Wait for Dusk dd-5

by Jocelynn Drake

  “I’m afraid that I don’t know anything about the naturi,” Clarion announced after nearly a minute of silence. “However, considering they are nature-based creatures and they are trying to take over Budapest, I would say that your best place to look for them would be Margit Island, which can be reached using Margit Bridge. It’s a beautiful garden park. Recently, there have been a rash of disappearances on the island, but I have not given it much thought. Every city has its occasional murder and floating body.”

  “Of course,” I said a bit sarcastically. “Thank you for the suggestion. Danaus and I will look into it this evening. Hopefully, we will be able to rid the city of its naturi problem.”

  “That would be a great relief to everyone, I’m sure,” Clarion said, gritting his teeth slightly. “Now, if you will excuse me. The hour grows late and there are a few small items that I need to see to.”

  “Actually there is one other matter that you should be able to help with,” I said, laying my hand over his on the table in an effort to keep him from leaping to his feet. “It has to do with a warlock in Budapest that appears to be stirring up some trouble.”

  “That . . . that seems . . . unlikely.” Clarion stammered a bit, as if struggling to find the right words.

  “I know, but it is true. I thought I would contact you first since you are one of the more powerful warlocks in the region. I thought you might be able to point us in the right direction,” I said.

  A patronizing smile lifted the corners of Clarion’s mouth as he sat back in his chair, sliding his hand out from my touch. “You’re looking for me to hand over one of my own kind to you?” he asked, tilting his head.

  “Are you going to suddenly act as if there is any true loyalty among warlocks and witches?” I mocked. “Come now. I’ve traveled the world, and everywhere I have visited, the warlocks and witches have adopted a type of to-each-his-own mentality. Are you going to risk your neck for someone else when you’ve done nothing wrong?”

  “Maybe things are different in Budapest than the rest of the world,” he suggested, but again I wasn’t buying it. Things were extremely different in Budapest from the rest of the world, but I was willing to bet that the warlock/witch community wasn’t.

  “Well, I thought you might help me. If not, I am more than content to contact Ryan in London,” I said. Dropping the name of the extremely powerful and dangerous warlock that was the head of Themis caused Danaus to softly rattle his cup and saucer together. “He’s been more than happy to help me in the past, and I’m sure that he would be able to ferret out the culprit in short order.”

  Mira! Danaus said in a warning voice in my head.

  There’s no way he’s heard about our falling out, I replied quickly. Ryan’s not going to advertise that he failed to lure me to his side, and for all he knows, I haven’t turned on him yet. He’s still the one with the extra special blood that I can’t resist. I’m just trying to rattle Clarion into making a mistake.

  Just keep Ryan out of this. We don’t need any more problems.

  “Ryan? From Themis?” Clarion asked.

  “Yes. He helped us in the past with the naturi and I have no doubt that he’d be happy to help me with my little problem with Budapest. He does tend to know most of the powerful warlocks in the region.”

  “What kind of a warlock problem do you seem to be having?”

  “The murdering kind,” I said, losing all lightness from my voice.

  “Oh. That is a problem,” Clarion said, his whole body seeming to go stiff.

  “Yes,” I hissed, leaning a little bit closer to him. “Recently when Danaus and I were traveling to visit with Veyron, a warlock attacked us on a busy street. He not only threatened our lives, but threatened to expose our secret world. Not exactly something that is acceptable in our little supernatural community.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  “And then again today, my hotel room was attacked by three lycanthropes and a warlock. Danaus didn’t get a clear look at the warlock, but he’s confident he would be able to identify him under the right conditions. Naturally, an attempt on my life needs to be dealt with.”

  “That is a problem,” Clarion stated again, rubbing his chin with his right hand. He didn’t sound as concerned as he should have. I knew I was sitting across from my would-be assassin, and I was sure that Clarion knew that I suspected him. My goal was to get him to run back to Veyron for help. Or at the very least, draw his magic-using companion out of the shadows. I needed a clear picture of the power structure in Budapest before I attempted to dismantle it.

