Nightwalker

Twenty

Less than two hours later I was kneeling with Tristan in the outer fringe of a thin copse of woods just northwest of London. There was a scattering of farmhouses close by, their fields outlined by spindly wooden fences and stone walls. According to Danaus, we weren’t too far from Stonehenge and less than thirty minutes from the Themis compound.

For a July evening, the air was crisp and heavy, as if the skies would soon open up with rain. Beside me, Tristan drew in a deep breath, relying on his hunting skills to track his prey, but they wouldn’t help him with the naturi. They smelled of the earth, holding none of the musky scents and pheromones found with other living creatures. I bit down on my lower lip as I watched the woods through narrowed eyes, trying not to think about Tristan’s inexperience. But that kind of inexperience was rampant among my kind. It had been five hundred years since any of us faced a serious battle against the naturi. Since Machu Picchu, we had been content to fight among ourselves, with only occasional incursions against the lycanthropes and the warlocks. But even those amounted to little more than beating chests and gnashing teeth.

“Remember what I told you,” I whispered. “Shoot them in the head or in the heart. Once they go down, take off the head as a precaution.” I looked down at the gun tightly clutched in my right hand. Danaus had supplied us both with handguns and, when we both looked lost, a quick lesson in using them. Vampires didn’t use guns. Up until now, the old ways were always more efficient…and more fun.

“Do you honestly trust the hunter?” Tristan hissed, turning his head to look at me. Danaus had dropped us off near the entrance to the woods and then drove on a couple more miles. He was going to circle around and find a perch on higher ground. He had a rifle and planned to pick off some of the naturi from a distance while Tristan and I attacked.

“No, but he’s had more than one opportunity to kill me and hasn’t taken it. It doesn’t make any sense to do so now.” I scanned the area, picking up nothing but small flashes of wildlife. Danaus was about a quarter mile away to the east, no longer moving. It was time. I couldn’t sense the naturi, but he had said he would attempt to put them directly between us. All we had to do was walk through the woods toward him and we should trip over them.

“Let’s go,” I murmured, standing and silently walking deeper into the woods, ignoring Tristan’s soft comment under his breath. Something about me pushing my luck. Yeah, that went without saying.

I wasn’t counting on the element of surprise as we moved soundlessly through the woods. While the naturi couldn’t sense us, they would know something was approaching as we unavoidably disturbed wildlife along the way. Furthermore, after our time in the pub, we smelled of smoke and human sweat, which would also give away our position. But with Danaus playing sniper, I was hoping to at least keep them confused, earning us a slight and very brief edge.

We moved in the woods, picking through the underbrush. What little noise we did make sounded like the wind running its fingers through the leaves. While nightwalkers preferred the city, we all spent a little time out in nature. It was a good way to hunt; to stretch our powers, our senses, our bodies to their limits.

And tonight we were hunting naturi.

After a few minutes we stopped at the low murmur of voices in quiet conversation. I couldn’t make out any of the words but seriously doubted they were speaking any language with which I was familiar. Their comments were quick and sharp. I had a feeling they knew we were close.

Crouched low in the dirt, Tristan and I crawled closer, sticking to the thick undergrowth in an attempt to remain hidden as we got as close as possible. I paused for a second as a branch snagged the left arm of my silk shirt. My leather pants afforded me some protection from the rocks and dirt, but this wasn’t exactly the best attire for crawling through the woods. Neither were my leather boots. My heels had sunk into the soft earth and small holes on more than one occasion.

We finally halted a few yards from a small clearing in the woods. There were ten naturi scattered before us, four from the animal clan. Other than those from the water clan, with their blue-green hair and gills, the animal clan was easiest to identify. They wore their dark brown hair long and shaggy. The structure of their faces was wider and harsher, with sharp cheekbones and a hard jaw. At least two more were from the earth clan. They seemed the exact opposite of the animal clan, with their tall, willowy frames and dark, earthy skin. Their hair color was a broad array—purple, blue, yellow, green—all the colors of the flowers.

What had me worried was the other four I couldn’t identify. Their height and build varied, as did their hair color. They could have been from the wind clan, which I had little experience dealing with, or the light clan, which would take away my special gift as an advantage.

Of course, I was coming after the naturi on their own turf. If we were going to survive this, we had to strike fast—the longer the fight lasted, the more chances the naturi had to take advantage of their surroundings.

