My eyes flitted over the various leather-bound volumes, reading the titles. They were all books on the occult. Books on vampires, lycanthropes, magic, and obscure bits of history lined these shelves. It would have taken a lifetime to accumulate this extensive a collection. I glanced over at James for a moment, taking in his clean-shaven face and eager eyes. He looked like he might be in his late twenties, early thirties at the absolute latest. This either wasn’t his house or this was a family occupation. Curious.
“But you will find her in time?” he asked, rising from his seat again.
I turned back to the shelf and pulled down a large volume on nightwalkers. I opened it in the middle and let my eyes scan over the page. With an angry growl, I pitched the book over my shoulder and picked up another.
“Stop!” James said before he could stop himself. “That one’s rare.”
Ignoring him, I opened another book on vampires. I tossed this one aside before reaching the bottom of the page. Overriding his fear, James came around the desk to my side as I was grabbing a third book. I dropped it over my shoulder, but he caught this one.
Turning, I grabbed his jacket lapels as he cringed. Behind me, Danaus’s powers brushed against me, warning me. “Is this what you have been reading about us? Has all of your kind been soaking in these lies?”
“They can’t be. These journals were written by people who have survived encounters with vampires,” he said. “You can’t deny that you kill; you treat us like cattle.”
“You paint us as mindless killers, monsters in the darkness.” I released him suddenly as if he were something dirty. “Humans are remembered for more than the wars they wage and the lives they take. We create things of beauty as well.” I took a step closer to James. He inched backward but was stopped when his back hit the bookshelf. I smiled at him, careful not to reveal my fangs. Lifting my hand, I held it barely an inch from his face. He flinched, his wide eyes darting between my face and hand. Lowering my hand with infinite care, I drew my fingers across his forehead to his temple and into his hair. “We feel pain and joy. We feel sadness and love just like you,” I whispered, my voice like a caress. “We can give and take exquisite pleasure.”
“E-Even with humans?” he asked, stumbling over the words.
I chuckled, pulling my hand back to my side. “Some of my favorite lovers have been human males. You’re very…attentive.”
Turning, I walked away to the other side of the room. As I passed Danaus, I shoved my hands into my back pockets and winked at him. He looked back at James’s desk, but I caught the slight quirk of one corner of his mouth. He knew the game I was playing, and at the moment, after the questionable information they had supplied him with, he was not pleased with Themis.
“But there is one thing I am confused about.” I turned back. “Despite all the horrible things you believe about my kind, Danaus was sent to find me. I don’t think he was sent to acquire my assistance, just information. Why?”
“If the stories are to be believed, vampires stopped the naturi once. I thought you could do it again,” James said, still clutching the book to his chest.
“I? Not we?”
“Some of the others…did not see the wisdom in this idea.”
“And do they know about this meeting?”
He looked at Danaus, then back to me. “No.” His grip on the book pressed to his chest tightened, as if it could protect him from the wrath of his superiors.
“You are a brave one. Of course, you do have Danaus here to protect you from me, but I have a feeling your little friends aren’t going to be too happy about this. Interesting.”
“What are you planning?” Anxiety spiked his voice.
I strolled back over to the chair I’d been sitting in and plopped down, propping my feet up on the edge of this desk. “Nothing at the moment. It’s just interesting information. Do you have anything else interesting to tell me?”
“A-About what?” he said, walking back over to his chair behind the desk. He sat down and reluctantly laid the book down on the surface.
“About the naturi.”
Pulling open one of the drawers to his right, he withdrew a manila folder and handed me what looked like a thin stack of photographs. I had to force myself to reach for it. The last photograph I’d been handed had sent me on this fool’s errand. Gritting my teeth, I took the glossy pictures and nearly screamed in frustration when I saw more naturi symbols, each smeared in blood.
I lurched to my feet, struggling to keep from igniting the picture in my hands. “When?” I heard Danaus stand and walk over, his heavy steps echoing off the hardwood floor. I handed him the pictures, my eyes never leaving James’s pale face.
