“What’s happened? What have you done now, Nic? You haven’t trashed another club have you? For goodness sake, I’ve only just finished paying off the journalists from the last time—”
“Is he here?” Nicolai interrupted, nodding his head to Xander’s office.
Edward raised his eyebrows at him before giving a slow nod. “Of course. He’s been working all night again, I doubt he’s even left his desk since yesterday.”
“Good. Gather everyone, including Katie. We need a meeting.”
Xander
Xander drummed his fingers against the wooden table, waiting for everyone to arrive as he sat in the head seat. He eyed Nicolai who continued to stare down at his hands, refusing to meet his glare. Xander had no idea what was going on and it made him uneasy, especially when he had been up all night uncovering more information about the Liberators’ locations.
Finally, everyone took their seats. Deion, Edward, Kadeem, Ieuwan, and Katie took up one side of the table, whilst the other side was occupied by Nicolai, Niamh, and the two other Lupi leaders, Ade and Dylan. They were descendents from Akinyi and Rhys, and they looked the spitting image of their ancestors, with Ade’s deep brown eyes, black hair, and reddish-brown skin, and Dylan’s hazel eyes, brown hair, and rosy pale complexion.
“What’s going on, Nic?” Xander asked, failing to hide his yawn. “You’re never even awake at this time, let alone calling a meeting this early. I’m assuming it’s important. The floor is yours.”
Nicolai slowly lifted his gaze to meet Xander’s, his face tense as he clearly worried over his next words. “Something happened at the club.”
Deion let out a groan. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Nic. Not again!”
“Stop jumping to conclusions, all of you. Why does everyone always assume I’ve done something wrong?”
“Because you’ve drunkenly trashed six clubs in the last two years,” Kadeem laughed out loud, as he tied his dark braided hair at the nape of his neck. Xander struggled not to roll his eyesas he noticed his brother purposefully tensing his large biceps. “Not to mention you’ve pissed a lot of people off by promising to call them after you’ve shagged them.”
“I never promised them anything!”
Letting out a sigh as his brothers began to argue, Xander slumped back in his chair. Even Ieuwan, who almost always opted to remain quiet in meetings, had begun to join in. Against the pale porcelain of his skin, the green vine markings of his Terrai brands began to pulse. The angry glow intensified, mirroring the bright jade color already blazing in his eyes, as his annoyance joined the others’ frustration.
There was no time for anger over petty squabbles. Xander was far too stressed to deal with whatever Nicolai had done this time; he had too much on his mind with the recent reports of the Liberators attacking Daemons in raw daylight. Whatever his brother had done, he’d let Edward pay off whichever club owner or journalist he needed to sort it. These grievances and arguments were nothing in comparison to what was really going on, and he had a feeling he was only just scratching the surface of Lucas Rook’s Liberators.
“Nic, if you’ve got something to say, just say it,” Xander said, his purposefully calm voice hiding the frustration he felt.
Nicolai flipped off Kadeem before turning to Xander. “Niamh and I went to a club in Manchester after our meeting with Rafael, the one that’s owned by one of William’s descendents who stayed with me for a while.”
“How did the meeting with Rafael go?” Edward asked. “Is he still on board to take over from Katie next term? We really need someone we can trust in the lineup.”
“It was fine but that’s not the point!” Nicolai shouted, smacking the palms of his hands on the table as he stood. “I was attacked by a Luciferus.”
The room went silent. No one said anything as they stared at Nicolai with a mix of shock and disbelief. Xander’s gaze darkened briefly, his jaw clenching slightly, before returning to his usual passive stare.
“That’s not possible,” he said, his voice low and commanding. “You know that is not possible, you know the last Luciferus is gone.”
“I know, brother, I know,” Nicolai replied, as he slowly sat back down. “But I’m not lying, you know I wouldn’t lie about this. I was attacked by a woman with the power of light, she nearly blinded me with it. We thought she was just a Lamia, but clearly she is also an Incantrix.”
Xander dropped his gaze to stare at the centre of the table, struggling to remain composed. His shadows flared around him, framing his chair as if forming a throne of darkness, or perhaps a cage to control his guilt, his anger, his sadness. And, beneath it all, a subtle flicker of hope.
He shook his head, hoping to rid himself of the pathetic notion. Hope was foolish, and a dangerous thing to someone like him. His Manipuli magic not only gave him power over the minds of others, enabling him to read and control their thoughts and feelings, but it also strengthened every single aspect of his own consciousness. Every fleeting thought, every wrongful feeling, was amplified beyond reason. And he had never felt as strongly for anyone or anything as he did for Adriana, even still. To harbour any hope regarding her was to sign his sanity away.
“Perhaps it is possible she had a child with someone else,” Deion stated, seemingly trying to make sense of the situation along with everyone else.
Katie turned to him, her frown lines deepening in her confusion. “Who had a child? Who are you talking about?”
Xander raised his head to look at her, seeing the bewildered expression on her face along with the three Lupi. He had neverdisclosed his entire past with any of them, only his brothers knew what had happened. Of course, he’d told them when he’d been turned, when they’d all been turned, and he’d answered any questions they ever had. But Xander had never mentioned Adriana’s name to anyone except his brothers, and even they had not heard him speak of her in over a century.
“They’re talking about…” his words failed him, he still could not utter her name out loud. “I was engaged to someone many, many years ago. And she did not have a child, I know she didn’t.”
Nobody spoke as Xander’s shadows slowly retreated back to him. Deion watched him in pity, his sympathetic thoughts making Xander feel sick. He hated that Deion knew how much he still hurt over what had happened, what he had done to the love of his life. But there had to be an explanation. If Nicolai was indeed attacked by a Luciferus, then Striga’s bloodline had continued somehow. And they needed to find her, they needed her help.
“Did you get a good look at her?” Xander asked Nicolai.
