Dayhunter

by Jocelynn Drake

  Danaus narrowed his beautiful blues, closely examining my face for my reaction to the news. “Half. Like you said, part of me is still human.”

  But it wasn’t that simple. The bori weren’t demons, and I had never heard of anyone being half bori. There was no cross-breeding with humans. The closest mix between a human and a bori was a nightwalker, and I knew without a doubt that Danaus was not one of us.

  It sounded as if the bori that made the deal was more of a parasite attached to Danaus’s soul, lending him power as the bori bided his time. And while the naturi clung to twelve wells of power from the earth, Danaus had potentially become a walking doorway for the entire bori race. They just had to figure out how to unlock him.

  And yet, Danaus had never used the term bori. He didn’t know, didn’t understand, their long history. He was just clinging to the ancient definition of what a demon was and making his decisions based on that. He had no idea what he was.

  “So you’re trying to save your human half by ridding the world of evil, namely vampires,” I said, trying to quell my rising panic before he sensed it. What could I tell him? That it wasn’t a demon that owned a part of his soul, but something nastier and more complicated? I didn’t have any answers for him. And what information I could give him would only make it worse. I needed time and more information before I opened my mouth.

  “I have no desire to spend eternity in Hell because of my mother’s need for revenge,” he coldly said, taking a few steps toward me.

  I ran a shaking hand through my hair, pushing it away from my eyes. “How do you know that is your destination?”

  “It is the destination of all demons,” he simply said. He stopped when he was a couple feet away from me, his eyes on the ground.

  “Maybe. Maybe not. I’ve not seen any proof to sway me one way or the other.”

  “Have you known any demons?”

  I could only smile weakly at my companion. There was nothing I could say that would help him. I hadn’t had any personal encounters with the bori. My experiences in this lifetime had been limited to battling the naturi, which had always been more than enough for me.

  “They’re evil,” he continued when I remained silent.

  “Most probably are,” I conceded, rubbing my hands together to brush off some dirt. “But every creature that slinks across this earth is given a choice. You’ve chosen not to be evil. You’re also part human. That has to throw something into your favor.”

  Danaus slowly lifted his gaze, staring deep into my violet eyes, searching for something. He wanted to believe me. He truly wanted to grab onto the lifeline I was tossing him as he struggled out in the dark abyss, but he was also fighting centuries of religious theory and conditioning. He wasn’t about to toss aside his faith so easily because it eased his mind and conscience.

  “I’m not asking you to believe everything I’ve said. Just think about it. These ideas you’ve clung to are man-made ideas. They’re narrow-minded and flawed. Earlier tonight we were discussing the Great Awakening. Mankind’s concepts of God and redemption didn’t take our kind into consideration,” I said, threading a lock of hair that had come loose behind my left ear. “If you survive this nightmare, go talk to Ryan. I have a feeling you’re willing to believe him a little more than me.”

  “You’ve lived longer. How could he know more?” he countered.

  I didn’t trust Ryan, but the white-haired warlock was a potential source of information. He represented a starting point for Danaus. And if I survived this mess as well, I hoped to do a little digging around myself. “Ryan’s spent his life studying the other races and religions. I’ve picked up what I can along the way. A lot of it is myth and rumor. You sift through it as best you can and keep an open mind.”

  “And then what?”

  “Nothing,” I said with a shrug. I rose to my feet in my boneless manner. “You keep moving. Let’s go.”

  I stepped around him and strolled down the aisle in my usual breezy, happy-go-lucky way, but my mind was churning. A bori. Well, a half bori sort of. That was not something I had expected. I had thought maybe he was a strange half warlock, half lycan mix that couldn’t shift. No, Danaus was a half bori that had the ability to control me. It was enough to send shivers down my back, but somehow I had to bury my terror deep inside my chest. Of course, if I had lost it in front of my dark companion, Danaus would have been out the door.

  “Mira…” he slowly called, sounding hesitant.

  “Yeah, I know. It’s a deep, dark Danaus secret,” I said, spinning around so I could look at him as he walked up the aisle behind me.

  “So you can read my mind now?”

