Dawnbreaker (18 page)

“It’s getting late,” I announced, pushing to my feet with my powers. James jumped to his feet as well, moving a fearful step away from me as he saw the boneless way I rose. “We need to get going.”

“Is there any way I can be of assistance?”

“You’re not going to Peru,” I snapped. The man’s life had already been threatened and nearly taken in Crete. I wasn’t about to risk it again.

“I didn’t think so,” he said with a little half smile. “I was thinking more along the lines of transportation, weapons, lodgings, etcetera.”

“I have someone that can arrange all of that,” I said with a shake of my head, then paused and looked over at him, scratching the tip of my chin with an index finger. “However, if Themis could convince the Peruvian government to close access to the mountain, it would be greatly appreciated. I would prefer it if I didn’t have to worry about the naturi grabbing a bunch of tourists on their way up to the ruins.”

“I’ll see what we can do,” he said, then extended his hand toward me. “I wish you luck. I hope that we have a chance to work together again. I feel there is a great deal that I could learn from you.”

An evil grin lifted my lips and narrowed my eyes as I took his hand in mine. “You’d be stunned at what I could teach you, my friend. Have a safe journey home.”

James followed me to the front door, but as I opened it, I discovered that I had a new visitor preparing to knock. Barrett stood there, looking somewhat haggard. If my heart still beat within my chest, it would have been racing. The Alpha of the Savannah pack was on my doorstep, and I had a naturi sipping tea in my kitchen. This wasn’t something I could easily explain away—at least, not in any way that I was sure he would believe.

“Barrett!” I said, my voice jumping in surprise. The lycan shouldn’t have surprised me. I should have sensed his arrival, but I’d been so focused totally on James and his unexpected appearance that I hadn’t scanned the area around my home.

“I need to speak with you,” Barrett said, nodding briefly to the other man, who stood next to me.

“Of course,” I said, then said a quick good-bye to James before ushering Barrett quickly into my office. The lycanthrope seemed to sniff the air once before I managed to quickly shut the door and motion for him to take one of the chairs before the desk.

“What can I do for you?” I inquired, leaning against the front of the desk. A part of me inwardly prayed that Cynnia and Shelly remained happily ensconced in the kitchen until I managed to get the werewolf out of my town house.

“The naturi are gone from Savannah,” he said, unable to hide his shock or relief.

“All but one, yes. They are gone,” I hedged. If he did end up seeing Cynnia here, I didn’t want to be caught in the middle of a lie, particularly when I so artfully manipulated him just the other night. I still needed him cooperating with me.

“You did this?”

“Danaus and I, yes.”

“Why didn’t you do this earlier?” he demanded, his relief giving way to frustration. I understood his anger. He had already lost two brothers to the naturi in the past couple of months.

“Because of the cost,” I said softly, looking down at my feet, which were crossed at the ankle. “We attacked them last night to retrieve Amanda. We were outnumbered and nearly killed. A spell was cast in desperation, which wiped out almost all of the naturi in the region. It’s something I hope to never do again.”

Barrett frowned as he looked away from me and gazed out the window to the street beyond. He knew I wasn’t going to provide any more information than I already had. And in fact I wasn’t going to tell the lycanthrope that I was risking what was left of my soul and the soul of my companion. It wasn’t any of his business.

“Did you have anything else?” I inquired, trying not to sound like I was rushing him.

“That name you gave me, Harold Finchley,” Barrett said, his dark gaze snapping back to my face. “We don’t have any record of a lycanthrope existing with that name.”

“He may not have been from the U.S.”

“I checked the database for both the U.S. and Europe. There’s no record.”

“So it must have been an alias,” I murmured, talking to myself.

“Or he was a shifter that wasn’t a part of any pack. A rogue acting alone.”

I frowned at Barrett. It would make for a nicer, prettier explanation of what had happened. If this was just a case of a rogue shifter acting alone, it meant there wasn’t a greater conspiracy against nightwalkers with the Daylight Coalition. It meant that lycanthropes weren’t betraying the promise we had all made to protect each other from discovery and extermination.

Unfortunately, the witch that had been traveling with the lycan and the Coalition member made me doubt whether the lycan was acting alone or a part of something larger.

