Ignited: A Vampire Urban Fantasy Series (Daywalkers Series Book 6)

by Maya Daniels

“Astara will be okay?”

  “She will be fine.” The smirk I’m all too familiar with tells me he knows I’m deflecting. “As will Leo, Daren, Soren, and Azgor, too. Anyone else’s wellbeing you’d like to know about?”

  “I would’ve asked about my mother, but she is enjoying life in ignorance back in Sienna where we left her after her disastrous dinner with that jerk Silas.” My drawl has enough snark to make one corner of his full lips twitch.

  “Share with me.” The amusement leaves his face as he tugs gently on my hand.

  “I had claws.” That’s the first thing I blurt out like an idiot.

  “It was hard not to notice.” Another twitch of his lips, but his gaze stays steadily locked on mine, which tells me we’ll be sitting here until I spill all my secrets. No matter how long I take to do it.

  So, I tell him everything. Because my heartbeat is in my throat, the words come out rushed and choked, but the longer I speak the easier it gets. By the time I’m done I am exhausted, both mentally and physically. My body sags deeper into the mattress and pillows, a bone-weary sigh ending my confession.

  “You’ve released the control before,” Zoltan repeats that twice as if saying it more than once will make it true.

  “No, I haven’t.” Closing my eyes when his fingers brush away stray hairs from my face makes it easier to admit things. If I don’t see him, he can’t see me, which is my type of stupidity. “There was always a part of me that had some control so I could get back to myself. Even the first time in the woods when we were returning from the human realm and I was climbing trees delivering silent deaths, I knew deep down I could come back to Francesca Drake if I wanted. Not this time.”

  “You are always Francesca Drake. Difference is you were afraid this time.” At my sharp glare, he backpedals fast. “For my life, since so many hunters coming through the portal. We went through something similar not long ago and I was taken,” he clarifies with an arrogant curl to his mouth. My hand is itching to slap it off his handsome face. “Add to that worry for Astara’s life, as well as the book. You like to talk a tough game, but Daren is still your friend and seeing him draining his life to hold the portal worried you, too. Losing the connection with Fenrir left you emotionally wide open for extremes. I like and admire your feisty spirit, but I do love your kind heart. Don’t debate it with me, I feel you through the bond.”

  “Lo and behold, Zoltan the philosopher. They’ll build you a monument in the middle of Sienna one of these days.” When his eyebrows pucker in a frown, I snicker. “I’ll make sure I egg it when it happens. To give it more of a rustic feel, you know.”

  “You shouldn’t fear yourself.” Ignoring my smartass comments, he continues watching me steadily. Heat creeps up my cheeks under the scrutiny. “Letting go of control is the only way of having it.”

  “What if it overtakes me?” Voicing the greatest fear I have, my lips tremble. I know he can hear my heart punching my ribs like there is no tomorrow. “What if I lose myself in that much power, Zoltan? It’s addictive to know you hold anyone’s life in your hand. That you can end their existence with just a flick of your fingers. We are not gods. We shouldn’t be.”

  “We are not gods,” he agrees, crawling on the bed and pulling me over his lap. “But we might as well be. Now that you’ve seen the humans yourself, you understand why we are behind these portals. Why we must keep our presence in their realm minimal and monitored. To them we are gods who hold their lives in the palm of our hand.”

  “Roberti—”

  “And why we must use any advantage we have to stop Roberti.” He talks over me, cutting off whatever I was about to say. “Anyone can get drunk on too much power, love. That’s why you have me.” Tucking his chin to his chest, he peers down at my upturned face. “The reason you felt like you did was because you weren’t expecting it. Neither did I. It was too much magic, too fast, and with no warning. I think I can help you balance it out.”

  “You don’t sound too sure of your own claims.” The steady beat of his heart—which I still find strange since it wasn’t there the first time he held me like this—calms me.

  “I am not.” His eyes stay locked on mine for a long moment of silence before he speaks again. “For you I am willing to try. For you, Francesca Drake, I am capable of much worse things than Roberti.” A lump forms in my throat, and I blink fast to stop the prickling tears from spilling down my cheeks. “To have that much power over a creature like me makes you one of the gods you fear becoming.”

