“We have a problem.” Vanne looked frantic.
“We know about the Council.” Reuben shrugged him off.
“Do you know Marita is going to have them executed in a week’s time?”
Reuben’s jaw dropped, an expression Caia was guessing was rare to him. “Is she insane?”
“She is completely unraveling. She won’t listen to anyone. She’s told Marion that Caia has betrayed them, that’s her excuse for holding Lucien and Ryder prisoner. Marion has refused to believe her but was met with a threat of imprisonment herself if she didn’t stop her ‘nonsense’.”
Reuben swore. “We need the Council if our plan is to succeed. They’re too powerful to lose.”
Vanne nodded. “There’s more. Marita has Caia’s pack under guard. They’re all holed up at Lucien’s home surrounded by magiks. Lucien, Ryder and the pack children were all taken. I know Lucien and Ryder are in the containment center but I have no idea what she has done with the children.”
The blood pounded through Caia’s ears. That witch had Lucien and the kids and Ryder! Without thought Caia burst out of the room, racing with an ever thrashing heartbeat through the mansion towards the trio. She burst out into the reception area. “We need to get them back!”
Annoyance flickered across the vampyre’s face. “I might have known you were following Nikolai’s trace rather than doing what we asked you to do.” He gestured towards the scroll crushed in her hand.
At the direction of his gaze Caia tucked the Septum behind her back. “I’m not doing anything for you unless you help me.” She turned pointedly to Vanne. “Fancy meeting you here.”
He at least had the decency to look sheepish. “Hi.”
“The children,” Caia addressed them all abruptly, “She is experimenting on them. When I was at the Center I followed her into the altar of Gaia. She has a secret basement lab underneath the altar. I know she’s experimenting on lykan children because I saw it for myself, but I suspect she’s also experimenting on vampyres.”
“What?!”
“Aah, something you don’t know Mr. 479 B.C.”
“Oh good, you were listening.”
She grunted at him in annoyance before continuing, “We need to get back to the pack and save them, and then somehow we need to get into the Center and free Lucien, Ryder and the Council. And we have to get those kids out of there. I don’t what she’s up to but I have a feeling it’s connected to the fact that Jaeden has particular abilities after being tortured by Ethan.”
Nikolai looked aghast. “You don’t think she’s torturing the children, do you?”
Caia sighed. “It didn’t look like torture exactly. There were chemicals and test tubes… look, who knows, we just have to get in there.”
Reuben sighed. “You’re giving me a headache. If you calm down I will come up with a plan.”
Her eyes widened hopefully. “You’re going to help me?”
“I don’t have much of a choice do I.”
4 – Prisoners
The ugly truth is a magik could take a lykan in human form anytime, anywhere. Hence why he was here now, staring at a bright white ceiling, clenching his teeth and fists in rage. When Lucien had woken up in this cell with Ryder by his side he had not been surprised to see Marita glaring at them from the other side of the Plexiglas. He had been surprised by the first words out of her mouth, however.
“So the little monster is missing?” she hissed in outrage. “And unless you two are extremely good at hiding things from me, you don’t have her.”
“Why don’t you let us out of here, you insane bitch, and then we’ll talk.” Ryder had shrugged.
Marita’s eyes had narrowed to dangerous slits. “I want to know where Caia is now, or I won’t be so kind in my experiments on the pack children. Stop shutting your minds to me and tell me everyone who has been in touch with you.”
If Lucien hadn’t been so shocked by her line of questioning he would have pounced at her (an idiotic mistake since the Plexiglas was magikally electrified). His frown of deep concern was unmistakable. “You mean you don’t have her?”
“Don’t play games with me, Lucien.”
“I’m not!” he growled, springing to his feet. “Do you or do you not have her?!”
Marita sighed. “No. I don’t. I thought you might know something. Now I see you don’t.”
His mind whirled with the possibilities. Who had Caia? What did they want with her?
Ryder had seemed to sense his slow unraveling and had answered for him, “She was taken a few hours before your guard arrived. We thought you’d kidnapped her.”
“Well clearly you were wrong.” Marita huffed and turned to the guard behind her. “I want her found. Go back to Lucien’s home and look for any evidence of her kidnapping. I will have a look at the trace, see what I can find.”
She had left without another word.
As he lay there, his mind tripped over and over again his last moments with Caia, and he began traveling into dark conclusions. His heart picked up speed and his only outlet was to let rip a garble of snarling growls that built into a howl. It did nothing to ease his fear over Caia. He felt impotent and lost. Desperate. But he knew those feelings weren’t going to get him any closer to finding her. He knew he needed to maintain control of himself if he was going to escape in time to find her before…
At his sudden silence he heard Ryder sigh from behind him. “Well after that, at least the Council members know they’re not alone down here.”
Ryder’s words sunk in. Crap. Lucien growled. Crap, of course.
