Pray for Dawn

THIRTY-ONE

I leaned my shoulder against the stone wall outside of Abigail Bradford’s apartment building, hidden in the shadows that blanketed Factors Walk. I was standing in almost the exact spot where Lily had first spotted Gaizka so many nights ago. The place where it had all started, and where the bori would finally appear. The sun had set nearly an hour ago, and above me, streetlamps popped on around Bay Street, creating a fresh cast of shadows in the narrow alley.

LaVina had reluctantly agreed to come when I stopped by her house that afternoon. Workers were still tooling around her front yard, cleaning up the debris from the felled tree. The old witch hadn’t been particularly happy about the mess we made of her property, but relented as we focused on getting Mira out of her nearly catatonic state. The nightwalker had been faced with the naturi and the bori in less than six months—nightmares that had been banished from the Earth for centuries. And I had brought both into her life.

Mira had promised to meet me outside of Abigail Bradford’s apartment, but a part of me wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t show. She had been through enough. And in truth, this was my fight. I was beginning to fear that she would only be a target for Gaizka.

LaVina’s steady, critical voice drifted down to me from where she sat on a bench near the railing above Factors Walk. I had left her there weaving Savannah roses with dried palm leaves. “You’re late,” she grumbled.

“Sorry,” Mira snidely replied. “I stopped for a shower.”

I looked up the stairs behind my left shoulder to see the nightwalker coming down wearing her typical garb of black leather. Strapped to her waist and legs were an assortment of blades. Her black leather duster danced slightly as she moved, while her leather boots were nearly silent on the concrete-and-stone sidewalk. She was ready for battle.

“Did you hear from Lily?” she asked in softer tones when she reached the bottom step.

“Tristan called me just about an hour ago to say that she was safe and that they were at the Compound,” I replied, a half smile tugging at one corner of my mouth.

Mira nodded. “Tristan called before I left the house. Said he was going to stay on for a few days to make sure that she’s settled properly.”

“It’ll give us time to get things settled here,” I said.

Mira nodded, her lips pressed into a hard, thin line as she clenched her jaw. On the exterior, she was all cold rage and immoveable hatred, but I could sense the undercurrent of fear rippling through her. I reached up and moved a strand of hair that had blown in front of her eyes. I let my fingers stray across her cool cheek, cupping her face. For a moment, I regretted every chance I’d had to kiss her but didn’t. I wanted to tell her to walk away. I wanted to tell her to get on a plane and fly as far from me as possible, but my throat closed up and I couldn’t utter a sound.

To my surprise, Mira smiled at me before turning her face to press a kiss to the palm of my hand. “I want to be here. It’s where I belong,” she said. I shouldn’t have been surprised. When we were close, we were constant ghosts in each other’s minds.

I tightened my grip on her face and started to pull her close when the sound of approaching footsteps echoed off the high stone walls of the surrounding buildings. I hesitated then slowly released her, letting my hands fall back to my sides. Mira placed her hands on either side of my face and pulled me close, pressing her cool lips against mine in a kiss that left me drowning. But the touch was over almost as quickly as it had begun, as she stepped away from me, turning her attention to our newest companion.

Mira’s shoulders slumped with relief, but a frown still marred her lips as she looked at the newcomer. I turned to find Emma Rose, the young lady who worked the trolley tours counter, coming up the hill to enter the wide alley.

“Emmy, you need to get out of here,” Mira stated. The nightwalker tried to step around me, but I grabbed her left elbow, jerking her to a sharp stop. Something was wrong here. Emma Rose couldn’t have known that Mira was up here and there was no way that the nightwalker would have told her friend where she was going to be when she was coming to meet a dangerous bori.

“What are you doing?” Mira demanded, trying to free her arm, but I refused to release her.

Sending my powers out from my body, I sensed the same energy I had felt at LaVina’s last night lingering in the air.

As Emma Rose turned the corner, stepping into the shadow cast by a building, a red glow faintly lit her narrow eyes while a dark smile grew on her attractive face. Gaizka had taken possession of Emma Rose’s body.

