Nightwalker

Sixteen

We grabbed a taxi back to the hotel. Huddled in the darkness with Danaus beside me, I reached out into the city and for the first time in almost five hundred years searched for Sadira. It should have been an easy task. With any other vampire, I would have had to search slowly, letting my powers creep over the earth until I finally reached him or her. But Sadira was different. She was my maker. My connection with her would always be strong, no matter the distance or time. I should have been able to find her immediately, like lightning being drawn to a lightning rod. Yet, it felt as if she didn’t exist. But I would have known it if she was dead; I would have felt it. Something was wrong. First Jabari, and now Sadira. I could feel the nightwalkers in the city, but not these important two.

“Are there naturi in the city?” I asked. Silence filled the dirt-encrusted taxi, broken occasionally by the scratchy, distorted voices from the cab radio. I stared out the window at the assortment of town houses and shops as we headed back toward the Thames and the Savoy Hotel, near Charing Cross.

“Not in the immediate area.” Danaus’s voice rose, as if we were waking from a dream. “I think near the outskirts of town.”

“You’re not sure?” I turned my head so I could see him out of the corner of my eye.

He grimaced in the darkness, his features drawn in concentration. “It’s hard to tell. It’s like trying to see through a thick fog.” Frustration edged his voice and hardened the line of his jaw.

“It’s this island.” Sinking back into the dirty backseat, I leaned my shoulder against his strong arm. I was sure he’d run into other magic-related problems while staying in Great Britain in the past. There was too much old magic in these lands. Too many old gods had been born and died on this island; too many powerful warlocks had stretched their arms here. Magic doesn’t just die—it fades into the air and seeps into the earth. After centuries, this ground was saturated. Many magic users came to Great Britain because they could tap this well of power.

“Who’s Sadira?” he asked, changing the topic.

“She was one of the three to form the seal centuries ago.”

“Jabari and Tabor were the others?”

“Yes.”

“Were you a part of it?”

“No, just a recovered prisoner.” I was barely a century at the time, still a child among my kind. I had been captured two weeks before and tortured. The naturi wanted to use my unique ability to control fire as a weapon against the nightwalkers.

“Do you think the naturi will come after her?”

“Yes. Enough naturi were left behind in our world who would be able to identify the members of the triad.” I just didn’t understand how they would find her, when we couldn’t sense them and they couldn’t sense us.

Leaning my head back, I placed my right ankle on my knee, which brushed against his with the movement. Neither of us stirred for a moment, almost as if we waiting to see who would flinch first. What did it matter? I had crawled all over him on more than one occasion. And right now I wanted the reassuring warmth that washed off of him…it was better than the cold reality of the naturi.

“Is this how you expected things to progress?” He turned his head to look at me, his blue eyes catching a shaft of light as the taxi lurched into motion again.

“No.” I slumped in the seat and crossed my arms under my breasts. “Finding Jabari was supposed to improve the situation, not make it worse. I should be home looking after my domain, not searching for Sadira. It’s all a mess.” Beside me, I could hear the steady rhythm of his heartbeat while his powers brushed against my cheek. His power might not feel human, but his heart did. I had been out of contact with Knox for several nights now, and a part of me was desperate to know how things were progressing with him and Barrett. I needed to be home to help suppress any fires should they spring up between the nightwalkers and the shapeshifters.

“Is this how you planned it?” I asked. Sitting so low in the seat, I was forced to tilt my head up to meet his gaze.

“No.”

“Oh, really?”

Danaus leaned toward me as he whispered, “You should be dead.”

I chuckled and threaded my arm through his. He stiffened but didn’t jerk away. “But we work so well together,” I said, earning a soft snort. “We worked quite well together in Aswan.”

“You mean when you stopped trying to kill me.”

Leaning my head against his shoulder again, I let my eyes drift shut. “Well, I thought you tried to kill me while I slept. I was understandably upset.”

“It’s my job.”

“Get a new job, like being a florist.” I snuggled a little closer, trying to irritate him now. The night air was warm and we had our windows down, allowing the fresh breeze to circulate through the stale car. Yet, the warmth and strength rolling off Danaus would have been comforting no matter the season.

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“You’re evil.”

My whole body stiffened at those two cold words and my eyelids lifted. I stared blankly at the back of the front seat. “Prove it.”

