Dayhunter

NINETEEN

If I had been human, I would have tossed and turned, twisting the smooth cotton sheets. I would have stared up at the ceiling as the minutes crawled by, imagining the hundreds of threats and dangers Tristan could potentially face while he lay helpless during the daylight hours. I would have laid there hating Danaus and Nicolai, fearing they would betray my desperate trust. Hell, if I was human, I would have accompanied Tristan’s lifeless form down to the airport and personally secured him on the private jet.

But I wasn’t human, and at times I wondered if I had ever been human, considering my horrid past. I was a nightwalker. When the sun finally tore at the horizon and the night gave its last shuddering breath, consciousness left me no matter how badly I wished to remain awake. There were no thoughts of Tristan, no bits of safeguard I could offer him. There was only the desolate blackness and an emptiness from which I could not pull away. In those last seconds, I hated the dawn and my weakness, not for the first time since being reborn.

Yet, my daylight hours weren’t completely filled with undisturbed nothingness. In my final hour before waking, images of Tristan filled my brain, flashing in my mind like a demonic slide show. This was not like the nightmares I suffered in Egypt and England. Those grim plays had been a mix of my own memories and growing fears.

These garish images were from Macaire’s memories of the night when Tristan was tortured by the court. But there was no order to the images, no linear progression. The Elder’s memories flickered in my brain like a reel of film that had been badly spliced together. One moment Tristan was hunched over covered in blood, his back raw and his limbs trembling in pain. Yet, in the next moment, he was standing unharmed, surrounded by his kind as he anticipated his fate.

The only thing about the nightmare that was linear was Tristan’s thoughts. They whispered through my head like a ghostly soundtrack, going from disbelief that his beloved maker would abandon him to his fate, to broken pleading for her to save him. Save him from the pain. Save him from the blackness that was swallowing up his hope. In the end his fragile, fractured mind clung to a single, unwavering word: Mira. He knew I would come and end the pain.

When I was finally released from the hellish nightmare and awoke, my body began trembling and I choked back a sob. Rolling onto my side in the bed, I curled into the fetal position as I waited for the shaking to pass. My thoughts were sluggish, as if a thick, tarlike film covered them, a disgusting residue left behind by Macaire’s mental touch.

When I could finally unclench my fingers, which were twisted in the sheets, I mentally reached out for Tristan, but came up with only dead air. Instantly lurching into a sitting position on the bed, legs bent before me and eyes tightly closed, I concentrated again. All of my energy poured into the single act of touching his thoughts, being able to feel his presence. I needed to know he was safe.

When the sun had risen that morning, Tristan was laying beside me. Danaus and Nicolai had agreed to get him safely aboard the chartered jet. Either one of them had ample opportunity to stake him while he slept.

No. Shaking my head at the thought, I knew Danaus wouldn’t kill a nightwalker when he or she slept. The hunter might hate my kind, but his sense of honor ran deeper than that. If he wanted Tristan dead, he’d take care of the matter while the nightwalker was awake and able to defend himself.

Nicolai, I didn’t trust. He could have been lying. Maybe he was a naturi sympathizer and I’d left Tristan at his mercy. Damn it! I was an idiot.

Twisting on the bed, I snatched up my cell phone from the nightstand and pulled up Gabriel’s number. My bodyguard answered after the second ring, and some of the tension in my stomach slowly unknotted at the sound of his voice.

“Do you have Tristan?” I quickly demanded, inwardly wincing at the harshness of my voice.

“Yes. Are you in trouble?” he asked.

I ignored his question. I was in all kinds of trouble, but there was nothing he or Tristan could do about it. “Let me speak to him.”

“Mira,” Gabriel started hesitantly, “he’s still asleep. It’s about two-thirty in the afternoon.”

Falling back against my pillows, I gave a breathless chuckle, laughing at my own stupidity. All the chaos flying about me had scattered my thoughts. I was so worried about Tristan’s safety that I forgot about the six-hour time difference.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

“He’s safe,” Gabriel reassured me, his voice growing soft. “Both he and Nicolai landed around one.”

“Is Nicolai with you?”

“No. You didn’t say anything about him staying with you, so I left him at your town house. He wasn’t happy about it.”

The thought brought a faint smile to my lips. Nicolai possibly didn’t trust Gabriel with a vulnerable Tristan, but I had told the lycan that Gabriel was my bodyguard.

“I had to agree to have Tristan call Nicolai the second he was awake,” he continued.

“Have you actually seen Tristan?”

