Authors: Jocelynn Drake
I caught my first faint touch of Mira several blocks away, but steadily drawing closer. Judging by her speed, she was in her car. Something inside of me seemed to relax when I was suddenly aware of her presence, as if a hidden ball of tension began to unwind. I couldn’t read her thoughts, but brief touches of her emotions brushed against my mind. She was calm, but neither happy nor sad. Beneath it, there was a red haze clouding everything. For a moment, I thought it was a deep, simmering anger, possibly her hatred for the naturi or Jabari, but it didn’t fit.
When she was only a couple blocks away, the feeling grew more intense and clear—she was hungry. No, Mira was starving. Her hunger was clawing away at her insides. She needed to feed.
I pulled my powers back into myself and drew in a deep, cleansing breath. Thick walls went up around my thoughts, blocking out all outside influences, but it was another full minute before the same red haze faded from my mind. I looked down to find my hands were shaking.
It had been like that when I had seen my first vampire so many centuries ago. It was several hours before sunrise, and I had walked into an empty square that was quiet except for the splash of water from a nearby fountain. A pale man in deep burgundy robes had stepped from an alley, and I was immediately hit with this red wave of hunger. My knees nearly buckled beneath me and I stumbled backward a couple steps. Stretching out his hand, he beckoned to a woman, who approached him as if she were in a trance. Her face held no expressions, her eyes wide and vacant. Before taking her back into the dark shadows of the alley he had stepped out of, he turned and smiled at me.
I knew when he bit into her neck. I knew when he drew blood from her body, filling his own cold frame because I could feel it. It was the same liquid warmth that swept over my frame when I was at the First Communion with Mira. However, this heat held no seductive allure, but a horror as I came to realize that such a creature existed and that I was somehow linked to them. I could sense them, feel their differentness. In a crowded room, I could locate the one nightwalker with my eyes closed. Their emotions drifted to me like a woman’s perfume on the breeze.
But their hunger came through the clearest. I could feel the pain, the driving need, the unrelenting fixation that could force out all other thought. I could drown in that feeling until it became my own. It was a dual-edged blade. I could not only feel the mindless pain, but also the overwhelming feeling of satisfaction when the starved creature finally fed. Yet, it wasn’t until the First Communion that I began to understand how deep that feeling ran.
Getting a grip on reality once again, I shrugged into my jacket and quickly locked the door to the town house. I was standing on the edge of the porch when Mira pulled up to the curb in front of the house.
“Aren’t you full of tricks?” she teased as I slid into the passenger seat. “You were watching for me.”
I had purposefully met Mira on the street. She would have picked up Peter’s scent in the town house, and I wasn’t sure how she would react. My gut said she would be upset, but then again, I had seen her laugh off bigger problems. Regardless, it was a distraction we didn’t have time for.
“I’ve got a few tricks,” I said as I pulled on the seat belt.
I looked over to find Mira’s full lips quirked in a small smile as she turned the car back away from the town house. “I know you do,” she whispered. “I underestimated you once. Never again.”
“Only once?”
Mira’s smile widened so that her right fang poked slightly against her lower lip. “How did you sleep?”
“Fine. You?”
“My day was just fine,” she replied, now secretive and close-lipped.
I let the silence sink in as we wove our way around the square and through the historic district. Mira deftly drove us along a road that followed the Savannah River like a lover’s hand in a long, slow caress. Night sank in, the darkness filling the car so that we were bathed in the pale blue glow of the interior lights.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Dark Room. It’s the best place to find Gregor.”
“We’ve got another meeting first,” I said, inwardly cringing at her reaction to this unexpected development. “I scheduled an appointment with Barrett Rainer at Bella Luna.”
“You spoke with the alpha?” she demanded, coming to an abrupt stop at a red light.
“The lycans need to know what’s going on. Fingers are going to start pointing in their direction if it gets out how the Bradford girl died,” I explained.
Mira stiffly nodded, her hands tightening slightly on the steering wheel. “I agree. Does Barrett know why we are coming?”
