Dayhunter

TWENTY-FIVE

Ryan and Danaus were waiting for us along the road to the Palace of Knossos. Both of them looked surprised to find Jabari walking beside me, but neither one asked about Hugo, which was probably the smartest course of action. His absence indicated that he either hadn’t made it through the day or was too weak to aid us tonight.

After last night’s freak storm, summer had returned to the island, leaving the air thick and heavy like a sweat-soaked blanket. The wind was silent, allowing any noise we made to travel easily to our intended prey. But I didn’t actually have much hope of sneaking up on them anyway.

As we walked along the side of the road, bits of gravel crunching beneath my feet, I completed my weapons check for the second time. The weapons Danaus gave me when we flew into Venice had been reorganized due to the unexpected arrival of James and Ryan. One of my guns now rested with James, whom I suspected was once again pouting alone in the hotel room. My sword had also been replaced with a pair of knives that rested in holsters strapped around my legs. I had more experience with close, hand-to-hand fighting, and my speed made me more lethal with a knife. The sword had been handed off to Danaus.

However, I still had one of the detested guns the hunter had given me. I pulled the Browning from where it rested at my lower back and ejected the magazine from the butt of the gun. The magazine wasn’t fully loaded.

“Here,” Danaus said, walking up beside me.

I looked down at the spare magazine he extended toward me. With a grunt, I accepted it, sliding it into my back left pocket. I hadn’t forgiven him. I wanted to spend several nights beating him senseless for what he’d done. A part of me also wanted to curl up into a ball and weep. But the naturi were gathering and I didn’t have time for either, so I accepted the bullets and kept walking.

“What’s the plan?” Ryan inquired from the rear of the line.

“Jabari,” I quickly said, hoping the nightwalker would happily step up into the lead. He was, after all, an Ancient and an Elder member of the Coven.

“This is your dance, Mira. You may lead. I am here only to fill in for the fallen nightwalkers,” Jabari called from behind me. I could almost hear his mocking laughter with each syllable. Rat bastard.

I hesitated, resisting the urge to look over at Danaus. Had he told Ryan about the Coven deal with the naturi?

“We have to face the fact that it is very unlikely the human they have selected for the sacrifice will survive,” I slowly began. My stomach churned with each ugly word I uttered. “Even if we rescue this person, as long as he or she in the area of the palace, they can be used as the sacrifice. The only way to eliminate the risk is to eliminate all humans from the area.”

“You’re saying kill the human before the naturi get the chance?” Ryan said. There was no surprise or disgust in his tone. He had asked matter-of-factly, as if simply confirming what I’d said.

“Our main focus needs to be eliminating the naturi threat,” I replied, aware of Danaus and evading a direct response. “Jabari and I will focus on Rowe. We will need you and Danaus to keep the naturi off our backs.”

If anyone was planning to comment on my ultracrappy planning skills, they lost out on the opportunity because we had reached the edge of the palace. With the gun clenched in my right hand and a knife in my left, I moved onto the first step leading up to the palace and paused. There was no time for fear or anger now. It was time to just worry about killing Rowe and surviving the next hour or so.

The energy I had felt last night was nothing compared to what I felt beating against me now. Ryan had created a storm with the force to not only destroy all of Crete but also wipe out several of other islands in the region, and it hadn’t even dented the energy I now felt vibrating in the air. It pushed against my skin, determined to once again find entrance into my body. I couldn’t use my powers tonight. This energy would shred me.

“They’re here,” Danaus murmured.

My head jerked toward the hunter, forcing me from my dark thoughts. “How many?”

“About two dozen. Most are centered in the main clearing, but there are a few hanging back toward the south. Two more are in the air.”

Before shifting my weight to take the next step, I scanned the area as well, looking for the exact location where the human was being held. The naturi would wait until the night was near its peak, but they would be preparing the human. I was willing to guess that Rowe was hovering close to the human as well. But the naturi managed to surprise me again.

“Damn it,” I snarled in a low whisper. I stepped backward and lowered my gun.

“There are three,” Jabari said from behind me, stating what I’d just discovered. I walked a few feet away from the entrance to the ruins, flipping the safety of the gun back on in an effort to keep from putting a bullet in my foot in a moment of frustration. There were three humans at the center of the ruins. Not one. Three.

“Decoys?” Danaus asked, drawing my gaze to his face for a flash.

