1. DISCOVERY

DISCOVERY

B althazar paced along the length of the dining room table. He'd set Meffy down on one of the chairs and the battlecat had fallen asleep in a tight little ball. Daemon had gone off after the boys. He should have been able to bring them back immediately. And yet, ten minutes had passed since Daemon had teleported away and he had not returned.

What is taking him so long? What is the problem?

Fiona, who had been the one pacing before, now watched him out of concerned eyes as she suggested, "Perhaps you ought to sit down, Balthazar. You don't look well."

"I'll sit down when Daemon brings the boys back! I can sit very well then!" Balthazar snapped.

But she was right. He was exhausted. He felt worn thin . He didn't so much want to sit down as to collapse . But he couldn't with Christian and Julian out doing who knew what.

Christian's mind was closed to him. He wouldn't admit that his fledgling's mind was completely gone , out of reach, even though some part of him was sending out a warning signal that it was. He couldn't feel Julian's mind either. And Daemon… Daemon seemed to be made of stone at the moment.

That can't be good. What is going on? How could Daemon not stop two newly made fledglings?

He reached for Daemon again, but the Vampire King remained silent. There was a sense that Daemon was… praying ?

Why is he praying?

"What were they thinking? Where did they go?" Balthazar's hands flew up in the air. "They don't know where the gate to Moonfall is so…" Balthazar stopped in mid-step and then spun around towards Caemorn, his eyes narrowing, as he hissed, " You! "

Caemorn hadn't moved since the boys had left. He had sat there, upright and with his fingers laced together on the table before him, like a good little schoolboy. But the flash of guilt he gave at Balthazar's words about the boys not knowing the location of the gate to Moonfall was like a Bat Signal to him. Caemon knew something. Caemorn was responsible for something bad. He practically radiated guilt even though his outside demeanor was still and unruffled.

I trusted him. Should I have trusted him? We've been enemies for a long time. A few good deeds and I open my house to him, open my heart to him. What was I thinking?

"What did you do , Caemorn?" Balthazar asked as he stalked towards his Blood Brother.

If he has done what I think he has, he is no brother to me! He will not survive this night if he has hurt a hair on the boys' heads!

The whine of his fear and anger filled his head and he could not hear Caemorn's thoughts. Seeyr turned her bandaged eyes towards the Kaly Vampire even as Sophia patted her mistress' shoulder. The child-like vampire seemed unsurprised by what was coming. But, instead, was simply sad. Sad for everyone.

"Caemorn?" Seeyr asked, her voice soft.

"It had to be done," Caemorn stated.

"Yes, it did. It did," she agreed and there was something in her voice that Balthazar could not read and the whine in his head blocked out her thoughts too.

"You told the boys how to get to Moonfall, Caemorn? You told them to go?" Fiona asked, her eyes huge. She looked stunned that Caemorn had betrayed them.

"Yes," Caemorn answered without a sliver of hesitation or shame. He spoke in the same tone as he would of the weather.

Balthazar exploded across the room at him. His hands were on Caemorn's neck and he had the other Vampire up against the wall. Caemorn's feet were six inches from the ground. Balthazar hadn't even been aware of moving and it had seemed like he had teleported he'd gone so fast. Caemorn did not resist him. Not even to put his hands up to his throat as Balthazar's fingers squeezed .

"How could you do it?!" Balthazar screamed. Spittal left his lips and sprayed Caemorn's face, but he didn't care. He would spit into Caemorn's face. He had sent the boys to their Second Deaths! "How could you betray us?! We took you in! We saved you from Kaly! We offered you a second chance!"

Betrayal and rage fed that whine in Balthazar's head and he couldn't hear the answers to his questions or delve into the Kaly Vampire's mind. Had Caemorn always been a traitor? Had he somehow managed to hide his continued allegiance to Kaly?But everything that Balthazar had seen in his head told him no . So what happened? That last encounter with Artemis-Kaly in the dungeon had not been pleasant for Caemorn. There had been no exchange to warrant this turn of events!

Caemorn stayed calm, but choked out, "B-b-because i-i-it h-h-had t-t-to b-b-be d-d-done."

Had to be done? HAD TO BE DONE?

