crippling panic would not do.

caia concentrated and changed back into human form, a shield automatically up and around her in order to confront du bois.

he gazed, dumbstruck. "that's some trick."

she glanced by him to anders lifeless body. two of them were dead.

she narrowed her eyes in loathing at this man who had created this devastation. "i was going to say the same thing."

du bois grinned unapologetically. "just a little something i picked up."

caia nodded, filching through his mind with the trace. "you and your lover - thierry - the midnight who is at this second inflicting burns on a female lykan while my alpha watches on helplessly... you did this together. you hired humans to experiment on kidnapped lykans. they came up with that concoction to transform them back to human so that you could hurt them. you killed the human scientists. i marvel at how well you hid it from ethan. but then ethan barely knew you were alive. when he disappeared it was the opportunity. but i've been watching you carefully, for weeks. how clever of you and thierry to keep those thoughts so tightly locked. and me... i didn't know to look, to kick down the door..."

pierre had paled considerably; he fisted a hand that seemed desperate to tremble. "how do you know all that? who are you?"

"the same way i knew where you all were this evening." she felt her skin begin to tighten as the trace told her the fighting was getting more intense, the midnights were triumphant, informing her that michael and marion's wounds were getting worse, that rose was bleeding out. thierry was going to use the liquid on lucien to change him too, to kill him. "your spies outside of the maclachlan's homes are dead. your guards are dead. three of you here have been taken out."

a tube of water shot towards her with the force of a speeding train but she blasted it back with a flick of her wrist and it lost its form, de-solidifying and splashing on to the bed of the forest before it even touched her skin. thierry was laughing as lucien transformed; he was sure rose was dying and he was just about to set lucien on fire. feeling the white heat, so familiar now, building through her body, she grabbed a hold of it, determined to control this force that was so powerful. focusing her mind on du bois and the other midnights' locations, caia pulled on the white heat and the energy she utilized to wield her water element, and tied them together in her mind's eye.

and with that, she let it out of her body.

the energy constructed itself into cocoons of water, morphing its shape at her demand. she looked on as it wrapped around du bois' head and chest, insisting it to do the same to the other midnights, simultaneously. as pierre began to fight it, caia squeezed the cocoon and waited as the blood vessels in his eyes popped, his face turning purple with asphyxiation. it was the same for the others, and it seemed to take forever to draw to a conclusion. holding tight to the four midnights was taking its toll, the muscles in her body burning in agony, her own eyes streaming with water. all the while, she couldn't stop thinking how she was actually killing people, actually making them cease to exist. the water streaming from her eyes turned salty with tears. but she held on, maintaining the cocoons, until one by one the midnights disappeared from her trace... and du bois' heartbeat slowed to a falter, puttered and then stopped.

caia let go and a sob burst out of her mouth. the deaths, the killing of this evening, pressed on her chest, crushing in their overwhelming weight. if only she had looked into du bois' trace more carefully. if she had crept into his mind like she had done with ethan and broken down his defenses perhaps anders would be alive, maybe even those humans du bois had killed. the guilt weighed on her, begging for relief.

thankfully, like a prayer being answered, her mind began to darken, and the last thing she saw was the ground rushing towards her.

nikolai trembled as he dialed kirios' number into his cell. it rang out twice and then he heard the strong voice of his partner.

"so?"

nikolai smiled wryly at his friend's charming manners. "my faerie returned. she watched everything from the trees."

"how did she go undetected by caia?"

"caia was a little preoccupied."

"what happened?"

the excitement bubbling in his blood threatened to burst into his speech, but he held on coolly, trying to maintain his dignified demeanor. "well. it went well. caia was able to kill, simultaneously, four magiks in four different locations in the woods. my faerie has never seen anything like it."

kirios exhaled in obvious disbelief. "i've never heard anything like it."

"hmm. apparently, two of the daylights were taken down, and then the others were in trouble so she had to kill all of the midnights by herself."

