Slowly, haltingly, Delano Saldivar stepped into the now empty courtyard. There was no sign that Nicholas Corona and Delos Redfern had ever been there. If there had been anything to begin with, it had been blown away or buried beneath the quickly falling snow.

His tears were freezing into crystalline ice on his lashes and cheeks, but Delano gave them no notice. He could feel that he was no longer Lamia, that his superior strength and speed was gone, but he couldn’t bring himself to worry about frostbite. It was not an affliction he worried about right then; sorrow was.

But, although Nick had been his closest friend for years and Delos had been his sovereign before that, Delano was not just crying for them. If this had happened to Nick and Delos, the same thing must have happened to the other Wild Powers. Who knew who was now dead, who was grieving for a soulmate lost? It was at times like these that he was glad he had not found his soulmate. Right now, he didn’t even have to worry about a girlfriend. Destiny was out of his life and this time, she was staying out. She had been toying with his heart for years and he had had enough. First, it had been Devon, but Delano could understand and forgive that. After all, Devon had been her soulmate. But then, it had been Marcellus D’Alimonte and then Kavan Harman! How much was he expected to put up with?

“Delano?”

Startled, he jerked out of his reveries and turned towards the voice. “Yes, Amaya?”

The ebony-skinned vampire stood hesitantly in the doorway to the courtyard, one hand braced on the doorframe as if that was all that was keeping her standing. She raised her right hand and said, “Phone call for you.”

Delano nodded and walked over to her. “How are you, Amaya?” he asked, staring searchingly into her eyes to try and determine how she was taking Nick’s death, for he must be dead.

She shrugged and looked away first. “I don’t have any broken bones or anything,” she replied quietly, not quite answering the question. “The Wild Powers made sure to heal us before they disappeared, huh?”

Silently, Delano nodded. So this was what she was telling herself. They had disappeared, not died. Well, now wasn’t really the time to tell her otherwise. He couldn’t begin to fathom her pain.

“How are Marcellus and Maggie?” Delano finally inquired, to break the awkward silence.

“Oh, they’re fine. Like I said, we were all healed. They’re still sleeping and Destiny’s with them, in case any of those Night People decide to come back.”

“I see.”

“I can’t believe that there were here only half an hour ago,” Amaya Kaledon suddenly blurted out, scanning the courtyard as if at any moment, Nick would pop out of a wall and say “Boo!”

When she saw Delano looking at her, she ducked her head and muttered, “You should take you’re call,” before hurrying away.

With a sigh, Delano spoke into the receiver, “Hello?”

“Do you still have your Powers?” was the first thing Thierry Descoudres asked.

If he hadn’t sounded so serious, Delano would have made some biting remark. As it was, in light of what had just occurred, all he said was, “No.”

There was heavy sigh from Thierry. “Everyone’s lost their Powers.”

“I guessed as much.”

“What else has happened there?” Thierry questioned, dread in his voice.

“Hunter’s definitely dead, that’s a good thing. Leila, James and Poppy are all gone too,” Delano replied quietly, then took a deep breath as he added, “And so are Delos and Nick.”

He could practically see Mr. Lordy nodding. “Iliana, Dion, Jez, LeAnne, Kavan and Chris are all gone too.”

The indecision in his voice led Delano to ask, “Who else?”

A deep breath, then, “Winnie, Donato, Morgead, Colin, Quinn and Oriel.”

“Goddess.”

“Yeah.”

“Shit,” Delano breathed. Halfway around the world, Jamal Clark was saying the same thing.

Braeden Soterios whirled around and his fist flew into Jamal’s face. “Will you just shut up, already?! That’s all you’ve been saying since we woke up!”

“Well, fuck it! Maybe I feel like saying it, huh?” Jamal shouted back. “Besides, all you’ve been moaning about is your little LeAnne for the past half hour!”

Raging, Braeden shoved Jamal halfway across the clearing, even without the help of his lost super powers. He stalked towards the other ex-vampire, ready to do some real damage when Tier Brandon stepped between them.

“Guys, guys, will you both stop it?” he pleaded. “This isn’t helping any of us!”

“Oh, don’t be so sure,” Braeden replied, eyes still on Jamal. “It’s certainly helping me.”

Tier put his face close to Braeden’s, not one of the smartest things he’d ever done even if Braeden was no longer a vampire, but it was effective. Braeden backed up a little. “Look, Soterios, I understand why you’re upset. You have the most right to be out of all of us. But right now, we have to deal with this. We have to keep our heads and deal. There’ll be time enough to grieve, to mourn. In fact, there’ll probably be too much time to just sit and remember. So save it for later, alright guys? We’ve got to pack up and head back to Las Vegas.”

In China, Monaco Lopez was saying much of the same. There had been no fight, but there had been more than enough tears shed. Now, he stood atop the lookout tower, tears streaming down his face, trying to formulate some kind of pep talk that would get Keller, Galen and Lupe going. He also had to formulate some kind of plan to get them away from the Great Wall without being noticed, since the way they got there required powers they no longer had.

“Guys, come on,” he finally pleaded, giving up on any other form of persuasion. “We need to get out of here. It’s cold, it’s dark, we’re all miserable and Thierry wants us to get to Las Vegas as soon as possible.”

“To hell what Thierry thinks!” Galen sobbed, the words sounding torn from his throat. He huddled with Keller in a corner of the tower.

At that remark, Lupe finally came to life. “You know you don’t mean that, Galen,” she reprimanded gently and went to stand with Monaco. Unconsciously, she wrapped her arm around him for warmth and reassurance.

“Oh, he does,” Keller assured her with a fiery glare. “And so do I.”

“Please,” Monaco begged. “Let’s just get out of here. We can fight all we want later.”

At last, Keller and Galen climbed down from the tower and started back. Thinking that they probably wanted to be alone, Lupe and Monaco hung back.

“They’re truly gone,” Lupe whispered, not wanting to believe.

Pulling her close, Monaco stared into her eyes. There was sadness and anguish in those amber pools, but there was also something he had never seen before. In the 20 years he had known her, Monaco had never seen this expression before, at least not directed at him. Trying to figure out what it was, he frowned.

“Monaco,” Lupe breathed, her forehead pressed against his. “In light of what’s just happened, I know that this, that this is terrible timing. But, I think I love you.”

“I think I love you too,” Monaco replied, the puzzled frown still on his face. “Is that a good thing?”

Lupe smiled. “Let’s keep it secret for now. Everyone’s grieving. But, in the words of Scarlet O’Hara: Tomorrow is another day.” And with that, they kissed.

THE END

* * * * *

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