The only bright side I could think of was that I was likely to die trying to capture Nick, and would never be given the chance to live up to my promise to Valerio. My plan was dangerous and in many ways stupid. I feared telling Danaus because he would be determined to stop me. So I kept the thought buried deep within my brain, where neither Danaus nor Nick would be able to find it.
“How much danger are we in from Ryan now?” Danaus inquired, letting the previous subject drop.
“Actually, for the first time, he’s little to no threat to us. He’s going to take months to adjust to being a nightwalker. He will try to use his warlock powers, but it’s going to be a strain because his body needs all the energy it can gather just to stay alive. Unless Adio actually gives him some of his blood, I wouldn’t expect Ryan to be a problem for a century or two—assuming he lives that long.”
“Adio’s not going to do that.”
“No, he knows that danger. That’s why he didn’t transform Ryan in the first place and why he balked when he discovered what I was. He didn’t mind the idea of turning Ryan into a nightwalker, but he wanted to limit his powers. No nightwalker wants to risk creating something more powerful than themselves.”
We sat in an uncomfortable silence for several minutes before we heard a car pull into the driveway and drive around to the back of the house. I rose and walked toward the kitchen to meet Gabriel, while Danaus remained sitting in the parlor. Something else was eating at the hunter, but I wasn’t willing to go digging through his brain and invading his privacy just to find out the truth.
I stood toward the back of the kitchen as Gabriel used his keys to unlock the door and quickly punch in the code on the security keypad beside the door. Most of the shades were pulled in the house, blocking out the last of the sun’s rays, but I was still trying to be cautious.
“You’re awake,” he announced with a lopsided grin. “I thought you had given up that dangerous lifestyle.”
“It was for the last time, I promise,” I said, holding my hand up to him. He crossed the distance between us and I gave him a quick hug before sliding out of his strong arms. Things had become somewhat awkward between us since I’d taken Danaus as a permanent lover. Gabriel and I had worked out an interesting relationship over the long years, which not only included his protection and blood, but also the occasional bout of sex. We had come to a silent understanding that the sex was at an end, and he showed no signs of remorse or disappointment with my choice, which was a relief.
I led my old friend down the hall to the entrance to my secret lair in the basement. “I’m sorry to drag you all the way out here, especially since I only need just a tiny bit to dilute Ryan’s blood so I can sleep again. I actually feel exhausted, but I couldn’t sleep now no matter how hard I tried.”
“I don’t mind,” he said. “Things have been quiet recently. With Danaus now here permanently, I was beginning to think you wouldn’t have much use for me any longer. Well, at least not beyond that occasional donor.”
I stopped when we reached the bottom of the steps and quickly spun around. I wrapped my arms around him in a tight embrace, rubbing my head against his hard jaw. “You are more than a source of blood for me. You are and always will be my personal guardian, my guardian angel. Yes, I have Danaus now, but I still need you to watch over me during the day. If you want to leave me and find another life, then I understand and wish you the best. I will support you in any way I can, but I am not trying to push you out of my life.”
Gabriel wrapped his strong arms around me, one hand rubbing up and down my back for a moment. “I just didn’t feel needed any longer.”
I gazed up into his chocolate brown eyes and touched his soft brown hair, brushing it away from his forehead. “You protect me during the day. There is no greater task when it comes to a nightwalker.”
“Thank you,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to my temple. “Since Michael was killed and the deaths of Lily and Tristan, I thought you might try to push me away as a way of protecting me.”
“I can’t. You’re one of the last few members of my family.”
Gabriel nodded and released me as I dropped my hands. I led him to my private chamber and let him sit on the edge of the bed with me. We talked about the recent development with Matsui while we waited for the sun to finish its final descent beneath the horizon. Gabriel promised to begin his search for a new bodyguard to help him watch over me. I hated the first few months of trusting someone new to the job, but I trusted Gabriel with my life and knew that he would not let anyone dangerous near me during the daylight hours. He would find someone trustworthy. In the end, Matsui had been my choice because I was curious about someone who already knew about nightwalkers. I had made the mistake, not Gabriel.
After the sun set, I leaned in and gently withdrew what amounted to only a few sips of his blood before I closed the wound. I was still full from gorging myself on Ryan’s blood and only needed a bit to counteract his blood’s ability to keep me awake during the day.
“That’s it?” Gabriel asked when I stood again.
“Yeah, you should be careful. You could be a little woozy,” I teased.
He gave a derisive snort as he pushed back to his feet with ease. “I’ve given more blood for a cholesterol test, Mira.”
“I know. I’m sorry I wasted your time.”
“It wasn’t a waste. You needed me and that was enough,” he said, squeezing my arm. “Besides, this will give me a chance to check over the outside security lights and other fixtures. I haven’t looked them over in a couple of weeks. Get some sleep. I’ll be around during the day.”
I looked up to see Danaus enter the sparring room at the same time Gabriel left my private room. Gabriel nodded his greeting to the hunter, but Danaus didn’t acknowledge him as he kept his focus on me. A frown pulled at the corner of his lips and his eyes were dark with anger.
