“How bad?” she asked, turning her attention back to him.
“A minute, maybe less before the gold drains our life force completely.”
She sucked in a breath.
“It can be done. We just need to be quick.” Lucas gave her a confident smile that made her stomach drop.
“How exactly are you going to combine the gold and lead?” She didn’t want to know the answer, she really didn’t.
“I’m not. You are.”
She shook her head and backed away with her hands held up. “Oh no. No way. I’d burn them to a crisp.”
He shrugged. “That’s the chance they’ll take.” With a wave of his hand, two vampires appeared beside them with Cormac, Fia, and the other two Mists in tow. “The only question is whether or not you’re willing to try.”
Her jaw dropped; he was actually serious. This was insane. The three people standing in front of her had each tried to kill her. One had almost killed Ethan, and another had succeeded in killing Lily.
As if reading her thoughts, Maj met her gaze square on. “You would be within your rights to take this opportunity for vengeance. In your position, I’m not sure I would do anything else.”
Phoenix looked into the eyes of the woman that had killed a young girl and saw a shadow of regret. She also saw something else: steel. The Mist would accept her fate with honour.
“You hesitated. Back at the castle. Why?”
A small smile lifted the corner of Maj’s mouth, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I didn’t relish the death of potential.”
The cryptic words just caused her head to ache even more. She sighed wearily.
“I’m not a murderer, despite what the Council may have you believe. I won’t kill you while you’re unable to defend yourself.”
A look of surprise flashed momentarily across the Mists’ face, and she nodded in acknowledgement of the uneasy truce.
Beside her, Phoenix could feel the tension emanating from Ethan. His jaw clenched tight and his eyes blazed as he stared at the woman that had killed Lily. He put his hand on her lower back and spoke close to her ear. “You don’t have to do this.”
A large part of her wanted to grasp the offered out with both hands, but that was the cowardly part of her. That part of her wanted the Mists gone, and for this to be all over, but it wasn’t that simple.
She stepped forward, fists clenched to stop her hands from trembling. “If I do this, I want your blood vow that you will never harm anyone here again.”
Something dark and terrifying swirled in the depths of Jannah’s golden eyes. “If you can free us from the Council’s control, you will have more than that,” he promised. “You will have our vow to stand at your side when the time comes.”
She shivered and a strange fluttering filled her stomach.
And so it was agreed. Lucas placed two small pieces of lead in her hand, then produced a dagger and extracted the blood oath from Jannah.
The moment he uttered the oath, the spell protecting him from his bonds released and he fell to his knees with a pained cry.
Phoenix was so surprised by the reaction that she fumbled with the lead and dropped it on the ground. She scrambled to pick it up and turned to kneel before him. Sweat coated his paling skin and his face contracted in agony. The effort it took him to lift his wrists left her in no doubt that she was working on limited time.
With shaking hands, she raised the two pieces of lead until they were under his wrists. “Ready?”
She took his grunt as confirmation and closed her eyes. It didn’t take much to heat the lead in her hands, and strangely, it didn’t hurt. The scary part came when she had to control her energy enough not to barbecue the Mist on contact.
Slowly, she inched her hands upwards, her heart in her mouth as she closed the gap between the lead and the gold. There was no resistance, and the stench of crispy-fried flesh never came. She opened her eyes in surprise.
Jannah’s wrists rested in her palms, and the bonds surrounding them were now a strange swirling mix of lead and gold. He raised his head and stared at them in awe. His golden eyes glowed and the air grew heavy with the weight of his magic.
The words he whispered were weak, but they danced across her skin as if they had physical substance. His form shimmered in a soft golden glow, and his bonds cracked in half and fell to the ground with a loud thud.
There was no rejoicing, or even a show of emotion at his newfound freedom. He simply closed his eyes for a moment before turning to Maj and Shayan. “I’ll help you block it as best I can.”
So, two more blood oaths were taken, and two more Mists were free of their bonds. By the end, Jannah was significantly weakened from his attempts to shield his siblings from the gold while she worked. Shayan and Maj acted as support on either side of him, the fact he allowed such a show of weakness speaking volumes of the gold’s potential for harm.
Shayan gave her an assessing look, no cockiness evident in his gaze now. “The Council won’t stop. You know that, don’t you?”
Nate’s unexpected voice answered from behind her. “That’s where I come in.”
***
Ethan led Phoenix, Shade, and Nate back to his parent’s house while the others stayed behind to tend to the wounded pack members. Still, adrenaline roared through his veins, unspent and in need of release. They had come so close to losing everything.
“Where the hell have you been?” he yelled at Nate as soon as the front door closed behind them.
The shifter held his laptop up defensively in front of him. “Let me show you before you eat me.”
Ethan bared his teeth as Nate pushed past, but followed him to the kitchen nonetheless. Maps from their earlier planning were strewn across the large table, and half empty cups of tea sat waiting for their owner’s return.
Nate placed the laptop on top of the maps, and his fingers danced over the keyboard. The screen went black for a second before green writing started scrolling along the bottom like a breaking news bulletin.
A few of the words in particular jumped out at Ethan: hybrid, Lore, prophecy, Council, murder.
