Wait for Dusk

Chapter Twenty-Three

O delia’s Solstice Ball was an extravagant affair. But considering what little I did now of her, I had expected nothing less. She was a relatively young nightwalker who liked to pretend to be much older than she was, reveling in the so-called “good old days,” when she never really lived through them in the first place. This Solstice Ball was just another excuse for her to preside over the younger nightwalkers and strut about as if she were something truly awesome to behold.

The only problem was, the three nightwalkers walking into her party were truly awesome to behold, and we didn’t like to share the limelight.

Unfortunately, Sofia either lied about the guest list or Odelia made some last minute modifications due to my recent behavior in Budapest. I had expected a lavish party of roughly one hundred people—half nightwalkers and the other half their human pets. When we arrived at the gathering, we discovered that the body count was well over two hundred, and nightwalkers accounted for less than quarter of those people. To prevent any kind of scene, particularly a violent bloody scene, Odelia had surrounded herself with humans. We could wipe only so many memories and control only so many minds at one time. This crowd was too big, and Odelia knew she was safe as long as she remained within it. It was a disappointing development, but I was not going to let it spoil my evening.

Macaire and I strolled into a grand ballroom laced in silver and gold decorations. A giant Christmas tree rose up in the far corner, glowing with twinkling white lights that reflected off red globe ornaments. Along either wall, enormous tables had been set up and were laden with gourmet dishes and artfully crafted ice sculptures. On the balcony overlooking the second floor, a string ensemble was playing music for the dancers in the middle of the ballroom.

Standing in that ballroom, I watched the swish and flow of the elegant ball gowns as the women were twirled around the floor. There was laughter and soft conversation in the air. I longed to have Valerio at my side. The scene played before me was like a crisp memory of a time not so long ago. Centuries ago, he and I had attended balls similar to this one, where we waltzed and laughed before luring our prey off to a secluded dark corner to feed. It had been such a seemingly innocent and light time in my life, which was now so far from my reach.

Stefan leaned close, brushing his chest against my shoulder so he could whisper in my ear. “I think there may be a problem with your attire.” I didn’t need to look over to know that Macaire was smirking. Both nightwalkers were at least wearing nice suits under their heavy coats, while I was sheathed in leather and steel. Not exactly what I would have preferred for a winter ball, but then I hadn’t thought I would need a fancy frock while destroying naturi in Budapest.

I shrugged and stepped into the ballroom with the rest of the guests. “The point, I believe, was to cause a scene,” I replied in a low voice. “I think this will help.”

My appearance certainly grabbed the attention of the partygoers, as they quickly put some space between themselves and me while softly whispering among each other. I was proud of the fact that I didn’t blush, and even more impressed that Macaire remained standing beside me, while Stefan stood straight and tall behind us both like a proper servant. Considering my aggressive attire, I had expected both of them to distance themselves from me at their first opportunity. It made me worry. What was Macaire’s game now?

It took Odelia and Veyron only a moment to notice the uneasiness of the crowd and head in our direction. They had been holding court at one of the three tables at the far end of the room on a slightly raised platform. Odelia wore an elaborate dress of shimmering silver and black, while Veyron appeared in a traditional tuxedo. When they reached us, they both gave a respectful bow of their heads. It was enough to show respect without drawing too much attention from the humans. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a particularly easy task, since nearly every human and nightwalker in the ballroom was staring at me.

“Welcome, great coven Elders Macaire and Mira. Welcome, Stefan. Please enjoy our small holiday gathering,” Odelia said, spreading her arms wide to invite us in.

“Thanks for allowing us to crash,” I replied. “We just heard about the party and thought we would drop by for a little while.” I resisted the urge to lay my hand on the handle of one of the knives attached to my hip.

“You’re most welcome here,” Veyron said, though he refused to look directly at me. I had to wonder if it might have something to do with his missing pet. Surely there had to be a few nightwalkers present who noticed her glaring absence.

“In truth, we had not expected you to linger in the city so long. Otherwise, I would have told you about the ball. It would have given you more time to find a proper ball gown,” Odelia added, as her hand caressed a luxurious strip of black velvet on her dress.

I waved my hand at her and forced out a light chuckle. “Yes, it does appear as if I am a bit underdressed for the affair.”

“In truth, it looks as if you should be part of the entertainment rather than a guest, but it is no matter. You are all most welcome here!”

“Why that’s a brilliant idea!”

“What idea?” Odelia demanded in a rough voice, obviously terrified by anything that I could conceive of as brilliant.

“Entertainment! It would give me a chance to repay you and all the other nightwalkers for your warm welcome into the city as both an Elder and now her keeper. I would like to provide some entertainment.”

