Wait for Dusk dd-5

by Jocelynn Drake

  I shifted my gaze from Odelia to Macaire, who was lounging in his chair, watching the performance with what seemed like only partial attention. I arched one brow at him, and in return he shrugged one shoulder, as if to say that it was my decision. Stefan, on the other hand, was sitting on the edge of his chair, watching the flames edge closer and closer to Michelle’s executioner. I tilted my head toward him, and he gave me only the slightest shake.

  Smiling broadly, I walked toward Odelia. With a snap of my fingers, the fireballs stopped circling her and returned to me. They settled on my thin figure and rolled over me, like a cat rubbing against my legs in want of affection. “It seems you’ve been given a reprieve. You’ve been promised to someone else,” I whispered, winking at her.

  Tumbling backward in a series of springing backflips that put some distance between Odelia and me, I came to a halt in the center of the massive ballroom and was instantly engulfed in flames as if they were a second skin. I bowed deeply to the crowd, and when I rose again, the flames were completely gone. It was only when I threw up my hands in triumph that the room exploded in applause. For the time being, my odd outfit had been forgotten and the crowd was left pondering my amazing pyrotechnic skills. The nightwalkers were terrified, but given the fact that Odelia had survived the encounter, they were now willing to give me the benefit of the doubt. I was going to behave myself tonight. For now.

  I followed Odelia up to the raised dais where the three tables sat and chose the empty seat next to Macaire so that we were in the center of the platform. Stefan was on my right, while Veyron and Odelia sat at a separate table, like a pair of good humble court attendants. Above us the orchestra struck up a fresh melody, and the partygoers returned to dancing and mingling among themselves without casting an eye in our direction.

  “Congratulations, my dear,” Macaire said as he surveyed the dance floor before him. “You’ve managed to entertain all the humans in here with your amazing feats while openly threatening every nightwalker.”

  “Thank you,” I replied with a slight bow of my head toward him. I sat back in my chair and crossed my left leg over my right, vainly attempting to relax while sitting next to my enemy. I wasn’t worried about an attack. We were under the scrutiny of too many humans, and Macaire wasn’t one for the direct approach. There was always the chance of things going sour on him and it ending badly for him.

  I, on the other hand, had no problem with a more direct approach.

  “I must congratulate you,” I said, venturing out onto a very thin limb. I was taking a wild stab in the dark and hoping to hit blood.

  “For what?”

  “For what you’ve accomplished here. It appears that you’ve managed to set up your own little coven using not just a pair of nightwalkers, but a warlock and a lycanthrope as well. As a people, we’re not known for getting along with the others.”

  “I’m afraid that I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Macaire said blandly.

  A smirk lifted my lips as I looked over my shoulder at him. “Please. You’re not dealing with an idiot, and you know it. You sent me here to show off what you’ve accomplished. The naturi weren’t a problem until I arrived. I must admit that it is quite amazing. The cooperation of nightwalkers, shifters, and magic users is rare. I can only guess that you’ve set yourself up as the liege figure. While somewhat treasonous, it’s definitely interesting in its strength. It’s a shame that all the positions have been filled.”

  Macaire shifted slightly in his chair so he was leaning forward, allowing him to get a better view of my face as I stared out at the crowd. “Are you saying that you would be interested in such a structure?”

  “The addition of Clarion makes this structure very powerful, but woefully weak when you consider Ferko. I know too many lycans that would tear him apart. However, I guess you need that weakness in an effort to find someone who would turn his back on his own people for the good of the power structure.”

  Macaire said nothing, neither admitting nor denying my accusation as he sat back in his chair again. He stared straight ahead, drumming his fingers on the tabletop before him in time to the music.

  “I will admit that the only one that I can’t figure out is Sofia,” I said, as if talking out loud to myself.

  “She is quite the lovely pet,” Macaire murmured.

  “Quite lovely.”

  “I noticed that she was with your hunter this evening and not at Veyron’s side. Have you taken on yet another new pet? This is becoming quite the trend with you.”