  “Not quite. It’s the type of thing I would request. Beside, it’s not like I want you bragging to your little cult about your nifty new Mira marionette.”

  “It seems we’re on equal ground,” he said, extending his hand to me.

  “Always have been,” I replied, slipping my hand into his. I was surprised that I didn’t hesitate to take his strong hand in mine after the last three times we had touched. There was no rush of power pushing to enter my body this time, no thoughts that didn’t belong to me. Just his usual warmth washing over my skin, soaking in and heating me like the sun. Despite what he was and the heritage that haunted him, Danaus still had a choice and still had his honor.

  Standing in the silence of the church holding his hand, a dark thought flitted through my brain before I could stop it. Had I promised to protect something more dangerous to my kind than the entire naturi horde? Wasn’t death better than an eternity of slavery? For a reason I had yet to understand, the Coven had struck a pact with the naturi, offering up some type of protection. I’d brought Danaus into the center of our civilization, a creature that was part bori and a vampire hunter. Despite my best intentions, had I betrayed my kind in the same way?

  “Of course, you realize that this conversation won’t stop me from hunting vampires,” he coldly said, releasing my hand.

  I forced myself to laugh as I turned to leave the church. “I wouldn’t dream of stopping you,” I replied, pushing open the heavy wood door. “I just want you to think about why.” There was no forcing Danaus to do anything he didn’t believe in. However, with enough time and knowledge, I believed he would choose to stop hunting nightwalkers.

  We casually strolled back through the weed-infested main campo. Looking out across the Lagoon toward the glow of Murano and Burano, I could sense the other nightwalkers going about the usual nightly activities. They were hunting and feeding and laughing. Despite their dead bodies, they were as alive as the humans that surrounded them. I couldn’t believe we were evil. Or more specifically, that I was evil. Would I still be mourning the loss of my angel if I was evil? Would I still cherish my sweet Calla and the life I once had if I was evil? In the gathering darkness with Danaus at my side, those questions were all I had left to cling to.

  ELEVEN

  A slow hiss slipped between my clenched teeth as I paused at the edge of the grassy courtyard. Jabari was playing a game. First, he demanded I come to Venice, where I was almost guaranteed to discover the Coven’s plot with the naturi, and now this. We were no longer alone. My focus had been so completely locked on Danaus and our conversation that I didn’t notice Nicolai until he stood watching us from the second floor window of a vacant building.

  He was early. I hadn’t expected Jabari to send his assassin at least until after the next sacrifice. Of course, this meant that the Ancient had broken his promise that he wouldn’t send one of the court flunkies to see to my demise. But I knew Jabari’s goal wasn’t to kill me there. I was too old and experienced to be taken out by a lycanthrope. He wanted something else. Nicolai was simply a pawn that had been moved into play. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the opponent Jabari was playing against; I was just another one of his game pieces. What was I supposed to accomplish in fighting Nicolai? Did Jabari expect me to kill the werewolf? Was he more important than I knew? I wanted to scream. Second-guessing mys
elf and trying to predict Jabari’s next move was going to get me killed.

  Standing in the deep shadow thrown down by the building the werewolf occupied, I shoved my hand into my pocket and withdrew the silver ring that held the key to the boat. The little slip of metal jingled before I closed my fingers around it. “Take the boat back to the hotel,” I murmured, not looking over at Danaus as he came to stand beside me.

  “How will you get back?” he inquired, not yet reaching for the key.

  “I’ll swim.” I extended my left hand and turned it over, waiting for him to put his open hand beneath mine so he could catch the key, but the hunter refused to budge.

  “What’s going on?” Tension tightened his words into hard little syllables that could barely squeeze past his clenched teeth. Before I had a chance to murmur Nothing, a wave of power swept away from his body and washed over the tiny island. I didn’t know if he could sense werewolves as well as he could nightwalkers, but I was going to find out in a couple of seconds. There were only a couple dozen humans on the whole island, all of them older in age. Probably born on the island and determined to die there like so many of their ancestors.

  “It’s none of your business, hunter,” I said sharply. “Get out of here.”