  “This is not helping.” The words come out in a croak, so I clear my throat. “I don’t want that much power.”

  “And that’s exactly why I am sure you will never lose yourself in it.” Kissing the top of my head, he leans back and closes his eyes. “If anyone should have it, I am very happy to know that it’s you.”

  “Did you know?”

  “Did I know what? That you are that powerful?” One of his eyes pops open to look down at me.

  “About the oath Fenrir took to bond himself to me.” Until this moment, I never knew how much it bothered me to know this.

  “I knew about him taking the oath, but not to whom. By the time I found out, it was a little too late to go back on what I was doing.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “When I saw you the first time and started following you around to make sure you didn’t get hurt, I didn’t know you were the dragon blood. By the time I knew it for sure, I was already willing to protect you with my life.”

  “That’s why you and Fenrir postured from day one like peacocks?”

  “The fairy didn’t stand a chance.” Using my insult for Fenrir, Zoltan chuckles deep when I thump my fist on his chest.

  “You didn’t know that, you arrogant ass. I could’ve told you to fuck off.”

  “You could’ve, Ms. Drake.” I squeak when he flips me around and pins me under him. “Yet here you are in my bed.”

  “Who’s deflecting now?” Forcing myself to ignore the fact that his lips are so close they are brushing mine when I talk, I keep eye contact. “You hid that from me.”

  “I couldn’t say anything because I didn’t understand it.” A line slices the middle of his forehead and pulls his eyebrows low over his eyes. “How could I feel you as mine if you had a bond with someone else. I was afraid to ask any information about it at the time.”

  “You? Afraid?”

  “Very.” He grins at me, but the concern and confusion still linger in his gaze.

  “Who would you ask?”

  “Soren.” As soon as the name passes Zoltan’s lips there is a knock on the door, the energy rolling off the person preceding the one that wields it.

  Speak of the devil.

  “I hope you are both decent because I’m coming in,” the ancient Fae announces before waltzing inside as if he owns the room.

  Chapter Twelve

  Zoltan stays on top of me, his smirk getting more frustrating as the seconds tick by. I wriggle uncomfortably underneath him. Glaring doesn’t help, either. In fact, it only makes him grin like the cat that ate the canary, and I resort to childish actions. Example: kneeing him to get him to move. Rolling off me, his dark chuckle does stupid things to my body, and I try to ignore those things even though it takes great effort on my part. The male is so arrogant it’ll take a whole planet falling on top of his head to take him down a notch. Pointedly avoiding looking at Soren, I scoot up the bed and pull the covers over me like a shield.

  “The book is secure I take it?” Soren gives Zoltan a barely-there nod as an answer to his question, but he keeps his slanted gaze glued on me.

  “How was Roberti able to open the portal the way he did?” Not giving the ancient Fae time to start interrogating me, I turn everyone’s attention to what happened in the field.

  “We already know he has a very powerful mage working with him, do we not?” Keeping his unwavering gaze on me, Soren moves languidly around the room with one long finger trailing over the couple of pieces o
f furniture in it. “As much as Casius would love to name himself as such, this is not him. The flavor is not right. It’s older … much older.”

  “Could it be the shadow he had with him?” Saying it out loud pebbles my skin and turns my stomach inside out.

  “We do not know what, or who he had with him.” The way Soren says that irritates me to no end. Like I’m a youngling who is telling him tales.

  “We know the shadow was there.” I wouldn’t be Franky Drake if I didn’t rise to the challenge, so I speak slowly as if he is stupid.

  Soren’s face, which was finally pointed at the window instead of on me, snaps in my direction, a slight glow burning in the depths of his eyes.

  “We do?” The intensity of his scrutiny makes me squirm.

  “Both of you were there. You saw it.” Looking at Zoltan for confirmation is a bad idea.