I looked away just as quickly, my eyes darting from Danaus to Ryan before finally settling on Jabari. “Yeah, maybe,” I softly said, holding the Elder’s eyes.

“And one of those decoys is James,” Ryan announced.

“What? How?” I gasped, feeling the need to point my gun at the warlock. Bringing the human along had always felt like packing live bait to me, and now the young man was caught.

“He was grabbed during the middle of the day,” Danaus answered. “He ran down to the corner store and never returned.”

I wanted to smack them both for letting James out of their sight. Hadn’t my own mistake with allowing Michael to get involved in a fight against the naturi taught them anything? Humans only ended up dead when the naturi and nightwalkers were involved.

We needed to hurry now. It had been night for more than an hour already. They could have started the process. While they might not complete the sacrifice until the peak of the night, the naturi could spend several hours in the ritual, removing the human’s various organs and burning them. They would keep James alive and conscious right up until the end. But we wouldn’t have any hope of saving him if they had already cut him open.

“New plan,” I announced, insanely hoping I could convince Danaus and Ryan to go along with my newest bout of insanity. “There are three humans but only one is the true sacrifice. I will go after Rowe and keep the bastard occupied. Danaus will focus on freeing James and getting him over to Ryan. Once Ryan has James, the two of them will return to Heraklion.”

“Mira, I think I can—” Ryan started, but I quickly cut him off.

“No, you can’t. You’re still a human, Mr. Warlock, and can be used as a sacrifice. Both you and James have to be away from the site. Jabari will focus on the other sacrifices. Ryan, I need you to hang back until James has been freed. If Rowe or any of the other naturi tap into the weather again, I need you to stop it.”

“Mira, that’s earth magic. Not my strong suit,” he argued.

“You have to try.” I flipped the safety off the gun again and took a step toward the entrance. “Do whatever you can to interfere with the spell. We’ll try to keep them away from you so you can work.”

Turning, I walked toward the entrance and up the stairs without looking back at anyone. I knew that none of the humans were decoys. Rowe wasn’t taking any chances. We had stopped him once, and now he was betting we wouldn’t be able to stop all three sacrifices.

As I reached the top of the stairs, a high-pitched screech rent the silence of the night. I cringed, lowering my head as if I expected the wrath of the heavens to fall on me at that second. Not quite. Two of the harpies from Venice had come to Knossos to help Rowe with the sacrifice. And we had obviously been spotted.

Sneaking around one of the remaining walls, a smile lifted my lips. The idea was to let me protect the seal and kill Rowe. The positive aspect to the plan was that I could kill every naturi that stood between him and me. I knew I would find a bright side somewhere within this nightmare.

We edged closer to the central courtyard. Only a handful of naturi stepped forward to harry us. With Jabari tagging along, they were quickly dispatched with little trouble before any of them could fire up their special powers. I wasn’t surprised. The main force of the naturi was pulled back to defend the sacrifices.

The wind suddenly picked up, shifting twice before it blew at my back, pushing me forward. Climbing over a low, broken wall that surrounded the courtyard, I tightened my grip on the knife and gun. Rowe stood a few yards away, legs spread and hands on his hips. He smiled at me. Behind him more than a dozen torches flickered and danced in the wind. Spread before us across the wide courtyard were the three humans; two men and one small child. They had been tied down, their bodies stretched out from east to west. Just like at Stonehenge not so long ago.

“Is this all you brought?” Rowe demanded, arching the eyebrow over his one good eye. “I thought last night was a little scouting party. But this is it?”

“Why waste the manpower when four is all we need?” I mocked. “We’re ending this tonight.”

“I agree.”

A duet of screams filled the air above me. Reluctant to take my eyes off Rowe, I looked up in time to see the two harpies plunging toward me, their fleshy wings pulling in close to their bodies to increase the speed of their fall. I lunged forward, slamming against the rock floor while Danaus and Jabari dove in opposite directions. Pain exploded in my ribs as I hit the ground, but I pushed it aside and kept moving. Rolling onto my back, I lifted my gun, searching the black skies for the mythical nightmares. But they were gone.

Rolling to my knees, my head snapped back as pain exploded in my jaw and I cried out, falling to my back. Rowe was on me in a second. His fist connected with my cheekbone, both sides of my face now throbbing in pain. The naturi straddled me, his knees pressed against my hips.

“You should have taken my offer,” he growled, and slammed his fist into my stomach. “We would be on the same side now.”