  “So you see, if you can’t help me, I have no choice but to draw Ryan into the matter. As a power player in the warlock community, I am sure that he will want to personally see to it that our supernatural nature is not exposed by a warlock.”

  “Very understandable. I cannot currently help you, but I ask that you give me a day to look into the matter. This is all news to me, and I would like to be of assistance,” Clarion offered, taking my hand in both of his. Energy zipped around me and pummeled my flesh as if it were trying to enter my body. His growing anxiety was making it difficult for him to maintain his tight control over his powers. The air around us seemed to jump with a seeming electrical current. “I’m sure that Ryan would be eager to help, but with the naturi running loose, I have no doubt that he is very busy. Allow me to assist you.”

  “Of course,” I said with a broad smile that exposed the points of my fangs. “We would greatly appreciate it. This city is becoming too dangerous between the naturi, the brutal lycans, and now a rogue warlock. It seems that I became keeper of the city just in time.”

  “Yes, it would seem so,” Clarion agreed, releasing my hand. He glanced at the gold watch on his wrist, but I doubted that he actually saw the time. “If you would excuse me—”

  “I understand,” I said with a casual wave of my hand as if I were dismissing him. “You may go take care of your business. I think Danaus and I are going to linger here a few moments longer so he can partake of some more coffee and one of these amazing little desserts.”

  “Wonderful,” Clarion said absently. “I will seek you out soon with some new information.” He then stood, turned on his heel and walked briskly out of Gerbeaud Cukrászda without a backward glance. I sat back in my chair and stared across the large room at where I last saw him. He was rattled, and I wasn’t sure which had him more disturbed: the threat of the naturi purposefully hunting him down or the idea of Ryan coming into the region to hunt him down for trying to kill me. Either way, the hangman’s noose was dangling over his head.

  With a soft sigh, I motioned for the server to bring Danaus more coffee as I turned to look at my private defender. He was frowning at me, less than pleased with my handling of the conversation. Unfortunately, he couldn’t voice his opinion here. There were more than a few warlocks and witches in the room who would be hanging on his every word. Of course, I had tried to use that arrangement to my advantage when I positioned Clarion so he would have to start naming names, betraying his fellow warlock. If he didn’t take care of matters very quickly, he was going to become a pariah within the supernatural community.

  He’s going to come after you again, Danaus needlessly pointed out.

  Undoubtedly.

  Are you going back to Vienna during the day?

  Only if you refuse to protect me.

  I’m not sure I can effectively protect you against a warlock, he admitted.

  I laid my hand on his and squeezed it. “Would you like to stay for something sweet?” I asked for the benefit of everyone listening in on our vocal conversation. If one of us didn’t say something aloud soon, they would grow suspicious.

  “No, I’m fine. I’d rather take care of Margit Island so we can get back to the hotel,” Danaus said, fighting to keep from gritting his teeth as he glared at me. He wasn’t happy. He was worried about my safety now that we had successfully backed a dangerous warlock into a corner.

  “Finish your coffee
and then we’ll go. The night is still young,” I said, forcing a smile on my lips.

  I continued our original conversation. He might not come after me tomorrow. He may want to have a few words with Veyron first.

  He’ll want to take care of you before you have a chance to contact Ryan. No one wants Ryan involved, Danaus countered.

  That was an accurate assessment if I ever heard one. I had pulled Ryan into my problems once, in the belief that he could actually help me and I could keep the situation under my control. I had been seriously wrong and it nearly cost me my life and Tristan’s. Ryan was too dangerous, especially when he claimed to be helping. Danaus and I were far better off if the warlock remained permanently out of our lives, but I didn’t think even that was possible. He was going to come back to haunt us eventually.

  But for now, we had bigger problems to deal with in the form of Rowe and his fellow exiled compatriots. It was time to clean house.

