“I don’t get it, I was telling the truth.” He shrugged, looking confused and irritated, clearly annoyed that she had gotten the better of him in a situation he thought would annoy the crap out of her. The thing was... Caia was pretty used to people ogling Lucien. She had since learned to turn the whole jealousy thing off.
“Well she’s human. She doesn’t understand there are portals to Europe in gymnasiums. I didn’t realize there were portals to anywhere - let alone Europe - until last week and I’m a half-breed half-breed.”
“A half-breed half-breed?”
“Still working on a name for what I am.”
“How about a Mykan?”
“Or a Lykik?”
Lucien screwed up his face. “Stick with half-breed half-breed for now.”
She smiled, and for that moment they were comfortable in each other’s company. She bit her lip, remembering the first time they had taken a walk in the woods behind their house together, and Lucien had told her about Pack Errante’s origins. It had been comfortable then, too. If only it could be like that always. Abruptly, the moment between them changed as Lucien’s eyes fell to her mouth. It was the same look he had given her when he’d kissed her for the first time, and when he had initiated the night they slept together.
Oh boy.
Her cheeks suddenly felt very flushed.
And then Lucien seemed to come back to himself and he coughed shifting in his seat. “Where is that coffee?” he grumbled, his eyes not meeting hers.
Caia tried to hide her smile. Maybe Lucien wasn’t quite as unaffected by her as she’d thought he was. She felt like laughing. Maybe there was hope after all. Maybe-
What is that?
An icy tingling shot through her and she stiffened in response. She was fully in control of her trace magik now. She tapped into it whenever she wanted to, but if a Midnight magik was nearby the trace alerted her to it. Glancing around, Caia tried not to show her panic. It didn’t mean the Midnight was here in the diner. The magik could be a few miles away. Allowing herself to relax, she let the magik’s essence pour through her. A man. A young man. He was happy about something. It felt like love. He felt like he was in love. She stiffened again.
“Caia, what’s wrong?” Lucien reached across for her hand.
“Nothing,” she whispered.
And that was the problem. The young Midnight’s essence was untainted. There was no malice or hate in his soul. No bloodlust for war. And he wasn’t the first Midnight’s trace that she had felt this from. Why were there Midnights who didn’t seem to care about the war? There was no evidence of that black syrupy pool of hate Ethan had reveled in; that Pierre du Bois and his followers swam in. She wasn’t stupid. Caia knew that there was no black and white in war, or in most situations for that matter, but the centuries of beliefs and warfare had taken on its own soul, its own being. Daylights were supposed to want equality and peace. Midnights the extinction of ‘lesser’ supernatural beings they considered a threat to mankind. So why the Hades were there Midnights who cared more about the kind of puppy their fiancée might like, than whether their Head of Coven had gone missing?
“Caia?” Lucien reiterated.
She shook the trace out of her at the sound of Lucien’s panic.
“I’m OK,” she reassured him. “I’m OK.”
Should she tell Lucien what she suspected?
“You look upset.”
Her eyes drank in his concern, her whole body warming over his distress for her. Lucien was a big believer in ‘Midnights bad, Daylights good’. He would think she was crazy, or reading the trace incorrectly. No. For now she’d keep quiet, and Lucien would keep smiling at her.
“Just nerves again.”
He snorted and shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re nervous for. You’re like a god to these people. I, on the other hand, am the Alpha whose pack you chose over the Center.”
Caia laughed. “Yeah, I forgot about that. Hey, maybe you should be nervous.”
“Nice. Thanks.”
“Ooh look, your loogie coffee is coming.”
“You’re cute you know that. I think if you continue to be this cute I’m going to leave you here to go out on a date with Melissa, the waitress, yourself tonight. I’ll send a postcard from the Center.”
“You can’t go through the portal without me.” She smiled sweetly.
His answering look would have frozen water. “How much do muzzles cost these days?”
He couldn’t have been more relieved than when they finally pulled into the parking lot of Magic Fitness. The day, in close quarters with Caia, had been harder than he had imagined. Lucien glanced at her as he put the car into neutral and pulled up the break, switching the engine off. She was smiling nervously back at him, her long pale hair pulled back off her face making her cat green eyes seem larger and more vulnerable.
She should have been his.
Sighing, he shook off the aggravating thought that created this heavy rock on top of his heart. He was acting like a chick.
“Ready?” he managed.
“Sure.” Caia nodded at him and climbed out of his truck.
They walked in silence into the gym, and he had to stop himself from taking a hold of her hand. Her anxiety was oozing out of her pores, and he had a feeling there was more to it than just the Center. Sometimes, he thought it might be because of him, but she had gotten good at hiding her feelings, and as far as he was aware she didn’t see him as anything more than a friend and her Pack Leader. So what in Hades was up with her? He was the one that should be nervous, he thought, as Caia led them through the gym to studio number three. No one approached them, despite how inconspicuous a huge dark haired guy and his tiny gorgeous blonde companion were.
This was it. This was where he might lose whatever hold he had on Caia.