“I opened the trunk after I pulled into the garage at your place. He’s curled up with head and heart in their right places,” he teased, and I couldn’t blame him. My paranoia was worse than usual. “I won’t leave him until he’s in the house and knows how to set the alarms.”

“Thank you, my angel,” I sighed, letting my eyes drift shut. The security system for my house wasn’t quite Fort Knox, but it would deter most humans and give Tristan enough warning if another creature was near at night. There was also a vault in the basement with a separate security system, which would keep him safe during the daylight hours. Not even Gabriel knew how to disarm the locks on the vault. I had given Tristan those codes before he fell asleep that morning.

“How bad is it?” Gabriel inquired when a comfortable silence had grown between us.

“Bad enough.” I didn’t want to say more. It would take too long and serve no good purpose. “Have you healed?” I asked, changing the subject. The last time I saw him, he had sustained a wound to his side and thigh, and was still nursing an injured arm from a fight in Egypt.

“Enough to be a threat.” I could imagine one of his rare smiles flitting across his lips as he spoke.

As my own smile faded, I gave him instructions to contact my assistant, Charlotte, and have her arrange for a chartered jet to be ready to leave Venice that night. The new moon was in two nights. We had enough time to be at whatever location would be the site of the next sacrifice. Enough time to face the naturi for what I hoped would be the last time.

Rolling out of bed, I showered and dressed. Unfortunately, I was down to my last clean garment—a sleeveless cotton dress that hung down to my ankles. I had hoped to wear it in Egypt as I wandered around the decaying monuments, listening to the sound of the Nile splashing between its banks. The breezy, navy blue skirt would only hinder me in a fight, but I knew I wouldn’t be fighting Macaire when he finally decided to appear. The Elder might be seriously pissed at me, but he also understood the value of a good weapon. And if I had proved anything during the long years, it was that I was an efficient killer.

I had hoped to slip out of the suite without being stopped, but Danaus was sitting in the living room drinking coffee. The remains of his dinner rested on a trolley brought up by room service. A ghost of a smile floated across my lips as I looked at the hunter settled comfortably on the sofa. It always amused me when I saw him doing such mundane things like eating or enjoying the warmth of a good cup of coffee. It kept my mind struggling to grasp hold of him, as he constantly shifted between ruthless killer and human in my thoughts.

He was dressed in a dark navy linen shirt with short sleeves that revealed his deeply tanned, muscled arms. His shoulder-length locks were pulled back, letting my eyes caress his strong features. The day’s growth of dark stubble had been removed from his chin, but it did nothing to lessen the shadows that clung to the hollows of his cheeks. Danaus looked like a wealthy Italian gentlemen on holiday, but there was a seriousness, a dark shadow in his sapphire eyes, that no amount of expensive clothes could hide.

Had circumstances been different, I would have been content to spend the night staring at him, slowly memorizing his features. I would have happily passed the night curled in a chair, arguing philosophy, mythology, and our place in the universe with him.

“You’re awake early,” he said, setting his cup on the table before him. He rose from the sofa, slipping his hands into his trouser pockets. A knife was once again attached to his waist, and he was wearing a hard leather wrist guard on his right arm. The weaponry and guard were at odds with his clothes, reminding me that there was no escaping what he was—a hunter.

“Another meeting, I believe,” I said. I was dead inside after all that had happened during the past several nights. Walking over to the wall of windows, I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms loosely over my stomach.

“Like last night’s?”

“No.”

“Alone?”

I stared out the wall of windows, admiring the pallet of colors washing across the sky. Since becoming a nightwalker, my skies had been limited to inky black and sickly shades of gray. Yet, while in Venice, I had been given two chances to add some color to my skies. Tonight, the sky was bathed in deep reds and oranges as the sun sank deeper beneath the horizon. “No,” I said, a surprised smile dawning on my face. Danaus knew almost as much as I did at this point. Why should I try to hide this? He was also part of the triad. If Macaire wanted to talk to me about the naturi, then he would have to tell Danaus as well.

“We have to leave tonight,” Danaus reminded me. I knew that. The new moon was in two nights. It was also Lughnassadh, the pagan preharvest festival. Ancient lore said the celebration was in honor of the god Lugh’s wedding to Mother Earth. While I can’t say that I put much stock in the old pagan tales, it would have been rather fitting if the naturi managed to break the seal on that night, erasing the one thing blocking the union of the two worlds.

“Do you know where the next sacrifice will be?” I asked, turning to look at him.

He shook his head, a grim smile lifting the corners of his mouth. “I was going to ask you the same question.”

