Burn the Night

Twenty-five

Before opening my eyes the next evening, I knew something had gone terribly wrong. I could feel the air charged with energy until I thought I could hear it crackling like a loose tension wire snapping in the wind. Keeping perfectly still, I focused on reaching out to Danaus, but felt nothing but a gaping nothingness that threatened to consume my soul. Danaus wasn’t there. I should have felt him somewhere in Venice. Of course, that was assuming I was even still in Venice.

There was no putting off the inevitable. I drew in a slow breath, taking in the soft smell of burning wood and the fake pine scent from some kind of cleaning product. Releasing the breath, I opened my eyes and soaked in my surroundings. The austere stone walls of the coven underground were replaced with a soft mauve damask wallpaper and cream-colored furniture. A fire burned brightly in a large fireplace in the far corner, warming the room in both temperature and spirit.

I sat up in bed and found myself facing a man sitting in a high-back leather chair near the foot of the king-sized bed. He wore a dark suit with a pale blue shirt, the collar open to reveal a long pale throat. Dark brown hair feathered away from his lean face and curled at the collar of his jacket. His face was expressionless except for the fathomless dark eyes that watched me with a frightening intensity, a tiger watching its prey as it took its first few steps into the open clearing.

An uneasiness settled deep into my bones. The sun had settled below the horizon less than an hour ago. I had not overslept by that much, and yet it felt as if I’d been in this room for much longer. This creature must have gone into the coven crypt during the daylight hours, but everything in my mind screamed that it wasn’t possible. Sure, there was an extra aura of power circulating around him, reminding me too much of myself, but I could still tell without pulling apart his lips to see his fangs that he was a nightwalker.

“Good evening, Mira,” he said in a deceivingly soft and gentle voice that seeped into my brain and wrapped around my thoughts. “I hope your rest was a good one.”

A shiver ran through my body before I could catch it. His voice was hypnotic. It was both terribly frightening and completely comforting in the same moment. I felt as if I were wrapped in the warmth of the summer sun while at the same time shaken down to my very soul with its awesome power. Dread gripped my stomach, twisting it into knots. I wasn’t faced with some unknown nightwalker with a few interesting parlor tricks up his sleeve. This was Our Liege.

Swinging my feet off the edge of the bed, I slowly walked over and knelt before him while placing one hand on the arm of the chair. “My Liege,” I murmured, humbled to finally be in his presence. I was faced with the most powerful nightwalker among our people. He was the one all nightwalkers answered to under all circumstances. And despite my general lack of respect for any and all authority types, I could not help but feel a quake of fear run through my body now that I was facing with him. He was the only one I had known of that both Jabari and Macaire feared.

And yet, now that was I kneeling so close to him, wrapped even tighter within his power, I could start pulling apart the various layers. He had the same ability to pull the energy that circulated naturally in the air from both the souls of all living creatures as well as the power emanating from the earth. He was in contact too with that even more ephemeral energy I could sense when I was near Nick. Below it all was his own natural power, which came from being a nightwalker. As I mentally touched it, I realized that he was even younger than me.

A light chuckle escaped him, surprising me as it rippled along my flesh like a wave across the shore. My bent head snapped up and I met that dark gaze, for a moment getting lost in the deep pit of his eyes. The smile that crossed his lips didn’t completely reach those dark eyes.

“The great Fire Starter kneeling before me,” he commented with a mocking grin. “I didn’t think that such a thing would ever happen for anyone, including myself.”

“You are Our Liege,” I countered in a soft voice. I was unable to judge whether he thought I was skating on thin ice or just a passing amusement. I had suspected that my destruction of Jabari and Macaire might finally bring him out of hiding; however, I had not paused long enough in my plan to consider whether he would be pleased with my actions or angered.

“That is true. You may call me Adio,” he said, briefly laying his hand over mine on the arm of the chair. His touch was surprisingly warm, perhaps because he’d been sitting near the flickering fire. The decision to have a fire in the fireplace struck me as more than a little odd. As nightwalkers, we weren’t typically bothered by a little cold air, and none would usually brave enough to start a fire. There were just too many odd things about Adio that my brain struggled to organize.

“I am honored. I am Mira, and I am at your service.”

Again he chuckled, drawing my eyes back up to his lean face and dark gaze. “We shall see, won’t we?”

“You don’t think I would obey your wishes?”

