Wait for Dusk

Chapter Twelve

There was no mistaking that Danaus was still angry with me from the previous night. The hunter refused to look at me as we climbed into the taxi. He stared out his window at the night-drenched city while I told the taxi driver where we were going. So much for trying to make this fragile relationship work. We were two damaged people, warped by too many years on this earth and too many violent encounters with the various races. We couldn’t trust others and we couldn’t ask for help. Valerio would have said we were doomed from the start, but I refused to believe it. I had managed complicated relation-ships with nightwalkers, lycanthropes, and humans over my long existence. Why couldn’t I make it work with a half-bori vampire hunter?

I gazed across the taxicab at Danaus, taking in the way the light slid across his strong features as we rode down the busy street. His dark hair brushed his shoulders, nearly obscuring my view of his blue eyes. I swallowed a sigh and turned my gaze back to my window. I knew what he wanted. A promise that I would never control his powers again. I just couldn’t do that with Nick making my life a living hell each night.

“Was it necessary to frighten the woman?” he finally growled at me after we were in the car for several minutes.

“This time, yes, it actually was.” It was a struggle to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. “She will carry back to Veyron stories of me and my companions. Veyron needs to know that the Fire Starter is here and she will burn through his domain if necessary.”

“You mean your already dark reputation wasn’t enough to convince Veyron? You needed to scare some poor, helpless human as well?”

I held back my next comment and stared out the window. I truly doubted there was any real reason to pity the poor girl. She looked like she was well taken care of, by the quality of her clothes and the expensive choker that ringed her neck. The woman was obviously Veyron’s pet, which meant that she was accustomed to dealing with nightwalkers. And she carried some value to Veyron since he went to the trouble of arranging a pair of bodyguards for her.

“You needn’t get so worked up about the girl. I have little doubt that she can take care of herself.”

Danaus opened his mouth to comment but I didn’t hear it. A large bundle of magic energy gathered in the air just above out taxicab as we waited at a red light. There wasn’t time to search out who it was or what the reason for the ball of magic was for. It didn’t feel right, and I had survived countless centuries by listening to my instincts. Grabbing a handful of Danaus’s leather coat, I jerked him forward while I crouched down as much as I could in the backseat of the tiny taxicab.

“Get down!” I shouted just before a large explosion reverberated through the air, causing my eardrums to rattle in my head. Something large slammed into the side of the taxi, flipping the world upside down. I was thrown into the side of the taxi with Danaus landing on top of me. His elbow crashed into my jaw while the back of my head hit a combination of the glass and the street as we turned over. The whole world changed from darkness to a flash of white light as the taxicab rolled onto its top and I was crushed under Danaus’s weight. The noise of the metal scraping along the street was horrendous, clogging up all my other senses besides the horrible sense of pain.

Danaus finally shifted on top of me. Around us I could hear the shuffle of feet and the cries of terrified voices from the people that crowded this busy section of downtown Budapest. My body ached and my thoughts felt fuzzy, as if they were covered in cotton. There was a warm wet spot on my temple where my scalp had been cut and I had a sneaking suspicion that I had cracked my skull when we turned over. A part of me just wanted to lie there, but I couldn’t. A creature was lurking somewhere outside the car, desperate for my undivided attention. I wasn’t about to disappoint him.

Are you okay? I asked Danaus, using our private path. I had begun to cloak myself from the human onlookers so I could sneak out of the car.

Been better. Driver’s dead.

Yeah, well, it could have been us just as easily. Stay here and play dead. I’m going to go look around.

I can help.

Keep an eye on the crowd if you can. I’m not sure what hit us or if it’s gone.

Sliding out beneath Danaus on a bed of broken glass, I crawled out through the back window, which had been smashed. It wasn’t easy to weave through the people that were gathered around the overturned car, trying to get a look in at Danaus. I was cloaked, but I wasn’t sure how long I would be able to keep it up. My head was throbbing and the world swayed around me, keeping me off balance.

Outside of the crowd, I scanned the thoughts of the people, reviewing their memories. They were filled with confusion and fear, as no one could recall what had pummeled the side of the car. Only that something hit it with enough force to flip it over and send it skidding across the street. In the most anxious of those gathered, I inserted the memory of a car slamming into the side of the taxi before it drove off. It wasn’t a pretty image, but it was more settling that the gaping void that filled their minds now.

I scanned the area for our attacker but no one stood out initially. There was a heavy feeling of magic and power in the night, but I couldn’t tell if it was residue from the spell that had been cast or if the attacker was still in the region. The only thing I was confident of was that our attacker had been a warlock or a witch. The magic in the air didn’t feel like a nightwalker, and lycanthropes didn’t use magic. Even a naturi would have had a different feel to it.

A knot twisted in my stomach as I switched my focus to scan specifically for Nick. I had to wonder if he had struck out at me simply because I was not making progress fast enough, but I couldn’t sense him. Of course, that didn’t mean the bastard wasn’t lurking somewhere close by, watching the show.

Energy thickening in the air was my only warning before I was slammed into the side of a building with a crushing force. My hold on my cloaking spell wavered once, but I managed to keep a grip on it so no one saw me flying through the air. Three ribs broke, puncturing once vital organs that now only seemed to be source of pain for me. Smashed against the wall, I gazed around the area to see a figure outlined by the moonlight as the person stood at the edge of a building.

With a smile, I summoned up my powers as a fourth rib threatened to break under the pressure pinning me against the wall. Fire flared around the figure that was casting the spells, but just as quickly the fire was extinguished with a hand wave. That was why I didn’t go picking fights with warlocks. You find one with just enough skill, and my ability to manipulate fire no longer gave me an edge. However, the distraction was enough to free me of his magical grasp.

