Yasmine Galenorn - Night's End

We raced the length of town back to the Veil House. When we came to the end of Vyne Street, where my aunt’s house stood at the end of the cul-de-sac, we dropped out of the slipstream and stood, filling the yard, listening for any sign of Shadow Hunters. But none were about the property. Ulean checked and verified that fact for us.

While the warriors waited outside, Check, Fearless, Rhiannon’s personal guards, Grieve, Chatter, Kaylin, and I went inside. As we entered the house, a cloud seemed to descend—a darkness I’d never before felt in the Veil House. It wasn’t gloomy, but dense, and alive, and prickling at the back of my neck.

One of Lannan’s men nodded for us to go on through to the living room, and we did, cautiously approaching the Circle in which Luna sat. Ysandra stood outside the chalked outline, on the left, and Peyton on the right. Both were dressed in black dresses, and Luna was in a silver gown. Ysandra glanced over at me and the look on her face was enough to freeze water. There was no warmth, no compassion in her expression. Peyton’s expression matched Ysandra’s.

Luna turned then, her arms outstretched. The gown shimmered across her full breasts, caught at the waist by a simple black belt. Her hair was down, cascading around her shoulders, and the look on her face was feral and fierce. Her eyes gleamed with an unnatural light, and I had the feeling we weren’t facing Luna at all, but someone who had taken possession of her.

“Who are you?” I stepped forward.

“I am not harming your friend, so do not interfere.” The voice echoing out of her plump, crimson lips was not her own—was not even human, but lush and opulent.

“What are you doing here?” I cocked my head, knowing better than to intervene before I knew exactly what was going on. There were rites and rituals that you just didn’t go stomping into—no matter how afraid they might make you feel. One wrong move and whatever—whoever—this was, might turn back on Luna and hurt her.

“I was summoned. I am Dorthea. Luna’s great-great-grandmother. And I will be taking possession of this body as needed, until my task is done. My help has been requested, the price has been paid, and so I fulfill my end of the bargain.”

My breath catching in my throat, I stepped to the very edge of the Circle and stared into the silver-tinged eyes of the woman whom I considered my friend. “ What are you?”

With a dark laugh, Luna let out a long volley of song, a trembling array of notes so beautiful that they hurt my heart. They spiraled up and around, echoing off the walls, ricocheting from door to ceiling to floor to center of the room. It was an orgasm of sound, magic weaving through voice, through sounds so primal they could form no words. But the music spiraled up, like the minarets on a mosque, into the night.

The next moment, I was on my knees, weeping at the song’s beauty. She was singing of death, and darkness, and falling into decay—I could see it all, see the dark forms spiraling around her, shadows of the past clinging to her aura. They infused her with their essence, shoring her up. They empowered her as she slowly danced—weaving her song, weaving her magic.

Ysandra slowly crossed to my side, helped me to my feet. She looked almost as entranced as I was, but tears clung to her face, and I knew there was something dark and terrible here—some secret we hadn’t been told yet.

Luna came to rest again, so light on her feet it looked like she might be floating an inch above the floor. “I will help you fight this queen of darkness, and my army of shades will move with me. We will move as a blight. You tell us what we are to destroy, and we will seek them out and hunt them down and drain their life from their bodies and souls.”

I staggered back a step. “Such power . . . Luna . . . I didn’t know she possessed this ability.”

“She does not—not without our help. But she paid the price when she first opened herself to speak to the ancestors. And she guaranteed a new price tonight, in exchange for the ability to call the spirits. She belongs to us now, and we will give her everything she needs.” Dorthea laughed then, and Luna’s expression followed form, turning vicious and malevolent. “We will destroy those who seek to destroy our daughter.”

Ysandra pulled me away past the others, who were staring at the whole scene with horror. As we stumbled into the kitchen, I whirled on her.

“What is going on? What the hell is happening in there?”

“It is as she says. Luna summoned her great-great-grandmother. And Dorthea was apparently a witch of tremendous power. She’s working through Luna now and won’t desert us until we either win or go down in flames.”

But there was something else. Ysandra’s face was normally pale, but I’d never her seen her look like this. Not horror, but a healthy amount of fear and—something more.

“What’s going on? Tell me. You know something—that much is obvious. What aren’t you telling me?” I grabbed her by the shoulders, not caring whether she could deafen me with one shout.

The witch stared at me, then slowly shook her head. “The price she paid . . . the price she promised . . .”

“What? What is it?”

Ysandra’s brow furrowed as she rubbed her head. “Before I could stop her, Luna promised them her life. If we lose, they will let her be. If we win . . . she dies when they choose.” And with that a high-pitched bout of laughter echoed from the living room, going on and on and on.

“What the fuck did you say?” Before I could help myself, I hauled off and slapped Ysandra across the face. “How could you let this happen?”

“I had no say over the matter. She was holding the Circle. She called them in. She’s the one who made the deal. If I’d tried to break in, the spirits would have been free to come and go as they please, and you do not want the spirits riding free, Cicely. They are dark and dangerous and vicious. They will do as they promise because they made a deal, but do not expect them to befriend us, or to be anything but treacherous outside of the bargain they have made.”

I stared at her, horrified. “Why? Why did she do this?”

This time it was Ysandra who grabbed me by the shoulders. “Because we are facing a monster. Because we are at war. Luna was doing what she could to help. And . . .” She stopped and shook her head.

“No, tell me. What is it?” Whatever it was, I wanted to hear.

“You couldn’t trust us. I understand why you did what you did. You had to. But Luna . . . having Kaylin—of all people—force himself into her mind and sift through her innermost thoughts? It changed her, Cicely. Consider her a casualty of the war. Because even if she comes through this . . . Even if she makes it out alive somehow, she’ll never be the same. And I doubt if she’ll ever be your friend again.”

I crouched on the floor, hands over my face. “I broke her. I broke her.”

Ysandra yanked me back up. “Never kneel. You are a queen. You did not break her, but your actions changed her. She was determined to prove herself true to her word. But in doing so . . . she signed her own death warrant.”

My heart plunging, I stumbled back. “How can I fix this? How can I make this better?”

“You can’t. Face it—this is what war is like, Cicely. This is what it means to lead a nation and that’s what you’re doing. You are going to lose people along the way. You just hold on as best you can, and do what you need to do. There is no win-win scenario in a situation like this. Luna, even in her misguided anger, actually did us a favor.”

“A favor? How the hell do you see that?”