“Come into a church with me tomorrow night.”

I couldn’t, which was the point. “Why haven’t you caused my blood to boil? If we’re so evil, why haven’t you destroyed us all that way?” I asked, attempting to dodge his question as I sat up, pulling away from him.

“The same reason you haven’t set me and every naturi you meet on fire,” he said. He shifted in his seat so he could pull his wallet out of his back pocket.

“Because it lacks style and finesse?”

Still balanced on his left hip, Danaus leaned over, his mouth hovering just a few inches above my face. “Because it’s exhausting. If you don’t kill everyone, you’re left vulnerable. In a fight, our powers are a last resort.”

As the taxi pulled over to the curb, he sat back in his seat and began to shuffle through his wallet to pay the driver. I slid out of the car, grateful to be back out in the night air. There was nothing to say. He was right. With time, I gained more strength, more endurance, but the use of my unique ability would always be exhausting.

We walked up to my hotel room, lost to our own dark thoughts. I was only vaguely aware of the looks that we were earning from the other guests. Charlotte had picked the Savoy, with its palatial elegance and gilt ornamentation. Its guests were the upper crust of society, and I was wearing leather pants, silk shirt, and blue-tinted sunglasses. I think I looked like a rock star, which was amusing. Clinging to that rationale, the observers naturally assumed that the heavily muscled, darkly handsome man at my side was either a bodyguard or a lucky lover. Danaus had wisely decided to leave the scimitars in the room, and instead had an assortment of knives concealed about his body. Walking around armed in Aswan was one thing. London at least kept up the pretense of being a little more civilized.

When we reached the double doors that led to my private suite, I stopped sharply. Something was wrong. A brief touch of Gabriel’s and Michael’s minds revealed that someone else was in the room with them. They were tense and anxious. However, a light scan of the room turned up only my two human angels.

With a playful smile, I threw open the two doors and walked in. But all playfulness was ripped out of my body as my eyes fell on Sadira. I hissed at her, my lips drawn back to reveal a perfect set of white fangs. My hands clenched into tight fists, my nails digging into my palms until I was drawing blood.

“Such manners,” she chided with a shake of her head. Her soft sweet voice was hypnotic, seeking to burrow down into my brain. She sat with her back ramrod straight and her chin up, as if she were a regal princess on her throne.

I straightened my shoulders, sending a warning look to the nightwalker. I knew my first encounter with her after all this time wouldn’t be good, but I hadn’t expected to react with such uncontrollable hostility.

“Why couldn’t I sense you?” I demanded, failing to unclench my teeth.

“Jabari contacted me. He said to hide myself, and that he was sending someone for my protection. I had no idea it would be you.” Her voice was calm and cool. Nothing seemed to ruffle her perfectly groomed feathers.

My skin crawled as I stared at her. Everything about Sadira seemed to be one great lie, and I hated her for it. At just under five feet, she looked like someone’s sweet little mother. Her long dark hair was streaked with gray and pulled up into a bun. Her features were soft and rounded, leaving nothing alluring or threatening in her appearance. She wore a long black skirt and a pale yellow shirt with pearl buttons. She looked prim and proper, safe and almost fragile.

But it was all a lie. I had seen her tear out a man’s throat while she fed, the blood dripping down her chin. I had seen her plunge her hand into a woman’s chest and pull out her heart so she could drink the blood directly from it. Yet, even when she was killing these people, she never looked like a predator. Just a hideous nightmare.

“Who is your dark shadow?” she inquired, smoothing over the silence that filled in the places where the tension had yet to reach. Her accent was haunting, an exotic flavor no longer on this earth. Ancient Persian. After more than a thousand years, Sadira had come no closer to shedding her accent. Most of us relinquished our old ties, preferring to blend in. Even Jabari’s accent faded when he was away from Egypt. But Sadira kept hers.

“He’s not your concern.” I took a step to my left so I was standing directly in front of Danaus. “The naturi are coming. They’re planning to break the seal.”

“How?” Surprise lifted her thin eyebrows and extended the wrinkles that stretched from the corners of her almond-shaped eyes. Her pale hands clenched in her lap, twisting her slender fingers.

“The usual way—blood and magic. Jabari said I am to protect you and reform the triad.”

“Has he been selected to protect you, then?” She refused to drop the issue of Danaus, intrigued by the fact that I was traveling with this stranger.

