Burn the Night

Twenty-six

“You can’t be seriously considering this?” Danaus raged the second we could no longer hear Adio and Ryan’s footsteps in the hallway.

I swallowed a sigh as I crossed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around his waist, laying my head on his shoulder so my forehead was pressed into the hollow of his neck. For now, I didn’t want to think about Nick, Adio, or Ryan’s frightening demand. I just wanted to hold the hunter and know that he was safe.

“Did he harm you in any way?” I asked, avoiding his question.

Danaus heaved a deep breath before finally wrapping his arms around me and holding me tightly. “Ryan appeared a few hours before sunset and politely escorted me to a house near the outskirts of the city. I was allowed to briefly look in on you. At the time, you were alone and there wasn’t a window in the room, so I decided that he needed you alive for the time being. We simply sat in the parlor not speaking, waiting for the sun to set.”

“Sounds like fun,” I murmured against his neck before pressing a kiss against his warm flesh.

“I wanted to rip his head off the entire time, but he didn’t say anything so I held my temper.”

“Smart man.”

“I also didn’t know what kind of danger you were in or how you had been brought here, so I didn’t want to take any chances.”

“Again, smart man.”

Danaus grabbed both of my upper arms and held me out away from him so he could look me in the eye. “Then listen to this smart man and don’t agree to this. You can’t give Ryan the kind of powers you have. He would be just as great a danger as Nick.”

“Not at first. I wouldn’t make him a First Blood, but simply chum—weak and helpless for the most part. It would be centuries before he truly came into the bulk of his powers.”

“Mira, you can’t!”

“I have to consider it. Adio is a child of a god, like me. He’s the only one that might be powerful enough to help me trap Nick. I need his help.”

“You sound like you have a plan.”

“Something that I have been slowly developing.”

“How dangerous?”

“Oh, it wouldn’t be one of my brilliant plans if it wasn’t extremely dangerous and somewhat stupid,” I teased with a wide grin.

“And I won’t like it, will I?”

“You’ll probably hate it, I’m sure, but I think it’s going to be the best shot we have.”

“When do you plan on telling me about this brilliant plan?”

“Soon. I hate to even breathe the words out loud since it’s hard to guess how close Nick is at any moment. I want it to be a surprise for him.”

“Naturally.”

“For now, our main focus has to be Ryan and his request to become a nightwalker. I can understand his need to not be at the bottom of the nightwalker food chain when he is turned, but I’m not comfortable with the idea that he would have my blood flowing through his veins.”

“Beside the fact you also swore that you would never make a nightwalker of your own.”

It was a struggle not to roll my eyes at him. Yes, I had sworn that I would never make a nightwalker, and Ryan was the least of all people that I wanted to have my blood. But I also had a feeling that this was no fragile relationship between Ryan and Adio. There was a firm understanding between the two men after years of collaboration. I had been picked because of my strength and powers, but now Adio was having some doubts about the idea of another child of chaos potentially running around. The bloodline would be even further diluted when it passed from me to Ryan, but it wouldn’t be enough. There were still risks.

What worried me the most was the same vein of darkness that ran through me also plunged through Ryan. The warlock would not be able to keep his powers in a positive place, but would have to let the darkness consume him. Adio might be able to control his fledgling for a while, but that would only be a temporary solution. In the end he would have to kill Ryan or I would have to come hunting for him, assuming I survived my attempt to take out Nick.

“The only thing we have on our side at the moment is the fact that Adio and Ryan don’t completely see eye-to-eye on this matter.” I moved away from Danaus and sat on the edge of the bed, hanging my hands between my legs.

“How do we take advantage of that?”

“We try to quickly reason with Adio while we are in the process of making Ryan into a nightwalker,” I suggested.

“And if he doesn’t listen to reason?”

“Then Adio will be forced to change Ryan over himself, and then kill me for disobeying him.”

“What I don’t understand is why Adio didn’t change Ryan over himself,” Danaus said as he sat on the bed beside me.

“I have a feeling it’s for the same reason I don’t want to change him over. Ryan is already a powerful warlock, and neither of us is sure what powers he’s going to retain when he is reborn. Neither Adio nor I want to make an even bigger monster by giving him access to the blood of a god. Unfortunately, Adio didn’t realize what he was dealing with until he had me in his grasp. Now that he’s made his mistake, he has to find a way to gracefully back out of his agreement with Ryan without upsetting whatever arrangement the two men now have in place.”