“I told him about Matsui,” I started when we were alone. “He’s going to start looking for someone to replace him so I’ll have two trustworthy guardians again.”
“You mean blood donors,” Danaus said in a sharp voice.
“No, Gabriel isn’t just a blood donor for me. He is my bodyguard as well. He watches over me during the daylight hours,” I said, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu.
“You have me for that.”
“You need to sleep at some point. You would be awake guarding me during the day and staying up all night so we could be together. You can’t live like that,” I argued, flopping back down on the edge of the bed. “What is this all about? You’ve never had a problem with Gabriel before.”
“Why isn’t my blood good enough for you?” he finally demanded after a lengthy silence.
My mouth bobbed open and closed a couple times like a fish gasping for air. He couldn’t have said anything that would have left me more speechless. “You don’t want me to feed off you.”
“You never asked.”
“You give me a dirty look every time either one of us mentions that I need to feed. I’ve cut back on my feeding habits just to accommodate you.”
“Maybe I’m not comfortable with the idea of you being in such an intimate position with all these men.”
“Then I’ll only feed from women.”
“Are you still sleeping with Gabriel?”
“No! How can you ask that? You know that you’re the only one in my life.”
“Am I? Before me there was Michael and Gabriel and Valerio and God only knows how many other men.”
“Yes, there have been other men in my life. I’m six hundred years old and I’ve refused to live the life of a hermit, but you’re the only one in my life now, and I want it to stay that way for a very, very long time.”
Danaus drew in a deep breath, a frown still lingering on his lips as he stared at me. “You still haven’t answered my question. Why isn’t my blood good enough for you?”
I stood, walked over to my lover and placed my hands on either side of his face, allowing m
y thumbs to caress his high, sharp cheekbones. “Is that what you want? Do you want me to bite you?”
“Would it bring us closer together?”
I closed my eyes and dropped my forehead against his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat.
“I’ve seen you when you drink from Gabriel,” he continued in a softer voice. “It’s different. You’re not just feeding from him. There’s a different kind of intimacy there. Something that we don’t have.”
“My love,” I whispered before looking up at him. I dropped my hands down to grasp one of his. I led him over to the bed and pushed him down so he sat on the edge while I kneeled between his legs. “Danaus, I love you with everything that I am. If I were human, I would marry you and give you my children. I would grow old with you. I would give you my forever.”
“But you won’t feed off me.”
“Yes, I won’t feed off you, even if you ask me to. I have two very important reasons. One is your bori blood. I don’t know what the impact of it would be on me. What if it’s worse than what Ryan’s blood does to me? What if I can’t stop and I hurt you? What if I hurt others because of it? Neither one of us could live with that. I don’t want to take the chance if I can find other ways of surviving.”
“And the second reason?”
“You are my everything. I want to keep you above such things as being a source of food for me. I want to keep you spoiled and untouched by my kind. I want no one to touch you. You are so much more to me and this world than a source of blood. You are a great man and a great warrior. No one should ever touch you in such a way, particularly me.”
“Why particularly you?”
“Because I am not a good person and never will be. I will not soil you. I’ve been blessed by the love that you’ve given me, and I will not ask for anything more. I need nothing more than that.”
Danaus leaned down and took my mouth in a sweet kiss that brought tears to my eyes. Taking both of my hands, he gently helped me back to my feet as he stood as well. With infinite care, he slowly undressed me while I pulled off his clothes. My hands danced over his body, memorizing the texture, color, and scars I found. I wanted to remember everything about him so that when I closed my eyes each morning, I could see him clearly in my mind.
When we were both naked, he lifted me into bed and proceeded to slowly make love to me with a gentleness I had never felt before. It was as if it were both our first and last time together. When we kissed, I wanted to cry, and when he touched me, my heart sang out.
We spent the rest of the evening that way, locked in a lover’s embrace, hardly speaking a word to each other because we had said enough. I loved him and I knew that he loved me. The rest of the world could fall away and we wouldn’t care. I had everything I wanted when I touched him.
Just before the sun rose the next morning, Danaus rose and dressed. He tucked the covers around me and pressed one last lingering kiss on my lips. “Tomorrow night we’re back to the way it usually is,” he said, before nibbling on my lower lip.
“How’s that?”
“Rough and frantic,” he said with a smile. I smiled back at him, running my hand across his cheek before he stepped away from me.
“That’ll be nice too,” I said around a yawn.
“Sweet dreams, my love.”
“Sweet dreams, dark hunter,” I murmured as he closed the door and set the security lock. I was safe for another day, and I had Danaus waiting for me when the sun set in the sky again. Everything was right in the world for just one day.
Twenty-eight
Danaus’s mental and vocal screams for me were almost deafening when I awoke the next night. I lay still in my bed in my house outside Savannah, trying to sort out the cacophonous noise, when I realized that both Knox and Gregor were mentally reaching out for me as well.