She never questioned the assistance of my daylight warriors, Gabriel and Michael. When a nightwalker acquired a certain level of power and frequently traveled into the domain of other powerful vampires, he or she would enlist the services of such guardians. Danaus, however, was distinctly different from these protectors. It wasn’t that he stood there exuding his own dark power. It was his confidence and the fact that he seemed completely at ease in a room with two nightwalkers. He had also been out with me at night, so keeping him at my side meant that he carried a different kind of importance to me. He was an equal, not a servant.

“I do not need nighttime protection,” I told her.

“Oh, my Mira,” Sadira said, her voice filled with warmth and concern. “You need protection more than me or Jabari.”

“I can take care of myself. I was never as weak as you liked to pretend.”

“I never thought you weak, my dearest child.” Pushing smoothly to her feet, she took a couple steps toward me, but I stepped away from her, the two of us circling in the small living room. I wouldn’t, couldn’t, let her lay a hand on me.

Sadira stopped, a look of patience filling her warm brown eyes. “I feared you would grow to be too confident in your powers. I didn’t want to see you hurt. I wanted to protect you.”

I blinked, and images of her castle in Spain sprung to life. She was in my head again, manipulating my thoughts like the early days. Mentally, I reached for her to shove her back out, but it was like grabbing smoke. The memories blurred, and then abruptly focused. I was back in the dark dungeon with its damp, crumbling walls. I was lying on the cold slab, hovering somewhere between life and death, with only the sound of Sadira’s voice to guide me back from madness.

Most nightwalkers are made in a night. A kiss of death, an exchange of blood, and the deed was done. But Sadira had wanted something more than when she made me. She wanted a First Blood, and thus she spent ten years—night after endless night—nursing me into her world and bringing me into the darkness. And when she was done, I was her greatest creation.

Our years together were ugly. She wanted absolute control over me; the same control she had over the other dozen vampires that resided in her castle. She had created a few others, but I was her only First Blood. They all flocked to her, clinging to her image of the caring, protective mother, but I never believed those lies, and only stayed because I thought I had no other option.

Now, however, I was free. Clutching that thought, I finally shoved Sadira from my mind and threw up as many metal barriers as I could. I pushed her back until she was just a vague shadow at the edge of my thoughts.

“I did not come here to fight with you, my Mira.” Sadness tinged her voice. “When I felt your presence, I thought you had come to talk.”

“Did you think I had come back to you?” Dragging my eyes back to my maker, I shook my head. “How could you believe such a thing?”

Sadira smiled at me, her head tilted to the side. The look a parent gave a foolish child; one of infinite patience and love. “Why do you still harbor this hatred for me?” We were circling each other like cats, waiting for an opening. “Does it chase away the nightmares? Does it help you to forget about Crete…and Calla?”

“I warned you to never speak her name.” My low voice crouched in the shadows, watching. I stopped circling, my whole body painfully tensed.

“You left her and now you find it easier to blame me for your regrets. You can’t run from us both forever,” Sadira said, taking a step toward me. She lifted her hand to touch my cheek, but I raised my hand, just an inch from her face. Flames danced over my fingers and slithered down to my wrist. Her eyes widened.

Before Sadira, I had a life. It was a short, fragile human life, but it was my life nonetheless. I’d had a family that I loved and a place in my small corner of the world. My world didn’t include nightwalkers or torture. It didn’t even include my own powers, since I’d chosen to hide that unique ability and start fresh.

But Sadira slipped into my world one night centuries ago and stole me away, threatening to kill all those I loved if I did not remain at her side. So I stayed through the humiliation, pain, and seemingly constant fear. She kept me at her side as a human for roughly four years. During that time, I discovered that I would make a better vampire than I could ever be as a normal human. The nightwalkers surrounding her feared me, feared my powers. And for good reason: Sadira had taught me everything she knew about torture and manipulation. When the Black Plague swept through Europe, she offered to make me a nightwalker in an effort to save my life. I agreed, walking away from any hope of returning to the life I’d lived before.

I hated Sadira for stealing me away. I hated myself for saying yes, because I could not be what I wanted—normal. Human.

