Wait for Dusk

Chapter Twenty-Five

Rowe pressed his hand and cheek against the cold steel door, sensing for any kind of spell that might have been wrapped around the opening. Not only was the naturi well versed in nature-based magic, but in his years of struggling to come up with a way to free his people, he had also become an expert in blood magic—the very thing that got him exiled. His hand slid across the metal in a slow caress, while I stood back from the opening, waiting to see if anything went awry. My skills did not lay with magic spells and other bits of hocus-pocus.

The naturi pushed away from the door and brushed off his hands. “There’s no spell barring our way,” he announced. “In fact, as far as I can tell, there’s no spell in all of this basement area. Apparently, no one thought we would survive to attempt an escape.”

“At least, they didn’t think you’d have the strength to escape alone after you killed me while I slept,” I added. “We should get moving. My companions should be arriving shortly and they’ll need our help.”

I wrapped my hands around one corner of the window in the door, while bracing my left leg against the stone wall. Rowe did the same on the opposite side of the door and we pulled. Alone, we were both stronger than the normal human, but neither of us were capable of pulling loose the steel door that was firmly bolted into the stone wall. However, working together, the door folded like a piece of warm cheese. A loud metallic screeching echoed through the stone basement, announcing our escape attempt. We had to get moving before someone arrived to investigate.

Climbing through the opening, I reached down to my side for my knife, to discover it was missing. I had forgotten that I’d taken off all of my weapons as I collapsed into bed. I was completely unarmed. I glanced over at Rowe, who simply shook his head at me. Apparently, his captors had taken the time to disarm him.

No matter. I’d tear Sofia apart with my bare hands if it came to that. She had caused me enough problems to last a lifetime and now it was time to take her life.

We hurried down the hallway to the entrance of the basement, not making a sound except for the occasional rustling of our clothes. I climbed up the stairs first and poked my head through the trapdoor, to find that we were actually in a subbasement below the real basement. On stone slabs there were an array of wood and metal coffins where Veyron and his companions obviously slept during the daylight hours. A quick count revealed more than a dozen coffins. Apparently, they subscribed to some of the old ways despite their talk of escaping the old-fashioned precepts of our people. I hadn’t seen a grouping of coffins like this except for the underground rooms at the coven meeting hall.

“Can we burn them?” Rowe asked as his eyes scanned them, searching for any that might still be occupied.

“Why bother? We’re going to kill them all eventually,” I said with a shrug. The naturi smiled unexpectedly at me. Of course, he would be pleased with any plan that worked toward the demise of my kind.

“I think you’re starting to come around to my thinking,” Rowe whispered as he led the way to the only door in the vast dark basement.

“Hardly. I just don’t take kindly to creatures that try to kill me,” I replied, following close on his heels.

“I’m still here.”

“You don’t want me dead. Otherwise, you would have completed the task centuries ago,” I said smugly, earning a low growl in response. I ignored it, though as I sensed the distinct presence of Stefan and Danaus close by. They had arrived at Veyron’s and were currently seeking entrance into the house. I fully expected Sofia to invite them in. She needed to see to it that the rest of my party was disposed of properly, which would meet with Macaire’s ultimate plan. He wanted Danaus and me dead. Unfortunately, Stefan was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught up in the cross fire.

“Let’s go. They’re here,” I said, giving him a little shove in the middle of his back to keep him moving up the stairs and through the door, which opened into the main hall. I peered through a small crack that Rowe had opened. The light was nearly blinding after walking around in pitch-darkness since awakening that evening. I couldn’t see anyone, but I could hear Sofia’s soft, desperate voice as she pleaded with Danaus and Stefan to help her escape Veyron’s clutches. She claimed that Veyron’s men had grabbed her again during the day and were threatening to kill her. She was plotting something, ensuring that Danaus and Stefan would be entangled in such a way that their deaths would be imminent.

The sound of approaching footsteps caused Rowe to pull back and soundlessly close the basement door. I threw out my senses to find six nightwalkers and three lycanthropes approaching my companions. Sofia was simply the bait in this trap.

“We need to get in there,” I whispered, trying to get around Rowe so I could escape the dark prison.

“Unarmed? We’ll be slaughtered in minutes,” he snapped. “Your friends are surely armed. Let them whittle down their numbers a bit before we go jumping into the fray.”

