Burn the Night

Twenty-nine

Danaus was kind enough to keep Cynnia and her companions occupied while I slipped upstairs in the Savannah town house. I donned black leather pants, leather boots, and a thick leather top that provided an extra layer of protection against a blade. I was ready to step into war that night and I would take no prisoners. If they stood against us, they died. That was all.

When I finally entered the parlor, my gaze immediately fell on Rowe, as the naturi smoothly rose from the chair he had been sitting in on the opposite side of the room. Cynnia remained seated next to him, while her sister Nyx stood in the back of the room with a carefully blank expression. Rowe flashed me a mocking smile, but I ignored him. My main concern was Cynnia’s all-too-silent sister. She and Rowe were the experienced warriors, not Cynnia.

“Thank you for your assistance with Daniel,” I said, forcing my jaw to unclench. I never thought the night would come when I would not only invite Rowe into my home, but also thank him for his help. After centuries of torment and conflict, I nearly gagged on the words.

Rowe’s smile grew as he stared at me, soaking up the hatred that filled my tense and tightly clipped words. “You know me,” he said with a careless wave of one hand. “Always looking for a way to lend a hand to mankind.”

I swallowed my next comment and turned my attention to Cynnia, who was looking more than a little uncomfortable. Most likely her discomfort came from the common knowledge that Rowe had performed more than one human organ harvest during his time here on Earth, separated from his own kind. Rowe didn’t help humans. He slaughtered them every chance he got. How she expected me to believe he would actually help us was still beyond my comprehension.

“What can you tell me about the occurrences in Savannah during the daylight hours?” I demanded, turning away from Rowe before I lit his smug ass on fire. “Was Aurora actually in the city?”

“She was here,” Nyx replied evenly.

Cynnia twisted around in her chair so she could look over her shoulder at her older sister. “Are you sure?”

“I spent more time around Aurora than you ever did. We’re closer in age. I know when she’s close. She’s currently attempting to cloak herself so I can’t pinpoint her exact location, but I can sense that she is just beyond the reach of the city. She is hovering close, waiting.”

“Were you able to kill any of the naturi that were setting the fires around the city?” I demanded.

Nyx shook her head. “Rowe and I were outside the city during the day, meeting with the head of the animal clan. He and his people have just arrived, but are unwilling to actually enter the city until they meet with the Fire Starter. Kane is not exactly convinced this isn’t a trap.”

“I don’t blame him,” I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest. “Was there no one else available to stop the light clan from their attack?”

“The only naturi in the area are those acting as my personal bodyguards,” Cynnia said. “The rest were outside of the city.”

“And they didn’t see fit to stop Aurora from entering the city?” I cried, raising my voice.

“They have been instructed not to directly engage Aurora,” Nyx interjected, drawing my attention away from her younger sister, as if to protect her from my wrath. “We’re not going to be the ones that start this war.”

“Unless you haven’t noticed, the war has been started,” Danaus commented in a low growl. “Last night when she tried to burn the city down.”

“How many were killed?” I inquired, turning to look at Danaus, who was standing near me at the entrance to the room.

“The news says the body count is still rising, but the last figure released was forty-three human lives have been lost.”

The front door swung open then and Knox entered the town house, followed by a couple dozen nightwalkers. I directed the other nightwalkers to the upper floors so the naturi wouldn’t feel more threatened than necessary—I still needed them to stay focused on the problem at hand. To my surprise, Knox was accompanied by Matsui and the four Soga nightwalkers.

Knox sidled into the room and stood in front of the fireplace, while Danaus and I also moved to the side of the room opposite Rowe and Cynnia. The Japanese nightwalkers remained in the entrance. It was getting more than a little crowded, but it gave me a feeling of security against Aurora.

Knox sighed heavily as he pushed one hand through his hair. His clothes were still stained with dirt and soot from digging me out of my basement. He was also starting to look a little weary as the weight of the world pressed on his broad shoulders. “Word is still spreading, but it appears that at least ten nightwalkers were killed, including Amanda.”

“Gabriel?” I asked before I could stop myself. Now was not the time to worry about my broken bodyguard, but I knew my mind would not be at ease until I finally knew what was happening. I tried to take Shelly’s absence as a positive sign.

“Hanging on,” Knox replied. “Shelly is with him now, doing everything she can to speed along his healing, but she doesn’t seem too hopeful that she will be of much help. Gregor and two other nightwalkers have been stationed at the hospital to watch over both of them.”

“Thank you,” I whispered. Knox always knew exactly the right course to take. He had just reassured both me and Cynnia that our friends were being watched over in the event that Aurora tried to strike again at those that meant the most to us.

Looking around the room, my gaze finally fell on the four Japanese nightwalkers. I had assumed they would immediately leave town, considering our disagreement regarding the naturi alliance and their attempt to kidnap me.

“Forgive me, but I’m surprised to find that you are still here,” I said to my foreign companions. “You know the course of action I plan to take, and I am not changing that course, particularly now that Aurora has openly attacked the people of my city. I have also been in contact with Our Liege, who knows of my plans. There is nothing you can say that will sway me from my decision. I am also not willing to leave here to help you.”

