Authors: Jocelynn Drake
“Since the door opened, they’re everywhere and they’re not limiting themselves to the woods,” I replied. “They’ve been creeping into the cities, killing humans and vampires when they can do it quietly. They don’t seem to want to be noticed at this point.”
“Aurora is still plotting,” Mira murmured. “She has her sisters to deal with now besides me.”
The queen of the naturi did have more than a few problems in her lap now that she was running free on Earth. Her younger sisters now stood opposed to her plans to destroy the human race, causing the naturi race to splinter into two factions. Where she had probably thought her only resistance would be the nightwalkers, Aurora now faced her own kind as well.
“It’s only a matter of time before she makes her move,” I said, but Mira shook her head.
“No, she’ll want to solidify her claim as queen first, bring her people back together and crush her sisters. She’s going to need as many of the naturi at her disposal as possible if she is going to destroy both the nightwalkers and the humans. We’ve got some time.”
Mira let her eyes sweep over the room, her fists balled at her side, but I don’t think she actually saw any of it. “Do you sense any more in the city?” she suddenly snapped, glaring at me.
“No. There are no more naturi in the immediate area,” I said.
Mira gave me a jerky nod and directed her gaze back out the window. The anger and frustration seemed to slowly ooze from her body. Yet when she spoke again, a cold chill crept up my spine and coiled like a snake around my neck.
“We have to get rid of them, Danaus. You have to help me. You may hate my kind, but we are no great threat to the humans you protect. The naturi will wipe us all out if we don’t act. You have to help me.”
“Have you spoken to the coven?” I inquired. Mira’s narrowed gazed darted back to my face and she took a small step backward so that her right shoulder touched the window behind her. The coven was the ruling body for all vampires under their liege, and last I heard, Mira ranked just behind the naturi, in their “least liked” category.
“What does that have to do with the naturi?” she demanded, her tone sharpening.
“I would like to know if I’m protecting you from just the naturi or if members of the coven are hunting you as well.”
“Your job is not to protect me. Your job is to help me with the investigation. If we can kill some naturi along the way, all the better. The coven is my business.”
“Is Jabari hunting you?” I pressed. Jabari was not only a member of the coven, but at one time the vampire Elder had been very close to Mira. The Egyptian vampire had been her savior more than five hundred years ago at Machu Picchu and then had tried to kill her just a few months ago in England.
“No, he needs me alive. He still has a use for me.” Mira looked away from me for a moment then looked back, lifting her chin a little, her lavender eyes narrowed. “I don’t know the coven’s plans and I don’t want to know. I have no doubt they would all rather see me dead, but the Elders have all seen more than a thousand years slip by them. Time means nothing to them. If they wish me dead, they will not rush it.”
“Don’t trust Ryan.” The words slipped out, surprising me. I hadn’t meant to say it. What did I care what she planned with the warlock? But I believed in a fair fight. I believed in knowing your enemy and honor and duty; things I knew that Mira believed in as well. She was being hunted by both the naturi and the coven because of her abilities. And for his own reasons, Ryan was aiming to use her for his own means. She at least should be aware of what she faced.
Mira pinned me with a surprised gaze, one corner of her mouth quirking in a smile. She tilted her head slightly to the left, sending her hair falling over her shoulder like a cascade of liquid rubies.
“If he has to choose between the support of the rest of the coven and you, he will betray you in a heartbeat,” I continued, when she refused to speak.
The nightwalker chuckled and took a couple steps closer to me. The scent of lilacs rose up around me as I sucked in a steadying breath. Her powers brushed against me in an almost nonexistent caress, leaving me wondering if I had actually felt something. “I have not lived this long trusting powerful creatures. I know Ryan will not hesitate to stab me in the back. It is how he learned to survive in my world.”
“It’s just that when I saw you in his office earlier tonight it looked like…” The words trailed off in the back of my throat. What was I supposed to say? That it looked like I interrupted a rather intimate moment between those two. That they looked like they were already lovers?
