“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.”
Thirteen
Rock crunching under my boots, I headed out of the cemetery to the northwest and the heart of the city. Pain swept through every movement, as my body attempted to heal the array of wounds and poisons left behind from the naturi blade. After only a few blocks I was weaving through the crowds on the street. I expended just enough of my powers to make myself invisible to the people passing by, but Jabari would be able to sense my approach. I could feel Gabriel and Michael across the river on Elephantine Island. They would be at the home the Ancient kept there.
It was relatively early in the evening, and the local souq was still open and would remain so into the late evening hours. Colorful fabrics danced in the spice-rich breeze. A knot of eight boys ran by me with a burst of excited chatter. The leader of the pack carried a scuffed and worn soccer ball under his right arm. Just one quick game in the fading evening light. I briefly walked through the souq, noting the pyramids of fruits carefully stacked in brown baskets and arranged according to color. Colorful signs were written in Arabic, drawing the eyes of the evening shoppers. There were a few women in the souq, but they were either accompanied by a man or traveled in tight knots of three or four women to a group. It was a different world from the one I had inhabited in the States or even in Europe during the past centuries.
Some of the tension eased from my shoulders as I watched the early night life of these people go on. The air was filled with their animated chatter, and someone softly picked out a melancholy tune on a stringed instrument, a counterpoint to the harder murmur of noise created by cars. Here, at this point, the naturi had not touched humanity yet and my kind was just a silly myth no one actually believed anymore.
Slipping down to the Corniche el-Nil, I directed the felucca captain to take me across the river to Elephantine Island. The poor man never even saw me. I slipped into his mind before even stepping onto the small white boat with matching white sail. Sinking down in a seat at the bow, I closed my eyes, listening to the creak of the wooden boat and the splash of the water as we cut across the Nile. The wind dropped to kiss the water before rising again to sweep past me, carrying with it secrets from the Nubian kingdom from the south and other stories from deep in the heart of Africa. I listened to the wind and water, wishing I could understand them, wishing they had the answers to this dilemma.
Stepping off the dock, I instructed the captain to wash off the smear of blood I had left on the white paint of his boat before heading toward the southern tip of the island and the village of Koti, near the Ruins of Abu. The path was compacted dirt, and trees and broad-leafed plants crowded the lane. I stared into the darkness that filled in the open areas, wondering if the naturi had followed me across the Nile to the island.
I relaxed slightly as I walked past the seven-foot rock wall that surrounded the village of Koti. The naturi could still follow me into the village, but I was closer to Jabari. At least, I hoped the Ancient was in the village, but I still could not sense my old mentor.
At the end of a narrow alley flanked by two tall buildings that rose up like yellow tulips was a two-story square building painted bright blue. All the homes in the Nubian village were painted bright, cheerful colors—sunny yellows, cool blues, and sweet pinks dotted the landscape like stone flowers in an enormous garden for the gods. As I approached, the ornate door opened and Omari stood in the doorway. He couldn’t see me, but I suspected that Jabari had alerted him to my approach. I removed the invisibility when I was still a couple yards from the door, startling Omari, who then moved out of the doorway and motioned for me to enter.
The main chamber was bathed in the warm glow of candlelight, a hint of burning incense in the air. Jabari looked up when I entered, his gaze hardening when he took in my appearance. I sensed Michael and Gabriel also jumped to their feet from where they lounged on a pile of cushions on the floor to my right.
“Naturi!” I shouted, the word exploding from my chest.
“Here?” Jabari demanded. He leapt smoothly to his feet, his face furious, white robes swaying around him.
“No, they attacked me at Fatimid Cemetery. Seven of them. None appeared here?” I thought going after me had merely been a pit stop on the way to Jabari. The Ancient had to be their main target. He was the strongest of the remaining members of the triad.
“No one has come but your protectors and you.” The Ancient shook his head in amazement. “How?” The word was one of the few I knew in Ancient Egyptian, despite both our efforts, but his meaning was clear: How had I survived? Even a vampire as old and powerful as Jabari would have been hard pressed to come out with his head still attached.
