Wait for Dusk

Chapter Eight

I paused as I started to walk out of the large bathing chamber. Valerio was staring at the enormous pool where nightwalkers and lycanthropes splashed and laughed together completely oblivious to our presence. A wide wicked grin spread across my companion’s face, and I fought the shiver that crept up my spine. He was thinking of something evil, and a part of me grew excited by the prospect. Valerio always knew the best amusements.

“Only a fool would inquire as to what is passing through that devilish brain of yours,” I said as I came to stand beside him, with Danaus just behind my shoulder.

“So many wonderful traditions have been lost here,” Valerio said. He shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his coat and rocked back on his heels.

“You’re a coven Elder,” Stefan added as he stood on the other side of Valerio. “They should be cowering before you. They should be trembling before the power of the coven.”

“They don’t even know what the coven is.” I placed my hands in the pockets of my coat and looked over the gathered masses. I was a member of the coven. What’s more, I was the Fire Starter. I was the one that had taken all the risks when it came to saving our people from the naturi. They should have feared me.

“It should not be allowed to continue,” Stefan declared

“Then I suggest a little fun as a way of celebrating Mira’s ascension to the coven. Some entertainment,” Valerio announced, clapping his hands together.

A slow smile slid across my lips. “Did you have something in mind?”

“If your consort would be kind enough to keep an eye on the door against any runners, we could play a few games with the nightwalkers,” Valerio replied.

“Runners?” Danaus inquired.

“Vampires who try to leave before the party is over,” Valerio explained.

“Feel free to kill them should any of them cross your path,” Stefan growled. “It is your specialty, correct?”

“I can handle it,” Danaus bit out, glaring at him.

I placed a hand on his arm, drawing his gaze back to my face. “Allow the lycanthropes and the other magic users to leave here unharmed. Our . . . games don’t include them unless they strike first.”

“And if they strike at me as they leave?”

“Oh, feel free to boil their brains from their skull,” I said with a chuckle. I gave his arm a final squeeze, widening my smile to try to reassure him that everything was going to be fine, but I was growing a little shaky myself. It had been a long time since I’d taken part in nightwalker games, and never as a member of the coven. My role had always been that of either prey or predator. What’s more, Valerio was involved, which meant that this was going to be extremely bloody. For a creature that didn’t like to get his hands dirty, the nightwalker had a twisted sense of humor that stretched more than a mile wide.

I watched Danaus walk from the bathing room, his shoulders straight and stiff. His head never turned toward the nightwalkers that eyed him as he left the room. He was above all of them. He was above this type of violence as well. When he killed, it was in the name of justice and protection. Too often when nightwalkers killed, it was in the name of amusement. Not for the first time, I wondered if our way of life would be our downfall, not the naturi. We said we were weeding out the weak and culling the herd, but in truth we were just thinning out an army that we desperately needed against what was coming. But it was too late for doubts now.

“The Elder has changed her mind,” Valerio announced in a loud voice that echoed through the enormous hall as he turned back toward Odelia. He shed his heavy coat and unwound his scarf from his neck. “We have not had a chance to properly celebrate Mira’s ascension to the coven, and she has declared that some games are in order.”

“Of course,” Odelia said, sliding gracefully from her divan. A stiff smile lifted the corners of her mouth. “We are happy to find some way to amuse the great Elder.”

“You may clear the chamber of all those who are not our kind,” Stefan directed coldly, with an absent wave of his hand before shedding his coat.

“But we’ve always included the lycans and the magic weavers in our activities,” Odelia argued.

Stefan halted and frowned down at the naked nightwalker. “How long has it been since you were last before the coven?”

“Several centuries. I was quite young,” she admitted, clutching her hands together before her flat stomach.

“Obviously,” Stefan said with a heavy sigh. He stared down his long Roman nose at her and fixed his iciest stare on her. It was enough to make me nearly giggle out loud. “The shifters and such have complained in the past that we play too rough, so Mira is generously allowing them the chance to leave. I suggest they take advantage of it.”