“They’ve started appearing during the past couple of days.”
“Where?” I needed him to confirm my suspicion.
“I—I’m not completely sure. I think one was in Spain,” he said, running a nervous hand over his tie.
“The Alhambra,” I confirmed. “Where else?”
“Another was in Cambodia.”
“At Angkor Wat.” I grabbed the pictures out of Danaus’s hands and laid them out across the top of James’s desk. “There are six pictures here. We have Angkor Wat and Alhambra.” I put the two that I was sure had been identified aside. I knew these places. Jabari had drilled them into my head. I picked up another with rose-colored stone and added it to the pile with Angkor and Alhambra. “That’s Petra and this is the Palace of Knossos on Crete.” I added the fourth picture to the pile, flipping it over and laying it down with a slap. I’d known that place before Jabari. I’d been born in Crete.
“Oh, I remember this one.” James picked up a picture of a plain dark brown sign set against a backdrop of trees. “They said it was on the back of a sign in Yellowstone National Park.”
“And the last one?” Danaus asked, picking it up.
“Mesa Verde, Colorado.” I recognized the stonework. Turning my gaze back to James, I fought back a knot of panic that was starting to twist in my stomach. “What about the other five sites? Have your people checked them?”
“Other five?”
“The holy cities of the naturi. I assumed you were checking those.” I turned my gaze on Danaus, clenching my teeth. “You said your people were watching potential sites for the sacrifices. Did you lie?”
“We are watching them,” he snapped, taking a step toward me.
“All twelve?”
“Twelve?” He looked genuinely puzzled for a moment. “There has to be more than twelve. We’re watching all the ancient temples and structures that have been linked to ancient myths.”
I shoved both of my hands through my hair, swallowing a scream of frustration. I knew I should have asked for more clarification sooner. He seemed to know so much when we met that I assumed he knew all about naturi history. I was wrong, and it might just cost us.
Drawing in a deep breath, I turned back to the desk and picked up the pictures. “A quick lesson on the naturi,” I said, then looked up at James. “You might want to take some notes.”
The Themis member immediately plopped back down in his chair and pulled out some paper and a pen.
“There are twelve so-called holy sites for the naturi spread around the world, based on the energy that culminates in the area. In North America, there is Old Faithful and Mesa Verde. In South America, it’s Easter Island and Machu Picchu. In Europe, we have Stonehenge, Alhambra, and the Palace of Knossos. In Africa, there’s Petra, Dead Vlei, and Abu Simbel. And in Asia, there’s Konark and Angkor Wat.”
Danaus shook his head, frowning. “That doesn’t make any sense. Some of these places aren’t that old, and Abu Simbel has even been moved from its original location. The naturi are older than all of those structures.”
“It’s not the structure that makes a place holy to them, it’s the power emanating from the earth in an area that makes it special.” I grabbed the pictures again and spread them out across the desktop. “Humans have created amazing structures at
these locations. Why? Because they are drawn to these places. Some part of their brain senses something, even if they can’t recognize it.”
“Abu Simbel was moved.”
“Only two hundred meters. It’s still close enough to the original location, which is now underwater and only of use to the water naturi.”
“What about the marks in the trees,” James said, his head snapping up from the paper where he was furiously scribbling notes. “They weren’t anywhere near these locations.”
I shook my head, nibbling on my lower lip. I was getting into shaky territory. Nowhere in the histories I’d read of the naturi did I encounter tales of them making marks in the trees like the ones I’d seen. “Those feel different than the ones at the holy sites. More permanent, but I have no idea what they are for.”
Danaus leaned his hip against the edge of the desk and folded his arms over his chest. “And the blood marks?”
“They weren’t made from human blood,” James interjected before looking back down at his notes. “We had it tested. It was all animal blood.”