“No!” Mira screamed, finally jerking out of my grasp. She lurched forward a few steps before I got ahold of her arms again, keeping her from attacking the creature that had taken control of her friend. “Release her!” Mira cried in a choked voice, no longer struggling against my grasp.

“Or what?” chuckled a vaguely familiar voice, a mix of Emma Rose’s soft voice and Gaizka’s scratchy rasp. “You’ll burn me out of her?”

I drew Mira back several feet, drawing her deeper into the shadows that cloaked Factors Walk. Gaizka followed, moving around the building and out of the sight of anyone who might look up in our direction. The bori paused in front of the doorway that led up to Abigail Bradford’s apartment. Laying its hand on the door, the creature turned its head toward us and smiled. “Good memories,” Gaizka purred in Emma Rose’s voice. “It’s where it all started.”

“How?” I asked, my eyes lingering on Emma Rose.

“The girl?” Gaizka said, putting out Emma’s arms as if she were modeling a new dress. “She’s a good girl. When an angel appeared before her at prayer, she didn’t hesitate to accept my request for assistance.” As the bori spoke, a pair of white, sparkling wings rose out of Emma Rose’s back and a white glow spread all around her. But the illusion was gone almost as quickly as it had come, as if the bori didn’t have the strength to maintain it.

“Emmy is a devote Catholic,” Mira said, horrified. “She wouldn’t have questioned…”

“What a pity,” Gaizka murmured. “Of course, I must confess that things have not gone how I would have hoped. I thought by now you both would have destroyed a few naturi for me.”

“We’re not going to help you any longer,” I said firmly, moving Mira behind me. “You’ll not win your freedom through us.”

“Are you willing to risk the lives of the people of Savannah on that stance?” Gaizka inquired, arching one brow at me while its grin grew wider.

“We won’t allow you to harm anyone,” I said, drawing a knife from my side. I couldn’t use a gun while we were within the city limits. The noise would only attract a crowd and draw the attention of the police. The last thing we needed was a crowd gathered so that the bori could easily begin its massacre of the city.

I stared at Emma Rose’s body, a lump growing in my throat. In order to stop Gaizka, I would have to kill her, something that sweet girl didn’t deserve. I could easily imagine her watching this scene unfold, screaming on the inside, terrified, and I was going to make it worse by attacking her. I truly wished she couldn’t feel the pain, but a part of me knew she would.

Gaizka threw back Emma Rose’s head and let loose a wild, joyous laugh while crossing her arms over her thin stomach. “I am the least of your concerns.”

At that second, I felt a shift in the power coursing through the alley as if a cold wind had slipped through me. I tightened my grip on my blade and prepared to step toward the bori when a sharp pain stabbed in my back, sending me to my knees. I cried out, nearly dropping my knife as I tried to reach back to find what had caused the excruciating pain. It shifted as I felt the blade being pulled from my back. I twisted around as best as I could to find Mira holding the knife in both hands, her fingers covered in my blood.

The nightwalker’s face was completely blank, yet her eyes were once again glowing an ominous red. Gaizka was not only inhabiting Emma Rose’s body, but had also taken control of Mira.

Gritting my teeth against the surge of pain, I rolled away from the nightwalker, putting myself directly between her and the bori. I pushed immediately to my feet, trying to ignore the flow of blood that was coursing down my spine. Mira had sliced through muscle and it felt like she had cut into one of my lungs as I struggled to catch my breath. The wound was healing, but it was only a matter of time before the nightwalker gave me a few more matching wounds until I was finally bled dry.

“Forcing me to kill Mira won’t get you any closer to freedom,” I snapped. “Without Mira, I can’t help you at all.” I circled to my right as Mira slowly approached me. The nightwalker still held the bloodstained knife in her hand. For now, Gaizka seemed content to allow us to slash at each other. It had not tapped into the nightwalker’s ability to control fire. I had no defense against such an attack…unless I used my own ability to boil Mira’s blood.

“Oh, my dear boy, you have no idea the many ways you can still help me.” Gaizka chuckled softly. “Mira’s not the only nightwalker that you can control. You’ve got bori energy flowing through your veins. I’m sure that, with a little practice, you can control any nightwalker you want.”

