Nightwalker

Twenty-Seven

The pain in my left arm was gone. I stood without actually using my muscles. I just pushed out with my powers until I was lifted to my feet. Around me the sounds of battle dimmed and the world faded. Time ground to a crawl, edging along the floorboards like a multilegged insect. I paused long enough to grab both of Michael’s guns and my sword. Tucking one gun in my pants at the hollow of my back, I kept the other in my left hand while the sword remained tightly clutched in my right hand.

To say that I was angry would have been an understatement. I wanted to send a wall of fire through the entire building, cleansing it of every moving creature, breathing or not. Michael was gone and I wanted a gallon of naturi blood for every drop spilled of his. I wanted them dead.

Striding into the front parlor, I paused long enough to assess the scene. Furniture had been overturned and the lighting was dim as one small lamp in the far corner fought back the darkness. Danaus battled two naturi at once, a scimitar in one hand and a short sword in the other. A flicker of light danced across the steel that had yet to be smeared with blood. Three more naturi stood near the window where they had come in, watching the show. I would have normally let Danaus have his fun, but I just wanted them dead. One of them had killed Michael.

Stepping forward, I lifted the gun toward Danaus’s assailants. Without hesitation, I squeezed off several rounds, putting one into the forehead of each naturi before they could turn on me. The recoil sent a shock wave up my arm and I hissed in pain, but it didn’t slow me as I swung around and fired the last three rounds at the remaining naturi. Only one found its mark, briefly pinning the brown-haired creature to the blood-splattered wall before he slid to the floor.

Out of bullets, I pitched the gun at the closest naturi, shattering his nose and left cheekbone. He screamed and stumbled backward, holding his face. I closed the distance, rage bubbling in my veins. His companion stepped forward to protect him, and I left his head rocking on the floor seconds later.

The wounded elflike creature lashed out, swinging his sword wildly, half blinded by the pain. In a flash of movement I was standing behind the creature. I grabbed a fistful of brown hair and jerked his head back before running my blade across his throat. I was careful to slice the main arteries and open his windpipe. It’s a subtle art; something learned through years of torture and death. If I had left him like that, he might have drowned in his own blood. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure how quickly he would heal so I lopped off both his hands. I didn’t want him coming back to stab me later. This way he would at least bleed to death. He would suffer awhile longer than if I’d just decapitated him like his companion. I wanted his death to be a slow one.

Danaus grabbed my right arm as I started to leave the room, halting my progress. “He’s not dead,” the hunter growled. His hand bit into my flesh while his powers beat angrily against me.

“He will be.” Danaus didn’t release me, his gaze burning into my cold eyes. I knew what he wanted. He didn’t believe in torture. “Remember, they did far worse to me. At least he knows he’s going to die. I had no such guarantee.” I wrenched my arm free of his grasp and continued to the hall.

I was relieved to see he followed directly behind me instead of ending the naturi’s suffering. Maybe he knew this wasn’t the best time to cross me. I paused in the hall, careful not to look down at Michael’s cold body. Instead I gazed up the hall to find three more naturi heading toward the room holding Jabari and the others, looking to attack the small group from behind. I pulled the second and last gun from my pants and plowed through the three that were now coming after me.

“Are there any more coming?” I stepped on the body of the nearest naturi, indifferent as to whether he was dead yet, as I walked toward the closed door.

“Yes, but we have a couple of minutes,” Danaus said, following close behind me. “The last of them are in with the others.”

I shoved open the door and for a second my confidence slipped several notches. The room looked like a cyclone had blown through. All the furniture had been destroyed. Exquisite landscapes were ripped off the walls, their heavy frames used as weapons. The walls were pockmarked with bullets and gaping holes created by flying bodies. Corpses littered the floor, broken and torn.