“We’re here,” she said quietly, her small hand reaching out to grab a hold of the gold door handle under the sign that said Out of Order.
“Yeah.” He took a deep breath, running his hand through his hair, readying himself. Her green eyes looked up into his. Should I? she seemed to ask. His answer was a brief, stoic nod.
This was about more than them. That had been their problem from the start.
The door swung open and he followed as Caia tentatively entered the barren space. The mirrors were attached to the back wall just as Marion had said they would be. Lucien shut the door behind them and walked as quietly as he could to where Caia now stood facing the first pane of mirror.
She blew air out between her lips. “This is it.”
“Yeah.”
“Take my hand.”
He reached for her and they clasped hands, and slowly, almost as if she had gone into slow motion, she reached a slender arm out towards the pane. He saw her hand tremble, and he squeezed the one enfolded in his own. At that she seemed to shrug herself into action, and she laid her wide-open palm against the mirror. The atmosphere in the room charged and the air pressure changed. It was almost as if they had climbed up too high. The floorboards beneath their feet creaked and shifted, and Lucien grabbed tighter on to Caia. And then his eyes widened in amazement as the mirror turned to liquid under Caia’s touch, her entire hand sinking through the mercury mass. She looked back up at him, smiling in astonishment and excitement, all her nerves seeming to have disappeared.
“Are you ready?” She grinned, the dimple in her cheek flashing invitingly.
How could he say no?
He smiled back at her. “After you.”
It felt like cold gel sliding and clinging to his skin as he walked through the pane. He could no longer see Caia, there was only darkness, but he could feel her hand still clasped warmly in his. The gel-like feeling disappeared, and as he kept walking the darkness began to dissipate to white light. He stopped, blinking as the light glared brighter, bringing his arm up to shield his eyes from the intrusion.
“Lucien,” he heard Caia whisper.
Cautiously he brought his arm back down and blinked open his eyes.
Whoa.
They stood in an enormous space. In front of them were a couple of security gates and three guards. It wasn’t hard to guess that they were all warlocks trained in defensive magik. Beyond the gates was a huge reception area, there was even a cute receptionist behind the circular desk. And behind the desk to the right of the foyer were floor to ceiling windows that curved along the right side of the building instead of steel and brick.
“Oh my...” Caia breathed and he echoed the sentiment as he realized they were looking out on to water, and beyond that a beautiful cityscape. And towering behind the bridges and stunning architecture was the top of the Eiffel tower.
“You made it.”
They both turned sharply to see Marion, grinning like a child as she sidestepped the security gates, gliding towards them.
“Paris?” Caia shook her head in amazement.
Lucien watched as her mentor smiled smugly. “The River Seine to be exact.”
“Wait.” His stunned gaze flew to the windows. “We’re on the River Seine?”
Marion chuckled. “Compliments of two of our finest magiks. An earth and air magik worked together to create the Center in another plane that exists within Paris. We can see them.” She pointed to the outside world. “But they can’t see us.”
“Wow.”
Lucien nodded. “You said it.”
“Well, I’m so glad you made it.” Marion was grinning again as she grabbed a hold of Caia’s elbow and started dragging her through the reception. “First things first, introduce you to Marita and Vanne, and then to your rooms. And then in the morning I’m going to introduce you to another water magik I picked out for you, Mordecai. He shows amazing promise. Mordecai will show you around the classes I want you to take part in while you’re here. Communication spells, martial arts, water element lectures, glamour class, natural materialization... Oh, and we have altars to all the individual gods here. I’m sure you would like to see Artemis and Gaia’s. Oooh maybe...”
Lucien trailed at the back of them, his eyes drinking in their modern yet rich surroundings, his ears taking in all the excitement Marion had planned for Caia. He smiled gently as Caia glanced back at him, her eyes wide with the exhilaration of being somewhere she could really try out her magik. With that quick glance she turned back to listen to Marion, leaving Lucien behind.
And that was exactly what he was afraid of.
5 - Sizing Up
The witch and warlock that stood before her were not exactly what she had been expecting.
Throughout Marion’s chatter Caia had been completely aware of her and Lucien’s surroundings as they entered a large elevator near the rear of the massive reception area they had passed through. The back wall had three elevators, and Marion led them to the middle elevator that needed a security code to open it. As soon as the doors glided smoothly open, Caia could see why. She was guessing this was the ‘presidential elevator’, clad in mahogany and gold, sparkling clean mirrors reflecting three of each of them. Marion explained to them that this was indeed the only elevator to the Head of the Coven’s suite. When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Caia’s eyes had widened. Before them stretched a loooong wide corridor, decorated richly in butter creams and gold. The carpet felt like clouds beneath their feet, and here and there were pieces of Louis XIV furniture, and rich, dark oil paintings favoring Italian Renaissance. More surprising, however, was the lack of doors, except for the large double doors at the very bottom of the seemingly endless corridor. Furthermore, there were ten magiks standing vigilant guard, five aside to either wall, and dotted along the walkway in exact formation.