Wait for Dusk

Chapter One

Pain exploded across my face, lighting up the black night. My body slammed against a hard surface before I slid limp to my knees, sending a fresh surge of pain up through my frame. The world around me was a blur of disorganized shapes and shadows, punctuated by splashes of red as something hit my jaw, snapping my head around. I landed on my back with a wooden thud.

I wanted to summon up my powers and set the bastard on fire, but the attacks were coming too quickly. My concentration was shattered. In the brief lull, I tried to assess the damage to see if I had any chance of striking back. My left knee had been shattered and my right leg was broken. My internal organs were swimming in my own blood, bruised, punctured, and damaged. My jaw felt fractured and my eyes were nearly swollen shut. I tried to shift to my side, revealing that at least three ribs were broken.

“You stupid bitch!” snarled a deep unfamiliar voice. For a moment I could almost convince myself that I had fallen into Rowe’s hands. Only that naturi could possibly hate me so much as to beat me senseless.

“A nightwalker?” he demanded incredulously just before his foot landed in my stomach. My arms had been crossed over my middle, so my left wrist took the brunt of the blow, fracturing. I cried out as my mind struggled to hold onto the voice. I didn’t recognize it. But then, I wasn’t sure where I was or how I had even gotten there.

“A nightwalker? If I had known how things were going to work out, I would never have let you out of my sight in the first place!” His footsteps moved farther away as he paced the area.

“Who the hell are you?” I spat, sending a stream of blood over my split lower lip.

The creature sighed heavily, and I flinched as he walked back toward me. A large hand sank into my hair, twisting it around his fist before finally jerking it so I was facing upward. Squinting and blinking, my eyes slowly focused in the dim light on a face I was sure I would never see again: my father.

A scream became choked in my raw throat while I tried to lurch backward, sending slashing pain through my scalp as the creature refused to release my hair. His grin grew over his lean, old face becoming a mockery of the love and laughter I had seen on my real father’s face.

Clenching my jaw, I closed my eyes and swallowed back a string of curses. I had to think clearly. This wasn’t my father. It was obviously a shapeshifter, and one that could read my mind and my memories. The only creature that could possibly do such a horrible thing was a bori.

Gaizka! Oh God! We had failed to lock it up when we were on Factors Walk. The bori had gotten to me.

But even as the thought occurred to me, I knew it was wrong. LaVina grabbed me, using me to lock away the bori before it could steal Danaus away forever. LaVina had snatched me away from Factors Walk and taken me to this secluded location to beat me into oblivion. Or rather, it was this creature that had pretended to be the old witch LaVina so it could get closer to me and Danaus.

A growl rumbled in the back of my throat, warning him to back away, even though I had already proven to be a weak threat. LaVina had fooled us all. I should never have believed her to be a simple witch. I knew all the powerful witches from Charleston to New Orleans. This creature had snuck in, and we allowed it because we were desperate to cage the bori Gaizka. Now it was time for me to pay the price of not being more vigilant.

“You’re not real,” I groaned, clenching my fist against the swell of pain that swept over me as I tried to move.

The creature tightened his grip on my hair just before sending the back of his free hand across my cheekbone. A new pain blossomed across my face, causing my teeth to rattle in their sockets while a trickle of blood started to slip down my cheek.

“Did that feel real?” he mocked. He gave my head a sharp shake when I remained silent. “Look at me!”

My eyes snapped open and I stared into the dark eyes of the monster that held me. My body was broken and throbbing with pain. Without some help, I didn’t have a chance to defeat this creature. I did not have the strength to summon up my powers to light this son of a bitch on fire, and too many bones were still mending from being broken for me to effectively move, let alone fight. If I was going to die, I would do it with my eyes wide-open and staring into the dead soulless eyes of my opponent.

“You’re not my father. You’re a shapeshifter. A bori.” I could taste my own blood in my mouth as I spoke.

“Ahhh, my sweet child, you are not even close,” he said, finally releasing his hold on my hair so that I unexpectedly thudded on the floor. “It’s my own fault, though. I never should have waited so long to reveal myself to you.” The creature paced away from me, waving his hands in the air.

As he spoke, I pulled my arms beneath my body and pushed myself up a little bit so I could look around. Shock tightened my muscles as I discovered that I was in the library at my own house. However, it looked as if a tornado had ripped through it. The shelves were all broken and the books had fallen into large piles around the room. My massive desk was overturned, while papers splattered with my blood were strewn about. Something inside of me shivered when I saw that my extensive collection of hourglasses destroyed. What little light came in through the window glittered and danced off the broken glass and piles of sand. Had my time finally run out?