  “Oh, she’s not mine. She convinced Danaus that she wanted her freedom so he’s helped her run away.”

  “Will you be taking her back to your domain?”

  “Definitely not,” I said with an absent wave of my hand. “I’m not interested in her. I’m thinking of wiping her memory and dropping her somewhere remote, in a naturi country perhaps, like South America.”

  Macaire fell silent again, but I noticed that he had stopped tapping on the table and his hand had balled into a fist. I pressed my lips firmly together to keep the smile from rising. I was beginning to wonder if Sofia actually belonged to Veyron, since he had shown little concern about her absence.

  “I just can’t understand why she would take such risks,” I said in a low voice. “She must have a powerful ally or two in her corner.”

  Macaire remained silent, staring straight ahead. He was no longer willing to be drawn into a conversation where he knew I was determined to corner him. I didn’t know whether Sofia directly belonged to him or if she was simply taking orders from him. All I knew was that I needed to get her away from Danaus as soon as possible.

  I looked over at Stefan, who appeared to be more than a little bored. He was another question hovering in the air. When the time came, where did his loyalty lie? There was no doubt that he would do whatever was necessary to get a chair on the coven. Furthermore, I was confident that both Macaire and I had promised him an open chair once the other was disposed of. Unfortunately, I knew there was going to be a point where Stefan would have to make a choice between who he was going to support in the end. While we had a common hatred of the naturi, I also had the nightwalker hunter at my side as a minus.

  Stefan caught me staring at him. He raised one eyebrow questioningly, but I simply smiled at him and gave a little shrug of my shoulders. I could only hope that my promise to personally hand over both Ferko and Odelia was also buying me brownie points with the nightwalker. I was anxious to get out of this city and home again, but I’d be willing to stay another night to aid him in hunting those two down if it meant getting him to aid me when I attempted to overthrow Macaire.

  Beside me, Macaire pushed to his feet as the music shifted. He turned to me and offered his hand. “It’s been years since I enjoyed a waltz. Will you join me?”

  I hated the fact that I hesitated. I knew that I was safe here at the ball and would easily be protected by the crowd of humans, but I still didn’t trust him. He had to know that he was close to finally being rid of me. With stomach churning, I placed my cold hand in his and rose gracefully to my feet. We wordlessly walked out to the center of the dance floor and twirled about the area in an elegant waltz that was a faint echo of days long past. Like Macaire, it had been centuries since I had last waltzed as well.

  A faint smile lifted my lips against my will as the memory of my last waltz spun through my brain.

  “What happy memory has gripped you?” Macaire inquired.

  “My last waltz,” I replied. “With Valerio, in the middle of a dirty, blood-splattered alley in Munich too many years ago. We had spent an enjoyable evening out and he started humming a waltz.”

  “It is a shame about what happened to Valerio. The naturi, particularly this Rowe, are becoming quite a nuisance,” Macaire said, clucking his tongue.

  The naturi were far more than a bloody nuisance, but then Macaire wasn’t the one being hunted by a fanatic and their queen. The naturi were a danger to our entire race along with
the human race. To make matters worse, they risked exposing our secret as the battles grew bigger and closer to major cities. It was too early for the Great Awakening. The humans just weren’t ready to know about us yet without it exploding in our faces.

  I shook my head, hating to get into this argument while on the dance floor. “We need to develop a plan to go after Aurora. Once she is finally destroyed, we may finally be able to properly handle them. The naturi may be content to slip back into the quiet oblivion of the woods. They lived for centuries that way when the worlds were closed. I’m sure they can do it again.”

  “You’re suggesting coexistence.”

  “I wouldn’t mind if we quietly whittled down their numbers over the years, but if we’re not careful, we risk all-out war, which would eventually expose us to the humans.”