Danaus scratched the dark stubble that had grown on his chin. “Could we secretly find a surrogate to take your place? Would Ryan be aware of the difference while in the process of being remade into a nightwalker?”

“That’s my hope, but we need to get Ryan drained first,” I said, rubbing my hands together. I couldn’t help but feel a little pleasure at the thought of digging my fangs back into the warlock’s neck. Not only would the revenge be sweet after he attempted to manipulate me, but the warlock’s blood carried with it an extra little bonus—I could be awake during the daylight hours as long as I was drinking his blood. I was still vulnerable to the rays of the sun, but to be awake and alive for those long hours and not vulnerable was too precious to pass up.

“You’re getting normal blood back into your system as soon as we get home,” Danaus sternly said without needed to read my thoughts.

“A few days wouldn’t hurt.”

“Yes, they would.” I looked over at his face and saw the resolve in his beautiful blue eyes. I had a feeling I would be feeding off a normal, everyday human before I had the chance to even leave Venice. The last time I’d fed off Ryan’s blood, the results had not been pretty. In fact, they nearly cost Tristan his life and me my sanity. Yes, Danaus was right. Never again.

A knock came at the door, and Danaus jumped to his feet and placed one hand on the knife at his side as he stepped in front of me. A part of me was pleased to discover that neither of us had been divested of our weapons during the day, but then, we were faced with a powerful warlock and a powerful nightwalker. They could easily find ways around a sword and knife if they wanted to.

“Come,” I called, resting a reassuring hand on Danaus’s arm for a moment as the door swung open. As the two men reentered, I let my hand drop back down into my lap. The awe I felt less than an hour earlier when I first met Adio had melted away. I had expected a nightwalker that was older than Danaus and radiated more power than I could comprehend. Instead, I was faced with someone who was something of a charlatan. He had gotten his seat as Our Liege through his special powers and then sat back, leaving the coven to protect him out of the fear that he would kill them all in their sleep. The biggest problem when I looked at Adio was that I saw myself reflected back, except I was infinitely more devious and dangerous.

“You’ve had some time to consider my request,” Adio said as he came to stand beside the chair he had occupied earlier. Ryan stood close by his shoulder, his gaze narrowed on my face. If the warlock was trying to read my thoughts, he wasn’t having much luck. After centuries of Jabari parading through my brain, and recently Nick, I had gotten better about closing people out. Now the only one that could slip in and out at will was Danaus.

“Yes, but have you considered my dilemma?” I countered. “Nick needs to be dealt with or the future you are hoping for with the arrival of the Great Awakening—which truly is just around the corner—will not happen as you hope.”

Adio moved around to sit in the chair, but still remain turned so he could look at me. “It’s that close?”

Danaus took a step closer to Adio, causing Ryan to shift, as if putting himself more between the hunter and Adio.

“Aurora means to destroy her sisters Nyx and Cynnia as soon as possible,” I told Adio, “and she has no qualms about fighting that battle in front of humans. Nightwalkers and lycanthropes have been dragged into the battle in an attempt to control the damage and keep things secret. If we’re lucky, we may succeed, but if we don’t, the Great Awakening will be happening very soon in the worst possible fashion.”

“This is . . . unexpected,” Adio murmured. “I knew the Great Awakening was going to happen soon, but I didn’t realize that the situation with the naturi had grown so dire.”

“Jabari and Macaire haven’t been keeping you informed?”

“I knew of the events at Machu Picchu, but I knew nothing of Aurora’s newest plans. I assumed she would take some time to build her army and strike back at the nightwalkers here in Venice. I didn’t know that a civil war was brewing.”

“Cynnia seeks peace with the nightwalkers and simply wants to lead her people into a quiet existence away from humanity before they all fade into extinction. I’ve sworn to help her because my other choice is Aurora and her very public war against humanity.”

“I see.”

“Do you really?” I asked, finally coming off the bed to walk around so I was standing in front of him. “I’m torn on two fronts. The naturi need to finally be dealt with, and this alliance with Cynnia could afford us at least a temporary peace to get us through a few decades should the Great Awakening occur. At the same time, I must deal with Nick and finally see that he is caged in some fashion so he can’t cause us any additional problems. I fear that the Great Awakening would afford him too wonderful an opportunity to step forward into the power vacuum created by the chaos.”

“I do not know what I can do to help you with your father, but I am sure you have a plan,” Adio said with a smirk.

