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 color 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 Center 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 Lucien 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 center 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 Center. “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 Center 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 Center. 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 Center. Despite all the other changes, the Center was still called the Center, 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.