Sadira stood in one corner with a wounded Tristan behind her. One of the legs of the chair she’d been sitting in was tightly clenched in her fist and her fangs were bared. Other than the fangs, she still didn’t look like a vampire, just a mother protecting her child. Of course, we’re talking a half-crazed, bloodthirsty mother with her blood-splashed yellow shirt sticking to her thin frame and dark hair flowing down her back.

My Gabriel still stood strong beside her, a knife in one hand and a naturi short sword in the other. I didn’t want to contemplate how long he had been without ammo. His right shoulder and left thigh were bleeding, but he didn’t waver, so I hoped the wounds were superficial. I couldn’t lose him too.

And in the eye of the storm stood Jabari. His energy pulsed in violent waves through the room. At least a dozen bodies circled him, torn apart in various ways. The nightwalker stood empty-handed, covered in the blood of his enemies. Jabari didn’t use a sword or knife. He preferred to take apart his enemies with his bare hands. It was a lost art.

Watching him face down the five naturi that currently circled him, I remembered why I had always loved him. I loved his strength and his power. I loved that I only felt anger radiating from him, no fear, no doubt, no indecision. With little effort and no hesitation, Jabari pulled the heart from a naturi’s chest. He tossed the two objects carelessly aside and moved onto his next prey.

And deep down I knew I was standing in that line, no matter what happened from here on out.

“Shall we?” I said, looking over at Danaus as I tried gauge the best place to enter the fray. Relieving Sadira and Gabriel would probably be the wisest place to start. Jabari was doing fine on his own.

“After you,” Danaus said, motioning for me to precede him. I was beginning to think he was enjoying himself. He was splattered with blood and a line of sweat ran from his temple to his hard jaw. His narrowed eyes were keenly focused on the naturi in the room, weighing their skills. But there was also a glitter of amusement there, soaking in the thrill of the battle and the rush of adrenaline. At that moment, Danaus was more of a predator than the naturi could ever be. He was a dark stalker riding the wave of blood and death, his human side obliterated.

With a slight shake of my head, I jumped in, lunging at the naturi that was backing Gabriel toward the wall. After a couple of exchanges he was dead, his head rolling across the room. In the spare moment between adversaries, I tossed Gabriel the gun I’d been carrying. I wasn’t sure how many bullets it still had, but it was better than nothing.

“Keep back and make sure nothing comes through the door,” I said over my shoulder as one of the two naturi attacking Danaus rushed me. We crossed swords, circling each other the best we could considering the floor was thick with miscellaneous body parts and slick with blood. Poorly balanced with my left foot on someone’s chest while my right foot rested on another’s hand, I blocked an overhead blow aimed to split my skull. I finished by swinging my blade down, cleaving my foe in two.

Half stumbling off the dead body, I looked up in time to see Danaus skillfully finish off his opponent with a neat spinning slash that not only lifted and threw the naturi across the room, but cut him clear to the spine. While I was skillful with a sword, watching Danaus was like taking in the Russian ballet. I could feel more than see the ripple of muscle and sinew dancing beneath his tanned skin. Every movement was precisely timed and balanced for the maximum effect. The light throb of his powers tumbled from him to wash through me.

I glanced around the room. Jabari was down to his last two naturi. Sadira knelt beside Tristan, her bloody hands cupping his pale cheeks. Gabriel leaned against the wall near them, struggling to catch his breath.

“How bad is it?” I inquired, looking down at the young nightwalker. We were all covered in blood, making it hard to tell who was actually bleeding.

“The cut isn’t deep, but the sword was charmed,” Sadira said, flicking worried eyes over to me. There was a smear of blood across her forehead, and her blood-soaked clothes clung to her slender frame, making her look even frailer.

“It slows the healing. It’s more pain than actual poison. He’ll survive,” I said, turning my attention to my guardian angel. He stood staring down at the gun in his hand, a frown on his full lips.

“He died saving my life,” I volunteered, struggling to keep my voice steady as an image of Michael lying in my arms flashed across my mind. I should have been paying more attention. I might not have been able to sense the naturi, but I should have heard the door opening or the footsteps.