“I do.”

“But for my help, you must first aid me in changing my friend here over to a nightwalker,” he continued, motioning with his hand toward the warlock.

I stood and looked over Adio at Ryan, who was standing straight and stiff. He wore his usual charcoal suit with the light gray shirt that was open at the neck. His skin still held a nice tan, while his shoulder-length hair was a flawless white. He watched me with perceptive gold eyes, taking in my every movement.

When I first met the warlock at the Themis compound, I suspected he was going to be more trouble than he was worth. However, he had helped protect us when the naturi attacked, and came to our aid again on Crete when we were fighting the naturi once again. Unfortunately, he’d tried to exploit my weakness with glittering promises of walking around during the day. I hadn’t considered the price when I agreed to the deal, only thinking I would be safe from an attack by Aurora. If we had continued, I believed he might have finally convinced me to change him without Adio’s assistance, simply because I was already too strung out on his blood to know any better.

Now I knew that no one would survive if Ryan was trusted.

“So why are you so desperate to become a nightwalker?” I asked in a smooth voice as I stepped around Adio’s chair to come face-to-face with the warlock.

“I’ve been Adio’s friend for a long time and a close planner on the committee regarding the Great Awakening,” Ryan replied with a nonchalant wave of his hand.

“As such, you must certainly know that those most likely to escape the ‘witch hunts,’ so to speak, will be the warlocks and witches. You won’t be thrust into the limelight. You will be able to easily hide from the frightened and enraged humans.”

“But there is no power in hiding,” he countered.

“There is survival,” Danaus interjected.

“I’ve spent more than three centuries surviving. I’m looking for a larger piece of the pie. The nightwalkers will be the real power players when the world changes following the Great Awakening, and I will be a part of it.”

“But surely Adio has explained to you that when you are reborn a nightwalker, you will come back weak. Sure, you will have more abilities than a human, but you’ll be little more than a plaything among your new brethren. You will have to acquire all new survival skills very quickly.”

Ryan lifted his chin while clenching his jaw. “Adio has sworn to stay by my side and aid my growth. Besides, there is always a chance that I will retain some of my powers as a warlock. That knowledge won’t slip away simply because I’ve become a nightwalker.”

“What about the elixir?” Danaus asked from the opposite side of the room. The hunter had silently slipped away from where he had been standing near me, and was now leaning against the far wall with his arms folded across his chest.

Ryan’s eyes flared for a moment while his lips pressed into a frown and he stared at the hunter. “You knew?” he bit out.

“Do you think I was going to willingly let you live under the same roof as those helpless Themis researchers if I didn’t know some of your secrets? I knew you were a few centuries old, but I had to be sure you wouldn’t use one of them to prolong your life.”

“What elixir?” I demanded, my gaze jumping from Danaus to Ryan.

Both men fell stubbornly silent for nearly a minute, so that all that could be heard was the crackle of the fire and the fast heart rates of the two living creatures in the room.

“It’s an elixir of life that my former master had created,” Ryan finally said, grinding out each word between his clenched teeth. “It prolonged the life of the drinker. Unfortunately, potions have never been my strong suit. I’ve never been able to properly replicate it and my supply has finally run out. My real age will start to catch up to me within the next few weeks.”

“So you’re becoming a nightwalker because you want to live longer,” I replied.

“Yes,” Ryan hissed, glaring at me. He hadn’t enjoyed revealing his own dirty little secret.

I leaned around to look at Adio. “You knew about this?”

“I did.”

I stood upright again so I was facing Ryan. “Wanting to live is a much better reason for becoming a nightwalker than simply wanting power. It will get you through the transformation when Death comes for you.”

The heat and anger left Ryan’s eyes for the first time, and he blinked at me, looking a little confused. I smiled at him as I took a step closer. “You have to really want this. I have to drain you to nearly the point of death, and he will know that you are hovering on the brink. Death will come for you and he will grab onto your soul. Only the strong—only those that truly want to live and be a nightwalker—survive the process. You can be given all the nightwalker blood in the world, but if you don’t have the will or the fight, you will not wake up again. Death wants you, but you have to want this more.”

“I want this,” Ryan said in a soft but firm voice.