Odelia was smart enough not to ask any additional questions as she stepped up to the pool and politely announced that tonight’s gathering had become a private affair due to the presence of a coven Elder who wished to be entertained. I didn’t exactly come away sounding like a welcome guest, but more of a tolerated nuisance. I smiled to myself. Odelia had no idea what was ahead of her.

To my delight, Valerio shoved the divan with a loud screeching sound across the tiles so that it was now facing the largest open area outside of the pool like a throne. He spread his coat over the divan and Stefan did the same directly after him. I smiled as I lay my coat on the divan just before stretching out on it. Now I could be sure I wasn’t touching any of the area Odelia had lain on, as if she were a creature beneath me. And in truth, she was, now that I was a coven Elder. They all were.

Once I was settled on the divan, Valerio and Stefan came to stand on either side of me, rolling up their sleeves above their elbows. Energy pumped and vibrated from them in their excitement about what lay ahead. I could easily understand their enthusiasm. The naturi were knocking on our door, demanding dominance in our world. Valerio was aware of a bori making a brief visit. It seemed all our nightmares were coming to life. They needed a little time to blow off some steam.

“Counting Odelia, there are fourteen nightwalkers in the hall along with three shifters that have decided to stay behind,” Stefan said.

“Pick a number, Mira,” Valerio said, his tone growing more giddy as the time approached.

I arched one brow at him as I gazed into his glowing eyes. “What game are we playing?”

“I thought we would give them a lesson in Italian,” he replied. It was an old and popular game in the coven among the fledglings. The new nightwalkers were brought before the coven and beaten to a bloody pulp until they either learned to beg in Italian or died first.

“Nine.”

Stefan nodded, looking over the assembled masses climbing out of the pool and watching us warily. “Nine seems like a fair number.”

Kill the lycans immediately, along with any nightwalker that may be tied to them. Leave Odelia alive if it is possible. She may be useful later, I said softly in their brains so that no one else would know of my plans.

“Shall we begin?” Valerio asked, seeming to chomp at the bit to be set free on the nightwalker horde.

I waved my hand toward the gathering and smiled. “At your pleasure.”

The violence was fast and intense. There was no running or escaping it. Stefan and Valerio seemed to be everywhere at once. Though I couldn’t hear it, I had no doubt they were whispering to each other telepathically, directing each other when one or two would attempt to make a break for the door.

With a smile, I finally sent up a wall of flames in each of the doorways that circled the enormous pool. Before the rules were even set up, Valerio and Stefan singled out the lycanthropes and brutally slaughtered them in a wash of blood and broken limbs. They had been given their warning that this was a nightwalker-only party. Odelia gasped and took a couple steps backward, her trembling hands covering her mouth. Normally, I would have immediately directed Valerio or Stefan to eliminate her as a potential shifter sympathizer that could cause me problems later, but I let it pass. I had a feeling she might prove useful later, considering that she was one of the oldest nightwalkers in Budapest.

After the lycanthropes had been taken care of, Stefan and Valerio turned their attention to the young nightwalkers. The trick was to get them to try to speak in Italian. This wasn’t going to be the easiest of tasks since most spoke only Hungarian or German, while it appeared that a small smattering knew some English. The first three lost their tongues and were left curled up on the floor, gurgling blood as the wound attempted to close. When Stefan questioned them a second time, the trio naturally couldn’t speak, so he and Valerio tore them apart in a spray of blood that now coated the pale yellow walls.

A small group made a run for the pool, potentially hoping that neither Valerio nor Stefan would be willing to get completely soaked in their hunt of the nightwalkers. To protect my companions and keep everyone together, I placed a second wall of fire around the thermal bath, blocking that potential escape route. One unfortunate fellow didn’t stop in time and was enveloped in flames. He flailed around the room, waving his arms and rolling on the ground. I could have put him out, but there was something about the way his screams bounced off the high walls and domed ceiling. I closed my eyes and let my thoughts drift back to the nights I lived with Jabari. I thought of the many entertainments I had taken part in at the coven Main Hall. So many had died there, and their screams had sounded so similarly. For just a brief moment it was like coming home.

