Dawnbreaker (8 page)

“Mira, it’s late. You can go home. I’ll keep things under control here,” Archie said as he eased into a cushioned chair behind the battered desk to my right. He sighed heavily and then began shuffling around different sets of papers. The coroner would run the blood tests himself, using human blood he had in stock already so that no one would discover the true identity of the vampire and lycanthropes within his custody. As soon as it was possible, all seven of the bodies would go into the oven and be cremated.

“I wish I could,” I muttered. I still had one more meeting that night, and it wasn’t going to be pretty. In fact, he was already there, and I could sense his temperament before he even entered the basement. “It would be best if you left here for a little while.”

“I need to start these tests,” Archie argued.

I lifted my head and frowned at him. We were both exhausted and I could understand his desire to start what was going to be a long list of doctored tests just to protect the identity of my people and those of the lycanthropes. However, I knew it would be best if he was not around at the moment. “Barrett is here to identify the victims. You need to leave.”

“Oh,” he whispered, then pushed to his feet. Just before Archie could escape, the double doors exploded open and Barrett entered the room, his face a mask of barely contained fury. And I couldn’t blame him. During the past month, four members of his pack had been slaughtered by the naturi, including one of his own family members. And after tonight’s massacre, their numbers had been decimated.

“M-Mira will take the names,” Archie said in a low voice as he slid around Barrett and out the door.

Normally, Barrett was a calm, even-tempered werewolf. He was a good, strong leader, a steady protector of his people. But the recent deaths had shattered his control and left him snarling at anything that moved. I had called him on the ride over to the morgue. The conversation was brief simply because I knew we would have a longer one when he arrived.

Barrett walked from table to table, pulling back the bloodstained white sheets that covered each body. His fist grew tighter with each death he was forced to look in the face, their sightless eyes closed but still seeming to stare through us both. A low growl rumbled from his throat as he reached the final body. I had expected it. It was Will, the youngest of his three brothers and the second brother to die in the past two months.

I remained silent, watching him, wishing I could remain unnoticed while he inwardly grieved for his dead brother and the other members of his pack. He shoved both hands through his chocolate brown hair and sucked in a deep breath in an effort to regain control of his emotions. Reluctantly, he moved toward a covered table that was somewhat off to the side.

“That one doesn’t belong to you,” I said in a low voice, drawing his narrowed gaze to my face for the first time. I barely suppressed a shiver.

“So, you’ve finally lost one of your own,” he growled.

“One is dead, another lays dying, a third was severely injured, and still another was kidnapped and is most likely being tortured as we speak,” I replied, hating myself for being drawn into the argument. He was hurting from the deaths that had plagued his people recently.

“Two of my brothers have been slaughtered in as many months! A third of my pack has been decimated by nightwalkers. My own mother and sisters have been forced to hide in another city while we die at your hands!” he shouted, finally losing his temper.

“Your pack attacked us,” I said evenly. I wished I could show him more sympathy and compassion, but I had my own people to protect. I was afraid of saying something here and now in a moment of compassion that would only trap my people at a later date.

“Because we’ve been under the control of the naturi.”

“And what do you expect us to do? Let you kill us because it’s not your fault?”

“I thought you were supposed to be doing something about the naturi. I’ve talked to the other packs and not one has had the trouble we’ve had. Some lycans have gone missing, but the body count is nothing like what we’ve experienced.”

I stepped away from the desk and closed the distance between us by a few feet. “Barrett, they’re trying to separate us,” I said softly. “They want us fighting amongst ourselves instead of fighting them.”

“We are fighting each other, and my people are losing! We’re trapped, fighting you, fighting the naturi. Why? Why here? Wh—” Barrett’s rant was suddenly cut off as he stared at me. In that horrible moment he realized exactly why his people were being slaughtered. The naturi were hunting me, using the lycanthropes as cannon fodder. In my battles with the lycans, I had managed to avoid killing any of them, but it was becoming more difficult. The naturi were growing desperate, throwing more and more shifters at us in an attempt to overwhelm us with sheer volume.

