Wait for Dusk (19 page)

Lifting his chin, Stefan unclenched his jaw enough so he could speak. “A month ago I sent my assistant here to pick up a package for me. She arrived by private jet. She came to the city and checked into a hotel, but that was the last that was heard of her. The package was never picked up and nothing has been seen of my assistant.”

“If you need help acquiring your package, I’m sure I can assist you. I am familiar with many of the shopkeepers throughout the city,” Veyron said with a nonchalant wave of his hand.

The arm of the chair that Stefan was sitting in creaked as the nightwalker’s grip tightened. “I am not concerned with the package,” Stefan bit back in a deadly soft voice. “I want to know where my assistant is. She is to be returned to me.”

Veyron gave a sad shake of his head that left even me wanting to rip it off. “I’m afraid this is the first I have heard of the matter. I’ll do what I can to help you find her.”

“I believe it will be in your best interest to help me because I plan to dismantle this city until I do find her,” Stefan snapped.

“What’s her name?” Macaire inquired politely.

“Michelle,” Stefan replied, his voice losing some of its edge. “She is just over five feet tall, with brown hair that hangs down to her waist. Her eyes are brown and there is a sparse sprinkling of freckles across her nose.”

“How old was she?” Valerio asked.

“She
is
221 years old,” Stefan said, surprising me. I had not expected his assistant to be a nightwalker. But then, by the detailed description he gave and his refusal to face the fact that she was most likely dead, I was willing to bet that Michelle was more than just an assistant to him. I hadn’t expected Stefan to actually have any kind of emotions for anyone beside himself. Of course, it made sense. Nothing would force Stefan to volunteer to come on a mission with me unless it was very important to him. And by his tone of voice, Michelle was very important to him. For a brief second I wondered if it was Michelle that had truly brought Stefan to Budapest and not some elaborate plot cooked up between him and Macaire.

I frowned, biting back a comment. It was very likely that Michelle wasn’t still alive if she had disappeared more than a month ago. Nightwalkers didn’t just disappear. There was always the chance that she had run from Stefan and was hiding somewhere in the East, where things were a little wilder and less closely monitored by the coven and its keepers. In the East, it was easier to slip in and become lost among the other nightwalkers, creating a new identity for yourself.

However, I was reluctant to accept this theory. Stefan seemed to truly care for Michelle, and I assumed he’d know if there was a possibly that she would run. Of course, love can make us all blind at times.

“If she was in town a month ago, you may consider contacting Ferko,” Veyron suggested, scratching his chin with his right hand. “He’s the alpha for the local pack. Sometimes the lycans can get a little rough when it’s close to the full moon. I hate to think it, but there is a small chance that she may have fallen in with a rough crowd while she was in town.”

“Is that a problem in Budapest?” I asked, raising one eyebrow at him. “Locals harassed and potentially killed by the lycans?”

“Not really.” The nightwalker shrugged, looking for all the world as if none of this conversation truly mattered to him, and in truth it shouldn’t if he didn’t consider himself the keeper of Budapest. “Of course, the time of the full moon for the shifters is always a dangerous time of the month. Sometimes people go missing. I’m sure it happens everywhere.”

“Actually, it doesn’t.” My voice grew colder, losing its congenial softness and warm invitation. “The alpha for the pack in my own domain keeps a tight control over his people. Humans and nightwalkers do not go missing in my domain.” Sitting back, I tapped my finger on my lips in thought. “Macaire, please correct me if I’m wrong, being as I am new to the Elder position,” I began, pausing to smile over at him.

“Of course,” he replied with a stiff smile of his own. “What is on your mind?”

“I don’t think the coven is comfortable with this current arrangement.”

“How do you mean?” Macaire said, sitting up a little straighter in his chair as he slid closer to the edge of his seat.

“As a member of the coven, I have to admit that I’m not comfortable with the regular disappearance of humans and nightwalkers within the city,” I said, dropping my hand back into my lap. “And if I’m not comfortable, the rest of the coven couldn’t possibly be comfortable.”

“Macaire has never expressed any concern about the arrangement for the city,” Veyron admitted thoughtlessly as he started to squirm in his own chair.