Lifting my open hands, a pair of flames danced on my palms, flickering yellow and orange. I lowered my hands again, but the flames remained hovering in midair like little balls of light. Sadira took an uneasy step back, unable to drag her eyes from the flames. She had seen my tricks with fire before, even commanded me to perform, but I’d learned a few things since I was last with her. She had never seen me burn the air itself.

With the barest nod of my head, the flames streaked toward her. Less than a foot from her chest, they split in two different directions and started to circle her. She pulled her arms against her chest, her head jerking from one side to the other, desperately trying to keep the fire in sight at all times. She was terrified…and with good cause.

“I left her because I had no choice. You would have killed her,” I said, unable to even speak Calla’s name. I hadn’t thought about her in centuries, but Sadira’s cruel mention brought a fresh rush of pain, as she’d no doubt intended. “I left you because I would have killed you had I stayed. You made me, so I spared your life as an act of gratitude. I owe you nothing now.”

Sadira lifted her eyes to my face, and I could see a mixture of anger and genuine confusion in their depths. A part of her honestly could not understand my hatred. She did everything in the name of protecting her children, but that also meant controlling them. And no matter how hard she tried, she could not completely control me. In the past, she could make me bow under the pain and anguish she caused, but it was always short-lived.

Danaus purposefully entered my line of sight, standing behind Sadira’s left shoulder and frowning. He didn’t have to say anything. This argument was wasting time we didn’t have. I would have to add Sadira to my list of unfinished business. If naturi didn’t kill me first, I would finally deal with Sadira and my past.

“Enough of this.” Waving my hands in the air, the flames vanished with a puff of smoke. I paced away from Sadira, over to the windows that looked down on the city. Pushing aside the gauzy white curtains, I looked down on the busy street as a steady flow of traffic rushed below us.

When I turned back around, the tableau looked exactly as it had when I entered the room. The moment had been erased. Sadira’s face was expressionless, but that did not mean I’d been forgiven. A vampire never attacked another of her kind that was twice her age. And you never attacked your maker unless you were sure you could kill them. While Sadira worked under the pretense of love and protection, she was no different than the others. She would strike out at me at her first chance, but I wasn’t particularly worried. She could hurt me but would not try to kill me. I was a valuable pet, and she wanted me at her side, broken and obedient.

“One sacrifice has been completed at Konark, and the naturi have attacked me twice,” I said, trying to boil down everything that had happened recently into a concise description. It wasn’t easy. Was it fair to leave out the dead in my domain or the fear that seemed to burn in me every time I stepped outside? “We think they are going after anyone who survived Machu Picchu.”

“We?” Sadira said, cocking her head to the side as he eyes slid back to Danaus.

“Jabari and I,” I sharply corrected her assumption. “Tabor is dead. That leaves you and Jabari as part of the triad. I don’t remember who else was at the mountain that night, but not many of us survived.”

Sadira’s dark brown eyes narrowed on me as she frowned. Resting her right elbow on the arm of the chair, she settled her narrow chin in the palm of her hand. “What do you remember of that night?”

“Not much after you arrived. I remember Jabari rescuing me, holding me, with you and Tabor standing nearby. And then nothing…just light and…pain.” I struggled to pull the memory loose from the jumble of thoughts crowding that night. “Why can’t I remember? What happened after you arrived?”

“Have you asked Jabari?”

“He said he would tell me later.” Frustration and anger crept back into my tone. I shoved my right hand through my hair, pushing it from my face.

“Then I will leave it to him,” Sadira said quickly, with a relieved look. She was obviously glad to wash her hands of the ordeal. “I don’t wish to talk about that night.”

“Why? What happened? It couldn’t have been that bad if we won.” Taking another step closer, I moved around the coffee table in the center of the room in front of the sofa.

“No, Mira, please. You may doubt me, but I do love you. Even after all these years, the sound of your screams still haunts me at night. It is a sound I know I shall never forget.”

“You never heard my screams,” I said in a low voice. “The naturi had stopped torturing me before you arrived.” Her eyes darted away from me, locking on a point somewhere over my shoulder. A heavy knot twisted in my stomach as my mind pushed against the dark shadows that crowded my memories of that night. “How could you have heard me screaming?”

“It’s not important right now. There is nothing we can do until the triad has been reformed.” Her voice wavered before she could bring herself to meet my gaze. I stared into her brown eyes for a long time before I spoke again. She’d made her decision and I couldn’t move her.