Gabriel nodded. “Then he died happy.” His fingers tightened around the handgun, his expression hardening. He’d said the words as much for me as for himself. My brown-haired angel had outlived three bodyguards now. The other two had been brash and careless, picking a fight when they should have known better. Michael, in contrast, had been smart. He knew when to keep his head down and how to follow orders. In the end, I was just bad for him.

Forcing my attention back to Danaus, I pushed those regrets aside for now. They would only distract me and get me killed. Later, I would cry bloody tears for my fallen angel. The hunter was staring toward the broken window, his expression intense and drawn. It wasn’t good.

“Here they come.”

I was already moving before the last word crossed his lips. Jabari had just ripped the arms off his final opponent and was standing in the open in the center of the room. Much like Michael had with me earlier this horrible night, I put my shoulder into Jabari, throwing us both to the ground as a barrage of arrows entered the room through the window. These bastards were starting to become predictable.

Frowning, I looked down to find Jabari staring up at me with a stunned look in his wide brown eyes. I guess I would have too, had I been in the same position. Less than an hour ago we’d tried to kill each other.

“It’s been years since we had fun like this,” I said, lying across his strong chest.

Jabari gave a weary sigh, his eyes suddenly turning sad. His face had lost its walking dead look. He looked almost human, or at least a little less like a corpse. “I still do not understand you, desert flower.” He reached up and tucked a dirty, wet strand of hair behind my ear. “But things have not changed between us.”

“I don’t expect them to. You are just one of the many people who wish to kill me right now,” I reminded him as I rolled off his chest and to my feet. I remained squatting down as another barrage of arrows soared through the room. I could smell his blood now that we were so close. He had been cut. It was impossible to tell how many times or how deep. As an Ancient, he would be able to tolerate the pain better than most, but without rest or a meal, he was going to slow down. We all were.

“Promise me something,” I continued, my eyes locked on the window.

“What do you desire?” He knelt beside me, his long body tensed and ready for the attack. His soft accent rippled across me like a soothing hand rubbing my back.

“I love it when you say that,” I teased in a dreamy voice. He said nothing, but his expression hardened in warning. I was pushing my luck. “When the time comes, let it be between us. Don’t let the Coven send one of its flunkies. I deserve better than that.” I looked over to find him smiling, white fangs peeking out beneath his lips.

“As you wish.” His voice was deep and solemn.

Not quite. I wished to walk away from this mess and go home. I wished that I could push the naturi, Themis, Danaus, and this whole nightmare to the farthest reaches of my mind. I wished for my fairy godmother, the good witch of the north, or some other bitch with a wand to glide in here and zap these arrow-shooting assholes. But I wasn’t counting on it.

“How many?” I called across the room. Danaus frowned at me, his grip tightening on the short sword in his hand. He knelt behind some broken furniture near Sadira and Tristan. The naturi blood was beginning to darken and dry on his skin. His cobalt blue eyes glittered in the weak lamp light.

“You don’t want to know.”

“Tell me.”

“Thirty—more or less.”

I nodded, my expression carefully blank. I wanted to scream that it was impossible. I didn’t think there could have been two dozen naturi on the entire island. Unfortunately, one nightwalker was already down and another was starting to weaken. Sadira could hold her own better than I’d previously thought, but Gabriel wasn’t going to last much longer. I was tempted to call for Ryan, but his own people would need him. We were on our own.

As if on cue, naturi started leaping through the open window. Danaus was nice enough to take out the first one from across the room by carefully placing his knife in the creature’s forehead. It was enough to startle the naturi standing next to him, buying me an extra second as I jumped to my feet. The first few fell quickly, but our little group was soon pushed back by their sheer number.

I was only vaguely aware of my companions. I just kept moving, blocking, and slashing. Yet, it seemed for every one I killed, I was forced back a step as two more took his place. Frustration and fatigue finally got the better of me. The naturi I faced now wasn’t a better swordsman, only lucky. I raised my sword to block a swing aimed at my neck and missed the dagger he plunged into my stomach with his free hand. I removed his head with a scream of frustration and pain, but the damage was done.