“But not the same way I can control Mira,” I bit out as I dodged a slash aimed at my throat. Mira reached down and grabbed a second blade from her side with her left hand. She slashed downward with the new knife, trying to draw the blade across my chest. I jerked out of the way, my heart thundering in my ears. I had to find a way to disarm her and knock her out so that the bori could no longer control her, removing her from danger. I didn’t want to kill her, but I wasn’t going to allow her to weaken me to the point where I had no choice but to abide by Gaizka’s wishes.

“True,” Gaizka purred softly. “Mira is the most efficient killer I’ve ever encountered, but if you won’t use her then we have no need for her. She is simply a distraction from the main task at hand.”

“So, you want me to kill her?” I asked, risking a glance over my shoulder at the bori.

“Yes,” Gaizka hissed. The red glow in Emma Rose’s eyes seemed to flare briefly before they returned to their normal glint. “And you won’t do such just because I command it, so you kill her or she kills you.”

“You won’t do it,” I said, lowering my knife to my side. I straightened from my defensive stance, facing Mira. The nightwalker seemed to pause for a moment and blink at me as if Gaizka had temporarily relinquished its hand on her. “You need me. You won’t kill me.”

“You do represent an eighteen-hundred-year investment, but I can make another like you. There are always more humans looking for a way to cheat death, gain massive strength and power. I’m immortal and very patient. I can wait,” Gaizka taunted.

Mira’s eyes returned to their former red glow just a second before she slashed at me again with the knife. I jumped backward, but the vampire was slightly faster, ripping the blade across my chest. My leather jacket took the brunt of the blow, but the tip of the blade raked across the opening in the jacket. It tore through my cotton shirt and cut a few millimeters deep into my flesh.

“No!” Mira cried out. The hand holding the knife trembled and she took a jerky half step backward.

“Mira! Obey me!” Gaizka commanded, raising its voice for the first time since stepping into the alley.

“Fight it, Mira!” I shouted.

“Can’t,” she groaned through clenched teeth just before bringing her blade down on me again. This time, I raised my own knife, blocking it from stabbing me in the heart. She seemed to be moving a little slower this time, as if she were finally fighting the bori. Beads of blood broke out on her forehead while a tear streaked down her cheek. Her body was trembling and her jaw was clenched. I had no doubt that she was fighting him with everything she had, but it wasn’t enough.

“LaVina!” I shouted, as I struggled to push Mira away from me. “I could really use your help right about now.”

“I can do nothing without Mira,” the old witch said from somewhere behind me. She sounded somewhat closer, indicating that she had most likely come down the stairs to the alleyway. “You’re going to need to free her.”

“I don’t see that happening, old woman,” Gaizka mocked. “The nightwalker is mine to control.”

“Danaus can do it,” she said confidently. “Talk to her, hunter. Reach for her.”

With a grunt, I finally pushed Mira away from me. Before she could move, I summoned up all my powers and quickly thrust into her mind. The nightwalker screamed and stumbled a couple steps backward, clutching her head with both hands still holding the knives.

Her mind was a gray swirling fog. At first, I couldn’t even locate her. There were none of her usual chaotic thoughts, no cacophonous mix of emotions pulling one way or another. Then I found the thin trail of pain that led to greater and greater amounts of pain until the world seemed to go entirely red. In the middle of it all, I found Mira’s thoughts huddled in a tight little ball.

Mira.

Oh, God, Danaus. Kill me now, she moaned.

Help me fight this!

Can’t. Can’t keep fighting it. So much pain. So tired. Watch out!

I pulled away from her thoughts just enough that I was also aware of my external surroundings. The nightwalker lunged at me. But now that I was in her mind, I could also hear the command. I dodged a blow that was aimed to impale me while blocking the second knife, which was aimed at my face. Grabbing both of her wrists as best I could with a knife still gripped in my right hand, I held her still as I plunged back into her thoughts. I would not kill Mira. I wouldn’t allow the bori to force me into killing this woman, even if it meant risking my own life.