  “Yes, it is too soon for that,” Macaire agreed, surprisingly. But then, his life was quite comfortable now without the humans knowing. Why rock the boat? He only needed to get rid of Jabari and me. Then, with any luck, his own coven could move in and take over after wiping out our constantly absent liege and the all too quiet Elizabeth.

  “I would like to see the coven start making plans for the hunting and destruction of Aurora when we return,” I said. “Her death should dishearten the rest of the naturi and cause them to return to the shadows.”

  “What about this Rowe? He seems quite powerful and determined to have your head at any cost,” Macaire suggested.

  “He will, naturally, be eliminated with Aurora. I don’t think the naturi would rally around him, considering that he’s been exiled, but I’d rather not take the chance.”

  “I think you should definitely bring up your thoughts before the coven when we return,” Macaire said.

  I wanted to snicker. If I survived my time in Budapest, I had now developed a new role for myself in his life. I had no doubt that in his mind I’d become the one that would hunt down Aurora and kill her. But then I had always known that would be my job in the end. I had come the closest so far, and in truth I wanted to be the one that killed her.

  As the music ended, Macaire and I bowed to each other and then silently returned to the raised platform.

  We remained at the ball until a couple hours before sunrise. As we stepped outside of the ballroom, Macaire disappeared from sight, heading off to whatever location he was using for his daytime rest. Stefan offered me his hand with a smirk before we disappeared and reappeared in my hotel room. The nightwalker gave me a quick nod and then disappeared again, heading to his own secret daytime lair.

  I frowned. The hotel room was completely empty. Unfortunately, the room was still in such disarray that I couldn’t tell if there had been a struggle. Closing my eyes, I reached out for Danaus.

  Where are you? I demanded when I finally reached him.

  Getting Sofia settled, he replied immediately, to my relief. We’re in a hotel near the airport outside of the city. She’s getting on a plane for London just after sunrise.

  You’re sending her to Themis?

  Just to London. If she wishes to seek out the researchers of Themis, that is her decision. I don’t want her to be linked to us if she falls in with Ryan.

  I would have preferred to wipe her memory before she arrived in London, but there wasn’t time for me to get across town and back before the sun rose. I’d be cutting it far too close, and there were too many in this town that already wanted me dead.

  Did you have any problems with Veyron’s men? I inquired.

  None. I should be back to the hotel by sunrise to watch over you. I want to see her safely on the plane.

  I cut off the connection between us before I said something snide. Shuffling into the bedroom, I pulled off my boots and removed all of my knives before plopping down on the bed. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to ignore the growing anxiety within my chest. Would Danaus return to my side before the sun rose? I knew that I could always contact Stefan and have him take me to Valerio, but I tapped down the urge. The hunter had promised to protect me. I would hold onto that promise as I let sleep finally take me.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  My ribs throbbed as if some of them had been broken. I lay with my eyes closed, mentally searching out the pain. It didn’t make any sense. My ribs hadn’t been injured at the Solstice Ball and yet I could tell that at least two were in the process of mending.

  “Get the hell up!” shouted an angry voice. “The sun set more than an hour ago. I want to get out of here.”

  I lurched into an upright position and instantly regretted it as pain shot through my frame from my fractured ribs. My head knocked against a cold concrete wall as I tried to inch back down, creating a new pain that succeeded in scattering my already broken thoughts. I blinked and looked around the small dark room. Instead of pastel walls and heavy curtains, there were plain concrete walls and a steel door with a small window at the top. I was in a dungeon of some sort.

  Standing in the far corner with eyes narrowed on my prone body was Rowe. I dug my heels into the concrete floor and pushed so I nearly slid up the wall in my desperation to put some distance between myself and the lethal naturi. Panic spread through my frame as a cold sweat broke out down my back. I had been trapped with my enemy while asleep. I had been completely vulnerable, and yet Rowe hadn’t killed me, for some bizarre reason.

  “What are you doing here? Where am I?” I demanded when I finally found my voice. I couldn’t understand it. The last thing I remembered was falling asleep on the bed in my hotel room. Had someone grabbed me when I was unconscious? Had someone touched me and brought me here to this concrete prison?

