When the last of the naturi were reduced to ash, Jabari released me. My knees buckled and I collapsed back onto the ground. Pain seemed to be a living, breathing entity within my body. I didn’t seem to exist anymore. There was only pain and horror.
I blinked a couple of times, trying to clear my vision, and saw Jabari extend a hand toward me, offering to help me back to my feet. I jerked away from him. “Don’t touch me,” I snapped.
His dark laugh rose up in the silence, wrapping itself around me like a noose. “I don’t need to.”
A shiver rippled through me and I clenched my teeth to keep them from chattering. No. No, he didn’t need to touch me to control me.
“We go to Venice. It is the best way to protect you from the naturi,” Jabari announced.
I certainly didn’t want to admit it, but he was right. Venice was the one place I would be safe from them. They never set foot in the city. The old tales said that one of the naturi’s gods had died in what is now the city of Venice, creating the canals that wove their way among the tiny islands. The naturi supposedly couldn’t enter the city. Unfortunately, Venice was also the home of the Coven. I didn’t want to be anywhere near another Ancient, let alone near at least three of the most powerful nightwalkers in existence.
I frowned, realizing I had no options. I didn’t have the strength to fight Jabari, and even if I did, I didn’t know how. The bastard could control me like a puppet. And if I slipped away from him, I had no doubt that Rowe would cut my heart out the first time he caught sight of me. At least Jabari needed me alive for the time being. I had stopped the second sacrifice, bought us a little time. The naturi would strike again.
But the triad was reformed, even if it now included a vampire hunter. And the triad still had me, a weapon that could kill or bind them.
The sound of a car engine jerked us both from our thoughts. It was Danaus. I knew it without using my powers. It was the hunter.
“You will travel to Venice and you will bring the hunter with you,” Jabari ordered. “We will be waiting for you.”
I nodded, my eyes darting away from his face. “Sadira?”
“She has already left for Italy. She asks that you bring her child.” My gaze jumped back to his face, to find a mocking smile lifting his lips. She would demand that, keeping both Tristan and me on a short leash. As the car drew close, Jabari stepped backward and disappeared.
My eyes fell shut and it was a struggle just to remain upright. For the first time, I wondered if I’d chosen the right side. If I’d sided with the naturi, I would have been forced to kill nightwalkers and stand by while the naturi killed the humans. If I’d sided with the nightwalkers, I would have been forced to kill the naturi. And regardless of which side I might have chosen that night, the innocent human woman would still have died by my hand.
The car engine stopped and I could hear the sound of heavy footsteps running across the field. I opened my eyes in time to see Danaus come between a pair of large stones, a long knife in his right hand. His eyes quickly swept the carnage, pausing briefly on the woman that lay to my left, before he finally put his knife back in its sheath at his side.
I slowly pushed to my feet, but my legs buckled again. Danaus crossed the short distance separating us, grabbing my arms and keeping me from hitting the ground again.
“Jabari?” he asked.
“Come and gone already,” I said. My voice was harsh and rough as I forced it past the lump in my throat. “We go to Venice.” A fragile, mocking smile slipped across my lips. “We did it. We reformed the triad and even have a weapon that can stop the naturi.”
I flinched as his large hands cupped my cheeks, but the power that filled him didn’t try to push inside of me. It swirled around us, forming a warm, comforting cocoon.
“Don’t let him beat you,” Danaus ordered, forcing me to meet his glittering gaze. I knew he was talking about Jabari. He didn’t know about Rowe yet, and I wasn’t sure I would ever tell him. I was already enough of a danger to the world around me; no reason to up the ante.
“He already has,” I murmured. “I’m a tool. A weapon.”
“No, you’re the Fire Starter. A walking nightmare to both vampire and naturi. We’ll find a way to beat him.”
I didn’t even try to keep the skepticism from darting through my eyes as I stared up at the hunter. I couldn’t imagine what kind of miracle he expected me to work.
“You’ve eluded me for the past few decades. What trouble could a few old vampires offer?” he continued, arching one thick brow at me.
Danaus was being ridiculous, but I understood his point. We had to find a way if we hoped to survive. Our fates were linked now.
“We’ll find a way,” I whispered. “I always do.”
Danaus leaned forward and brushed a kiss against my temple, sending a wave of peace deep into the marrow of my bones, helping to ease some of the pain. “And then we’ll kill each other as God intended.”
About the Author
By day, Jocelynn Drake is a clean-cut financial analyst writer, but in her free time she writes about a dark underworld where vampires rule. She lives in Kentucky.
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