“Great,” I muttered, walking over and plopping down in one of the chairs next to the sofa. “We’re out of time.”

“We should never have come here. We should have been looking for the next location, or at least trying to hunt down Rowe,” Danaus growled, but to my surprise, he seemed as frustrated with himself as he was with me.

“I don’t remember us having a lot of choice in the matter,” I said, fixing my dark gaze on the hunter. “Or at least, I didn’t. Jabari wanted me here. I wouldn’t have been able to fight him. I’m a puppet, remember?”

Danaus sat down on the sofa again, leaning forward so he could rest his elbows on his knees. He stared off into space, lost in his own thoughts. Unfortunately, this arguing wasn’t getting us anywhere.

“The naturi can’t do anything for another two nights,” I said with a sigh. “If we hadn’t come here, we would have been jumping from place to place, chasing anything that looked suspicious. That would have been a waste of our time and extremely dangerous. Rowe could have attacked at any time during the day. At least here we were protected.”

That comment finally made Danaus’s head snap up, a frown pulling at his mouth. In this case, “protected” simply meant that we were safe from the naturi because this area was controlled by nightwalkers. And apparently because the Coven had struck up some kind of bargain with the naturi.

“Look at it this way, if we hadn’t come, Tristan and Nicolai would most likely be dead. We wouldn’t know the Coven has cooked up some scheme with the naturi, and we wouldn’t know that Rowe is unaware of the alliance. Once we know what the Coven is planning, it will be easier to stop them,” I argued.

“But that still leaves us with one very large problem,” Danaus countered. The hunter picked up his coffee cup again and drank the last of its contents.

Pulling myself up using the arms of the chair, I sat up straight. “I think we have more than that, but which one are you referring to?”

“Where is the next sacrifice?”

“We should know tonight. I think Macaire will tell us,” I said, causing Danaus’s features to twist in confusion.

“And why do you think he will do that?”

“Call it a hunch.” I shrugged my shoulders at the hunter as I smiled at him. “Have you talked to Ryan recently? Are your people looking as well?”

The warlock was the head of Themis, a research group that had spent centuries watching nightwalkers, lycanthropes, and any other creepy-crawly creatures the rest of the human race wasn’t aware of. Their numbers were large enough that they could watch all twelve of the so-called holy sites and report back any kind of activity. And the one major advantage they had over nightwalkers was that they could keep an eye on things during the daylight hours. While I fully expected Macaire to tell us the site of the next sacrifice, I wanted Ryan to confirm the information for me. Macaire would tell us the location; I just wanted to be sure it was the real location.

“Ryan is looking into it,” Danaus replied. “No word yet on the location.”

“Gabriel is contacting Charlotte. She’ll arrange for the flight out tonight,” I said, pushing back to my feet. Forcing a smile onto my lips, I motioned with my head toward the door. “Ready?”

The hunter’s muscular body was almost humming with energy as we headed down to the main landing. Pausing near the canal, I willed my body to relax, pushing the tension from my arms and down my legs until it flowed out of my toes. A light summer breeze stirred, dancing down the canals and threading its way between the buildings. Street lamps were popping on and the glow from Piazza San Marco was starting to swell.

“How do you like your rooms?” inquired a gentle voice from behind me in strangely accented English. I jerked around, stunned to find Macaire seated on a bench just a few feet from us. I hadn’t felt him there a moment ago, hadn’t even sensed his approach, but I guess that’s what made him an Elder.

Danaus instinctively reached for his knife, but I gently laid my hand on his wrist, halting his movement. Macaire had done nothing yet to threaten us. I was willing to play it cool for now. No reason to start a fight. There would be plenty of time for that later.

“They’re stunning, particularly the large wall of windows facing the east,” I answered. His face split into a wide, almost malicious grin. “When did the Coven acquire the Cipriani?”

“A few years ago,” he said, pushing to his feet and walking over to us. His English was perfect, but the accent was strange. I knew he wasn’t as old as Jabari, making me doubt that his people were a dead civilization. Slavic, Eastern European, or maybe Russian? But even that seemed wrong.

Macaire wore a pale, mint green button-up shirt that contrasted nicely with his deep brown eyes. His white linen pants and supple brown loafers made him look so damn approachable and pleasant. He should have looked more predatory; something to indicate to the world that he was one of the most powerful nightwalkers on the planet.

When he was standing beside me, he offered his arm. With a great deal of effort, I managed to keep my face expressionless as I slipped my hand into the crook of his arm while I let my other hand drop from Danaus’s wrist.