I’m here, I wearily replied to the group as I opened my eyes to the usual total darkness of the room. However, something was horribly different. There was the distinct acrid smell of burnt wood all around me. In addition, it seemed warmer than usual, as if the heater had been left on high all day.
Are you hurt? Danaus demanded.
Where are you? Knox quickly followed before I could answer.
I’m fine. I’m in my room in the basement. I’ll be up in a minute, I said warily, unable to understand why they were acting so strange. I did a quick scan, extending my powers to their fullest extent, and sensed only those three in the immediate area. There were no naturi or humans that could cause problems. Just Danaus and a pair of anxious nightwalkers.
Stay where you are, Gregor directed. We’re coming to you.
Closing out the other nightwalkers, I directly touched Danaus’s mind so the others could not hear us as we privately spoke. What is going on? Why is everyone here and in such an uproar?
I could feel Danaus hesitate to answer me. His mind was a jumble of images and incoherent words. But the one thing I could pick out clearly was the image of bright, dancing flames. I’m sorry, Mira. Your house was burned down during the day.
“No!” I gasped both aloud and mentally. My hands flew to my mouth as if to stop the scream of pain that had risen to my throat. My home was gone? How could my house burn down? My mind just kept stumbling over those thoughts over and over again. This was the twenty-first century. I had a security system on the house that alerted the fire department at the first sign of smoke. Gabriel had once set it off while cooking in the house and had to shoo the fire department away. How could they have let the house burn down?
Danaus, how bad is the damage? I asked, though a part of me didn’t want to know. I was sitting on the edge of my bed now, my eyes clenched shut as I tried to block out the smell of burned wood.
Just wait until we come and get you, Danaus firmly replied, causing my heart to sink in my chest. I pulled back from his mind as I struggled to get hold of the emotions rising within me. His avoidance of my question was enough of an answer.
After taking a slow steadying breath, I touched Danaus’s mind again so I could see through his eyes. I could sense his heart pounding in his chest and sweat dripping down from his brow despite the fact that there was a chill in the evening air. His hands were black. After a moment the hunter finally paused to catch his breath and looked around. There was nothing left of the house but the random black timbers stretching up to where the second floor had been. Furniture was reduced to ash, books were mere cinders, and the second floor was now open to the starlit sky above me.
With shaking hands, I fell to my knees as I choked back a sob. My collection of nearly a lifetime was gone. So many memories that I had saved and protected were now turned to blackened ash. Tristan’s room had been wiped from the earth along with the last of his scent. Lily’s room was gone. I was left with only their ghosts haunting my memories.
Cracking wood nearby was quickly followed by the sound of pounding on the metal door that blocked entry into my secret room. I had made it of steel and concrete so it was fireproof, but a part of me had not expected such an eventuality.
“Mira, are you all right?” Gregor demanded, shouting from the other side of the door.
“Get me the hell out of here,” I replied as I picked myself off the floor. I had been betrayed by someone. Gabriel would never turn his back on me, but he was the only person I could think of that should have been there and wasn’t.
Metal screeched and groaned as it was pulled and bent, and then dim light finally penetrated the darkness. Danaus was the first one in the room, his arms sweeping around me in a tight embrace that threatened to crack my ribs. The pounding of his heart had nothing to do with exertion, but with fear. Despite being mostly human, he had developed the same sleeping habits as the nightwalkers. If the house had burned during the day, he would not have found out about it until the sun set. He hadn’t known whether I was destroyed until that second when my mind finally touched his.
“I’m fine, Danaus,” I said, snuggling my head against his neck and refusing to let go.
“When I saw the house . . .” He trailed off.
“I know. I’m fine,” I replied, my voice a little firmer. I pushed away so he could look me in the eye. “I’m safe.” The hunter nodded and slowly released his tight hold on me. To my surprise, he took a step back and pulled off his light leather jacket before stripping off his shirt. He tossed the sweaty cloth to me and then donned his jacket again. It was only then that I remembered I was wearing only a pair of panties and a thin lace bra.
“Let’s get out of here so I can survey the damage,” I said, taking my first step toward the door. The other nightwalkers preceded me, while Danaus followed behind me. As soon as I stepped outside my private chamber, a sharp gasp escaped my throat. The room had been destroyed. The wooden timbers and drywall were gone, revealing blackened concrete. Part of the first floor had collapsed into the basement. I could see a broken shell of the desk in my study, along with a couple of blackened bits of furniture the parlor. Overall, it was a black mess that I was hardly able to discern, though I had spent more than a century picking out the special items that comprised my house.
Danaus stepped in front of me and hoisted me over his shoulder before making his way across the basement, which was covered in smoldering bits of wood, broken glass, and twisted nails. With a little help from Gregor and Knox, the hunter managed to get me unscathed to my yard, where I could look on the burnt remains of my house in shock. Words escaped me for several minutes—I had spent seemingly countless years there, accumulated all the knickknacks of a life well lived, and in the blink of an eye they were all gone. Just a distant, heart-wrenching memory.
“This was Nick,” I whispered mostly to myself as I clenched my eyes shut to keep the tears from falling.
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