I grinned. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

In a flash I had a handful of his soft white hair and had twisted it around my fist as I brought his neck down to me. No one had time to react. It was only after I sank my fangs deep into the man’s neck that I heard the strangled cries and shouts from both Adio and Danaus. Ryan grabbed my shoulders and instinctively tried to push away from me out of fear. The other times I had fed on him were slow and gentle, so he didn’t feel threatened by me. Now the gloves were off and he finally knew he was at my mercy. I was going to drain him to the point of death, and he had to rely on the protection of his friend Adio to make sure I didn’t let him cross over and die.

Wrapping my free arm around his waist, I dragged him away from the support of the back of Adio’s chair to an open space in the room where I could easily lay him on the ground when he finally grew weak. Behind me, I could hear both Danaus and Adio moving around the room, their footsteps heavy and anxious as they watched me, but I didn’t care. This was the first warm, full meal that I’d had in a long time.

Since taking up with Danaus, I had stretched out my feedings to less than once a week, and then they were quick little bites that could be grabbed in stolen moments when he was most unlikely to notice. He knew I was feeding, but I still did what I could to hide it from him. I didn’t want to cause him any more strain than I already did. We were still trying to figure out this relationship thing, and me drinking blood was still a comfort issue for him. I was willing to give Danaus all the time he needed to get adjusted to the idea. He was worth a little sacrifice.

However, the thought of draining Ryan nearly dry was just too enticing. His blood was deliciously sweet and packed an amazing punch of power that rolled through my body in enticing waves. I could feel my half-starved cells and organs finally filling up to the brim and overflowing with his blood. I was bathed in an energy that tingled throughout my body.

“Mira, you can’t do this! You can’t change him!” Danaus growled, grabbing my shoulder to pull me off of the warlock. I didn’t think. There was no thinking at that moment beyond that flood of blood. I reached back with my other hand and raked my long nails across his arm, causing him to suddenly jump back.

I know what I’m doing, I barely managed to send to Danaus above the red haze.

After another few minutes I heard Ryan’s heart start to significantly slow and start to stutter in his chest as his body struggled under the last of his blood. With a gasp, I lifted my head and licked my lips and teeth before lowering him to the ground. He lay motionless then, his breathing shallow and his face paler than it had been. His eyes were closed and he was unconscious, which is what I had been aiming for.

I stepped away from Ryan and turned so I could look over my shoulder at Adio, who was closely watching Ryan with a look of concern on his face. “Well, are you going to finish the job?” I asked.

Adio looked up at me a little stunned. “What?”

“You asked for my help. I drained him. Now you give him your blood. Make him your pet. I don’t need one.”

“I—I—I can’t,” he stuttered, shaking his head.

“The god thing?”

“Yes, I can’t risk it. I don’t know what my blood would do to him. I can’t risk . . .”

“Can’t risk him coming back too powerful,” I finished with a smirk. “And when you came to me, I seemed to be the right amount of power. A nightwalker that had a little something extra, but not like you. Unfortunately, until night, you didn’t know that I am like you. It was too late to talk Ryan out of his little plan.”

“Yes, but we can’t leave him like this. He’ll die.”

“There are worse things,” Danaus muttered, drawing Adio’s glare.

“I have a backup plan, but it requires a little discretion on your part,” I said to Adio. At that moment, I mentally reached out to an old friend who had been waiting in the wings for my signal. A second later Valerio appeared in the room, standing opposite me as we all looked down on Ryan’s struggling body. “Adio, this is my close and trusted friend, Valerio.”

Adio stiffly nodded, looking at the nightwalker for a moment, undoubtedly sizing him up. Valerio merely smiled under the scrutiny, unmoved by the other nightwalker or the body on the floor that was slowly dying. He simply looked at me and smiled as he extended his hand toward me. I grasped it and allowed him to brush a kiss across my knuckles that brought a low growl from Danaus. A little jealousy was always a good thing in a relationship.

“You said you were in desperate need if my assistance, my dear,” Valerio said with his rich accent, which seemed to run fingers across my cheek.

“I am, my friend. This man here wants to be a nightwalker, but neither Adio nor I, for very . . . distinct reasons, can use our own blood. I was hoping you would be willing to provide me with a bit of your own blood.”

Valerio gave a little laugh before shaking his head. “I have no need for a new fledgling hanging on my coattails. No, thank you.”

“He won’t belong to you. He will never know you were ever here. He will belong exclusively to Adio.”

Valerio’s smile faded as he stared at me. “And what is wrong with your blood, my sweet Mira?”

