But what of Caia… he mused desperate to come out from the cover of the trees to reveal himself to her. He needed to know more about her. He needed to be able to trust her. Somehow, he had to insinuate himself into her life.

The girl. Yes, he thought. The lykan that Ethan had kidnapped. Jaeden.

He had watched her for a while, yesterday, wondering what on Gaia’s earth had happened to her down in Ethan’s basement. He could guess he supposed. He scowled. She should never have had to go through that. And now… well… she had a secret too. As he had watched her he had seen her grow visibly upset and items in her room had started flying around of their own accord. A telekinetic. Untapped magikal power in a lykan. She was like a two-for-one special. Not only would she be a useful soldier but he could use her to insinuate himself into Caia’s life. Another misfit to add to his crew. Yes. Tonight he would send a few impulses her way, suggest perhaps she run away from the pack. Then he would appear: Reuben the vampyre with his gang of hunters. Yeah. He’d make sure Jaeden wanted to join him. And then he’d have it all. Jaeden. The Septum. And Caia.

3 – Just How Deep

the Rabbit Hole Goes

Reuben – sorry Kirios – was really old. Like… whoa old.

Caia gazed at him, trying to look anything but intimidated by him. Of course she was. She had to maintain control of the situation. As much control as someone in a cage could.

“What I got from that long-winded tale of sorrow is your little family of hippies are responsible for this war, and you my friend are a ruthless son-of-a-bitch. Not exactly endearing me to your cause. By the way, I still don’t fully have a grasp on what your cause is exactly.”

“To end the war. I thought I was quite clear on that point.”

She held in a long suffering sigh. “Yes, but how do you intend to do that?”

Reuben looked off into the distance, a smug smile in his eyes. “Well, Marita has inadvertently made everything so much easier for us.”

Caia snorted in disbelief. “And how is that?”

“Our plan was to take care of the Septum and then get rid of Marita. That could have been a bloody mess but Marita has betrayed herself to the Council. We just need to take her out, and then once she’s out of the picture I’m sure it will be pretty easy to persuade the Council to our way of thinking.”

“Again, what way is that? What the Hades is the Septum? If you’re going to keep me in a cage like a gerbil you can at least do me the courtesy of providing me with some straight answers.”

Reuben chuckled and relaxed once more into his armchair, shrugging elegantly. “What cage?”

A jolt ran through Caia at his amusement and she closed her eyes in disbelief. It better be there when she opened them. Slowly, she craned her neck up. No bars. Her gaze flew around her sides and back and she narrowed her eyes. No cage. And the bars that had been suspended in front of her disappeared as she turned back to look at Nikolai. She shook her head, laughing low and humorlessly. “For how long?”

“Since Nikolai gave me this chair.”

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll try to use magik?”

He shrugged, apparently his favorite gesture. “Wouldn’t you have done so by now?”

She growled. He was such a smug bastard. She just wanted to smack the expression off his face. “I want to know what the Septum is. It doesn’t mean I have any intention of working for you. I just want to know what I’m dealing with.”

“That’s smart. Probably the first smart thing you’ve said or done so far.”

Breathe, Caia, breathe. He claims to be impervious to magik. He could be lying but if he’s not and you blast him, Nikolai will blast you before you can blink and then Reuben will finish you off.

His eyes wandered over her face. “You think before you act. At least that’s something.”

“Screw you.”

“Very mature.”

“Oh, and your pointed little insults are the height of sophisticated adulthood.”

His lips quirked up at the corner in obvious amusement. Goddess, she hated this guy.

“I’m just pointing out that you haven’t shown a propensity for logic in your previous dealings.”

Don’t let him bait you. Ignore him. Count sheep or something.

Oh the hell with it, counting sheep was for insomniacs! “And just what the Hades do you know about it, huh?”

Well done, Caia, that’s showing him.

“You were planning on taking over the Daylight Coven with the hopes of beginning peace negotiations with the Midnights. Illogical, stupid and naïve.”

She bristled. “Maybe you’ve forgotten, but I’m the one with trace powers. I can sense Midnights emotions and motives, and I can assure you there are a lot of them out there who would welcome my plan to end the war.”

“Yes, but there are also many who won’t. That’s why we need to deal with the Septum first.”

Arrrgghhh!

“What is the Septum?” she seethed between clenched teeth.

“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.”