“Oh, please, Mira. You don’t have to trouble yourself,” Veyron said, finally starting to look a little nervous. “Tonight is for your enjoyment and relaxation. You’ve done enough. We’ve already heard of the removal of all the naturi from the city. You’ve taken over as keeper for our protection. We can ask no more of you.”

“But I insist! It will be fun.”

“Please let her,” Macaire interjected, surprising me. “Mira has such a special gift for entertaining those around her. She has such flair.”

“Thank you, Macaire. Now, please, return to your seats at the far end of the ballroom and allow me to entertain you.”

With anxious smiles plastered on their faces, Veyron and Odelia led Macaire and Stefan across the center of the dance floor, with me lagging behind them. I stopped in the center and sent out a slight mental push to everyone, indicating that they should back off to the sidelines and leave the center of the dance floor completely open. At the same time, I mentally directed the orchestra on the balcony to switch to a selection of pieces from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet. I thought it would make the whole performance seem more festive, since I was limited in what I could do at that moment.

Once Odelia and the others were seated at the head tables, I bowed deeply to them and then to my left and right, offering myself up to the crowd. As I stood upright again, I palmed a pair of knives at my waist and quickly began to juggle them. I wasn’t a particularly accomplished juggler, but I’d picked up a couple tricks over the long years out of plain curiosity and boredom. The silver blades flashed in the twinkling light as they rose higher and higher. When they were more than five feet in the air, I added a third blade and pushed them even higher. The audience around me exploded in applause, but I wasn’t even half done.

When one knife reached more than ten feet in the air, it became wrapped in a ball of flames. In a matter of seconds I was juggling three flaming knives to an awe-filled crowd of humans and a slightly terrified group of nightwalkers. To the humans, this was a bit of fake magic for their entertainment that could easily be explained away with logic and science. To the nightwalkers, I was a walking threat.

As the music reached its ending crescendo, I dropped to my knees, caught a knife in my left hand and another in my right. Then I tilted my head back and caught the third flaming knife with my teeth. The second the blade entered my mouth, the flames were extinguished. Thrusting the two knives in my hands back into the sheaths at my side, I pulled the other blade out of my mouth. With a wide grin, I puffed out my cheeks and pretended to expel a massive breath of air that turned into a ball of fire as it left my lips. Over the round of exuberant clapping, I could hear screams of genuine terror from the nightwalkers in the crowd.

Confident that I had everyone’s full attention, I moved on to some more stunning tricks. With my blades returned to their sheaths, I raised my hands above my head and with a snap of my fingers four orbs of fire miraculously appeared hovering in the air. I waved my hands and the little fireballs spun and danced over my head in time with the music.

Want to have some fun? I silently inquired of Stefan.

I’m quite enjoying watching you make a fool of yourself. I don’t need anything else.

Give me a hand, please. Float Odelia out here to me.

Float her out?

Imagine lifting her out to the middle of the floor like a silver angel descending into Hell. Stefan didn’t say anything, but I could feel his inward chuckle at my description.

As the music shifted, I lowered my right hand and directed it toward Odelia, who magically lifted from her chair and floated out to the center of the floor, thanks to a little assistance from Stefan. Shock initially filled her face, but she quickly covered it up with a look of serenity—just like an angel floating down from Heaven. As her feet touched the ground before me, I used my left hand to direct the fireballs to change direction so they circled around her. With a laugh and a clap, they picked up speed and the ring around her became smaller so that she felt forced to cross her arms over her chest. A fragile smile lifted her lips, but there was genuine fear in her eyes.

We were completely surrounded by humans, and I knew it would be impossible for me to completely wipe all their memories if I decided to burn her right then and there. Of course, the real question was whether I cared if this gathering of humans watched as I burned her alive. No one knew me. I could easily disappear from sight and return to my beloved Savannah with no one thinking to look for me there. The nightwalkers wouldn’t murmur a word of my identity and would most likely not admit to seeing anything at all. I was a bigger threat to them than anything that the humans could dig up.

I shifted my gaze from Odelia to Macaire, who was lounging in his chair, watching the performance with what seemed like only partial attention. I arched one brow at him, and in return he shrugged one shoulder, as if to say that it was my decision. Stefan, on the other hand, was sitting on the edge of his chair, watching the flames edge closer and closer to Michelle’s executioner. I tilted my head toward him, and he gave me only the slightest shake.

Smiling broadly, I walked toward Odelia. With a snap of my fingers, the fireballs stopped circling her and returned to me. They settled on my thin figure and rolled over me, like a cat rubbing against my legs in want of affection. “It seems you’ve been given a reprieve. You’ve been promised to someone else,” I whispered, winking at her.