“The hall was receiving too many visitors, making sleeping arrangements uncomfortable,” he continued, pleased to see that I was willing to play along. His eyes for a brief moment skimmed over Danaus as if weighing some thought. “We thought it wise if we started keeping some of our guests off the island.”

“It’s beautiful. I’ve always liked the quiet of Guidecca,” I said, strolling down the street next to him. In the eyes of the world, we were a trio of tourists on an evening walk along the narrow street of the island, not enemies trying to find a way to accomplish our individual goals without dying in the process.

“How is Tristan?” Macaire abruptly asked as we crossed a small bridge, heading deeper into the island of Guidecca.

“I imagine he is faring much better than Sadira.” I couldn’t quite stop the smile that rose to my pale lips. Her screams echoed through my memory for a brief moment, loud enough that I felt muscles twitch in Macaire’s arm. I figured he was listening to some of my thoughts.

“Yes, I fear she’ll be in pain for quite some time,” he said, his voice hardening. “Not exactly a wise choice, considering that she must be strong to help you with the naturi.”

“Nor was her choice of enemies wise,” Danaus darkly interjected.

I was pleased with the hunter’s comments, but I didn’t want to worry about trying to separate the Elder and Danaus while I was still trying to get information. “Are you concerned?” I asked quickly, arching one brow as I looked down at him.

Macaire paused and turned his body so he was facing me. He laid one of his hands over my hand, which was lightly resting on his arm. “Of course I am.”

“I had my doubts,” I said with a frown. “Considering your new business partner, I was under the impression that maybe the Coven no longer wanted to keep the door closed.”

“Ahhh,” Macaire said, resuming our walk through the neighborhood. “You misunderstand, my young one.” His condescending tone made my teeth clench, but for now I knew it had to be tolerated.

“I can’t imagine why.” Hidden by the material of my dress, my free hand clenched into a fist at my side. “What is going on, Macaire? What has the Coven done?”

“We’ve struck a rather unique bargain.”

“Has the Coven decided to destroy us all?”

Macaire stopped walking again. He reached up and placed his hands on both of my cheeks, his eyes softening to a look of sweet concern. The nightwalker looked older than many of the others. It appeared that he was in his late forties to early fifties when he was reborn. His dark brown hair was sprinkled liberally with gray, giving him a wise and distinguished look. There was a cleft in his chin and deep lines around his mouth and eyes. It was strange. He looked like he was almost twice as old as Jabari, but the Egyptian was the older of the two.

“What we have done is for the protection of our kind,” he reassured me. His eyes pointedly moved from my face to stare at Danaus, who stood behind my right shoulder. “What have you done for the protection of our kind?”

I stepped backward out of his touch, my brows bunching angrily over the bridge of my nose. “I’m not a fool. You can’t make deals with the naturi and expect them to live up to the agreement.”

“Some would say the same about you,” he ruefully stated, looking from Danaus to me again.

“Enough! What is going on?”

Smiling, Macaire lifted his arm, patiently waiting for me to place my hand back in the crook of his elbow. He liked the farce, and I knew he would say nothing until I complied with his wishes. Nearly growling in my frustration, I placed my hand back on his arm and we continued our walk.

“Several decades ago, the Coven was quietly approached by a handful of naturi,” he began, sounding as if he was retelling a tale of misadventure at the office. “They told us of their queen’s plans to open the door between our worlds. It seems that they had become content with the way things had gone since becoming separated from the rest of the host. They had no desire to fall back under the thumb of their illustrious ruler. This small group came to us requesting that we not only close the door, but that we also kill Aurora.”

My legs stopped working as I listened to these words, as if the very idea had locked up my brain. I stood planted to the spot, blindly staring ahead at the large plaza we had entered. “Kill Aurora,” I repeated dumbly.

“They wish to return to the peaceful existence they had found. Aurora will not allow that. She will continue with her plans for wiping out both humans and nightwalkers.”

“I don’t believe it.” I shook my head, as if trying to clear the clutter of questions that had crowded in my brain. Macaire tried to continue walking, but I wouldn’t move.

“You do not have to,” he said patiently. “The Elders do.”

“To kill Aurora, she has to come through the door, which means we have to allow them to open the door,” Danaus reminded him. “It would be safer to stop them before they open it. It may be centuries before she has another chance to open the door again.”

“We considered that, and there is one problem…” Macaire paused, moving his gaze from Danaus to my face. “You.”

I lurched backward a step, putting a little distance between us. The sidewalk seemed to have narrowed, leaving me feeling trapped between Danaus and Macaire. This conversation had taken a strange, unexpected turn. “What do you mean?”

