Nightwalker

Twelve

When the naturi stopped writhing on the ground and were silent except for the occasional pop and hiss of melting bone and tendon, Danaus lowered his shaking hand. In the light from a distant street lamp, sweat glistened on his hard face and ran down his arms. The power he had called forth flowed out of the cemetery and a cool breeze swept in. He looked exhausted and a little pale. That unique ability obviously took a lot out of him.

He looked up at me and our eyes locked, both thinking the same thing. Did I have enough strength left to kill him before he could kill me? We were both exhausted, but if it meant our lives, I knew we both had the energy to crush one another. I had felt his power, let it wash over me when we were close, but it never occurred to me that he could do something like this. He could kill nightwalkers without ever getting close. And yet I’d never heard anyone mention such a unique gift. Of course, the hunter would have quickly become the hunted if we had known he was this dangerous. The Coven would have sent scores of vampires after him and we would not have rested until his existence was wiped from this earth. We could not afford such an enemy.

I don’t know how long we sat there staring at each other, waiting for the other to flinch first. Time seemed to stretch and twist in that graveyard filled with naturi corpses. We both had these horrible powers, which created a great amount of fear in those around us. For centuries Jabari was the only thing that kept me from being crushed by the Coven. And now I knew Danaus’s secret. One word from me and he would be hunted by vampires from all over the world until he was dead…if he didn’t kill me first.

Yet, sitting there in the dirt in that lonely Egyptian cemetery, I wasn’t sure I would ever speak of what happened. He saved my life when he had absolutely no reason to. I didn’t think it was possible, but I was even more confused than I’d been twenty-four hours ago.

“Who are you?” My voice sounded rough and ragged to my own ears. The various cuts and strains were coming back into focus, until I was nearly drowning in the pain. My grip on the sword in my right hand relaxed and I let it slip from my limp fingers. A breeze stirred, sweeping up from the river and weaving its way through the city before finally reaching us. Rich spices mixed with the thick smell of humanity drifted toward us, freeing us from the pall of death that had blanketed the graveyard.

Danaus sat down and was swallowed up by a deep shadow thrown by one of the mausoleums, becoming little more than a dark figure. A nightmare.

“I am a member of a group called Themis.” His breathing was still labored and his arms trembled. There was a long cut across his left bicep, leaving the arm nearly covered in blood. Something in me stirred at the sight of the blood, but after what I had seen him do, I would not try for the temptation.

“The same as the men who attacked before sunset?”

“Since leaving the U.S., I haven’t had a chance to get a message to them. Tonight, I finally met with my contact at the Officers’ Club at the far north end of the city.” Each word that passed his lips was slow and hesitant. He looked down at the ground, his brow furrowed. I suspected he didn’t want to tell me anything, but knew that if we were going to move forward I had to know more. “I didn’t know they were sending anyone here. When I met with my contact, I discovered they thought I had been captured and was being held against my will. There are some in Themis that don’t ask questions. They were to rescue me and kill you.”

“And now?”

“They have been informed that we are…working together.” A wry, almost bitter smile quirked one corner of his mouth. His deep blue eyes flicked up to my face briefly and I had the impression he was fighting a laugh.

“I’m sure they are pleased with that.” A faint noise jumped from the back of his throat that almost sounded like a laugh. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one skating on thin ice at the moment. “Is that who you were meeting with here?”

“Yes, I caught them as they headed back north.”

“Has Themis called off its dogs?” I inquired, idly picking up a small rock and turning it over with the tips of my fingers.

“The hunters will be on a plane out of Egypt within the next hour.”

“Smart.”

I would hold off from killing Danaus for now. He had used his power to not only destroy the naturi attacking him, but also successfully scared off Rowe, incidentally exposing his unique ability and saving me from a fate potentially worse than death. However, I wouldn’t mind taking a chunk out of the hides of those who had hurt Michael. Nothing could light my temper faster than the thought of being attacked while I slept. I had no respect for cowards who attacked a person while he or she was defenseless.

I rose to my feet, wincing and gritting my teeth as I moved. My body hurt, and it would continue to hurt until I either fed or slept for the day. Both possibilities were still a way off, unfortunately.

“Who was your friend?” Danaus asked, slowly pushing to his feet as well.

I shook my head as my eyes danced over the remains of the naturi. “The naturi Nerian had mentioned, Rowe.”

“They want you again?”

“So it would seem,” I whispered. I wanted to make some witty remark about how they should have learned their lesson the first time, but I couldn’t form the words. Something inside me was screaming in mindless terror. Not again. I couldn’t let them take me again.

“Drag the bodies over to this mausoleum,” I said, motioning with my head toward a large, crumbling building with its dome roof still intact. The arch opening was cracked and broken: the years had not been kind, but I was hoping the neglect meant that it was abandoned by the owner’s family. Grabbing the arm of the headless naturi, I bent down and picked up the head by the hair, then pulled them into the tomb.

