Wait for Dusk

Chapter Fourteen

Danaus shrugged off his coat and tossed it over the back of one of the chairs as he paced the room. I settled in the open seat and crossed my left leg over my right knee, trying to steel myself against whatever the hunter was about to drop into my lap. My stomach and jaw clenched as I watched him shove one hand through his dark hair, pushing it away from his face.

“I want us to free Sofia,” he announced. This was definitely going to get ugly.

“Why?”

Danaus stopped pacing and pinned me with a dark glare. “Why?” he repeated as his right hand balled into a fist. “She’s a prisoner. That vampire is holding her against her will.”

“I’m not sure if I believe that.” I shrugged as I relaxed in my chair. “And even if she is, I am willing to bet that she got herself into that mess in the first place. It’s not our job to get her out of her current predicament.”

“So, you’re saying no?”

I drew in a deep breath and released it slowly, as I reminded myself that Danaus wasn’t accustomed to my world. There were limitations as to what I could do without causing a storm of trouble that I wasn’t willing to deal with at this time. I already had enough on my plate.

“She’s a pet, Danaus.”

“I figured out that much myself,” he snapped, but I ignored him and continued.

“She’s a pet, and most of the time that’s a position a human attains willingly because she or he is enamored of the nightwalker. She’s treated well, I’m sure. I’ve seen poorly treated pets, and she’s not been abused. In fact, judging by the clothing and jewelry she was wearing, it looks as if he’s treated quite well.”

“You don’t know that!”

I finally frowned as I uncrossed my legs and slid to the edge of my chair. Danaus put his hands on the back of the sofa that separated us and leaned forward so he could look me directly in the eye. “She’s a prisoner,” he growled. “He restricts her movement. He feeds off her. He shares her with his friends. She’s just an object to him.”

“Sounds like a pet to me. Nothing too surprising in any of that treatment.” I paused, searching for some way in which he could accept Sofia’s arrangement. “Look, Danaus. She got herself into this situation. She’s just going to have to deal with it. If she’s lucky, he’ll get bored with her. Hell, it’s likely that we’re going to have to kill Veyron eventually, so she will be free after all. We can’t just waltz in and tell him to free her.”

“Why can’t we free her now?”

I shook my head and glanced down at my hands clasped in my lap. “It just isn’t done.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“She’s Veyron’s pet.” I pushed to my feet, which also caused Danaus to straighten to his full height. “You don’t steal another creature’s pet unless you want to start a war. I don’t want her. I don’t want to spend the rest of her existence protecting her. It’s bad enough that I just claimed Budapest as my second domain. I don’t need to steal away another nightwalker’s pet when he’s got her under his protection. My reputation can’t afford to get any blacker.”

“You certainly had no problem stealing Tristan from Sadira when we were in Venice,” Danaus accused.

“The court of the coven was going to kill him, and Sadira wasn’t going to do anything to stop it! I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t stand by and let it happen. I promised him that I would help him get free of her,” I argued, finally raising my voice.

“And Nicolai? What was your excuse there? You can’t tell me that you weren’t taking a major risk by confronting Jabari and the entire coven by taking the werewolf off their hands. You knew that you were going to spend the rest of his existence protecting him from Jabari.”

“Damn it, Danaus! You were there. They were going to hand Nicolai over to the naturi. There was a chance that he could have been the next sacrifice that would break the seal. We couldn’t take that risk. Nicolai had to be removed from the coven. There was no choice.”

“Convenient,” the hunter sneered. “You’ve got an excuse for both of them.”

“Is Sofia in danger? No!”

“You don’t know that.”

“Veyron likes his little pet. She’s not in any danger so long as she obeys him. He will protect her and she knows it. Sofia isn’t in any danger from the coven or the naturi. Hell, she’s probably the most well-protected creature in all of Budapest.”

“But she’s not free.”

“That’s not our concern.”

