Mara made to join them. Before she could do more than take a step forward, Truk looked up at her.
"No disrespect, Mistress Mara, but why can't the liliths leave Wolf in peace for even a minute? I know they used him to sort out their seasons but I thought they were supposed to cut ties after."
Mara looked over at him and nodded.
"They are, Truk," she confirmed. "But, for the first time in their lives, these liliths, and I'm going to include myself amongst them, are dealing with something they've never faced before."
"Which is?" Narcist wanted to know. After everything she had seen the proud and noble Lash endure in the name of his people, she felt quite protective of him. He was her brother; if she could shield him from harm in any way, she'd happily do it! Including stopping yet another lilith from using and hurting him.
Mara favored her with a long look, hearing the tightness in her voice.
"Emotion," was the simple answer. "These vampiresses are used to being aloof and in control, holding the world at a distance so they could focus on their primary task."
Mara paused to look into the bay where her sisters were already gathering around Lash.
"Even if they were able to access an alpha to traditionally sort out their season, it was a Compulsion-driven business transaction at the end of which each party went their separate way. No emotion, just a quick coupling to satisfy a biological need."
Mara let a long sigh go as her own thoughts and emotions concerning the vampire High Lord threatened to get in the way. After all, was she not Ventru? Did she not have the greatest claim on an alpha prime from her own clan? Was that not her right?
And that was just the legal angle. Bringing in the fact that they had been friends since childhood and her family served as retainers to his House for generations, and her claim on him was indisputable!
Yet there he was, being swarmed by her fellow liliths as if they had a right to him. As if they had some sort of claim. How dare they! Ingamon Lash was hers!
"And now they've been thrust into the heart of a war being fought over their position in our society. A war with ruthless enemies and terrible consequences. And when their minds should be the clearest, the most focused on preserving everything they've worked so hard for, they find their hearts and minds being dominated by Lash and the emotions he stirs in them. Emotions they forgot they had."
She finally looked back at a frowning Narcist.
"And all that means is that they can't focus long enough to see their way free. And it's engulfing them in chaos!"
"So, how are they going to pull themselves free before one, or more, do something to hurt Lash?" the tech specialist wanted to know.
Mara grimaced.
"I don't know," she confessed. "And neither do they. But I think Lash is the catalyst for whatever it ends up being. I only hope they figure it out before the fighting truly begins. Or my sisters run the risk of preventing our greatest weapon from taking the field!" Then she was stepping off the flight deck to join Lash and the gathered liliths.
As he watched the liliths cluster around him, it was no coincidence that Lash found his thoughts moving in the same direction as Mara's. Were the liliths becoming his greatest obstacle? With their insistence on accompanying them on the operation to capture Anna van Tallert, they were putting themselves, and the babies a number of them now carried, at risk.
Or had he created this situation himself with his willingness to interact with the powerful vampire queens on a level they had never before experienced? Honoring and respecting their every desire and wish even when it threatened to put himself in harm's war? How could he communicate the need for them to redirect their efforts towards the upcoming battle instead of getting him back into their beds within the bounds of honor and respect he had set for himself? And could he do it before they were all smoldering piles of ash??
Catching sight of Mara's concerned face put the exclamation point on his own concerns. And reminded him that this was what he chose, starting with bringing the liliths from NachtFeuer and letting Ellie stay with them. So it was now his challenge to make it work. Or die trying.
"Okay, if I can get everybody to take two steps back, please," he said, following his own direction to step back. And almost immediately found a hand on his buttocks and another in the small of his back.
"Don't worry, my handsome man," Sofia murmured as she squeezed his buttocks gently before caressing across them to run her hand over his thigh. "I've got you."
Doing his best to ignore the Italian lilith's hand, he pressed on. With the other liliths now clear, Lash tapped the star on the floor and watched as the rectangular plate that was the war table began to lift on its telescoping pedestal, flipping over half way to reveal its glass top. Which, as soon as it reached waist height, came alive with a wash of color. As an interface appeared close to where he was standing, he reached out and quickly tapped in a few quick instructions and requests. And, with a shimmer, the Van Tallert castle outside of Brussels appeared.
"Now, a couple of you may be wondering why I changed my mind and came back into the bay." He paused to glance over his shoulder at a smiling Sofia, who had moved in close to press herself against his back. "I can safely say your Italian sister showed me how much of a mistake it was. A mistake to take queens of the People of the Night out of a decision-making process, something they have been doing since their Ascensions."
He paused there to let his eyes swing around the faces that now crowded the war table.
"And I also realized that, to this point, many of you have also not been made aware of what's transpiring here. Again, for vampiresses used to being at the pinnacle of an organization and aware of every part of that organization, that must've been galling."
Lash smiled.
"So, I'm here to try and fix those decisions to benefit us all a little better." The smile faded. "But, in doing so, I'm going to have to ask a couple of favors from you. And I won't demand you swear to grant them, because you're currently in a state of mind that you're willing to do a number of things you normally wouldn't because Ingamon Lash is asking you."