I was also worried that I had yet to see Rowe. The pirate wannabe had been so good at finding me so far, I just assumed that he’d be with the nearest group of naturi. Or that he’d come to me.

Looking over at the white-faced Tristan, I flashed him a broad smile full of fangs and joyful menace. It was time to go. I just hoped Danaus stuck to his end of this bargain.

As I stood, I flicked off the safety and widened my stance while holding the gun with both hands. I would have only enough time to get off a few shots, and I’d never used a gun before—I had to make each bullet count. Tristan rose smoothly beside me at the same time, a low growl rattling in his throat.

We squeezed off six quick rounds, and the two naturi standing closest to us went down. The report of my gun and Tristan’s was almost immediately answered by a shot from farther away. Danaus took out one of the earth clan and two of the unidentified naturi. In less than three seconds we had taken down six naturi with guns. From there, it got hard.

Overcoming their initial shock, the four remaining naturi scattered. Tristan and I continued firing, but they were on the move and our aim wasn’t that great despite our superior reflexes and speed. The last remaining member of the animal clan lunged at Tristan, while I saw the earth naturi simply sink into the ground as if she’d stepped into a quicksand pit. I couldn’t see the other two naturi, and in the distance the mournful cries of wolves were raised in chorus. The damned naturi had already called for backup.

I snarled as I turned on a heel to grab for the naturi wrestling with Tristan. But I never got there. Vises wrapped around my wrists, jerking my arms over my head. I was dragged backward into the center of the clearing before being pulled into the air.

Looking up, I found the two missing naturi. There was one holding each arm as they pulled me higher in the air. Given their enormous iridescent wings, I assumed they were members of the wind clan. Where the hell humans got the image of six-inch, half-naked pixies with a golden trail of magic dust I’ll never know.

“I guess Rowe missed the Fire Starter,” giggled one of the naturi in English, for my benefit.

The other gave an inelegant snort, tightening her grip on my right wrist, her long nails digging into my flesh. “She wasn’t so hard to catch.”

I tried to jerk free of their grip, but their fingers were like metal shackles that tightened until I was sure my bones would soon break. Narrowing my gaze on my two captors, I summoned up my powers, preparing to set their lovely wings on fire, but something else grabbed me, shattering my concentration. Twisting as best I could, I looked down to see what had grabbed my right ankle. A long, thick vine had wrapped around it and was snaking up my calf.

“If he is so fond of her now, won’t he love her more if we make her taller?” chuckled a third, saccharine-sweet voice to my left. I looked around to find the earth naturi standing on a tree branch, her shoulders propped against the tree trunk as she did her best “Tarzan meets Jane” impression. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her wave her hand, a second vine wrapping around my left ankle a moment later.

“Or he might love her twice as much if there are two of her,” suggested the first wind naturi. Meanwhile, the wind naturi continued their ascent, and the vines attempted to pull me back down to earth. A scream erupted from my throat before I could stop it. My body was being stretched and pulled in two separate directions. Their nails dug into the soft part of my wrists, sending tiny rivers of blood down my arms while the vines tightened around my ankles. I vainly attempted to twist in their grip, but neither the naturi nor the vines loosened their hold.

Closing my eyes against the rising pain as my shoulders threatened to dislocate, I focused on the creatures I could feel holding my arms. Heat built in my limbs, crawling up to my fingertips. My eyes flew open and I directed the fire at their wings. The tissuelike substance went up in a bright ball of orange flames before jumping to their lithe bodies. They instantly released me and we all plummeted back down to the earth.

There wasn’t time to scream. Pain ripped through my body as I came to a sudden halt. Something plunged through my back and tore through muscle and organ before finally punching through my chest. The world swam. The darkness crowded my eyes for a moment, and I fought back against the wave threatening to consume me. Clenching my teeth, I looked down, ignoring the fact that my feet were dangling in the air, to find a piece of wood sticking out of my chest. I had been staked from the back by a branch. The naturi had staked me. The only reason I was still alive was that she’d managed to miss my heart, barely. Blood was pouring out of me at an alarming rate, soaking into my clothes and running down my legs.

Discovering that I was still alive, the earth naturi screamed in frustration. A second later the vine tightened around my ankles and resumed its attempt to pull me back down to the earth. I screamed as the branch pulled on muscles and tore at organs. My weight finally overwhelmed the branch and it broke, sending me back to the earth with a heavy thud. The impact sent a shock wave of pain through my tortured body, further loosening my hold on consciousness.

