Moonlight | Lucien Castle

Chapter 33

Their teammates met them the next day.

Lucien had insisted they needed to discuss what their game plan would be the next day. Thus, Amaris invited Cami, Vincent, and Marcel to the penthouse. She spent the morning making them lunch— pasta with some garlic cream sauce— while Lucien cleaned to make the place presentable.

Amaris admitted to herself that she missed having him sit behind her, asking her questions about the recipe. She missed him standing behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist, kissing her neck. Or even just catching her arm before she could burn herself.

Everything will be better in Europe, she told herself. We'll be alone, we'll work it out calmly, without worries. Establish terms for a healthy relationship and make amends little by little. Without anyone to bother us or judge us. We have forever to fix our relationship. I'm still hurt but I can't bear to lose him forever. Somehow, we will fix this. Without anyone getting in our way or judging us.

She had to repeat the entire dialogue to herself several times, to ensure she believed it was possible. To have a shred of hope.

The others arrived at midday, exactly. Lucien invited Cami in while Vincent and Marcel strolled inside, admiring the set up.

"Damn," said Marcel, putting his hands on his hips. "My loft in Algiers seems fancy when I look at it, but this... is a whole other level." He held up a hand. "One thing I have that you don't, though, is a bar."

"Oh, please," said Lucien teasingly, "that's hidden behind a wall, I just need to pop it out."

They made their way to the dining table, where Amaris was setting out the food. "I'm not sure if we should discuss while eating, or afterward," she said, gesturing to notepads she'd set out beside the plates. "But either way, we have materials to write down our ideas. Thank you for this... all of you."

Vincent nodded. "Like I had Cami tell you... I just want Aurora and The Strix out of my city. I don't want any more innocent people to die."

"And I just want out," said Marcel. "I'm cut out for leadership, but not when it comes to Elijah's cult."

Cami gave a dry laugh. "To be fair, he wasn't cut out for it, either. I think the first order of business is to discuss who is even left of The Strix. We know we have to worry about Aurora, but are there any vampires there that we have to be concerned with?"

"Good point," said Lucien, sitting on one end of the table. He motioned for Amaris to sit to his left, leaving Marcel, Cami, and Vincent to file in across from them. One seat remained empty beside Amaris, and the two heads were left without chairs.

"I have a list of who's still alive after Rayna Cruz's attack," said Marcel. "Many more were killed after you left, Amaris. Your brothers rained hell down on anyone they saw twitching. Mostly Klaus."

Amaris snorted. "Yeah, he needed to get that anger out after he wasn't able to kill me."

Marcel held up his phone. "I know some of these, but I don't really know most of their history to assess if they're a threat or not."

"Not to worry," said Lucien. "I know every person who's ever entered The Strix— I've monitored them for a long time."

He nodded, and started to list off the names. Lucien listened, not reacting much, aside from a few smirks if he knew them better, or shrugs if he hardly had anything to say. "They're not threats," said Lucien. "They follow their leaders diligently. Kill when told to. All of those you listed are the ones that didn't wish to fly in to witness the de-linking. They aren't as active as other members. Tristan brought in the big guns and only a few new members when he arrived in this city. They're all dead now, Rayna Cruz saw to that. Aurora is the only one we need to worry about."