  Chapter Twenty

  The winter wind swept across the Margit Bridge, causing the waters of the Danube to whitecap. Snow swirled through the air in a lurid dance through the shafts of light thrown down by the iron lampposts. Danaus and I caught a cab from Gerbeaud Cukrászda to the Margit Bridge that led from Pest to Buda, connecting the two parts of the city with the island in the middle of the river. Margit Island was sparsely illuminated, and bare trees rose up from it like skeletal hands clawing at the night sky. A full moon drifted in and out from behind thick clouds that threatened to bring down a fresh blanket of snow.

  “We shouldn’t have come directly here,” Danaus murmured. The hunter stood beside me on the bridge entrance the led to the island. He held one gun in his fist while his other hand gripped the metal railing. “We need weapons.”

  “What do you have on you?” I asked, my gaze not wavering from the garden spread out before me. In the distance I could pick out the sidewalk walking trails around the edge of the island, while old monastic ruins rose up from the interior like cancerous growths.

  “Two guns. A spare magazine for each. A few knives.”

  I jerked my head to the side so that I could look at him. “And that’s not enough for us to handle this?”

  “I’d prefer to have my sword, more ammo, and you armed with two guns as well,” Danaus snapped at me. He was right. I had only a couple knives on me. When it came to facing the naturi, I would have preferred to have a gun in my hand regardless of how bad my aim was.

  “We’ll manage,” I grumbled, but I still couldn’t force myself to step forward onto the island. Upon reaching the bridge, Danaus had confirmed that Margit Island was where the bulk of the naturi horde was camping. We needed to clear them out of Budapest if we were to succeed in the mission that sent us to this city in the first place. More importantly, I needed to finally get rid of Rowe.

  “How many are there?” I finally asked, when it was obvious I wasn’t ready to move. Thanks to Nick, I could sense the distinct signature of naturi magic, but it was just a large cloud of energy centered on the island. I didn’t have the skill Danaus did in being able to pick them out individually.

  “You don’t want to know.”

  I sighed, my head falling forward. I had heard those exact words before when we were faced with nearly insurmountable odds in England. Cornered at Themis, we were attacked by the naturi, who were intent on destroying both Jabari and me. Now I was walking willingly into the nest of naturi in hopes of finally destroying them. For some reason, I doubted they felt the same hesitance that I was feeling at that moment.

  “What about Valerio? We could use the help,” Danaus reminded me.

  I nodded, relieved by the idea of having someone else there to help us. Closing my eyes, I wrapped both hands around the railing and focused on locating my old friend. But something was wrong. I had known Valerio for centuries. I could have located him across any distance at any time as long as it was night where we were both located. Now, however, the feel of him was so faint. It was as if . . . he were dying. I could feel him on the island, but his energy was so weak.

  “Something is wrong,” I gasped, starting to lurch forward. “The naturi have him.”

  Danaus grabbed my elbow, stopping me from running headlong into the darkness. “They’re waiting for you to come to his rescue. Go running in there and they’ll cut you down in seconds.”

  “They’re killing him,” I cried, jerking my arm out of his grasp.

  “At least summon Stefan!” Danaus ordered before I could take another step closer to the island. “There are more than twenty naturi there, with that number potentially including Rowe. We’ve gone up against him a few times now and not had much luck killing him. With this many naturi, it’s not going to be any easier to get to him.”

  Clenching my teeth, I forced myself to stop and focus on the Ancient nightwalker. Danaus was right. We would need Stefan’s assistance if we were going to have any hope of retrieving Valerio. No words were needed. Just the lightest brush of my presence against the ragged remains of his soul brought Stefan to our side with a sour expression. He was still upset about the death of his assistant, and I would have preferred to leave him to brood alone, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to free Valerio without his help.

  “The naturi?” he asked.

  “How did you know?” I said sarcastically, but needling Stefan still failed to bring a smile to my face.

  “We slaughtered the lycans, I don’t sense any nightwalkers or warlocks, and this barren garden would be a refuge for only the naturi if they were determined to stay close to the city and cause mischief,” he said, ticking each item off on his long fingers.

