“Not what. Who.” Nikolai stepped forward, seeming to understand Reuben was losing her.
Caia blinked. “Who?”
Nikolai settled on the arm of Reuben’s chair. “The Septum is the seven direct descendants of the Daylight and Midnight Coven.” He flicked his wrist and a scroll of paper appeared on the ground before her. It slowly unrolled. There were seven names and their locations printed on it. “What you see before you is information that has taken us a long time to verify.”
Caia shook her head. “I don’t understand.” Were these the descendants of the magiks who bound themselves to Galen and Penelope respectively?
“Yes,” Reuben confirmed.
Her eyes widened. She hadn’t realized she’d muttered the question out loud. She took hold of the paper, seeming to understand that something of great consequence was unfolding here. “So these are the direct descendants of the first seven. What makes them so important?”
Her mind was whirring with possibilities, but she couldn’t even begin to imagine that her theory was correct.
Reuben smiled. “Caia, you’re smarter than that. I think you already know.”
Taking a huge gulp of air, she tried unsuccessfully to fold the paper without her fingers trembling. “You think… you think you can get rid of the trace somehow through these seven people?”
They both grinned at her as if she were a pet who had just performed brilliantly for them. Nikolai leaned forward a little, excitement bristling in his every movement. “We don’t think… we know.”
“How?”
“Just before you were born, the Prophet came to me again.” Reuben sat up straight in his chair. “He told me that if we killed the seven direct descendants simultaneously – and it has to be simultaneously, by the same method, it has something to do with connecting their energies and the trace – then the trace will leave us. I’ve always believed that the trace has kept the war alive when it should have ended centuries ago. For goddess sake, lykans and vampyres, for the most part, have lived in peace with the humans for nearly two thousand years. The Midnights have nothing to complain about anymore… they’re just trapped with one another because of the trace and the prejudice of the powerful magiks who control the trace.”
Their revelation was astounding. She stared, eyes glazed, at the paper in her hand and let what they were telling her sink in. Reuben was right… without the trace… they would all be free…
She would be free.
“You think this is the first step to ending the war, don’t you?”
The vampyre nodded slowly. “We do this and we can begin to build a new world.”
“What do you need me for?”
Reuben laughed. “You don’t get it do you, Caia? This is what you were born to do.”
She shook her head, completely confused. “No… I… the Prophet said I’d end the war.”
“Oh, you will end a two-thousand year old war just like that will you?” He snapped his fingers. Before she could snarl in displeasure at his mocking, the vamp continued in a softer tone, “Caia, we need you to use that magik mojo of yours to kill the Septum simultaneously. If you do that and supernaturals are freed from the trace then technically you will have ended this war. The war we’re looking at after that is an entirely new one… one that we can eventually bring to an end. But it will take time.”
She felt the world spin a little, and the next thing she knew she no longer felt the press of the cold, hard floor but was sitting on an armchair that matched Reuben’s. The wave of dizziness passed. “Thank you,” she whispered to Nikolai.
“It’s a lot to take in, we know.”
A lot to take in? For almost a year now she had believed that she was somehow going to bring the war to a conclusion. Now they were telling her what she was meant for was only the beginning. Exhaustion overwhelmed her, hope bursting like a soap bubble that had been chased for four blocks.
“I thought…” she cleared her throat, “I thought it would end. Somehow… I thought…”
“A war of this magnitude doesn’t just go away, Caia.”
Laughing humorlessly, she flopped back on the chair, staring at the grey ceiling. “I’ve been so naïve.”
“You weren’t the only one.”
Fear tightened her expression and she couldn’t bring herself to look at them. “You want me to kill those people?”
A moment of sharp silence. And then… “Yes.”
Tears pricked her eyes. “Three of them are Daylights. And for all I know the four Midnights are against the war.”
The vampyre’s cold voice tore through her like a serrated knife, “Their deaths are necessary.” She jerked her head down and stared at him in disgust, taking satisfaction in the flinch her look produced. Reuben shifted uncomfortably, reading her expression easily. His face grew taut with anger, all boyishness fleeing his features. “Don’t you dare look at me that way. I am not a monster. I am trying to end this war. A war I’ve had to live through for hundreds of years. You’ve been dealing with this barely a year. Come back to me in two thousand and see how principled you are then.”
“Mindlessly killing people is not the way to end a war, I don’t care how you try to justify it.”
He laughed, his eyes dark cuts of jet that reflected scorn in the light. “What was that you just said about being naïve? All wars are fought with death, Caia. Or haven’t you been listening in history class?”
Nikolai hastily interrupted before she could retort, “Caia, if it helps, most of the Septum are very old now. A few of them would probably willingly sacrifice themselves for this.”
