Pip looked around. "That is where the scary bad men used to live, who ate people."
Aiden leaned in. "What else Pip? We don't know anything about those men, so whatever you tell us could help everyone." Like Warrick, Aiden made sure to keep his tone even.
Pip ducked his head. "Sometimes I was bad and listened when father had his meetings, it was the best way to know how to make him happy so I could have food."
At the end of the table they heard wood crack as Magnus snapped off the arm to his chair. He gave Pip a smile. "Do not mind me. This chair is old. Please continue." He let the wood fall to the floor.
Pip nodded. "After the wolfies got here father was furious when the bad men ate some people on Level Six. He said they were going to ruin everything. I heard him tell the nasty tunnel escort to kidnap someone from Level Six so that the wolfies would think he killed the refugees. After that he started sending bad people from our level to the Pits for the scary bad men to eat." He looked at Meryn. "That is why you have to be careful not to say bad things on Level Five or you get sent down to the Pits."
"My gods!" Adriel choked out the words. He turned to his mate. "It was not Augustus Pettier who attacked you in the Pits, it was one of those monsters."
Gavriel's eyes burned scarlet. "How many scary bad men were there Pip?"
Pip shrugged. "I do not know. But there were enough that when they left the city the tunnel escort had to use a platform to get them to the Grand Hall."
Aiden sat back. "The door alarm, when Marek was knocked unconscious during the attack on Vivi."
Colton nodded then looked over at Vivi. "Looks like killing you was meant to be a distraction."
"How in the hell did they get in?" Magnus exploded. "Why do any of this?" Like Gavriel his eyes were burning red.
"The blood. They took the older blood," Vivi whispered.
Magnus paled. "How much?"
Vivi began to shake. "Dozens of bags."
"Oh my god," Meryn whispered.
"I know love," Aiden said sympathetically, pulling her close. Meryn leaned away from her mate. "No. Not that." She looked around the table. "We were motherfucking played!"
Pip looked at Meryn. "Yeah! Motherfucking played!" he shouted before leaning down. "How?"
Meryn stared at Pip. "I freaking love you right now."
Pip beamed. "Because I am your brother."
"And you're awesome." She turned to Magnus. "I think that the random attacks in the area were to get you to open the city. I think those bastards piggy-backed into the city when the first batch of refugees arrived. We ended up using platforms to lower the wolves into the city because there were so many of them, if our killers were invisible, then we wouldn't have seen them," she paused. "We really need to figure out a way to modify my flour glue spell so it doesn't ruin shit."
Serenity exchanged looks with Laelia and Radclyffe before speaking up. "Vampire blood has to be one of the most potent substances in the paranormal world. Unfortunately, there are probably dozens of ways to use it illegally and they're all bad."
"Oh!" Kendrick gasped. "Oh! Oh!"
Anne blinked. "I'm not sure I want to know whatever he's figured out. He's never at a loss for words."
Kendrick simply rested his forehead on the table. Serenity looked from Laelia, to Anne to Meryn then to Law. Whatever Kendrick was about to say would be horrible.
Kendrick sat up and turned to Ryuu.
Ryuu waved at him. "On it," he said heading to the kitchen. Without asking Hal, Sebastian and Pavil were hot on his heels.
Magnus rubbed a hand over his mouth. "Am I to assume that they are retrieving something that will make whatever you tell us easier to face?"
Kendrick nodded looking ill. Beth stared. "Is this worse than discovering the beads were made from the souls of the murdered unborn babies?"
"What!" Serenity demanded.
Beth covered her mouth with her hands. "I am so sorry, you didn't know."
"What?" Laelia and Radclyffe echoed.
Kendrick turned to Kari. "While Ryuu fetches us something that will keep us sane, can you get everyone at this table on the same page?"
Kari stood and began going over the events starting with the feral attacks in Lycaonia. As she kept talking Serenity felt her world shatter into thousands of pieces. Beside her Micah rubbed her back soothingly as Kari revealed the most tragic events she had ever heard.
Kari wiped at her eyes as she finished, causing Declan to stand and pull her close. "Wonderful job baby," he murmured, easing her back into her chair.