Mira just smiled a secretive little smile as she stared up at me. “Yes,” she purred. “Well, that was something else. Don’t worry, my handsome protector. I don’t trust your fearless leader in the least.” She extended her right hand toward me and I instinctively jerked backward out of her reach. She patiently waited until I had stopped moving and she slowly ran her fingers through my hair, moving it from my eyes.
“You’ve let your hair grow,” she said in an almost absent manner. “I like it, but it hides your face. I can arrange for you to see my stylist when you’re in town.”
“Don’t bother,” I spit out between my clenched teeth, trying to ignore the pounding of my heart. She was mocking me now, her dark mood lightening. I jerked my head to the side, moving an inch out of her reach.
Mira shrugged, returning to her usual unflappable manner. “As you wish.”
A knock at the door broke us apart, sending Mira back to her previous spot by the window, while I walked over to see who had interrupted us. James smiled at me when I jerked open the door. He was wearing a heavy wool coat, appearing for all the world as if he were preparing to go out for the evening. Stepping backward, I let the man enter and then followed behind him after shutting the door.
“Are we ready to go?” James inquired eagerly.
“We?” I demanded.
“Ryan wants me to tag along with you during the investigation. I will be able to provide you with valuable research information,” James replied, his smile crumbling as he spoke. “I’m guessing that he didn’t mention it to you.”
“No, it must have slipped his mind,” I said, frowning. My first reaction was to deny the researcher the opportunity to go hunting around the city with Mira and me for the killer, but I swallowed the words. The initial part of the investigation would be checking out the girl’s apartment and the body—two things that were unlikely to present any kind of significant danger to the human. Besides, James was looking to get more experience in the field, and it was better if he was at my side than wandering around at night alone down vampire-infested streets.
“He must have been more concerned about the senator,” James said, directing his gaze to Mira, who was standing with her back to us, staring out the window. “Ryan was wondering if you’re going to take care of the girl’s family personally or send someone.”
“What does he mean ‘take care of’?”
“The senator and his wife are making too much noise about the unfortunate death of their daughter. It’s drawing too much attention to us,” Mira said, crossing her arms over her stomach. She turned toward us, leaning one shoulder against the glass. “We can’t do anything about the press, but we can adjust the memory of the senator and his wife, make them more…accepting of what the coroner has to tell them about their daughter. They will also be more effective in placating the press so that this all finally blows over.” She looked out the window once more as she paused, chewing her bottom lip in thought for a second before directing her cold gaze back at James. “When you talk to Ryan again, tell him I’m sending someone I trust. I need to focus my attention on the investigation, and the nightwalker I send may need to stay with the family for a couple nights.”
Someone she trusted. In Mira’s world, those people were few and far between. I had a feeling that she intended to send Knox, her second-in-command within her domain. Not only was he old enough to handle some mental manipulation, but he was also one of the only ones that Mira trusted to get the job done to her satisfaction.
“I am assuming that since I’m packed, I’m being moved out of the hotel,” I said, changing the subject.
“Oh, I guess he didn’t mention that either,” James said, a faint blush stealing up his cheeks as his eyes darted away from me to Mira.
“You’re staying in my town house,” Mira announced.
“Why?” I demanded.
Mira pushed off the window she had been leaning against and turned to completely face me. “Your presence in my domain tends to draw attention and cause problems. Staying at my town house will hopefully bypass some of those problems.”
In other words, my presence in Savannah would have Mira’s unspoken seal of approval if I were once again staying at her town house within the historic district. I didn’t like it, but unfortunately, I could see the sense in it. The lycanthropes had already pulled me aside once in fear that I had done something to the keeper of the domain. If we were going to hunt down the killer of this young woman quickly, we couldn’t afford more distractions.
“And James?” I inquired.
“I’m staying at the hotel for another night or two. I don’t attract attention like you do,” James said with a little smirk.
“Ryan?”
The smirk dissolved almost instantly and he shrugged. “I don’t know his plans. He’s given me no indication that he plans to stay. I’m sure others have begun to once again show up at the Compound looking for him.”