“I know that you are one to follow your own wishes more than the wishes of others who would seem to be more powerful than you. Of course, Jabari and Macaire dearly paid the price of believing otherwise, because there is no one more powerful than you.”

At that I could not stop the soft snort that escaped me. “I think I may have finally met my match.”

“In me?” he inquired with one arched brow.

“I—I—”

“You don’t know. That’s a true and honest answer, which I can respect.” Adio smiled down at me. He waved one hand toward the second chair that sat at the foot of the bed, hidden somewhat in the shadows. “We know so little about each other, so how can we gauge each other as proper opponents?” he continued while I rose and sat in the chair, facing him again.

“Are we opponents?”

He gave a slight shrug of his slender shoulders. “That is another thing that time will only tell.”

“Where is my consort? Where is Danaus? I cannot contact him. Am I still in Venice?”

“He is safe with a friend of mine, I swear to you. You are in one of my secret sanctuaries within Venice. I wanted only a few undisturbed moments with you alone.”

I didn’t like the answer, but for now I knew it was all I would get. Safe didn’t mean that he was happy or comfortable or even uninjured. At best, it meant he was still alive, which I would just have to accept. The sooner I got through this interview with Adio, the sooner I could get back to Danaus.

Pursing my lips together, I stared at Adio as he lounged in the chair, but focused on the energy that swirled around him. He reminded me too much of myself, which only meant one frightening thing.

“You’re like me, aren’t you?” I demanded suddenly.

“How is that?”

“One of your parents wasn’t human.”

“Mother actually. Her name was Eos,” he said with a smirk.

“The Greek goddess of the dawn. Also known as Aurora to the Romans. How ironic!”

“Yes, I’ve heard of your troubles with the naturi’s queen Aurora. The coincidence is quite unfortunate.”

“But your mother was a god, just like my father. That means you were born differently.”

Adio smiled broadly at me. “Yes, but my differences were not as openly apparent as your own. I’ve heard the rumors. Born as a human with the ability to create and manipulate fire—a unique power that you carried with you into your rebirth as a nightwalker.”

“What of yourself?”

“I found that being the nephew of Helios gave me a certain invulnerability to fire, though I can’t control it like you.”

“And?”

Adio’s smile broadened. “And when I became a nightwalker, I quickly discovered that I was more appropriately called a daywalker.”

I came out of my chair, sliding it back a few inches as I tried to move away from him in shock. “What do you mean daywalker? You can be in the sun? You’re awake?”

“I sleep when I wish and I can walk about in the sun, but like any nightwalker, I am still dependent upon blood to survive.”

I stared at him a moment longer, as if frozen in place with the thought that this nightwalker had come to me during the middle of the day and stolen me away from my resting place. It was the idea that he could go to anyplace where a nightwalker rested and quickly see to their demise.

Adio motioned for me to return to my seat. “You’re looking at me much the same way that prior coven regarded me when I first appeared.”

“With horror?”

“Pretty much. One day, I swept in and killed two of their members as well as the previous liege. The remaining two were Jabari and Macaire. I took them to a place much like this and informed them that I would be taking over as liege.”

“But that was so long ago. You had to have been so young,” I said softly as I slid back into my chair.

“I was, which was why they were less than pleased with the idea, but after waving my hand through a flame a few times I think I convinced them they might have another Fire Starter on their hands. For the time being, they were unwilling to cross me. And in the end it all worked out for the best. I mostly kept to myself while the rest of the coven managed the night-to-night activities of our people.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “But there has to be more to it.”

“Why do you say that?”

“By the energy I can feel swirling around you! You’re not just drawing from the blood energy in the region, but also from the earth and the other energy that even the gods seems to be in touch with. How long have you been in touch with that?”

“Most of my life.”

“Your mother, Eos,” I whispered. “She’s been in your life. She taught you.”

“From a very early age.”

I shook my head and closed my eyes, cursing my luck. I didn’t know if Eos had been a patient, loving teacher and mother, but at least she was there to teach him exactly what he was and what he was capable of from an early age. She’d given him a distinct edge his entire life, where I had been forced to learn everything the hard way, particularly during the past few months under Nick’s painful tutelage.

“But if you always knew that you were the child of a god, why make the decision to become a nightwalker?”

