CHAPTER SIX
Serenity felt a thousand times better about her simple black dress when she saw Meryn in the antechamber in a pair of sweats and a hoodie. Micah leaned down following her line of sight. "I told you."
She jabbed him in the stomach and smiled when he grunted. "What was that?" she asked.
"You look beautiful," he wheezed.
"Thank you. You look very handsome in your uniform," she said smiling up at him brightly.
Before Micah could say anything, Declan reached between them holding up his hand. Grinning she gave him a high five.
"Hey!" Micah protested.
"She has your number brother and I have to say it's fun to watch you flounder," Declan admitted.
Mentally Serenity went over everyone's names in her head. She didn't know how Pip managed to learn them so quickly. As she surveyed the room she saw him standing beside Meryn, looking around like he was lost.
She made her way over to them and placed a hand on his shoulder. Using her magic she calmed him down a bit. He smiled up at her. "Thank you. Meryn said that I do not have to be afraid of anyone, but..." his eyes trailed around the room. She could see what he meant.
Everyone here looked official, important, royal. The unit warriors in their everyday clothes were impressive, in their uniforms they seemed even larger and more intimidating. The women, with the exception of Meryn, wore simple cocktail dresses and looked polished. She leaned down. "Can you help me keep their names straight?" she asked.
Pip's chest puffed out at her request. "Yes. I can do that."
Now that he had a task he seemed to come out of his shell. He gently took her hand and walked her around the room re-introducing her to everyone.
The men smiled down at Pip and clapped him on the back telling him he was doing a wonderful job. Micah nodded his approval and thanked him for looking out for her. Every compliment seemed to peel back a tiny layer to Pip's personality. Finally he frowned and pointed. "That is Sebastian, but I do not know who is with him. No one told me his name yet."
Serenity looked across the antechamber to see that Prince Magnus had just stepped into the room pulling down on his sleeves while frowning. Sebastian hovered behind him like an overprotective hen.
"Sebastian, please leave it be. It will be fine for tonight," Prince Magnus pleaded as Sebastian fretted over the prince's ill-fitting clothing.
Sebastian sighed dramatically. "I never even noticed you grew!"
"Uncle!" Beth exclaimed and launched herself at the prince.
A warm smile transformed his face as he easily caught his niece and comforted her. "Shush now Bethy, I am well." He took a step back and flexed his arm grinning. "Stronger than ever." When he flexed his other arm they all heard fabric tear and Sebastian looked faint. "I-I-I..."
Magnus just shrugged off his dinner jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his button down shirt. "Much better." He winked at Meryn. "Maybe I should try sweat pants later," he said in a teasing voice. Serenity thought it was adorable the way he said sweatpants as two different words.
Beth kept wiping at her eyes. "Are you sure you should be up?"
The prince nodded. "Sebastian has been pouring blood down my throat all afternoon. I am ready for some real food."
Serenity watched as Meryn inched over to Sebastian and pulled on his sleeve. She pointed to Vivi and the squire gasped. "Of course."
Sebastian walked over to his charge. "Magnus, there is someone here I would like you to meet." He motioned for Vivi to step forward.
Prince Magnus frowned. "I have already met Vivi, Sebastian. I was not sick that long."
Sebastian gave him a flat look before continuing. "As I was saying. Magnus I would like you to meet Vivian Mercy, Mercia DuCoeur's daughter and your godsdaughter," Sebastian crowed.
The prince's mouth dropped open. Shyly Vivi held up a small cloth pony. "You have no idea how wonderful it is to see you again...Maggie," she whispered.
The prince of the vampires wept openly as he pulled her into his arms. "I thought we had lost you! I had warriors searching for you for years," he said choking on the words. Beth and Meryn kept passing a tissue between the two of them as they watched Vivi and the prince.
"Hal kept me safe," Vivi said using her cloth pony to wipe away her tears.
Prince Magnus stared at the little stuffy. "You still have her?"
Hal sniffled and wiped his nose on a towel. "It's one of her most prized possessions."