“They’re still hunting you, aren’t they?” Barrett demanded in a low voice that scraped across my skin like sandpaper. “They were hunting for you at the Dark Room two months ago, and they’ve been hunting for you since you returned here more than a month ago.”

“They need me dead,” I admitted, balling my hands into fists, hating to say the words aloud. “I can stop them from opening the door that will set all of their kind free.”

“But why come back here? Why not stay surrounded by your own kind? Can’t your Coven protect you?” he countered, taking a step toward me.

“I’ll not be run from my home by the naturi,” I snapped.

“But you’re killing my people!”

“Don’t do this to us, Barrett,” I cautioned, feeling myself getting boxed into a corner, though he had yet to move. “We’ve worked well together over the years. Our people have learned to respect each other.”

My only warning was a low growl before Barrett crossed the distance between us in a couple long, quick strides. He grabbed both of my upper arms and kept walking until he slammed me into the cinder-block wall behind me. Stars exploded before my eyes as my head hit the wall, just before darkness threatened to swamp me.

“Respect! Why haven’t you shown my people a little more respect? You’re responsible for each and every death because you’ve—”

“Because I’ve what? Refused to lay down and die for you? My death won’t stop the naturi. It won’t save your mother or your sisters or your pack.”

“It would buy us some time,” he snarled, his brown eyes turning the same shade as liquid copper.

“To do what? Fight back?” We both knew how effective that would be.

His hands tightened on my arms for a moment, threatening to break bones before loosening again. “Why did you have to come back?” he whispered. He was beyond frustrated. His people were dying and there was little he could do to stop it.

“This is my home. I have nowhere else to go,” I admitted, feeling as if something was tearing in the back of my throat. It was a truth I’d been reluctant to face. I no longer had a safe haven from the world other than my home in Savannah. Two of the other three members of the Coven wanted me dead, and the third member simply wanted to control my every move and thought. The naturi were hounding my every step. I had more enemies than I cared to count, and too few allies.

“Leave here, Mira. Find some other place to hide and take the damned naturi with you,” Barrett bit out. His hands once again tightened on my arms, bruising my pale flesh.

“You can’t force me out,” I said through clenched teeth. “This is my home and my people are here. I have a right to protect them.”

“As much as I have a right to protect my people from you and the naturi. You have the power to save both my people and your own—leave here,” he argued, anger growing in his voice, thickening his beautiful southern accent so that the vowels collided with one another.

“I can’t leave yet. The naturi have a member of my family. I won’t leave her in their hands to be tortured. I have to at least try to get her back.” It was a suicide mission, but I had to try. I owed Amanda that much. I had offered her a place in my family, waved my so-called protection in her face.

“Then do it without killing another one of my people. We’ve died enough for you. Why don’t you try getting rid of the naturi instead of hiding from them?”

“I’m no coward, if that’s what you’re implying, werewolf,” I snarled, shoving him off of me. Barrett stumbled backward a few steps before turning and curling his upper lip so that I could see his elongated canines. “I’ve fought the naturi more times than I’d care to remember. I’ve fought them and suffered. My people have died protecting your kind and humans.”

“So now you’re looking for my gratitude?” he incredulously demanded.

“No, I’m looking for a little patience.”

“My patience ran out when my brothers started dying. Find your missing vampire. Kill all the naturi. Leave here and never return. I don’t care what you have to do, but if another one of my pack dies, the naturi won’t have to call us any longer. It will be open season on you and all nightwalkers within Savannah.”

Barrett then stalked out of the morgue without looking back at me and his dead brethren.

I slid down the wall until I sat on the cold linoleum floor. Wrapping my arms around my bent legs, I rest my forehead on my knees. He was right. I was as much responsible for the dead bodies surrounding me at that moment as the naturi. I should never have come back. I should have found another way to deal with the naturi while we waited for the next sacrifice and hunted for Rowe. I had just been afraid that if I went to the Coven, they would have been happy to use me as bait in an effort to draw out the one-eyed naturi.