Help me fight this! Now! I ordered. At the same time, I pushed with all my strength against the thickening fog and the hum of power that sizzled through her thin, shaking frame. I pushed it until I finally felt it start to ebb. I could feel Mira beside me in her thoughts. She was no longer struggling to break free of my grip on her arms, but was focusing the last of her energy. As I asserted my authority within Mira’s mind, both the nightwalker and Gaizka let out matching screams. Mira’s legs collapsed, wrenching her arms from my grasp, but I didn’t relent.

A powerful force knocked into me, throwing me into the nearby stone wall that lined Factors Walk. Releasing my hold on Mira, I turned my attention to the bori. Already in touch with my dark powers, I allowed them to easily flow from my body and seep into Emma Rose’s body. The young woman screamed in pain, her body twisting to the left and then to the right as if struggling to escape some unseen attacker. I raised the temperature of her blood as quickly as possible, trying to rush the end. I didn’t want to put her through this kind of pain, but I had no choice. I had to destroy the body Gaizka was using, hopefully forcing the bori to flee the area since I had already proven that I could eject it from Mira.

“No!” Mira screamed. However, I didn’t have enough time to react. The blade buried itself in my abdomen, nearly pinning me to the wall as it ripped through organs, muscles, and tissue. I looked up to see Mira staring at me, tears running down her face. The red glow was gone from her eyes, and for a moment I believed that she had stabbed me in an effort to stop me from killing Emma Rose. A choked sob rose from Mira’s throat as she threw out her right arm. Her friend was immediately engulfed in orange and yellow flames, lighting the entire alley in a massive fireball. Between our combined efforts, Emma Rose’s body was reduced to a pile of ash. Her friend was gone, but finally free of her captor.

Mira slowly pulled out the blade she had embedded in my stomach. She pressed her free hand to my stomach in an effort to slow the bleeding. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to. I tried to fight it,” she kept repeating as she shook her head.

I dropped my knife on the ground and heaved a heavy sigh as I placed my right hand on the back of her head. I pulled her forward and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.”

Mira gave another choked cry, her hands trembling against me. She had lost a good friend to a bori and attacked me while under his control. To make matters worse, the bori was still running free.

“We’re not through yet,” Gaizka announced in the dark alley, its voice seeming to surround us. “I’ve still got at least one trick up my sleeve.”

At the same time, a pair of footsteps echoed up the alley. Both Mira and I turned to see who was approaching this time. My heart stopped in my chest when I saw Tristan turn the corner, holding Lily by her collar as he pushed her ahead of him. Lily’s face was swollen and bruised, while her cheeks were streaked with dirty tears. The collar of her shirt was torn and her clothes were dirty. A red glow lit Tristan’s eyes, giving away Gaizka’s presence within the nightwalker. Apparently, the bori had gotten control of the nightwalker before he and Lily could get on the plane. The unspoken question of whether Gabriel and Matsui were still alive hovered in the air.

“No,” Mira whimpered beside me as she stared at the two creatures she had come to care greatly for. Gaizka was prepared to take everything away from her in the blink of an eye unless we started killing naturi and started feeding him the soul energy.

“Leave her out of this,” I bit out, barely able to get the words through my clenched jaws.

“Danaus!” Lily cried. She tried to run for me and Mira, but Tristan held tight, keeping her pinned to his side. The nightwalker remained expressionless, staring straight ahead. And he was blind to the world around him, trapped in Gaizka’s grasp. He had no choice but to obey.

“It’s okay, Lily,” Mira murmured in a shaky voice. “Everything is going to be okay.”

Gaizka suddenly appeared before the young girl as an older woman with a kind, gentle face. The figure smiled at Lily, seeming for all the world as if she wouldn’t harm a fly. “Mira is lying. It’s not okay. She and Danaus are in terrible trouble,” she said softly. “Only you can save them. Join with me and we will be strong enough to save them both.”

“No!” I shouted. “Don’t listen to it.”

“Tristan, fight it!” Mira cried. “You’ve got to fight it. Release Lily. Let her run from here!”

