Nightwalker

Twenty-Four

Ryan was a warlock. I had suspected it before arriving at the Compound, but it was blatantly obvious when I walked into his private office on the third floor. He leaned against the front of his large walnut desk, his long legs stretched out before him and crossed casually at the ankle. He had been expecting me. Of course, I’m sure he could feel every move I made in his manor without straining himself.

He was a handsome man, standing just over six feet, with a long, lean body that somehow managed to exude a beautiful grace rather than being awkward. He wore a dark charcoal-gray suit with a black undershirt. Unlike his brethren, he wasn’t wearing a tie, and the top two buttons of the shirt were undone, revealing an expanse of nicely tanned throat. In fact, his tanned skin and dark-colored suit stood in sharp contrast to his long white hair. Falling somewhere past his shoulders, it was pulled back with a narrow, black ribbon; a throwback to an era long past.

His face had a strange ageless quality to it. There were no wrinkles or deep lines, making him seem to be in his early to mid-thirties at first glance. But his gold eyes held a depth that one could only earn through years of experience. He was old; older than any human was meant to be.

Magic had a distinct effect on a human’s physical appearance. And the deeper and more skilled a warlock or witch became in the use of magic, the more profound the effect. His power was etched into his features and imbued every inch of his being. It sizzled in the room like a current of electricity, making my skin crawl.

Most humans that used magic did it by accident. Events sometimes happened in their favor and the human simply chalked it up as a run of good luck. Only the ones who actually studied magic and attained some basic understanding were called witches and warlocks. And then there were those like Ryan, who made the study of magic a life’s pursuit. They were simply called dangerous.

After James wordlessly shut the door, leaving me alone with this strange man, Ryan rose to his feet without pushing off the desk. He stood in the same, seemingly boneless manner that vampires could. I had known a few warlocks in my time, but never saw a human pull a trick I always thought exclusive to nightwalkers.

“Impressive.” I said, lightly applauding. “I guess pulling a rabbit out of your hat is too mundane.”

He smiled back at me; a warm, friendly smile that seemed open and guileless. That was almost more impressive that his earlier trick. How could someone who wielded as much power as he did seem so nice? The same way the naturi seemed so harmless—centuries of practice.

“My name is Ryan,” he said, extending his hand toward me. I stared at it a moment, admiring his long fingers, but never touched him. It was a good, strong hand, the type of hand that could comfort as easily as it could punish.

Stepping around him, I looked at some of the bookshelves that lined his wall. I glanced over the old spines, but my attention was still completely on the room’s only other occupant. I preferred to keep a little space between us for now. “I know your name,” I replied blandly. “I also know what you are. My question is: Do your associates know?”

“They know I’m a warlock,” he said, drawing my eyes back to him. His smile grew a little wider. “However, I imagine your assessment of my powers is a little more accurate than theirs.”

Arching one eyebrow at him, I smiled. “So you’ve purposefully kept them in the dark.” There was no anger or accusation in my voice. Just honest curiosity. I wanted to understand his motives and the situation I had walked into. I also desperately needed to understand the players in this little farce before it cost me my existence.

“My abilities aren’t important to their cause.”

“That’s not what I meant,” I corrected. “You’ve not only kept them in the dark about yourself, but also the truth about vampires. I’ve heard and read some of the things these people believe about my kind. Why do you allow them to perpetuate such lies?”

“For their own safety,” he said. His wide smile faded a bit but still lingered on his lips. He shoved his hands in his trouser pockets, reminding me of a corporate executive after hours.

“What about mine? You’ve been sending hunters after my kind.”

“Both of our worlds are changing; much faster than I expected, I must admit. A couple centuries ago some of the things written about vampires were true. Most were ruthless hunters that killed every time they fed, but now I have found they are using some discretion. You’re still very dangerous, and without some fear of you, I worry humans will run blindly into your inviting arms.”

“I may have disillusioned poor James of some of these archaic notions. Will you silence him to keep him from infecting the rest?”

“No, of course not,” he said with a shake of his head, looking amused. “I won’t suppress the truth within Themis. However, I want them to find it on their own.”

“And the hunters? Were they your creation? Another attempt to protect your flock?” I slowly paced back over toward him, my footsteps muffled on the thick Persian rug.

Ryan had yet to move other than to turn on a heel so he was continuously facing me. “The hunters were created long before I ever joined Themis.”

