“Do you think the Great Luna could help us against the wrath of your American mates?” Sorin asked with a smirk.

“Knowing our luck, they would probably convince her to join in their cause to kick our posteriors,” Vasile retorted.

“Posteriors?” Costin asked as amusement danced in his eyes.

“My daughter in-law is Jacque.”

“Enough said.”

Chapter 8

“Evil comes in all forms, shapes, and sizes. That is the beauty of it. Because it is dark, you do not see it coming. It remains quiet until it has snuck right up behind you. It is often appealing, so you do not even realize that it is evil until it has caught you in its web and you cannot move. It is the manifestation of the worst parts of us and like calls to like. So as your evil rises to the surface because of wrongs and pain that you can’t let go of, I will find you and latch onto you. Together our evil will devour any good left in each of you.” ~Reyaz

Alston, highest member of the council of the fae, paced the room restlessly. He had summoned the other council members to discuss the treachery of Lorelle, one of their own and Perizada’s sister. They didn’t know where she had gone after the witch had been destroyed. Alston had sent out his best trackers to find her so they could bring her to justice, but they hadn’t heard even a whisper of her whereabouts. When he had asked Peri for her help, her response had been quite candid. “If I find her, I will cast her to the pits of hell where she belongs, and that is after I gut her with a spoon.” He would like to say that Peri was bluffing, but Peri never bluffed so he was sure she would follow through on her threat.

“What is so urgent?” Gwen asked as she entered the council room followed immediately by Disir, Nissa, and Dain.

Alston stopped his pacing and faced the council members. “We agreed to make our presence known in the human realm. We gave our word to Perizada that we would no longer sit back and watch as evil overtook them. A new evil resides in the forest near the Warlock King’s stronghold.”

“We know this,” Dain answered. “But he has made no move yet. How are we to fight him if we can’t find him?”

Alston nodded. “I completely agree with your sentiment. However, Peri dropped in to let me know that Vasile was having a meeting with Cypher tomorrow and thought it might be a good idea for me to make an appearance. She says that they are deciding not to wait for Cypher’s brother to make a move, but to act on the offensive instead.”

“Do you think this wise?” Nissa asked.

“It does not matter what I think. It only matters that whatever we do, we do it as a united front.”

“Do you want us to accompany you?” Dain asked.

“No, I would like for two of you to go investigate the forest yourselves. Find out if the disturbance there is indeed Reyaz.”

“And if it is?”

“Do not engage him. You are simply there to observe. Stay as long as you can without detection.”

“What if he discovers us?” Nissa’s voice would, at one time, have trembled over such a question. Now she had been battled tested and it would take more to rattle her nerves.

“Do not get caught.”

“Easier said than done Alston,” Disir grumbled.

“If, in all these centuries, Perizada has kept her nosy, trouble-seeking self from being captured, then I assure you it can be done.”

“Mother of pearl and father of wine, it is good to be home,” Jacque groaned as she fell back on the couch in her mother’s house. She couldn’t help but take comfort in the familiar cushions, the way they sunk down from years of use, and the smells that unlocked memories of a childhood filled with love. For just a few minutes as she absorbed the familiarity and normalcy of the moment, she pushed away her worries. She pushed away her worries about Fane, her fear for Jen’s unborn child, the anxiousness caused by the strife between Jen and Decebel, and the pain that her mother was feeling. She was choosing to live in the now, because all too soon, the past and future would come crashing down on her.

“Bloody hell,” Jen yelped. “I just realized something; I’m going to have to see my parents. And though they might not always be the sharpest tools in the shed, there is no way they could miss this,” she said as she rubbed her growing stomach.

And just like that, Jacque was pulled from her brief vacation back into the chaos that had become her life.

“That means I’m going to have to see my parents as well,” Sally nearly whispered as her eyes widened, “They don’t know I’m married, or mated or…,”

“Relax Sally, it’s not like you have ex-virgin tattooed on your forehead. You don’t have to tell them you’re married; there’s no harm in it. You still look as innocent as you did the second before you and your man did the…,”

“Do not finish that sentence,” Jacque growled.

“Fine, but you get my drift.”

After the luggage had been drug into the foyer, each of the women went to the living room and collapsed on whatever surface was available. A haze of exhaustion permeated the air and even Alina seemed caught in its web. But it wasn’t long until the necessity of food roused them.

“I’ll order pizza,” Lilly told them as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. “There is no food in the house and if there is I would advise against eating it. Unless it’s a nonperishable,” she added.

By the time the pizza arrived, bathroom times had been established, sleeping arrangements had been made, and threats of bodily harm declared by the not-so morning people. Through all of this, they had somehow managed to keep from talking about anything that had happened. It was almost as if they thought that by not talking about it, then it couldn’t possibly be real. But they couldn’t ignore it forever, and if they had been planning on trying, Cynthia squashed that idea.