“What am I looking at?”
Phoenix leaned past him for a closer look, and his frustration was forgotten as he watched her face scrunch in concentration. How close had he come to losing her tonight? His chest constricted at the thought.
“It took me longer than I hoped to hack into the Council’s security network, which is why Shade went to get us more help.” Nate held up a hand to stall any questions. “I only managed to get in just before the Ritual, and by then it was too late to tell you our plan. The feed you’re looking at is currently the only thing running on their operating systems and can be broadcast worldwide on all forms of human media with the push of a button.”
Beside Ethan, Phoenix gasped, mirroring his own surprise. “You’re going to expose the Lore?”
Nate gave them his trademark cheeky grin – the first Ethan had seen in a while.
“Of course not. That would be suicide. We just need them to think we are.”
The cogs were turning slowly in Ethan’s head. His body still hadn’t reached full strength after purging the poison, and the night’s battle had left him physically and mentally exhausted. Nate’s words just didn’t make sense, no matter how much he concentrated.
“I’m lost,” he admitted with a weary sigh.
“It was Lucas’s idea.” Shade’s icy blue eyes watched him carefully. “The Council have been desperate to keep the rest of the Lore in the dark about the prophecy and Phoenix’s existence. They’d shit kittens at the thought of humans finding out.”
The mention of the mysterious blonde vampire caused Phoenix to stiffen, and Ethan bit back the multitude of questions running through his head. It wasn’t that he was complaining about the intervention, but Shade and Nate sure as hell had some explaining to do later.
Nate produced a small black mobile that looked suspiciously like an old flip phone. “We just need you to call
your dad’s cousin and specify our terms.”
The phone was shoved into his hand, a number already on the screen ready for him to dial. He looked up at Nate.
“Which are?”
In quick concise detail, it was all laid out. He chewed on the inside of his cheek as he listened and debated their options. Realistically, it wouldn’t change anything in the long term; the prophecy still hung over their heads. But it would be nice not to have everyone trying to kill them while they figured it out. And they would figure it out. The alternative wasn’t an option.
Unsurprisingly, William picked up on the first ring.
“What are you doing, Ethan?” The werewolf’s familiar voice was tight with tension and the underlying warning; he wasn’t alone.
“What we need to stay alive.”
“You know the Council can’t let you do this. The Mists will –”
“The Mists are no longer answering to the Council.”
A long pause.
“If you expose her to the Lore, you’ll just put her in more danger,” William warned. “You know the Council won’t be the only ones to believe her death is the answer.”
Ethan barked out a laugh. “True. But we don’t intend to just expose her to the Lore. We will be exposing the Lore to the humans. Then we’ll all know what it’s like to be in the firing line right alongside her.”
He let the words, and their implications, sink in before continuing. “Our proposal is simple. The Council backs off and gives us time to stop the prophecy. I’m sure by now you’ve seen our I.T. capabilities. It will only take a push of a button for us to broadcast this internationally. And we will do it.”
A low chuckle rumbled down the phone. “They’re not going to like being given an ultimatum.”
Ethan smiled. “Tough.”
A bone-deep weariness settled over Phoenix, and she let the conversation drone on around her as she slouched over the kitchen island. The Council had kindly agreed to a temporary stay of execution, for which she was oh so honoured. They’d also received word from Cormac that all injuries were being tended to, himself included.
Two dead and a dozen severely injured. It was better than they could have hoped for, but it still felt like too high a price.
As it turned out, the vampires had been the only reason she and the others had made it to the community centre in the first place. The sudden disappearance of the Mists in the forest had not been down to their impressive show of power, but rather an unexpected attack from Lucas and his clan. It had done little more than delay the final showdown, but it had been enough to allow events to play out as they had.
She couldn’t think too much about that though; her feelings for the blonde vampire that sired her father were something she just didn’t have the energy to examine at that moment.
When the front door opened an hour later, she jerked her head off the cool marble that had become her pillow. Her breath caught as Fia came into the kitchen, followed by Cormac, Sasha, and finally, Abi. A dizzying sense of relief overwhelmed her, and she leapt to her feet to pull her friend into a crushing embrace. Ethan had assured her that Abi was fine, but she couldn’t help the sob that escaped her at seeing the evidence for herself. A part of her had truly believed she’d never see her friend again.
Teary laughter and slaps on the back all around proved she wasn’t the only one feeling a little overwhelmed by their victory. Soon, they all retired to the cosy living room where a blazing fire provided hypnotic viewing, if not fully chasing away the pervasive chill. Fia busied herself making tea and laying out plates of meat and biscuits as everyone was brought up to speed.
“Eat up. You need to get your strength back.” The order was directed at the entire room, but Fia’s eyes fell on Phoenix and she gave a knowing smile.
As if by magic, Fia’s words reminded her just how drained she was. Her limbs were leaden, and the warm spark that normally occupied the centre of her chest seemed weak and far away. The thought of sleeping for a week was more than appealing and she snuggled back into the large cushions behind her on the sofa.
“You okay?” Ethan dropped down beside her, his brown eyes filled with concern.