A gunshot cut through the night then, and I heard something fall near me. The air carried with it a puff of earth and wind. The naturi. Either Danaus or Tristan had shot the naturi. One less thing to worry about, but it didn’t matter. I was running out of time. I couldn’t lift my arms to try to push or pull out the branch. I couldn’t move.

My eyes fell shut, riding the next wave of pain that threatened to swamp me. I had to think of what I needed to tell Danaus or Tristan. Someone had to tell Jabari, Sadira, the Coven, about the attacks. Someone had to tell Knox that I was gone and that he needed to watch over the nightwalkers in my domain.

“Mira!” Danaus barked my name.

My eyes fluttered open again and I saw the hunter kneeling next to me. One of his hands was cupping my cheeks, tilting my head so I could look up at him, but I couldn’t feel it. My entire world floated in a sea of pain.

“Tristan?” I roughly whispered.

“I’m here,” he said, suddenly coming into my line of sight. He was a mess of cuts and scratches, and bloody matted hair.

I closed my eyes, trying to find the strength to continue talking. Some of the pain was beginning to recede, and that worried me. The branch was still embedded in my body. “Naturi?”

“They’re gone. Dead.”

“Wolves?”

“Mira, we have to get this stake out of you and get you somewhere safe to heal,” Tristan said, a soft waver running through his voice.

“Wolves?” I knew they were coming. Even with the last of the naturi dead, they would continue to come and attack, clinging to the last command shoved into their brains.

“Damn it!” Tristan snarled when the air was once again filled with the forlorn cries of the approaching wolves. “Hunter, take care of the wolves. I will help Mira.” I saw Danaus nod at Tristan before carefully lowering my head back to the ground, then disappearing from my line of sight.

Tristan moved behind me and knelt behind my head. Over the pain, I felt him grip my shoulder, his thumb sweeping back and forth a couple times in a gentle caress. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, then jerked the branch out of my body. Every muscle in my frame clenched and I screamed again. I hadn’t thought the pain could get any worse. My thoughts were scattered to the wind, swirling around me in ragged fragments.

“…losing blood…need to feed…” Tristan’s words were coming to me in bits and pieces. I tried to focus. There were things I needed to tell him, but I couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t remember anything that had seemed so important just minutes ago. Or was that hours? Time was slipping away from me.

Danaus’s name suddenly popped up in Tristan’s diatribe about me needing to feed. I fought back the wave of pain and managed to open my eyes. Tristan was still behind me but was leaning over so I could look him in the face. He was pushing something into my back, keeping the pain screaming through my body.

“Danaus?” I murmured.

“Fighting the wolves,” Tristan confirmed. “When he comes back, you will feed from him so we can get you somewhere safe.”

That’s what I thought he had said. “No,” I choked out, letting my eyes fall shut again.

“Mira, we have no choice. My blood won’t help you.”

I licked my lips and gathered up my energy again. I was in no mood to die, but drinking from Danaus seemed like a very bad idea. Even as I appeared to be facing my final hour, the hunter didn’t seem the type to give such a donation. “No…dangerous. Bad blood.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“His blood is dangerous…Don’t feed from him.” I didn’t have the energy to explain it, but I was still conscious enough to know that until I knew what he was, drinking from the hunter was a bad idea. While there was a chance his blood could heal me, there was also a good chance it could kill me faster than the hole in my back and chest.

“Mira—”

“No, Tristan,” I bit out around clenched teeth.

The young nightwalker heaved a heavy sigh, looking away from me. “We need to get you to Sadira,” he muttered. As much as I hated it, he was right. Our maker was the only one who had a chance at keeping me alive.

“Leave me now,” I whispered, “and not even death will stop me from collecting your head.”

A fragile smile played with the corners of his lips as he looked back down at me. “Very frightening, Fire Starter,” he murmured, smoothing some hair from my face.

I wanted to smile and say something reassuring, but I was just too tired and had no doubt that I looked as threatening as a half-downed kitten.

“Is she dead?” Danaus’s voice intruded in the growing silence.

“Asshole,” I grumbled.

“We need to get her to Sadira,” Tristan said, his hand tightening on my shoulder.

“Take her to where I dropped you off. I’ll bring the car,” Danaus instructed.

“How do I know you won’t abandon us?”

“Because I need her alive,” Danaus growled, stepping away from me.

I wanted to think about that comment, turn around what he meant, but I didn’t have the chance. Tristan picked me up, sending a fresh wave of pain through my body, and then the world went dark.