"Here we go," Ryuu announced coming in from the kitchen. He pushed a cart that held a tray of what looked to be shot glasses and steaming cups of tea. Behind him the other squires held identical trays in their hands as they made their way around the room.
Hal placed a generously filled shot glass with amber liquid next to the tea cup in front of her. She looked around the table, everyone, with the exception of the pregnant women, had both alcohol and tea. She leaned over the cup and smiled. She turned to Kendrick. "Blessed Chamomile, from your own stash no less."
Kendrick stared down at his shot glass. "I hate to say it, but this has been needed too much as of late."
Magnus raised his shot glass. "Let us do this."
Around the table sputters, gasps and cursing was heard as everyone downed their shots.
Serenity thought that whatever she just drank was burning her esophagus down to her stomach. She was about to complain when everything tilted for a second then blurred pleasantly. "Oh my." Sighs filled the air as the potent alcohol took effect.
Kendrick waited until they were sipping the tea before he cast a soundproofing spell. Serenity knew that whatever he was about to say was important because he poured a hefty amount of power into the spell. She opened her mouth wide trying to get her ears to pop.
Kendrick stood. "As Kari explained, during one of last feral attacks on the city, Lycaonia lost their witch Elder, Rowan Airgead. Right before he died he managed to pass on what he thought the enemy was after." He closed his eyes. "He said that mated paranormals were needed for an army. Witches for fuel," he looked at Magnus. "And Vampires for blood."
"What for?" Magnus asked.
Kendrick swallowed hard. "I have no evidence, but, I think that vampire blood is used to create those damn necklaces. They already harvested dozens of shifter souls from around Lycaonia and damn near drained my godsdaughter of her magic. My best friends who are Law and Amelia's brothers are on their hit list to get more magic. I think they are combining vampire blood, witch's magic, an unborn's soul as a vessel and a shifter's soul for their abilities to create as many necklaces as they need to infiltrate our society and break it down from the inside out." He sat back down looking uncharacteristically defeated.
"Fuck that. Ryuu, I think I need that shot," Meryn said, looking at her squire. He shook his head. "It is too potent for the baby, but I did arrange for dessert." He dropped a kiss on her forehead and reached under the cart to pull out bowls of what looked to be a small mountain of chocolate.
Meryn sighed. "You do love me." She picked up her spoon and dug in. The squires passed out the desserts and everyone reached for the treats, dinner long forgotten. It was quiet as everyone slowly ate their chocolatey comfort and absorbed what Kendrick divulged.
"And I practically handed them the blood they needed. I played right into their hands," Magnus whispered.
"They're smart, I'll give them that," Meryn said, licking her spoon.
All eyes swung to her. "What do you mean?" Kari asked.
Meryn twirled her spoon around as she spoke. "Well if they tried to use brute force to gather vampire blood, like the guerrilla attacks in Lycaonia, it would have taken them months, maybe even years to get a decent amount. Ninety-percent of the vampire population is stacked up in Noctem Fall's beehive. But by infiltrating the city and introducing a virus where the only possible cure is older vampire blood all they had to do was sit back and wait for us to try and cure
the city. Then they could pack up the blood that we gathered in neat little bags and leave." She shook her head. "We know they have been gathering shifter souls for over twenty years, to gather so much vampire blood I bet their necklace production timeline got skewed when Lycaonia got sealed."
Laelia nodded. "It's like when you're baking. You start with the component that takes the longest to prepare. Like making sure the cream cheese is room temperature. That can take hours, so you do that first. Then after that you can simply add the other ingredients and blend. Considering the first component is an unborn's soul, they would have to wait for shifters to turn up pregnant. Which as everyone knows is hit or miss at best. Most paranormals have a hard time even finding their mates."
Magnus turned to Aiden. "The spell, the one for the warriors to find their mates."
Aiden nodded looking sick. "We believe that the matriarchs were influenced to request that spell."
Meryn took a sip of her tea. "I'd love to meet the one orchestrating this. Every time we learn something, the web becomes a little bigger. We're dealing with a freaking genius."
