33 – Laila
It was the whispering that brought her out of unconsciousness. Followed by the pain. The pain was like a harsh, pounding, mashing wake up call. Her eyes flew open with a gasp and Caia shrunk back from the white of the room.
“It’s OK, it’s OK,” a gentle voice soothed her and she felt a cool hand on her forehead.
Caia groaned. This kind of exhausted, ‘been ran over by a truck’, feeling was familiar and yet so intensified it was alien too. One by one faces started popping up in front of her eyes. She blinked. Jaeden. Ryder. Laila. Magnus. Marion.
“Come on now, get back, let her rest,” Ella’s familiar voice called from the bottom of the bed and her pack shuffled backwards.
Her pack.
Lucien.
“No, no, no.” She started struggling violently with her bed covers and then with Jaeden as her friend paled and tried to press her back onto the bed.
“Ryder, help,” Jae screeched and Caia thrashed against them both, too weak to do any serious damage.
“No!” she cried, tears gushing down her cheeks as the image of Lucien lying murdered in the sand flashed through her mind. She didn’t want to be alive if he wasn’t with her. Panic made her hyperventilate and she struggled to draw breath.
“Someone help her,” Jae pleaded.
“Caia, breathe. Caia… Caia.”
Her heart stopped at the voice and she drew in a ragged breath, her chest opening up. Jaeden smiled at her and moved aside so Caia could see past her into the next hospital bed.
Sitting upright, tucked under his own set of covers, was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. He wasn’t real. How could he be? Could everyone else see him? Looking up through blurry eyes Caia watched the expressions on the pack’s faces as they glanced from her to Lucien.
“Is he real?” she croaked.
A tear slipped down Jaeden’s cheek and she gave her a wobbly smile. “He’s real.”
There was no stopping her as Caia ripped back the covers and bounded out of the bed and onto Lucien. She pretty much collapsed in his arms as her body seemed to lack any real energy. But she was strong enough to return his mammoth hug and pepper kisses on him whenever she could get around the kisses he peppered her with.
“How, how, how?” she mumbled against him, breathing in his wonderful scent.
Lucien’s arms tightened around her, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “Laila,” he breathed.
Caia stiffened and managed to turn in his arms to find Laila by her bed, Vil standing behind her, protective as always.
“How?”
Laila smiled shyly.
“She’s an Asclepian.” Marion squeezed the magik’s slight shoulder.
Through the haze and confusion Caia’s jaw dropped. “An Asclepian? I thought they were extinct?” Little Laila had the power to heal and bring people’s souls back from the Underworld?! Caia shook the moss out of her brain. “I mean… I thought there were none of you left?”
Laila shrugged. “My family kept our gifts hidden because we knew we would become targets. Not only is it against the law to bring someone back from the dead, it is a much coveted gift. My family are gone. I’m the only one left.”
“She risked a lot healing me in front of the Daylights,” Lucien’s voice rumbled against her chest.
“I couldn’t let you die,” Laila retorted but her eyes were on Caia. And Caia understood. She meant she couldn’t let him die for Caia. Tears bubbled up again.
“Thank you so much,” she whispered, more grateful to her than the little magik would ever understand.
“Laila must be protected from now on,” Marion insisted.
Caia bit her lip, trying not to show fear. “No one will harm her for breaking the law?”
“Everything is a mess right now, Caia. There is very little hold for the law.”
“So that’s a no, right?”
“That’s a no. But there will be a lot of people interested in acquiring her.”
Caia felt a primitive growl shudder in her chest, “Then they’ll have to go through me first.”
Laila beamed and Marion grinned at her appreciatively. “Then I think she’ll be fine. Outside the hospital walls there is a world full of very shocked, awed and frightened supernaturals.”
“Frightened of what?”
Lucien huffed, “You.”
Caia’s eyes widened and she gripped onto Lucien tighter. “Me?”
Jaeden rushed at her. “Caia… you’ve been unconscious for five days.”
“W-w-what?” she shook. Five days? What had happened? Who won? Was the pack all alive?
The questions rocketed through her and as she tried to ask them they tumbled out in a jumble of nonsense. Lucien stroked her back soothingly and Marion spoke again, “When you found Lucien…” the witch shook her head in wonder. “I don’t know what happened. I saw you fall across him and then this white light exploded out of you along with this inhuman screaming.” The others nodded seeming to remember. “I was blasted off my feet. I couldn’t hear or see a thing. And then after a few minutes the light faded away and I could see again. And when I got up… there were no Midnights left. Ash blew up into the breeze, whispering by me with Midnight energy. Caia… you killed them all.”
34 – Blood Solstice
A week passed in which Caia and Lucien both tried to rebuild their energy. Caia often wondered how Lucien was feeling. Did he feel different now? Could he remember the Underworld?
“No.” He had seemed amused by the question. “I don’t think I was gone long enough.”