“But you’ve done nothing to get rid of them since joining this little cult, despite your enlightened view of my kind.”

“What makes you think that my view of nightwalkers is so enlightened?” he countered, arching one brow at me.

“I’m here and still alive,” I said, holding out my hands, palms up at him. I stood directly in front of him, only a couple feet of empty space separating us. “You could have ordered Danaus to stake me and the others during the daylight hours, but you didn’t. I also know that you couldn’t have attained the kind of power I feel in this room without running into things far worse than me during your long years.”

“What could be worse than a nightwalker who can control fire?” he said, his smile finally returning.

“Danaus.”

Ryan’s smile instantly vanished and a shadow seemed to pass over his eyes as he stared at me, weighing my answer. We were both now standing in a field of land mines, each wondering how much the other person knew. His hands shifted in his trouser pockets, his eyes narrowing in thought. I had never run across such an eye color in any creature before—not yellow, but the true, deep luster of gold.

“Danaus is an interesting…person,” he said, pausing for a breath before continuing. “He’s had a particular interest in you during the past several years.”

“How long have you known about the naturi’s plans?” I demanded, my voice hardening. My hands balled into fists at my sides and I resisted the urge to take a step closer.

“His interest in you had nothing to do with the naturi.” Ryan’s broad shoulders slumped as he seemed to relax. He moved back to lean against the front of the desk and motioned for me to take a seat in one of the leather chairs resting before it. I was feeling indulgent, so I sat to his right, crossing my legs as I waited for him to continue.

“Before arriving on Themis’s doorstep,” he said, “I understand that Danaus spent many years living with monks, who taught him that good and evil was a black-and-white issue in this world. Humans were created by God and were innately good. By that logic, everything else was evil and had to be exterminated. You were an interest of his because you seemed to embody the ultimate evil. A nightwalker, a human that has turned from God, that can control fire, directly linking you to Satan and all that is evil.

“You’re somewhat of a mythical creature among your own kind. It took him almost a decade to track down your given name. Most still just know you as the Fire Starter.”

“‘Mira’ doesn’t strike the same kind of fear,” I said with a shrug.

“Danaus became quite determined to find and destroy you…” Ryan paused, staring at me. A dark shadow seemed to passed over his face as he regarded me with his too perceptive eyes, sending a chill up my spine. I suddenly wished that I wasn’t seated so close to the warlock.

“And then something changed for him. In all his searching and digging, not once did he hear a tale of you killing a human. Of course, there were numerous stories of you slaughtering your own kind, particularly those who had carelessly killed humans.”

“But he thought I killed when I fed,” I interjected, recalling our conversation during the plane ride to Egypt.

“True, but I think he was beginning to have doubts about that old myth as well. Before we discovered the naturi’s sacrifice, he had stopped his search for you. You were beginning to raise some uncomfortable questions…I think he was even contemplating leaving Themis. When I sent him to look for you in the States, he had regained his resolve to destroy you.” Ryan paused, staring thoughtfully. I knew he must have made sure that Danaus once again had ample motive to go after my head. “But something has changed for him.” Ryan said the last softly, as if thinking aloud rather than talking to me. I knew his thoughts as though I’d read them. He was wondering about that change. Danaus had more than enough opportunities to kill me but he hadn’t, and protected me on more than one occasion.

“He’s learned that Themis doesn’t have all the right answers,” I said stiffly. “He’s not pleased with your little group at the moment. Danaus has been misled and used. You’ve lied to him.”

“I never lied to Danaus,” Ryan said. The warlock frowned at me, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “If he asked, I would have told him all I knew of your kind. He had his mind made up about nightwalkers long before I was born.”

“You could have told him.”

“He had to discover it on his own.”

“Nice excuse,” I said snidely. “You had your own agenda, and the fact that you could use Danaus’s misinformed conclusions to your advantage provided you with no moral dilemma.” I leaned forward in the chair, tightly gripping the arms.

“Don’t we all.” He shrugged his wide shoulders. “I wish you would not think so ill of me, Mira. We have the same goal.”

A dark smile lifted the corners of my mouth as I stood. “I doubt that.”

“I’ll give you that you probably have more fun at it than I do, but our goal is the same: maintain our secret as long as possible.”

“Is that your goal?”

“I’m not the villain you want me to be. We’ve both done things to keep the humans from discovering what surrounds them. You’ve killed numerous nightwalkers that jeopardized the secret. I’ve done the same with the hunters. We’re both guardians, protecting that fragile wall that separates our world from the world of the humans.”

