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Siya stood in the circle of Atticus’ arm and beamed past pink-tinged tears. Walking away from Veti was the hardest thing she’d ever done. Harder than watching Max get pulled back into the underworld because it had been a decision she’d made. She knew she’d have to live with the decision for the rest of her days, live with the decision and the doubts that would plague her. Had she done the right thing? She didn’t know that she had but she knew that watching Veti die wasn’t something she could survive through and if the months that had preceded this moment were any indication, Siya wasn’t any comfort to Veti. 

But just then, there in the circle of Atticus’ arm, bathed in moonlight, glowing with happiness, she thought maybe, in some small way she’d made a good decision. It felt good, right. She’d been her mother’s little pupped for so long, dancing to her mother’s tune, living her life so that her mother could vicariously have her dream fulfilled. But then just as she’d begun to snip the strings and dance to her own tune she’d been killed, taken by force into the veiled world. She’d been taken by a blood descendant of Morpier, one of the eight. More than that though, it was revealed that not only was she of his blood by the unnatural blood that flowed through her veins but by the mortal blood that had been hers. She was his blood twice over. It made that “random assault” that had taken her life anything but random. 

That was significant, though as of yet no one had told her why. She suspected her employers knew and would deign to tell her in their own good time. Which she supposed was another reason to work on behalf of the werewolf part of the equation. Which made her wonder where the Vampire part was, why wasn’t he helping in this situation? She was pulled from her thoughts by Atticus speaking and then the figure that moved from the shadows to join them. Siya’s skin prickled and her eyes widened and had Atticus’ arm not been around her she would have fled. She could feel something coming off of the woman that unsettled her, a warmth that pressed against her and made her itch, like the way sunlight felt on her skin through the UV protective glass that Veti had put in the car for emergencies. Bearable but not pleasant. She shivered and stayed where she was, only barely hearing the words the goddess spoke over the rushing of blood, of power in her ears. Fight or flight instinct filled her and she fought it with all she had. 

She was still shaking from her reaction to the goddess and her efforts not to flee when the bald man with his aura that even in her distracted state Siya could only call yummy, arrived and pulled Atticus aside. She watched, her eyes wide at the painfully familiar sight of Atticus walking away from her. The night was cool enough that his heat didn’t stay with her for long but even so her shivering subsided since it hadn’t been about cold it had been about fear and now something stronger than fear filled her. She closed her eyes to the familiar sight of him walking away from her and took several steps backwards until she felt the almost imperceptible warmth of the moonlight, light that had left the sun and been changed by the moon, leave her skin as she stepped into the shadow of a stone. 

She stood with an unnatural stillness watching as people spoke, moved, embraced and changed. Her eyes were the only part of her that moved and she took it all in silently. She watched as sides were picked and counted up the teams. So many people going to get Max. It warmed her and made her ache all at once. She moved, tightening her arms around herself as she felt her lip begin to tremble. Max, she was afraid to hope. Because if he came back, Veti would too and she’d have nearly everything she wanted. Nearly. 

Atticus’ words pulled her out of her sulk, or brood. It was certainly a brood as it was against vampire nature to sulk. She listened with interest as he laid out their mission and watched with fascination as he summoned green fire with words that made her head spin just before a gust of wind nearly knocked her off her feet. It was only her preternatural speed which kept her upright and she moved forward in a blink to stand closer to the center of the circle, in a patch of shadow that somehow, inexplicably existed despite the presence of the green fire, ready for what was to come. Brooding, not sulking.