Wait for Dusk

Chapter Seven

Budapest glowed about us, shining like a golden crown surrounding a shimmering river of glass. The news revealed that a fresh blanket of snow had fallen over the city during the day, leaving it glistening under the stars. The last time I visited Budapest, the three sectors of Buda, Óbuda, and Pest had not yet been joined into a single city. She had been in the process of rebuilding from yet another battle that left many of her amazing buildings scarred and gutted. But still, this jewel of Central Europe shined and thrived.

After leaving our hotel at the foot of Gellért Hill, we caught a taxi that was now taking us across Erzsébet Bridge toward lower Pest. The bridge rose up around us, white and slender like a woman’s arm reaching across the Danube. Farther up the river I could see the Széchenyi Chain Bridge standing solid in all its stone and golden glow glory. There was beauty around every turn in this city, with its exquisite architecture and stunning statues and monuments. A part of me wished we weren’t here on business but actually had some time to wander down the lovely streets and possibly visit the Parliament Building or any of the castles that dotted the landscape. Unfortunately, the exquisite Saint Stephen’s Basilica was out of the question—the magic held by holy places of worship like churches, temples, and synagogues kept nightwalkers out.

“You seem quieter than usual.” Danaus finally drew my gaze back into the car. The hunter sat next to me, his long black coat wrapped around him against the bitter cold outside. The temperature had dipped close to zero that night, and the wind gusted off and on, swirling the snow about us.

“It’s been a long time since I was last here.” And even then, the memories were not so great. I had been running with Valerio at the time, and causing more than my fair share of mischief. I wasn’t always the good little girl that I was now, and Valerio was no help on that front. The nightwalker had a wicked sense of humor and a dangerous definition of fun.

“I doubt that’s what’s preoccupying your mind.”

A smile tweaked the corners of my mouth as I looked up at my companion. “You know me too well sometimes,” I said, then shook my head. “I cannot begin to guess at what Macaire has in store for us. He would not have sent us to Budapest unless he had something special planned that would finally get me off of the coven and permanently out of his hair. And if he can get rid of you in the process, all the better for him.”

“It can’t be too complicated.” Danaus shrugged, his shoulders brushing against mine. “Either the keeper in Budapest is extremely old and strong, making it unlikely that you’ll be able to defeat him. Or there are a high number of naturi here, making it impossible for us to win against those odds.”

My frown deepened. It was the same two scenarios that I had come up with as well, and it didn’t make me feel any better. “A single Ancient keeper doesn’t stand a chance against both of us. And neither do the naturi. We’ve wiped them out before. We can do it again.”

We can’t. We can’t combine our powers as we had before, Danaus countered, switching to our private path in the event that our driver could actually speak English. We had lost our greatest weapon. Through the combination of our powers, we could destroy our enemies with a thought. However, the downfall of that ability was the fact that it sent the soul energy directly to the keeper of Danaus’s soul, a bori by the name of Gaizka. We had just finished locking him away once again at a great cost. I was in no hurry to have yet another run-in with the bori.

“Macaire doesn’t know that,” I replied. “I’m sure he still thinks that we can wipe out the naturi with a thought. I can’t imagine what edge he thinks he finally has over us.”

“We’ll figure it out.” I wished I felt that same confidence Danaus exuded, but then I’d had more experience dealing with the Elders than he did. They were careful plotters and evil manipulators. They acted with purpose and caution so they could be sure they knew that the outcome would fall in their favor. It was rare that you could surprise an Elder, and even rarer that you could escape their schemes.

“When was the last time you were in Budapest?” I asked, happy to change the subject.

“The Turks called this place home at the time,” he replied, putting his last visit sometime during the late fifteenth century to the early sixteenth century.

I slid my fingers through his open hand beside me. “A lot has changed since then.”

“And yet some things have not.” He stared down at our entwined hands. His fingers remained loose, not truly holding my hand, but at the same time he didn’t pull his hand free of my touch. “Mira, I—I’m not sure I can do this.”

“Do what?”

Danaus raised our hands. “This? We’re so different. We’ve got pasts that we can’t escape. Pasts that are going to eventually get in the way. I don’t see how we’re going to make this work.”

“I’m not worried about making something work. It’s about enjoying each other’s company while we have it,” I said, fighting to hold onto the fragile smile that was perched on my lips. My muscles in my chest tightened nervously; I could feel him already pulling away from me before we had taken any real steps forward, and despite what I said, I did want to make this work.

“What if there is nothing between us but lust?” He lowered his voice as if this was some dark topic not fit for human ears.

