Moonlight | Lucien Castle

Chapter 30

Nobody could find Aurora.

It had been several weeks, and everyone was starting to get discouraged.

Klaus had compelled the police force to search for her. Amaris and Hayley had led the Crescents in patrols. Freya had been working tirelessly on Locator Spells, shutting herself up in the St. Louis Cathedral. Elijah and Kol were contacting old witch associates to see who else could help. Marcel, now commander of The Strix thanks to a smart little plan carried out by him and Elijah, had the vampires and the witches searching for her, too.

Everyone was in a bad mood. Klaus was being rude with everyone (typical). Freya was spending less and less time at the Compound. Elijah and Marcel spoke in clipped tones. Whenever Amaris wasn't searching, she was sneaking out to Lucien's penthouse, ranting away while she cooked. He didn't mind, he just ate and often took his turn to talk about random problems he was having with fellow sirelings. Apparently, there was a lot of drama in Klaus's sire line that Amaris hadn't been privy to until now.

"Ooh, that scoundrel," she said, munching on the homemade popcorn as Lucien told her about all the scandalous things ancient vampires got up to in their free time. "Such drama, I love it." She drew back to accept a call from Kol. "Hello little brother, I'm at Lucien's."

"It's urgent," said Kol worriedly. "Get back to the Compound. Our siblings need to hear this."

Lucien made a motion to indicate he was getting his car keys. "What about?" asked Amaris, concerned. "Do you have a lead?"

"No. Davina and I have a theory that... well, I'll be frank, I don't how to feel about. It does not quite affect me, personally, but it will affect our siblings."

Amaris apologized profusely to Lucien for having had their time together cut short. He told her she needn't worry, kissing her firmly as he dropped her off at Rousseau's so that she could head home.

"Kol," she said, calling him back once she was in the study with all of her siblings. "You're on speaker."

"Listen," he said, "Davina and I were wondering... have been wondering... why would The Strix try to recruit her? At first, we thought they merely wanted an in to the family. But then, Davina told me that Aya was offering her a way to save Marcel and Josh. Now, initially, we assumed it meant that Aya was threatening their lives, and that if she joined, she could protect them. But then, Davina recalled that the last time we had to worry about that was when Mikael had the white oak... when she was trying to complete her spell to de-link the sirelines. We reckon that Aya is trying to do that. She could have used Davina's knowledge to get it done, that's why she wanted her. Now that the white oak is out of our control and we know Aurora will certainly wish to hurt Nik and Elijah, it would be the perfect plan to enact. Unlink herself from Elijah so that it won't matter if Aurora kills him or not."

"That... is concerning," said Freya in a small voice. "I have never given that much thought. It would be a hell of a spell, with some complicated ingredients. Would you be able to send me anything Davina has on it?"

"We're working on replicating the spell she had planned to use. It was never completed, and the original documents were lost. As soon as we have it, we'll send it. In the meantime... we need to find that white oak."

Freya heaved a sigh. "I'll get back to my spells, then," she said, exiting the house.

"Thank you, Kol," said Elijah, sounding troubled. When Kol hung up, he murmured, "With the power of The Strix Coven... what's to say Aya won't still figure out the spell?"

"That will be a problem for another time," said Amaris. "That is not as urgent as finding the white oak."

"Are you insane?" said Klaus venomously. "If we are unlinked from our sirelings, they will be able to come at us like never before! Right now, they are all forced to protect us!"