Our alliance is born, not of fear, but of hope. It is an alliance that advances what we are for, as well as opposes what we are against.’ -John F. Kennedy Killian Ember and I got up early the next morning and dressed before breakfast with Kyler and Zila. We headed to the stables and got our horses to ride towards the Mirror River Coven. We rode slowly as we stayed alert for any possible problems along the way as always. You can never be too careful while moving between villages. After a short time, I wanted to talk. I was tired of the silence. I wanted to talk and I wanted to hear her thoughts. “When should we go to Scarlet Moon?” I asked boldly. I watched her reaction to the question. She didn’t seem bothered by it and was giving it a good amount of thought. She finally looked up at me and I could see the concern in her eyes. “I have concerns about how he will feel when he learns who I am to him, but we do need that alliance. I say we go a few days after w
‘You just can’t beat the person that won't give up.’ -Babe Ruth Ember Over the next couple of days, Killian and I planned out what places we would go in search of our next alliances. We would be heading to Scarlet Moon next, followed by the Midnight Meadows Coven after that. From that coven, I wanted to acquire a chaos witch friend so we could speed up the alliance work by portaling to each place after that. I should have thought of this before and gotten help from High Priest Corbin while we were there. I agreed to swallow my fear and even approach the last three vampire clans. I'm sure they wanted an end to this too. I just felt creeped out because of the way the vampires that the Mystics used acted and fought. I had never seen a vamp
‘Women that wear black lead colorful lives.’ -unknown Ember I didn’t know what to think of the pack, knowing about my massive secret that I had hidden for two long years. When everyone shifted back to their human forms and knelt to the ground with their heads bowed, I almost panicked. Then, when Killian joined them, I felt an odd sense of loyalty and happiness at their gesture. When everyone stood back up, we made our way back to the pack village. I made Bastet shrink again to his original size as we walked through the gates. Everyone went their separate ways to get dressed. Killian and I went up to our room with Bastet right behind us. Bastet was chattering away like a child. &nb
‘If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan, not the goal.’ -unknown King Soren At dinner tonight, I ate with my people in the dining room and talked with Lark, who was seated in her usual spot now after mating with Ulric. He had chosen to go on the mission back to Nightshade for information. This was the first time in a while he had been out on a mission. I could tell that it unsettled Lark by how nervous she looked and how much she picked at her food instead of eating it. I made sure to reassure her that Ulric was smart and would come back. Ulric wanted to make sure that they got the information we were after and that the scouts came back this time. We had been having bad luck losing people thanks to that fire elemental, so I understood why
‘Watch your back. Ain't a thing in armor worth trustin' out there.' -Elizabeth Carlton Killian I watched as Ember walked away with Bastet by her side and the others ahead of her, while she watched Demir closely. Once they were out of sight and earshot, I turned to Reginald. “What the hell is going on here?” I asked him. “Beats the hell out of me. Let’s see if we can figure it out,” he said as he turned to study the tracks on the ground. We looked over the ground and started to walk in the direction that the Mystics had been traveling when we found them. We were trying to retrace their steps to see where they came in at and to see if they had gotten what they might be after before we found them. After several minutes of walking, we found where the group had crossed onto our territory but hadn’t found anything of use to us. This was probably a wild goose chase to make us crazy. We turned back around and started walking back the way we came. “None of this makes
‘We are linked by blood, and blood is memory without language.’ -Joyce Carol Dates Ember We arrived at the Scarlet Moon Pack gates within hours. Our horses were foaming and smelled of sweat as they breathed hard from running for so long. We pulled them to a stop in front of the guards that were standing at the gates. Bastet padded up beside us and sat down to rest while he panted loudly from running. The guard looked at Demir and me, our horses and then Bastet with wide eyes. “Can I help you?” he asked. “Yes. I’m Luna Ember of the Nightshade pack. I need to speak with Alpha Talon and Luna Lupa,” I said as I breathed heavily. The guard looked me over for a moment before his deep blue eyes went dull as he mind-linked Alpha Talon. Several uneasy moments went by before he came out of his mind-link and looked into my eyes. “You may go through to the stables. Alpha Talon will be with you in a moment,” the guard told me. “Thank you,” I said before pushing my hor
‘War makes for strange alliances, putting you into business with people that, under other circumstances, you wouldn’t even shake hands with.’ -Javier Pena Ember We stepped through the portal at the Black Ash Pack village and landed at the gates of the Drystan Clan Castle. It reminded me of the Timber Coven fortress that I grew up in. The stone walls were tall and gray but there were no trees close by. The sun was just setting on the day and I could hear the sounds of people moving around inside the castle. The clan was coming alive since they were nocturnal, still moving in the shadows waiting for the sun’s rays to finally disappear. As soon as the sun was gone, I watched as guards appeared on the walls with torches in their hands in order to watch for intruders. I looked to see how Corbin and Demir were taking this situation. Demir looked scared to death while Corbin was composed, but I could see the worry lines on his forehead. “We can do this. We’ll be fine,” I
‘Planning is a skill and an art which takes a lifetime to master.’ -Paddick Van Zyl Ember With everyone on Nightshade territory, it was now time to pull all the leaders into a planning meeting. I just hope there are no fights about what we are about to try and pull off and that this goes smoothly. We had stepped through the portal and landed at the front gates of the Nightshade village. I stopped and turned around to look out at the territory. Wren came walking up from behind me. I could tell it was her by the way she walked. “Are the leaders in the packhouse or are they out with their people?” I asked her. “They are all in the packhouse dining hall waiting for you,” she answered. “Good, let’s go,” I said. I turned around and walked into the village. I let Bastet jump to the ground and he ran ahead of us. Everyone followed me into the packhouse, including Wren and Demir. I walked into the dining hall to see the twelve other leaders sitting at a table a