Sliding down the side of the building, I was relieved to see Danaus crawling free of the car. I considered reaching for his powers but squelched the thought just as quickly. The hunter was already angry with me. No reason to make the matter any worse, though I knew I would have to eventually.

Danaus, the rooftop across the street, I directed as I tried to push to my feet.

Got it. I felt the warm brush of his powers as he gathered the energy around him just before sending it across the street to our attacker. The figure jerked sharply and then ran from the edge of the building, moving out of our line of sight. Danaus dropped his hand and muttered a soft curse. He couldn’t boil the attacker’s blood if he could no longer see him. The magic user had escaped, but at least we were both still alive.

Too often nightwalkers were seen as the most dangerous of the supernatural creatures because of our need for blood to survive. However, warlocks and witches were frequently the most brutal of the others simply because there were too few of us strong enough to stand up to them. The only thing we had in our favor was that warlocks and witches didn’t frequently feel the need to strike out at the other races. Like nightwalkers, they were content to fight among themselves.

With a few solid mental pushes and a little misdirection, I finally managed to extract Danaus from the crowd gathered around him and the car. He stumbled over to where I was leaning against the wall, a frown creating lines in his brow.

“Warlock?” he asked.

“Or witch. Apparently we have an admirer in town besides Rowe,” I grumbled in a low voice, still trying to avoid the attention of the crowd that was now being dispersed by the newly arrived police and ambulance. I squinted my eyes against the flashlights on their cars, which bathed the area in bright shades of red and blue.

“Earth warlock or witch?”

I shook my head and instantly regretted it as it felt like my brain had sloshed around in my skull. “No,” I replied with a soft groan. “The magic felt like blood magic. Crisp, clean, familiar. This was a blood magic user who was looking specifically for us.”

“Maybe you,” Danaus quickly countered. “I don’t have any enemies in this part of the world.”

A little snort escaped me as I looked up at my companion. “My enemies are your enemies now, my friend.”

Danaus’s frown eased as he put his hand under my chin and tilted my head up so he could get a better look at my face and the blood that was now smeared across my cheekbone and jaw. “You should have just left me in Savannah,” he said.

“And leave you out of the fun? You’d never forgive me,” I teased, finally succeeding in erasing the last of his frown. “How bad does it look?”

“You’re a mess,” he said, dropping his hand back down to his side.

“You’re not,” I griped. “Of course, you’re the one that landed on me.” Looking around the area, my eyes finally settled on an elegant hotel just down the block. It was a safe place to clean up before we continued on to Veyron’s. I knew I couldn’t show up on his doorstep looking like I had just survived a car crash. With a gentle jerk of my head, I motioned for Danaus to follow me down the street.

“Any clue as to who our new friend is?” he asked after we were several feet away from the crowd of people. His pace was slower than usual, but then I think he was more worried about me and the limp I had developed. The broken ribs I had sustained from the second attack mixed with the aches and pains from the car crash were slowing me down. My body was healing, but it was also starting to demand that I stop and feed. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option with Danaus hanging on my coattails. Of course, if Veyron was half the host I expected him to be, I wouldn’t be surprised if he offered appetizers.

“No idea,” I muttered. “The only person I know that could have pulled such a spell is Ryan, and that wasn’t Ryan.”

“No, that wasn’t Ryan,” Danaus agreed. He had only gotten a brief glimpse of the person on the rooftop, but it was enough to know that it wasn’t the lanky, white-haired man that ran Themis. We had had a falling out with the powerful warlock, but I was relieved to see that he hadn’t made an appearance in Budapest with the sole purpose of making our lives more difficult. He was undoubtedly saving that for a more special occasion.

Wincing against the bright light that filled the hotel lobby, I paused in the middle of the room, staring up at Danaus, who was watching me as if I looked like I was about to fall over. “Not a word of this is mentioned at Veyron’s,” I declared. “He can’t know that we’re having trouble in his city. I want Valerio or Stefan to look into the warlocks and witches first.”

“If he’s as powerful as everyone seems to think he is, wouldn’t he know who the most powerful warlocks are?”

“If he’s smart, he will. I just don’t want him to know that he’s not the only one trying to kill me.”

“Veyron’s trying to kill you?”

“Of course. Why else would Macaire have sent us here? Macaire needs me dead, and for some reason he’s sure that Veyron has an edge. If Veyron knows a warlock or a witch is gunning for me too, he may try to strike while I’m in the middle of a fight with the other bastard.”

“Doesn’t a meeting with Veyron and Macaire together seem unwise if they both want you dead?”

“Possibly, but you’re watching my back. It will be fine.”

“Go clean up in the bathroom and I’ll meet you right here,” Danaus said, pointing me toward the restroom near the back of the lobby. There was no use in continuing the conversation. I was determined to discover exactly what Veyron and Macaire were doing in Budapest.

With a sigh, I shuffled toward the bathroom, peeling off my coat as I walked. It was splattered with my blood, but as far as I could tell, none of my blood had gotten on my sweater. I would need to burn the coat before I appeared at Veyron’s, but otherwise he wouldn’t be able to tell that Danaus and I had been in a bit of a scuffle.

I couldn’t begin to guess why the magic user had attacked us. The only one that might be even a little angry with me was Ryan, and I didn’t think it would be his style to send someone else after me when it would be more to his advantage to manipulate me back to his side. I was far more valuable to him alive than dead, particularly if he was looking to get a toehold of control on the coven.

This magic user was also striking me at a bad time. It wasn’t enough that I had to worry about what Rowe was up to, but I had to try to guess why Macaire had sent me to Budapest in the first place. Sure, it was to die, but why here? What edge could Veyron actually have over me and Danaus?

Of course, there was potentially an even darker reason as to why Macaire sent me to Budapest, but it was too horrible of a thought to contemplate. And besides, there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop him.