My gaze drifted back down to the pictures. “They’re testing sites,” I murmured.
“What do you mean?”
A half smile lifted one corner of my mouth. “It’s old magic. You’d think you would know a little old magic, Danaus,” I teased. “The next sacrifice is to break the seal, and they will need as much power they can get. With Aurora stuck in the other world, they’ll need to draw as much power as possible from the earth. To do so, they have to locate the site that has the best charge. So, the naturi are testing sites with minor spells, looking for the best location.”
“But Danaus said there would be a total of three sacrifices,” James said, his brows meeting over the bridge of his nose.
“There will be if we don’t stop them. The first was sort of priming the pump, pulling the power up from the earth. The second will break the seal, and the third will open the door.”
“And you don’t think they will use any of the sites that had the marks?”
“No, they would have covered their tracks. Cleaned off the blood and immediately ended the spell. Konark has been used and the other six marked.”
“So, there are just five possibilities: Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, Dead Vlei, Abu Simbel, and Easter Island,” James read off his list.
“Contact Themis,” Danaus ordered. “Get people to those locations now.”
The hunter then turned his grim eyes intent on my face. All lightness and entertainment for the evening had been sucked from the room.
I sighed. “We have to find Sadira now.” We couldn’t sit by and hope that Jabari located Rowe. We were nearly out of time. If the naturi were actively searching for another site, it meant that they were likely to complete the next sacrifice soon. But it didn’t make any sense. The next new moon was nearly a week away. I had a dark suspicion when they planned to strike, but I needed to confirm it, which meant I needed Sadira.
“Wait!” James said, hurrying around his desk. “I can help.”
I paused at the door, my hand resting on the doorjamb. “Go back to Themis, James Parker. Go back and warn them.” My voice suddenly sounded very tired. I pitied this young man who had devoted his life to studying the things that crept by in the shadows. That was one of the greatest differences between the naturi and nightwalkers. Unlike the naturi, we could feel pity on occasion.
Sixteen
We grabbed a taxi back to the hotel. Huddled in the darkness with Danaus beside me, I reached out into the city and for the first time in almost five hundred years searched for Sadira. It should have been an easy task. With any other vampire, I would have had to search slowly, letting my powers creep over the earth until I finally reached him or her. But Sadira was different. She was my maker. My connection with her would always be strong, no matter the distance or time. I should have been able to find her immediately, like lightning being drawn to a lightning rod. Yet, it felt as if she didn’t exist. But I would have known it if she was dead; I would have felt it. Something was wrong. First Jabari, and now Sadira. I could feel the nightwalkers in the city, but not these important two.
“Are there naturi in the city?” I asked. Silence filled the dirt-encrusted taxi, broken occasionally by the scratchy, distorted voices from the cab radio. I stared out the window at the assortment of town houses and shops as we headed back toward the Thames and the Savoy Hotel, near Charing Cross.
“Not in the immediate area.” Danaus’s voice rose, as if we were waking from a dream. “I think near the outskirts of town.”
“You’re not sure?” I turned my head so I could see him out of the corner of my eye.
He grimaced in the darkness, his features drawn in concentration. “It’s hard to tell. It’s like trying to see through a thick fog.” Frustration edged his voice and hardened the line of his jaw.
“It’s this island.” Sinking back into the dirty backseat, I leaned my shoulder against his strong arm. I was sure he’d run into other magic-related problems while staying in Great Britain in the past. There was too much old magic in these lands. Too many old gods had been born and died on this island; too many powerful warlocks had stretched their arms here. Magic doesn’t just die—it fades into the air and seeps into the earth. After centuries, this ground was saturated. Many magic users came to Great Britain because they could tap this well of power.
“Who’s Sadira?” he asked, changing the topic.
“She was one of the three to form the seal centuries ago.”
“Jabari and Tabor were the others?”
“Yes.”
“Were you a part of it?”
