Chapter 31: the sun is coming

“The Sun is coming,” he repeated with every slow, purposeful step.

Essie backed quickly away from the deranged wolf, “Do not do this. You will be cursed and Her Hounds will come for you.”

He laughed but it sounded more like someone was laughing through him, like a ventriloquist trick she had seen at a carnival show once. “Oh foolish female, your goddess is powerless or she would have warned you, I was coming.”

Essie was about to strike at him in self-defense when Ketsu hits the wolf from the side, rolling them both down the hall and away from Essie. The young Shogunate easily rolled back onto his feet between Essie and the false petitioner.

“The Goddess did warn the Delphi, that is why I am here to protect her sister,” Ketsu growled.

The wolf looked past Ketsu, his eyes flashed like molten gold and fire and Essie shuddered as he spoke in another's voice. “Forgive me, my queen. I had sent my disciple to kill your sister but I will happily kill this plebeian and claim you now.”

Ketsu snarled and leaped at the wolf, who tossed him aside as if he weighed nothing.

“Ketsu!” Essie shouted and the wolf turned to face her, his eyes burning with rage.

“You care for this wolf, he is nothing. I am your mate and only I will have you,” the voice growled through the wolf. He turned suddenly to where Ketsu was pushing himself up, wheezing as though his ribs were broken when he hit the wall. “Watch what I will do to all you love.”

Essie was moving before the silver blade was released from the wolf’s hand. It embedded in her thigh instead of Ketsu’s throat. She ripped the burning blade from her flesh and jumped toward the wolf possessed by her mate, impaling his heart with the deadly blade, her other hand closing around his throat.

She growled into his face as he died, “Not today, mate.”

She watched his eyes flickering from flames to light brown. A sound like a distant laugh gurgled from his throat, then silence. She dropped the dead wolf in a heap. Her leg collapsed after a single step, so she crawled back to Ketsu.

“What was he?” Kestu growled out.

Essie shook her head, “One of the Servants of the Sun, I think. Are you okay?”

He shook his head, “Are you?”

But before she could answer, he was kissing her. Her leg burned painfully. Darkness rose up and pulled her away from his lips... his breath... his love.

Essie woke slowly, the dream she was having would haunt her worse than any of the others. Her grandfather was sitting on a chair by Del’s bed. She sat up slowly, she was in Delilah’s rooms, of course she was. No one knew Del was the one traveling instead of her. She wanted a cigarette so badly, as if reading her mind, her grandfather held out a pack to her. She took several long droughts on the first one before she spoke.

“I can’t do it anymore, I can’t keep pretending to be her. I need to leave so she will be safe, so you will be safe, grandpapa. I can’t loose you both,” her voice trembled as she spoke. She picked up the vial of pain medicine, and swallowed it like a shot of alcohol.

“Esther, it is my duty to protect you, not the other way around. And Delilah needs you, as much as you need her. She will never let you go,” Eliazar asked softly. “What did he say to you, granddaughter?”

“He said, the sun was coming for me. He was going to kill all I loved before he took me. It was him, grandpapa. Somehow, he spoke through that wolf, he was in that wolf looking out at me through his eyes. How can I hide from someone who can do that? How can I escape what the Moon has warned me about if he can wear another wolf’s body the way I wear Delilah’s Goddess forsaken gowns!” She was almost hysterical with fear, as she sobbed.

Her grandfather sat on the edge of the bed and rocked her in his arms. There was nothing he could say to comfort her because he did not know how they could protect her when that wolf, or whatever he is, decides to come for her. That was why Del went to the oldest living Oracle from the oldest existing pack in the world. They were praying for hope, for a clue on how to overcome what they faced. They had found nothing. Delilah was getting desperate to save her sister, especially after what the vampire seer had told her about the sun-wolf. Essie had cried herself to sleep or perhaps it was Margo’s concoction. Eliazar gently laid her back down, taking the cigarette butt from her hand.

The poison-tainted silver blade had almost taken her from them but the morning after the attack, a courier had arrived with the ingredients for the antidote. It was like the sun-wolf was mocking them. He would take being mocked if it meant his granddaughter survived. Eliazar looked down at Esther sleeping, at the sickly pallor of her skin and the paleness of her lips. He crumpled one of her cigarettes into the incense burner by her sister’s bed and lit it. Louis walked in without knocking, sniffed and frowned, staring at Esther for a moment. Eliazar silently indicated they would talk in the hall, before closing the door behind them.