“Fine.” I shoved my hands into my back pockets in an effort to keep from sending another fireball at her. “Jabari said to reform the triad I needed to find someone of Tabor’s bloodline. I don’t know Tabor’s maker so I guess we need to find one of his children.”

“And there you are in luck, though I wish one of his other children were closer,” Sadira announced, a light frown pulling at her full red lips.

“Why?”

“His name is Thorne. He is a little…different from what we have known. He appears to be a part of a new breed of nightwalker. He’s rather open about his condition,” she said delicately.

“Whatever. I’ll deal with him,” I said with a dismissive wave of my hand.

“He’s not likely to come with you.”

“I’m sure I can handle him.” And I was sure. “Have you met him? If he’s going to be difficult, I would prefer it if he didn’t know I was looking for him.”

Searching the area for a nightwalker I had never met before would take time and be invasive—rather like bending every vampire over and checking the initials in their underwear. If Sadira or I had met Thorne before, I could feel for him more discreetly.

“We have not been formally introduced, but I recently tracked him down to a bar on the outskirts of the city called Six Feet Under.”

“I’ll find him,” I bit out. Turning, I was about to stalk out of the room, happy to finally be leaving Sadira, when Danaus moved toward the door as well. “No, you’re staying,” I told him, placing a restraining hand on his chest, ignoring his dark looks. “Someone needs to stay here and protect her.”

“What about the naturi?” he asked.

Fear lurched in my stomach, wrapping itself around my heart. “Are they close?”

“Not that I can tell, but you wouldn’t know it until they were standing next to you.”

I glanced over at Michael and Gabriel seated on the sofa. If our enemies attacked as they had at Aswan, they wouldn’t have a chance. They were no match for the naturi.

But by that logic, I also couldn’t drag Sadira behind me through the bowels of London. She would be too much of a distraction if I were forced to try to protect both her and Thorne. I was trapped. I couldn’t imagine how Jabari had expected me to manage this. He could have just commanded Thorne to appear using his telepathic abilities, and Thorne would have appeared. Easy as that. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that intimidating yet.

I paced away from the door, desperately trying to find a new solution. I didn’t know any other nightwalkers in London I could call on and trust them to defend Sadira with their lives. And Danaus wasn’t about to stay behind when we both knew I needed him at my back to tell me if the naturi were closing in. I was about to give in and have Sadira accompany me to the pub when I felt someone else.

My hand flew to my mouth, but a chuckle still escaped. It was crazy and desperate, but I was completely out of options. I spun around sharply, facing Danaus. He jerked back a step, surprised by my quick change of direction. “Could Themis protect her?” I asked. His dark brows snapped together and he looked at me as if I had suddenly gone mad. “Do they have the firepower here in London to protect her?” I repeated a little slower.

“Yes, but—”

“We don’t have any other choice. I’m not thrilled about the idea, but I can’t be in two places at once.”

A long, heavy silence stretched through the room as Danaus stared at me. When he finally spoke, it sounded as if he’d ground up the word with his back teeth before releasing it: “Agreed.”

“Great. Now go fetch James. He just came up on the elevator,” I said with a laugh at his surprised look. “He followed us to the hotel and has been searching for us.”

Danaus hurried out of the room, a dark look filling his eyes. I don’t know whether he was upset that James had followed us or because he hadn’t noticed earlier. I had a feeling Danaus was so focused on the nightwalkers that surrounded him and the naturi that he forgot to pay any attention to the humans lurking on the fringe.

He reappeared a minute later, dragging a flustered-looking James in by the arm. He gave the young man a shove into the center of the room as he slammed the door closed again. It was nice to see Danaus angry with someone other than me. James ran his hands over his jacket as he eyes quickly surveyed the room. He stiffened at the sight of Michael and Gabriel, but when his eyes fell on Sadira, he stumbled backward a few steps, running into Danaus. Stepping away, he found himself that much closer to me.

“This was what you wanted, wasn’t it?” I said, taking a step even closer to him, my hands lightly clasped behind my back. “I felt you bumbling through the hotel. You had to know I would be aware of your presence.” I circled behind him as I spoke. I gave him credit for not trying to run as I heard his heart thudding like that of a cornered hare.