I swung my right hand up, trying to aim the gun at him. “Never,” I grunted.

Rowe easily knocked my hand away, but I was counting on it. I swung my left hand up, burying my knife up to its hilt in his side. He screamed, backhanding me as he pulled away. His blood covered my hand, causing the knife to slip out of my grip as he stumbled off.

I pushed back to my feet, the pain in my face beginning to subside. I tried to get my bearings as Rowe hurried away to heal the latest wound I had inflicted on him. But I didn’t have a chance. They attacked silently this time and I wasn’t watching the skies.

The winged naturi swooped down in a rush of wind, blotting out the meager starlight. I’d taken half a step back when impossibly long talons dug into my arms and shoulders. A scream was ripped from my throat as my feet left the ground, matched by the sweet sounds of their laughter as they carried me off.

I tried to twist from their taloned grasp, but the claws only dug deeper into my flesh and muscles until I could feel them scraping against bone. Blood streamed from my shoulders, soaking into my cotton shirt, still stained from last night’s battle. Lifting the hand that held the gun, I tried aiming it at either of my two captors as we rose higher into the night sky. I managed to get off only two shots before the gun was ripped out of my hand, and looked down in time to see it plummeting to the earth, which was steadily receding farther and farther away. The ruins were drifting away too as the pair of wind naturi carried me to the north, toward Heraklion and the sea.

With each flap of their massive wings, a gust of wind hit me. A chill flashed across my body, cooling the blood that crawled across my stomach in a growing stream. A reflexive shiver shook me, causing their talons to dig deeper. I had to get free. Danaus and the others were outnumbered. James had to be saved. Rowe would complete the sacrifice soon, and the power…I couldn’t feel the power any longer. The harpylike naturi had carried me far enough away.

My head fell back and a bubble of laughter jumped from my throat a second before both of the naturi holding me erupted into flames. Their screams echoed across the skies as their clawed feet opened, releasing me. I moved quickly, grabbing an ankle of each naturi before I could fall back to the earth. Pain burned in my shoulders, threatening to loosen my grip, but I held tight. If I lost sight of them or lost contact, I wouldn’t be able to keep the fire going.

The flames ate at their flesh, burning holes in their fleshy wings until we were all plunging to the ground in a hideous heap of burning, melting flesh. The naturi in my grip twisted and screamed, not so much fighting me, but simply trying to escape the pain. I finally released my hold on their legs as the ground approached with surprising speed. I had made this mistake before, not paying attention to where I was falling. The last time it happened, I’d been impaled on a tree limb and barely survived the encounter. And Sadira wasn’t around now to save my sorry ass.

Plummeting to the ground, I looked down to discover I was falling into an orchard. Damn it. Ready-made stakes. I lost sight of the two naturi, so the fire I had created instantly went out. Crossing my arms over my chest in a desperate attempt to shield my heart, I crashed through the smaller upper branches. My feet hit a larger branch, but I just as quickly slid off so that I landed across it. Something cracked. Whether it was my ribs or the branch, I don’t know, but only a moment later both the large branch and I were laying on the soggy ground.

I wanted to stay there awhile. Pain throbbed in my body in half a dozen places, and I wanted to collect my thoughts before adding to the network of cuts and wounds that crisscrossed me. But a pair of low moans pulled me back. The two wind naturi had crashed through a tree right behind me.

Using the trunk of the tree I’d fallen through to help me to my feet, I hobbled over to where the naturi were writhing on the ground. Their pale pink skin was now black and flaking off in bits of ash. Their wings had burned straight through, leaving them grounded. But then, we all knew they would never fly again even if I hadn’t destroyed their wings.

Their screams lasted for less than a minute as I once again encased them in bright orange flames. I felt no remorse, no regret, no doubt. The naturi intended to do the same to every other creature soon enough.

When they were destroyed, their ashes left to dance in the wind, I summoned up my powers again and searched the island for Danaus. I had a vague idea where I was but couldn’t waste time wandering around in the darkness. I located the hunter with ease. He was my beacon in the night.

Cutting across the open farmland, I ran as quickly as my wounded body would permit. I had lost blood and my body was trying to repair itself, but it wasn’t an easy job, as I refused to stop and rest. Reaching the road again, I picked up speed, and returned to the ruins in a matter of minutes.

