect that’s going on soon, if not now. I’ll head down to their conference room.” He turned as if to go, but then paused, and turned back around. “Emily, I know you have been struggling with the information my mother gave us about your pregnancy, and I know you haven’t really had time to decide how you feel about it. However, I think you should come with me and tell Shanii, and my father and Drake.”