Balthazar slammed Caemorn against the wall again and again until the plaster cracked then broke altogether and tumbled to the floor. The air filled with choking white dust that coated Balthazar's tongue as he shrieked, "No, it didn't! They didn't have to go!"

"T-t-they d-d-did. Y-y-you k-k-know t-t-they d-d-did," Caemorn gasped out even as his lips turned blue.

I know?! I know that my newly made fledgling had to go with his best friend to Moonfall where the creatures are insane? The moons are falling? The Ever Dark is being destroyed? No, I did not know this!

"No!" Balthazar shouted.

But his eyes slid to Seeyr who remained still and serene even with this violence. She had foreseen everything that had happened. She had admitted though that there were bad things that had to happen for there to be the future that Daemon would want and love.

But there can be no future like that without Christian and Julian!

"It can't be!" Balthazar continued, his voice almost a child's cry. "Not after everything! After waiting and--no! I just got Christian! Daemon waited millennia for Julian! They can't be just taken away!"

It felt like he was bleeding out as he said these words. Fiona clutched the front of her shirt and looked like she might weep. Sophia's head hung like an overly large bloom on a too thin stalk. Meffy was awake as well, looking at him with questioning eyes that blinked sleepily. Why was he shouting, the cat seemed to ask? Why was he screaming?

Balthazar shook Caemorn again, rattling him. "Why? Why, Caemorn? After everything! Why would you betray us? I thought you cared for the boys! Why?"

"T-t-too c-c-cruel t-t-to m-m-make y-y-you a-a-and D-D-Daemon c-c-choose," Caemorn got out between clacking teeth. "B-b-better t-t-to b-b-be m-m-me."

And the whine in Balthazar's head stopped and he could hear Caemorn's thoughts as clear as day all of the sudden. Caemorn hadn't given the boys the information on how to get to Moonfall to hurt them, but to help . To help everyone. He was taking on the guilt for sending beloved Julian and Christian to do this task because he did not want that to lay on Daemon and Balthazar's shoulders. To make the Masters choose to risk their Children.

Caemorn had done it to spare him and Daemon that horrible choice. Caemorn would be the villain. Caemorn would be hated. That was a role he was used to playing. That his actions were the very opposite did not matter. He understood Balthazar's grief and rage. He would accept it. After all he had done, it was the least he could do. He would not be worthy of the new life they were offering him, if he did anything less.

"Damn you… Caemorn… I could have--have killed you… I could have…" Balthazar shook his head. "You're not the villain. You're one of us now. You can't just…"

He brought Caemorn down to the ground. His hands loosened around Caemorn's throat. Balthazar wobbled with exhaustion and fear and emotional turmoil. He swayed forward and Caemorn caught him.

As in all things where Caemorn had to deal with other people, he was awkward and stiff. But Balthazar had just been choking him, so there was that. Yet Caemorn got him into a chair that Fiona had pulled out. Balthazar sank down into it and put his face in his hands and rocked. Caemorn touched his shoulder and immediately withdrew his hand after the pat. Fiona dropped down onto her haunches and rubbed his arms as if trying to get warmth into them. She didn't have a fledgling yet, but she hurt for him. She loved the boys too.

"Just what?" Caemorn's voice was gravelly.

"Just?" Balthazar's voice trembled.

"You said I cannot just… what? What can I not do?" Caemorn asked as if it desperately mattered.

"You can't just leave us. I should have trusted you. I should have… I will from now on," Balthazar told him. Guilt pricked him again. He had proved Caemorn's own low beliefs in regards to being on the outside. He had so quickly tossed the other Vampire away. He hung his head. "I'm so sorry. I owe you that, at least."

"You can see into people's minds. If I had that gift I would trust no one, too," Caemorn stated as he cleared his throat several times.

"I couldn't hear your thoughts. Not until the end there." Balthazar gritted his teeth. He had been out of control. He wasn't healed from facing Artemis-Kaly. He had insisted he was fine, but he was not. And he'd attacked Caemorn."I couldn't think. My head… I need the boys back. I need the boys. Fiona, can you take us to the gate--"

"They have to go alone, Balthazar," Sophia interrupted. "Seeyr explained that. It still holds true. You do not want to undo everything now, do you?"