“Correct me if I am wrong, fellow Elder, but I don’t think you are fully aware of the situation, considering that you spend the majority of your time in Italy,” I said. “Speaking of which,” I added, turning my attention back to Veyron, “why are the fledglings of Budapest not making an appearance before the coven, as is tradition?”

“It was my impression that we were no longer following that old tradition.”

I gave a little snort and shook my head as I looked over at Macaire. “Could you ever see us giving up such a time-tested tradition as breaking in the fledglings in Venice? It’s positively absurd!”

“It is the only way to teach them where the true power of our people lie,” Macaire said through clenched teeth.

“Respect,” Valerio said. “The young nightwalkers here have no respect for the coven, the Elders, or even when they see a true Ancient,” he added as he picked a piece of lint off his dark slacks. He couldn’t resist putting another nail in Veyron’s coffin. I had no doubt that he knew where I was going with this and was now simply egging me on.

I heaved a heavy sigh and looked down at my hands folded in my lap. “This can’t continue.”

“It can’t be!” Veyron said, nearly coming out of his chair.

“But it is. Shifters are killing nightwalkers and humans, endangering the secret. Nightwalkers are not appearing before the coven, which is the only place they can properly learn what it means to be a nightwalker and understand their place in the world. This is unacceptable, and I know I speak for the rest of the coven when I say this cannot continue.”

“What are you planning to do?” Macaire demanded in a slow, deceptively even voice.

“The only thing I can do,” I said, before sucking in a deep, weary breath. “I will take over as the keeper of Budapest.”

“But you can’t!” Veyron cried, jumping out of his chair.

“Why not?” I asked, one corner of my mouth lifting in a smile as I settled back in my own chair.

Veyron squirmed in silence for several seconds before he finally found his voice and a viable excuse for his objection. “You’re already the keeper of a city in the New World. How would you manage to be in two places at once?”

“I would spend an extended period of time here, remaining until I felt that the city was on the right track before I returned to Savannah,” I stated. “And in truth, now that I am an Elder on the coven, it is probably best that I remain in Europe so I can be close at hand to Venice. I may actually hand over Savannah to my assistant. He would do an adequate job at managing the city.”

Veyron slumped back in his chair, his hands balled into loose fists on his knees. He was trapped, and it was all I could do to swallow laughter. If he didn’t want me to claim the keeper position for the city, he would have to step forward and claim it himself. Of course, considering the poor job he was currently doing, there was a good chance I would steal it from him anyway.

“Do you have an objection?” I asked oh so sweetly, flashing my fangs at him as I smiled. I looked down at Macaire, who could only nod stiffly at me as he settled back in his chair.

“No, of course not,” he said, a bit too quickly to be considered believable. “Your presence would be a welcome addition to the city.”

“Yes, this will help keep you close at hand for when you are needed at the coven,” Macaire said. “We were recently discussing that it may be time for you to take a domain within Europe,” he added, making it sound like it all had his stamp of approval, when I had little doubt that he wanted me nowhere near Budapest.

“Excellent. Then I claim the position of keeper of Budapest. See to it the word is spread throughout the nightwalkers of my new domain,” I declared.

“Is there anything else you wish?” Veyron said through clenched teeth as he bowed his head to me.

I glanced over at my companions, and Valerio shook his head, looking completely amused by the entire proceeding. Stefan, on the other hand, continued to glare at Veyron, as he held the nightwalker responsible for the disappearance of his assistant. “Yes, spread the word that we are looking for a nightwalker named Michelle. I demand that she be found, or at least it must be discovered what happened to her. We will speak with Ferko and his pack tomorrow night.”

“Tomorrow night is the full moon,” Veyron reminded me.

I smiled at him again and leaned forward a bit. “I can’t think of a better time. I like to make an impact on those I meet.”

Veyron pushed back, his hands gripping the arms of his comfortable chair, almost mirroring the same posture as Stefan. Neither he nor Stefan was particularly happy, but at least only one of them wanted my head at the moment. Stefan was content to wait until a more opportune time, when it would most benefit him.

“Since you are now the keeper of Budapest, I am assuming that you are going to take care of our current naturi infestation,” Veyron said in a low voice.