Ryan stood a step forward, closing the distance between us to less than a foot. He slowly raised his hand, with his finger bent, and held it beside my cheek. “May I?” he whispered.

“May you what?” I watched him through narrowed eyes. Warlock or not, I could still be on the other side of the room before he moved.

“I just wish to touch your face.”

I stared, confused at him for a second, my brow furrowed. It seemed an extremely strange request coming from him, but I didn’t think it was necessarily a trick. When a witch or warlock casts, you can feel the building of power in the air. Of course, Ryan was more powerful than any I had known before. There was enough energy in the air already that I might not notice any specific shift. But I nodded, regardless.

Noticing my wariness, he inched his hand forward until the back of his fingers gently caressed my check, sliding down from my cheekbone and along my jaw. His skin was warm and I felt only a slight jolt of energy from the contact, but nothing more. It was his voice that actually held me entranced briefly. “Forgive me,” he murmured. “You’re not as cold as I expected.”

“I find it hard to believe that you’ve never touched a nightwalker before,” I teased, tilting my head up so I was looking him in the eyes.

“Once before,” he said, a grim smile touching his lips. “And that was only after he was done feeding off me.”

“Yes, a meal tends to warm us up.”

“But you’ve not fed tonight?”

“No.”

“And you’re still not…”

“Cold as a corpse?” I supplied. The darkness that had briefly clouded his expression lifted at the comparison and his smile brightened. “Under normal circumstances, I can go several days without feeding and retain some warmth. A hot shower also helps.”

“Do you retain such warmth because of your ability?”

“To control fire? No. Fire does not burn or warm me. In fact, if I use the ability too much, I grow cold because it requires energy.”

“I hadn’t known.”

“No human ever has.”

“Why do you trust me?” he asked, sounding surprised.

I laughed deeply, the sound filling the room, shoving aside some his energy. He shifted at the sudden intrusion, resettling himself against his desk. “I don’t.” I slumped into the chair behind me, throwing one leg carelessly over the chair arm. “Call it a gesture of good faith. I give you a little something…”

“Because you want something,” he finished.

“Doesn’t everybody?”

“What is it you desire?”

My voice and expression hardened instantly. “Information.”

“An expensive commodity.”

“Perhaps, but what you get in return is valuable as well,” I said, my eyes never wavering from his face.

“And what is that?”

“Your life.”

“So we’ve come to threats,” Ryan announced, sounding amused.

“Not at all. Just a statement of fact. The naturi are a threat to both human and nightwalker. You have information that may help my kind. We are the ones risking our lives to protect you.”

“Very noble of you.”

“Hardly,” I said with a snort. “And you know better.” I looked up at him and his expression turned serious again. We had enjoyed our brief moment of levity, but time was wasting away.

“What is it you think I know?”

“I don’t know, but considering that I know nothing, it has to be more than me,” I admitted. “You discovered the first sacrifice in India before we even realized anything was happening.”

“Are you sure we were the first?”

“No,” I whispered.

Before the disaster in London and Thorne’s death, I would have emphatically said yes, but now I wasn’t sure of anything. The naturi knew too much, finding me far too quickly in Egypt and again in London. Someone was betraying me, and I didn’t like my options at the moment. Of course, I wasn’t about to voice those thoughts to a human. And if I had my way, I’d be holding the creature’s heart in my hand before the naturi attempted the second sacrifice.

“But at the moment,” I continued, pressing through those dark thoughts, “it doesn’t matter. How did you discover the body?”

“Konark has long been the center for heavy magic use,” he explained, “though it hadn’t been used for a very long time. I felt the surge in power that night. I had researchers on a plane before dawn touched the Indian sky.”

“What about the trees?”

“That, I fear, was just luck. One of the members of Themis was on vacation in Canada. He caught sight of a carving while hiking and took a picture. He thought it was some new branch of Wicca springing up. After that, I sent out every available operative to find more carvings.”

“How many did you locate?”

“Twelve.”

“Do you know what they mean? Can you read their writing?”

“Not really,” he said with a sigh. “The markings on the trees mean nothing to me, but I can make some educated guesses with the blood markings surrounding the sacrifice at Konark.”

“Do you think you found all the carvings?”

“Yes. I’ve checked every day since the first sacrifice but detected no other places I think might have the markings. Do you know what they mean?”

