Burn the Night (31 page)

I fought back a surprised smile, as I had not thought he would pick up on my change in emotions. Drawing in a slow breath, I released it through my nose, pushing away the temporary melancholy I felt for both myself and my slowly dying race.

Nothing now,
I replied, making sure to wipe the voice in his head clean of any traces of sadness.

His concern for me was enough. There would be time enough later to worry about myself and my people. For now, it was enough to know I was not alone in this world.

Twenty-three

D
anaus had not arrived at my home yet when I felt a shift of power in the air. The feeling built slowly, like a spider crawling up my flesh until it was squatting at the back of my neck. I knew what it was. Or rather who it was. Frowning, I left my sanctuary in the basement and climbed up the stairs before crossing through the underused kitchen to exit out the back door. My nearest neighbors were several acres away, with trees surrounding my property in all directions, obscuring the view. It was the safest place for facing Nick, and it protected my house in some small way. I had just finished rebuilding my study following his destruction of it and was in no mood to rebuild any more of the house. I had spent too many years moving around, and I liked it and its contents as they were.

Standing unarmed in the middle of the yard, I raised my arms out to my sides and stretched out my powers so I could feel the various energies swirling around me. Nick had opened up my senses.

Before, I could only sense the soul energy that emanated from humans and lycanthropes, as well as the thin, wispy presence of nightwalkers. Now, it was as if a great door had been opened before my eyes. I could sense the energy of the earth along with the beating pulse of the naturi. I could sense other strange powers I couldn’t identify and seemed indeterminate, as if trying to cloak themselves yet unable to completely hide from me.

In the mix of it all, I had learned to identify my father’s unique power signature. Most of the time he seemed distant, content to simply watch the show that was my life from a comfortable chair in some hidden theater of the cosmos. However, when I strayed from the direction he thought I should be headed in, my dear parent intervened. Apparently, I wasn’t on the track he deemed proper for me. Or in truth, for him.

Still tapped into the energy around me, I summoned up a ring of fireballs the size of baseballs in a large circle around me. Shadows lunged and danced from the nearby trees as the night came alive with motion due to the flickering lights.

As I expected, Nick accepted the invitation and appeared in my circle, transforming one of the fireballs on the far side of the circle into the form of a tall, lean figure. After a couple of steps toward me, the flames subsided to reveal a man in a dark maroon suit with a crisp white shirt and tie. His hair was black and slicked back, while his features had become sharp and hawklike. I had never seen him in this form before. Usually, he appeared looking like the kind, sweet man who had raised me from birth in the belief that I truly was his daughter. He had also appeared as a goth teenager full of angst and piercings, and as a man with red hair and lavender eyes like myself. But this was new and strangely disconcerting. Not for the first time, I felt as if my soul were on the line as I stared at him, unflinching.

“I’m assuming that you wanted something,” I said with as much distain as I could muster without betraying the fear twisting into tight knots in the pit of my stomach.

“Can’t a father pay his loving daughter a social call?” he asked, extending his arms as if he meant to embrace me. I took a step back before I could catch myself, not wanting to be anywhere close enough so he could actually touch me. That path only led to excruciating pain and broken bones.

“You’re not the social type,” I sneered, forcing myself to remain still at the edge of my circle. My knees were like water and I could feel my fingertips trembling. I needed him gone as soon as possible. I didn’t want another fight I couldn’t win, and I definitely didn’t want him anywhere near Danaus, should the hunter suddenly appear at my house now that the sun had set. “What’s with the new appearance? I thought you preferred to look like my father.”

“I grew bored looking like a common fisherman. I thought I would come looking like someone you might encounter in your business dealings,” he said, running his hands down the front of his suit jacket with a look of pride. However, that look was instantly wiped away, replaced with an appearance of ominous threat. “Besides, I am the true father that you need to concern yourself with. Not that distant and dead memory.”

I gave a huff and shoved one hand violently through my hair, which gave away my growing anxiety. I didn’t need Nick in a bad mood. I needed him amused or focused on an important issue. Not angry. “Fine. What did you come here for?”