I lowered my voice as well and slid closer to Danaus, so my shoulder touched his. “Is that such a bad thing? At least it is the start of something; something that we could possibly build upon.” I reached up with my free hand and slid my fingers along his jaw, loving the fact that he no longer drew away when I touched him. I could feel the energy balled up inside of him. He was stiff and anxious, but he didn’t move away. The urge to kiss him welled up inside of me once again, the need to taste him. Instead, I dropped my hand back into my lap and lay my head against his shoulder.

“The road ahead of us is dark,” he warned, but at the same time his fingers tightened around mine.

“But we’re no longer alone.”

Giving Danaus’s hand one final squeeze, I sat up and pushed to the edge of my seat so I could lean across the front seat to speak to the driver. While my Hungarian was more than a little rusty, I still managed to direct him to drop us off near an empty corner in City Park. I could feel Valerio and Stefan lurking in the region. We were close to our meeting place, and I preferred to walk the rest of the distance without the watchful eyes of any humans nearby. I handed over six thousand Hungarian forints as he pulled the car to a stop. It more than covered the fee for the taxi ride and was a nice enough tip that he didn’t ask any questions about us being dropped off in a lonely part of a park near midnight.

Danaus slid out of the car, releasing my hand, and I followed behind him, shoving my hands into the pockets of my long coat in an effort to fend off the bitter cold. With a jerk of my head, we started walking in the direction in which I sensed Valerio. Stefan’s presence was a bit shadowy, as if he were quickly flitting from one place to the next so I couldn’t keep a clear sense of where he was, and yet he wasn’t cloaking himself completely from me.

After a few dozen yards along a winding path, Valerio stepped out of the shadows, blocking the light from a nearby streetlamp. He wore a heavy coat that stretched to his ankles, while a thick scarf was wrapped around his neck. The cold was little more than a nuisance to most nightwalkers, but he dressed so that he easily blended in with the humans. Plus, he liked to keep up with the latest fashions.

“Have you found someone worth talking to?” I asked as we joined him.

“She’s up ahead. From what I’ve been able to discern during the past few hours, she tends to hold court here most nights.”

“Keeper?” Danaus inquired.

“Doubtful. She’s old, from what I understand, and long used to getting her way, but no one has used any term with her that has even a vague resemblance to the term ‘keeper.’ It sounds like she’s just an old nightwalker,” Valerio said with a shrug.

I frowned, not liking what I was hearing. Old nightwalkers were extremely territorial and hated to play nice with other old nightwalkers. Unfortunately, as much as I hated to admit it, I too was an old nightwalker, and I was long used to getting my way. It frequently made for ugly clashes, as one was forced to finally give way to the other, usually through bloodshed and possibly an unexpected death. “What’s her name?”

“Odelia,” Stefan said, gliding out of the shadows to my right. I was relieved to see that Danaus didn’t flinch. I had not sensed Stefan until a second before he officially appeared, and I doubted that Danaus had sensed him at all. Stefan was just trying to prove to me that he was my superior when it came to powers and experience. I, on the other hand, wasn’t in the mood to play. We had bigger concerns, and the sooner Danaus and I got out of Budapest, the better it would be for all those involved. We needed to get back to Savannah.

I stared down at the snow-covered ground as I wracked my brain for a memory of someone by that name. I had known too many nightwalkers over my long life, and too few of my memories were good.

“Do you know her?” Danaus asked.

“I may have encountered her a time or two,” I admitted with a shake of my head as I looked up at Valerio and Stefan. “But I don’t truly recall her. The name sounds vaguely familiar. Do you know her?” I asked Stefan.

“She’s about your age. Long, dark hair, dark eyes,” he said, as if reciting a grocery list. “She’s arrogant, stubborn, and short-tempered.”

I snorted and started walking again. “You’ve just described most nightwalkers.”

Danaus fell into step beside me, while Valerio and Stefan followed close on my heels. Only Danaus’s footsteps crunched in the snow. We nightwalkers had lived too many years of moving like a summer breeze across an endless field to make noise now. There was no question where we were headed. There was a large concentration of nightwalkers up ahead, and it didn’t take much to sense their energy floating in the air.

“What is this place?” Danaus asked as we turned a corner and started to walk up the circular drive of a large neo-Baroque building. Outside, a large statue threw down a massive shadow as if it were guarding the place. Several large domes rose up in the night, while the gray stone front was marked by tall columns and enormous windows that reflected back the light that shone off the snow.

“It’s the Széchenyi Baths,” I replied.

“A Turkish bath?” Danaus said, obviously surprised. I understood why. Most of the time when we were meeting up with a powerful nightwalker, they preferred to hold court in a dark, human-crowded nightclub where food and sex were easy to find.