“It’s my heritage. Ryan is a powerful warlock, and I fear that my blood may give him some added abilities when we would all prefer him to be just a little bit of chum. Cage the possible monster that he may become.” A seductive smile slipped across my lips and I stepped one foot over Ryan so I could lightly grasp one of Valerio’s arms. “I know you made Knox, and you did a fabulous job with him. Such purity and strength. Give me a creature similar to Knox in strength and leave Adio here to the job of raising him.”

Valerio gave me a fresh, knowing smile as he pressed a kiss to my forehead. “You shall have to try harder than that. I do not make nightwalkers on a whim. Will your blood create a monster?”

“No. It will give a potential monster the power to be a monster. Someone good at heart should not be affected so. Your blood will simply make him a weak nightwalker, which is what we all want.”

“Except him.”

“True.”

“Entice me, Mira,” he whispered in my ear. “Give me something that I truly want.”

I looked up at Valerio to find that he had been staring at Danaus the whole time he’d spoken to me. He was trying very hard to make the hunter jealous, make him act, so he could pretend to be offended and disappear in a huff. But for now, Danaus was as still as stone and I was grateful.

I reached up and placed my hand against Valerio’s cheek, turning his face so he was forced to look down at me. “One day you will come to me with a request. You will be desperate. It will be a request that I would under normal circumstances deny without thought. Make this nightwalker tonight, and I will be beholden to you for one request of your choosing.”

“Anything?”

“Anything,” I repeated, my gaze unwavering.

“Very well.”

Releasing Valerio, I stepped back away from him and walked over toward Danaus, who was glaring at Ryan on the floor. Valerio knelt down, placing his hand over the man’s chest. “He’s nearly dead now.”

“There’s still a little blood left for you to take. I didn’t drain him completely,” I argued.

Valerio merely shook his head a moment before biting Ryan on the opposite side of the throat. He drank only a little before healing the wound so the deception would be preserved. He then slashed his wrist and allowed his own blood to pour past Ryan’s parted lips. The warlock didn’t respond, but I hadn’t expected him to. He was deep in a coma and would remain there until the sun set the next night. If he was to become a nightwalker, we would only know it if he rose the next night. Valerio was forced to open the wound twice as it healed on its own before enough blood had been poured into Ryan’s body. I had only witnessed the making of another nightwalker a couple other times, and always swore I would never complete the act myself. It was a responsibility I didn’t want.

Valerio licked the remaining smear of blood from his wrist before rising to his feet and dusting off the knees of his slacks. He looked over at Adio for a moment and arched one dark brow. “Our Liege, I presume?”

“Correct,” Adio said, sounding a little surprised. But then, I knew better. Valerio knew more than he would ever admit and was wilier than should have been allowed to live. Yet, I loved him too much to try to kill him, and he was too entertaining to allow him to slip out of my life.

“A pleasure,” Valerio said with a slight bow from the waist. He then turned his attention to me and smiled. “An interesting flavor. One I’ve not run across with other warlocks.”

“Yes.” I smiled, resisting the urge to give him a hug of thanks. Danaus had endured enough and I could feel his anger simmering beside me like a pot beginning to bubble over. “Just as a warning. If you don’t feed again tonight, his blood will allow you to stay awake during the daylight hours, but you are still susceptible to the sun. Enjoy it for a day or two, then I would suggest some fresh blood.”

“Interesting,” he purred, then disappeared from sight.

With Valerio gone, I turned my attention back to Adio, who was now kneeling beside Ryan. I could hear now that his heartbeat was nearly nonexistent, and knew that in a few moments it would stop completely. It was all a matter of whether his soul remained hovering around the body. Otherwise it would never find its way back.

“I’m assuming you don’t need me any longer.”

“No, I will take care of matter from here,” Adio said in a distracted manner.

“And there will be no mention of Valerio?”

“And reveal to Ryan that he’s been double-crossed by us both? Of course not.”

“Thank you.”

“When will you need my help with Nick?” he asked without my need to prompt him, which was promising.

“Soon. I will be in contact. It shouldn’t be a problem now that we’ve been introduced.”

“True,” Adio admitted with a certain curl to his upper lip. “I’m sure I can also find you in Savannah.”

“Of course, but I will try to give you a couple nights with Ryan to get him adjusted before contacting you.”

“I would appreciate that.”

Ignoring Danaus’s glare, I wrapped my arms around the hunter’s waist and focused all my thoughts on my secret lair in the basement of my home. I had a feeling he was going to have a few loud words with me before the night was over.