“You are needed to shut the door and form the seal. We also believe you are our best chance at destroying Aurora,” he said. “Unfortunately, considering your reckless lifestyle and your unexpected alliance, the Coven doesn’t feel confident that you will survive long enough to stop Aurora if she tries again a couple centuries from now.”

“Best chance—don’t you mean best weapon?” I snapped irritably.

“Yes,” he said in a slow hiss. “You are an exquisite weapon, whether you act alone or are being wielded by another. The Coven thinks this is our best chance to stop Aurora once and for all. To finish it. And we’re not sure we’ll have another chance like this one.”

“So we allow her to come through the door, close the door, and then kill her,” I stated, frowning darkly at him. “After that, the naturi that hired us go free.”

“Returning to their quiet lives,” he said with a nod as he laced his stubby fingers behind his back and continued to walk along the sidewalk until it opened up into a large, open square.

“What do we get out of this?” I demanded, unable to keep the skepticism out of my voice. I folded my arms over my chest and stared hard at the Elder, but he ignored my dark looks.

“Besides the chance to destroy their queen and cripple their race?”

“Yes. We’re the ones risking everything.”

Macaire smiled and strolled into the center of the campo, his hands clasped loosely behind his back. Reluctantly, Danaus and I followed him into the center of the square. The area was mostly empty. At the far end of the campo a stage was being decorated by several people. They appeared to be preparing for a festival, though I wasn’t sure which one. On the stage sat a row of five chairs with high backs, reminding me vaguely of the Great Hall dais. Obviously, Macaire had planned on walking to this part of the neighborhood. He had something else on his mind.

“What do you know of the Great Awakening?” he asked, his tone sounding as if he had just asked what the weather would be like tomorrow.

“A general outline of the plan. Why? It’s not supposed to be for another fifty years and even that’s still up for debate.”

“It’s the debate that has the Elders concerned,” he said. His hands swung from his back and hung limp at his sides. He looked around, taking in the string of little lights overhead and the other tables that lined the edge of the square. Tomorrow they would most likely be overflowing with food while the square buzzed with conversation and laughter. “It seems Our Liege wishes to change the date of the Awakening.”

“To what?”

“Next year.”

“Is he mad?” Danaus blurted out, causing me to wince at his volume and tone. It was not the type of thing anyone dared to voice about Our Liege. You never knew who was listening. I had always been outspoken, but there were a few lines even I was hesitant to cross.

“That’s not the word I would use,” Macaire said, his grim voice a proper reprimand for my companion’s unseemly outburst.

“It’s too soon,” I said to the Elder, resisting the urge to place my hand on Danaus’s arm to steady myself. My world was spinning out of control and I desperately wanted to run away from them all. “The humans may be able to adapt, but there are still a few stages that are supposed to be implemented. It would make the transition easier. The timetable was developed to protect our kind. You can’t throw it aside.”

“You’re not telling me anything the Coven has not already discussed.” Macaire waved one hand absently at me. A frown dug deeper lines into his grim face.

I walked over to stand directly in front of him, lowering my voice. Our agitated conversation was drawing the confused gaze of those on the stage at the far aside of the square. “What about the other races? What have they said?”

“They wish to stick to the timetable.”

I closed my eyes, not wanting to hear any more, but there was one other question that had to be asked. “Will Our Liege proceed without the rest of the races?”

“It is his intention.”

“Then it will be war,” I said wearily. The other races would attack nightwalkers around the globe to keep us from pulling aside the veil that protected our common secret. If I survived Aurora’s planned assassination, I would be headed into a war against creatures I had been at peace with for centuries. And in the end, the humans would still discover us ahead of schedule. We wouldn’t be able to hide the war from them forever, and they would discover us in the worst possible way.

“So now you understand our dilemma.” The Elder sounded tired, as if the weight of centuries had trickled into his voice.

“What is the Coven’s plan?”

Again Macaire smiled at me, sending a shiver skittering across my skin. Nightwalkers may not have been reborn evil, but there were moments when I thought something truly evil resided in Macaire’s chest. “The naturi can move about during the day. They would be able to get past bodyguards.”

“You plan to—”

“Do not even breathe the words!” he sharply said. Even the powerful Macaire had his fears. I knew what they planned to do. The Coven planned to have the naturi assassinate Our Liege while he slept during the day.

“And all of the Coven has agreed on this course of action?”

“Of course.”

“Even Tabor?”