“Not a true Turkish bath, though there are still some in the city” Valerio said. “This one wasn’t discovered and rebuilt until the early twentieth century.”

“And when was the last time you were here?” I asked, arching one brow as I looked at him over my shoulder.

“More than three centuries ago, as you may recall,” he said, sliding me a sly smile that brought a blush to my cheeks. But then most of our memories would stain my cheeks red. “As to how I knew about Széchenyi, I had some time to read while I was waiting for your arrival.” To my shock, the nightwalker pulled a small travel guide out of his pocket and flashed it to me before returning it to his pocket.

“Always prepared for any eventuality,” I mocked, then turned my attention to the small grouping of nightwalkers that stood by the front doors. The welcoming committee didn’t look as if they were ready to let us pass into their private club, fellow nightwalkers or not.

As we drew close to the front doors, the three nightwalkers fanned out, blocking our entrance. Their hushed conversation stopped and they adopted a variety of bored and uninviting looks. It was all I could do to not giggle. The oldest of them wasn’t more than three centuries old. Hell, their combined ages couldn’t equal Stefan’s age, or probably even Valerio’s, not that the nightwalker would admit to it. They didn’t stand a chance in being able to stop us on their best night. I completed a quick scan of the entire exterior of the bathhouse and the entryway as well. They were the only ones guarding the place.

Are there no old nightwalkers within the city beyond Odelia? I inquired of Stefan. These three could barely stop a determined human if they wanted to. Why put something so young on guard duty unless there was no one you were truly guarding it against except humans?

Not many, from what I had been able to gather, he replied. I could sense his distaste for the private communication, but he at least understood that this was not the type of conversation one had with the help.

Seems odd for a city so old. From my experience, old cities attracted old nightwalkers. They had old hiding places, old traditions, and old languages they were able to cling to.

Odelia may have cleaned house in order to solidify her power within the city.

It was a distinct possibility and was not totally unheard of. Removing any nightwalker that was relatively close to your age removed any potential competition in the region for your dominance. But in truth, it was odd for such an old city to be in the hands of one so relatively young. Budapest should have been in the hands of an Ancient at the very least. I was beginning to wonder if I was potentially cleaning house so Macaire could move in. To my knowledge, the Elder preferred to linger in Rome, never traveling too far from the coven seat in Venice.

“What business do you have here?” asked the eldest of the nightwalkers in Hungarian as we finally stopped before them.

“We’re here to enjoy a midnight swim,” I replied easily in Italian. My Hungarian was still too rough, and traditionally, Italian announced to any nightwalker that you were from the coven. Unfortunately, this pronouncement didn’t go over as I expected. The three nightwalkers looked at each other in confusion, clearly unable to understand what I had just said to them. In fact, I was stunned speechless when Valerio finally had to repeat what I had said in Hungarian.

This is wrong, I said, directing my thoughts to both Valerio and Stefan. They are all more than a century old. Should they have not all appeared before the coven already? At the very least, the oldest should have been brought before the Elders. Has the tradition stopped here in Europe?

No, Valerio replied, his tone betraying some concern. All nightwalkers eventually appeared before the coven. All nightwalkers first learned Italian by pleading for their lives in that elegant language.

“He cannot enter,” the oldest of the three declared, pinning Danaus with a dark gaze. “Only magic users are permitted inside.”

“What must he do to prove that he’s a magic user?” Valerio inquired before I could argue. I was already growing weary of this trio, but then I was just another spoiled nightwalker long used to getting her way.

“He must cast a powerful spell of some sort on one of us,” one of the nightwalkers said with a disbelieving smirk.

“Fine,” I snapped in Hungarian. “Danaus, kill that one.” I pointed to the one who had spoken. He simply smiled at Danaus and me. For a moment I almost pitied him because he couldn’t sense the energy that circled around the hunter, but my pity for him dissipated before it could fully form.

I can’t do it, Mira, Danaus whispered in my mind, stunning me. I looked over at him, struggling to keep my mouth from falling open. This nonsense from a creature that seemed to chomp at the bit every time I tried to restrain him from killing a nightwalker?

What are you talking about? Boil his blood. Gaizka won’t benefit from that bit of magic, I argued.

It’s not that. I’ve never killed a nightwalker that didn’t attack me first.

You must. If you don’t, we’ll have to leave you behind, and then all three of them are going to attack you. When the hunter continued to frown at me, I finally relented. All right, boil his blood until he begs for mercy. You don’t have to kill him.