Aiden looked down at her. "Can you please not be impressed by the psychopath trying to destroy all we know?"
Meryn waved her spoon in Aiden's face. "Hey, genius is genius. Think about it. That spell was specifically designed to target the unit warriors. The warriors meet their mates, get them knocked up. The bad guys kill the mates. If the men or mates were shifters they get the unborn's soul as a vessel, possibly an ability from the mother and a bloodthirsty, insane, unit trained warrior to unleash on us later. If the men or mates are vampires or witches they harvest the blood and the magic. The more unit warrior mates you kill, the fewer warriors there are available to defend the pillar cities later. It's like a win-win-win-win scenario for them." She paused. "Mostly." She took another huge bite of her chocolate mountain and hummed happily completely oblivious of the horrified stares she was receiving from around the table.
Pip looked around at everyone's expressions and frowned. He hopped out of his seat and stood in front of her. "She is not bad"
Aiden blinked. "Oh, Pip. We don't think she's bad. We're upset she said something that should have been evident to us all along. It's something terrible so we're a bit shaken, but we're grateful for her pointing it out."
Pip's lower lip trembled. "You were staring."
Meryn pulled Pip back into his chair. "Say ahhhh!"
Pip opened his mouth dutifully. "Ahhh."
Meryn shoved her chocolate filled spoon in his mouth. "Thank you for defending me."
Pip's eyes widened as he chewed. Serenity was seriously concerned for the small vampire when his eyes rolled back in his head. Meryn chuckled. "I know right."
Pip quickly swallowed. "I did not try any because it looked like poop. What is it? It makes me feel like heaven!" He picked up his spoon and dug in.
"It's chocolate Pip. Besides coffee, it's one of the best substances on earth," Laelia explained.
Aiden nodded. "Chocolate is very powerful."
Everyone watched Pip and Meryn eat their dessert and somehow despite the horrendous things they discovered, everyone was smiling.
"I don't know if it's the Blessed Chamomile, but I feel like I should be sadder than I am," Serenity said pointing at Meryn.
Micah smiled. "Lately I have found that it's easier to face the darkest of moments when you share the burden with loved ones." He indicated to everyone seated around the table. "What we learned tonight truly terrifies me for the future, but I know I am not alone. Each one of us lightens the load and in small ways chips away at our enemy's plans. I bet DeLaFontaine never imagined his deepest secrets would be revealed by the amazing son he ignored. His life choice to mistreat Pip led us to tonight." He made sure Pip met his eyes. "Every single person born has a role to play and is precious to Fate. Never forget that Pip. Your help could be the turning point to saving our entire world."
Pip looked stunned. "Me?"
Warrick nodded. "Yes you, and Meryn too. She was smart enough to see how special you are. What if the two of you never crossed paths?"
Pip shook his head. "I do not want to think about that. It would make me sad."
Meryn smiled slyly at Micah. "That's what I meant when I said that it was 'mostly' a win-win scenario. I bet they never factored in the warriors' mates being so kick ass." She pointed to her chest. "I beat sense into Aiden,"
"Hey!" Aiden protested.
Meryn continued. "Beth got us organized, Rheia saved Colton and helped figure out the necklaces, Amelia survived being drained and was able to tell us what the enemy had planned, Anne was everyone's rock when we discovered the beads being unborn babies." She looked over at Eva. "Here in Noctem Falls Eva abandoned me to become the voice for the refugees." Eva snorted, and Meryn kept going. "Kari, I don't even think I can wrap up all the good she's done keep us on track, Ellie, Vivi and Serenity have worked miracles keeping everyone alive. The virus probably should have plunged the city into chaos, but the city has become stronger and better than before." Meryn took a deep breath looking a bit embarrassed. "All I'm saying is maybe the enemy's supposed power play in getting the warriors mated is actually our power play." Around the table the women were sitting straighter as if filled with a grander purpose and the men radiated a hope that hadn't been there just moments before.
Magnus turned to Sebastian. "That child gets whatever she wants, whenever she wants it." Sebastian nodded as he beamed down at Meryn looking like a proud parent.
