Authors: Jocelynn Drake
“We don’t have time for that,” I snapped, shoving to my feet so that I was standing in front of her. “Besides, I don’t think we can beat it. I think it can control any nightwalker that it runs across the same way that the animal clan naturi can control the shifters. You wouldn’t be able to stop it no matter how hard you tried. It’s stronger and faster than anything I’ve ever encountered. It tossed me around like a rag doll.”
“Then we’ll get someone stronger.”
“Who? The only people I know who are stronger than me are nightwalkers, and they are helpless against the thing. The only natural predators the bori have are the naturi, and I don’t know of any naturi that would help us take out Gaizka.”
Mira turned and paced away from me, her hands fisting in her hair in frustration. We were trapped. We had nowhere to turn. “Aurora could beat it,” Mira murmured.
“I don’t know. You nearly beat her,” Tristan said softly.
“Under very special circumstances,” Mira pointed out quickly.
“I don’t think Aurora would be willing to help us even if it means taking out a bori. Besides, we haven’t a clue as to where we can find her,” I reminded her.
“I-I don’t know what to do,” she stammered, shaking her head as she flopped down in her chair. “If this were any other problem, I would bring it before the coven. Let them handle it.”
“But you’re on the coven now and the nightwalkers can’t fight the bori,” I said. Frowning, I looked back over at Mira, who was staring at the ground. I didn’t want to utter aloud the next few words, but I had no choice. It would break Mira’s heart, particularly since her memories of Calla had been running so fresh in her mind during the past few days. “Lily can’t stay here,” I forced myself to say, finally.
“I know,” Mira whispered. “It’s not safe, not if it comes to fighting a bori that’s going to use her as a bargaining chip. I was thinking that I could send her out to Alex in Portland for a few days, just until we get Gaizka taken care of.”
Something in my chest tightened and I fought the urge to lay my hand on her shoulder. “I…” I started and then paused, trying to find the words. “I was thinking of something more permanent.”
Mira jumped to her feet and paced away from me before spinning sharply on her heel to face me. Several feet of charged air separated us. We were squared off in the small living room and I just hoped that we wouldn’t come to blows.
“What are you talking about?” she demanded, struggling to keep her voice from rising.
“I know you like Lily, Mira, but you can’t raise her,” I said calmly.
“You don’t think I’m capable of raising a child?” she said, pointing toward her chest as she took a step forward. “I’ve already had one child and she was just fine under my care before I was taken. How could you possibly know what it takes to raise a child?”
I flinched. “I’m sure you could have raised a child just fine while you were human, but you’re not any longer, Mira. You’re a vampire. A nightwalker. You’re limited in what you can do for her.”
“I would be just fine!”
“What if she needed you during the day while she was at school?” I quickly countered, trying to leave her with nowhere she could run with her argument. “What if she was sick with a fever? What would you do? Nothing. There’s nothing you could do to help her.”
“I’ve got Gabriel. He could help,” she said.
“You’re going to turn your bodyguard into a nanny? How do you think he would feel about that?”
Mira growled at me as she paced a few feet away, but then quickly turned back to me. “Then I’ll hire an actual nanny for a few years. Just to have someone around during the daylight hours.”
“And what about Jabari? And the coven? What if they come calling? Don’t you think she’ll become a target? Isn’t it enough that Tristan is in danger because of his association with you?”
“Don’t drag me into this!” Tristan said, pointing at me. “I chose to be with Mira.”
I ignored the young nightwalker’s outburst and pressed on. “He can at least take care of himself against other nightwalkers. Lily can’t.”
“Then what do you propose?” Mira demanded, crossing her arms over her chest as she closed herself off from me as I continued my attack. “Stick her with another so-called normal family? We’ve seen how well that works. She feels like an outcast, when she’s really a precious gift. We see that. We understand her. We stick her with a normal human family and she’s either going to feel like a freak when she reveals her gift, or worse, she’s going to hide it from the world and never develop her talents.”
“You’re right in that we can’t send her to a regular human family,” I agreed, stunning Mira into silence. “She needs to be with people who will appreciate her gift and help her to expand her talents.”