Satisfied with that arrangement, which shocked me more than I cared to think about, Danaus raised his hand toward the nightwalker I had indicated. Around me, I could feel his power swelling in the air, warming me like the summer sun breaking through the clouds. The smile slid off the lips of the young nightwalker and he looked down at his bare hands. The skin undulated as if something were crawling beneath the surface. With a whimper, he threw off his long coat as he ran out into the snow. His long fingernails tore at the bare flesh on his arms, revealing blood that popped and hissed as it boiled just beneath his skin. He released a bloodcurdling scream as he dropped to his knees and plunged both arms into the calf-deep snow, trying to cool the heat that was steadily building within his body, but it wasn’t enough.

Closing my eyes, I reached out for the stream of energy flowing between Danaus and the nightwalker. I gathered up my own powers and merged them with the stream, giving the spell a little boost without directly controlling Danaus. The nightwalker shrieked, his body twisting and contorting at odd angles before he finally flopped back into the snow, silent and dead. We had completely melted his organs, destroying his heart.

I didn’t mean to do it, Danaus whispered to me. I lost control. I could feel the horror rolling off him. He only killed nightwalkers in self-defense in his mind. This had been murder.

It wasn’t your fault, I murmured back to him, but then quickly dropped the connection. Now was not the time to explain that I was attempting to manipulate Danaus’s powers in accordance with Nick’s orders.

“What did he do?” demanded the youngest of the two, taking a step back away from the hunter.

“Boiled his blood,” I murmured, still starting at the dead body as I thought about the ease with which I’d been able to amplify Danaus’s ability. It had been far too easy, now that Nick had adjusted my own sensitivity to the energies around me.

Turning my attention to the two remaining nightwalkers, who were still staring at their dead companion, I waved my hand and the young one was instantly engulfed in flames. He managed to run a few feet away, hurrying toward the snow to put himself out, but the fire ate through his body faster than he could stumble. He collapsed at the edge of the drive, his body little more than a hot ember.

The remaining nightwalker pressed his back against the wall next to the doors, his eyes wide with fright. “You may live to tell your mistress that the Fire Starter, two Ancients, and a hunter are knocking at her door and we will come in,” I snarled in rough Hungarian. My translation was close enough because he grabbed the door handle and jerked the old, heavy door open before darting inside in a blur of movement.

“You’re a coven Elder,” Valerio reminded me needlessly as he reached for the door and held it open for me. “You really should introduce yourself as such.”

Stepping inside, I threw him a dirty look. “Normally, yes, but these pathetic creatures haven’t been before the coven. They don’t know what it means to be an Elder. Fire Starter is self-explanatory.”

Valerio flashed me a wry grin. “True.”

My trio of companions fanned out behind me as we stalked through the interior of the Széchenyi Baths. The walls were painted a pale yellow accented with white columns and ornate molding. The sound of laughter and splashing water echoed through the cavernous halls, forcing me to check several times as to how many people we were facing. Up ahead, the concentration of power was impressive. There had to be more than a dozen nightwalkers, along with a scattering of both lycanthropes and other human magic users.

As we crossed through a final archway, we came to a large room that held an enormous pool. Steam rose up from the water, filling the air with a heavy mist, which helped to diffuse the dim lamplight that glowed from above and in remote corners around the room. Nightwalkers, lycanthropes, witches, and warlocks, lounged in the water and along benches. We were the only ones still wearing clothing. At the far end of the room, the nightwalker I had spared was kneeling next to a female nightwalker lounging on a heavily padded divan. Her damp pale skin glistened in the thin lamplight.

“I’m guessing that’s Odelia,” I muttered, shoving my hands into my pockets.

“Astute observation,” Stefan commented from behind me, making me wish I could just singe him a little bit. Unfortunately, I was willing to bet that I still needed his assistance before I could finally escape this city.

Frowning, I led the way across the room, weaving my way between the naked bodies. A few looked up at us, halting their conversations, but most seemed content to ignore our presence within their nighttime refuge. When we were standing before Odelia, the nightwalker languidly rolled onto her back and propped her head up on her hand while resting her elbow on the back of the raised side of the divan. The nightwalker from the front door backpedaled, quietly edging away from our group. Fear still filled his eyes, making him more than a little wary of us. I preferred it that way.

“You must be the Fire Starter,” Odelia announced in heavily accented English.

“And you’re Odelia,” I replied, balling up my fists in the pockets of my heavy coat. I was fighting the urge to strip it off. The heat in the bath was stifling, but I kept telling myself that we wouldn’t be there too long. I could suffer through it.

“You’ve heard of me?” she inquired, arching one eyebrow at me.

“Not until five minutes ago,” I admitted, crushing her little hopes to dust. “Heard of me?”

