Moonlight | Lucien Castle

Chapter 3

It was dark when they arrived in the Lafayette Cemetery.

Ansel and Amaris weren't really liking Hayley all that much. Amaris found her bossy and stubborn, which shouldn't have been a problem considering Amaris was just like that too, except it was because this time Amaris was the one being bossed around. She preferred to give other people orders, and she didn't enjoy hearing Hayley acting all high and mighty as if she was better than them.

But she tried not to hold it against her, given what the hybrid had recently been through. Amaris couldn't imagine what a person felt, losing their child. She had never been a parent, and she would never be one. This was a pain she couldn't hope to understand. She wondered if this was how her mother had become, after Amaris abandoned her. Had Soyala felt this emptiness, too? This anger? Had she been able to sense the moment her child had died? Or had she never known if Amaris was alive or not?

She ignored the intrusive thoughts that constantly tried to make her sad. And she ignored her frustrations with Hayley. Right now, there was something more important to do. After this, Amaris was going to face her fears; she promised it to herself.

Oliver was in the lycée, chained up by his wrists and covered in blood. "Ollie!" Hayley hissed, making her way toward him. "Ollie, wake up!"

"The hell are you doing?" asked Oliver weakly, looking at the three faces in front of him, two of them being unfamiliar. "Who the hell are you?"

"We're here to save your ass," said Hayley, ignoring his inquiries about who Ansel and Amaris were. "Please tell me you know where Elijah is?"

Oliver shook his head, and Ansel drifted to the window, peering outside and sensing movement. "They know we're here."

Hayley observed the chains holding Oliver up. "Sorry. No time to be gentle." She yanked them down, and Oliver crumpled to the floor only briefly before she scooped him up. "Let's go."

"Just leave me here," he panted. "Go!"

"To hell with that," said Hayley. "They want a fight, I'll give them a fight."

"No," said Ansel firmly. "Amaris and I came with you to save one of our own, not to watch as you kill scores of them."

Hayley rolled her eyes. Amaris's thoughts about being patient with Hayley flew out the window.

Amaris stepped in front of her, forcing them to make eye contact. "For someone claiming to still be a wolf despite their hybrid nature, you really don't seem to give a fuck about your own people, and it shows," sneered the woman. "So stop making faces at us like a child, take your friend out the back entrance, and move quickly while we hold them off."

The hybrid suddenly didn't look so mighty. "Come on," she told Oliver. "Quickly." She led him out of the Lycée.

Ansel cast Amaris a look. "What?" she muttered. "She was getting on my nerves."

"She's your family," said Ansel pointedly.

"No, she isn't," said Amaris. "I came here for my siblings. Not for her."

"And yet, she was the mother of Niklaus's child."

"When she treats me like an equal, then we can talk nicely."

They exited the Lycée, heading toward where the majority of the wolves were, near some large steps by an altar. Ansel brought out his sword, but Amaris simply removed her jacket, and threw punches at any wolves who came at her.

"Oh, come on, you can do better than that," she said loudly when she knocked yet another wolf out. They were in small piles on the floor, all dazed or sleeping.