Tristan didn’t move, didn’t even blink at Mira’s words. I couldn’t enter his mind like I could Mira’s. I had no tie to this nightwalker. I could sense his soul floating about his body, but that was all. I couldn’t push Gaizka out of Tristan, freeing him.

“I won’t do it,” Lily said in a trembling voice. “You’re the one that’s lying. You’re the reason they’re in trouble. You’re the trouble.” She lifted her chin slightly, though her whole body seemed to shake as she faced the creature that had haunted her for the past several days.

“This is your last chance, child,” Gaizka warned. The bori’s voice hardened, growing deeper and more ominous in its tone.

“Lily, no!” Mira screamed.

“No,” Lily said in a strong voice, looking the monster dead in the eye.

“Very well,” Gaizka said, shrugging the old woman’s shoulders. “I have no use for you.” The creature floated a couple feet away and waved his hand. Tristan tightened his grip on Lily’s neck just before he picked her up and flung her small body into the wall that lined Factors Walk. There was no mistaking the sound of snapping bones and breaking rock. Her limp body fell to the ground in an awkward fashion, while a smear of blood coated the stones from where her head had slammed into the wall. She had died on impact.

“No!” Mira screamed, falling to her knees beside me. Neither one of us had had time to react. We hadn’t had time to even move. In a flash of violence, Lily was dead.

Rage pumped through my veins as I lifted my hand, pointing it directly at Tristan, who had yet to show a flicker of emotion. Mira suddenly shoved to her feet as I summoned up my powers, grabbing my arm and forcing me to lower it. “Don’t kill him! You can’t kill him! Please! It’s not his fault!” she begged. At the same time, she plunged her own energy into my body, forcing her way into my brain so that her pleading echoed there as well. She was heartbroken and desperate. She had already lost her surrogate daughter. It would shatter what was left of her to lose the creature she saw as both a brother and a son. “Please,” she cried, tears streaming down her face.

In the instant that I hesitated, Gaizka flowed completely into Tristan and the nightwalker seemed to finally come to life. “You were warned!” the creature shouted, taking a step closer to us.

“And we won’t cave,” I snarled. Shaking off Mira, I picked up the pair of blades that Mira had dropped on the ground and charged the nightwalker. Tristan simply smiled at me as I plunged both blades through his stomach with enough force to pin him to the stone wall. The creature couldn’t move. Blood poured from Tristan’s body, but he just laughed. Behind me, Mira screamed. I had potentially killed Tristan as well. Gaizka had nowhere else to go. I pulled a third blade from my side and prepared to plunge it into Tristan’s heart when the red glow faded from his eyes. He looked up at me with a haunted gaze. He was fully aware that he had been Lily’s killer.

“Please,” he whispered in a pained voice. “Please, kill me.”

I hesitated. I didn’t want to kill Tristan. As a nightwalker, he was harmless and I knew it. He was Mira’s only true family and her staunch protector. He never meant to harm Lily. It wasn’t his fault and he didn’t deserve the death that now lingered on his horizon because of me.

“Leave the boy be,” LaVina suddenly interjected, staying the final blow. “You’ve weakened the creature. It can no longer jump from body to body.”

“Are you sure—” I started to say, but the rest of my sentence was cut off as something tightly grasped my ankles and pulled me. It slammed me into the hard ballast-stone road on my side, sending a shock wave of pain rippling through my body as I was dragged across the alley to where Emma Rose had been standing only moments ago. Her ashes still danced in the wind near me, but I was more concerned with what was holding on to me. I looked down at my ankles but saw nothing but the darkness of the night.

Twisting around on my back, I reached out toward Mira, reopening the wound on my stomach that was still trying to heal. “Mira! LaVina!” I shouted, pleading for the nightwalker and the witch to help me. Gaizka had me now and I feared it would take only a little effort on his part to make me his next and permanent host.

LaVina walked over to Mira with more ease and grace than I had ever seen her exhibit. As Mira ran toward me, the old witch grabbed a chunk of the nightwalker’s hair and pulled her to a sharp halt, forcing her to kneel on the stones. LaVina bent over the nightwalker, wrapping one hand around her neck while she whispered something in Mira’s ear. The nightwalker jerked and pulled against the witch, but surprisingly she couldn’t break free.