Meryn shook her head and popped over to Magnus. "Let's keep the introductions coming." She pointed to Warrick. "Warrick Fortier the newest Founding Family head of Noctem Falls. We totally arrested DeLaFontaine and dissolved his house."
Prince Magnus' eyes bugged out slightly. "You what?"
Meryn continued. "We arrested Jervasius too, for being an absolute jerk." She motioned for Pip to step forward. He inched closer looking a bit scared. Meryn dragged him next to her. "This is Pip Maverick, DeLaFontaine was his sperm donor, but I've adopted him."
The prince looked around the room a bit wild-eyed. "What? How long was I sick again?" he demanded.
Beth winced. "That was a very 'tear the band-aid off' type of update for someone who has been ill."
Adriel stepped forward. "Gavriel, Vivian and I have publicly claimed our heritage and have reopened the Ambrosios and DuCoeur residences here on Level One. I made room for the Eta Unit to move into the Ambrosios quarters given how much our mates are involved in the operations down here."
Eva grinned and stepped beside her mate. "Pavil Desrosiers is the Ambrosios squire. We stole him from the Régis family after we found out that Jervasius forced Bree to be his mate despite being actually mated to Pavil. Pavil runs the house, but Bree runs our schedule."
Warrick and Avery moved closer. "I am trying to get my uncle removed as head of the DuBois family. There is too much bad blood between him and the people of Level Five to keep him in a position of leadership."
Pip nodded. "He is mean and helps the other mean men take people away when they are bad," he added.
Ellie leaned closer to Prince Magnus. "DeLaFontaine also ordered the jerk tunnel escort to kill Vivi," she contributed.
Vivi scowled. "He almost killed my baby," she looked up at Etain who wrapped himself around her. "But Etain and the other fae helped save her." She smiled at her athair. "I'm pregnant by the way."
Serenity walked over and placed a hand on the prince's shoulder. She lowered his heart rate and calmed him down. "There, there Prince Magnus, it's all good news," she said soothingly.
He turned to face her and smiled. "I remember your magic. You chased away the darkness, so I could wake up." He covered her hand with his own. "Thank you for the help. I do not think I could have freed myself without your assistance." He looked around the room until his eyes landed on Micah. "She is yours I assume?"
Micah walked over to stand next to his mate. "Actually, I am hers," he said, before kissing her temple.
Prince Magnus chuckled. "I always knew you were smart Micah." He turned to her. "Please call me Magnus, especially considering we will be neighbors."
She smiled. "I'd like to introduce my two best friends." She looked to the edges of the room and motioned for them to come forward. Laelia dropped a small curtsy and Radclyffe bowed.
"These are Laelia and Radclyffe, two of the best healers in Storm Keep," she said, smiling encouragingly at her friends.
Magnus greeted them warmly then turned to her with a questioning look. "How did you get here?"
Sebastian cleared his throat. "Might I suggest moving to the dining room before launching into many more explanations," he eyed Magnus. "Your food will get cold."
Magnus rubbed his hands together. "I feel like I could eat everything you set before me." He snaked an arm around Beth and one around Vivi before kissing each of them on the cheek. "I am still very feeble and need assistance getting to the dining room," he said pouting at both women.
They laughed and leaned their heads on his shoulders. Beth patted him on the chest. "Of course, uncle, we'll help you."
Etain and Gavriel followed, looking decidedly grumpy without their mates. Serenity hung back as everyone made their way to the table. Marjoram stopped in front of her on her way to join the others. "They never really grow up," she looked at Micah. "Some less than others."
"Oh Marjoram, my ripest little berry. I know you will be desolate without me," Micah teased.
Serenity was shocked to see the older woman blush. In earlier interactions she had been put together and in charge.
Marjoram swatted at Micah. "You better take care of this young lady Micah Sageson, don't make me call your grandmother," she threatened.
Micah paled. "You know my gran?"
Marjoram gave him a sly smile. "I looked her up after meeting you. She told me to tell you that you are in big trouble for taking her wine."
Micah gulped. "It was only a few bottles," he mumbled.