“Let me start at the beginning.” He spun on a heel to face me again, drawing my gaze back to the monster that still held the guise of my beloved father. “But you’re going have to think for me.”

Pain screamed through my body, causing my arms to tremble so badly that I finally gave up the fight and lay back down on the floor, trying to ignore the fragments of glass and wood beneath me. “Who are you?”

“I am your father,” he said simply, spreading his arms out on either side of him, his hands held open as if welcoming me into his thin embrace.

“Impossible! My father is dead! He died centuries ago. He was human. You’re just some pathetic mimic.”

The creature was before me in a flash, grabbing my hair again so I couldn’t look away. “Are you really so sure of that?” he demanded, laughing. Before my eyes, his features shifted so that his soft, wizened face grew younger and sharper in his appearance. His dark brown hair turned a bright shock of red that stuck out in all directions from his head. But it was his glowing lavender eyes that held me still. It was like looking at a male version of myself, and it was terrifying.

“This isn’t real either,” I whimpered. My mind was unable to comprehend exactly what I was staring at.

“Actually, you’re right,” he admitted with a slight shrug of one shoulder. “But then I doubt your little mind can fully comprehend the real version of me, so we’re just going have to settle for the light version of the truth.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Come now, Mira. Think just a little bit for me.” Giving my head a little shake, he continued. “You know the old tales. Zeus comes down to earth from Mount Olympus in various forms and cheats on his darling wife, spawning an untold number of children, leaving the earth to be littered with all kinds of little demigods and nymphs.”

A low, rough chuckle escaped me before I could stop it. “You’re a god?”

With a growl, the monster slammed the back of my head into the shelf behind me, causing my vision to go black. I blinked a couple times, trying to regain my sight. The creature leaned close enough that I could feel its hot breath dance across my cheek. “Half dead and long forgotten from this world, but I am still here and here I will remain.”

He pulled away, seeming to have control of his temper once again. “That old one wasn’t the only one trying to maintain his immortality. We all had brief forays around this dark little mud hole, some having more success than others. Centuries ago, I appeared before your mother in the guise of the man that she was attached to.”

When I managed to get my vision to clear again, I saw that I was once again staring into the face of the man whom I had always called my father. I gritted my teeth and tried to push away from the monster, but he held fast. My father had been a good, kind man, and his memory didn’t deserve to be soiled in such a manner.

“So you’re saying that you seduced my mother while pretending to be my father,” I snapped, wishing I could put some distance between us. However, I lay as still as possible, hoping to give my body some time to heal. I would gather my strength, and as soon as I could, I would set this bastard on fire like a Roman candle.

The creature clucked his tongue at me and shook his head. “But, little one, he was never really your father. I am,” he corrected. “But I am grateful for how he looked after you when you were younger and hadn’t yet learned to defend yourself. Your mother proved to be utterly useless.”

“My mother loved me!” I screamed, jerking forward.

The creature snorted at me as he released my hair. He changed back into the redheaded figure he had appeared as just moments earlier. “Your mother was terrified of you. Red hair, violet eyes, in a world that was filled with brown hair, brown-eyed children. Even worse, she was afraid of bringing another monster into the world. That’s why she killed herself.”

Putting my hands on the ground for a second, I pushed upward and lunged at the stranger, aiming to gouge out his eyeballs with my fingernails. Anger had overtaken my common sense. The creature just laughed as he easily captured both my wrists and slammed me back down onto the ground.

Running his tongue over his upper teeth, he smiled down at me, taking particular glee in revealing his next bit of information. “Yes, when you were but eight years old, she discovered she was with child again. Fearful of bringing another demon spawn into the earth, she walked into the sea, killing herself and the child.”

“No!” I tried to lurch off the ground as fresh tears welled up in my eyes. I knew I shouldn’t believe him, but I did. My mother had simply disappeared early one morning when I was young and never returned. My father wept for her, but we continued on as best as we could. Something in me had always felt responsible for her disappearance, and I’d always known that she was dead. I just never understood why she had left us.

In response to my tears, the creature laughed as he released his hold on my wrists. I lifted my hands and wiped my eyes, sweeping away the blood and the dirt that had been smeared and crusted on my face.

“Who are you? What do you want with me?” I was tired of playing mind games with this monster. I needed to heal. I needed to find Danaus and know that he was safe. I needed to put my world back in order.

“Haven’t you guessed by now?” he inquired, jumping to his feet with an eerie lightness. “I am your real father. The one responsible for your wonderful set of genes, your special gifts, and rather stunning looks.”

“Whatever,” I grumbled, causing his ebullient expression to deflate somewhat. “But who are you? Another bori? We shut Gaizka up. We can do it with you.”

