“And she’s been assigned to be your executioner,” I said with a smile. With only a thought, a ring of fire sprouted out of the ground around the warlock, who flinched at the sudden fiery threat.
“I do not think so,” he growled. The warlock instantly disappeared from sight.
“Valerio?” I called, extinguishing the flames. I should have burned the bastard the second I saw him, catching him by surprise. It probably wouldn’t have been that easy, but it would have been smart if I had tried.
“He’s close,” the nightwalker replied in a tense voice. It was one of the rare moments when Valerio wasn’t his usual jovial, easygoing self. But powerful warlocks could be damned tricky to kill.
Without warning, a surge of energy slammed into my chest, throwing me backward into a thick tree trunk. As I hit the ground with a heavy thud, I saw an explosion of flames where I had last seen Valerio standing. Still sprawled on the cold ground, I waved my hand, getting rid of the fire, hoping they had not yet touched my companion. When my eyes had adjusted to the darkness again, I found that both Valerio and the warlock were missing. There was something seriously frustrating about fighting against creatures significantly more powerful than myself.
Pushing to my feet again, I threw back my cloak over my shoulders and palmed a knife in each hand. Eventually, the warlock would have to reappear if he hoped to kill me as well. At least I liked to think it would work that way. I had no powers beyond my ability to control fire. I was counting on my speed and strength to catch this bastard off guard so I could finally gut him.
The warlock appeared a second later, standing in the same spot he had been in only moments ago. I lunged at him, both weapons drawn, but was halted by an invisible barrier, stopping me less than a foot from his chest. He smiled at me for a second before turning his attention to his left. Out of the corner of my eye, I also saw Valerio reappear. The nightwalker didn’t move, but merely watched with his arms folded over his chest.
Jumping backwards, I twisted my wrists, causing the moonlight to dance off the silver blades. “Come out, coward,” I snarled, my lips curling back to reveal my fangs. Adrenaline surged through my veins.
“As you wish,” the warlock murmured with a dark grin. He waved his hand before his body and I could feel the shift in energy. The barrier between us had been dropped.
“Mira! Don’t!” Valerio shouted as I shifted my weight to lunge at the warlock with my knives. I froze, muscles straining against the sudden change in motion.
“Interloper,” the warlock growled. Flinging out one hand, the warlock released a wooden stake he had kept hidden in the folds of his cape. The stake embedded in Valerio’s chest, knocking him onto his back. A scream of panic and rage escaped me. I didn’t know whether the stake had struck Valerio’s heart. It didn’t matter. I was ready to rip the warlock’s head off with my bare hands as rage blinded me to everything else.
I jumped at the warlock, attempting to knock him to the ground while plunging my blades deep within his chest. I wasn’t fast enough. The warlock once again waved his hand at me with a smirk. Energy swelled in the air and pummeled me in the chest. For a second, I flew through the air, pain exploding in my chest at the impact. My body slammed into something incredibly hard and unyielding before I finally hit the ground several feet away. My vision swam as my fingers convulsed and released their hold on the blades. I lifted my head, trying to gather the strength to launch another attack before he turned his attention to Valerio, but it was too late. Blackness crowded my vision while panic washed up over me in an enormous wave. My last thought was of Valerio’s prone body before consciousness slipped from my grasp.
CHAPTER SIX
“Drink, Mira.”
The command permeated the darkness, but the world swam around me as if my brain was floating in rough seas. Even before I opened my eyes, the scent of blood assailed me. Warm flesh brushed against my lips and I didn’t question. I opened my mouth and sank my fangs in. The blood flowed down my throat in a rush, heating my half-frozen body while pushing back a variety of aches and throbbing pains. I drank until the fog around my thoughts cleared and my brain stopped bobbing in the ocean. At the same time, I slowly became aware of a heartbeat that was growing slower and more sluggish. Whoever was supplying me with my warm meal was dying. With a great deal of reluctance, I released the person only to hear a heavy thud when the body hit the floor.
Running my tongue over my teeth, I drew in a slow breath and opened my eyes while trying to recall memories of what had happened to me just before the darkness overtook my thoughts. Delicate gold fabric hung over me in a canopy while my body sank into the softness of the bed. It didn’t make any sense. How did I get into a bed? The last thing I remembered was being in a park on the edge of the city.
And then my eyes finally fell on an older woman who stood at the end of the bed, a beautiful smile gracing her wrinkled face. I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen her looking so happy. But then, it had been more than a century since I had last looked on Sadira’s face, and I had prayed then that I would never see her again.
“How are you feeling?” she inquired as I stared mutely at her, trying to sort through a menagerie of jumbled thoughts and emotions.
Pushing into a sitting position, I tried to ignore the fact that the room spun slightly. “Fine. Where am I?” There was a crust of blood in my hair as well as a small lump on my skull from where I had either hit a tree or a rock.
Sadira’s smile widened. “Your home.”