“No, just a recovered prisoner.” I was barely a century at the time, still a child among my kind. I had been captured two weeks before and tortured. The naturi wanted to use my unique ability to control fire as a weapon against the nightwalkers.
“Do you think the naturi will come after her?”
“Yes. Enough naturi were left behind in our world who would be able to identify the members of the triad.” I just didn’t understand how they would find her, when we couldn’t sense them and they couldn’t sense us.
Leaning my head back, I placed my right ankle on my knee, which brushed against his with the movement. Neither of us stirred for a moment, almost as if we waiting to see who would flinch first. What did it matter? I had crawled all over him on more than one occasion. And right now I wanted the reassuring warmth that washed off of him…it was better than the cold reality of the naturi.
“Is this how you expected things to progress?” He turned his head to look at me, his blue eyes catching a shaft of light as the taxi lurched into motion again.
“No.” I slumped in the seat and crossed my arms under my breasts. “Finding Jabari was supposed to improve the situation, not make it worse. I should be home looking after my domain, not searching for Sadira. It’s all a mess.” Beside me, I could hear the steady rhythm of his heartbeat while his powers brushed against my cheek. His power might not feel human, but his heart did. I had been out of contact with Knox for several nights now, and a part of me was desperate to know how things were progressing with him and Barrett. I needed to be home to help suppress any fires should they spring up between the nightwalkers and the shapeshifters.
“Is this how you planned it?” I asked. Sitting so low in the seat, I was forced to tilt my head up to meet his gaze.
“No.”
“Oh, really?”
Danaus leaned toward me as he whispered, “You should be dead.”
I chuckled and threaded my arm through his. He stiffened but didn’t jerk away. “But we work so well together,” I said, earning a soft snort. “We worked quite well together in Aswan.”
“You mean when you stopped trying to kill me.”
Leaning my head against his shoulder again, I let my eyes drift shut. “Well, I thought you tried to kill me while I slept. I was understandably upset.”
“It’s my job.”
&nbs
p; “Get a new job, like being a florist.” I snuggled a little closer, trying to irritate him now. The night air was warm and we had our windows down, allowing the fresh breeze to circulate through the stale car. Yet, the warmth and strength rolling off Danaus would have been comforting no matter the season.
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“You’re evil.”
My whole body stiffened at those two cold words and my eyelids lifted. I stared blankly at the back of the front seat. “Prove it.”
“Come into a church with me tomorrow night.”
I couldn’t, which was the point. “Why haven’t you caused my blood to boil? If we’re so evil, why haven’t you destroyed us all that way?” I asked, attempting to dodge his question as I sat up, pulling away from him.
“The same reason you haven’t set me and every naturi you meet on fire,” he said. He shifted in his seat so he could pull his wallet out of his back pocket.
“Because it lacks style and finesse?”
Still balanced on his left hip, Danaus leaned over, his mouth hovering just a few inches above my face. “Because it’s exhausting. If you don’t kill everyone, you’re left vulnerable. In a fight, our powers are a last resort.”
As the taxi pulled over to the curb, he sat back in his seat and began to shuffle through his wallet to pay the driver. I slid out of the car, grateful to be back out in the night air. There was nothing to say. He was right. With time, I gained more strength, more endurance, but the use of my unique ability would always be exhausting.
We walked up to my hotel room, lost to our own dark thoughts. I was only vaguely aware of the looks that we were earning from the other guests. Charlotte had picked the Savoy, with its palatial elegance and gilt ornamentation. Its guests were the upper crust of society, and I was wearing leather pants, silk shirt, and blue-tinted sunglasses. I think I looked like a rock star, which was amusing. Clinging to that rationale, the observers naturally assumed that the heavily muscled, darkly handsome man at my side was either a bodyguard or a lucky lover. Danaus had wisely decided to leave the scimitars in the room, and instead had an assortment of knives concealed about his body. Walking around armed in Aswan was one thing. London at least kept up the pretense of being a little more civilized.
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