“I told him that it’s in relation to our investigation.”
When the light turned green, Mira swiftly changed lanes and abruptly turned left, heading around another square. “I wish you would have told me a little sooner,” she said, sounding a little irritated, but nowhere near as angry as I had expected her to be. The nightwalker was long used to being in control of every situation, particularly within her domain. However, I was afraid she would put off or completely avoid the meeting due to their strained relationship. Ever since the naturi had come to Savannah, tension had been running high between the shifters and the vampires.
“Why? So you could skip the meeting?”
“No, you ass,” she said with a surprising chuckle. “I wish you would have told me sooner because I already drove past the restaurant.”
My eyes immediately jerked back to my window and the Savannah River several yards away. We were still in downtown Savannah and nowhere near any bridges to cross out of the city proper. “The head of the local pack? On this side of the river at night?”
Mira gave a little laugh in the back of her throat and shook her head. “I guess I was wrong.”
“How?”
“I have underestimated you yet again.”
I couldn’t stop from smiling. Surprising Mira was not the easiest of tasks, but I had succeeded yet again by knowing more about her domain than she expected.
“How much time have you actually spent in my domain?” she asked, one brow arched, though her eyes remained on the road.
I hesitated, but I could hear no malice or hostility in her tone. She seemed honestly curious. “Less than two months.”
“James keeps you well informed.”
And I was very observant. The ongoing peace between the lycanthropes and the vampires in the city was no great secret. Nor was it any secret that Mira worked very hard to maintain that peace. The lack of animosity between the two species made Savannah peculiar.
But then again, the Savannah pack was peculiar in itself. Barrett Rainer was the alpha male of the pack and head of the Rainer family, who had ruled the pack for more than a century. In fact, more than seventy-five percent of the local pack was also a member of the Rainer family. Before any lycanthrope could move within a twenty-five-mile radius of Savannah, he or she had to petition the pack. Not an out-of-the-ordinary procedure, but it was also very difficult to be accepted.
The other peculiarity of the area was the agreed-upon “living” arrangement. No lycanthrope was permitted to live within ten miles of downtown Savannah unless they set up residence across the river on the north side. A werewolf could work anywhere he or she wanted in Savannah, but when night fell, they knew they were in nightwalker territory.
On the other hand, no vampire was permitted to hunt on the other side of the river. And on the night of the full moon, no vampire was permitted in lycanthrope territory at all. While strict, the rules worked to protect both sides from stupid mistakes.
Most of the information was known by only the locals, but careful watching of both sides had revealed most of the details, which James later confirmed for me.
“Barrett’s family has operated Bella Luna on this side of the river for decades. It seemed silly to ask him to move it,” Mira said when we stopped for a red light. “Everyone knows where it’s located and they steer clear.”
A few minutes later, we were entering a small building with two walls of windows. The front was ringed with a low, black iron fence. The area looked like it was large enough to hold several tables for outdoor dining in nice weather, but it was now empty except for a few dried leaves.
Without a thought, I reached around Mira and grasped the old, brass handle, pulling the worn wooden door open for her. Some habits never die. When I realized what I had done, I expected a snicker or a snide remark, but Mira simply said, “Thank you.”
A young woman with short brown hair looked up when we entered and she smiled stiffly. “It’s good to see you again, Mira. He’s expecting you. Let me show you to your table.” The woman then turned her gaze to me, but this time her smile reached her brown eyes. “I’ll be with you in just a moment, sir.”
“He’s with me,” Mira deftly interjected.
The young woman blinked, her smile slipping completely from her face as she looked from me to Mira. With a little effort, her stiff smile returned. “Of course. Please, follow me.”
Grabbing two menus from behind the maître d’ stand, she smoothly wove her way around the tables to a secluded spot near the back of the restaurant. It was hardly the best table in the place considering it was close to the kitchen. However, I realized after sitting in the circular booth that we had an unobstructed view of the whole restaurant, and the noise from the kitchen would hinder any attempts to eavesdrop on our conversation.