At the main courtyard, I found Jabari at the westernmost sacrifice. He was easily tearing through one naturi after another as each one bravely approached the Ancient. Danaus was to the east, holding his own with a sword in his hand while naturi formed a semicircle around the hunter. James was still staked to the ground, though one of his hands was loose and he was struggling to free his other hand.

Ryan was my greatest concern. The warlock stood opposite Rowe. As I approached them, I paused long enough to pick up a short sword from the ground. A lost weapon from a dead naturi. It wasn’t my first choice, but I’d lost one of my knives in Rowe earlier and the harpies had stolen my gun. I had one knife left, and I was going to need that if Rowe pinned me again.

Overhead, the sky had begun to churn and the wind gusted, whipping my hair in front of my face. Rowe was calling up another storm. The ground around Ryan glowed a strange pale blue. The warlock had created some sort of protective circle to keep the naturi physically at bay. But I knew it wouldn’t protect him from a bolt of lightning. At least, not for long.

“We’re not finished!” I shouted across the courtyard. Rowe’s head snapped up, and for a breath he actually looked surprised. Then the shock melted away, the fleeting emotion replaced with a grin that reminded me of my old tormentor, Nerian.

“Good to see you in one piece,” Rowe replied. His one good eye jumped from me to Ryan and back again as he struggled to watch the warlock and me at the same time.

I was about to lunge at him when someone far more interesting captured my attention. “Rowe, you once said there was some great reason why I was left alive that day. Some role I had yet to play,” I shouted over the gusting wind. “Call this me returning the favor.”

Rowe genuinely looked confused as I sidled past him and moved toward the female naturi who stood nearby. She was the one who’d appeared within the Great Hall. She was the one with whom the bargain had been made. She held a sword in one hand and her lips were pressed into a thin line of worry. She knew I recognized her despite the fact that she now wore a pair of jeans and a black tank top.

“I see you got your playmate back,” I taunted. “Did she enjoy her stay within the hall?”

The tip of Rowe’s sword dipped as he looked from me to the other naturi at his side.

“She’s insane,” the female quickly said, shaking her head. “She’s lying. I don’t know what she’s talking about.”

“Hmmm…” Rowe said, taking a step away from her. “Maybe. But then, Mira’s not one to lie.”

“Jabari! Is this her?” I shouted across the courtyard, hoping to snag the attention of the Ancient as he tore apart another naturi. The Elder turned, his robes soaked in blood. He casually paused for a moment and looked at the naturi I had indicated.

“Yes,” he said with a nod. “Kill her. The bargain is off.”

“You can’t call off the bargain!” she screamed without thinking. “A single member of the Coven can’t call off the bargain. You promised us!”

I didn’t think she would go for it so easily. I wasn’t sure how many of the remaining naturi in the region were a part of this faction that wanted Aurora dead. I needed to not only convince Rowe that there was a deal, but those faction members also had to believe that the bargain was dead. I had dreaded this moment, but now that it was here, I didn’t feel the panic I’d anticipated. Adrenaline pumped through my body and my hand tightened on the hilt of the short sword I held. I was ready to finally take matters into my own hands, ready to take back a measure of control of my life.

“I claim the open seat on the Coven,” I announced, straightening my stance. “Jabari, do you recognize my claim?”

The smile grew across his face and I could feel him laughing in triumph. “I recognize your claim,” he solemnly replied with a bow of his head. And then his voice changed to something darker, more insidious, as he finished, “Welcome to the Coven.”

“Now, as we were saying,” I continued, turning my attention back to the naturi, who stood before me with her face growing redder with anger. “The bargain is off. If you want Aurora dead, you can do it yourself. The door is staying closed.”

“No!” she screamed. She came running at me with her sword raised above her head.

Grabbing a knife from my side with my free hand, I knelt down and threw it directly at her chest. The small knife buried itself in her heart. She paused, still standing, long enough for me to rise to my feet and remove her head with a single, fluid swing.

Her blood sprayed everywhere, pelting me in the face. I wiped it off with the back of my hand as I turned my full attention back to Rowe. “Obviously, you didn’t have all your ducks in a row, but you do now.”

“The same could be said about you and your young man,” Rowe countered, motioning with his sword toward Danaus.

James was sitting up now, but the naturi were getting closer. Danaus was painfully outnumbered, while Jabari was trying to defend the two other humans at the same time. The bargain was dead, but we were stretched too thin to try to stop the sacrifice. Besides, there would be no combining our powers this time. Danaus and I were desperate, but what we’d done last time was too ugly to repeat. There had to be another way.