“What? What did I say?” Ryder asked wide-eyed as Lucien spun on him.
“If the Council can’t get out of here, how the hell are we going to? No wonder she stuck us in here together.”
“Come on, man, we just need to think of a plan.”
What if Caia was already gone? What if one of the Midnights had gotten wind of her existence and had snuck up on her before Caia knew what was happening? What if she was lying somewhere…
Feeling his chest constrict, Lucien braced himself against the wall of the cell, fighting to catch a breath.
“Lucien, you have to calm down. Jeez, I never took you for the claustrophobic kind.”
“It’s not that,” he breathed, scoring his nails down the brickwork, ignoring each pop of broken skin and the prickles of blood.
He felt the moment when his friend understood. His stillness caught hold of Lucien and pressed even harder on his chest.
“We’ll find her.”
“And if it’s too late when we do?” at the words he felt the prick of tears, the painful grip of grief clogging up his throat.
“She’s not dead,” Ryder promised him. “You would feel if she was gone. And this is Caia Ribeiro we’re talking about here. She’s a frickin’ nuclear warhead. Have a little faith.”
The pressure began to ease a little. “You think?”
“I know.”
Slowly, his breathing grew less labored and he turned to Ryder. “Sorry.”
“No need. If I thought for a second something had happened to Jae I would be ripping this place a part.”
“Well we’re lucky Jaeden’s quick. They couldn’t touch her once she was in wolf form. And it looks like Caia was right about Marita wanting her specifically. She was more than a little pissed off she couldn’t get to Jae.”
Ryder grinned proudly. “Yup, plus she got a few slices in while they grabbed us.”
“Sorry you didn’t get your wedding night.”
His friend shrugged lazily. “We’ll be out of here soon enough.”
“You really are an optimistic son-of-a-bitch, aren’t you?”
“Have to be.” Ryder frowned. “She’s got the kids. And I’m guessing she’s got them in that lab Caia told us about. We have to get out of here and get those kids back to the pack.”
“What are you talking about?”
Lucien spun around at the voice that had caused Ryder’s eyes to narrow in disgust.
“Marion,” Lucien snarled. “How nice of you to show up.”
Her presence was like a punch to his gut. All these years she had been a close friend of the pack, one of Magnus’ best friends in fact. Now she had betrayed them just as her sister had betrayed the Coven. He was about to spit and vent his fear over Caia and his fury over his predicament in her face, when he suddenly took in her appearance. The witch had flinched at his tone, her pale features wan and drawn. Her mouth was pinched with strain and her eyes dark with distress.
“I… I don’t know what’s going on here, Lucien,” she whispered, drawing slowly closer to the Plexiglas. “I can’t stay. She doesn’t know I’m here.”
As the truth of the situation hit him, he deflated, his anger just as suddenly replaced with reluctant sympathy for her. “She’s threatened you?”
Marion nodded. “With imprisonment.”
“You know the Council didn’t do anything wrong.”
She threw her hands up. “Lucien, I don’t know anything. I thought I believed her about the Council… maybe… I don’t know. But taking you and Ryder? Telling me Caia betrayed the Coven…”
Lucien growled, rushing forward. He almost blasted into the Plexiglas without thought but Ryder was fast, grabbing a hold of his shirt and tugging him back. “Caia didn’t betray the Coven. She found out your sister was playing with the dark side.”
Marion shook her head, her wide eyes filled with fear and confusion. “No. No. She couldn’t be… we… our family are the ones who put the Coven to right.”
“Then why did she take the pack kids?”
Marion frowned. “What do you mean?”
Lucien snorted. “You’re telling me you didn’t see us come to the Center with all the pack kids in tow?”
“I missed your arrival.”
“That’s a nice way to put it. Almost as if we came here by choice.”
“Lucien, I’m so sorry. Maybe if I could speak to Caia-”
“CAIA’S GONE!” he roared, causing her to stumble back in shock.
“Lucien,” Ryder cajoled, pulling him behind him. Ryder turned more gently to Marion. “Caia was kidnapped before we were. Not by your sister. We don’t know who has her.”
The witch stiffened. “How is that possible? Are you sure it was kidnap?”
Ryder snarled this time, “Her blood was at the scene of the kidnap.”
“Oh goddess,” Marion gasped, running her trembling hands through her wild hair as she digested the news. Finally she looked up, her face taut with determination. “I’ll find her.”
“So your sister can have her killed?” Lucien spat.
Marion appeared appalled by the idea. “No… she would never…”
“Before you go making any statements of assurance on your sister’s high moral standing, why don’t you go into the altar of Gaia. To the right of the statue you’ll find a small metal stud imbedded in the marble flooring. The slab opens up revealing an entrance to an underground lab, where your sister is running illegal experiments on lykan children. Possibly even vampyres.”