  “What does the lycan want?” he demanded as his powers were sucked back into his body. Their sudden absence made me feel chilled, as if a damp cold had found its way into my bones.

  “Her heart.” The words drifted down to us from the dark window, edged with a slight echo as they bounded briefly around the empty building before escaping into the night air. The tone held no menace, but sounded like the soft caress of a concerned lover wondering why his beloved companion was walking in the fading moonlight with another man.

  Danaus stepped away from me and looked up at the building, his right hand unconsciously reaching for a knife at his hip, only to find that it wasn’t there. After our audience with the Coven, neither of us had thought to go back into the hotel room to get our weapons. I had been too distracted by what happened on San Clemente to think about such a little thing as self-defense. The hunter pressed his lips into a hard thin line and let his hand drop back to his side, his fingers flexing in their irritation.

  “What’s going on?” he bit out.

  “Mr. Gromenko has been sent to kill me,” I calmly replied, lowering my hand to my side. The key was still tightly gripped in my fingers. I was beginning to get the feeling that Danaus wasn’t going to leave. I didn’t want him hanging around when Nicolai attacked. I didn’t trust Danaus to keep his nose out of my business. The gods knew I couldn’t.

  Danaus jerked his gaze back to my face, his beautiful blues widened in surprise and confusion. I knew what he was thinking. We had eaten dinner with this man an hour earlier. We smiled, laughed, and traded worried looks about the dark days that lay beyond the horizon. And now he had come to collect my heart.

  “Jabari wants me dead,” I said with a shrug, as if that could explain everything. And in my world, it did. If an Ancient wanted something, it happened, regardless of what a person had to do to get it done.

  Danaus opened his mouth to say something, maybe argue with what to me was a very logical statement, but before he could speak, Nicolai jumped down from his perch and lightly landed a few feet away. Danaus tensed and took a step closer, attempting to get between me and the lycan, but I laid a restraining hand on his arm. Beneath my cool fingers I could feel his muscles jump at my touch, and his energy arced through me, looking for a new home. He was tense and wasn’t exactly trying to keep his powers under a tight wrap.

  “Danaus!” I snapped. My fingernails bit into his warm flesh, while at the same time a part of me struggled to keep his powers from burrowing within me. “This is not your fight. I don’t need your protection.”

  The two men stared at each other. Danaus’s features were hard and unyielding, his jaw muscles tensed as he clenched his teeth. Nicolai’s face was emotionless, as if a veil had come down between his mind and his emotions. I didn’t know what he was thinking, and there were few ways more effective at starting a fight than rummaging around the mind of another creature who could sense it. Most humans wouldn’t know, but magical creatures could, the same way a wolf could sense a coming storm.

  “Can he kill you?” Danaus demanded, still refusing to back off.

  “He can try,” I replied, ignoring the shifter.

  “Will you kill him?”

  “Not if I can avoid it,” I admitted. I had no desire to kill Nicolai. He seemed like a nice guy and I honestly had nothing against him. This whole hunting-me-down thing was Jabari’s fault, not his. Of course, if killing him was the only way to save myself, I wouldn’t hesitate.

  Danaus’s frowned deepened and he arched one thick eyebrow at me in question without his gaze wavering from Nicolai. Clenching my teeth, I shoved Danaus back a step. “I’m not some mindless killing machine,” I snarled.

  The hunter snorted, making it clear he didn’t believe that bit of logic either. “Regardless, I can’t just walk away. The naturi are trying to break free. We can’t afford to risk your life needlessly.”

  “Your concern warms my cold blood.” I thoughtlessly shoved the boat key back into my left pocket, irritated beyond rational thought.

  “Mira—”

  I didn’t let Danaus get any further. Grabbing a handful of his shirt, I jerked him around and slammed his back into the nearby building, earning a grunt from him. “I did not survive more than six centuries because I had some human with a chip on his shoulder watching my back. I will handle this without your assistance.”

  “I’m not leaving. We promised to leave Venice together,” he murmured.