“Who hasn’t?” she said with a delicate snort. “The nightwalker that can start fires with a thought also has a human that can apparently boil the blood of any creature he sees. It makes for a nightmarish combination.”

“Oh, and it gets worse,” I said, a grin finally blossoming across my face. “I’m now an Elder of the coven.”

“Oh,” she whispered, sitting up just a little straighter. At least she was old enough to know what it meant to be a member of the coven. It was a position that didn’t just demand respect, it screamed for it even as it killed you. “I didn’t realize that Tabor’s seat had been claimed.”

“The news is still spreading throughout the various domains, though I am surprised that it has yet to reach Budapest. You’re not that far from Venice.”

“I apologize for your less than gracious welcome,” she said, rising to her feet. “I had no idea that a member of the coven would be gracing us with her presence. Can I offer you a seat? Or maybe some refreshments? I like to keep a warm meal on hand for anyone who gets thirsty while at the baths.”

“I’m afraid this isn’t a social call. I am looking for the keeper of this domain,” I announced.

Odelia’s face crumpled as she returned to the edge of her divan. She folded her long fingers together and placed her hands on her knees. A lock of her long brown hair fell over her shoulder, partially covering her left breast. “Budapest doesn’t have a keeper.”

“How can a region this large, filled with nightwalkers, not have a keeper?” I snapped, growing more irritated the longer I remained in this bloody city. “There are more powerful creatures in this city than in most other large cities throughout Europe. By my guess, you’re more than six centuries yourself, and I know I’ve sensed others around the city that are older than you. Someone has to have laid claim to the region.”

“The last keeper of Budapest was a nightwalker by the name of Harold, but he left the region unexpectedly more than a century ago. No one has heard from him and no one has stepped forward to take over the city,” she explained with a slight shrug of her shoulders. Odelia pushed backward so that she was once again lounging on the divan. “In truth, we haven’t had a need for a keeper. The city remains quiet, and as you can see, the various races get along just fine.”

“And the naturi?”

Odelia’s eyes dropped down to the ground and she chewed on her full lower lip. “They moved into the city just about a month ago and we haven’t been successful in getting rid of them. We’ve learned to hunt in packs now, and the lycans stay away from certain parts of town where they have been known to gather.”

“Who is taking care of the naturi?” Valerio inquired, slipping graciously into Hungarian. Odelia turned her gaze on the oh so sauve nightwalker and smiled coyly up at him. I thought I was going to be sick.

“His name is Veyron,” she purred. “He is the oldest of the nightwalkers within Budapest, and he’s taken on a sort of brotherly role in the city, watching over the younger nightwalkers.”

“I’ve heard of him,” Stefan interjected. “He’s not yet an Ancient.”

To my surprise, Odelia actually glared at Stefan for just a blink of an eye before smoothing out her expression once again to smile up at Valerio. “He is the oldest of us all.”

“Which makes for a very young group of nightwalkers,” I observed. “How is it that such an old city has not attracted more powerful nightwalkers?”

“I can’t really say,” she said, once again shrugging her shoulders as she dragged her gaze up to me. “We’ve managed quite well without them underfoot.”

“Is Veyron the one in contact with the coven?” I asked. “Macaire informed us that Budapest was having problems with the naturi.”

“Veyron would be the one that you want to talk to. He has a place in Buda in the Castle District where he sees visitors. I’m sure that he would be more than happy to see you. In fact, I can go right now and tell him to expect you.” Odelia swung her feet around to place them on the ground again, but a wave of my hand kept her seated on the dark red divan.

“Don’t bother,” I said, struggling to keep from frowning. “We’ll find him. We want to wander around the city and look into the naturi matter firsthand before we meet with Veyron. Thanks for your assistance.” I turned away from Odelia and took a step toward the door when my eyes fell on the enormous bath once again. Laughter rose up from the water and people splashed, kissed, and engaged in other forms of entertainment. Something caught my eye and had me turning back toward our host.

“Who is the alpha for the Budapest pack?” I inquired.

“His name is Ferko,” she replied slowly, watching me with a cautious eye. She knew better than to lie and say that there was no alpha for the local pack. A pack of lycanthropes didn’t exist without an alpha. It was impossible. “He’s not here. He typically doesn’t visit the baths until a week after the full moon, and it’s usually only for an hour or two.”

“Not the social type, is he?”

“Not really,” she agreed, ignoring my sarcasm.

“Thanks for the information,” I said, waving at her as I turned.

“Are you going to get rid of them? The naturi?”

“It’s what I do.” Killing naturi seemed to be the only thing that I was good at.