“The smell of her sister’s cigarettes comforts her and her wolf since Esther is away on Wanderer’s duty,” Eliazar explained. “What news?”

Louis nodded, “Elder, the pack territory the wolf came from appears to have abandoned within a few days of his journey here. There are no signs of an attack or struggle or that the wolves took anything with them when they left. Wanderer Rick says the wolves are just gone.”

“Gone? Surely they took somethings with them,” Eliazar was confused.

“According to the two Wanderers, there are clothes in the drawers, dishes in the sinks, keys and valuables easily found. It is as if they all just walked out of their homes after breakfast and vanished. His exact words were, it gives him the heebee jeebees.” Louis held out the paper he wrote Rick’s report on.

Eliazar nodded, “Keep the temple on partial lockdown, no one on or off the island without an escort. No one to see the Delphi.”

Kestu carried a tray toward the Delphi’s rooms. He could smell Esther’s intoxicating scent of autumn’s first frost, incense, and her cigarettes. He opened the door without knocking, the visions she was having just before they tried to take her, had terrified her and she had moved to save him instead of fleeing to save herself as she should have. She was sitting in the windowseat, staring out at the snow swirling between the trees and out over the water beyond.

“What have you seen, Esther?” Ketsu asked quietly, laying the tray aside.

“My mate,” she whispered.

Tears ran down Essie’s cheeks. She can’t love Ketsu, she can’t tell him he is going to die if she does. Her evil mate is going to murder him, just like the Des Rues had murdered everyone else she had ever loved. She can feel her heart beginning to break again. Essie stared at the him, clutching her fists, her nails cutting her palms. For a moment, she wished that dark night had killed her too, but Del needed her to help her save their people. Eyes squeezed shut, Essie choked back a trembling sob. Ketsu was standing right there with her as always, protecting her, and loving her. She just hadn’t see it until now. All she had to reach out with her heart, but somehow she resisted. She could feel he was having the same war within himself but he was losing.

And he was losing. He told himself must turn off his feelings for now, no matter how much he wants to, he is her protector but he cannot resist the need to comfort her. They must make the same choice, duty before love. The world as they know it was coming apart around them, war was coming, but he can’t chose duty. He loves her, even if she isn’t his mate. He loves her and he would die for her. He watched her turn away.

“I really am sorry about a few days ago,” she apologized, staring out the window, “I just couldn’t help it. I couldn’t let him kill you. I can’t lose anyone else.”

She rose to limp back to her chair, but her leg gives out. He reacted faster than any human could, catching her. Darkwood eyes meet sapphire ones, as he rises from one knee, his arms cradling her bridal style.

“You need more rest,” he said quietly, inhaling her scent of autumn leaves and first frost.

She could feel him trembling as he gently sets her in the chair. He looked so handsome in his jeans and black teeshirt that accented his dark spiky hair and almond shaped eyes, like he should be leaning against his motorbike, not here with the world’s flakiest she-wolf.

She shook her head, refusing, “Not yet, I have to figure it out why they are trying to.. kill... my...my sister.” For the first time since they become casual lovers all those years ago, she can’t look away from his eyes, her heart was pounding and she doesn’t want to accept the truth of why.

He smiled as he answered, “I believe you will. You are an Oracle too. Moon-blessed and beautiful.”

“Don’t say things like that, Ketsu. It isn’t true,” she fussed, fumbling to light another cigarette, but he took it from her. Leaning forward, he kissed her, he couldn’t resist. For that moment, neither feels alone, it feels like they were meant to be together and not like the Tides is building to a storm on the horizon to tear them apart. A second chance he wanted that she couldn’t take. She pushed him away.

“We can’t feel this, we can’t let ourselves,” she gasped as much to herself as to him, while she fights for control.

“Esther, I would not miss sharing this feeling with you even if we shall both perish tomorrow.” His lips begin to devour her and she can’t push him away this time.

She needed to be loved even if it is only for a time. Ketsu’s practiced hands run over the familiar curves and shapes of her body as she molds almost perfectly against him. Suddenly the image of him laying dead, with his heart ripped out, flashes through her mind. His heart burning in a censer while she is being...

“Stop! Ketsu, stop... I can’t...” She pushed away from him again, she had never rejected someone that she loves. It hurt. “I see things when the Goddess opens Her Eye to me. Horrible things. I... I’m not like Del. I... I am not strong enough to have love for only a season.”