“She’s human and she wants her freedom. That makes it my concern,” Danaus said. He glared at me for several seconds as if waiting for me to agree with him, but I didn’t say a word. “I’m going to help her.” He turned and started to walk out of the hotel room.

With a growl, I put one foot on the sofa cushion and leapt over the back. In a couple quick steps I was in front of him before he could reach the door. I placed my hand on his chest, stopping him.

“You’re not going anywhere,” I ordered. “You try to free her and you’re going to start a war. We still need to get rid of the naturi and discover why it was so important to Macaire that we come here. Freeing Sofia is not part of that deal.”

Standing so close to Danaus, something caught my attention. I drew in a breath to release an aggravated sigh when I noticed a new scent in the air. It was everywhere around us, filling the tiny hallway that led to the rest of the hotel room as if there were another person standing directly between us. I released the breath and drew a second, checking to make sure that I hadn’t lost my mind.

I could smell Sofia. Or rather I could smell her perfume. It was everywhere. I slowly lifted my hand from Danaus’s chest and sniffed my hand before jerking it away again. The smell was even stronger. It was coming from Danaus.

“What have you been doing?” I asked. Horror filled my voice as I pressed my back against the door.

“What are you talking about? You’re changing the subject—”

“What have you been doing? I can smell her. She’s everywhere.” I suddenly pushed off the door and leaned into Danaus so my nose was just inches away from his chest. The scent of Sofia’s perfume smacked me across the face, sending me reeling away from the hunter once again. “She’s all over you!”

“Mira, you’re being ridiculous.”

“Am I? You come to me reeking of this other woman, demanding that I help you set her free. What am I to think? For a moment I thought your interests lay with me, but apparently some pathetic human has caught your attention. What is it, Danaus? Is it because she’s a helpless damsel in distress or just because she’s human?”

“There’s nothing going on. When I told her that I would help her escape Veyron, she threw herself on me. She gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Nothing more.”

A low growl escaped me as I grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him into one of the walls. “You allowed her to touch you! You’re mine! Don’t you understand that? I made you my consort before the coven and the entire nightwalker nation, and you’re choosing a human over me already.”

“I don’t belong to you! I’m not your pet!” Danaus roared, trying to push me away from him, but I wasn’t budging.

“No, not pet. I gave you a greater position. You are my equal before the coven. My beloved and protected consort.” I released him then, giving him a little shove as I walked back over to the door and leaned against it. “And you come to me smelling of her.”

“She’s a helpless human trapped in a bad situation. We need to help her,” Danaus replied, avoiding the issue that it appeared as if he had already found my replacement. My stomach tightened and I clenched my teeth. I didn’t need this now. I was more concerned about taking care of the naturi threat in Budapest, killing Rowe, and avoiding being killed in the process.

Shoving both hands into my hair, I turned my back on him and stared at the door that led to the hallway of the hotel. I needed more time to look into this matter with the naturi and try to find out why a magic user was trying to kill me. Also, I was sure that Stefan would prefer if we did something about his missing assistant before I went stirring up more trouble.

“We need to wait, Danaus,” I said, forcing the words out in a calm, even tone as I turned back to face him. I was trying to be reasonable. I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and help him after all the times he had helped me. Yet Sofia’s scent felt almost like a physical barrier between Danaus and me.

“And what if she doesn’t have time for us to wait?” he demanded.

I dropped my hands back to my sides with a heavy flop. “Has Veyron done anything to make her think that he plans to kill her sometime soon? I mean, that would be why we’d try to save her—because Veyron plans to kill her, and not because she’s grown bored or something?”

“She wants her freedom,” Danaus said firmly.

“Yeah, well, don’t we all,” I muttered, though I’m sure that he heard me. I felt trapped. I didn’t care about Sofia and her problems. I had enough of my own, and I wasn’t willing to risk my neck for every poor soul that crossed my path. I’d be dead in a matter of nights if I took it on myself to try to protect the world. But then again, that was what I was trying to do every time I took on the naturi.

