The cellar was largely empty. A single oil lamp burned on a table in the far corner, revealing a clutter of items that had been shoved into jars for safekeeping until they were needed for spells. Stone columns ran down the center of the large room, holding up the old house. Near the back of the room, I found Valerio tied to a chair. He was slumped forward with his lovely hair obscuring his face. Blood soaked into his shirt as the wooden stake still protruded from his chest, just below where his heart rested. He had hung on through the day and was barely clinging to life now as blood leaked from his chest. Valerio desperately needed to feed if he was to survive the night.
Artus stepped out from behind Valerio’s chair, frowning at me, while his apprentice leaned against the wall near the oil lamp with his arms folded over his chest. His expression was blank, giving me no indication as to what he felt about the events that were about to unfold before him. There was obviously no love between him and his master, but I doubted that there was enough animosity to benefit me.
“You shouldn’t have come,” Artus said in a low voice.
“You have something that belongs to me,” I replied, pushing the words out through clenched teeth.
“Leave here. Return to Sadira and I will release this one as he is.”
“It’s too late for that. Sadira has lost her hold on me. Jabari and the coven have ordered your death for what you have done to my people and I will follow through on their command.”
“Then I guess both of you will die,” he said smoothly. As he took a step toward me, Artus gave Valerio’s chair a hard shove, knocking it off balance so that he was falling forward. I surged forward in a flash, grabbing Valerio by the shoulders before he could crash to the floor, driving the stake further into his chest. At the same time, Artus plunged a knife in my back as I knelt on the ground with my hands full. I screamed in pain and in rage as I set Valerio’s chair on all fours again.
Twisting around, I found Artus standing where I had been just moments ago, clutching a bloody dagger in his left hand. I hadn’t retrieved any of my missing knives from Sadira; I didn’t need them to destroy the warlock. Pushing to my feet, I concentrated on the warlock, creating a circle of fire around him to keep him locked into one location. I conjured up a ball of flames in my right hand. Throwing the fire ball at him with all my strength, I prayed it would burn the bastard to a blackened crisp. The fire ball slammed into a blue-tinted barrier between him and me and quickly dissipated. The warlock waved his hand and the flames around him also disappeared. My ability to set him on fire had been effectively nullified. I would need another form of attack.
With a smile thinning my lips, I walked over to the warlock and attempted to simply punch him, but I couldn’t physically get through the barrier either. Unfortunately, he could. His dagger slashed at me with lightning speed, forcing me to quickly jerk out of his reach before the silver blade could catch me across the throat.
Standing back out of his arm’s reach, I clenched and unclenched my fists as I struggled to think of some way to strike at him. I had no other magical abilities at my disposal and my physical attacks had been easily blocked by his magical barrier. He could strike at me all he wanted, but I couldn’t touch a hair on the top of his balding head. It was frustrating enough for me to nearly set the room on fire and try to burn us all rather than allow him to walk away from this battle.
A metallic clatter jerked my gaze around toward the apprentice, who was still leaning against the wall. I looked down to find that a silver and gold dagger had been dropped on the stone floor at his feet. With his right foot, he gave the dagger a kick, sliding it across the floor toward me.
“Traitor!” Artus screamed, pointing toward his young apprentice.
“You betrayed us all with this agreement. Why should I support you?” the apprentice said nonchalantly.
“I’ll kill you for this!”
“Not if she kills you first.”
Bending down, I picked up the dagger, testing its weight in my hand. It wasn’t a particularly well-made blade, but it didn’t matter. I could feel the magic embedded in the metal so that it practically hummed with a life of its own. Turning to Artus, I sliced through the air near him. The warlock jumped backward so that he slammed into the wall behind him. With an evil grin, I noticed that the blade easily made it through the blue-tinged barrier that surrounded him. The fight had been put back on even ground.
Taking another step closer, I slashed at him, aiming to open up a series of cuts on him so that he would slowly bleed to death like Valerio. The warlock barely managed to block my swings as sweat beaded on his brow in panic. A second later, he disappeared completely. I spun around, waiting for him to attack my back, but he didn’t appear where I thought he would.
I sensed his energy a second before he appeared across the room in front of his apprentice. Artus didn’t take the time to put the protective barrier back in place as I was sure that he was expecting to be in the spot for only a second. He raised his hand with the dagger and brought it down in a slashing motion toward his apprentice, who was staring over his master’s shoulder at me. I caught the hand from behind just before it plunged the knife into the apprentice’s chest.
“Never turn your back on a nightwalker,” I hissed as I shoved the dagger I was holding deep into the warlock’s back. Artus had been so consumed with anger that he thought he could strike down his apprentice and then disappear before I could reach him. He underestimated me and now he was paying a steep price.
Jerking the blade free, I pressed it to the warlock’s throat while still tightly grasping his hand. I squeezed until his fingers broke in my hand and his dagger clattered to the ground. A low moan escaped Valerio as the scent of blood finally drew a response out of the dying nightwalker.
