In The Beginning, Chapter 123
Charlie POV
After a quick, but satisfying, and invigorating shower with Daniel we dressed quickly, having to forgo any and all beauty rituals, Daniel braided my hair for me, and we went to join everyone downstairs. It occurred to me that some of them could have heard us as we were walking down the stairs, my cheeks heated as we came to the bottom.
“Daniel! At last! They didn’t get into our system, Kasa has been running diagnostics, but he had another thought. When Dad took over, he gave the place a facelift, remember? Had the elevator put in, invested heavily in new equipment, better safety protocols and everything?” Ben pounced on Daniel the moment he saw him, his voice animated and excited. “He had to submit plans to the city! And they have been infiltrating human governments, so we think they got the plans dad submitted.”
“It makes sense, I’m not seeing any unauthorised access in the metadata!” Kasa called from Daniel’s office. “And Owen’s access was restricted to emails only, the same week he retired.” My cheeks began to cool as I realised, they probably didn’t hear much, between the many conversations and the loud shower, I think I was safe. Daniel led me towards the kitchen, where Hyacinth and Theia were discussing something quietly.
“Charlie dear, you still look thin child.” Hyacinth said with a sad smile, moving to give me a hug.
“I’m working on it; Daniel took me to the diner today for a burger as big as my head.” I smiled.
“Yes, well... not quite how I would go about it, but it’s a start.” She replied, trying badly to hide her dismay, and making me laugh.
“Are you well rested?” Theia asked, her face passive.
“I think we could all do with a little more sleep, but I’m fine.” I replied coolly, still angry at her response when I asked for help saving Daniel.
“She’s here to help, make up, while you have the chance.” Daniel insisted through the link, his hand putting a little pressure on the small of my back, encouraging me towards her.
“Do you have any suggestions before we’re attacked?” I asked, refusing to warm the frosty air between us.
“Actually, Theia and I have been discussing a cage. Not unlike a barrier, but that will keep the vampires in, prevent them from teleporting!” Hyacinth jumped in to explain.
“Hermes did something... on the ship, I couldn’t teleport until we were out of the room. I assumed he made some sort of field using crystals, but I didn’t see them at all.” I explained, at the time it had been the only logical explanation I could come up with. Theia had explained that we could access so much more than just what we could see, teleporting was simply riding an existing wave of energy, like a pathway. It had sent me down a never-ending spiral of scientific theories about reality, Einstein-Rosen bridges, magnetic fields or maybe something else entirely. Theia’s method of teaching relied heavily on metaphors, as when she tried talking scientifically, I felt like a third grader trying to understand M theory. The religious stories I had heard, and thought ridiculous, suddenly making sense when viewed as a metaphor for something beyond even the writer’s comprehension.
“If he set the crystals to the right frequency, he could disrupt the natural pathway...” Theia mumbled as she began pacing, working through the problem, something I was used to, Daniel and Hyacinth, however, watched her intently. “Unakite! We need lots of unakite!” Theia exclaimed excitedly, disappearing in a puff of sparks.
“She'll be back, she does this.” I sighed, pulling the coffee jar over to the machine as I yawned. I’d only slept a couple of hours, and I was feeling it already. Daniel rubbed my shoulders softly when he noticed me rolling my neck, eventually moving me to a chair before he took over making us coffee. Lander joined us in the kitchen, looking thin and exhausted, my eyes widening in shock at the difference in him after just a month, he also paused, taking in my altered appearance, and I pulled my sweater down nervously.
“How have you been Luna?” He asked kindly, ignoring the elephant in the room completely.
“I’ve been better, but I’ve also been worse.” I replied, and he smiled knowingly, holding his hand out to the chair beside me, I nodded for him to take a seat, and he smiled a thanks, lowering himself onto the chair.
“I’m glad things are getting better for you.” He stated simply, leaning back in the chair.
“Coffee?” Daniel asked him, finishing my latte and placing it in front of me with a kiss to my temple, I immediately raised my lips to his, placing a soft kiss of thanks on them. He ran his nose along mine before standing, and going back to the machine, when I turned back to Lander, he was watching me intently.