“Coward! Surely you’re not afraid of a handful of weak nightwalkers and a few pathetic werewolves?” I goaded.

“No! I’m more concerned with the nightwalker I made a deal with stabbing me in the back because it’s convenient. I would prefer to get the numbers down to something more manageable before I go jumping in.”

Laying my hand on the doorknob over his, I took a step up the stair, crowding him. “Remain, if you like. I’m going. But know this, you may be missing your only chance to strike at your kidnappers.”

A low groan followed behind me as I snuck out of the basement and down the hall in my stocking feet. In the light, I could finally see that I was dirty and splattered with my own blood. I hadn’t had the chance to clean up from the new wounds Rowe inflicted on me while I slept. My palm itched to hit him, but it would do no good now. We had to take care of Ferko and Sofia before we left the house. Veyron and the others would have to be taken care of at another time—I was feeling too weak and we needed time to plan.

Rowe and I came upon the same large room where we had met Veyron for the first time. The garden room was ablaze with light, as if trying to cast away the evil spirits that lurked in all the shadowy corners. The wall of windows was black, reflecting back the furniture and occupants of the room. Sofia clung to Danaus’s arm, pleading with him. The hunter placed one hand over hers, comforting her. I nearly set the house on fire. Stefan stood off to the side, looking completely bored.

Nightwalkers and lycanthropes are surrounding you, I warned Stefan. There was no talking to Danaus—his eyes were only on Sofia.

I sense them, he replied blandly.

Then do something useful. Find out where Veyron and Odelia are. She won’t confess to Clarion’s location.

“If we are to help you,” Stefan said to Sofia, not even trying to sound interested, “we need to strike while Veyron is away. Do you know where he has gone?”

“Away. Hunting,” she said in a rushed voice. “But he should be back within the hour. Please, we must hurry before he returns.”

“You’re right. We must hurry,” I said as I walked soundlessly into the room. Rowe stood behind me, capturing Danaus’s dark stare.

“Oh God! She’s escaped!” Sofia cried, tightening her grip on Danaus’s arm. “She came here last night out of her mind. She was trying to kill me, spouting nonsense about evil plots to destroy her. Veyron locked her up in hopes that a good day’s rest would heal her mind. Please, you must protect me!”

Danaus simply stared at me, his face an unreadable mask. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, and I was too scared to touch his thoughts. I didn’t want to know if he believed Sofia. In the end it didn’t matter. Danaus and I were already over, and I was going to kill Sofia.

As I took a step toward Sofia, the nightwalkers and lycanthropes that had been patiently waiting in the wings at her disposal entered the room. Ferko brought a low hiss out of Stefan as he eyed the lycanthrope.

“Leave that one to Stefan,” I said as I laid one hand on Rowe’s shoulder. He stared at Ferko for a couple of seconds, frowning, before he finally nodded his agreement that Stefan would get the alpha. Rowe would make do with the nightwalkers.

Angry and frustrated, I was in no mood for a prolonged armed battle. I waved my hand, intending to set the lot of them on fire, but the flames merely swirled through the air and settled in a ball above Sofia’s head before finally winking from existence.

“Witch,” I snarled.

“You’ll not win this one, Fire Starter,” she said as she took a couple steps away from Danaus. “You are outnumbered and outgunned. Veyron needs you dead and that is what I shall deliver.”

The nightwalkers and lycanthropes charged as one. Rowe launched himself at one nightwalker with lightning-fast agility, while Stefan sought to corner Ferko, tearing apart one lycanthrope in the blink of an eye as he moved to protect his alpha. Three nightwalkers flew at me but suddenly dropped to their knees, clawing at their flesh. A familiar warmth filled the air, brushing against my bare cheek and down my neck. I turned to find Danaus standing with one hand extended toward the nightwalkers, killing them with his special gift.

“Here,” he grunted, tossing me a knife from his belt with his free hand.

With a wide grin I launched myself at the remaining nightwalkers. Slicing through tendons and muscles, crushing bones and lacerating vital organs, I left the nightwalkers shrieking in pain as they lay writhing in a pool of their own blood. They had chosen their path, siding with Veyron, and by extension Macaire. I’d had enough of the Ancient’s games. Washed in their blood, I vowed that I would end this struggle for power with Macaire once and for all. I was tired of dodging shadows and running from every perceived threat, whether real or not. I wanted my life back, and I knew it would start again when I finally took out Macaire.