“What do you have in mind?” Mira slowly inquired, some of the tension slipping from her arms.
“Themis.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Mira screamed, finally losing her hold on her temper. “You’re taking her away from me so you can raise her with Ryan. Neither one of you knows anything about children. She would be a mess when you two were done with her.”
“Do you consider James a mess?” I countered.
“What are you talking about?” Mira demanded, confused.
“Lily wouldn’t be the first child Themis has taken in. While it’s rare, it has happened in the past. James’s parents were killed when he was only eight years old. Both were werewolves. They had been killed by a farmer who thought they were after his sheep one night. Unsure of whether James actually carried the shape-shifting gene, Themis offered to take him in and raise him in the event that he did grow up to be a lycanthrope.”
“Why didn’t his pack take him in?” Mira inquired.
Shoving my hands in the pockets of my pants, I shrugged my shoulders. “James’s parents didn’t belong to a pack. There are very few packs in the U.K. and none where James lived.”
“Since I’m unfit to raise Lily, you plan to take her back to Themis so you can raise her among the researchers.”
“I’m not going back to Themis.”
A part of me had known for a while now that I wouldn’t be going back, but actually saying the words out loud seemed to only solidify the idea, leaving me with no opportunity to change my mind. I maintained my usual outward calm, but on the inside my stomach was twisting into knots. I had no place to go, no place to call home after the long centuries with Themis. Anyone that I had once called a friend was now dead. I was truly alone in this world, beyond the people I called my enemies.
Tristan slowly returned to his chair as Mira’s mouth hung open in shape of a perfect oval for a second before she found her voice again.
“What do you mean, you’re not going back?” she said in a voice that barely carried across the room.
“It’s time I left,” I admitted. “I’ve known it was coming, but I always needed a reason. After what happened last night with Ryan, I can’t go back to that place. I don’t agree with his methods and I’m worried about his plans.”
“So you want to send Lily into his clutches?” Mira demanded incredulously.
I knew it sounded crazy, but I had no doubt that my logic was sound. “It’s the safest place I can think of. The naturi attacked Themis only when we were around. Ryan is a powerful warlock, well known in our respective communities. No one will cross him. With Themis, she will be out of the view of the coven.”
“But she’ll be with Ryan—the one man you trust the least on the face of the Earth,” Mira quickly pointed out.
“I don’t trust him, but I do know him very well,” I admitted. I walked over and took Mira’s arms in both of my hands. “The warlock needs you as an ally, not an enemy. If he’s to get you on his side, he’ll not touch a hair on Lily’s head. In fact, he will work very hard to see that she’s protected and happy. He will teach her to use her gift. He will see to it that she gets an excellent education and that she also learns about our world so that she is equipped to handle nightwalkers, lycanthropes, warlocks, naturi, and anything else the world decides to throw at her.”
“I don’t know,” Mira hedged, looking down at my hands.
“Themis can offer her a somewhat normal life,” I pressed. “We can’t do that, no matter how hard we try.”
I don’t want to give her up,
Mira whispered in my mind. I could feel the sorrow welling up within her. Lily had been her second chance at having a child, a second chance at living, and I was stealing that away from her. But then, I was losing her too.
I know. Neither do I,
I replied as I leaned in and pressed a kiss to her temple. “We have to do what’s best for her,” I said out loud as I stepped away.
“Then let me stay!” Lily shouted as she burst into the room.
I stepped away from Mira and turned in time to see the teenager run across the room and grab my left arm. I could only guess that she had been listening from the stairs. After she had gone upstairs, I hadn’t bothered to check to make sure that she stayed up there. Like I had told Mira, we weren’t equipped to handle a child. A real parent would have checked to make sure they were alone when they started to discuss the fate of the child.
“We have to do what’s best for you,” I explained. “It’s too dangerous for you to remain here. That creature that you saw, the bori, it plans to kill you if Mira and I don’t do as it wishes. We have to send you somewhere you will be safe.”
“I want to stay!” she pressed.
“It’s too dangerous. We won’t risk your life,” Mira said, laying her hand on the girl’s slim shoulder.
“Fine. Send me away, but let me come back once it’s safe,” she replied. “I like being here with you and Danaus and Tristan. You treat me like I’m normal.”