I grabbed the large, smooth stones that made up the road and tried to pull myself free of Gaizka’s grip, but I couldn’t budge from where I now lay on my stomach, staring over at the nightwalker who was reaching for me.

“Mira!” I shouted. Muscles straining to the point that my arms began to shake while a cold sweat broke out on my brow, I found a sense of panic rising within me. I wouldn’t be used like Emma Rose had been. I wouldn’t be a puppet like Mira. “Mira!”

“Shout and scream all you want,” snarled a dark voice in my right ear. A cold, bitter wind swept around me, biting at my limbs, causing my fingertips to go numb. “You’ll not be free of me. I’ve waited too long. I want out of my cage and I will be out tonight.”

“I’ll not set you free,” I bit out between clenched teeth and tightened my grip around one large stone in the road, trying to inch closer to Mira and LaVina. “I won’t be your next host.”

“Soon, my boy. Soon,” it hissed, sending another blast of cold air over my frame so that my teeth began to chatter.

The hand on my shoulder tightened, sending what felt like sharpened nails digging into my flesh. “Join with me now. Set me free, or I will grab the nightwalker again and set this town on fire.”

“You can’t!” I growled. “I forced you out once, I’ll do it again. You’re not as strong as you were. You’re losing your powers.”

“And you’re useless if you’re unconscious,” Gaizka laughed.

Fear gripped me, clenching its fist around my heart. “Mira! Run!” I shouted, praying that she’d be able to escape Gaizka, knowing that it was unlikely. If I wasn’t awake to push the bori out of Mira again, he would have no problem burning the city to the ground with Mira under his control.

Looking up, I found LaVina staring at me, a beautiful smile on her wrinkled face. Her whole body seemed to glow in the darkness, shining against Mira’s black leather and deep red hair. The nightwalker had gone silent, but her hand was still outstretched toward me, her fingers noticeably trembling as they seemed to draw symbols in the air.

LaVina bent and whispered something in Mira’s ear. The nightwalker flinched and then spoke a smattering of words that I neither recognized nor understood. But Gaizka did.

“No!” the bori screamed, tightening its grip on me until I cried out in pain. My whole right side was riddled with shooting pains and biting cold until I finally wished for my body to go numb.

On my left, a shaft of white light appeared, as if the very fabric of the open air had been torn. The opening remained just a slim slit in the night, but it was enough. I could feel a great pull in the air as if everything was being sucked into the opening. Gaizka screamed again and its nails scratched across my back as it searched for some kind of purchase against the gaping void it was being drawn into.

A hollow scream echoed through the night as the bori was drawn into the opening and finally trapped once again, back in its cage.

Mira uttered another set of words in a language I didn’t recognize and the opening drew closed, mending perfectly as if it had never existed.

I exhaled a heavy breath, pushing all of the air out of my lungs, as I relaxed against the cold stones in the road. The bori was gone and Savannah was safe. If Mira and I could refrain from combining our powers when fighting, the bori should never be able to return again. We were safe at last.

My body shook from exhaustion and a dozen aches and pains that were only now beginning to heal. Blood was dried on my back and stomach from where Mira had stabbed me. The cold stones chilled my flesh, but in a way it all felt good. I was alive and I was free.

“Danaus!” Mira screamed.

I jerked my head up to look over at the nightwalker. Mira was straining against LaVina’s hold, stretching her right hand out to me, desperate. I had seen fear reflected in Mira’s eyes when she had been faced with Nerian and when she had been touched by Gaizka. Both were just a pale shadow to the terror that gripped her now.

“Danaus!” she screamed, her voice wavering. “Please, help me!”

“Sorry, hunter,” LaVina said in a deep voice I had never heard before. A smile stretched across her face and danced in her eyes. “I’ve done my part. It’s time for this wayward child to come home.”

I pushed to my feet and started to reach for Mira, but she and LaVina disappeared before my eyes, leaving me alone in the dark. Mira was gone, grabbed by something far more powerful than any witch I had ever known, and I had no idea how to find her.