“I—”

Whatever Rowe meant to say was cut off when another naturi called to him. His whole body stiffened at the sound of her voice. He quickly stepped backward, putting some distance between himself and Ryan. But I also noticed he carefully positioned himself between me and the newcomer.

It drew my attention to her. She was shorter than me and her body was incredibly slender, as if she were only an animated skeleton in soft gray clothes. A mass of straight black hair hung down her back. She watched me with enormous eyes that seemed to be the same shade of pale gray as her clothes. In fact, the only thing that didn’t seem to be monotone in this slim creature was her ruby red mouth, which at the moment held neither a smile nor a frown. I watched her until Rowe stepped into my line of sight, thinking insanely that she looked familiar.

Rowe shouted something at her and she responded. They spoke in their own language, which I couldn’t understand. But Rowe’s body language and tone spoke volumes. He pointed his sword at me with his right hand and waved his left hand at her, motioning her to stay back. Eyes narrowed and body bent forward, he was ready to attack me if I took a single step toward her.

Again he shouted some direction at her that I couldn’t understand. Just over his shoulder, I saw her gaze up at the sky once. There was no moon to see, but I knew what she was doing. She wasn’t looking for some celestial body or even a fresh wave of winged naturi to aid them. I knew her expression—she was gauging the night. We were out of time.

Something clenched in my stomach and my hands started to shake. Now was the moment, and I felt trapped. I was afraid to use my powers. I could kill us all. There was too much energy in the air and I wouldn’t be able to control it.

“Danaus!” I screamed. I hoped the hunter heard me. I hoped he understood by the desperate plea in my voice what I was asking, because there was no more time for plans and explanations. “Kill the female! Stop her!” My voice rang out over the fighting, echoing across the valley. Jabari, Danaus, and Ryan heard me. They would stop her if I could not.

Rowe’s face twisted in rage at my words, turning his whole body to face me. He raised his sword and came at me. I countered him, and his sword clashed with mine again and again, the impact sending sparks flying around him. We were both desperate, but Rowe was also afraid of something, which made him sloppy. Dodging a blow meant to remove my head, I punched him in the face, knocking him back a few steps. To my surprise, he fell backward over a piece of broken rock and didn’t get back up.

Chaos surrounded me. Dropping the short sword, I reached inside of myself and tapped my own abilities. I was ready to summon up all the fires of Hell. No one would leave the ruins alive. The sacrifices had to be stopped. The seal had to be protected.

With the first flicker of fire, the energy came rushing into me, alive and crackling. For the first time in my life, I was fully in touch with the powers of the earth. There was no calm, sweet peace. No sound of babbling brooks or whispering winds. There was only crackling rage and the fury of a power long unused. Mother Earth was fucking pissed and I was now her outlet.

Each naturi that approached me burst into flames instantly, but it wasn’t enough to relieve the pressure building in my body. The torches became engulfed in flames while giant basketball-size balls of fire hovered in the air, lighting the courtyard so it appeared as if daybreak had finally arrived. I located Danaus and James and quickly encircled them in a protective wall of fire. I did the same with Jabari, but it wasn’t enough.

The power was building. It was going to destroy me, and I couldn’t find the gray female Rowe had been so intent on protecting. The power was going to kill me before I could stop her.

Danaus. I reached out. My voice in my head seemed like a small whisper compared to the roar of power within me. I couldn’t concentrate anymore. The fires were getting larger, brighter, stronger. I was going to kill the very people I was trying to protect.

I’m here. His voice in my brain was a cool balm against the burning inside me.

Can’t concentrate. Can’t find her. Don’t know which sacrifice she’s going after.

She’s here.

“No!” I screamed. James!

Pain exploded within me. I didn’t even have a chance to react. My whole body was thrown backward. I flew what felt like yards through the air in a terrifying blur of motion before my spine slammed into the hard stone ground. An incoherent scream of pain erupted from my throat as I writhed. Something was being torn deep within me, as if someone or something was attacking the fragile shreds of my soul, trying to pull them from my body. I curled into the fetal position, desperate to hold my soul within my battered frame. The pain burned within me. Nerve endings trembled and twisted. Organs sizzled. Agonizing pain ripped through my brain until there wasn’t a single thought.

And then the blackness seeped in. It consumed everything, the pain, the tearing sensation in my chest, the outside world. The blackness blotted out everything and then it stole me away.