"and her state?"

he frowned at the next piece of information he imparted, "she was visibly upset by it and then she collapsed."

"well, that's not reassuring."

"kirios, stay positive. this is good news. the girl is definitely what we need."

"she has weaknesses."

"even gods have weaknesses, kirios."

"are you comparing her to a god?"

"she's the closest thing to it since the old times."

"we'll see, won't we?"

nikolai groaned, "why are you always so pessimistic?"

kirios grumbled, "i'm not being pessimistic. i may even have some good news. there have been a few developments i'm not... sure of."

"what does that mean?"

"i'll explain when next i see you."

"fine." nikolai waved his comments off in irritation. "just remember... now it's all on you."

"i know. i'll be waiting."

18 - spark

light burned her eyelids into opening, her vision unfocused, her mouth and throat dry. she tried to move her legs and felt shards of pain ricochet throughout her body. it felt like she had been run over. maybe more than once.

"caia?"

"lucien?"

she blinked a few times and turned her head, seeing him standing before her, marion by his side, both of them gazing down at her with worry etched in every molecule of their features.

he lifted her hand into his and squeezed it. "are you ok?"

no. she was confused. the last thing she remembered was killing five people. had that been a nightmare?

"where am i?"

lucien loomed closer, drawing her hand into an almost vice-like grip. "you're in your room at the center."

"was it a dream?"

sadness and fury seemed to riot across his face as he shook his head. "no."

caia clenched her jaw, turning her head away, desperate to keep the tears locked up. a single one escaped anyway, spilling from the corner of her eye and down her cheek.

"caia," he groaned, and she felt him catch the tear with his finger. "you did good, sweetheart."

she choked on that. good! she had killed people, murdered them! it wasn't like ethan's death - it had been unpremeditated, and he had been a monster who deserved to die. but other than du bois and thierry, those midnights were mixed up people, looking for direction, looking for a leader again. they weren't truly wicked. and their deaths had been premeditated.

goddess, she felt like such a naive fool believing she could kill those people and be ok with it... because it was the right thing to do. hah.

"caia," marion was saying firmly, almost angrily, "i know it isn't easy, but those magiks were going to massacre an entire pack of innocent lykans."

aye, there's the rub.

slowly, she turned to face them again. "i know. i just... i hadn't expected..."

marion sighed and placed a comforting hand on her leg. "taking a life is never easy. but this is a war, caia, and we have to sacrifice a part of our soul to win it."

lucien smiled gently at her. "i've been worried about you. you know you've been out for a whole day."

"a whole day?"

he grinned now. "you're going to be ok. marita's personal physician looked you over. your body was just exhausted after what you did. caia, what you did!" he shook his head in amazement and she watched as he and marion exchanged awed and excited looks. "it was unbelievable. taking out all of those midnights in one fell swoop? you should see this place outside of these doors."

"or inside," marion muttered wryly.

"what?" caia asked in confusion.

"take a look."

slowly, with lucien's help, she eased up into a sitting position, and her eyes immediately widened at the sight before her in the room. flowers upon flowers decorated every inch of it.

"get well flowers from your fans." marion shook her head laughingly.

uh oh.

"fans?"

lucien grunted. "some of the others couldn't keep quiet about what you did. the center is in an uproar over you. you're like a damn rock star to these people."

she gulped. this was kind of what she wanted, right? no, it was what she needed. still scary though.

they both seemed to understand and threw her sympathetic looks. marion shrugged. "well, we knew your power could be limitless and turns out it just might be. this." she gestured to the flowers. "might be the price you're going to have to pay for it."

caia chuckled humorlessly. "and here i was thinking it was the bone weary exhaustion, loss of consciousness, and oh let's not forget the whole losing a piece of my soul thing."

the witch frowned at her. "caia, this is important. two council members have come to the center representing the entire council. they want to meet with you."

the news hit her in a wave of relief. this was good. no this... this was great. with a bit of self-control she managed to keep the relieved grin off of her face. instead she nodded calmly. "i'd like that. when?"