“Get out of here. When I release him, he won’t try to differentiate between the two of you. You’ll only be a source of blood,” I warned the apprentice. He nodded before slipping around his master and running across the room. I waited until I heard his footsteps echo across the hallway and the front door slam shut before I slashed open Artus’s throat.
The warlock crumpled at my feet when I released him, pressing both hands to his throat to stanch the blood pouring forth. His breathing came in gurgling gasps, but I thought I heard Jabari’s name once among his desperate breaths. A cold chill slipped through my frame as I once again questioned whether Sadira had been telling the truth. Had this all been a game between my maker and my mentor? A game that nearly cost Valerio his life.
Picking up the dagger from the ground, I walked over and cut the ropes that bound Valerio to the chair. The nightwalker swayed to his feet, one hand clutching the stake in his chest. With a roar of pain, he jerked the stake free while his other hand covered the wound to hold in the blood. With glowing eyes, he turned toward the sputtering warlock and leapt on him. It sounded as if Artus attempted to scream, but his slashed throat prevented it.
Valerio drank deeply of the warlock, replenishing some of the blood that he had lost. The warlock would have stronger, more powerful blood than the average human. This would help speed up the healing process, but I knew that Valerio would need to feed several more times tonight before he was well on his way toward recovery.
I stood nearby with daggers in both hands, keeping a close eye on the warlock to make sure that he didn’t attempt one last spell before he died. However, pain flooded his wide eyes, keeping him from being able to cast anything before death finally gripped him. I could feel his soul flutter coldly past me when his heart stopped.
Valerio pushed the dead body away from him in disgust before he moved to sit with his back against the wall. There was a fine tremble in his hands as he pulled open his shirt to reveal a slowly closing hole in his chest. The flow of blood was merely a trickle, but it all needed to be replaced. And it would be.
“You came for me,” he said in a rough voice. Valerio closed his eyes as he
leaned his head back against the wall. His hands dropped limply to his sides as he rested.
“Of course I did.”
“I vaguely recall him telling me that you were with Sadira. I had my doubts,” he admitted.
“Sadira has no control over me,” I said brusquely. It angered me that he had so little faith in my loyalty and devotion to him, but I said nothing. I couldn’t because I knew that his fears were founded in truth. Sadira had a special way of getting into a creature’s head and twisting their thoughts. I had spent a century under her control, making me vulnerable to a repeat performance. “She said that you were dead and I was not about to let the warlock escape without retribution.”
A ghost of a smile tweaked the corners of his beautiful mouth as his eyes fluttered open to look at me. “Grazie.”
“Save your strength,” I chuckled. “You still need to feed. I am eager to get back to Venice. Jabari has to answer for this mess.”
“Jabari arranged all of this?”
“As a test or a game, I’m not sure which. I would like to have some words with the Ancient.”
“Be careful, Mira. It’s one thing to defeat a warlock. It’s not wise to try to take on Jabari. You know you’re not strong enough.”
“I just have some questions for him,” I said with a shrug.
“I’m sure that’s all it will be,” Valerio said, his voice edged with sarcasm. With a weary shake of his head, he raised one hand to me. “Help me up. Let’s hunt and then be free of this city. I never was a fan of Madrid.”
“Neither am I,” I murmured, carefully helping him to his feet. Of course, I was eager to put more distance between Sadira and myself. I was beginning to feel the same way about Jabari, but first we would have words. I just hoped that he wouldn’t kill me for my impertinence.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Valerio kept one hand tightly wrapped around my elbow as I attempted to march straight into the Main Hall of the coven. After watching Valerio struggle with feeding for more than an hour and knowing the cause was likely just a game to Jabari, I was ready for a little spilled blood. I also didn’t appreciate being in the middle of a power struggle between Sadira and Jabari. I was not a toy to be fought over.
Dark clouds churned overhead and the trees that lined the narrow path toward the Main Hall swayed as the wind picked up. In the distance, I could hear the lagoon slapping hard against the side of the island, as the wind whipped the water into a frothing frenzy. The night was chilly despite being in the tight grip of spring, but I paid it little heed.
“Get a hold of your temper, cara,” Valerio warned.
“After you were nearly killed? I think not.”
His hand once again tightened on my elbow, forcing me to slow my gait to a leisurely stroll. “I should have been more careful.”
“If this was about me, you shouldn’t have been there at all.”
“Sending me was the only sure way they had to get you to go to Madrid. You would never have willingly gone alone. Everyone knows of your hatred for Sadira. If this was a game of Jabari’s, then they needed me as the bait.”
His words didn’t help to calm my temper. Valerio was not bait. He was my lover, my friend, my companion, my compatriot in arms.
As we rounded the last turn in the path, we found Jabari standing alone outside of the Main Hall, waiting for us. I had no doubt that the Ancient knew my thoughts and was hoping to have this conversation away from the rest of the court and the coven. I knew he was doing me a favor by trying to keep this private. A scene in front of the coven would definitely result in a harsh beating, if not my death. For now, I was a favored pet of the Ancient and apparently he was not ready to be rid of me.