Mira? Valerio inquired silently.

Sorry, lost in a happy thought.

As long as you’re enjoying yourself.

You, too.

He paused with his knee dug into the back of a nightwalker’s neck while the poor victim’s left arm was being stretched behind his back. It was always more fun when you were at my side.

I chuckled and shook my head as he resumed torturing his prey until the nightwalker’s skull finally cracked on the hard floor. Valerio was walking temptation. He was dripping blood and grinning at me like a madman with a meat cleaver, but there was something right and warmly familiar about that grin. I knew that violence was a part of his soul because it was a part of mine as well. At the same time, I knew the soft touch of his fingertips as they skimmed over my naked flesh. I just needed to remember that those nights were over and Danaus was now at my side.

I’m content with a spectator’s role tonight. There will be plenty of time for me to strike while we are in Budapest, I replied. Yet at the same time, I forced myself to grip the sides of the divan cushions to hold myself in place. A part of me was longing to be washed in blood with them, but I was an Elder now and wasn’t supposed to get as dirty as I used to. Of course, I had a dark suspicion that I wasn’t going to change that aspect of my personality just to please the coven. I was a hands-on kind of girl.

While it was only a matter of minutes, it probably seemed like a lifetime to the nightwalkers that were herded into a small corner of the bathing room. Odelia was among them, parts of her pale body smeared with the blood of her comrades as they jostled and bumped against each other to escape Valerio and Stefan. Six had been killed already, besides the lycanthropes. I could see Valerio and Stefan mentally sizing up the remaining three. When I had given them the number “nine,” I’d chosen how many would die that night.

My gaze danced over the huddled masses. A couple had managed to squeak out “clemenza” after some prompting from both Valerio and Odelia, winning them exactly that—a moment of mercy. Another surprised us all when he said “perdona la mia ignoranza.” Stefan had been more than a little perturbed by the development because I think the Ancient had singled him out for slaughter, but he’d spoken more Italian than the rest of the group so he was permitted to actually leave the bathhouse with his life intact. I was even kind enough to signal ahead to Danaus that this one was to leave the Széchenyi Baths alive.

It was only after I had been staring at the crowd for a moment that a smug face finally stood out to me. He was leaning up against the wall with a large towel wrapped around his body like a toga. His red hair was damp and standing on end about his oval head, while piercing lavender eyes watched me. It was Nick; I knew it without a single doubt. I didn’t need to scan the air for his signature surge of power. I knew, looking at him with his red hair and lavender eyes, that this was the creature who was supposedly my father. I could only guess that he had sensed me using my powers and decided to make an appearance to make sure I was abiding by his wishes.

Shoving off the divan, I stalked across the bathing room, my heels clicking ominously in the growing silence. Valerio and Stefan had stopped in the middle of tearing apart a nightwalker and stepped back as I approached the crowd. I heedlessly stepped among them and grabbed Nick by the arms. Slamming him against the wall, I grinned as his head hit the tile drywall with enough force to crack and dent it.

“You have no business here. I will handle it,” I growled in a low voice.

“That’s not enough and you know it,” he taunted, referring to my little jolt of power with Danaus’s. The muscles in my chest constricted and a knot formed in my stomach.

“I doubt it ever will be.”

“You’re going to have to try harder than that my—”

I cut off his words by pitching him through the thick wall of flames that encircled the pool. There was a loud splash and an ominous thud that was muffled by the water as he hit the bottom of the pool. I clenched my teeth and started to walk back toward the divan when I heard a slap of flesh against concrete. I turned to find Nick climbing back out of the pool, stepping through the flames as if they weren’t even there.