Barrett wanted me to leave, and I planned to abide by his wishes. I had no choice. The next sacrifice was only a few nights away. But I couldn’t leave my beloved Savannah yet. I had to find Amanda first. If I could save her and exterminate the naturi in just one quick foray, I could leave my city with a small feeling of peace. However, I still had to first convince Danaus to help me.

Seven

A
sigh escaped me as I slipped out of the taxi and walked to the Dark Room. Sunrise was growing close and I was tired. Fortunately, this was my last stop of the night, and then I could go home for some rest.

The line to get in the Dark Room was gone, and the nightwalker bouncer was seated on a black bar stool outside the entrance, with a handheld game system gripped between his two meaty fists. The Dark Room had become a quiet place during the past couple of months. The lycanthropes had stopped attending and fewer nightwalkers appeared, fearful of being trapped in one place should the naturi suddenly show up. When the bouncer finally saw me, he jerked to his feet and shoved the game into the back pocket of his jeans. I only smiled and patted him on the shoulder as I walked by.

In the entrance, between the two coat checks on either side of the room, there was a splatter of blood on the floor. I followed the trail across the dance floor, which was currently empty, toward one of the back rooms. The half-dozen nightwalkers in the club were ensconced in the dark booths, whispering about the latest naturi attack. Before heading into the back, I paused to order the bartender to mop up the blood before it dried. Spilled blood might not have been a problem to a bunch of nightwalkers, but I preferred not to leave our unique DNA lying around. I had spent too many years protecting our secret to lose everything now to a stupid mistake.

Gritting my teeth, I entered the room where I already sensed Knox. He stood over the dying nightwalker with his hands on his hips and a dark frown on his lips. His black shirt was soaked with blood and clinging to his tense frame. There was also a smudge of blood across his left cheekbone.

“There’s nothing that we can do,” he announced when I shut the door behind me. I looked around the room to find three other nightwalkers in there, lining the back wall. Six humans were collapsed on the floor near them, a sickly shade of white. The blood donors. The humans were breathing heavily and their heartbeats were sluggish from their blood loss.

“Get them in cars,” I ordered. “Take them to at least three separate hospitals. They need blood.” I didn’t need a bunch of humans dying because of this naturi attack as well.

The nightwalkers jumped into motion, picking up the unconscious humans and carrying them out of the club while I turned my attention back to Knox and the dying Kevin.

“There’s nothing we can do without some medical help from the humans,” Knox admitted, rubbing his chin with one bloody hand. “His heart was nearly ripped from his chest. His wounds are too deep and too numerous. We can’t keep enough blood inside of him to get him to heal.”

In other words, Kevin would never survive the daylight hours. When the sun rose, his soul would fly from his body while the blood that Knox had fought to get into Kevin finished leaking out. When the sun set again, Kevin’s soul would be unable to find its way back to its body and he would be officially dead.

I didn’t bother to ask if there was any other way, or if Knox had tried everything. There was no reason to try to keep a steady stream of blood donors marching through the door until the sun finally peeked over the horizon. Both Knox and I had seen enough mortal wounds in our long lifetimes to know when the end was near and fighting it was futile.

Kevin didn’t stir on the blood-soaked sofa where he laid. I could feel the faint flutter of his soul within his fragile frame. His skin had already turned an ugly shade of gray under the coating of blood. Towels had been pressed to his chest and stomach to slow the blood, but they were already saturated. There was nothing we could do now but watch him die.

Shoving one hand through my hair in frustration, I paced away from this nightwalker to the opposite side of the room. Helplessness ate away at me, filling me with nervous energy. Not for the first time, I wondered if my return to Savannah had been a mistake.

Sitting in one of the chairs positioned near the sofa, I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees. I would stay as long as I could. I would hold this death watch with Knox. Unfortunately, we couldn’t leave Kevin’s body laying around during the daylight hours. If someone broke into the Dark Room while we were sleeping and found the body, we would all be in trouble of discovery. If Kevin didn’t die within the next hour, I would have to finish the job so we’d have enough time to get his corpse to Archie before the sun rose. I would have to kill Kevin. It was my responsibility.