“Welcome back,” Jabari began, throwing out his arms to us. “I trust that the problem in Madrid has been taken care of.”
“Yes, I killed the warlock that you hired to kill our people,” I snarled as I came to a halt several feet away from the nightwalker. Valerio retained his tight hold on me, seeming to fear that I would attack Jabari. I was seething with anger, but I was not yet insane. I knew that Jabari could rip me apart in a heartbeat.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you dare lie to me!” I screamed, finally jerking my elbow free from Valerio’s grasp. My companion took a step backward, putting some space between him and the fight that was brewing. He may have cared for me, but he would not step between us, should I invoke Jabari’s anger.
“Careful, my desert flower.” Jabari’s warning in a low voice, sent a chill across my skin, but I ignored it. He had a price to pay for what both Valerio and I suffered.
“Sadira told me everything,” I snarled, taking a step closer to him. “She told me how this was just a game between the two of you to see who actually possessed control over me. Nightwalkers were killed in the name of a stupid contest of wills. Valerio was nearly killed. You put me back into Sadira’s hands, a place I swore I would never go again. For what?”
“You are a powerful asset, Mira,” Jabari said. “I had to be sure of where your allegiances lie.”
“Allegiance? This wasn’t about allegiance. This was about control. I’m not your puppet to be played with.”
Jabari lunged toward me faster than I could possibly react. His large hand wrapped around my slender throat and he pulled me close so that my breasts brushed against his flowing white robes. His black eyes narrowed on me while I grabbed his hand with both of mine. I didn’t struggle or try to loosen his grip, but simply waited for him to make his first move.
“I’m afraid, my dearest, that you are my puppet,” he whispered in a soft, soothing voice. “But none of this matters. You chose correctly. Now I know that I do not have to worry about Sadira’s hold over you. You belong exclusively to me.”
“Sadira has no hold over me.”
“She has more power over you than you realize, but now is not the time for such things. None of this matters any longer because you won’t remember any of it.”
Panic struck like a fist to my stomach. I tried to struggle against Jabari’s hold on my throat, but he was too strong. Yet in this case, his strength made no difference. I felt his presence in my thoughts a second later and my entire body went completely stiff. I couldn’t move no matter how hard I tried. Plunging deep into my thoughts, I tried to push Jabari out but he was too powerful. I could feel him manipulating my memories about our trip to Madrid. My thoughts about Sadira grew hazy and fragmented.
Blackness crowded around my eyes and I felt my knees buckle beneath me so that I was being held up by Jabari’s hand around my neck. I mentally tried to swim against the darkness, but it continued to swamp me, dragging me down until consciousness slipped from my grasp. The last thing I heard was Jabari telling Valerio to get me away from Venice. And then there was nothing.
The night felt old and weary when I awoke buried under thick covers in a soft bed. I stared up at the ice blue canopy over my head, waiting for the shaking to stop. My last memories were of being held captive by Jabari as he pillaged my memories for his own purposes. But even that memory was starting to grow dim as time passed. I knew that before the sun rose I would not remember the encounter in front of the Main Hall. I wondered if this was the first time Jabari had manipulated my memories, but the sharp twist in my stomach told me that it was not the first and would not be the last.
As the trembling stopped, I threw off the blankets and sat up in bed. Looking around the room, some of the tension eased from my frame. I was in one of the bedrooms in Valerio’s home in Milan, one of the few places that I felt safe. We moved about too often for me to feel as if his place in Milan was a home, but I knew that I was safe for now as we had put some distance between us and the coven.
Looking down, I found that I was dressed in a white nightgown that brushed the floor. The material was so sheer than I might as well have been wearin
g nothing at all. A gentle breeze slipped through the room, rustling my nightgown before dancing out the open double doors. It was then that I finally sensed Valerio standing on the balcony. Joining him outside, he turned his head toward me and graced me with a sad sort of smile. He knew everything and would remember everything, but he would never be permitted to utter a word to me or it would mean his life. He carried a heavy secret, one of many relating to me, I was sure.
“Thank you for bringing me here,” I murmured.
Valerio extended one arm toward me and I walked into his embrace, loving the feel of being pressed against his strong chest. He had changed clothes and all evidence of his injury and trouble in Madrid had been wiped away, but I could feel the tension in his frame.
“I thought you would want somewhere quiet to recover from our trip,” he replied before pressing a kiss to my forehead.
“Why did he do it?” I whispered in a broken voice. “How could Jabari not trust me?”
“What do you mean, cara?”
I lifted my head to look him directly in the eye. “I remember, Valerio, though it is fading fast. It was just a game between Jabari and Sadira for control over me. How many died for their amusement? You nearly died because they needed to strengthen their control over me.”
“I’m sorry, cara mia,” he said. Lifting one hand to my cheek, he swept away a tear that was streaking down my face.
“How many times have they done this?”
Valerio said nothing, but his expression grew grimmer. The knot in my stomach tightened, making me feel sick as I wondered how much more I didn’t remember because of Jabari.
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