“The carvings? No,” I said with a shake of my head. “This isn’t the first time they’ve attempted to break the seal, but I have never seen or heard of the carvings before.”

“I had thought they were used as a way of activating the twelve holy sites,” Ryan speculated. With his right hand, he picked up a crystal paperweight about the size of a baseball. It looked like a crystal ball, but instead of being clear, red veins ran through the orb. He rolled the crystal between his two hands, a nervous gesture that revealed his worry, unlike the more guarded and planned expressions that crossed his face.

“No, the first sacrifice accomplished that. The carvings mean something else,” I said, shoving my hand through my hair, pushing it back from my face.

“So, now we just wait for the second sacrifice.”

“It will be soon. Very soon,” I whispered.

Ryan put the paperweight back on his desk and stood. “Are you sure? How do you know?”

“They’ve begun checking the other eleven sites. Once they locate the right one, they have only a small window of time to use it. The pool of power is constantly moving. I’ve never heard of anyone being able to tell when it will move or where it will go to. Maybe Aurora can, I don’t know.”

“But the next new moon isn’t for another five nights,” Ryan said with a shake of his head.

“The naturi are not bound to the key phases of the moon, though it helps,” I replied, fighting the urge to get up and pace. I forced a tight smile onto my lips as I titled my head back to look up at a warlock. “You know magic. It’s more than just the moon, and the seasons, and the alignment of the heavens.”

“Magic is also about circles and balance,” he finished. His brows drew together slightly, as furrows ran through his smooth forehead.

“And the anniversary of when the last seal was created is upon us,” I murmured. The thought had first occurred to me when I was talking to James last night. I too thought they would stick to phases of the moon, since it would provide them with the most power to break the seal. But destroying what the nightwalkers had wrought on the anniversary would not only be a powerful blow magically, but deal a heavy blow to the morale of my kind. “The naturi will be making their attempt either tonight or tomorrow night.”

“And if they were to succeed…”

“Then they would be able to open the door in five nights, lining up perfectly with the new moon.”

“And the pagan harvest holiday.”

“We’re running out of time,” I said with frustration, pushing out of the chair. I paced over to the wall of books on my left and back to Ryan, my arms folded over my stomach.

“But you have everything you need,” he argued, looking at me with confusion filling his face.

“No, I don’t,” I replied, turning to walk back toward the bookshelf. “A triad of nightwalkers stopped the naturi five centuries ago. One of the three, Tabor, was killed by the naturi several years ago. With him gone, we have to reform the triad. Unfortunately, the replacement I found was killed while I stood there watching.”

“But the triad has already been reformed,” the warlock said, his voice a gentle caress in the silence of the room.

I spun on my heel to look at him as my stomach attempted to turn itself inside out. “What?”

“I could feel it as soon as you entered the compound. All the pieces needed to seal the door again have been found,” he said confidently.

My legs threatened to buckle beneath me when I heard this horrible pronouncement. I was supposed to be the third? It couldn’t be. Sadira was my maker, putting us in the same bloodline. And if Sadira’s story was to be believed, so was Jabari and Tabor. I didn’t want to be a part of the triad. My job was to find a replacement for Tabor and protect Sadira. After that, I was returning to my city across the ocean and never looking back. They didn’t need me for anything else.

“You’re wrong,” I said, nearly choking on the words. “I can’t help them.”

“You have no choice,” he sadly said. “I—” Ryan abruptly broke off as his gaze darted toward the door and cocked his head to the side as if listening to someone whispering in his ear. “Something is coming.”

“What do you mean ‘something’?” I snapped. “Is it the naturi?”

“No, something else. I don’t know what. It’s powerful,” he said, pushing away from the desk to stand.

“Great,” I muttered, already moving toward the door. “You better get your people to cover. I’ll do what I can.” I didn’t know what I was facing, but I assumed it was at the Compound because of me and my traveling troupe of vampires and misfits.

“Thank you,” Ryan called.

“Don’t be too grateful. I may still need to pick your brain.”

“As long as I’m alive for it,” he joked, though the laughter no longer reached his golden eyes.

I paused, holding the door handle, and looked over my shoulder at the warlock. “Did you order my death?” I inquired, wondering if I would ever have another chance to ask. I needed to know exactly where I stood with this creature.

“Recently?” he asked.

“Ever.”

“Yes.”