I nodded and then grabbed my coat. Ryan wasn’t one to tarry too long from the comfort of his perch at the Themis Compound. It was easier for him to collect information from all his various sources if he was sitting in his office back in England.
Mira silently stepped around me and stopped beside my two bags at the end of the bed. Grabbing the strap of one, she looped it over her shoulder and smiled at me. “Let’s get out of here. The warlock says we’ve got work to do.”
With a sigh, I grabbed the second bag and my jacket before following Mira out of the hotel room with James close behind us. For nearly two thousand years, I had hunted vampires, werewolves, and other dark creatures that threatened the safety of the lies humans told themselves. Up until a couple years ago, I knew without a doubt that all nightwalkers were evil killing machines. Before meeting Mira, I knew that all nightwalkers were agents of the devil. And now, for the second time in several months, I was walking beside Mira, protecting her because I knew that she was the only one who could protect us all.
EIGHT
S
tepping out of the hotel, I was able to finally draw in a deep, semi-cleansing breath. For now, I was away from Ryan and Themis; I could handle this task on my own terms, or at least as much as Mira would allow me to. I had no doubt that she had her own set of plans and most of it would not include me, but the situation would be handled when it came to that particular impasse. We were in her domain, and for now, I was content to let her take the lead until we actually located the culprit behind the girl’s death. I didn’t trust her to properly mete out justice if the killer was a vampire.
“Where are we headed first?” James asked, as we paused just outside the hotel at the corner of Bay and Bull streets. The night air was cool, forcing me to partially zip up the front of the leather jacket.
“We need to see the girl’s apartment,” I stated. “Check to see if we can get any leads.”
Mira smirked at me over her shoulder, her eyes seeming to dance with laughter. “I would have never guessed it.”
“What?” I asked, though I really didn’t want to know the answer.
“You watch those murder investigation shows.” She snickered.
“Mira.” I tried to sound dark and threatening, but it was impossible when she was grinning like an idiot up at me.
“Come on, Danaus. Tell me!” She continued to push, pinching my forearm as I came to stand beside her.
“All of them,” I finally admitted, knowing she wouldn’t stop until I told her. Mira threw her head back and laughed, falling sideways into me. I stood beside her, waiting for the light to change, having no idea where we were walking to since we were pointed away from River Street, where the girl had lived. Yet, at that moment, I didn’t really care. I was standing, back in Savannah, with the creature that had saved my life more times than any other in my long existence. We had our differences, and they were substantial, but there were times when they seemed to melt away, like during the heat of battle or when she just smiled harmlessly at some ridiculous jest. Mira would always be my enemy because of what she was, but sadly, she was also the closest thing I had to a friend.
After nearly a minute, Mira’s laughter subsided and she straightened. Then with an absolutely serious expression, she looked up at me. “Me too.” The light turned and Mira crossed the street, heading down Bull Street toward Johnson Square.
I caught up with her as she stepped onto the sidewalk again, flashing me another mocking smile.
“You’re a pain in the ass,” I grumbled. “Where are we going? The girl’s apartment is back there on River Street.”
“Already scoped out the area?” she said, arching one brow at me. “My car is this way. We’re going to dump off your bags and then walk back to the apartment.” Mira suddenly froze, her gaze jumping around the shadowy square filled with enormous live oak trees that stretched their great arms out in all directions, creating a network of thick limbs. By the fountain to our left, I could sense a vampire; an extremely nervous one.
I reached behind me, palming the knife from the small of my back. The act, while smooth, jerked Mira back into motion. She tightly grasped my wrist in one hand while laying a second restraining hand on my chest. “Slow down.” She carefully positioned herself in front of me. “She’s in the square.”
“So.”
“Rule One for my domain: Johnson Square is the demilitarized zone,” she said, pushing me back a step when I moved to cross the street to officially enter the square. James edged around me, trying to get a better look at what had Mira and me so excited. “Everyone knows there’s no fighting, no spell casting, and no hunting in this square. Same goes for Forsyth Park, and Chippewa and Monterey Squares.”