TELL ME THE TRUTH

Chapter Sixteen

Jeanne Saunier

2013

"I do not believe Amelia to be through with this city," Camden said as she dropped through the opening and brushed off her jeans. "My recent visions are quite similar to ones I had when Amelia first started her attacks on New Orleans."

"Go on," Marcus bit out, still just as gruff as when he walked into my bunker, though the tension between him and Rhea had lessened considerably.

For the last half hour, they had kept to opposite sides of the room, carefully avoiding each other's gaze, while the remainder of the group chattered on about their homes and their species. My focus hadn't strayed much from Marcus and Rhea, though. They piqued my curiosity, and I wanted desperately to find out what happened between them.

Camden finally responded, her voice flat and nearly emotionless, though there was a strain underneath the neutrality.

"Storms. Magic. Death," she said.

"So, the things we deal with on a daily basis?" Rhea questioned, boredom filtering through her voice.

Camden cut her a glare. "When have I ever seen storms?"

The lupa sighed, crossing heavily tattooed arms across her chest. "When Amelia used Toni to bring a cat-five hurricane to New Orleans."y

"Right. I don't see natural occurrences," she reiterated. "I see magic. I see the Underworld."

"If you see it, it relates to us," Mya spoke up.

Camden started pacing. "No one but Amelia has ever even tried to do something like that. I can't not think that she's somehow related to what I'm seeing."

"You're right," Maggie said, "Most of y'all were still kids when Amelia went after this city. It was chaos. She had one goal in mind, and that was to destroy New Orleans." She stood from her spot on the concrete floor and began to pace the bunker. "She went after the lupa pack and decimated them. She went after the leo pride. Killed their rex. She went after the yaguara and killed almost every member of Frankie's territory. She attacked the vespertilio nests at high noon, killing the yaguara who guarded them and crippling Mya's father."

"She killed my husband in the battle," Rhea revealed. "Robert was one of the chief's guards, and when Amelia attacked, she went straight for the chief."

Marcus nodded, stroking the thick beard that covered his jaw. "She went after all the leaders. She killed my Rex in the middle of the night. To this day, we still can't figure out how she got to him." He snuffled, a very lion-like sound for a human-looking man, and crossed his arms across his chest.

Rhea crossed the bunker, which led her to stand beside the lion-man, but instead of starting another fight, she laid her hand against his arm. "Marcus was asked to take over as Rex because of his place in the Con. His people felt that he would be better prepared to protect himself - and the pride - because of being a high creature."

No tension rose from their proximity.

They weren't shooting glares or making snide comments to each other.

They just stood there, Rhea's hand resting on his forearm in a show of strength and loyalty.

I didn't know what to make of them. One minute they were ready to rip each other's throat out, and the next they were standing together as allies. What had happened between them to cause such tension, and what happened to instill such loyalty?

"She attacked everything," Leia added, breaking the silence that risen after Rhea's comment. "The aquila, the domus pellis, pythonisse, ostensors..."