Rowena patted his arm. "Killian joined us a century ago when he married one of our kind."
"Yes, I was lucky they accepted me here." He bowed his head. "Alas, my dear Lucy was murdered by the Sun Witches during a visit to Earth a few decades ago."
"I'm sorry to hear that." I knew what it was like to lose someone I loved to the Sun Witches. I still woke up most mornings with the image of Kaden being blasted by the Sun Witches' magic.
He nodded in response. “I debated going back to Earth, but at that point, I'd lived here so long, it felt like home. Besides, I'm protected from the Sun Curse here, since there's no daylight."
“How do you get blood?” I asked, but then wanted to bite my tongue. "Sorry if that's a rude question. I've never met a vampire before."
Luckily Killian didn't seem to mind. “I don't need much of it, since time moves oddly here. But when I do, people in town donate for me.”
"Killian is a great help to our people," Mariel said with a big smile. "We're happy to make sure his special needs are met."
I bet they'd like to help with some of his other needs too, I thought as I watched the way the ladies all made heart-eyes at him. I couldn't blame them. Killian was freaking gorgeous, and there was something about him that drew you in and made you want to get closer, like some kind of allure. It didn't work on me though—partly because I was taken, and partly because my wolf kept wanting to bite him.
"I do love it here," Killian said, flashing the ladies some more of his charm. "Even if I were to go back, I'm not sure if I would be welcome among my own kind anymore, or how I would adapt to not going out during the day. It's been so long."
I shrugged. "Well, we have the internet now, and you can order pretty much anything you want from the comfort of your home. You wouldn't have to leave at all during the day."
"Tempting," he said with a wicked smile that sent a shiver through me. "Perhaps one day I will return. I've heard Larkin and some of the others talking about all the wonderful modern conveniences, but I didn't consider how they could help someone like me.”
"You should come back with me," I said, then turned to face all the witches there. "All of you. We could use your help standing against the Sun Witches."
Their faces flashed with fear and many of them shook their heads and shrank back. I got the sense I'd said something wrong.
"We're not fighters, dear," Kena finally said. "We're like the moon—calm and serene, flowing like water through time."
"We've already lost too many family and friends to the Sun Witches," Erik said.
"Our place is here," Rowena added, and many others nodded with her.
"I'm sorry, Ayla," Celeste said, resting her hand on my shoulder. "I wish we could help you, but it's not safe for us to return to Earth."
"But you can't just sit around and wait for things to get better," I said, as frustration welled up inside me. "Change won't happen unless you make it happen."
"That's why you're here," Mariel said, her eyes bright with hope.
I shoved my food back and stood up. "So you just expect me to save you all? To stand up to the Sun Witches on my own? That's why you brought me here?"
"Not alone," Rowena said. "With your shifter allies."
"Right. The shifters you abandoned all those years ago." I shook my head, feeling sick to my stomach. "You want us to fight your enemies for you, but you won't lift a hand to help us."
"Ayla—" Larkin started.
I held up a hand. "No, I get it now. I understand why you brought me here and why you're training me. Don't worry, I'll do my best to fight the Sun Witches because I have no choice. But if I fail, know that it's because you sent me to do it alone."
I stormed out of the room, leaving behind the shocked expressions of the witches there. As I stepped outside, I heard footsteps behind me and spun around, ready to tell my mother to leave me alone, but it was Larkin. With a sigh, I waited for her to catch up to me.
"I'm sorry about all that," she said. "Everyone here wants to help, they really do, but change is hard for them. They're all afraid."
"I am too." I rubbed my arms as I stared up at the endless night. "Some days I'm so terrified it's hard to breathe. But I can't stand back and do nothing, or I'll lose everything."
"Most people here have already lost everything," she said softly. "They're just surviving each day as best they can while praying for a miracle. I hope you can forgive them for thinking it might be you."
I blew out a long breath and looked out at the waves, letting my anger wash away with the tide. I understood what it was like to live each day in survival mode, and the more I saw of the people here, the more my heart ached for them. They were alive but not truly living, stuck in this strange place where nothing changed, too terrified to do anything to save themselves. The unknown was frightening for them, and it felt safer to do nothing than to risk getting hurt again. I got it, I truly did, but I didn't have the luxury of waiting around for someone else to save me.
I didn't want to be anyone's miracle, but it seemed I didn't have a choice. This was my fate, my destiny, my calling. I only prayed Selene had chosen the right person for this burden.
CHAPTER SEVEN
At some point, I stopped counting the days, weeks...months? One night simply flowed into the next, and it was hard to know how much time had passed when things never really changed. Sure, they had clocks in Lunatera, but there was little else to mark the passage of time. It was soothing to constantly see the moon above and to feel the touch of power from it, but I also missed daylight too. And Kaden...always Kaden. He was my reason for pushing myself so hard, for all the long hours spent training and studying with Larkin and Celeste, even when it felt painstakingly slow or frustrating. Even when I wanted to give up because it was too hard. But I didn't, and I never would.
Eventually, when I'd learned how to throw moonbeams, got good at freezing things, and mastered all the other spells Larkin taught me, Celeste decided it was time to teach me some of the more advanced spells.
"Tonight I want you to learn to shield yourself from the Sun Witches' attacks," she said, as we stood on the beach alone with the wind whipping at our hair. At least it wasn't raining. The weather here was one of the only things that did change, and it was completely unpredictable. The Moon Witches said it was just Selene being moody. What a goddess had to be moody about, I wasn't sure.
"Larkin taught me that already," I said, before chanting a phrase in ancient Greek and throwing up a moonbeam shield around myself. It should protect me from any of their sunbeams, assuming I got it up in time to block them.
"Very good," Celeste said with a nod. "But there are other attacks you need to be able to defend against, and shielding them is much harder."
I let the shield dissipate. "What kind of attacks?"
"Mental ones. Some witches have a gift for mind magic, and I need you to be prepared in case they try to enter your thoughts."