After Caia had killed the Midnights, a feat she still couldn’t get to grips with, she had collapsed unconscious (as per usual after using her ‘gift’). The pack had scrambled over to them, grieving at the sight of Lucien’s dead body, when little Laila had pushed through them all, dropped to her knees, placed her hands upon Lucien’s chest and sang. Marion told her it had been the sweetest, saddest song she had ever heard and as it filled the air, magik the likes of which Marion had never felt before, lit up Lucien’s body, giving off this ethereal warmth that eased everyone’s pain. Marion had watched in awe as Lucien’s flesh began to regenerate, his heart reforming, his gaping wound closing, the colour returning to his body. And then he had gasped for breath before his eyelids slammed closed and he fell into unconsciousness.
Caia found a reason every day to see Laila, somehow needing to be near her, to reassure her she was real and that she was OK. In one act of kindness she had become one of the most important people in Caia’s life.
As for the pack they had been incredibly lucky.
“Luck had nothing to do with it,” Lucien had huffed. “We are an exceptionally wily bunch. I knew we could take ‘em.”
Caia had laughed. It was amazing. Despite some wounds they had all returned in one piece, along with Saffron, Reuben and Vanne. Alistair MacLachlan and his pack hadn’t been so lucky. Three of them were killed, some were wounded, but when Phoebe came to visit Caia she assured her that to them it had been a great death and a victory. Tentatively she had hugged Caia, and Caia had known as the Rogue Hunter left her suite that in Phoebe she had a friend for life. But the loss Caia most felt was that of Nikolai who had fought his way through the crowds to attack Orina Beketov. Caia was unsure of what damage he may have inflicted on Orina, for like the other Midnights fighting against them, she was gone in the wind.
Nikolai, despite being a powerful earth magik, had perished from Orina’s fire attack. She was saddened by his sacrifice, as was Reuben, the magik’s truest friend.
As for the Council and the Centre it was all a little chaotic. After what she had done on the battlefield even Benedict was politer to her, although the fear she saw in his eyes made her uncomfortable. She didn’t want anyone to be afraid of her. As for the rest of the Council they were awed and gratified; Vanne had bet her she would be on the Council in no time. It had worried her a little, thinking perhaps Lucien would be upset by the notion. Not just Luci
en but the entire pack.
She couldn’t have been more wrong.
“Caia, great things are about to happen and you need to be at the centre of that,” Jae had predicted.
To Caia’s surprise her words were greeted with nods of agreement as the pack lounged in the dining hall of the Centre. “Really?” she looked to Lucien.
He grinned at her, looking a lot healthier these days. “We need to stick around, sweetheart.”
“So you guys don’t mind staying here for a while?”
“Are you kidding?” Alexa snorted. “We’re in Paris. I am going shopping first chance I get. Oh, that reminds me.” She smiled sweetly at Lucien. “Can I borrow four hundred euros?”
“Where are you going shopping?” Jae asked dryly. “Chanel?”
“Duh, of course not… you would be lucky to get a scarf for four hundred euros from Chanel.”
They were all surprised when Lucien agreed to part with the money. All except Caia. Alexa had been through a lot and she had fought like a wildcat in that battle. She deserved to feel eighteen years old for a day. But only one day. Otherwise, she’d bankrupt the pack.”
***
Caia strolled into Alfred’s suite with more ease than she had ever felt in the last year. The war was almost over but there was much to do… yet she couldn’t help the pure happiness that thrummed in her veins every morning she woke up. She greeted the Council, who all shot to their feet in deference to her with a wide smile. Huffing she tried to cover her laugh at their expressions. Caia really wished she had seen what they had seen her do on the battlefield. People at the Centre were acting a little crazy. It had somehow convinced them that Caia was the purest child of Gaia in their existence… they actually believed Caia herself was god-like. Which was just crazy, she scoffed. Some blanched when they saw her coming down the corridors and pressed themselves up against the wall to let her pass. She tried to smile softly to ease their anxiety but it never worked. Others were different… they bounded up to her with enthusiasm and hero-worship which was equally exhausting. The Council were over the top polite and Caia unhappily noticed the twinge of fear in some of their eyes. She didn’t want to frighten people for Gaia’s sakes!
Caia was glad to see Marion and Vanne in the room with Reuben and Saffron. The four of them treated her as they always had.
Caia grinned at Marion. A few days before she had had some quiet time with her mentor for the first time in a long time. She asked how Marion was coping with the loss of her sister and her position at the Centre. It was difficult, she had said, but not impossible. And Vanne was helping, she had blushed. Caia had laughed. Marion was usually so cool and together but Vanne had reduced her to a blushing teenager. She told Caia how she had been crushed at first when Vanne stopped courting her to court her sister, how over the years she had felt their connection had never died, how she had felt guilty for feeling that way. Marion had never known Vanne was still in love with her, however, or the real reason he had left her for Marita. So, they were trying out a relationship… a very tentative attempt. It was strange for them both with Marita between them. But Caia thought they should turn that into a positive. No one else but each other could understand the helplessness one felt when betrayed by someone that close to you.
Reuben grinned wickedly at Caia, making a face at the way the Council deferred to her. Caia, rolled her eyes. For an old guy he could be really immature. She threw a quick smile at Saffron. As for those two… Caia didn’t know what was going on. Maybe they were both too darn gosh old to have any kind of meaningful relationship between them. But there were feelings there and Caia couldn’t wait to watch that particular show unfold.