  “They have Valerio,” Danaus announced, causing Stefan’s expression to grow even darker. While I doubted that he felt any real concern for him, I suspected he was more upset about the fact that the naturi dare lay a hand on an old vampire such as Valerio. In his opinion, they were above such things as kidnapping and torture.

  “I sent him to look into which island they were hiding on,” I said, then shook my head. “He wasn’t supposed to engage them. Just look around. I can only guess that they managed to sneak up on him.”

  Stefan stepped around me and walked down the bridge to Margit Island. “Then we should get in there and kill them.”

  Danaus and I followed close behind him, weapons drawn. As we came to stand at the southern tip of the island, I pulled one of my spare blades and offered it to Stefan. “Take it. I’ve got a little extra firepower.”

  “Lame, Mira. Lame,” Stefan said, but he took the knife from me anyway. With his ability to appear and disappear, I thought about sending him for more weapons but decided against it. We couldn’t waste more time.

  “There are three paths. Danaus, take the one to the left. I’ll take the center one up the middle of the island, while you take the one on the right,” I said, with a nod toward Stefan. “Kill anything that isn’t in our party.”

  “The one that reaches the other end of the island first, wins?” Stefan challenged with an evil grin.

  “I was thinking the one with the highest body count,” Danaus countered.

  I growled, tightening my grip around the blade in my right hand. “How about the one that safely retrieves Valerio wins?”

  Stefan rolled his eyes at me. “Not much of an objective.”

  “Kill the naturi and free Valerio. Winner gets Ferko,” I sneered, finally putting the light back in Stefan’s eyes. Now he was interested in playing this game. The Ancient nightwalker floated off the ground, his long coat fluttering around him like a pair of wings. He gave me a small salute and then darted off into the darkness to locate some naturi.

  “See you at the finish line,” Danaus said, then started down the path to my left, leaving me standing alone in the night with the naturi waiting for me.

  I sucked in a deep breath and slowly expelled it, sending out a white fog in front of me. The air was bitter cold, tightening muscles and making my body resistant to movement, but it didn’t matter. Soon, I
wouldn’t feel the cold or hear the splash of the waves as they crashed against the side of the island. I wouldn’t even notice the golden glow coming from Buda and Pest on either side of me. There would only be the naturi and my fight for survival. There would only be Rowe.

  With a knife in one hand, I started off down the path, not bothering to try to mask my steps. Stefan was moving silently through the wind, and Danaus was a ghost on the ground. Let the naturi hear me coming so my companions would have a better chance of sneaking up on their enemies.

  The first naturi attacked from my left, slicing his blade downward in an attempt to remove my head like a guillotine. I pulled up short, sliding a bit on the frozen sidewalk in my boots. I didn’t bother to raise my blade to slash at his exposed neck. Summoning up my powers, I encased the naturi in fire, almost instantly burning him to a crisp. He ran from me to a nearby snowbank, but it wasn’t enough to put out the flames. The bright light cast long, lunging shadows throughout the wooded island, revealing my enemies hiding around me in the darkest corners. They lurched forward as they tried to swarm me all at once. I extinguished the fire on the naturi that had attacked and created a wall of fire around me. The naturi was still breathing, but he wouldn’t be in any shape to attack me anytime soon if he did manage to survive the next few hours.

  Overhead, the sky churned with black clouds and the wind poured around the tiny island in a torrent as if it were a raging river running through a narrow canyon. The flames danced and thinned in some parts, allowing the naturi to sneak through. It didn’t matter. I waved my hand and my approaching attackers went up in flames.

  In a matter of only minutes five naturi had been dispatched, but there was a price. Surrounded by the smoking dead bodies of the naturi, I knelt down on one knee and stared at my trembling hand. I was exhausted and half frozen from the use of so much of my energy. The manipulation of fire came naturally to me, but there was a cost every time I used it. Energy was drained from my body, leaving me starving for blood and rest. Unfortunately, neither could be found here on this horrible strip of land. There were only empty trees and the naturi waiting to remove my head.