Hekate sat alongside Void in what would be considered the “personal office” of the Vampyre King. Although with the decoration, it looks more like a gaudy Vampyre chamber covered with thick red velvet curtains layered in purple satin. She wasn’t really nervous about it; she had been waiting for this moment for months now.

Her visions of this meeting were usually hazy, soundless, but now, in reality, everything was clear. Every footstep of the guards marching through the hall, the laughter from the rooms around. They all filtered in through the big wood doors carved with lilies and vines from top to bottom.

Looking over at Void for comfort, she noticed that his head was down, his eyes closed. Hekate reached out to touch his hand. Jerking back, Void stared at her, confused.

“Void, are you alright?”

Void nodded. “It’s nothing. I hear music in the sky. It’s Urit’s.”

“What does it sound like?”

Closing his eyes again, his lips curved up on one side, revealing the slightest sign of a smile. “It sounds beautiful, indescribable, as though the sky itself were singing to me.”

“Are you truly going to end it?”

“When it stops being beautiful.”

“Do you wish it were always beautiful?” she asked, hoping she could hear the music.

“Yes. I wish I had Nuri’s fate, his life.”

“Void—” A door opened, and Hekate spun around. A young-looking man with honey colored eyes and jet-black hair entered the room. The fact that he looked so much like his father let her know he was the King. Their smiles were identical, down to the very last dimple and that bit of arrogance he just couldn’t shake. Hekate almost forgot herself.

“Are you Hekate?”

“Oh, uh, yes, I am.”

“By your shocked expression, I take it you weren’t expecting me to look so much like my father. You’ll get over it, everyone does. Hello Void, it’s been a while.”

“Things have gotten complicated.”

“I’m aware,” said the Vampyre King, taking a seat across from them. “Excuse me, you can call me Blaine. My wife does, of course, she’s known me since the beginning. The most beautiful Vampyre that exists, and I wish you could meet her today, Hekate.”

“I would like to.”

Blaine gave her a curt shake of his head, continuing to smile. “But onto more pressing matters, right?” Blaine leaned back in his seat, putting his feet on the desk in front of him. “So, Her Dark Majesty is planning on waging war on her sister. She’s missing one crucial piece, though, isn’t she, Void?”

Void, as stoic as always, nodded. “Either Jason or Eris. She’s already holding a piece of pure darkness to tie whichever one falls to that impassioned soul.”

“Whose?” asked Hekate, looking back and forth between the pair.

“Evida,” said Blaine, no longer smirking.

“Who’s Evida?”

The question made Void fidget in his seat, but he answered “my wife” nonetheless.

“Your wife! Void, why wouldn’t you tell anyone that?”

Blaine laughed. “Don’t mind him, they aren’t married anymore. She of the Dark severed the bond herself when she took half of Evida’s dark soul with her.”

“She will always be my wife,” said Void, staring at the smirking Vampyre King. He was as arrogant as his father.

“A discussion for another time, uncle. In the meantime, let’s focus on the present problem. Hekate, you see into the future. What is our secret weapon?”

“All three of them,” she answered without thinking, just knowing. “If Eris stays as he is, he will be a great asset to the war, to our side. Selene will be in charge after she does what she has to do, and Jason—” Hekate paused. “Jason will need to die, and I–I don’t think I can tell her that.”

“You’ll need to eventually,” said Blaine, his voice dark. “The real problem is how are we going to set the events in motion?”

“They’re already in motion,” stated Void. “Selene is returning to the Coven with Jason. Everyone warned her against it, fearing the heartbreak. She will suffer and be stronger for it. It’s her character, her pride, her unwillingness to break.”

“Good. Do you think that war is avoidable by any chance?”

Hekate shook her head. “No. Evida will wage the war. That is inevitable.”

Blaine tsk’d moving his hand through his black hair anxiously. “Brilliant, so what now?”

***

Hekate sat in her new bedroom, Selene’s old room, spread out on her silk blue sheets hand-embroidered with magic to bring good dreams but not hinder her visions or memories. She always wondered why she was joined to a cat, not that she minded…much. Lifting herself up, she stared at her reflection. Throughout her lives, her human features had stayed the same, high cheekbones and eyes that were still big and round and pure gold, unlike any other Witchlings whose eyes were usually green or yellow. Gold, like her mother’s. She wondered if she would ever see her again.

Sitting up straight, she took her long legs off the table and began braiding her long brown hair, thinking about the end and the beginning. The war is inevitable, but everything that has happened will help win the war. At least that’s what Hekate hoped. There was always that possibility of either Jason or Eris leading the war, two outcomes that were not allowed to happen. “Hex! Dinner’s ready!” called Lily from the hallway. Standing up, tying her braid up, not bothering to fix her sheets, she left her bedroom, hoping that in the end, her old friend would be all right.