Blood Solstice (The Tale of Lunarmorte 3)

His ears perked up and he spun around at the sound of approaching footsteps. Petrovsky.

“Reuben,” he whispered, coming towards him. Kirios had caused a lot of suspicion over the years, legends of a vampyre who couldn’t be hurt by magik had begun to circulate. He had found it necessary to change his name and stay out of the magiks’ way so the legend could die. For some reason his instincts told him he should remain a shadow until the time was right.

“What took you?”

“Anna’s father. He thought we should properly mourn the emperor.”

Kirios frowned. “I forgot he’s quite involved in human affairs.”

Petrovsky nodded. Theirs was a strange and unexpected friendship. A few years back, when Kirios had been on a hunt in St. Petersburg, he had come across this young Midnight trying to help a Daylight. At first he couldn’t believe what he was seeing so… he stalked him for a while. Petrovksy was of lower class descent among the Midnights and seemed to go out of his way to find Daylights - spending his nights searching the underworld of St. Petersburg with the determination of a bloodhound. Finally, Kirios actually concerned for the over eager young magik who was most certainly going to be killed by the supernaturals who intrigued him merely for being a Midnight, had enough and revealed himself to the boy.

Petrovsky was fascinated by other supernaturals, had no ill-feeling towards them whatsoever. And for some reason, Kirios believed him. Petrovsky hated the mindless prejudice of the Midnights who had never treated him well anyway, and like a young soldier desperate to join the war, accepted Kirios’ command. After all, a Midnight working for the Daylights was an unimaginable gift. First Kirios had masked Petrovsky’s trace so that the Head of the Midnight Coven would never know his true intentions, and then he had set about making the boy wealthy. Kirios spread rumors that Petrovksy had killed many Daylights and that, alongside the boy’s quirky charm, made him a great favorite with the Head of the Midnight Coven. Certain sacrifices had to be made in order to prove himself. Petrovsky had to kill some Daylights but Kirios compartmentalized that issue as a necessity of war, and was proven right when Petrovsky was given a position on the Council. It was not long after he married Anna, the daughter of a prominent Midnight and a member of a very old, influential family within the Coven.

“I came here because you said you had urgent news,” Kirios snapped.

“I am sorry. I could not get away.”

“Fine. What is the problem, Alex?”

Alex grinned. “Anna. She is with child.”

The vampyre’s heart picked up speed. Yes. This was it. This would help change everything.

“Then we must work out a plan.”

The young man smiled cheekily. “I thought that was what you would say. You want to teach him, don’t you?”

Kirios nodded. “We have to. Your children must know the truth of this war, Alex.”

Petrovsky suddenly grew very serious. “Of course, Reuben. No child of mine will be contaminated with Midnight insanity.”

New Jersey, U.S.A 1950s

“Holy!- ”Kirios yelped, his glass of blood going everywhere as he jumped. His gang of Rogue Vampyre Hunters were all out and about in New York, prowling the night for its varied predators. He was taking a moment for sustenance when a familiar magik had popped up before him, inches in fact from his face.

The Prophet smiled sheepishly and took a few steps back. “Sorry, I’ve never quite got the hang of a communication spell.”

Kirios shook his head. “What… how?”

The Prophet looked like a sixty year old man now but his bright blue eyes convinced Kirios that the magik in front of him was definitely the seer he hadn’t seen in almost two thousand years.

“Still as articulate as ever, Kirios. Or is it Reuben now?”

He nodded shakily. Not many things could unsettle him but the sudden appearance of this guy definitely did. “What are you doing here?”

The Prophet tapped his head. “Had a few more visions I thought you might be interested in hearing about.”

Excitement immediately rushed through every cell in Kirios’ body. “Seriously? No joke… things are finally going to happen? Jeez, I almost gave up hope-”

“I liked you better when you couldn’t talk.”

He scowled at the Cassandrian. “Fine, what’s going on?”

The magik raised an eyebrow at him before settling himself onto Kirios’ sofa. “Nice place you have here.”

The vampyre itched to hit the words out of the magik’s mouth but he tried to remember this was the guy who had saved his life.

After a few minutes of awkward silence the seer finally smiled. “OK. Here’s what’s going on. I’ve seen this girl. A Midnight. The daughter of a Council member to be more precise. She is, shall we say, against the war. Her name is Atia.”

“What has she got to do with anything?”

He shrugged. “Don’t know.”

“Is she… the mother of the child?”

“Don’t know.”

And just like that he was gone.

Kirios stared open-mouthed at the empty space on the sofa.

“Fucking fortune-tellers.”