Marjoram raised an elegant brow. "A few bottles? She said you emptied her entire cellar."
Serenity turned to him. "You have an entire cellar's worth?" she asked eagerly.
"Maybe," he said eyeing Marjoram.
The older woman held up two fingers. "Two bottles and I'll smooth things over with your gran by offering her my snickerdoodle recipe and gush over you meeting your mate."
Micah looked relieved. "Deal!" he agreed immediately.
She met Serenity's eyes and winked before disappearing behind the closed dining room door. Micah turned to her grinning. "She is amazing. Maybe my gran won't kill me now."
"What's this about wine?" Laelia asked.
Serenity gave Micah puppy dog eyes. He sighed. "Of course, they can have a bottle."
Serenity looped her arm through Laelia's and headed toward the dining room. "Let me tell you about the best wine in the entire world."
*****
Once everyone was seated Micah was amazed to see they had actually filled the long, royal dining table. He watched as Hal, Ryuu, Pavil and Sebastian served everyone effortlessly. Of course, with this many seated for dinner you would almost need four squires. He'd attended balls with fewer people.
He sat back as everyone seemed to talk at once. Slowly Magnus was brought up to speed. Kari, bless her, once seated had presented Magnus with his iPad and went over the itemized list of changes.
Serenity leaned in. "They're so happy."
He pulled her close remembering the awful evening Magnus fell ill. "We needed this. Everyone has had so much thrown at them, we truly needed this joy. Having Magnus back with us changes everything." He kissed her nose. "You're my miracle."
"May I have everyone's attention please?" Rex asked standing. He raised his glass. "I would like to propose a toast to..." He paused dramatically. "To Fate. Not only has she provided our warriors with mates who will be the salvation of us all, she has also introduced us to new friends who have become family and has blessed us with the start of the next generation. Though our fight isn't over to drive back the sickness amongst us, I have no doubt that this family will overcome."
Declan stood his eyes bright. "To family!" He raised his glass. Around the table everyone stood and raised their glass high.
"To family!" everyone cheered before draining their glasses.
After everyone sat down Pip turned to Meryn. "Me too?" he asked.
Meryn nodded. "Absolutely."
"Pip," Magnus said softly getting the young man's attention.
Pip turned to the prince his eyes wide. "I am sorry my father made you sick. That was bad of him. And I am sorry he called you a weak fool, that was mean."
Magnus looked a bit surprised at Pip's apology then chuckled. "You have nothing to be sorry for." He glanced down at his iPad. "After hearing your story, I feel like I have to apologize to you Pip. I never really looked into why you acted the way you did. You and others like you suffered because politics got in the way of me doing the right thing." He looked from Adriel to Gavriel then back to Pip. "Luckily I have very good friends who are helping to straighten things out. Can you forgive me for not seeing how you were being treated?"
By the end of the apology Pip was trembling so badly he looked like he was about to fly apart. Meryn looked around the table. "What do I do?" she asked.
"Hug him Meryn. It will make him feel better," Serenity advised.
Meryn scrunched her nose at the word hug, but she nevertheless wrapped an arm around her distraught friend.
Magnus looked hurt. "I did not mean to upset him."
Pip buried his face in Meryn's shoulder and shook his head back and forth. "No. This is wrong, I am nothing, I am bad. The prince should not say such things to me," he whispered.
Magnus' face became unreadable. He turned to Warrick. "You have my permission to restructure Level Five however you see fit. If you need to establish new Noble houses let me know. I never, ever want another citizen of mine to believe they are nothing," Magnus bit off the final word.
Warrick nodded. "It will be done."
Pip looked up his face drenched with tears. "New Noble families?" he asked.
Warrick nodded. "I am trying to get rid of all the bad men." The giant man said softly trying not to upset Pip anymore. "But the people are afraid of me, so I am having a hard time figuring out who the bad men are."
Pip sat up straighter. "I can help. I know all the bad men, even the scary ones who used to live in the Pits."
Around the table everyone quieted. Meryn turned to Pip. "Say what?"
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.