“Because I believed in being in a position of power when the time came for the humans to know the truth. What my mother made clear to me was that the gods were in no position to reassert themselves as the power players in this world. It would be the nightwalkers and the lycanthropes that stepped forward as the dominant races when the Great Awakening happened.”

“Did she take into account the naturi?”

“No,” he sighed softly. “I don’t think she did, but then I didn’t think she expected the goddess of that cage to weaken so quickly without the constant contact of the earth or her mate.”

“I also don’t think she took into account the plans of my father,” I grimly admitted.

“Yes, I have to admit that I am curious as to your parentage,” Adio said, sitting forward. “I suspected that a god had a hand in your unique qualities, but I have been reluctant to let my interest be known lest it draw more attention to you than necessary.”

“You shouldn’t have worried. I’ve done a good enough job on my own drawing attention to myself,” I muttered.

“Yes, but I didn’t want Jabari or Macaire drawing any connections between you and me.”

“I’m grateful. I didn’t have the kind of training that you were lucky enough to receive.”

“I noticed.”

“You’ve been watching.”

“Through a friend and from a distance. But things have changed recently.”

“My father has suddenly stepped into my life.” I sat back in my chair and rested my head in my hand while propping my elbow on the arm of the chair. “It has not been an easy transition.”

“And will you be kind enough to finally tell me who your illustrious father is?”

“When you bring me Danaus,” I stated firmly, narrowing my gaze on Adio. I had spent the past several minutes sizing up his powers and didn’t feel like I was at a distinct disadvantage. Eos might have spent more time training him, expanding his powers, but Nick’s training had been thorough if not life-threatening, in its own right. Adio didn’t need to have Danaus secreted away.

“You don’t trust me?”

“I don’t trust anyone. I’m sure you’ll get used to the feeling.”

Adio laughed softly as he sat back in his chair again. “And that humbleness that you were so eager to grace me with has already melted away. So fast.”

“You have something that is known to be important to me, and you are asking some very intimate questions. I will not sit here and allow my hands to be completely tied when I can start making some demands of my own.”

Adio seemed to consider my request for a moment before he finally nodded. A couple seconds later I could hear heavy footsteps in the hallway approaching the room. I knew the weight and the cadence. It was Danaus. Just before the door opened, I was able to finally sense him as if a veil had been lifted, but at the same time I could still sense a second magic user in the area beyond Adio. Danaus was not alone.

As the hunter opened the bedroom door and walked in, I jumped to my feet, but didn’t step forward because close behind him I saw Ryan. I tore my eyes from the white-haired warlock to focus on my dear companion.

Are you all right? I demanded silently, Adio and Ryan not needing to hear our conversation.

I’m fine. You?

Safe for now.

Our Liege? Danaus inquired, his eyes briefly dropping to the top of the seated Adio’s head.

Yes, and obviously in league with Ryan. Not a positive development.

Nope, we’re screwed.

It was a struggle to force myself to sit back in the chair facing Adio. My eyes moved over to the warlock and I unclenched my jaw. “It’s been a while, Ryan.”

“It’s always a pleasure to see you, Mira,” he replied pleasantly.

“How long have you known Adio?”

“A few years,” he nonchalantly replied.

My mouth twisted into an ugly smirk. “So you never really needed me as a contact with the nightwalkers or the coven. You already had the ultimate contact.”

“True, but he needed someone to keep a closer eye on you. I agreed to assist.”

“How convenient,” I sneered.

“Now, Mira,” Adio chided. “Let’s keep this pleasant. No harm has come to Danaus or you while in our care. Now that you can see that Danaus is perfectly healthy and safe, will you please answer my question? Who is your father?”

I hesitated. It was an ugly answer, a fact I hated to admit to even if I had no control over such a thing. It wasn’t as if it was my fault that my father was a monster, only that others didn’t need to know about it. But then, if anyone had a chance to help me get rid of him, it was Adio, and it certainly didn’t hurt that he had Ryan in his back pocket.

“He goes my several names.”

“Pick one.”

Again the names were stuck in my throat. “Coyote,” I finally said, but their faces were blank at the Native American reference to their trickster god. “He has probably also gone by Puck, Hermes, Eshu, Anansi, Set—”

“Loki,” Adio breathed in fearful tones.

“Yes, but he’s going by Old Nick now. Or rather, just Nick.”

“That explains a few things,” Ryan said grimly. “The fire, the appearance, the tendency toward chaos over order. You are your father’s daughter—the god of chaos.”