“I’m not happy with how things are developing within your domain. You are not handling things how I would have hoped.”

That was way too vague to be considered helpful in any fashion. I was dealing with the Daylight Coalition poaching lycanthropes outside of Savannah, the Japanese nightwalkers were attempting to drag me kicking and screaming to Japan, and the naturi were expecting me to side with them in the coming war against their queen. What part of that complete mess was not to his liking? Because at that moment I could have done without all of it.

“Jabari, that nightwalker that has the ability to control you, is still hanging around in your domain,” Nick declared, nearly causing me to laugh out loud with relief. He had chosen to focus on what appeared to me to be the least of my concerns.

“Jabari? You’re worried about Jabari causing problems?” I demanded, unable to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. I was playing with fire when it came to mocking Nick, but then I was never very good at bowing to anyone, however much more powerful they were than me.

Nick shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks and settled back on his heels as he shook his head at me. “You have not tamed this one. He still thinks he can control you at any moment. He wants you in the palm of his hand or dead. Neither suits my needs.”

“I’m sorry to hear you’re not pleased. What can I do to rectify the situation?” I inquired in my most patronizing tone. I knew I had overstepped what Nick was willing to tolerate when he immediately disappeared. My stomach dropped and my throat felt as if it had closed in on itself. I twisted around, trying to spot where he would reappear next, while at the same time scanning the region for his powers.

I felt him, but there was no exact location until it was too late.

A hand clamped on the back of my neck in a viselike grip, while a hot breath brushed against the hair that covered my left ear. “Now see, that’s the kind of attitude I’m looking for. I just want your complete cooperation and total obedience. Is that too much to ask?” he growled at me.

“Considering what you’re asking for most of the time, yes it is,” I said through clenched teeth. I was too stubborn for my own good. I was literally in the hands of a god and still picking a fight because I was unwilling to bow to his every wish.

“Well, this time I think you’ll be in complete agreement with me,” he said. He tightened his grip on my neck long enough to pitch me forward. I caught myself with both hands and tucked in for a quick roll on the ground before popping back up to my feet. I jerked around and remained in a defensive stance as I waited for him to strike again. “I want you to finally kill that nightwalker.” My head fell backward with laughter and my hands unconsciously dropped down to my sides as I lowered my guard against him. I couldn’t help it. It was as though he’d asked me to take an afternoon stroll in the sun. He wanted the impossible.

“Kill Jabari?” I repeated as if my hearing had suddenly gone fuzzy. “Don’t you think that if I could, I would have done so already?”

“You haven’t been trying hard enough,” Nick said in a low growl.

“He’s thousands of years old! I can’t beat him. I can only control him when he lets me, when it’s to his advantage. He’s not going to stop doing that just so I can kill him.” Nick waved his hand toward me and a surge of energy knocked into my chest. I fell to the ground, my butt slamming against the earth. “He may be an Ancient, but you are my daughter.”

“Some daughter.” I gave a soft snort as I moved some hair out from in front of my eyes. “You toss me around like a rag doll. Do you honestly think it’s going to be any different with Jabari?”

“You have more powers to call upon now. You have an edge over him at last.” I pushed off the ground and brushed some bits of grass and dirt off the seat of my leather pants.

“Why now? If you haven’t noticed from all the gatherings I’ve been attending recently, we’re facing a multifront war, and me picking a fight with Jabari now isn’t the best timing.”

“I see this as the next stage of your training,” he offered.

There were times when Nick was willing to provide me with information, and there were times when he simply wanted to knock me around. This seemed like one of those times when he needed me to know something—or at least I hoped it was.

He paced a little closer to me. “Training that provides you with the strength and ability to regain my place as a true god once again.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, suspicious of that statement in too many ways. “And what does that mean for everyone else? We spent a lot of energy and lives getting rid of the naturi and the bori so the humans would be safe. Are we now going to suffer under your rule once you regain your place as a true god?”