“A quad espresso if you don’t mind.” He replied to Daniel, who chuckled but began working the expensive machine again quickly. “You make him very happy, in case you were wondering.” He said quietly, I saw a flicker of a smile on Daniel’s face before he turned his back fully. “We've all seen the change in him...” he added, and Daniel slammed a cup down in warning, “since he met you. Look after him.” His meaning was crystal clear, even if his words had been carefully chosen.
“If your mate would allow it, I think I can help her, and your son, when this is over.” I informed him, he eyed me suspiciously, as Daniel approached with his drink.
“Office, now!” He growled threateningly, Lander picked up the cup Daniel had slammed down on the table in front of him, spilling some of it over the side, and took a loud slurp as he moved past Daniel, who dropped to his knees in front of me, cupping my hands in his, struggling to find the words. Lander paused his stride to watch Daniel, a shocked look on his face.
“It’s okay, I like that your friends are protective of you.” I said aloud for Lander's benefit. Daniel cupped my face gently, as he kissed me, it was sweet and soft, and said everything he couldn’t vocalise in that moment. I gave him one last quick reassuring kiss, before pulling back, Lander, suddenly broke himself free of his silent observation of us and disappeared into the office. Daniel stood, his fingertips stretching to keep contact with my skin as he walked away, until our arms were outstretched, only the tips touching as he took the final step, breaking our connection. He slammed the door shut as he stepped inside the office. There weren’t any raised voices, or sound of any kind that I could detect, I took my coffee into the living room, where Ben was talking with several men, their conversation died as they saw me approach.
“Gentlemen, this is our Luna, Charlie. Luna, these are some of Alpha Lander and Alpha Kasa’s men.” He smiled, neglecting to give me their names or ranks, I felt like I was intruding.
“Luna.” They chorused, nodding their respect for my rank.
“I don’t want to interrupt you all, I was just wondering where Hyacinth went.” I smiled at the men, despite her tall, elegant frame, and striking beauty that made her capture the attention of everyone around her, she could also, somehow sneak away completely unnoticed whenever the mood took her.
“I’d check the dining room.” Ben nodded, I smiled my thanks and turned back the way I came, ducking into the little passage that led to the dining room, behind the door, made to look like another closet. It opened up into a spacious room once you got past the section of wall it shared with the kitchen. Before I had learned of the many hidden rooms the house held, I had assumed the wall behind the table in the kitchen connected to the far end of the living room, the dimensions were extremely deceiving from the front of the property. The building was much deeper than one would assume, the encroaching trees hiding the bulk of the house's mass. Hyacinth was leaning over a large map that was spread out on the table, I recognised some of the landmarks, but many of the things indicated on the map were meaningless to me. She looked up as I approached, giving me a warm smile as she encouraged me to stand next to her.
“I’m trying to pinpoint the perfect place for each crystal, however your aunt neglected to say how many she could produce before she disappeared, so I have made little progress.” She sighed, looking at the map while rolling a pen between her fingers. She had laid a clear sheet of plastic over the area she was interested in and used different coloured markers to plot several different criteria she hadn’t shared.
“I know we want to limit how big we make this thing, but wouldn’t it make more sense to have its boarder cover the boundary between the National Park and pack land? It’s their best attack route, isn’t it?” I asked looking at the map. If they came from the North, they could separate us from the barracks to our east. There would be too many risks to come from the west, while there weren’t many buildings between the pack house and the Highway that led to the city, there was enough traffic on the feeder road to other towns, and no cover. We would know they were coming if they came from the east, as they would have to get through the town, and then over or around the hilly outcrop that nestled around it. Thanks to this incline, we would see them coming from the south easily, the sprawling fields visible all the way to the road from the top of the meadow for me on a clear day. Daniel had most likely already sent scouts to key positions to keep watch.
“Yes, but I am beginning to wonder if we could use that to our advantage.” She replied, tapping her pen as she looked for something I was missing among the cramped marks littering the sheet.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