At this, he smiled. He slipped to his knees and crawled across the floor toward me, a smile widening on his sharp face. “In Africa, I’ve been called Ogo and Anansi. In Egypt, I was known as Keku. Among the Norse, I was known as Loki. The Native Americans referred to me as Coyote and Raven.”

“Oh God,” I whispered, trying to shrink away from the creature that was inches away from me. His frame seemed to grow so that his huge bulk hovered over me, blocking out the rest of the room.

A dark chuckle rose up from his chest and slithered over toward me, sending a fresh chill down my spine. “No need to be quite so formal,” he mocked. “You, my dear sweet child, may just call me Nick.”

“Wh-What do you want from me?” My brain failed to get past the sudden log jamb of thoughts that were nearly crippling me. I didn’t want to believe it, but I was left with either the idea that he was actually telling the truth or that I had fallen in with another bori Danaus and I hadn’t been looking for. Either way, I was in serious trouble.

At this, Nick frowned at me as he leapt back to his feet with an easy grace that bespoke of supernatural powers rather than any human finesse. Placing his hands on his hips, he paced away from me while shaking his head. “I knew I should have kept a closer watch on you, but after your initial display of powers, I thought you would be safe on your own for a while. Besides, I had other children to check on.”

“There are others?”

“There were.” He paused, giving a soft sigh. “Anything that failed to be as talented as you was quickly pruned like dead growth.”

“Bastard.” I grunted as I pushed into a sitting position. I was light-headed from the pain and my vision swam before my eyes focused on him again.

“What’s a father to do? Can’t have useless bits of my genes running aimlessly around,” he replied as he slipped his hands in the pockets of his black slacks. “But I turn my back on you for a few short years, and when I look back you’re a damned nightwalker! You soiled yourself, diluting all your wonderful powers and potential with that bori filth!”

I couldn’t understand what he was talking about. “I’m stronger now than I ever was as a human.”

“Stronger?” he snapped. “Unable to go out in daylight, dependent on the blood of humans. How is that stronger?”

“I’m faster and stronger than any human. I have the ability to read their minds and control their thoughts.”

“And who’s to say that you wouldn’t have all of those abilities if you hadn’t allowed yourself to be changed? You didn’t give yourself enough time to develop. Now you’re saddled with all these silly limitations.”

“What the hell should it matter to you what I chose to do with my life?” I pulled my legs underneath me as I prepared to push to my feet. My legs were mostly healed and I felt that I would soon be able to stand. I didn’t like the distinct disadvantage of being trapped on the floor while this creature paced the room like a chain-smoking speed addict looking to score his next fix out of my hide.

“Because I’ve got plans for you, my daughter,” he admitted with an evil grin. “I’ve had to modify them a bit, but my plans for you still stand.”

“I don’t give a damn about your plans,” I replied through clenched teeth. “I just want you to leave.”

“Not yet. And trust me, you will care about my plans before I am through, for you sit at the center of it all.”

I tried to pull to myself up by using a couple intact bookshelves behind me. “What plans?”

“Ahhh . . . no reason to give away my best secrets just yet.” He laughed, wagging one finger at me. “Besides, there’s something that you need to take care of first.”

“I don’t have to do shit for you!” Struggling to stand on my own as pain shot through the bones of my legs like a bolt of lightning looking for a grounding rod, I swallowed a scream.

“This is for the both of us.” Extending one hand toward me, I felt a surge of energy fill my frame. In an instant I jerked to my feet, my arms snapping out to my sides, leaving me hanging in the air as if I were a marionette on a string. Jabari had exhibited the same ability to physically control me against my will. Danaus could force me to use my powers against my will. The bori could control me completely as well. And with no great surprise, so could Nick.

“I have had enough of this nonsense,” he said with a harsh hiss. “No daughter of mine will be controlled by other creatures! Well, you will be controlled by no one but me.”

“I can’t help it!”

“Lies! You’ve never properly fought them!” With a wave of his hand, he slammed my back against a broken bookcase before pulling me toward him again. “There will be no more of this. You will not only fight them and keep them from controlling you, but you will learn to harness their own powers for your benefit.”

An ugly bitter laugh escaped me as he stepped away and my head fell back. “That’s nonsense if I ever heard it.” I chuckled, letting my head fall forward again. My hair dropped down to crowd around my face, partially obscuring my vision of Nick. “Fight Jabari? He’s centuries old. He could crush me with a thought if I so much as tried to defy him. He has some kind of power over me that I don’t understand and can’t fight.”