“There is no such thing as safe when you are with Danaus and me. We can’t risk your life,” Mira said in a soft voice.
“The people that you are going to will treat you like you are normal,” I stated. “Themis is a research facility that studies people like Mira and Tristan. There are others there that have abilities similar to yours. They will help you learn to strengthen your skills, something neither Mira nor I can teach you to do. At Themis, you will grow stronger. If you stay with Mira and me, you will only get hurt.”
Lily pressed her lips into a firm, unyielding line as she looked from me to Mira. “Will I ever see you again?”
Mira gave a deep laugh that seemed to be half relief and half heartache as she threw her arms around Lily’s shoulders and pulled her into a hug. “You’ll see us again. Holidays. Summer break. Think of Themis as going away to school. You’ll see us as often as possible, I promise.”
Lily looked over at me for confirmation and I nodded, forcing a smile on my lips. I still didn’t know where I was going to be after I left Themis, but I would do whatever I could to keep Lily in my life for just a few more years.
“Mira, could you call Ryan? We need to get her on a plane tonight,” I said, dragging us back to the task at hand now that Lily was no longer fighting us.
“I’m leaving tonight? I—I don’t have many clothes. Where is Themis?” she demanded, panic starting to creep inside of her voice.
“Themis is outside of London,” Tristan interjected, pushing to his feet again. “If Mira can spare me, I’ll accompany you to Themis. I’ve been there before. I can introduce you to some of the people and help you get settled.”
“Please, Mira!” Lily pleaded, grabbing the Fire Starter’s hand. “I can’t leave the country alone. I’ve never even been on a plane before.”
“That’s fine with me.” Mira nodded, giving Lily’s hand a squeeze. “Gabriel, Matsui, and Tristan will accompany you. They will see that you are safely settled, and if there are any problems, they will bring you straight back to Savannah.”
Mira slowly allowed Lily’s hands to slide from hers before she walked out of the room and headed for her office so she could make a round of phone calls to settle things with Ryan, arrange the flight, and contact Gabriel.
Lily looked up at me as she stood in the center of the room, suddenly looking very alone. “This is for the best,” I repeated.
The girl nodded, forcing a smile onto her lips though it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’ve seen what vampires and werewolves are capable of. I heard about what that creature did to the girl. I know your world is dangerous. I still want to stay, but I know it’s not safe. I know that this is for the best.”
A smile finally lifted the corners of my own mouth. At least she believed me. Unfortunately, I was still trying to convince myself that this was all for the best. It just didn’t feel like it.
THIRTY
I
still don’t see how she’s going to be able to help us,” Mira said for the third time since getting in the car. Yet, regardless of her doubts, the nightwalker pulled the flashy BMW into LaVina’s long gravel driveway.
“When I met her this past summer, she already knew about the naturi. It stands to reason that she’s heard of the bori,” I patiently repeated for the third time. “We need to find out how to send this thing back to its cage and we don’t have time to track down Jabari.”
Mira gave a little snort as she slowed the car to a stop and threw it into park. “I doubt the Ancient would know,” she replied. “I’ve read the journals. There’s no mention of how the cage was formed.”
Besides, I doubted Jabari would be willing to help us. I suspected the coven member would just snatch up Mira and disappear rather than risk her to the bori. He had to protect his interests now that he wielded controlling power on the coven. At least, I thought he did. Mira had never discovered where Elizabeth’s loyalties truly lay. The other coven member’s loyalties remained a mystery to us.
Even after parking the car and turning off the engine, Mira continued to sit, gripping the steering wheel. She was staring straight ahead, though I doubt she actually saw anything.
“She’s fine,” I said, resisting the urge to place my hand over hers.
“Yeah,” she sighed. We had all left at the same time. Mira and I in one car for LaVina, and Tristan, Gabriel, Matsui, and Lily in another, for a private airfield where they would catch Mira’s private jet for London. I knew that she was safe, but I was concerned about putting her in Ryan’s hands. While I believed what I told Mira about the warlock, he still had the power to surprise me on occasion. I preferred to think he would not risk Mira’s wrath by using the child as a pawn in his latest game.