“I—I want to help,” James said, struggling to keep his voice from breaking. He wasn’t wearing his glasses now and I noticed his eyes were more copper than an ordinary brown; an odd shade with an almost red highlight in their brown depths. Trapped in that room, surrounded by monsters, he was younger than I initially thought; definitely mid-to late twenties.

“And so you shall,” I whispered in his ear. I quickly moved away, then stepped in front of him again. “James Parker, may I introduce Sadira,” I grandly announced with a flourish of my hands as I bent in a mocking bow.

“A pleasure and an honor,” he said with the kind of grace and aplomb everyone had come to expect of the British. He gave a slight bow of his head out of respect, but nothing more. I was impressed.

Sadira smiled at him, a picture of sweetness and gentility. “It is good to meet you, James Parker.” Her soft accent made it sound like she was almost purring. She then looked at me, and the warmth was replaced by a look of extreme caution. “What games do you play, my daughter?”

“No games. I have a task to be completed and I cannot drag you along, yet I can’t leave you behind either. My new friend James will see to your protection while I am gone.”

“I beg your pardon.” His eyes widened until I feared they would roll from their sockets. “How can I possibly hope to protect her?”

“Take her to the Compound,” Danaus responded, his deep voice sweeping unexpectedly through the room like a bitter winter wind.

James spun around to look at the hunter. “Have you lost your mind? No vampire has ever been permitted inside the Compound.”

Danaus just stared at the young man. He obviously didn’t care about precepts and traditions.

“James, she is one of the three nightwalkers that can stop the naturi,” I said, placing an arm around his bony shoulders. He stiffened at the touch but didn’t try to pull away. “I must go fetch one of the others and cannot protect her at the same time. So it is in everyone’s best interest that she remains alive and well guarded. Your little group can do that.” I leaned close so he could hear me when my voice dropped to a whisper. “Besides, after all the damage your group has brought on my kind, you owe us this one.”

James turned his head to look at me. I smiled, letting him get a good look at my fangs. He jerked violently backward, stumbling into Danaus again. “But what if—I mean, if she—” he started, but halted each time as he struggled to form the sentence without completely insulting Sadira in the process.

I chuckled, shaking my head. I’d put him in an awkward position. Less than two hours ago he had never spoken to a nightwalker before, and now they surrounded him.

“She’ll behave herself.”

“Mira!” Sadira gasped, sounding appropriately scandalized.

My name only earned her a dark chuckle.

“Where are you trying to send me?” Sadira demanded, her hands tightening on the arms of her chair. There was no threat or warning in her voice, but it held none of its usual sweetness either.

“The safest place I can think to put you.” I paused, stepping away from James, to stand directly in front of her. “In a den of hunters.”

Sadira came out of her chair instantly, her body rigid. “Are you mad?” Her eyes were wide and sparkling in the pale yellow lamplight.

“I have no other options. They won’t harm you as long as you don’t attack them.”

“Can you promise that?”

“No,” I admitted with an indifferent shrug. “But it’s in their best interest that you remain alive since you’re key to stopping the naturi. Of course, if you threaten them, I’m sure they have ample stakes lying around.”

“You can’t do this, Mira!”

“Do you have a better idea?”

She stared at me, impotent rage and fear blazing in her eyes. Her small hands were balled into fists at her side.

“I didn’t think so. I’m sending Michael and Gabriel with you as well, to help act as protection and a buffer between you and Themis. Don’t think to strike at me through them…you have your own string of pets that I can go through too.”

Sadira sat back down, lifting her chin a little higher. “You’ll regret this.”

I laughed at her. “You’re not the only one who wants my head on a pike at the moment. Take a number and get in line.” I turned my back on her and walked over to the windows, still shaking my head.

“Themis will never let them in.” James’s voice was fragile, as if he was terrified I would rip his throat out at any second.

“Call Ryan.” Danaus said before I could speak. The two members of Themis just stared at each other.

“Use the phone in the bedroom,” I said, pointing toward one of the doors in the two-bedroom suite. “I’ll have my limo brought around to the front while we wait.”

Finally, James frowned and left the room, closing the door behind him. Michael had already risen from the sofa and was calling down to the front desk for a limo, while Gabriel sorted through weaponry.

“Take it all,” I said. His head snapped up, lines of confusion digging furrows in his forehead as he looked at me. “You may not be returning here again. I want you and Michael prepared for anything. Set up sleeping shifts when you arrive at this Compound. I want one of you awake and with Sadira at all times.”