“Just barely,” I said with a weak chuckle. Two on one had been a close match, but seven on one would have been impossible. “Danaus saved my life. I don’t know why and at the moment I don’t care. We need to get out of the city. There’s one called Rowe—he’s been in contact with Aurora. He tried to take me, possibly to make sure they would have a clear shot at you.”
“I’ve not heard of this Rowe,” Jabari said with a shake his head. He stared at the ground in thought for a moment, potentially digging through volumes of old memories.
“I hadn’t heard of him until Nerian mentioned him. He’s scarred and wears an eye patch. He pretends to know me, but I don’t remember him.”
“Not from Machu Picchu?”
“No. I would remember a one-eyed naturi that dresses like a pirate,” I said, a smirk briefly twisting on my lips before fading away.
“Maybe you are the reason he possesses only one eye,” he said, lifting his gaze back to my face.
“No, I would remember him.”
“And his goal was to capture you?”
I shoved a shaking hand through my hair and nodded, unable to say the words through the tremor of fear that sapped my strength.
“You’re right,” Jabari said. “The naturi felt they had to get you out of the way so they could destroy the members of the triad. They were successful in destroying Tabor. They will also go after Sadira. You must go to her, protect her.”
My brows bunched over my nose and I could not stop myself from shaking my head. I didn’t want to leave him unprotected, even if he still wanted my head on a pike. “What about you?”
“I will go to the Coven. They must know what is going on. I shall be safe.”
“But—” The words died on my lips as the room swayed. Whatever energy I’d scraped together to get me from Fatimid to Koti had run out and my vision was growing black. I put my hand out to try to steady myself on anything I could find and came in contact with a soft, warm shoulder. Blinking, I found myself looking into Michael’s concerned eyes.
Jabari’s deep, soothing voice floated into my ears and wrapped itself around my thoughts. “The naturi poison is still inside you. You have to feed to cleanse yourself.”
My stomach twisted and knotted, attempting to turn itself inside out in hunger and pain. The muscles in my legs quivered, demanding I sit down.
Michael took my hand and placed it against his neck, once again offering himself to me. A weak smile lifted my trembling lips, but my eyes were closed again. “This will hurt, my angel,” I warned. “I can’t spare the
energy.”
“You need me.”
That was enough. In a surge of raw need, I pulled him down to me, sinking my fangs deep into the vein in his throat. A rough cry escaped his parted lips as the pain tightened the muscles in his body. His hands grabbed my arms, but he didn’t struggle. Forcing him down to his knees, I leaned over him and slipped my fingers into his blond hair, holding him captive.
Fear exploded in his chest and ran through his bewildered thoughts, speeding up his heart, pumping his wonderful blood into my body that much faster. His fear was almost as intoxicating as his blood, awakening something that lay curled up in a dark pit in my stomach. The creature unwound itself and swam up the river of blood. It roared inside my head, demanding more, demanding I take it all.
The hand entwined in Michael’s hair tightened and a small whimper escaped him, sending fresh pleasure skipping through me. I kept his neck pressed to my mouth even as his heart began to grow sluggish. I didn’t care. There was only the warmth flowing into my cold limbs and the ball of energy swelling in my chest. My fear and the pain were finally gone. I felt alive and powerful.
“Mira.” Jabari’s firm voice somehow broke through the haze of blood and power, but I tried to ignore it. “Release him, Mira.” Instead, my free hand gripped Michael’s shoulder, locking him to me.
“Release him, Mira, or you will kill him.”
I jerked my mouth away from Michael and loosened my death grip. My guardian sank back to sit on his heels, blinking in a desperate attempt to stay conscious. I had taken more than I had planned to and yet the creature inside still howled for more.
When I finally looked up, I found Jabari standing beside his wooden, high-back chair. His right hand rested on the back, gripping it so tight his knuckles were turning white. His brown eyes seemed an eerie yellow in the flickering candlelight. He had heard the creature’s cry inside of me, felt the same blood lust. The Ancient blinked once, releasing his grip on the chair.
Michael touched my hand timidly and flashed me a crooked smile, searching for the reassurance that everything was okay. Smiling back at him, I gently ran my fingers through his thick blond hair before pressing a kiss to his forehead. My right hand slid down to cover the bite mark on his neck. With a brief swell of power, I healed both this fresh wound and the one from the previous night.
Nightwalker Page 14