  The confusion plastered on his handsome face is replacing the smirk, and alarms blare in my head at that. Soren leans his upper body forward as if I’m about to tell them the greatest secret of all ages, and that is not helping matters either. With doubt clouding my judgment, I try to recall what I saw across the portal. Roberti’s leering, twisted face blanched of all color as he took one step back, then another floats to the front of my mind. Was I so out of it at the end of that fight that I imagined the whole thing? Or was I really losing myself to all the magic and power inside me and it made me hallucinate? Was he even really there?

  “What did you see, young dragon?” Platinum hair trickles over Soren’s shoulder like someone is pouring paint over him when he glides across the room to stand across from Zoltan on the other side of the bed.

  I need to get up.

  Having both imposing males looming over me on either side creates panic, and it claws at my chest. Like a cornered animal, my eyes dart around the room looking for an escape that I know I’ll never get to. Not with the speed these two are capable of. I still try.

  Bouncing off the bed, I bolt for the door, but Soren blocks my way by materializing in front of me as if he always stood there. Changing direction, I head for the window, but a second later two strong arms wrap around my waist and I’m lifted from the ground. My rational mind left me the second the doubt set in, so my gums are throbbing, my fangs biting into my lower lip as I try to claw my way out of Zoltan’s embrace.

  Pure insanity.

  I kick, twist, and rake my nails over his forearms to no avail. Dark blood covers my fingers where Zoltan’s skin breaks, tiny rivulets of it trailing down and dripping over the carpeted floor. Jerking my head to the side, I sink my fangs in his upper arm and tug like a feral beast caught in a trap. He grunts but doesn’t let go, his hold tightening further as he presses me to his chest. When my magic perks in reaction to my fight or flight instinct, Zoltan’s body disappears from my back and I find myself pinned on the floor staring wide eyed at the ceiling. My gaze automatically goes to the spot I know has a removable tile—the same spot the book was hidden until not long ago.

  “Breathe.” Soren’s mesmerizing, lyrical voice penetrates the hysteria pushing me to run.

  I must run.

  I need to hide.

  It’s too much.

  Pressure like the entire earth is pressing on my chest forces me to gasp and take a breath.

  “Breathe, young dragon,” the ancient Fae coos at me. “Just breathe.”

  Sucking in deep breaths like a drowning woman helps clear the haze that is attempting to take over my mind. The blurry shapes around me become clear and the dark spots at the corners of my eyes disappear when my lungs get much-needed oxygen. White noise thunders in my ears but gets fainter the longer I’m on the floor.

  “I’m going insane.” My words are barely understandable since they are spoken through gulping air. “I need to be put down.”

  “Stop talking nonsense, child. Just focus on your breathing. All will be well. Just breathe.” Soren doesn’t move from his spot above me.

  As I’m slowly calming from my panic attack, I notice that the ancient Fae is not touching me in any way. His right hand is making lazy circles at his side, but apart from that, not a muscle moves. Standing just to the side, he is focused on me with a slight line between his brows, which is the only indicator of the effort he is putting in. That, more than anything else subsides me. If Soren can control me when I’m out of my mind, there may be hope.

  “She believes that she is losing herself to her dragon blood.” Zoltan’s voice is strained as he moves closer so I can see him.

  I cringe when my eyes travel along his arms where skin is healing from claw marks. My claw marks from when I tried to escape. As if reading my mind, he looks down at me, one side of his lips twitching in amusement.

  “It’ll take more than a few scratches for me to let you go, love.” Heat pools in my belly from the husky tone in his voice and the hunger in his gaze. “This I call foreplay.” With a cocky smirk, he lifts both arms proudly showing them to Soren like he has won an award.

  I glare at him.

  “I shouldn’t worry about going insane. All of us are nuts here.” With an ungraceful snort, I try to roll to my side with no result. “Let me go, Soren. I’m not going to attack either of you.”

  The doubtful look contouring his too-pretty face makes me want to slap him. After a staring match that lasts too long, he stops moving his hand and all the pressure holding me down disappears. Zoltan’s dark chuckle when I scramble to my feet earns him an elbow to the ribs.

  “Let us hear about what you can see through a closed portal.” Soren must be high or drunk if he thinks I’ll let him get away with shit.

  “You’ve been holding out on us.” Squaring off with him, I fold my arms across my chest to hide the tremble I still have lingering there, but the two arrogant males don’t need to know that.