As expected, that triggered a low wave of wry and somewhat embarrassed laughter as the truth of his assertion struck them.
"Take no shame in it, my queens. We are in unusual times. And we're dealing with an unprecedented situation. And I'm not talking about the fighting we're about to engage in. No, I'm talking about the emotions that have been stirred inside you."
As the liliths murmured uneasily with the broaching of a subject too near to their hearts, Lash pressed on.
"Many of you have opened your hearts in the last few days. As you have lost everything familiar and normal, you have decided to put aside the business transaction that was your dealings with your seasons and have actively engaged your partner in the hopes of filling the void your losses created. While ultimately it made the resolution of your seasons immensely more of a positive experience, it also introduced emotions into the situation. Emotions that you had quietly tucked away when you Ascended, and did your best to keep buried so you could focus on building for the future of our people."
He looked around the table once more and found every eye focused squarely on him.
"Emotions the mistresses of your creches told you to ignore and cast aside. Emotions your Conclaves made laws forbidding you to have. And, as we stand here in a maelstrom of uncertainty, desire, longing, and even love, emotions that have turned your orderly lives upside down and wrapped you in chaos."
Lash smiled sadly.
"I know this because I too have felt emotions. Me, the Night-Blessed Wolf of Frankfurt. I should only be feeling rage and hatred, satisfaction in seeing my enemies fall, and hunger for their blood on my fangs as showers of it paint the ground. Yet, here I am, feeling fear and concern, affection and desire, wanting to see smiles on your faces. And wanting to be the reason they are there."
He quietly snorted in self-amusement.
"My tech specialist, comrade in battle, and good friend, Narcist once joked that I wasn't a good vampire any more because I was too cheerful now. Cheerful and friendly, when I should be ripping out throats. And, just over three weeks after helping his company stop a Hand assault on the very castle you see before you, my other comrade in battle and good friend, Truk and I swapped jokes instead of plotting the downfall of our enemies. What is wrong with me? Have I gone soft?"
As the liliths around the table quietly denied that he had gone soft in any way, some going as far as to reach out to touch him reassuringly, he pressed on.
"Is it because the queens that I have saved from their enemies have gone on to fight beside me? Or is it because they have become not only friends, and protectors, but lovers and mothers to my future offspring? Or maybe it's because I have found long-lost friends in their ranks from my childhood, reminding me of where I came from, and what I promised to do to protect them from the world. Or a new friend and lover from the ranks of those that were once my enemies. Either way, I'm not sure. But I do know this: Emotion is now playing a part in my life, just as it is yours."
One more time the big vampire paused even as the liliths crowded a little bit closer to him, completely taken by his vulnerability and sharing of emotion, and thought.
"So, these are the things I must ask of you. First, do not deny your emotions. To bury them now, when they are so vibrant and powerful, will only hurt you deep inside and tear at your souls. But don't let them rule you either. Don't let them push you into making decisions and putting yourself in danger when there is still so much to live for. If you can channel and control them for me, I will do my best to channel and control mine."
A quick look around the table, then:
"Second, I need to ask you to work together. It goes against many of your experiences, I know. And this certainly isn't a Queens' Conclave where law requires your cooperation. But we can't have you competing, mostly for time and attention from me, with each other. It will lead to backstabbing, undercutting, and dissension. And we need everybody focused on the task at hand: storming the Van Tallert compound. And I will do the same, not showing favoritism or giving too much time and attention to any one of you."
A slight hesitation before:
"That being said, there is a caveat. There is an order in your ranks that I must acknowledge. First, Mara is the lilith of my Clan, the Ventru. Therefore, by law and by position, it is her right to demand my time and attention at her convenience. Second to her, Fiadh is the most battle experienced, so I will be leaning on her the most for her expertise and capabilities. Third, Druzha is the most senior, so I will defer to her experience in working with groups of her fellow liliths and will seek her counsel. And in fourth, Meredith has defended me in honorable combat, and has earned her place beside me in battle. And finally, Isla and Cassie have been Embraced by House Lash, and I have fealty obligations towards them."
He glanced over his shoulder at Sofia, who had buried her face against his back but, outside of that, hadn't stirred in her closeness. He then looked at the others.
"That means Sofia, Inaya, Gabriella, Sakura, and Isabella, you I will be dealing with more as a group. Now, as I said at the beginning, I will not demand that you agree to these two requests. And you certainly don't have to swear to them in this very moment. But I respectfully request that you agree to them to help us all through the upcoming battle."
A final look around the table, then he was leaning in as carefully as he could without dislodging an unhappy Sofia.
"Okay, Fiadh, what are we looking at?"
The red headed lilith flashed him a brilliant smile as she slipped between Sakura and Isla to put her at one of the four interfaces the war table was equipped with.
"A quick brief from Narcist and Truk, former Van Tallert nestari, and I can tell you, as Sofia said a few moments ago, this is a tough nut to crack," Fiadh began.
****