Danaus followed my lead and pulled over the bodies of the two naturi he managed to boil from the inside. After wrestling a little with limbs, we got the mangled remains of the six bodies piled inside the tomb.

I stumbled backward a couple steps out of the mausoleum, my vision blurring as I struggled against growing fatigue. Danaus caught my arm and steadied me.

“You’re still bleeding,” he said as he took his hand away and looked at the dark blood smeared across his fingers.

“Charmed weapons,” I said in a low voice. “It takes longer to heal.”

“You need to feed.”

“You offering?”

Danaus took a step away from me and shook his head once. “No.”

With a slight shrug of my shoulders, I looked out across the graveyard. The air was silent again, no one wandering close to this resting place for the dead. “I am going to Jabari’s. I can manage until then.”

“I’ll get a car—” he began, his footsteps heading toward the graveyard entrance.

“You’re not going.” I shook my head, trying to clear the fog. Jabari was waiting for me. I needed my wits about me. Hiking up the left side of my skirt, I grabbed my cell phone from the garter that kept it strapped to my thigh. I had put it on the previous night upon our return to the hotel. I wanted to keep it close after Michael and Gabriel decided to do a little exploring in the city. Danaus looked at the thing like I had just pulled a rabbit out of my ass.

“We are not all fearful of this century’s technology.” I grabbed his wrist and slapped the phone into his palm. “Call Charlotte. Her number is programmed into the phone. Tell her I need to see if she can get my plane down to Aswan tonight. We’re leaving.”

“Where are we going?”

“Tell her home. I’m done. Jabari knows of the naturi. He will take care of it.” I paused for a moment and stared at the hunter. I couldn’t believe what I was about to say, but he’d just saved me from the naturi. Staring up at Rowe tonight, I realized that I’d been spending much of my energy blaming Danaus for everything that had gone wrong recently. In truth, it was a fair mix of my own stupidity and the naturi. Danaus didn’t bring back the naturi. He was just the poor schmuck that got stuck with the job of telling someone about it. “You can hitch a ride with us back to the States. After that, you’re on your own.” I knew I couldn’t leave him here with Jabari.

Danaus arched one eyebrow at me in mocking question, but I imagined that was all he could manage. We were both exhausted. I ignored the expression and pushed on.

“When you get back to the hotel, settle up our rooms. If Charlotte can’t get the plane here in the next few hours, tell the hotel manager that we need to rent or buy a truck. We have to drive to Luxor tonight and be on a plane before sunrise.”

“That may be difficult.”

“I know, but I can’t travel without my box,” I said. While my jet was specially designed for me and could afford me some protection, I couldn’t be sure the other places I might be forced to stay would be enough protection. “Money is no object. At the foot inside the box is a leather case. There’s cash inside. It won’t take long to find someone who can help.”

“And you trust me not to double-cross you?” he asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Not really.” I shrugged, taking a step closer. “But if you steal the cash, my phone, and dispose of my box, that won’t destroy me, just slow me down. And before I come after you for that betrayal, I will hunt down those men that attacked me tonight and hurt Michael. Help me now and I’ll forget about that attack and even get you out of Egypt alive. I think that’s a pretty fair trade considering the attack made by your little Themis friends. Agreed?”

Danaus stared at me in silence for a full minute before he finally spoke. “Agreed.” And even then, the word escaped him in a low grumble.

I smiled. I still had an even better bargaining chip in my pocket, but I was saving that one for a rainy night.

“And speaking of your friends,” I started, strolling even closer to him. “I want you to call Themis. I want a meeting.” While I was more than willing to hand the naturi problem over to Jabari and the Coven, I wanted to know more about this little group that had made a hobby of hunting nightwalkers.

His eyes snapped back up to my face. “They won’t do it.”

“I don’t care what you have to say to arrange it. Before the sun rises, I want a promise that I will meet with a member of your little group,” I said, unable to stop myself from clenching my teeth. My anger was building, which was good because it was giving me a little burst of energy. “I still have to meet with Jabari and I haven’t a clue as to what I’m going to tell him. I want to know what the hell is going on. I want a meeting or you’re not getting any more information out of me. I am tired of my ass being the only one in the fire.”

Frowning, I swept past him and stalked toward the entrance of the graveyard. Yet, I stopped only a few yards away from Danaus. It galled me to ask, but I was exhausted and unarmed. “How many naturi are left in the city?”

Silence stretched between us for a few seconds, but I refused to look back at him. It would do him no good to get me killed now after he had expended so much energy to save me earlier in the night.

“There are two more near the river, heading north.” His voice was quiet and low, like distant thunder.

If I were lucky, I would have enough time to get to Jabari and return with my angels before I ran into Rowe and his companion. “How far did you search?”

“All of Aswan, from the High Dam to the Tomb of the Nobles.”

“Can…can you sense Jabari?” My insides clenched and twisted as I waited for his response.

“No.”

I nodded once, a part of me relieved. I didn’t want him to be able to sense the Elder when I could not. “I should be back inside of an hour.”