Crumpling to my knees, the naturi poison surged through my body, adding to the renewed throbbing ache in my left shoulder. Desperate, I did the only thing I could think of: I created fire. It was all I had left. The flames leapt up from the floor in front of me and quickly spread down the line until it separated the naturi from our little group. The naturi stepped back, watching us, possibly wondering what I would do next or waiting for a member of the light clan to appear so he could remove my final weapon.

“Burn them, Mira!” Sadira screamed from some distant point off to my right.

“I can’t.” The words escaped me as a hoarse whisper, but I know she heard me over the crackling flames. My sword clattered to the floor and I pulled the dagger from my stomach. The pain was already beginning to crush my thoughts, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep the flames going much longer. Still weak from the previous night’s battle, I had too little strength left to call upon.

“Burn them, Mira!” Jabari commanded angrily. “Destroy them all.”

I wanted to say no, but I was too tired to even form the word. I looked up to find Danaus standing beside me, his hand extended, offering to help me to my feet.

“Let’s finish this together,” he calmly said. “Your life is mine to enjoy when I choose.”

I wanted to laugh. Danaus would choose now to make a joke, repeating what I’d said about him days ago to Lucas. I think I smiled. I’m not really sure since I could no longer feel my lips over the pain in my abdomen.

But most important, he was making a deal with me; one last push with us both using our powers to destroy the naturi that stood watching their prey. If we survived, we’d both be exhausted and at the mercy of whoever was left standing. Unfortunately, we were out of options.

Slowly, I lifted my bloody right hand from my stomach and placed it in Danaus’s hand. And I screamed. Whatever pain I’d felt from the naturi poison was a mere bee sting compared to the power flowing through my body now. It surged down my arm and through my limbs, threatening to peel my flesh from my bones. It kept building, trying to rip me apart.

Burn them.

I blinked and found myself standing somehow, but the room was growing black. “I—I can’t see them,” I said in a choked voice. Panic was crowding in where the pain had yet to sink.

Yes, you can.

This time I realized the voice in my head belonged to Danaus. I wanted to curse and scream at him, but something strange caught my attention. I suddenly realized the room was more crowded now. A split-second search revealed I could now sense the naturi.

I picked through the occupants of the room as the pain built to a point where it seemed I was hanging onto consciousness by a thread. As I reached out, there was only one thought left in my brain—to kill them. I mentally tried to grab their hearts and set them on fire. It was a trick I’d used in the past that had proved effective, but something would not let me. It pushed me toward this almost wispy throb of energy in each naturi. Too weak to fight it, I gave in and wrapped the powers building in me around that bit of smoke.

Another scream ripped from my throat, louder than the first, as the energy flowed out of me. My knees buckled and I fell, still tightly clasping Danaus’s hand as if it were my last anchor to sanity. As the pain ebbed, I heard the thought again.

Kill them all.

My focus cleared and I felt more naturi. Without hesitation I pushed outward, past the walls of the manor, into the trees surrounding the compound. I set aflame every throb of naturi energy I ran across, pushing the power out until I finally encountered a different feeling of power blocking my reach somewhere miles from the Compound.

Then the energy stopped. Beside me, I heard Danaus drop to his knees, my hand slipping from his to thud against the cold, sticky floor. The room was silent except for his ragged breaths. My body still hurt with an intensity I never thought possible, but my thoughts were clearing, and I wished they hadn’t.

I realized with a startling clarity what I had done. I’d destroyed their souls; wiped them completely from existence. Previously, I had just set their bodies on fire. Yes, I killed them with a certain amount of glee, but their souls had been free to pursue whatever afterlife they believed in. This time there was nothing left. My eyes were closed but I could smell the charred bodies and burned hair. I had destroyed them completely. And not just the ones attacking us. I had obliterated every naturi within several miles of the Themis compound.