The Elder’s gaze darted to Danaus before he could stop himself and then he stared silently at me for a long time. I could almost see the thoughts bouncing around in his head as he weighed my question. His lips twitched. It wasn’t quite a smile, but it was something. Maybe a word that he had stopped at the last second.

“That is an interesting question,” he said at last. “I think he would have if he had survived longer.”

“But he didn’t initially,” I prodded. Something still didn’t feel right about this. It might have just been my survival instincts telling me not to trust a word Macaire told me. I believed there was some kernel of truth to this tale, but I also knew there were a few other important tidbits he was leaving out. I had never met Our Liege and didn’t feel any particular allegiance to the nightwalker. As far as I knew, he had done nothing for me and was generally indifferent to my existence. In truth, Our Liege and the Coven had little effect on the night-to-night life of a vampire.

“He had his doubts,” Macaire said. “Why do you ask?”

“Just curious,” I replied with a shrug.

I strolled through the campo then, heading toward the stage, when I abruptly stopped, my eyes locked on the five chairs. The people who were hanging the last of the deep purple cloth to hide the wooden beams supporting the stage had finished and left the plaza. Danaus and I were alone with the Elder.

“Another question if you please?” I called into the air, trying to lighten my voice of the fear coursing through my entire body.

“What is on your mind, my dear?” Macaire said, coming to stand beside me. His voice was sweet and pleasant. He already knew what thoughts were dancing through my head.

“Supposing Our Liege meets an untimely demise at the hand of the naturi. Then our kind will find itself without a clear leader for the first time in several millennia. That cannot be in the best interest of our people.”

“No, that would not be,” he said with a solemn shake of his head. “But our race wouldn’t be without guidance. The Coven would remain.”

“So the rule of one and four would be replaced by the rule of three,” I said. That did not feel like an improvement.

“Until someone rose to power to reclaim the throne, and a fourth filled the empty seat on the Coven.”

I was frowning again. The Coven was not an improvement over Our Liege if one used the court as any kind of example of what the future would hold for my race. The Elders did as they wanted, but Our Liege held their collective leash. I might not have been too keen on his plan to throw away the timetable and start a war, but I wasn’t thrilled with my other option either.

Thick, heavy shadows had moved into the large plaza, and the voices of the people had dulled. Night was fully born. To my surprise, Macaire hopped up on the stage. The nightwalker sat down in the chair in the center, balancing his left ankle on his right knee.

“There is a belief among our kind that you will take the open seat on the Coven,” he casually began, motioning toward the seat that would have been Tabor’s.

It was a fight not to clench my teeth. I was doomed to hear this question repeated until it drove me mad. “I’m not an Ancient,” I said carefully.

“That is more a tradition than a law,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. I remained silent, waiting for him to finally say what was on his mind, but I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. “The rumor has begun to pick up steam now following your return to Venice and your little display the other night with Gwen. You were never one to adopt pets. I also heard what you told Valerio the other night about choosing sides. One might think that you are starting to build a following.” All this was said with a great amount of indifference and a frosting of boredom, but I wasn’t fooled. There was something he wanted to hear from me, and he was hanging on my every word.

“My actions during the past several days have nothing to do with the Coven and everything to do with defeating the naturi. That is all,” I said sharply, folding my arms over my stomach.

“Even Nicolai?”

A wide grin spread across my face, exposing my fangs. I was wondering when he would get around to what had happened with the harpies. “That was only a bit of fun.”

“As you wish. But the question remains…”

“Part of being on the Coven means being able to defend your position, and I am not strong enough to do that,” I hedged.

“This, coming from the one who tried to destroy all three members of the Coven at once just nights ago,” he scoffed, putting his foot back on the stage with a hollow thud as he leaned forward.

“That was a stupid move on my part. I lost my temper and did not think,” I conceded. My eyes fell to look at the cobblestone plaza, an appropriate stance of subservience. I wasn’t sorry about the whole thing. In fact, if Danaus hadn’t stopped me, I might have been able to pick off one of them before my head was ripped off.

“True, but you do have a nasty past with the naturi. It was understandable and I have forgiven you.”

I wanted to tell him to choke on his forgiveness but thought it better not to antagonize Macaire, since we were currently getting along so well. I decided to wisely ignore the comment and push ahead.

“Regardless of recent events, I know that there is at least one Elder who would not support my ascension to the Coven,” I cautiously hedged, curious as to his opinion. “And after Gwen’s demise, I have succeeded in upsetting another. Even you called for my death last night.”