The creature rushed toward me in a flash and wrapped his large hand around my throat. I felt his powers release me half a second before he flung me across the room and into the side of my toppled desk. A loud groan echoed through the room as both my body and the desk skid across the hardwood floor before finally hitting the opposite wall.

I slowly lifted myself into a kneeling position so I could glare up at him. “Don’t you think I want to be free of Jabari?” I demanded. “I would love nothing more than to shove his damned powers down his throat and let him choke on them, but I can’t. I can’t fight him. Hell, I can’t even sense his powers until it’s too late.”

“Then let me give you the gift you would have had already if you hadn’t messed your life up with these bloody nightwalkers.” He waved his hand at me and I found myself cringing, all the muscles tensing in my body as I waited for another wave of pain to come crashing through my frame. But it never happened. There was only Nick’s laughter as he mocked my surprise and fear.

And then it came to me, as if a heavy veil were being lifted from the world. I could sense . . . energy. Different kinds of energy as it flowed in and around me. I could feel the earth and her steadily beating pulse. I could feel the hum of energy buzzing in my own body. I could sense the energy rolling off Nick in fat, swamping waves so it seemed to fill the air, suffocating me as I struggled to pull above its weight. It was unlike anything I had ever seen or felt before. Once, many months ago, I had sensed the powers of the earth, and being a nightwalker, I was always in touch with blood magic. However, the energy that tumbled away from Nick seemed to fit neither of these categories. He was a massive ball of power and something else . . .

“How about a test drive, father mine?” I mocked, pushing to my feet. Narrowing my eyes on his smug face, I tapped into all the energy swirling around me, not caring whether it came from blood, earth, or whatever Nick was, and let it fill me in a rush. I summoned up my powers and flung a round of fireballs at him with enough speed that I was sure he wouldn’t be able to dodge them. And he didn’t. The fire struck him in the center of his chest and washed over his body, covering him as if it were a second skin. His laughter bounced around the room as he took a step toward me, still covered in flames.

I stumbled a step backward, hitting the desk behind me, and steeled myself for the next round of blows as my mind frantically searched for another way of attacking. I had no weapons on me, only the power I had been born with. Running wasn’t an option. Nick had already proven that he was faster than me. So I waited for my punishment for striking out.

But it never came. He laughed at me and extinguished the flames. “That’s my girl,” he said, and patted me on my bruised cheek. “Now you just need to use that energy you can sense against those who are trying to control you. Prove to me that you can harness their own powers for your means. Control Jabari. Control Danaus.”

Something in my chest twisted at the sound of the hunter’s name falling from Nick’s thin lips. I wanted to keep Danaus as far from this creature as I possibly could, but I knew looking into his twinkling black eyes that it wasn’t even a remote possibility.

“And if I refuse?” I lifted my chin as I clenched my teeth.

“Then you are useless to me as you are, and we’ll have to start from scratch,” he said with a grin. He pressed his hand into my stomach and leaned in close. “I can still undo what was done.”

“What?” I demanded, my stomach twisting into a tight knot.

“Make you human again.” My mind halted at the very thought. Human. Again. I couldn’t ever be human again. I didn’t want to be human ever again. I was a nightwalker. I had been a nightwalker for more than six hundred years. It was all I knew.

Nick sent a pulse of energy through my system and I felt a jerk in the middle of my chest as if something had tightened its fist around my soul. At the same time, my heart thudded in my chest and I took a ragged gasping breath, feeling like I had been holding it for the past six centuries. I could feel blood rushing through my veins and warmth pulsing through my body again. Oh, no! I was alive again.

“No!” I screamed, grabbing his hand with both of mine. “No! You can’t do this! Don’t take this away from me!”

“Then heed me, daughter of mine,” he bit out. “Prove to me that you can wield the powers of the hunter and the Ancient, and I will leave you as you are. Otherwise, I will turn you human again and you will bear me a child to replace you.”

“A child?” I stopped struggling as the horrible thought screamed through my brain. “But you said you were my father. It would be a monster.”

“It wouldn’t be the first monster I’ve graced this world with.” Nick released me, and I slid down the side of the desk as my legs gave out. Sitting on the ground, I stared straight ahead, blind to the world around me.

“Listen to me, Mira,” he said slowly, drawing my gaze back to his smiling face. With a wave of his hand, one of the silver-plated hourglasses that had been smashed to pieces reassembled itself in midair, leaving the black sand to collect perfectly in the upper glass chamber. Nick set the hourglass between my legs, tipping it so the sand ran into the empty chamber. “You’ve always felt like time was running out for you, and now you know why. I’m here and I’m waiting for you. Do as I ask and you shall be rewarded. Fail me and I shall make you human so that you can breed me a child to take your place. I will be watching, but remember, your time is running out.”