  “How so?” The innocent expression on the ancient Fae’s face looks so out of place that it’s comical.

  “If you have that much power, why didn’t you do more when we needed you?” When his forehead puckers, I clench my fists. “People died in that field, Soren. To you that might not be a big deal, but if you could have prevented it, you should have. It is your duty to do so instead of playing games.”

  Power hits me so sudden and hard I stumble back a few steps before catching myself. Zoltan hunches his shoulders with his fangs bared, ready to tackle the Dragon Blood that is glaring daggers my way. It’s hard to breathe even without having your lungs seared from the density of magic saturating the air and prickling my skin.

  “How dare you lecture me on duty.” The deceptively low tone of his words is the scariest thing I’ve ever heard.

  “You could’ve ended that fight without straining a muscle.” Stubbornly I hold on to my accusations, swallowing my heart because it’s trying to punch its way out through my throat. “I knew you were selfish but this goes beyond anything I could’ve dreamed off. These people count on you to protect them and keep them safe. Isn’t that what you signed up for?”

  “Protecting them is your job now, young dragon. Do not pass the mantle so soon.” Mocking me, he smiles, but there is no humor in it.

  “You could’ve saved them—”

  “Francesca.” Zoltan’s warning passes through one ear and out the other.

  “You chose to let them die. Those lives are on you, and no amount of mocking and gloating will change that. You sacrificed lives for your ideals and arrogance.” Spitting the words in disgust, I look away from him.

  “I sacrificed lives?” Soren laughs humorlessly. “You are sacrificing an entire species, Francesca Drake.” Hissing my name like a curse, he gets in my face. “Let us talk about duty, shall we?”

  “Oh, dear Fates you are still going on about that damn bond? The one that, need I remind you, I never agreed to with Fenrir?” Stepping closer to him, I bump our noses together, the anger boiling inside me ready to spill over. “I am not a broodmare, Soren. You like to blame the bond I have with Zoltan, but even without it, I would’
ve never agreed to any of the plans you tried to force on me.”

  “You are a Dragon Blood.” Not stepping down, he speaks as if that should explain everything.

  Red clouds my vision and I bare my fangs at him.

  “I am also a vampire!” Some little box Zoltan has on his chest of drawers rattles from my roar.

  A hard thump makes the door to the room groan on the frame. All three of us spin in that direction, spreading out and taking positions to fight whatever it is that’s trying to break its way in. And break it does a second later when splinters and larger pieces of wood spray in all directions as the door bursts as if hit by a bomb. A dark shape blurs around us so fast none of us have time to react, at least until Soren ends up pinned on the wall with a very pissed-off panther holding the Fae’s throat between his sharp teeth.

  Standing on his hind legs, Tenebris is almost as tall as me, which places his deadly choppers at the perfect height to rip Soren’s neck to smithereens. I was wondering where the shifter was when I woke up in the infirmary, but with all the guilt and fear riding my ass, I didn’t ask or give it a second thought. Obviously, he wasn’t too far. The sounds coming through his wide-open jaw are raising the short hairs on the back of my neck as saliva drips down Soren’s still-bare chest.

  The male needs a shirt.

  Nailed to his torso so he can’t take it off.

  “The loyalty you inspire in others is astonishing, young dragon. Even the mighty Tenebris is acting like your house pet. The Fates must have tied him to you and wherever your destiny leads, to have him be so protective of you and offer his life for yours in every turn.” A small smile dances on his bow-shaped lips while he ignores the deadly teeth clamped around his throat.

  Tenebris snarls.

  “Let him go, Tenebris.” With a sigh, I rub a hand over my face.

  All the anger and panic from earlier leaves me drained, and I stagger to the bed slumping on it. Soren is an asshole. Selfish, arrogant, maybe even a little crazy, but I don’t want him dead. I just want him to get his head out of his ass and start working with us instead of chasing pipe dreams and his own agendas. Whatever they may be. And after that display of power earlier when he pinned me to the floor with just a twirl of his hand, I have a feeling my friend will get hurt before he has a chance to harm the ancient Fae.