Balthazar looked into her large silver eyes. She meant every word she said. For a moment, he saw Christian and Julian's broken bodies under white stones. He jerked away from her mind as if he had put his hands in flames.

"It's true, Eyros. They must do this on their own," Seeyr confirmed with a sigh.

With a voice still hoarse from the choking, Caemorn said, "They will come back. I have no doubt about this."

"But if they don't…" Balthazar's voice was suddenly hoarse too as if he had been strangled or screaming for hours.

"They will. Have faith in them," Caemorn said. "They are stronger and more capable than we give them credit for."

Seeyr spoke then. Her voice was soft and still strange with that note of uncertainty yet familiarity. "You always have been the one to do the hard things, Caemorn. To make the decision that cuts the deepest for what you think must be done. You take on the burden of others."

"And you have always been the one to tell unwelcome truths. I've learned to trust you," Caemorn responded as he, too, sat down again. "You said they had to go, Seeyr. I knew that, no matter what anyone wanted, that there was no other way."

Balthazar knew that Caemorn'd had Seeyr prisoner in the Spire for centuries so he shouldn't have been surprised by Seeyr's use of the word "always" and yet there was something about it that made it seem like Caemorn had been doing this for far longer.

"What do you need, Balthazar?" Fiona asked. "I know you need Christian and Julian back, but what else do you need? Arcius? Elgar? Wait, I know what you need. Meffy."

She went over to where the ball of fluff still sat and picked him up. She tickled Meffy under the chin and scratched between his ears before bringing him back to Balthazar. He felt a little foolish as he clutched the kitten who gave out a piteous meow.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to squeeze you so hard," Balthazar murmured into the soft fur.

Touching the animal calmed him. The aching in his head eased. He closed his eyes for a moment as he listened to Meffy purr. How could he take such comfort in a cat when Christian and Julian were missing? Yet, the little animal focused him. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes, feeling more himself again.

Balthazar said, "Thank you, Fiona."

She nodded, acknowledging it, even as she said, "Again, no thanks needed. We're all in this together as you said. And you are rather precious with Meffy in your arms."

He snorted. "I earned that."

"Who knew you would be a cat person. I like both, but prefer dogs," she said with a grin but that quickly faded as the weight of the situation fell upon them again.

Balthazar was haunted by what Christian and Julian were being confronted with.

They are adventurers. How many times did I watch them get in trouble on their show? They were mortal then and I watched with amusement. Now I would do anything for them to be in this world so I could help them.

Balthazar reached out to Christian again. This time when there was no sense of his fledgling at all, he accepted it as the truth. "I can't… can't reach Christian's mind. I guess that's to be expected in Moonfall."

"Why expected in Moonfall?" Fiona asked.

"Moonfall isn't just separated from the other parts of the Ever Dark by space," Caemorn explained, "but by time as well."

"Time?" Fiona's eyebrows rose. "Meaning it's--"

"Out of our time stream or so it's thought." Caemorn waved one of his long fingered hands through the air. "You could meet someone there that's from centuries in the past or centuries in the future. You could even meet yourself there."

"Wild." Fiona shook her head. "I had heard of Moonfall, but never really knew much about it."

"I didn't encourage people to think about it as Preceptor," Caemorn pointed out.

"Why?" Fiona's brow furrowed.

"In Moonfall, the Ever Dark is being destroyed," Caemorn explained.

"What?" Fiona's eyes went huge again.

"Some terrible destruction is being wrought there. They say that if you go there at the right moment or stay too long, the whole place is destroyed and then made over again… not that you know as you are no longer alive," Caemorn stated. "That your soul is unmade too. Many rumors are attached to it, but very little true science."

"Christian will love it then," Balthazar said glumly. "A scientific mystery."

"Yes, Christian is wise that way. He will not let there be any shibboleths. He and Julian will investigate them all," Caemorn agreed.

If they come back...

"It's the end, which is why Daemon cannot go there," Seeyr added.

Fiona's forehead furrowed again. "But Daemon is the ultimate of the Immortals. Why can't he go to a place where we can?"