Tetsuya bowed his head to me before finally speaking. “In truth, we had thought to come to your aid after what happened during the daylight hours. We had assumed that the queen of the naturi would pursue a quiet war among the other races and not seek to expose us all. However, it seems she has chosen to show the humans that they are not alone in this world.”

“ ‘Had thought’?” I asked. “You’ve changed your mind already?”

“Your choice of who you have decided to work with does not sit well with us,” said the one nightwalker I had yet to be introduced to. He was smaller than the others and looked considerably younger as well. However, I had no doubt that he was not only the oldest of the quartet, but was truly the leader of the group.

I opened my mouth to ask what he was talking about, but Rowe beat me to the punch by speaking up first. “Nomura happens to be talking about me,” the naturi announced, meeting my gaze for a second. The one-eyed naturi then turned his narrowed stare on the Japanese nightwalkers and forced a thin-lipped smile to his face. “It’s been a long time. I didn’t expect to ever see you again, let alone in Mira’s home.”

“We are very surprised to see you as well,” Nomura replied as he shoved his hands into his pockets. “We never expected you to survive as long as you have.” By the slump of his shoulders and the frown teasing at the corners of his mouth, I could tell there was a great deal of animosity between these two creatures, and I was afraid it would explode all over my living room. Unfortunately, curiosity was winning out over common sense.

“How do you know each other?”

“I’ve been on this earth for several centuries, Mira,” Rowe drawled, hatred glinting in his one good eye. “I’ve traveled far and wide in search of ways to free my people. It stands to reason that I slipped far beyond the reach of the West. It was then that I ran across the nightwalkers inhabiting the islands of Japan. I thought we could come to some sort of arrangement. The naturi had been no threat to them in the past, and I assumed our futures would remain on separate courses. As a result, I sought an exchange of knowledge with them.”

“I am afraid to ask what happened.”

“Take a good look at me, Mira, and you will easily see the result of my so-called alliance with the Soga clan,” Rowe bit out.

I stared at the naturi for nearly a minute, trying to see what he was talking about before it suddenly dawned on me. The Soga clan was responsible for his changed appearance, which resulted in him being banished from his people by Aurora. I had met Rowe when I was human, when he was a golden-skinned creature with pale blond hair and sparkling green eyes.

Now, scars stretched across one side of Rowe’s face, half hidden behind an eye patch that covered his right eye. His hair was black as night and the color of his one remaining eye seemed to match it. His skin had taken on a swarthy complexion and was streaked with more scars. Like nightwalkers, naturi healed from nearly everything. And yet it appeared that the members of the Soga clan had found a way to mark him permanently.

“It is not as if you walked away empty-handed from our time together,” Nomura stated.

“Oh, you’re correct. I gained more than my fair share of blood magic—”

“You taught him how to use blood magic?” I demanded, raising my voice for the first time. “Do you know what trouble that has caused for all nightwalkers during the past year? Do you know that knowledge enabled him to open the doorway between the worlds in the first place? You are the reason Aurora is here now.”

“Don’t lay too much blame at their doorstep, Mira,” Rowe noted, earning a growl from me as I looked over at him. “They tried very hard to kill me over a five-year period. I’m sure while they were teaching me the magic, they never expected me to survive the lessons.”

“I don’t understand,” Danaus spoke up. The hunter laid a hand on my shoulder and squeezed, subtly hinting that I needed to calm down. There was no need to start a fight with four very powerful nightwalkers when I still had a fight with Aurora ahead of me. “Why bother teaching him in the first place if you only planned to kill him?”

“It was a form of torture,” Nomura replied in a nonchalant voice. “The learning process was extremely painful for the naturi since the style of magic went against his very essence. We were curious if it could even be done. Unfortunately, Rowe escaped us before we were able to complete our process.”

“You mean, the process of slowly trying to destroy him,” I said in a cold voice. “Leave.”

“I beg your pardon,” Nomura said softly, cocking his head to the side. “I don’t believe I understood you correctly.”

“No, I’m sure you did,” I snapped, glaring at the quartet of nightwalkers. “Leave. Leave Savannah and the New World. Return to Japan, and if I have my wish, never leave your home again. You are not welcome in this world.”

“You’re turning your back on our superior strength and abilities because you would rather side with the naturi?” Nomura demanded.

“I’m turning my back on you because of what you did to him! Because of what you tried to do to me!” I snarled. “I’m turning my back on you because of the fact that you brought this on us all in the end. If you had not been so cocky in your decision to give him knowledge of blood magic, Aurora might not be here. Leave here and take Matsui with you, now.”

“As you wish,” Nomura replied in clipped tones. He turned on his right heel and quickly exited the town house, his companions following close behind him. Matsui paused in the hallway outside the parlor and bowed deeply to me before he left the house as well. There was a look of genuine regret on his face. I preferred to think that he actually liked serving as my bodyguard. It had to at least be less formal than following behind the Japanese nightwalkers.

“I’m confused,” Rowe announced when the door slammed shut. “Are you angry at them for torturing me or for failing to kill me?”