  That was when it finally dawned on me. Sometimes it’s amazing how slow I can be to pick up on some of the little things in life. While we were flying to Venice, we promised that we would both get out of the city alive. I had taken that as an agreement on my behalf to keep him alive. It never occurred to me that he would attempt to protect my existence as well.

  My grip in his shirt loosened and I took a half step away from him in surprise. Thoughts of Nicolai, the naturi, the Coven—they all slipped away for a couple of seconds. The air grew heavy with a strange silence that was broken only by Danaus’s heartbeat. It was faster than usual; faster than during our fights and faster than during our arguments. The beat was hypnotic, trying to tell me another of his great secrets, but I couldn’t understand what it was whispering to me.

  “Fine,” the lycanthrope said nonchalantly, jolting me back from our own private world. “You stay.” The blond Adonis filled with rippling muscles reached around me and grabbed a handful of Danaus’s black locks. Pulling his head forward slightly, Nicolai slammed the back of Danaus’s head against the brick wall behind him before either of us could react. The hunter made no sound as he slid to the ground in a heap, pulling out of my grip.

  I looked up at Nicolai, a smile wavering on my lips. “You better hope I kill you, because he’s going to be seriously pissed when he wakes up.”

  “Then I guess we better get this done quickly,” he replied, stepping away from Danaus’s unconscious form. His dark brown eyes swept over the area, searching for something. His large, muscular frame was tensed, waiting for me to attack him. He would have been moving before I could flinch. But I wasn’t going to start this fight.

  “There,” he said, with a jerk of his head. “The campo.” My eyes followed his gaze to the overgrown square with the crumbling pillars and broken sidewalk. It was beyond the church Danaus and I had been in. It appeared as if the three sides of the square were surrounded by small, empty buildings, while the fourth side looked out onto the Lagoon.

  I walked in that direction and paused at the edge of the square beside a tall pillar, my hands resting on my narrow hips as I looked over the proposed battlefield. My only warning was a slight shifting in the air just half a breath before Nicolai threw his body into mine. A grunt jumped from my throat as he crushed me aga
inst the column. The cool, rough stone scraped and scratched against my bare arms and back like coarse sandpaper, threatening to remove a layer of skin. Snarling, I pushed him off me before he could get his feet planted again, pitching him halfway across the square. Like a cat, he easily landed on his feet, sliding a bit on the rubble that littered the area.

  With one hand braced on the ground and his feet spaced apart, the lycan was poised to jump at me again. His eyes glowed with power, a strange copperish light, as a low growl rumbled in his chest. He wouldn’t risk changing. The process took too long and would leave him vulnerable to my attack.

  A breeze stirred, pushing against the heavy wall of summer heat and thick moisture. The scent of the Lagoon teased my nose along with the musky scent of Nicolai. He was coated in the scent of fear, the scent of frustration.

  With a sharp inhalation of air, he launched himself across the square at me. He was a dark blur, more wind than man as he moved. I darted to my right, only attempting to sidestep him, but I misjudged his speed. Pain exploded in my left forearm and I looked down to find three long, ragged cuts across my pale skin. Blood welled up and streaked down my arm before finally dripping to the ground. My eyes darted back to Nicolai, to find that his fingers were elongated and tipped with long black claws.

  Frowning, I bit back a curse and slowly took a couple steps away, circling him. He could partially shift. That meant he was either a lot older than I initially thought or a lot more powerful. Shifting specific body parts was very difficult, demanding a great deal of energy and control. I had seen Alex do it only once, and it left her shaking and sweating afterward. I knew I could stretch out the fight in an attempt to wear him down, but I think we both preferred to have this done before Danaus woke up from his catnap.

  Nicolai lunged for me again, but this time I remained still, my feet planted and legs braced. Ducking under massive arms that reached out to grab me, I punched him hard in the side, under his ribs. Air exploded from his lungs in a harsh grunt. His right heel scraped against the ground as he struggled to regain his balance against the unexpected blow. Before he could draw in a fresh lungful of air, I slammed my left fist into his jaw, wincing at the impact. I didn’t want to hurt Nicolai, but I needed to knock him out so I could finally end this contest.