Macaire sighed dramatically, shaking his head slightly as he chuckled to himself. “You do have a way with people,” he murmured, sitting back in his chair. “I acted rashly last night. The development with Nicolai was unexpected. Elizabeth is not pleased with you, but you did warn Gwen. She had to fight her own fights. Elizabeth accepts that.”

“And Jabari?” Danaus asked, as he came to stand beside me. He placed his hand on my shoulder, but I could not feel his presence in my thoughts. I was suddenly wary of his new interest. Could he honestly want me on the Coven? I wanted to shake my head to clear it of the thought. The only place Danaus wanted me was staked and headless. Yet the new thought stuck like a worm in an apple’s core.

“No, Jabari means to have Mira’s head after the door is closed,” Macaire said sadly as he returned his ankle to his opposite knee.

“I can’t defeat him.” There was no emotion in that statement. It was a simple fact I had known for as long as I’d been a nightwalker. As long as Jabari could control me, it was impossible for me to destroy him. And even without that ability, Jabari was extremely old and powerful. I wasn’t sure anyone could actually defeat him.

“I think you underestimate your powers.” I opened my mouth to argue, but Macaire held up his hand, stopping the words in my throat. “If half of what Ms. Brooks described is true, I think you could easily triumph with some help from your hunter.”

“But that would not be on my own.”

“No one else would know that.” His words escaped his thin lips as a whisper, a grin reappearing on his face.

“No one but you,” I corrected. Nicely done. He had found a way to not only get rid of Our Liege, but Jabari as well. Unfortunately, for him, I wouldn’t let myself be used by him. “I won’t be a puppet for you.”

“How is that possible? I’m sure you have guessed by now that I cannot use you the way Jabari has,” Macaire said, with no small amount of bitterness.

“I won’t do it.”

“Loyal to the end,” he sneered, his mouth twisting so that I saw a flash of fangs. “Even after all that he has done to you. Even though he means to end your life.”

“If I defeat Jabari, it will be on my own. Besides, I don’t want a seat on the Coven.” I didn’t want to have anything to do with the group. I just wanted to go home and forget about them all. Of course, if I did somehow manage to kill Jabari after we defeated the naturi, it would mean leaving two seats on the Coven open and Our Liege standing in danger. It would be all too easy for Macaire to take the throne and create his own Coven.

“If that is what you wish,” he said softly. He rose from the chair and jumped back down to the ground. I turned my back to him and stepped away from Danaus as I let my gaze sweep over the square. Lights in the shops and houses threw down a mismatch of golden squares on the plaza. Within the walls I could feel the humans going about their tasks, making dinner and talking to their loved ones. Just a few yards away their lives hung in the balance, being decided by creatures they didn’t even know existed.

“Are you prepared to leave?” Macaire inquired, returning my thoughts to the most urgent problem.

“A jet will be ready to leave by midnight. Where are we going?” I asked, swallowing some of the horror and anger that were still crowding in on my thoughts. This was why I had been brought to Venice. Not so much for my protection, but to make sure I understood what was at stake. To Macaire, I was being called in for one last mission on behalf of the Coven. When the time came, he expected me to kill Aurora as if she was some rogue nightwalker reeking havoc in a tiny town half forgotten by the world. However, it seemed Jabari wanted something else from me. He’d brought me there for the sole purpose of discovering the bargain, and wanted the naturi to fear me. But I had no idea what his ultimate goal was. After the horrid tale Macaire told, could Jabari truly want me to disrupt this bargain when it could stop two wars?

“Crete,” Macaire replied to my question.

A bubble of laughter escaped me as I shook my head. Oh yes, it could get worse. I hadn’t been to Crete since I escaped that wretched island as a young woman hoping to elude the mob screaming for my head. More than six hundred years had passed since I touched that land, and I had no desire to revisit it and the ghosts that waited for me.

Danaus stepped close. He didn’t touch me, but I could feel the warm brush of his powers against my bare arms. It was like a soothing embrace. “And what exactly do you want me to accomplish?” I bit out when I finally got control of my emotions again.

“Allow the naturi to complete the sacrifice,” Macaire replied. “The seal must be broken if they are going to be able to open the door.”

“Then why send me?” I demanded, taking a step closer to him. His unique brand of logic was starting to drive me crazy. “Why send anyone? If we take on the naturi again, there’s a good chance we’re going to end up dead.”

A grim smile graced his lips, and he stepped closer, in no way intimidated by me or my reputation. “Because I need you to kill Rowe. He’s their leader. He has the best chance of stopping us when we attack Aurora. He also has the best chance of keeping the naturi organized. The remaining naturi will most likely scatter and die off without a strong leader like Aurora or Rowe.”