Tumbling backward in a series of springing backflips that put some distance between Odelia and me, I came to a halt in the center of the massive ballroom and was instantly engulfed in flames as if they were a second skin. I bowed deeply to the crowd, and when I rose again, the flames were completely gone. It was only when I threw up my hands in triumph that the room exploded in applause. For the time being, my odd outfit had been forgotten and the crowd was left pondering my amazing pyrotechnic skills. The nightwalkers were terrified, but given the fact that Odelia had survived the encounter, they were now willing to give me the benefit of the doubt. I was going to behave myself tonight. For now.

I followed Odelia up to the raised dais where the three tables sat and chose the empty seat next to Macaire so that we were in the center of the platform. Stefan was on my right, while Veyron and Odelia sat at a separate table, like a pair of good humble court attendants. Above us the orchestra struck up a fresh melody, and the partygoers returned to dancing and mingling among themselves without casting an eye in our direction.

“Congratulations, my dear,” Macaire said as he surveyed the dance floor before him. “You’ve managed to entertain all the humans in here with your amazing feats while openly threatening every nightwalker.”

“Thank you,” I replied with a slight bow of my head toward him. I sat back in my chair and crossed my left leg over my right, vainly attempting to relax while sitting next to my enemy. I wasn’t worried about an attack. We were under the scrutiny of too many humans, and Macaire wasn’t one for the direct approach. There was always the chance of things going sour on him and it ending badly for him.

I, on the other hand, had no problem with a more direct approach.

“I must congratulate you,” I said, venturing out onto a very thin limb. I was taking a wild stab in the dark and hoping to hit blood.

“For what?”

“For what you’ve accomplished here. It appears that you’ve managed to set up your own little coven using not just a pair of nightwalkers, but a warlock and a lycanthrope as well. As a people, we’re not known for getting along with the others.”

“I’m afraid that I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Macaire said blandly.

A smirk lifted my lips as I looked over my shoulder at him. “Please. You’re not dealing with an idiot, and you know it. You sent me here to show off what you’ve accomplished. The naturi weren’t a problem until I arrived. I must admit that it is quite amazing. The cooperation of nightwalkers, shifters, and magic users is rare. I can only guess that you’ve set yourself up as the liege figure. While somewhat treasonous, it’s definitely interesting in its strength. It’s a shame that all the positions have been filled.”

Macaire shifted slightly in his chair so he was leaning forward, allowing him to get a better view of my face as I stared out at the crowd. “Are you saying that you would be interested in such a structure?”

“The addition of Clarion makes this structure very powerful, but woefully weak when you consider Ferko. I know too many lycans that would tear him apart. However, I guess you need that weakness in an effort to find someone who would turn his back on his own people for the good of the power structure.”

Macaire said nothing, neither admitting nor denying my accusation as he sat back in his chair again. He stared straight ahead, drumming his fingers on the tabletop before him in time to the music.

“I will admit that the only one that I can’t figure out is Sofia,” I said, as if talking out loud to myself.

“She is quite the lovely pet,” Macaire murmured.

“Quite lovely.”

“I noticed that she was with your hunter this evening and not at Veyron’s side. Have you taken on yet another new pet? This is becoming quite the trend with you.”

“Oh, she’s not mine. She convinced Danaus that she wanted her freedom so he’s helped her run away.”

“Will you be taking her back to your domain?”

“Definitely not,” I said with an absent wave of my hand. “I’m not interested in her. I’m thinking of wiping her memory and dropping her somewhere remote, in a naturi country perhaps, like South America.”

Macaire fell silent again, but I noticed that he had stopped tapping on the table and his hand had balled into a fist. I pressed my lips firmly together to keep the smile from rising. I was beginning to wonder if Sofia actually belonged to Veyron, since he had shown little concern about her absence.

“I just can’t understand why she would take such risks,” I said in a low voice. “She must have a powerful ally or two in her corner.”

Macaire remained silent, staring straight ahead. He was no longer willing to be drawn into a conversation where he knew I was determined to corner him. I didn’t know whether Sofia directly belonged to him or if she was simply taking orders from him. All I knew was that I needed to get her away from Danaus as soon as possible.

I looked over at Stefan, who appeared to be more than a little bored. He was another question hovering in the air. When the time came, where did his loyalty lie? There was no doubt that he would do whatever was necessary to get a chair on the coven. Furthermore, I was confident that both Macaire and I had promised him an open chair once the other was disposed of. Unfortunately, I knew there was going to be a point where Stefan would have to make a choice between who he was going to support in the end. While we had a common hatred of the naturi, I also had the nightwalker hunter at my side as a minus.

Stefan caught me staring at him. He raised one eyebrow questioningly, but I simply smiled at him and gave a little shrug of my shoulders. I could only hope that my promise to personally hand over both Ferko and Odelia was also buying me brownie points with the nightwalker. I was anxious to get out of this city and home again, but I’d be willing to stay another night to aid him in hunting those two down if it meant getting him to aid me when I attempted to overthrow Macaire.