Placing a hand on the chest of each nightwalker, I set them on fire, ending their suffering as I burned them from the inside out. I was too close and too focused for Sofia to be able to stop me this time. They screamed but for a moment, and then were silent forever.

Sliding easily on the balls of my feet on the blood-covered hardwood floor, I turned to face Sofia, who was watching me through narrowed eyes. Her face was twisted with rage, but she suddenly wiped it clean and turned to Danaus.

“Please, Danaus! She’s gone mad! You have to protect me. The nightwalkers want me dead. I’m just some pathetic human for them to play with,” she cried, clutching his arm again.

“Release him,” I hissed, pushing into a standing position. It took all my will not to set her on fire. “He doesn’t believe you any longer. He knows you’re a witch. He knows you tried to use and trick us.”

“It’s a lie! She’s insane!” Sofia screamed, growing more frantic. She was a superb little actress, but my patience was growing short and I was in no mood for games.

“Who stopped my fire attack?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

“Tell me what Macaire’s demands were. What did he require of Veyron and Odelia?” I demanded.

“Macaire? I don’t know who this Macaire is,” she continued. She took a step away from Danaus for every step I took toward her.

“I’m quite confident that you do. I have no doubt that Macaire directed this entire farce. You already confessed that your goal was to come between Danaus and me. Separate us and force us to fight each other, to kill each other. For who better to kill me than my greatest ally? Definitely a plan of Macaire’s making.”

“Please, Mira, I never meant you any harm.” Sofia extended shaking hands toward me, but there was an evil glint in her eyes. She was plotting something. “Veyron is the one that locked you up. I went to Danaus because I thought he could free me from Veyron’s grasp. I never meant to come between you.”

“I don’t believe you and neither does Danaus. You locked me up with Rowe in hopes that he would do your dirty work for you. Macaire could then go to the rest of the world stating that a naturi killed me.”

Sofia looked over at Danaus, but I refused to drop my gaze from her face. The witch dropped her hands back to her sides and then frowned at me. “A lot of good that did us,” she finally confessed. “The naturi is now fighting with you when he should have spent the day ripping your insides out with his bare hands.”

My hold on my temper finally snapped. Flames whooshed up around Sofia, burning through the carpet, drapes, and furniture. She kept the fire from consuming her but remained trapped in a tight circle. I stepped through the flames with my blade in hand. Above the crackling of the flames I heard someone shout my name, but I didn’t look up. I couldn’t take the chance. Sofia was a witch and I was sure that she still had a trick or two up her sleeve.

As I stepped into the circle of fire with her, she disappeared from my sight. I immediately extinguished the flames and scanned the room. I had felt the brush of power when she disappeared. She didn’t have enough power to go far. She wasn’t as strong a witch as I had thought, which was more than a little surprising. But then, Macaire wouldn’t have been able to control a powerful witch very easily. Regardless, she was mine for what she had done to Danaus and me.

“Where did she go?” I shouted, my eyes whipping from one end of the burned and bloody room to the other.

“I feel her outside,” Stefan replied after a second.

I darted outside, my blood-soaked stockings slipping on the hardwood floors. Gravel and snow bit into my feet as I hit the yard. With a wave of my hand the tires of the car that Sofia was climbing into exploded as the rubber melted under the fires that suddenly burned around them.

A roll of thunder rumbled in the distance, but the sound was approaching us. Rowe was outside and finally in the clear to use his own powers. The wind swirled around us, throwing up flakes of snow and the occasional dead leaf. I didn’t need to look overhead to see the black clouds beginning to pour across the sky. Rowe wanted Sofia dead as much as I did. She was one of those responsible for his imprisonment.

“She’s mine!” I shouted, pointing at Rowe.

“Not if I get her first!”

“Macaire!” Sofia screamed in terror, but it was too late. I lunged across the yard in a blur of color and grabbed her by the neck. I threw her away from the car and followed after her, narrowly missing the lightning bolt that came streaking from the sky to smash into the car. She landed in a mound of snow with a heavy rush of air expelled from her lungs. I landed on top of her and sank my fangs into her neck before she could make a sound, before she could even raise a fist to push me away.