Not that she didn’t have anything better to do.
Laughing at herself, Caia took a seat before them all. “You wished to see me?” She asked politely.
Alfred cleared his throat and nodded. “We wanted you to be the first to know that peace negotiations with a community of Midnight magiks in Paris are going well.”
Exuberant elation shot through her. “Really?” she gasped.
Penelope smiled sweetly at her excitement. “Really.”
“What next then?”
The Council shared wary glances. “The negotiations are complex. As you might understand the Midnights are not happy to exist peacefully with us if we have a controlling council in power.”
She frowned. “You mean you guys?”
“Exactly.”
OK. Fair enough, she nodded thoughtfully. They would just have to come up with a solution.
“We should begin negotiations with other Midnights and see if that’s going to be a recurring theme,” Caia suggested.
The Council nodded, but Reuben sighed, “It’s not that easy, Caia. This could take a while.”
A slow smile spread across her face. “I can be patient.”
35 – Something New
Three years later
Caia shook her hands out wishing her palms weren’t so sweaty. She exhaled and then began the breathing exercises that Marion had taught her.
“Caia.” Lucien soothed, putting a hand on her shoulder. He stood behind her with Jaeden as they stared at the massive double doors to the court room at the Centre. Despite all the other changes, the Centre was still called the Centre, but now by those who had once been Daylights and Midnights alike. Those terms were one of the first laws she was going to insist upon – no use of Daylight or Midnight. It would be considered a racial slur. They were all the same now. She trembled a little.
“You can do this, Caia,” Jae encouraged.
Magnus’ words from this morning came back to her in a rush of comforting warmth.
“Your father would have been so proud of you, Caia.” He had hugged her close, and she had choked back the tears at the thought of Rafe, of the picture she had of the two of them that she kept tucked under her pillow. Magnus pulled back, his eyes glittering suspiciously. “I know because I’m so proud I can barely contain it sometimes.”
The people who loved her believed in her. I can do this. Caia threw back her shoulders and threw open the doors. The high wall before them was covered with plaques with lists of names of the supernaturals that had fought with them and died during the Great Battle for Concord, as it was now called. In the centre was the largest plaque with Nikolai’s name scrawled across it in beautiful calligraphy. Below it Caia had had the inscription from Oscar Wilde’s own tomb carved into the stone for Nikolai. It read:
And alien tears will fill for him
Pity’s long broken urn
For his mourners will be outcast men
And outcasts always mourn
Caia smiled as she passed it, knowing Nikolai would have loved it, an opinion shared by Reuben. She strode up the stairs and into the court, Lucien and Jae at her back, acting as her second and third in command. The benches of the court were empty, but set up in the middle of the room was a huge round table, and seated in beautifully carved chairs that Lucien and his apprentice had worked on for months (each chair depicted a moment in the Great Battle for Concord) were supernaturals of influence and power. There were ten of them. Four magiks, two faeries, two vampyres, two lykans and of course, Caia… their Chairwoman. She strode to the largest chair at the northern most point of the circle and Lucien pulled it out for her. She stepped between it and the table and lowered herself upon the comfortable cushion. Reuben, Saffron and Alfred stared back at her amongst less familiar faces. Faces of people she knew she would come to know very well over the years as she led them in the new world.
It had been a gruelling and exhaustive endeavour to bring them all together, amongst them three magiks and a faerie who had once been Midnight. But after the battle, and months of hard work, Caia’s wishes had come true. The war had ended and in its place sprung something new. These people before her, their actions and decisions were only the beginning… for there was much work to be done.
She smiled at them in joy that this moment was finally here. “Ladies
and gentlemen, welcome to the first meeting of the United Council of Supernaturals.”
Epilogue – The Gods
Mount Olympus
“I’m a little sad that it’s over,” Hemera sighed.
Artemis shrugged. “The war is over, but there’s still going to be plenty of action. We won’t be bored, I promise.”
Hemera sniffed, feeling a little put out. “I bet it only lasts a century.”
Artemis grabbed her hand. “I’ll take that bet.”
Gaia, who was dozing on the giant-sized cloudy bed with all its gold trimming that used to belong to Hera and Zeus, groaned, “Ladies, please, can we not just enjoy this moment.”
The two goddess’ snorted at their mother. “New age wench,” Hemera muttered.
“You know if the war starts up again, she’ll,” Artemis gestured to Gaia, “Just find another way to bring about peace.”
Hemera nodded. “That’s what I said… new age wench.”
“I heard that,” Gaia murmured but didn’t move from the bed.
Artemis grunted and flopped down onto the floor. “I never thought I would say this but I actually envy Hades. At least he’s got company in the Underworld.”
“And drama,” Hemera agreed.
“And sex… not for me of course, cos’ I don’t do that sort of thing, but it does spice the viewing pleasure up a bit.”
“Not to mention he has torture down there.”
Blood Solstice: Part Three in the Tale of Lunarmorte Page 27