Beside me, Macaire pushed to his feet as the music shifted. He turned to me and offered his hand. “It’s been years since I enjoyed a waltz. Will you join me?”

I hated the fact that I hesitated. I knew that I was safe here at the ball and would easily be protected by the crowd of humans, but I still didn’t trust him. He had to know that he was close to finally being rid of me. With stomach churning, I placed my cold hand in his and rose gracefully to my feet. We wordlessly walked out to the center of the dance floor and twirled about the area in an elegant waltz that was a faint echo of days long past. Like Macaire, it had been centuries since I had last waltzed as well.

A faint smile lifted my lips against my will as the memory of my last waltz spun through my brain.

“What happy memory has gripped you?” Macaire inquired.

“My last waltz,” I replied. “With Valerio, in the middle of a dirty, blood-splattered alley in Munich too many years ago. We had spent an enjoyable evening out and he started humming a waltz.”

“It is a shame about what happened to Valerio. The naturi, particularly this Rowe, are becoming quite a nuisance,” Macaire said, clucking his tongue.

The naturi were far more than a bloody nuisance, but then Macaire wasn’t the one being hunted by a fanatic and their queen. The naturi were a danger to our entire race along with the human race. To make matters worse, they risked exposing our secret as the battles grew bigger and closer to major cities. It was too early for the Great Awakening. The humans just weren’t ready to know about us yet without it exploding in our faces.

I shook my head, hating to get into this argument while on the dance floor. “We need to develop a plan to go after Aurora. Once she is finally destroyed, we may finally be able to properly handle them. The naturi may be content to slip back into the quiet oblivion of the woods. They lived for centuries that way when the worlds were closed. I’m sure they can do it again.”

“You’re suggesting coexistence.”

“I wouldn’t mind if we quietly whittled down their numbers over the years, but if we’re not careful, we risk all-out war, which would eventually expose us to the humans.”

“Yes, it is too soon for that,” Macaire agreed, surprisingly. But then, his life was quite comfortable now without the humans knowing. Why rock the boat? He only needed to get rid of Jabari and me. Then, with any luck, his own coven could move in and take over after wiping out our constantly absent liege and the all too quiet Elizabeth.

“I would like to see the coven start making plans for the hunting and destruction of Aurora when we return,” I said. “Her death should dishearten the rest of the naturi and cause them to return to the shadows.”

“What about this Rowe? He seems quite powerful and determined to have your head at any cost,” Macaire suggested.

“He will, naturally, be eliminated with Aurora. I don’t think the naturi would rally around him, considering that he’s been exiled, but I’d rather not take the chance.”

“I think you should definitely bring up your thoughts before the coven when we return,” Macaire said.

I wanted to snicker. If I survived my time in Budapest, I had now developed a new role for myself in his life. I had no doubt that in his mind I’d become the one that would hunt down Aurora and kill her. But then I had always known that would be my job in the end. I had come the closest so far, and in truth I wanted to be the one that killed her.

As the music ended, Macaire and I bowed to each other and then silently returned to the raised platform.

We remained at the ball until a couple hours before sunrise. As we stepped outside of the ballroom, Macaire disappeared from sight, heading off to whatever location he was using for his daytime rest. Stefan offered me his hand with a smirk before we disappeared and reappeared in my hotel room. The nightwalker gave me a quick nod and then disappeared again, heading to his own secret daytime lair.

I frowned. The hotel room was completely empty. Unfortunately, the room was still in such disarray that I couldn’t tell if there had been a struggle. Closing my eyes, I reached out for Danaus.

Where are you? I demanded when I finally reached him.

Getting Sofia settled, he replied immediately, to my relief. We’re in a hotel near the airport outside of the city. She’s getting on a plane for London just after sunrise.

You’re sending her to Themis?

Just to London. If she wishes to seek out the researchers of Themis, that is her decision. I don’t want her to be linked to us if she falls in with Ryan.

I would have preferred to wipe her memory before she arrived in London, but there wasn’t time for me to get across town and back before the sun rose. I’d be cutting it far too close, and there were too many in this town that already wanted me dead.

Did you have any problems with Veyron’s men? I inquired.

None. I should be back to the hotel by sunrise to watch over you. I want to see her safely on the plane.

I cut off the connection between us before I said something snide. Shuffling into the bedroom, I pulled off my boots and removed all of my knives before plopping down on the bed. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to ignore the growing anxiety within my chest. Would Danaus return to my side before the sun rose? I knew that I could always contact Stefan and have him take me to Valerio, but I tapped down the urge. The hunter had promised to protect me. I would hold onto that promise as I let sleep finally take me.