Some fifty-odd years later

He watched the girl as she stared up at the moon from her bedroom window, her pale hair like a beacon drawing him in. Kirios sighed. He had found her. At last. After seeing the evidence at the house in the woods of her powers, of what she had done to her Uncle Ethan, Kirios knew that Caia Ribeiro was what he had been waiting for. All these years. All the mistakes.

When the Prophet had come to him about Atia he had followed her, watching her for any sign of what was to come. She was beautiful and powerful. Petrovsky told him she stayed clear of the war, suggesting she was, as the Prophet had said, against it. But her beauty was enough to entice the Head of the Coven, Devlyn, to ask for her hand in marriage. Her family wouldn’t let her say no. Kirios had known at that moment, had seen his chance - she was going to be the mother of the child from the prophecy. So he had revealed himself to her, and along with Petrovsky’s help, explained all they had planned. Through her they received information direct from Devlyn himself, and he never knew because Kirios masked her trace. Atia helped willingly. She despised Devlyn.

For a number of years life went on that way, and during them she mothered two children to Devlyn, playing her role as mother and wife and her other role as spy for the Daylights. Kirios on the other hand was growing despondent. He had no idea how to proceed. Atia was supposed to mother a half-breed child. And there had been no sign of that eventuality so far.

Then one momentous day Saffron had come to him and told him about her mistress, Marion, and the affair she had had recently with a member of a small lykan pack. Saffron felt sure there was something about this pack, something important, and since her instincts had always run true, Kirios had listened attentively. She told Kirios of their Alpha, Mikhail, how special, how strong he was. He had an aura. At her description Kirios had smirked. If it had been three-hundred years before Kirios would have put it down to the fact that Saffron was susceptible to a handsome face, but she had been gravely hurt by a warlock since then and was a little frosty to almost every man she encountered. So Kirios had believed her and had set about planning a meeting between Atia and Mikhail. He knew what he had to ask of them was cold and clinical and completely degrading. But if it would bring an end to the war?

Sighing in remembrance, Kirios leaned against a tree, his eyes still glued to the girl up in her room. Perhaps it was his fault. He had pushed Atia into the decision, settling her anxiety by utilizing mesmerism. He had never done that to one of his own before. With Saffron’s help, Kirios managed to convince them both to sleep with one another. But after a few years of arranged meetings between them no child was ever born. Kirios’ frustration was the least of their problems. Devlyn was not as naïve as Kirios would have liked. He was a jealous husband and had been tracking Atia’s movements through faeries, despite no sign of duplicity in her trace. By the time Kirios got wind of the information and warned Atia and Mikhail… it was too late. Mikhail, without giving the details, warned his pack, Pack Errante, but Atia panicked. She killed Mikhail, assuming that Devlyn would have mercy on her. He slaughtered her anyway.

His eyes glazed over with the memories. So much loss. And all for nothing.

Or so he had thought.

When it felt as if it was time to give up and give in, Saffron came to him with the news that one of the members of Pack Errante had arrived home with a magik he believed to be a member of the Daylight Coven. Saffron knew in fact that the girl was Atia and Devlyn’s daughter, Adriana; that she was there to infiltrate the pack under her father’s orders. His instincts told him to let Adriana’s seduction play out, ordering Saffron to keep quiet.

Kirios smiled softly and raised his eyes back up to the window.

Caia was born.

A feeling of overwhelming anticipation rushed through him. He had done everything to protect her, masking her trace when Adriana hunted her, making sure Saffron kept a close eye, to make sure that Marion was protecting Caia. For a while his attention had been diverted by Devlyn and his growing tyranny - his unbelievable madness, his camps for behavioral modification for magiks, his desperation to have them under his complete control. Nikolai, the present son of the Petrovsky family, had grown so concerned that Kirios had masked his trace and sent Nikolai in to Kill Devlyn. The Midnights had no clue as to who had done it, supposedly a member of Daylight of course.

And now Caia was the Head of the Coven! He had laughed when he and Nikolai realized the truth. But the laughter hadn’t lasted long. Devlyn’s irritating brat of a son had tried to continue his father’s work and was a little too pre-occupied with finding Caia and destroying her. His distance from the Coven had allowed Nikolai to solidify an important, authoritative position within the Coven, but Kirios had worried over Ethan’s ever increasing obsession with his niece. Not that he need have worried, he thought smugly, watching her, remembering all that… mess… he’d found a few days ago in Ethan’s lodge. Now Nikolai was Regent of the Midnights and halting attacks against the Daylights under the guise that Ethan’s disappearance had weakened the Coven. Not to mention he said he was close to completing the Septum.