“I’m angry they used you as a science experiment that could have triggered the end of humanity as we know it if we don’t stop Aurora,” I replied, glaring at the naturi. The story was all too familiar, as Jabari had been content to experiment on me. Both Rowe and I had merely been puppets, playthings for powerful creatures. And in the end, if the Soga clan had succeeded to get me to Japan to help them with their naturi problem, I would have been forced to stay so I would become their next pet project.

Rowe pushed out of his chair, standing so he was looking me directly in the eye. “It didn’t have to be the Soga clan. I would have begged for the knowledge of blood magic from anyone willing to teach me, regardless of the cost. My job was to free Aurora and the others.”

I took a couple steps closer to him. “And you don’t regret it, do you?”

Rowe smirked at me. “Nope.”

“Considering all the lives that have been lost over the years, do you regret anything at all?”

“Just not killing you when I had the chance.”

I matched his smirk with one of my own. “Which time?” Rowe had more than one shot at me over the long years, and here I still stood, alive and smiling at him.

“All of them, from our first meeting till this very second,” he replied.

Shaking my head, I turned my back on the naturi and started to return to the other side of the room. To my shock, Danaus brushed by me in a quick sweeping motion. I twisted around in time to see his meaty fist land squarely on Rowe’s nose, throwing the naturi back into his chair. I placed my hand on Danaus’s chest to keep him from taking another step toward Rowe. However, my eyes were locked squarely on Nyx, who had come away from the far corner like a dark shadow. Her face remained expressionless, but there was a new burning in her gray eyes that hadn’t been there before. This seemed to be more than just protectiveness of her own kind—there was something between her and Rowe.

“She spared your life in Budapest,” Danaus growled. “She gave you a second chance at life and still you persist in hunting her.”

“I’m not as easily tamed as some,” Rowe said in a low voice as he rubbed his nose, checking to make sure it wasn’t broken. Danaus tried to lunge at the naturi again, but I held him back, my eyes remaining on Nyx. There was no weapon in her hand, but I had a feeling she was only waiting for Danaus to make another move toward Rowe.

“Enough!” I shouted, shoving against Danaus so he was forced to take a couple steps back away from Rowe. Summoning up the energy swirling in the air around me, I turned off the lamps in the room, plunging the room into complete darkness for a breath before lighting all the candles as well as igniting a fire in the fireplace. Everyone grew still, seeming to hold their breath as they waited to see if my temper had reached its breaking point.

“We’re not getting anywhere with these talks!” I complained, returning to the other side of the room with Danaus. It was better if there was physical space between Rowe and us. I still wanted to set the bastard on fire after his little dig at Danaus, but I knew we would need him healthy for the battle ahead. “Aurora is out there somewhere waiting to attack. She is not only looking for the heads of you three, but I’m willing to bet she would like to add mine to her collection as well.”

“It’s more than that,” Cynnia said, letting her voice fill the silence for the first time in a while. “Aurora launched an open attack on the city. I think she’s picked the place where she wants to have her final battle with you and her sisters.”

“You mean Savannah?” I asked. “She wants to fight out in the open?”

Nyx fell back into the shadows, but her voice crept forward to replace Cynnia’s soft soothing words. “What better way to strike fear in the hearts of men than for them to witness a battle of the magical arts they can’t hope to understand or win. She will intimidate them, subjugate them, and then finally destroy them all.”

“We need to give her a reason to draw away from the city,” I argued. “We need to give her a reason to pull back her forces to some of the open, uninhabited areas that surround Savannah. Get her out of the city.”

“How will we do that?” Knox asked.

I smiled at him for a second before turning my attention to Cynnia. “With bait. We make her come after Cynnia outside the city.”

“I’m not leaving my sister unguarded and vulnerable,” Nyx countered.

“Who said unguarded?” I shook my head at her, still smiling. “Didn’t you say the animal clan was waiting outside the city at a safe location? Stick Cynnia in the middle of the clan for a time. They’ll keep her safe, correct?”

“They would protect her,” Nyx reluctantly conceded.

“Hell, you and Rowe can go with her as added protection if that’s what you want.”

“And what if you’re her target?” Rowe inquired.

“Then we’re fucked,” I snapped. “I’m not leaving my city without some kind of protection. If it looks like Aurora is going to come after Cynnia outside the city, then Danaus, the nightwalkers, the lycans, and I will come riding to the rescue, attacking her from behind. But until I know that she has turned her sights elsewhere, I’m not budging from Savannah. She’s done enough damage here and destroyed enough lives.”

Rowe stared at me with a strange expression as he scratched his chin with his right hand. “You’re willing to take a lot of risk for a group of people that are going to come at you with a cross and wooden stake once they discover you exist.”

“This is my home and I will protect it,” I said. “I’ll worry about what they think about me later.”

Rowe gave a soft snort and shook his head. “I wish you luck.”

I remained silent, holding onto the luck bequeathed to me by my enemy. I knew I was going to need it. Aurora’s shocking daylight raid on the city proved to me that she was willing to take chances we weren’t willing to take, in an effort to not only protect the humans, but also protect our secret from the humans. I had a dark feeling this war was going to take a turn that I couldn’t protect my people from, and result in more deaths. And possibly even the truth.