“You spent a lot of energy and lives!” he screamed, his hands balling into fists as his face flushed red. There wasn’t a second to guard against the attack. He was simply there in the flash of an eye. The back of his right fist slammed across my face and I fell to the ground in a heap. As I rolled onto my back, Nick was on top of me again. Kneeling at my side, he placed one hand against my chest, but I could feel his energy plunging deep inside me. It felt like his fist was wrapping around my soul and trying to pull it from my body. He was trapped in a blind rage, and he was going to kill me if I didn’t do something to stop him.

Closing my eyes against the wrenching pain, I focused all my energy inside of myself and wrapped my own pull of power around my soul, attempting to hold it in place. I tapped into the swirling energies around me, strengthening my hold so he could not pull my soul free of my body. If he removed it from where it resided in its little hole deep within me, he could set it free, instantly killing me, and yet I had a feeling that my soul would be trapped forever on this plain, never able to move forward to the next level of existence.

After more than a minute of tug-of-war with my soul, Nick finally released his hold and lifted his hand from my chest. I remained perfectly still on the ground with my eyes closed and my powers wrapped tightly around the remnants of my soul in case he should try to attack me a second time.

Energy flowed into me from all directions, from the earth and nearby humans. I could even feel some of Nick’s powers mixing with the other energy pouring into me. I felt stronger, more powerful, than I ever had before. I felt as if I could take on Jabari and at last crush him like an insignificant insect.

While I lay there, I felt Nick’s powers increase again as he prepared for another attack. Balling my hands into fists, I pushed the power deeper inside of myself and then I disappeared. Stunned shock gripped me so quickly at the unexpected ability that I immediately reappeared exactly where I was, which did me little good against Nick. My eyes popped open and my mouth formed a perfect O in surprise. The only time I had been able to disappear and reappear before was when I tapped into Jabari’s powers. Now I either had the power to do it on my own or I could simply tap into Nick’s powers to do it.

“You can do it on your own,” Nick said.

“What else can I do?” I demanded with an eagerness I couldn’t hide. The world had suddenly opened up to me in a new way, and I needed to know the extent of what I was capable.

Nick gave a slight shrug of one shoulder as some of the anger started to drain out of his expression. “You will never know until you try.”

With a small smile, I wrapped a ball of energy tight within my chest, gathering together as much energy as I could stand. It crawled along my skin like a millipede and pounded against my chest like a heartbeat, but it was nothing more than power looking for an outlet, and I was willing to give it one.

I directed the energy at Nick, sending it crashing into the center of his chest, throwing him several feet backward across the yard. As soon as he was standing again, I hammered him once more, knocking him off balance while I set him on fire in a towering inferno that threatened to light the nearby trees. I paused long enough to watch the flame-cloaked figure brush off his jacket and take a few easy steps toward me.

“The fire bit is getting old and stale, Mira,” Nick said in a singsong voice.

“Then how about this?” I said. Pushing to my feet, I directed my hands down to the ground, feeling the pulse of the earth beneath me. Straining to maintain the flames, I directed the roots of the surrounding trees to explode from the ground and wrap around his ankles. The roots pulled and slammed him to the ground again as he extinguished the flames. Pulling in different directions, I attempted to split him into two different pieces, but he disappeared before I could even get a grunt of pain out of him.

Nick instantly reappeared before me and cocked back his fist to punch me, but I was gone this time before he could touch me. I reappeared a few feet away, my mind scrambling for some new way to attack him that could make some kind of impact when it dawned on me: use the same attack that had been so effective on me. Gods had to have souls as well, right?

Gathering up as much powers as I could possibly stand before a scream could be torn from my throat, I reached out toward the energy flowing from Nick. I plunged the powers inside of him, searching for that faint wisp that was his soul. I found it in a heartbeat, but it was like trying to wrap my arms around an angry grizzly bear. The energy thrashed about, shoving me away anytime I grew too near. His soul could actually fight me, where mine lay limp and helpless against his attacks.