“Long night, I guess.” Hell, he didn’t look so hot himself.
An odd feeling, almost like bubbles popping, drew her hand to her stomach and she frowned.
“Let me get you something to eat,” he offered.
She reached out a hand to stop him as he started to stand. “No, it’s fine, I can –”
The room spun and her vision grew hazy. It lasted only a second and when everything came back into focus, she was aware of Ethan gripping her arm, a look of alarm on his face. Heat crept up her cheeks and she cringed. Maybe food wasn’t such a bad idea; her blood sugar was obviously low.
Yet again showcasing a talent for mind reading, Fia appeared in front of her with a plate of food and a kind smile. “Here, this will help. It can take a lot out of you in the early stages.”
Phoenix scrunched her brow in confusion, dimly wondering if her brain had short-circuited at some point during the night. “The early stages of what?”
Fia simply nodded her head towards the hand she had resting protectively on her stomach. Beside her, Ethan’s jaw dropped, while she tried in vain to unravel what had to be the world’s most confusing math equation.
“She’s pregnant?” The question was barely a whisper from Ethan’s mouth.
His mother nodded. “Only just, but the spark of life is strong.”
Awe and anger and fear passed over his face all in the blink of an eye. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
Fia’s smile turned sad. “It only mattered if we survived. I couldn’t take the chance that it would cloud your judgement in the fight.”
Gripping terror clenched Phoenix’s gut, and she wrapped her arms around her stomach. A child? How?
Of course, she knew how it physically happened; she could even now remember the feel of Ethan’s body against hers as he held her close. But it didn’t make sense. How could she have a baby? She’d barely survived the night, let alone the last couple of months. How could she be responsible for another living thing, never mind a defenceless baby?
Her legs were shaky under her as she stood up in a daze and muttered an excuse about needing to go to the bathroom – that was what pregnant women did, wasn’t it?
She was vaguely aware of Ethan reaching out a hand towards her, and Fia quietly telling him to let her go. A sliver of guilt joined the fear twisting her gut, but she pushed it back and stumbled out of the room in need of air and a minute alone to think. She wandered aimlessly down the hall until she came to the staircase, then slumped down onto the bottom step.
“Phoenix?”
Abi’s hesitant voice drew her attention from her knees to find worried blue eyes watching her. She opened her mouth to tell her friend everything was fine, then closed it again. When Abi motioned for her to scooch over on the stairs, she did, and they sat together in silence.
Eventually, she managed in a small voice, “I’m pregnant.”
Abi’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened in shock. Then her face morphed into a wide grin and she crouched down in front of Phoenix, taking both hands in hers.
“A baby?”
Phoenix nodded numbly. She’d been trying to make sense of the word ever since Fia’s revelation. What did it even mean anyway? A baby. She had no context for it, no real life experience to equate it to, or no clue how she should be feeling.
“And you’re not happy?” Abi asked, no judgement in her tone.
Tears pricked the back of her eyes and her stomach clenched. “How can I protect a baby, Abi? The Council won’t let this go, no matter what they say. And then there’s still the prophecy to deal with –”
“The prophecy.” Abi jumped up suddenly, wringing her hands in excitement. “Oh my god, that’s it! Don’t you remember? It said, ‘so long as she alone does stand.’”
Phoenix gawked at her friend, fully con
vinced she’d lost her mind.
Abi pulled her to her feet with a shake. “Don’t you see? If you’re having a baby, you won’t be alone. You won’t be the only hybrid.”
When Phoenix finally got her head down, she slept for sixteen hours straight. She awoke feeling aches and pains in places she didn’t even know she could hurt, with a nervous fluttering in her stomach that had nothing to do with the new life growing there.
After her talk with Abi, she’d pulled on her big girl pants and talked to Ethan. He’d agreed that Abi’s theory had merit, and that thought alone had been the start of the tentative hope blossoming somewhere deep inside of her. But she kept that hope in check – they both did – with the unspoken understanding that they still had a long way to go if they were to have a chance of bringing their baby into this world.
Their baby. The words still didn’t really make sense to her, not in any tangible form. She didn’t dare let herself imagine either. And there would be no awkward “what are we to each other” conversations. Not yet. Not while the thread of hope was still so fragile.
It was with extreme effort that she pulled herself out of bed and into the shower. After, she went in search of Lucas.
She’d slept long enough that night was once again shrouding them in darkness, and she had no problem finding him sitting at the island in the kitchen, nursing a warm cup of tea and some of Fia’s homemade biscuits. She pulled out a stool beside him and sat down.
“I never thanked you. If it wasn’t for you and your vampires, we may not have survived to be sitting here now.”
The look he gave her was sombre. “It was the least I could do.”
A heavy silence hung between them as they both acknowledged the history that caused them to be strangers to each other.
“Why did you come?”
Lucas sighed and looked at the mug of tea cupped in his hands. “Your father was like a brother to me. When he broke Council edict … I couldn’t risk bringing their wrath down on my clan. I was bound to protect them, but I couldn’t kill him either. No matter what our laws say.”
2 Minutes to Midnight: Urban Fantasy Midnight Trilogy Book 2 Page 18