"The Ever Dark and Daemon, I think, are more linked than we know," Caemorn stated. "The creatures reacted to his awakening before he stepped foot in Solace."

"There are things that are our antithesis," Seeyr answered her. "Moonfall is Daemon's. He simply cannot exist in that place of death."

Balthazar reached out to Daemon again. He needed to confirm what he already knew: that Julian and Christian were in Moonfall. He touched Daemon's mind again. And, like before, there was this hum that reminded him of prayer. The Vampire King was so focused on this that he left a chink open in his mind's armor that Balthazar teased open and slipped inside.

Daemon's mind was connected to… something … something huge and unknowable and massive and… Balthazar's skin prickled with sweat as he suddenly started to slip into the Vampire King's mind and lose himself. He was falling, falling, falling. He was drowning in alien thoughts and dreams and… where was he? Who was he? He was all and nothing. He was the beginning with no end. He was--

No, Eyros, you cannot be here, Daemon said almost sadly. Too clever for your own good.

Daemon!

The sensation of falling stopped. He felt like someone had him by the scruff of the neck and was holding him up to look at as if he was a naughty kitten.

You should not be here, my friend. But I know why you are, Daemon said.

You were afraid to tell me that you let them go. Our boys. Our Children , Balthazar's voice caught.

Yes.

Caemorn told them where to go. He didn't want to leave that choice to us. He thought it cruel , Balthazar paused then added, I attacked him without knowing that.

You were upset.

I shouldn't have done that in any case.

I appreciate… his actions in this. I would never have been able to do it, Daemon admitted.

But you did.

Only because Julian and Christian had the determination and knowledge to go ahead with it, Daemon admitted. I cannot go on without Julian.

You won't have to. They will come back. They will , Balthazar tried to put force and belief in his voice.

I will remain here for them. As soon as they return, I will bring them to the house, Daemon stated. Forgive me for this, Balthazar.

There's nothing to forgive, Balthazar assured him.

Balthazar opened his eyes and said to the others, "Daemon's waiting. Waiting for the boys to come back through. He… he let them go. He could have stopped them, but… this had to happen. I don't know if he'll survive this if Julian and Christian don't return."

"If they had not gone, the whole of the world would fall," Seeyr said as Sophia patted her, recognizing the heavy weight her mistress carried in her truth telling.

It comes down to our two fledglings… good God...

"They have to come back. Tell me that they will come back, Seeyr," Balthazar demanded.

"I can't." She lowered her head. "It's a turning point and I cannot see beyond it until there is a choice made. Moonfall being out of time makes this more difficult."

"So we just wait ?" Balthazar asked. "What is this choice? Who is making it? Can we convince them somehow from here to come down in our favor?"

Seeyr opened her mouth. He could almost see her lips forming the word "no" but then she stopped. Her head lifted, and though her eyes were still missing or regenerating beneath a bandage, appeared to be seeing all of them. Then the faintest smile appeared on her lips. She murmured, "Actually… we already have."

"How can that be?" Caemorn frowned. "Unless time… ah, but..."

The Kaly Vampire went silent, stroking his chin, his mind was a whir, but Balthazar was simply too tired to go through the twists and turns of Caemorn's consciousness to find out what he was thinking.

"My head hurts, Seeyr. Can you not just speak plainly?" Balthazar practically begged.

"I'm sorry, Balthazar, but I cannot say more. Just know that you've done everything you can to make the decision coming in our favor," Seeyr answered.

Balthazar's right knee started to jump up and down. He couldn't sit still. But he was too exhausted to get up. The whine in his mind was back. He kissed Meffy's fuzzy head to self-soothe.

"I suppose there's no chance of you actually resting, though you really need it," Fiona said quietly as she stood and stretched.

"No, I can't. Not until they're back," Balthazar said.

There was a sudden knock on the door. It was Ridley. Her mind was awash in anxiety and excitement. A flood of her thoughts came to Balthazar. Men and women with guns. Black helicopters. Grenades. UV flash bangs. Even garlic, crosses and stakes. Balthazar laughed at the last.

The FBI were going to be outside House Ravenscroft in minutes, and, evidently, they believed in Vampires after all.