“I have already started. Danaus and I hunted down five naturi last night at Szobor Park,” I informed him, taking exquisite pleasure in watching his frown grow deeper. Unfortunately, my joy was short-lived as I continued to speak. “However, we discovered that one extremely dangerous naturi is in the region. His name is Rowe and he’s something of a zealot among the naturi race. Now that he knows I’m here, he could increase his slaughter of both nightwalkers and humans as he hunts me down.”

A twisted smile flashed across Veyron’s face. “So your presence here has actually made it more dangerous for nightwalkers?”

“Par for the course when it comes to Mira,” Valerio said, earning a dark look from me. “The naturi tend to flock to her instead of running away. That happens when you’re enemy number one among their entire race.”

I forced a smile on my lips as I turned my gaze back to Veyron and shrugged. “That happens when you’re known for slaughtering countless of their ranks over the long centuries. Their survival is dependent on my death.”

“Will you be able to get rid of them?”

“It would be nice, considering that this particular naturi gave you such problems at both Crete and Peru,” Macaire added, making me wish I could throw something at his head.

“I will take care of Rowe. The one-eyed naturi will not leave Budapest alive.”

“One-eyed?” Veyron asked.

“He wears an eye patch. Scarred face. Black hair, swarthy skin. He really doesn’t look like much of a naturi any longer, but he still thinks like one.”

“So, while you’re in town, you’re going to rein in the lycans, hunt down the naturi, and teach the nightwalkers how to act like proper nightwalkers?” Veyron said with a sneer.

“Well, I thought I would start there. Those aren’t the only things on my to-do list,” I said, my smile never wavering. “But if I’m going to get anything done, I can’t remain here. I need to get out on the street.” Pushing out of my chair, I mentally reached out to Danaus and told him that we were leaving.

Veyron accompanied my group to the front door, where Danaus and Sofia were now waiting for us. Turning to Veyron, I nodded my head to him and smiled. “Thank you for all your assistance. I think you will be pleased with how Budapest improves while I am here.”

“Yes,” he said with a slight hiss as he held open the door for us. I led the way out of the house, with Danaus following on my heels. Macaire, Valerio, and Stefan were directly behind us. There was no mistaking the soft chuckle from Valerio when Veyron slammed the door shut.

“Only you would have the nerve to step into a domain and steal it right out from under a man,” Valerio said as he slipped his arm around my back and rested his hand on my hip.

“He had ample opportunity to say something, and he didn’t,” I replied with an evil grin as we walked away from the house, toward the dimly lit street. “If I was out of line, I am fully confident that Macaire would have called me on the matter,” I said, motioning toward the Elder with one hand.

“You are correct. Budapest is not how I remember her, and I am sure that you can get her back to her glorious former self,” Macaire said with a slight bow of his head. “Now if you will excuse me.” Without another word, the Elder completely disappeared from sight without giving another word of reason.

Stefan started to talk, but I held up my hand and scanned the region. I wanted to be sure Macaire was completely gone before anyone said anything that we might regret. We now had an extra pair of ears that we needed to worry about. When I was sure he was nowhere in the area, I dropped my hand and nodded for him to continue.

“But two domains on two continents? Didn’t you just get through saying you weren’t going to claim Budapest as your newest domain?” Stefan asked, needling me simply because he could.

I shoved one hand through my hair, pushing it away from my face as the wind picked up. “This is only a temporary arrangement. I will give up one of my domains once everything is settled again and the coven is happy.”

“Give up Savannah?” Valerio asked.

Hearing the words spoken made my stomach drop. In that second I knew that I couldn’t give up my beloved Savannah. It was the only place since becoming a nightwalker that I felt I could call home. I didn’t care about Budapest—claiming the seat of keeper here was simply a way of taking control of the situation and finally forcing Veyron to act.

Unfortunately, I found myself faced with enemies on four fronts. The naturi were constantly at my back, while the nightwalkers, warlocks, and lycans were arrayed in front of me. I just prayed that the companions I had brought with me stayed by my side through the upcoming massacre, particularly now that Macaire had decided to haunt the city. And I knew it would be a massacre.