“But at dawn…?” Gabriel started before the words seemed to die in his throat.

“I’m not sure where I’ll be. Hopefully, I’m being overly cautious.” Gabriel frowned, his gaze darting over to Danaus for a moment. I noticed that his hand tightened on the dagger he’d been about to place in a belt sheath. “He will not kill me while I sleep,” I told him.

“But will he protect you?”

“Yes, I think he will.” The idea was amusing, lifting my mood a bit. I looked over at Danaus, who stood stiff and expressionless. He was completely unmoved by Gabriel’s glares and our conversation. “I think he would much rather kill me himself than allow someone else to do it.”

“That is not much comfort,” Gabriel said, a wry smile briefly touching his lips.

I looked away from my guardian, my eyes falling on Sadira. She had been closely watching the conversation, a smug smile lifting her lips. “Now you have your own,” she said. I had always mocked her about her need to be surrounded by pets and puppets.

“It’s not the same.” My momentary amusement drained from my body. “Their job is to guard me when I cannot protect myself. Nothing more.”

“Really?” Her smile grew as her eyes slid over to Michael sorting through the pile of weapons at Gabriel’s side. She could tell that I had fed off of him. The faint mark we left behind was a warning sign to other nightwalkers. If I did not feed off of him again in a week’s time, the mark would fade.

“Only when I travel,” I said. “And they are still human. When they return home, they have other lives in the sunlight. For your pets, there is nothing for them beyond you.”

James picked that exact moment to come out of the bedroom. I hadn’t wanted to continue this conversation with Sadira anyway. She had a knack for twisting things, and I didn’t need to justify my actions when it came to my guardian angels.

“We can go,” James said, his shoulders sagging a bit. “They are expecting us.”

“Good. The limo is waiting. With any luck, Danaus and I should be no more than an hour behind you.”

“Wait!” Sadira suddenly cried, drawing my gaze back to her face. “If I am to go to this Compound, you must fulfill a request for me.”

“We don’t have time for this, Sadira,” I growled.

“You know you have no choice. They cannot keep me where I do not want to stay,” she reminded me with a small smile.

She was right. She was an Ancient nightwalker who would be surrounded by humans. If she didn’t want to stay at Themis, she could leave regardless of the fact that she would be risking her own life. “What do you want?”

“There is another nightwalker traveling with Thorne; tall, brown hair with blue eyes. Tristan belongs to me. Bring him back with you as well.”

“If he belongs to you, why is he with Thorne?”

Sadira dismissed the question with a wave of her slender hand. “Just a little misunderstanding. Bring him back to me and I promise to behave.”

I stared at my maker, my teeth clenched. I didn’t like this. Why was this nightwalker with Thorne if he actually belonged to Sadira? Was I about to step into a battle between two Ancients? Or was Sadira playing some other game? Damn it, I didn’t have time for this nonsense, but if I didn’t protect Sadira and reform the triad, Jabari was going to have my head.

“Very well,” I snapped, looking away from her.

“Thank you, my daughter,” Sadira purred. I wanted to shove a fireball down her throat.

I turned my attention to Danaus again. “Anything?”

With his arms folded over his chest, he closed his eyes, his thick eyebrows drawn over his nose in concentration. His powers filled the room like warm sunlight, but no one’s expressions changed, not even Sadira’s. Was I the only one who could feel the wonderful wave of power bathing the room?

Out of the corner of my eye I saw him lift his head, his eyes opening. “No naturi in the immediate area. They should be able to make it to the Compound safely.”

“Go now,” I said, resisting the urge to shake my head in an attempt to shed the last tendrils of warmth still clinging to my brain. James led the way out the door, and Sadira didn’t look back as she followed. Michael and Gabriel both nodded to me once, then left without a word. A part of me wanted to hug both my angels. I wanted to hold them and then send them straight back across the ocean. Their job was to protect me during the day, with the expectation that it would only be against any human that found me. My intention had never been for them to face anything like the naturi. It was more than either had ever bargained for, and I had not wanted this for them.

Biting back a sigh, I followed my angels down to the lobby with Danaus at my back. I had just handed Sadira over to a pack of vampire hunters while crawling through the bowels of London looking for Tabor’s replacement. I doubted this was what Jabari had in mind when it came to protecting Sadira.