Ketsu looked at her with hurt and bewildered eyes, “What are you saying? I would never leave you.”

Essie sobs, biting the back of her hand, for a moment. Then she grits out, “If you stay near me, you will die. I’ve seen it, and I won’t let it happen. Go, Ketsu, get outta here. Leave the temples and live. I don’t want you here.”

“Essie, I love you, and I know you love me. I won’t...”

“I said, Get. OUT!” she shrieked. “I outrank you and I order you to go!”

The clearing of a throat had them both turning. Her grandfather was standing in the door with a sad expression. “What is this about Esther?”

“Grandpapa, I want him to go. Send him away from the temples, I won’t have his blood on my conscience.”

Eliazar takes a deep breath, “If that is what you wish...”

“Yes, yes... it is what I wish,” she demands firmly. “I don’t want him near me, he can’t protect me or even himself. Send him away.”

Angry and hurt, Ketsu turns on his heel and walks out. Esther gets up and limps into her bedroom, slamming her door. Eliazar sighs heavily, Esther is so afraid of grief that she would drive away one who loves her rather than cherish the time they have together. Her grandfather about worries what she will have to give her strength when she is taken to a place where the Moon can’t see her.

Hours later, Louis finds himself outside the Delphi’s room. His mind keep going back to the fact that Delilah had called him darling before she was attacked. He talks himself into knocking. It angered him that Ketsu and Eliazar seemed to be keeping him away from Delilah since she was hurt.

He taps lightly again, there is no answer but as he walks down the hall, her door opens. “Come back, Louis.”

The room is cold, the windows are open and faintly there is the scent of incense and tobacco smoke lingering. Delilah is standing there in a silk slip of a robe. “What did you want?”

“You...” he breaths out, then he clears his throat, “I mean, I came to see is you needed anything, Delilah.”

She tips her head to look at him as if she is seeing him for the first time, like she is evaluating him. For a moment, he is struck by just how similar she is to her evil twin. As much as he hated Esther now, he longs for Delilah. A slow smile spreads across her face and his breath catches as she limps toward her bedroom. She turns in the doorway to look at him. “Are you just going to stand in the hall, or are you going to come in and give me what I need?”

Hours later, Louis feels Delilah prod his chest gently. “Louis, wake up.”

He turns slightly and presses a kiss into her brow, “Oui, mon loup.”

“You can’t call me that,” she says harshly, “Louis, no one can know. Not until things settle. ”

He sits up and looks at her, scowling like that she looks too much like Essie. “What is wrong, Delilah?”

She places her hands on either side of his face, “Louis, this has to be a secret and we cannot do it again. The Delphi cannot take another mate if her true mate dies. You have to go before Margo or my Grandfather comes. The sun is rising.”

“No one will know, my amour.”

He rose quickly dressing and pressing a kiss on her lips. She smiled up at him, sitting there with a sheet wrapped around her and her mussed hair, she looked so much more beautiful than her sister ever did. He slipped out quietly and closed the door.

Essie smirked and lit a cigarette, leaning back in Del’s bed, “He always was enthusiastic,” She said aloud.

There was the buzzing vibration of a silenced phone in the drawer, Essie answered it without looking at it. “Hey sis, how’s China?”

“Colder than the Moon’s Gate. How are you feeling?” Del’s voice sounded strangely serene but still had a hint of worry.

“Oh, I am much better this morning.”

“That’s good, Grandpapa said you and Ketsu had a fight and that you want him sent awa....wait! YOU DID NOT HAVE SEX WITH KETSU IN MY BED!?!” Del’s calm was gone just like that.

“No... no. I did not fu ck Ketsu in your bed. Chill out.” Essie giggled malevolently, and was evilly grateful her sister was thousands of miles away.“It is so much worse than that,” Essie taunted.

“Esther... what did you do?” Del’s voice had dropped to that deep tone she got right before she murdered someone or rather, made them wish she had murdered them.

“I didn’t do anything, I’m on assignment for the Wanderers. You, however, may have entertained your very devoted and very, very enthusiastic petitioners coordinator last night.” Essie held the phone away from her ear expecting a shrieking tirade, instead she just heard her sister groaning.

“Oh Essie. Whhyyyyyy do you hate me?”

Esther just laughed but tears ran down her face. She had to save them. Eliazar, Ketsu, Delilah, everyone in the temple, her mate would kill them if she didn’t find a way.