“Yes, that does explain a few things,” Adio murmured, folding his hands in his lap as he sank deeper into his chair while staring intently at me. “Your powers have grown exponentially recently. A year ago you would never have taken on a member of the coven such as Macaire, and now you have killed both him and Jabari. There are also rumors that you’ve defeated a bori. And now you’re plotting to destroy the queen of the naturi.”

“You’re certainly well informed,” I snidely replied, crossing my arms over my chest.

“I’ve survived this long by staying well informed,” Adio snapped. “With the destruction of the two most powerful members of the coven and the ascension of your own friend to the coven, one has to wonder if your next step is my seat.”

A bark of laughter escaped me before I could catch it. “I never wanted a seat on the coven in the first place. I fear that was mostly Jabari’s maneuvering, which only succeeded in backfiring on him. You can keep the position of Our Liege. Just leave me to my domain of Savannah.”

“We want to be left in peace,” Danaus added.

“And wouldn’t that be a danger to the world?” Adio inquired. “The daughter of the god of chaos and an ageless man with bori-laced powers left to run wild.”

I smiled at Adio, my fangs poking out beneath my upper lip. I leaned forward, gripping both arms of the chair. “I’m not your biggest problem, not by a long shot.”

“What would my biggest problem be?”

“Nick.”

“What are his plans?”

“He’s never been entirely clear with me, but it sounds like he wants all of his old powers back and to return to his place as a powerful god and not just be a minor player. He plans to use to me to those ends.”

“Then we simply need to kill you to stop those plans,” Ryan offered.

“Not a chance,” Danaus growled, which only caused my smile to widen.

“Thank you. It’s nice to know there is at least one person alive who isn’t eager for my death,” I teased. I then turned a serious gaze back on Adio. “I was thinking more of a trap. Would your mother aid me?”

Adio shook his head. “She is no match for the god of chaos in this world. She is simply the goddess of the dawn, fragile and fading in strength as the day passes toward its apex. Eos would not help you.”

“Then would you help me? You said that you became a nightwalker because you wanted to be a part of the dominant species when the Great Awakening happened. If Nick succeeds, we will all be subject to his whims.”

“I will consider it.”

“What will it cost me?”

Adio smiled. “Very wise.”

“You can’t get something for nothing in this world. What would you want in return? My chair on the coven? Exile?”

“I had . . . something . . . in mind when I brought you here, but now that I know the source of your blood, I am hesitant,” Adio admitted.

“What?” Ryan suddenly cried. “You promised me!”

“Promised what?” Danaus demanded. He took a step closer to the warlock, but Ryan didn’t seem to notice, as his angry gaze was focused entirely on the top of Adio’s head.

“I’m having second thoughts,” Adio admitted.

“You promised!” Ryan shouted.

I looked from Ryan’s flushed face to Adio’s look of distress. There was only one thing a nightwalker could offer a warlock of his strength and power. My stomach churned. “You promised him that I would change him,” I softly said, drawing Adio’s gaze to my face.

“Both of our bloodlines combined in his body to bring about his rebirth,” Adio said.

“Absolutely not!” Danaus declared.

“It won’t work,” I stated firmly.

“It worked with you,” Ryan quickly argued. “You had three makers.”

“I also had the blood of a god already running through my veins,” I countered. “I was different to start with. Underneath all your powers, you are still human at heart, Ryan. Your body will glom to the first drop of nightwalker blood that enters your system and will ignore any other that enters.”

“How can you be sure?” Adio asked.

“I’m not, but do we want to risk not only changing him into a nightwalker, but using the diluted blood of both the goddess of the dawn and the god of chaos?”

“It seems there is much that we must still discuss,” Adio announced as he pushed out of his chair. “I will leave you here to come up with your proposal to get rid of your father while we discuss what I will choose to be my payment should I elect to aid your endeavors.”

“You know, you could always just do it out of the goodness of your heart,” I pressed, rising from my chair as well.

Adio turned back to look at me, pausing as he tried to leave the room. “My mother was the goddess of the dawn, not the goddess of love.”

“True,” I murmured as he left the room, followed by a somewhat irate Ryan who slammed the door shut. We could have done well if the goddess of love had decided to have a few children in the world. We might have been a little better off, but then I guess I should have been grateful that the god of war hadn’t been particularly prolific. At least, I didn’t think he had been.