Drawing in a deep breath, I closed my eyes and tried to find a center of calm in all the anger and frustration buzzing around inside of me. “Give me a few nights. Let me try to take care of Veyron, Rowe, and a few of the other problems in the city before I try to figure out what to do with Sofia. Maybe we’ll just get rid of Veyron and that will take care of it.”

“Will that actually work or will she just be swallowed up by another nightwalker once he’s gone?” Danaus demanded.

“What? Just say it finally! What do you want from me?” I demanded, losing my hold on my temper yet again.

“I want her to come to Savannah with us!” he shouted back.

“No! Absolutely not!” I knew if I saw Sofia right then, I’d pulled her hair out and pluck her eyes from her skull. I’d turned my back on Danaus for only a short time and the little tramp decided to poach something that I had just begun to consider was mine. “She’s not coming to Savannah!”

“You’re jealous,” Danaus accused.

“You’re damn right I’m jealous. There’s no way in hell she’s coming into my domain with you,” I snarled. “If you’re so desperate to free her, fine. Before we leave Budapest, we’ll get rid of Veyron, and she’ll be free. But from there, she’ll be on her own. I’m not going to be her personal protector. If I’m going to take up that role, then she will be my pet and I’ll keep her on a leash so tight she’ll long for her nights with Veyron.”

“I can’t do this any longer. It’s not working,” Danaus said, throwing his hands up in the air as he walked away from me.

It felt as if a vise were suddenly gripping my heart, threatening to crush it. I was losing Danaus before I’d even had a chance to truly enjoy his companionship. But then, I had no doubt that everyone would have said our would-be relationship didn’t have a prayer of working. I had wanted to try, though.

“You didn’t give us a chance,” I whispered. “I may be jealous of Sofia, but you make it sound like I have every reason to be. You can’t get over the fact that you just might be attracted to a nightwalker—the evil ones. So when a pretty human crosses your path and winks, you jump on her like a dog on a bone.”

“Don’t make this about us. It’s about freeing a helpless human from a powerful nightwalker. It’s about protecting humans from your kind. That’s what I do,” Danaus said, turning to glare at me. “I’m going to free her.”

“Then you have to choose between me and Sofia,” I replied, putting my hands on my hips. “The only time you will be able to successfully free her is during the day, when Veyron and all the other nightwalkers are asleep. That will leave me unprotected, and there is a very good chance that Veyron is going to send someone to kill me in the morning now that I have taken Budapest right out from under him. You save her, you’ll be killing me.”

“I can’t leave her.”

“She’s in no danger.”

“You don’t know that,” Danaus grumbled.

“No, I don’t, but I do know that I’m in greater danger than she is at this moment. Are you really going to choose her over me?”

“My job is to protect humans, not vampires,” Danaus replied. He grabbed his coat from where it lay on the chair and jerked it on. I barely had a chance to step out of the way before he pulled open the door and stalked out into the hall, slamming it shut behind him. It was still several hours before sunrise, plenty of time for him to plan an attack on Veyron’s home and steal Sofia away. He was going to start a war that I wasn’t willing to fight. Of course, that was assuming I would survive that long.

My stomach twisted into a tight knot and I descended slowly to my knees in front of the door leading out of the hotel room. He had left me. Danaus, the one creature I’d been able to depend on to protect me during the past several months, had left me to protect someone else. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I clenched my teeth and sucked in a sharp breath as I held the tears back, refusing to let them fall. I would not cry over Danaus.

We hadn’t had a real chance at making this work. He was a hunter and I was his prey. Did I really think that he could ever come to care for me? It was impossible. Danaus longed to be a real, normal human. It was understandable that he would be attracted to the thing he wanted more than his next breath. I represented everything he didn’t want to be, everything he didn’t want to be a part of. His enemy.