“Keep an ear to the ground for me,” I said around a darkening frown. “I’ve got someone checking into the witch.”

“Is there any chance of being able to speak with Finchley?” Barrett demanded, arching one brow at me.

“Not without a mystic,” I said with a shake of my head. “I was in a hurry and I couldn’t wait around to hand him over to someone who could take care of him properly. The laws are clear. Working with the Coalition is a death sentence.”

“I’m not questioning your actions,” Barrett said, raising both his hands as if to ward off my defensive statement. “However, this all could have been cleared up much easier if you had left him alive.”

“Yes, well, it wasn’t a possibility at the time.” A knock at the door broke off my train of thought, snapping my attention to Danaus standing outside the office.

“What?” I rudely demanded, growing more anxious the longer Barrett was in my house.

Danaus opened the door and poked his head inside. “We need to get going. It’s getting late.”

“I know. We’re almost finished. Pack up,” I said with a nod. I appreciated Danaus’s polite prod. I had no doubt that he could sense my anxiety and took the easy excuse to look in on me.

Unfortunately, I was out of time. Barrett took a long sniff of the air now that the door was open again. Damn the lycanthropes and their strong sense of smell! A low growl rumbled through the werewolf, and his eyes glowed when he looked up at me again.

“That last remaining naturi, it’s here!” he snarled, jumping from his chair. He stalked out of the room, pushing roughly past Danaus while I followed on his heels.

“Yes, the naturi is here,” I admitted, following, making a grab for his arm, but he jerked loose of my fingers.

He burst into the kitchen where Shelly and Cynnia were still seated at the table. Both women looked up and seemed to shrink in their seats at the sight of the rage twisting Barrett’s face. The werewolf made a grab for Cynnia, but Danaus got there first and threw him across the room, where Barrett crashed into the wooden cabinets.

“Stop it, Barrett!” I shouted, coming to stand between the naturi and the lycanthrope. “I need her alive.”

“You’ve just accused my race of siding with the Coalition, executed one of my people, and here you are harboring a naturi!” he shouted as he pushed back to his feet again. “How deep does your betrayal run?”

“I haven’t betrayed you, Barrett.” Reaching behind me, I grabbed the chain that linked Cynnia’s manacles and pulled her to her feet so he could see the irons. “She’s a prisoner. She’s going to help me get close to Rowe, get me close to the people that can finally end all of this. If necessary, she’s going to get me close to Aurora.”

“Why is she so willing to help you?” Barrett asked. “Why is she so willing to turn on her own people? How can you trust her?”

“I don’t trust her, but then again, I’m not giving her any choice. She has to help me if she wants to take her next breath.”

“I don’t trust you,” he finally said, pushing away from the counter he was leaning against.

“You think I’m going to help the naturi?” I demanded, releasing Cynnia’s chain. “After all the naturi that I’ve killed, after everything that I’ve survived at their hands, you think I would turn on my people? That I would turn on you?”

“Yes.”

Danaus reacted before I could. The hunter grabbed Barrett by the collar of his shirt and slammed the man into the stainless steel refrigerator, hitting it hard enough to dent the front. “She’s going to die in Peru for you in two nights,” he snarled in a frightening low voice. “She’s going to die for your worthless hide. She’s going to die for every worthless vampire and werewolf that walks the earth because she sees it as her duty. Mira’s willing to do whatever it takes to protect her people, even if it means enduring the presence of a naturi. What are you willing to do for your people?”

I took a jerky step backward at Danaus’s words, a strange feeling twisting in my chest where my soul should have been. A part of me had always known that it was highly unlikely I would return to Savannah after the final sacrifice at Machu Picchu. I knew I would do whatever it would take to stop Rowe, even if it meant sacrificing my own life. But to actually hear the words aloud was a different matter. It seemed to crush the last of the flickering hope that burned inside of me, leaving me feeling cold and hollow. It bothered me to know that Danaus was aware that this was most likely our last battle together.

He released Barrett, and the werewolf slid to the floor, his knees buckling beneath him, but his gaze never wavered from my pale face. “I—I didn’t know.”