  “You’re here for me to kill,” Rowe sneered.

  “Where’s here? Where are we? Who brought me here?” I fired back at him, my brain chunking along at a slow pace because I just couldn’t accept the notion that someone had gotten to me when I was at my weakest. Why hadn’t Danaus been there to protect me? Why hadn’t . . .

  Because he had been busy protecting Sofia, I thought dismally. Something inside of me broke. I slid back down the walls to sit on my heels, hanging my head down so Rowe couldn’t see the tears in my eyes. Danaus had abandoned me for a human, and I’d been captured as a result. Or worse, Danaus had been killed while protecting Sofia. A part of me didn’t want to try to reach out and discover whether he was still there. I couldn’t decide which was worse: his death or his betrayal.

  “Still with me, sparky?” Rowe mocked, snapping his fingers a couple of times.

  I lifted my head and glared at the naturi, fighting the urge to set him on fire. He was stuck in here with me and had ample opportunity to kill me, yet he hadn’t. He was also the only one who might know where we were or who had us, though I had a couple guesses. “Still here, you fucking pirate. But where is here?”

  He leaned back against the wall, relaxing his stance somewhat, which was surprising. I had the upper hand. I could set him on fire in the blink of an eye. His gift allowed him to call down lightning at will, but there were no windows to the outside, no way he could call down the thunder, so to speak. I could only guess that he was relying on my sense of fair play, since he obviously didn’t strike when he had ample opportunity. “I thought you would recognize it. The place belongs to one of your kind.”

  “You’re going to have to be more precise than that. Unlike naturi, there are a few nightwalkers in the area, from what I’ve seen,” I retorted, causing his features to twist.

  “The nightwalker that commands this territory. The one they call Veyron, I believe. From what I have seen, we’re at his place, locked in the dungeon,” he explained through clenched teeth.

  I sighed as I bent my knees before me. Sure, I could go at Rowe now and destroy him. It was more than a little tempting, but it also wouldn’t help me. I needed to get out of there, and I had a feeling I would need his help.

  “I can make a guess at how I got to be here,” I said, running one hand through my hair to push it out of my eyes. I frowned when I ran acr
oss a clump of dried blood on my scalp, bringing a smile to Rowe’s lips. “Did you have to knock me around while I slept?”

  Rowe shrugged, still smiling. “I had to make it convincing.”

  “Sure.”

  “I only stopped because it was far too easy.”

  “And you need me alive so you can hand me over to Aurora,” I reminded him.

  “Yeah,” he muttered, looking away from me. I think he was beginning to doubt that his plan to get back into Aurora’s good graces through my hide would work.

  “How did you get here?” I repeated.

  Rowe sighed and shook his head at me. For a second I didn’t think he was going to tell me, but he finally spoke in a low voice. “I knew which hotel you were staying in and planned to grab you myself when the sun finally set. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one with that plan. A group of six showed up: humans, lycanthropes, and a witch. Grabbed you before I could. One of the lycans spotted me, and the witch grabbed me with a spell before I could get away. When I found myself locked up with you, I didn’t exactly see this as a bad thing.”

  “What about Danaus?” I demanded, pushing the words past a lump in my throat.

  “Shot him.”

  Pushing off the wall, I was across the room in a blur, grabbing the naturi by the collar of his shirt and slamming him against the opposite wall. “What do you mean ‘shot him’? Is he dead? Did they kill him? Was he coming after me?”

  The smile on Rowe’s face grew as he saw me twisting at his mercy. I was trapped. The walls of the cell felt as if they were closing in on me and the floor was crumbling beneath my feet. I had to get out of there and find Danaus. Pulling Rowe off the wall a little, I slammed his back into it again with more force, causing his smile to slip slightly. “Tell me what you know.”

  “Or what? You’ll kill me? Won’t get any information that way,” he mocked.