If Danaus wasn’t going to help me, then I had to find a way to help myself. I wasn’t about to curl up and die just because I could no longer rely on the hunter to protect my back when I was at my most vulnerable. Closing my eyes, I reached out with my mind, seeking the one person left in the area that I felt would prefer to see me rise the next night. Valerio instantly reacted to my mental touch. I could sense his immediate concern and unease. No words had been necessary. He knew that something terrible was wrong. But then, above everyone else, Valerio knew me best. Maybe even better than Jabari.

I didn’t even have a chance to regain my feet before he appeared in the hotel suite, still wrapped in his thick coat and scarf. He looked down at me for only a second before scanning the rest of the suite with his eyes and his powers to determine that we were truly alone.

“Did I disturb you in the middle of someone?” I asked as I pushed off the floor with one hand. I was too tired to even use my powers to rise to my feet. Valerio reached out and caught my free hand, helping me.

“No one is more important to me than you,” he said smoothly, causing one corner of my mouth to quirk at the pretty lie. “Where is the vampire hunter?”

I looked down at his chest, avoiding his question with one of my own. “Can I stay with you? I am assuming that you’re flitting back and forth from Vienna each night.”

“Of course you can spend your day with me.” Valerio reached up and smoothed some hair away from the side of my face. He laid his hand under my chin and forced me to look up at him. “What has happened? Where is Danaus?”

I stepped away from Valerio and forced my shoulders to straighten as I took a couple steps over to one of the chairs in the living area. “He left.” Those two words sounded indifferent, but something inside of me fractured, leaving shards digging into my soul.

“Why?”

“He wants to free Sofia.”

Valerio’s footsteps were muffled on the thick carpet as he approached me. He laid a hand against my lower back as he came to stand beside me. “And you told him no.” I remained silent, staring blindly at the wall opposite me. “You did the right thing. Sofia is just a pet, and you can’t go interfering where it won’t benefit you.”

“He’s convinced that she wants her freedom and he is determined to help her.”

He slid his fingers up my spine in a reassuring caress. “She made her choice. If she wanted her freedom so badly, she should never have agreed to give her life over to Veyron.”

“Danaus doesn’t see it that way. She’s human and wants out. He has to protect her from us.”

Valerio reached around and gently grabbed both of my shoulders so he could turn me to face him. “Mira, dearest.” I tried to pull out of his grasp, but he refused to release me. “He’s a hunter. He’s human. Not one of us. He doesn’t understand our world, he can’t. A blind man could have seen what was happening between you two, and I hate to tell you that it just won’t work.”

I knew I wanted the impossible, and I didn’t need to hear how wrong I had been from Valerio. It was like twisting the knife in my heart a little more so that I would finally learn my lesson not to care for anyone. Others in my life had died because of their association with me. Danaus, on the other hand, had chosen to walk away from me. For a moment I couldn’t decide what was worse.

“He left. I think he went to free Sofia during the day,” I whispered, resting my forehead against Valerio’s shoulder.

“Then you stay with me. We’ll deal with the repercussions tomorrow evening,” he said. I didn’t need to tell him that Danaus had chosen to protect the human over me, or that Veyron would undoubtedly send men to kill me during the day. I didn’t need to actually say the words. Valerio knew and he was willing to take me in.

“Don’t tell Stefan,” I said, wrapping one arm around his waist.

“I won’t.” He brushed a gentle kiss across my temple. “But you have to remember that we’ve all had troubles with a human every once in a while during our long lifetimes. I’m sure Stefan has had his fair share of problems.”

“Yes, but if the others find out that there has been a . . . a falling out between Danaus and me, they may take that as a sign to start hunting him.”

Valerio pulled back so he could look me in the face. “You’re still protecting him?”

Leaning back into Valerio, I nodded. I had pulled Danaus into these dark waters, and I wasn’t about to leave him to the sharks. We might not see eye-to-eye on some matters, but that did not mean I was willing to turn my back on him. I just couldn’t. I still needed him.