As I drained her of blood, I pushed deep inside her mind. She felt me in her thoughts and tried to scream, but it came out as only a low gurgle. Once there, I showed her the horrors I had witnessed over the years. I convinced her of the torture that still awaited her when I was finally through feeding off of her. Her heart pounded in her chest until I was sure that it would soon explode, pumping her warm blood that much faster into my cold frame.

When I had drunk all I could, I lifted my mouth from her throat but not my presence from her mind. She stared off into oblivion, not seeing the world around her, but the horrible world of bleak terror and pain that I painted for her. After only a couple seconds longer, her heart finally gave out and she uttered a shuddering gasp. She died in the tight grasp of fear, convinced that a long existence of pain awaited her.

Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I rose to my feet and backed away from her corpse. Her blood still leaked from her neck, staining the white snow red. I felt both rejuvenated and disgusted simultaneously. It had been a long time since I’d last killed someone in that manner. Locked in fear, I left their mind a shattered mess of chaos and pain in their final minutes. It always left me wondering if the soul ever escaped those grim horrors when death finally came or if those same fears followed them through the rest of eternity. I didn’t like it. Killing someone was a matter of blood, violence, and hopefully a quick death. This was a slow torture that damaged both mind and soul.

I had killed Sofia like that out of hatred and pain. I hated what I’d done, but at the same time I couldn’t salvage any feelings of regret. Despite my distaste for the act, I still hated her with every fiber of my being. She had stolen Danaus from me.

“Mira?” Stefan said, drawing my gaze over to where he stood with a blade pointed at Rowe. The naturi glared at me, his hands lowered but open, showing that he held no weapon. For now he was abiding by our agreement. He had only struck at Sofia, the nightwalkers, and the lycanthropes that had attacked us. Rowe had made no move against me and mine.

“Let him go,” I said in a low, weary voice.

“Are you insane?”

“I’m beginning to think so,” I muttered. I had already heard that enough from Sofia. I was starting to question my sanity.

“Mira, he’s the one you’ve been after all these months! He’s been trying to capture you. He’s going to kill you. We won’t get another chance like this,” Stefan argued, taking a step closer to the naturi. Rowe never moved. He just stared at me with his narrowed eyes flashing in the light coming from the house.

“I know that!” I shouted back at him. “Do you seriously think I don’t know exactly who he is and what he means to do to me? I said, let him go!”

Stefan glared at the naturi for another second before he finally straightened his stance and put the knife he was holding back into a sheath up his sleeve along his wrist. He walked over toward me, partially standing between me and the naturi as if he were still determined to protect me.

Rowe arched one brow at me while the corner of his mouth tweaked in a smile. “I am . . . surprised.”

“Just go now before I change my mind,” I growled.

Rowe hunched over as a pair of massive black wings sprouted from his back. He extended them to their full length, catching the wind that was still snaking through the city. As he lifted off the ground, I took a step toward him.

“Find Cynnia!” I shouted up to him.

The naturi hovered in the air like a piñata waiting for me to take a whack at him. Rowe cocked his head to one side in thought. “You think killing her will win me back to Aurora’s side?”

“No, but I think you will find a home with Cynnia that you will never find with Aurora. Live your life, Rowe, while you can, instead of chasing after death.”

“Same to you, Mira,” he murmured before rising into the night sky. I watched after him for several seconds until he completely disappeared from sight. I knew he would leave Budapest. All the other naturi here were dead, and he knew that I wouldn’t be remaining there for long. I wasn’t sure he would actually seek out Aurora’s renegade sister Cynnia, but for him it would be a step in the right direction. I had a feeling that Cynnia would accept him, scars and all, where Aurora never could, no matter what he accomplished for her.

Closing my eyes, I buried my face in Stefan’s chest. The nightwalker wrapped his arms around me, blocking out some of the cold wind that beat against my exposed flesh. I had killed Sofia, and soon I would have to face Danaus, but I wasn’t ready. Not yet. Not tonight.

“Take me back to the hotel,” I whispered, barely getting the words past the lump in my throat. I needed to be away from this place. I had woken up to find myself locked with my mortal enemy, a pawn in an elaborate game to turn Danaus against me so he would be forced to kill me. I’d had all I could take for one evening. I needed somewhere safe where the world could touch me no longer.