I stood there like the rest of them, frozen in shock. Everyone naturally assumed that he was a nightwalker and had just succeeded in crossing through the flames twice without even getting singed. Nick took advantage of my shock. He rushed me, closing the distance between us in a flash. He slammed me into the wall with enough force that I nearly went through the first layer of the wall to the brick exterior. I grunted and my vision blurred.

Still dazed, I looked up at him with a smile. At the same time, I slammed my fist into his chest and pulled his heart free. He took a couple stumbling steps backward and shook his head at me. I knew it wouldn’t kill him. If he truly was a god, I didn’t think there was a way to kill him. However, he was kind enough to oblige me this small thing so that too many questions weren’t asked about his odd presence.

“I’ll be watching,” he promised just before he was engulfed in flames not of my making. His whole body and the heart in my hand crumpled to ash in a matter of seconds, wiping away his existence, but not his frightening memory. He was watching me, waiting for me to perform my tasks like a good little puppet.

“We’re out of here,” I snapped, turning back toward the divan. I grabbed my coat from the divan and jerked it on, while Valerio and Stefan joined me. A touch on my cheek from Valerio caused me to still, my nerves easing back to some semblance of peace and control. Nick had rattled me, but Valerio had succeeded in giving me back a little bit of my peace again.

“Did you enjoy tonight’s amusements?” he asked.

“Yes, you and Stefan were stunning. As always.”

Valerio bowed his head to me and then leaned in and pressed a kiss to the vein on my jugular, leaving behind a smear of blood. Stefan followed tradition, but went for a less intimate location. He gently took my right hand and pressed a kiss to my vulnerable wrist where my pulse would have been. The bloody marks were signs of approval on my part of their performance in tonight’s games. If I had not approved of their work, I would not have allowed them to touch me.

As we walked past the remaining nightwalkers, I spared Odelia a quick glance. “See to it that this mess is properly cleaned up before the dawn.” We then continued back out into the cold Budapest night where Danaus was patiently waiting for us.

“Sounds like you had a good time,” he said as he wiped the blood off one of his long knives. Two lycanthrope bodies lay at his feet, massive cuts stretching from deep in their stomachs to their throats. In a couple quick moves the hunter had gutted both of his attackers.

“Looks like you had a little fun yourself,” Valerio said appreciatively as he nudged one of the dead with the toe of his shoe.

“They tried to get back inside after they left. No invitation. No entrance.” Danaus shrugged his shoulders and I could see a smile toying with the corner of his mouth.

“So are you going to tell us who the mystery man was?” Valerio inquired, pinning me with a direct gaze. My companions had been kind enough to wait until we left the main bath. Otherwise, it might have raised too many questions in front of Odelia and the others. I shoved a trembling hand through my hair, pushing it out of my face as I struggled to come up with a viable excuse. I didn’t know anyone in Budapest, hadn’t been to the city in ages. I shouldn’t have been able to make such a comment, but Nick was hanging about, causing problems in my life.

“He’s no one important,” I grumbled, keeping my gaze straight ahead.

“I thought you didn’t know anyone in Budapest,” Stefan countered, stepping directly in front of me so I was forced to look at him.

“I don’t. At least, no one of consequence,” I snapped, quickly sweeping past him.

“What was he referring to?” Valerio prodded.

“Not your concern. It has nothing to do with this matter that has brought us to Budapest. It’s something personal.”

“Is it going to interfere with our investigation?” Stefan demanded.

“No.”

I felt confident that I could conclude this investigation into Budapest without worrying about Nick, but I was also confident that he was going to interfere with the rest of my life. I had gotten my first taste of true power when I tapped into Danaus’s abilities. Nick and I were both sure that I wouldn’t be able to resist using him yet again, particularly if my life was on the line. For now, I was at his mercy, but I would find a way to escape these bonds even as I found a way to escape Jabari and Danaus.