121

Bellamy

The visions have grown increasingly more dire as we move closer to the equinox. Garash has slowly merged with me, though he seems to remain conscious, offering advice after particularly difficult visions. He swears that he's told me all of what he knows, but I still feel like he's holding back, hiding something vital from me.

Since Galina's awakening, as she's begun to call it, Garash has been more talkative, almost as if he was waiting for the chain to be completed before fully committing to helping me. Which is odd, of course, since he's unable to return to his flesh form, even if the circle didn't get sealed.

"Hey, Bel, what's up?"

"Oh, sorry, Alex, I was just..."

"Lost in thought? Still spacing out, even as a big bad vampire savior?"

His dry tone startles a chuckle out of me. Alex always was more down to earth than his brothers.

"Did you get a chance to talk to Pierre?"

"Sure did. We think we've patched all the holes, but there's not really any way to test the theory."

"Right. Did you hear about the royals coming in?"

"Yea, Alistair's brothers and sister... Had a run in with that Talon guy, seriously gives me the creeps."

"You and me both, Alexander, you and me both."

"What's the deal with the other two? I don't get the creepy crawly feeling from them, but they're always around, creeping around corners when nobody is looking."

The fact that he's been able to notice the activities of the royals when few others have, gives me some hope. I wrap my arm around his shoulder and lead him to Alistair's study, closing the door behind me.

"Can I help you, Bellamy? Alex?"

*He's seen your siblings creeping about, maybe there's more than just the resisting compulsion and whatever else he's told us.*

*That could be useful. Will Esme be angry if we bring him further down this rabbit hole?*

*I don't think she'd retaliate for bringing him into the fold, and I trust the brothers with my life.*

*Very well.*

Alex glances between us, a frown on his face.

"You can mind speak, can't you?"

"I wasn't aware that our expressions were obvious," Alistair says mildly.

"They're not... there's just this... buzzing, I guess, in the air between you two. It stopped."

"Curious. It seems that you may have more gifts than you're aware of, young Alexander. Perhaps you'd be willing to put them to use for the greater good?"

"Tell me what you need. If it will help keep Esme safe, then I'm in."

"Very good. Mercy?"

Mercy steps from the shadows in the corner of the room, a sly smile on her face.

"I thought he could sense it."

Alex stares mildly at her, seemingly unsurprised by her presence.

"A test?"

"Not intentionally, but it works well enough. Please sit, Alex. Let my sister inform you of what she's been up to and what we hope to have your assistance with. Thank you, Bellamy, I can handle things from here, if you'd please inform Novak of the duties required."

"Of course, your princely prick."

Alistair snorts and waves me off, the sound of Mercy's near-hysteric giggling following me from the room.

*You're surround by such curiously powerful characters, Bellamy.*

*Yes, well, isn't that expected? Would you have chosen me as your host if I wasn't destined to gather powerful allies?*

*Perhaps.*

*So coy, Garash. I'll need you to step up you're game if you really want me to survive this.*

*Naturally.*

"There you are, Novak. Alistair has need of you."

"Did he say what?"

"Not in words."

Novak groans and grabs my hand, gently biting the tip of my finger and sucking on the blood before nodding and going about his business.

~

Novak

So many secrets are piling up around us, and it's beginning to get difficult to keep track of them.

Mercy is convinced that Andreas is on our side, and while much of what I've seen of the man supports her stance, his silence in our time of need has me worried.

With Talon here, nobody is truly safe, but without having direct access to Andreas, we can't move against the sadistic royal without risking spoiling carefully laid plots. All I can do is keep eyes and ears on him.

Then there's Gabriel, who has always kept to himself. His sudden desire to endear himself to his siblings could be signs of something more nefarious than a neglected sibling.

Correspondences from our allies have begun trickling in, revealing that everyone is being pressed into a corner, and urgency filling them. We've been unable to ascertain if they're aware of the depth of the issue we're facing, or if their heads are too far up their own asses to see the world crumbling around them. Alistair, ever faithful in his fellow man, believes that their aid is imminent, but I'm not so certain.

Pierre has been assisting me with contingency plans between training Esme and Galina to control their abilities. Both women are blooming into fierce warriors, working tirelessly to ensure that they're assets rather than liabilities. Bellamy has been working on mastering his visions and other curious skills, though the god in his head who stubbornly clings to consciousness has me worried.

Despite my best efforts to get Alistair to explore his newly gifted abilities, he's refused, citing a need to oversee the coming battle and preparations. His fingers are in so many different pies that even I am having difficulty keeping track.

Right now, though, I have a mission that needs more of my focus than these scatterbrained thoughts.

If Esme's mother really is still alive, then we need to find her and figure out what she knows, and where she's been. We can't risk having someone so important to our circle used against us. And I need to find out more about Galina's mother. She's informed us of some of her memories, but most of what she says makes little sense. The fact that she didn't see her mother die has me worried that her uncle is out there somewhere, holding her hostage in case his plan of poisoning the circle through Galina doesn't work.

I have no leads, so I better get started on interrogating the idiots involved.

~~~

Author's Note: My face and ears are killing me, so I'm going to do a chapter dump of 4-5 chapters tomorrow to make up for the fact that there's only this short one today.

I'm thinking of making a companion/compendium type deal with a list of all of the characters, their known affiliations, skills, abilities, magics, name pronunciation and all that junk. Would you want that? If so, would you want it posted as a chapter when the full book is posted, or as a one off post on social media?