“You weren’t supposed to. No one’s supposed to know,” I said with a shrug. “Do you think I want chaos in my domain? Besides, there’s a slim chance I might actually survive this.” I had no doubt that my brittle smile was completely unconvincing, but I had to try. I didn’t want his pity. I just didn’t want him causing problems while I was trying to take down the naturi nation by starting rumors like the nightwalkers were making bargains with the naturi. I could only fight one war at a time.

Stepping over to Barrett, I extended my hand to him, offering to help him to his feet. He hesitated, staring at my ghostly white hand for a few seconds before finally taking it and allowing me to help him up.

“I know this looks bad, but we’ve been friends for many years,” I said, refusing to release his warm hand. “I’ve never betrayed you. I’m not about to start now when I need your friendship the most. If things go bad in Peru, there is a chance that everything could fall into chaos here. I expect Knox to take my place as Keeper of this domain. I would like to leave here with the knowledge that you will have his back.”

“I’ll stand by Knox. But who will have your back?”

“The hunter.”

Barrett shook his head. “You’re the only person I know who would surround herself with her enemy as a way of protection. Survive this, Mira.”

The werewolf pulled his hand free and silently walked out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

My knees trembled and I wished I could crumple to the floor. My nights were undoubtedly numbered and my life was going to end in pain. And my closest companion, the one I would depend on to protect my back, was a man that had killed more nightwalkers than I cared to count. Why did I find such easy companionship with those that wanted me dead? Danaus. Jabari. I even seemed to have more in common with Ryan, despite the fact that the warlock had ordered my death. Maybe I had developed some secret death wish. Too many years on this earth had made me weary of this heavy coil. Whatever the reason I surrounded myself with people with such a lust for my blood, the result was going to be the same in the end. I would go to Peru and stop Rowe with Danaus at my side and Cynnia under my heel.

Sixteen

T
he car ride out into the Georgia wilds was painfully silent. Danaus sat in the backseat with Cynnia, while Shelly occupied the passenger seat beside me. A couple times the perennially sunny witch took a breath to make a comment, but seemed to quickly release the air again when the words continued to elude her. It was better this way. I didn’t need the idle chatter to annoy me when my thoughts were solely focused on what lay ahead.

We were venturing out into the woods, where I could be as close to nature as possible, in hopes of someone being able to teach me something about earth magic. In my mind it was my last hope in gaining an edge over Rowe and the other naturi; it was my only chance of survival if Aurora was actually released from her cage. But by the mood in the car, I was beginning to have my doubts as to whether what I wanted would be enough to save myself and those around me.

I pulled the car off the expressway and drove for more than an hour along one winding rural road after another until there were only trees and farmland for as far as the eye could see. At long last I pulled off onto a rutted dirt road that seemed to burrow down into a grove of trees. Once the car was off the road and unlikely to attract the attention of anyone who might randomly drive by, I put the car in neutral and killed the engine.

“Everyone out. We’re here,” I announced, opening my car door.

“Where exactly is here?” Shelly said as she got out of the car and looked over the roof at me.

“Middle of nowhere, middle of the woods,” I said, flashing her a wolfish grin. “I thought this would be the best place to practice in the event that anything caught on fire or worse.”

“Good logic,” Cynnia muttered behind me as she shut her door.

The trio of oh-so-happy campers followed me deeper into the woods. While Danaus, Cynnia, and I had perfect night vision, Shelly wasn’t quite so lucky. She lagged behind the group, stumbling over broken branches as she struggled to see in the pitch-black darkness. Finally, Danaus took her elbow so he could guide her through the woods.

I halted the hike by a narrow stream filled with ankle-deep water that flowed over smooth, algae-covered stones. Standing in the middle of the stream, I tried to ignore how my feet cooled as the water flowed over my leather boots while I lifted my arms over my head. My eyes fell almost completely shut in concentration as I reached deep within myself. Around us, five balls of fire flickered into existence and hovered overhead, beating back the darkness.

“This is my power—the creation and control of fire,” I announced to my companions. My strong, steady voice seemed to echo through the empty woods. “I’ve been able to do this since I was human. The power is fueled from the energy created by my soul. If I use it too much, I grow tired.”