Her chin lifted at the suggestion. “Fine, get them to agree to it and I’ll think about it.”
“Caia-” Reuben warned.
“No! You can’t just expect me to kill innocent people!”
“It must be done!” He flew out of his chair towards her, and Caia shrank back, remembering her magik would do her no good with him.
“Reuben…” Nikolai made a move towards him, watching him very carefully.
The vampyre towered over her, his hands braced on the arms of her chair, his face inches from her. “Stop acting like a child,” he whispered, clearly trying to gain control over himself. “There is no choice, Caia. Seven people over millions. Don’t you want to be free of the trace… don’t you want all those voices out of your head?”
Bleakly, Caia nodded. “Yes,” she whispered. “But I don’t know if I can do what you need me to do.”
He sighed wearily and pulled back, scrubbing his hands over his face. “You need time,” he told her emotionlessly. “Think it over.”
She knew then she wasn’t getting out of here without conceding to at least this request. Both men were determined. One of them had been planning this for a loooonng time.
“Fine,” she snapped. “But I want a change in scenery. For a start I want windows.”
The Russian smiled like a kindly father. “Of course.”
“And I want the pack informed I’m alright.”
“No-” Reuben began, but was cut short when Nikolai’s hand clamped down on his shoulder.
“I know that you are impatient to get on, but I think we can accommodate Caia in this.”
To Caia’s surprise she watched Reuben relax a little. “I apologize. I have to stop treating you as if you were an enemy. We need this, Caia. Please take your time.”
“Putting aside the moral magnitude of what you’re asking me to do… I don’t even know if I have the capabilities to take that many people out in one go.”
Reuben smiled softly. “You incinerated four magiks only a few weeks ago… simultaneously.”
“You think that was easy for me?”
“I think some were misguided magiks – not truly evil – and you killed them without thought to protect those closest to you. Think on this as the same thing. Killing the Septum will protect the people you love.”
She flinched at the reminder of what she had done, knowing he was deliberately playing on her guilt. “You are a horrible person.”
He gave a huff of laughter. “Perhaps I am.” He turned then and opened the door. Quietly, she followed as they led her out of the stone room and down a narrow, dank corridor. She might be imagining things but she could have sworn they were in a castle.
“I don’t sense fear from you, Caia,” Reuben mused as they strode through the maze of dimly lit halls.
“Should I be afraid?”
“No. Should I?” He grinned.
“Definitely.”
Finally, they came to a stop outside one of many doors they had passed. Nikolai pushed the door open and a stream of light blinded her as Reuben nudged her inside. She blinked, adjusting to the light, and her eyes widened at her surroundings. “Wow, this is not what I was expecting at all.”
The circular room looked as if it might have once been a tower room. Now a panoramic window spanned a good portion of one wall. The mahogany hardwood flooring contrasted sharply with the soft buttercream walls. The room was filled with modern furniture, including a corner sofa and a four poster bed.
Involuntarily, Caia moved towards the window, her eyes soaking up the stunning countryside. “That’s fake, right?”
Nikolai chuckled. “Yes. But why have windows without a view to go with it.”
“Well I like it.”
He smiled smugly and shared a triumphant look with Reuben.
“Doesn’t mean I like you all.”
That wiped the smirk off their faces. Good.
Reuben cleared his throat. “We’ll leave you alone with this.” He handed over the Septum.
As soon as they left, Caia flopped down on to the sofa and held on to Nikolai’s trace as he and Reuben walked through the building. A building that no longer resembled a castle. Glamour. Damn Nikolai. He was way more powerful than she’d like. The building now appeared to be more of a large, stylish mansion than an old castle.
Caia frowned. Nikolai’s trace was different. Usually his thoughts were covered in thick smog, and she could only ever get surface thoughts. Today she could feel him more deeply, clearly, in the trace. She remembered what Reuben had said about manipulating Nikolai’s trace, and wondered if perhaps he had relaxed his control on it in order to appease her. Hmm.
The two men entered a large reception hall that paid court to a grand antique staircase; a staircase that descended towards them before pausing briefly in the shape of a small landing, a landing that then branched off into two more staircases like wide welcoming arms. Almost immediately a tall, broad figure appeared at the bottom of the far right of the stairs.
“Vanne.” Reuben frowned, heading towards him.
Caia gasped, feeling Nikolai’s anticipation at Vanne’s appearance. He was thinking something must have happened at the Center.
Vanne! Caia began to sweat at the implication. Nikolai was familiar with Vanne? Friggin’ Hades! Vanne was one of them?! Just how deep did Reuben’s infiltration of the Coven go?