Meryn winked at Magnus. "You do that anyway."
Aiden shot a desperate look to Magnus. "Can we put some parameters on that?"
"No way! Magnus can spoil me whenever!" Meryn fussed.
"Maybe our biggest weapon is the smallest of us," Kendrick whispered as Meryn argued with her mate. Nearly everyone around the table heard him except for the small human who could quite possibly be the salvation of them all.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Serenity stared up at the impossible night sky above Micah's garden. "I feel like everything has changed."
He stretched out beside her as the bed rocked them back and forth. "Everything has changed, yet nothing has changed. Everything is exactly as we left it when we went to dinner, but our perceptions are different."
She turned to face him. "Doesn't it scare you that someone or something is out there trying to destroy us?"
He reached out and pulled her into the curve of his body. "Not really, but then again, I'm trained to expect that everything is trying to destroy me."
She just grunted and rested her head on his bicep. "Well, I've always believed that the council was out to get me, does that count?" she asked playfully looking up at him.
He had the type of face where his expression changed how you saw him. Usually he was smiling, laughing, or teasing. His eyes would light up and he looked safe, dependable and kind. But when he dropped his guard, his expression became pensive, dark and intense.
She wanted to kiss along his sexy jawline and see the heat flare in his eyes. In less than a day she had seen so many different sides to her mate, except one. She was desperate to see what his face would look like as he drove his body into hers as they both drowned in lust.
She rolled him onto his back and straddled him her black dress riding up to rest on her thighs.
He smiled up at her. She huffed. He still looked playful. Throwing caution to the wind she pulled her dress up over her head and threw it on the ground. She reached behind her and released the clasp to her bra letting it fall beside them. She cupped her breasts and offered them to him.
His expression darkened and he looked up at her with hooded eyes. "What do you want of me?" he asked, raising up so that he held his upper body off the bed with his core strength alone. With his hands free he was able to trace her collarbones gently.
"Just you Micah. I want my mate without the smile. I want you at your worst so that you know, no matter what, I will always want you."
He snapped h
is fingers and she felt a warm stream of air around her wrists. Slowly her arms were pulled over her head and she was lifted off the platform until her toes barely scraped the covers. She was suspended but wasn't being pulled down by her own body weight. It was as if the air cradled her in place for his perusal.
"Micah?" she asked, as he rose to his knees loosening his tie.
"Only you can see me like this," he whispered.
Wordlessly he finished undressing and dropped his clothes to the floor. He knelt before her completely nude and she couldn't help but stare, he was absolute beauty personified. He wasn't tall like Etain or broad like Grant and Declan. It was as if every square inch of him was designed with perfection in mind. He had a slight golden undertone to his skin that looked like a permanent tan. His chest, arms and legs were covered in a thin layer of light brown hair and his shoulders were broad without being wide. Her eyes traveled downward and it got even better, his abdomen was cut and each muscle defined with gentle dips and ridges. She looked at his face, it was her favorite part of his body. "You are without a doubt the most stunning creature I have ever seen. Men like you must have inspired Michelangelo and encouraged the existence of demigods."
He gave her a wolfish grin. "That beautiful compliment earned you a treat."
"Treat?" she asked as he slid her panties down her hips and pulled them free.
Gently her legs were pulled apart and he ran his tongue along the seam her folds made. "Micah," she breathed.
He dipped his tongue between her folds and found her clit. He suckled the tiny nub lazily. She felt her body begin to tighten.
"Micah!" she called out urgently, trying to twist her body so she could increase the friction. He was slowly driving her crazy.
His hands came up and he dug his fingers into her ass cheeks to hold her still. She felt her legs begin to shake and when he surprised her by biting down gently on her clit she flew apart.
"One," he said leaning back a satisfied look on his face.
"Oh gods," she croaked.
He winked. "Maybe just us demigods."
She thought now that her 'treat' was over he would lower her to the platform. She was shocked when his body rose to meet hers midair. He wrapped her legs around his waist and buried his face between her neck and shoulder.