“Do your new business partners know about this part of the plan?” I inquired sweetly.

“No, but they have been made aware that it is very likely many will be killed during this campaign.”

I nodded and took a step backward, my shoulder bumping into Danaus’s chest. Very neatly done. I had trouble believing the Coven would agree to anything that would allow the naturi to walk away and live in peace. The hope was that if we wiped out those who comprised their monarchy, it would eventually result in the complete destruction of their race.

“Will Jabari and Sadira be joining us in Crete?”

“No.”

“Are any others being sent?”

“A few others have been summoned and sent on ahead. They will be arriving tonight. They have been instructed to stay away from the site of the sacrifice and remain hidden until you have contacted them with the plan of attack. Remember, you can’t act until after they complete the sacrifice,” he instructed.

I frowned, staring off into the darkness. I still didn’t know what I was going to do. Not that I had that much choice in the matter. I was just the weapon. While I agreed that we would all be better off with Aurora dead, it was a great risk to allow the door to open. The only other wild card in this disaster waiting to happen was Danaus, and I couldn’t even begin to fathom what his thoughts would be on the situation.

“You have to bring that hunter to heel, Mira,” Macaire said, not caring that Danaus was standing right behind me. He had obviously been listening in again. I wanted to laugh. Danaus wasn’t controlled by anyone, least of all me.

“I’ll do what I can. Danaus does as he pleases,” I warned.

“We can’t afford mistakes.”

“I know,” I whispered, but when I looked up at him, I discovered that he was gone. Bastard. I hated it when the Ancients did things like that.

As I started to shuffle out of the plaza, I paused and looked back at the stage where the five chairs loomed over the large stone square. Jabari kept the balance on the Coven, protected the calm. If I killed him, there would be no stopping Macaire, except possibly Elizabeth. Unfortunately, I knew nothing about her. In my experience, she had always been like Tabor, a silent partner who enjoyed a little entertainment from time to time but kept to the shadows for the most part. Did she actually believe this scheme would work, or was she worried that she would be crushed like Tabor?

I wished I could talk to her for a few minutes; find out if she stood with Our Liege or Macaire. But after I played doctor with Gwen, I didn’t foresee that conversation being particularly productive. I also feared she wouldn’t be willing to speak for fear of being heard by Macaire. After seeing Jabari’s willingness to shake up the agreement with the naturi last night, I knew he wasn’t too keen on this plan either. That would also explain why Jabari remained in constant hiding. It meant neither Macaire nor the naturi could find him.

Sighing softly, I folded my arms over my chest. What was I left with? Let Jabari kill me when I finally grew useless so the balance on the Coven would remain. Not exactly my first choice. If I killed Jabari, would I have to take a seat, and spend the rest my existence butting heads with Macaire until he finally had me killed? Should I try to warn Our Liege? Other than the fact that he was trying to destroy us all now, he was an improvement over Macaire. Of course, the whole story could be a lie.

To add to it all, I had never met Our Liege. I didn’t know where he was or how to contact him if I wanted to warn him. Not to mention that there was no telling if he would actually believe such a ridiculous tale. As it had been pointed out on more than one occasion, I wasn’t the most popular creature among my kind.

But all of that was secondary to the greater, more immediate problem: What was I going to do when I got to Crete? The command to kill Rowe wasn’t a particular problem. I couldn’t see any benefit to leaving him alive, since he either wanted to use me or kill me. Yet, allowing them to complete the sacrifice would allow them to open the door at a later date. If there were any mistakes when the door was opened, all of the naturi could come rushing back into the world along with Aurora. A very bad thing.

On the other hand, if the door never opened and Aurora was never killed, then the naturi would never fulfill their promise to assassinate Our Liege. While I might not want him dead, I definitely didn’t want him to send us into a war with all the other races just to stop the Great Awakening from happening ahead of schedule. Another very bad thing.

It seemed I only had two choices: war with the naturi or war with creatures I had once called friends.

Shuffling back toward the hotel with a silent Danaus, my mind a jumble of thoughts, I realized that I missed my original plan. It had been a good, solid plan.

1. Kill Nerian.

2. Find Jabari or some other Elder.

3. Tell Elder of the naturi plan.

4. Return home.

Oh, and kill Danaus.

But even that had gotten fouled up along the way. To hell with plans. In less than twenty-four hours I was going to be standing in the remains of a place I had once called home, surrounded by the naturi. I doubted another one of my brilliant plans was going to see me through. May the fates forgive me, what I needed was to talk to Jabari