As soon as the young woman stepped away from the table, a man in a pristine white shirt and black slacks set a glass of red wine before Mira. He then soundlessly put an entire place setting before me. Apparently, Barrett had informed his people that he was meeting with Mira, but he forgot to mention that she would have a companion.
“What can I get you to drink, sir?” the sandy blond server inquired.
“Nothing, I—”
“He’ll have a glass of ice water, no lemon, and a cup of Earl Grey with honey, if you have it,” Mira quickly said.
“Very good.” The server disappeared into the kitchen and I looked over at Mira. She had removed her black leather gloves and she was fiddling with her salad fork, refusing to meet my gaze.
“You would never relax around me to actually drink a glass of wine and you don’t seem the type to enjoy a Coke with dinner,” she said, her words coming out rushed and defensive.
It was the start of an explanation, but I was curious as to how she knew I liked Earl Grey tea with honey. Was it something James or Ryan had told her? It didn’t seem like it should have been a topic of conversation that would have come up. “How did you—?”
“You had it in Venice,” she interrupted before I could finish the question that we both knew was hanging in the air.
Her words were like the caress of butterfly wings. My gaze had drifted around the restaurant and I was now fighting the urge to look at her again. My breath was trapped in my lungs as I waited to see if she would continue, threatening to pull me deeper into the spell she seemed to be weaving.
“I awoke one night and I could smell it faintly in the air.” As she spoke, her eyes drifted shut as she became lost in the memory. “Earl Grey and honey. You had had seafood that night for dinner with fresh bread. I had forgotten what it was like to awaken to the smell of food.”
“I can’t imagine that it’s happened recently,” I whispered, letting myself get pulled deeper into the moment. The flickering light from the candle in the middle of the table danced across her features, caressing them, reminding me of the way the lights reflected off the Venice canal waters had danced across her body.
“You wore a short-sleeved linen shirt,” she said, a smile tweaking the corners of her mouth. She drew in a deep breath and shook her head as if to brush away the last of the memory. “It’s the only good memory I have of Venice.”
I stared toward one wall of windows. The growing night had made them mostly mirrors, reflecting back the numerous diners that filled the cozy restaurant, but for a brief moment I was back in Venice with Mira. We had been surrounded at all times by creatures that wanted us dead. Yet, with a self-mocking smile, Mira swore to protect me. At great risk to herself, she kept her word.
But it was more than that. While in Venice, she had not only guarded me with an unexpected vehemence, but she also drew Tristan and Nicolai under her protective wing. I had seen Mira fight and kill. I had seen her bask in the power she could wield over her chosen victim, but those poor creatures had always struck at her first. Mira didn’t kill without reason or purpose. A code I lived by as well.
It was the protective side of her that I struggled to understand. For so long, I had had it pounded into my brain that vampires were mindless killing, feeding machines. I had never expected to find a vampire that not only cared about other creatures, but that also had a deep sense of honor and responsibility. It just ran contrary to everything I believed about them, making me more frustrated the longer I knew her.
Desperate to distract my brain from the contrary signals I was getting from Mira, I scanned the restaurant until my eyes finally settled on something else that I could talk about. “Are they all part of the Rainer family?” I asked as another server came out of the kitchen carrying a pair of plates and headed toward an old couple.
“Most are, but less than half are also part of the pack,” she replied, her voice lifting to its usual volume. “Can’t close the place because it’s a full moon.”
Our server returned with my water and tea, and then asked for our order. When I hesitated, Mira made several suggestions, indicating that we were at least staying for dinner. I had assumed that Barrett would prefer to get Mira out of his restaurant and on her way as quickly as possible. Either Barrett was not opposed to our presence, or he was more concerned with keeping up the façade that we were a normal couple in for a quiet meal.
Until the food arrived, our conversation stayed light, with Mira spinning one story after another about her time in Savannah. Her love for the city and its people was evident in every word she spoke. This was her home, and it was as much a part of her as the heart that lay still in her chest. It was a little surprising considering her carefree, cavalier attitude about everything else in her life.