“This isn’t my home.”
She paid me no heed as she walked over to the door and opened it. A young nightwalker with blond hair silently stepped into the room. He bent down and tossed the unconscious woman on the floor over his shoulder. I could still faintly hear her heartbeat. She was holding onto life, no thanks to me, but I was beginning to have my doubts as to whether she would survive much longer. I had just taken a large chunk out of their food stores, not to mention recently stopped Sadira’s group from acquiring more food. It was likely that Sadira would have the woman drained rather than wait on her recovery. It was just easier to get someone new to fill in the woman’s place.
“Oh, Mira, my child, this will always be your home. You were born here,” she said sweetly as she shut the door, closing us away from the rest of the world. At the same time, I threw back the covers and pushed out of the bed. I felt as if I was better prepared to take on whatever she planned to throw at me if I was on my feet. My hands slid down my sides only to discover that both of my blades were missing. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t completely helpless when it came to facing down my maker.
“This was never a home for me. You took me from my true home, held me prisoner.” My words stopped there because I refused to lie to myself about any other things that happened in this castle. I couldn’t blame her for making me into the monster that I was. That had been my choice. I could have chosen death over becoming a nightwalker, but I didn’t.
“You know that I was only trying to do what was best for you. You didn’t belong with those mortals,” she argued, lightly clasping her hands before her stomach.
I shook my head, closing my eyes against a rush of memories from my human years. I didn’t know if it was my own doing or if Sadira was mucking around in my brain, conjuring up these painful thoughts to cloud my judgment. Right now, this was an old and unimportant argument. There were greater things at risk.
“How did I get here?” I demanded, quickly changing the subject.
“I brought you here.” Sadira took a cautious step closer. “I felt your pain and I rushed to your side. I would never allow anything to harm my child.”
A derisive snort escaped me as I clenched my teeth. She wouldn’t allow anything to harm me that didn’t have her explicit approval first. I had suffered through years of mental and physical abuse not only at her hands, but under her direct gaze as others pummeled me in my youth.
Sadira’s memory had always been very selective, but then it was how she succeeded in controlling those around her.
“Did you see the warlock?”
“Yes, Artus allowed me to take you, so long as you promise to stay within the confines of the castle.”
“Where is Valerio?” I demanded, but I was already reaching out with my mind for his. I stretched all the way back to the city with its bustle of people, but I could not sense him. A chill gripped my frame and a lump grew in my throat, threatening to choke me. I couldn’t sense him. I remembered seeing him get hit with the wooden stake and fall to the ground, but at that time I could still sense his essence. He had not been killed.
Not being able to sense Valerio now meant that he was either dead or that he had left the immediate area completely. The thought of his possible death shattered my thoughts, but I felt no better if he was alive and had chosen to leave me alone in Sadira’s clutches. I would have been safer in the hands of Artus.
“I believe Artus has him, though I do not know if he lives still.”
“Then I have to go after him,” I declared, taking a step toward the door. Sadira quickly slid between me and the door. She raised her hands to touch me, but I lurched backward, out of her immediate reach. I was taller than she, but I wasn’t willing to bet that I was stronger. She was older than me by centuries, and beneath her old, frail demeanor was a vicious tiger waiting to bare its claws. I had learned to tread cautiously when dealing with my maker.
“You can’t leave here, Mira. It’s not safe.”
“I won’t stay hiding in the castle with you and the rest of your family. I’m going after Valerio.”
“A full day has passed since I found you in the park. It’s likely that he’s dead now and you will only follow in his footsteps if you attempt to take on Artus. He’s extremely powerful.”
“All the more reason to go. Someone must avenge his death,” I said in a rough voice as grief threatened to swamp me. There couldn’t be a world without Valerio in it. Such a thing couldn’t exist. He was the one that taught me to laugh. He was the one that taught me to enjoy my gifts and powers in this dark and violent world. He was my only bright spot in the eternity that stretched out before me.
“Rest, Mira,” Sadira cooed, approaching me in such a way that I was forced back against the bed. “You’ve been through so much. I can feel what Valerio meant to you. He was a wonderful friend to you and I am grateful that he had been by your side these many years. But you have to keep in mind that he was also an old and powerful nightwalker. If he was killed by Artus, what hope do you have?”
Pain and anguish swamped me, pulling me down until I found myself sitting on the edge of the bed again. Tears slipped unchecked down my cheeks as I stared blindly ahead at a tapestry hanging on the wall. Sadira’s cool hands cupped my cheeks as she wiped away my tears. I could feel her in my mind now, weaving her way through my thoughts and memories as if she were a vine choking out the life that was growing there.
“You’re home now and safe. Away from the demands of the coven and back where I can watch over you, protect you,” she murmured in a haunting voice. While the pain of Valerio’s death consumed me, there was a simple comfort in her words. If I stayed in the castle, I would not have to go back out and deal with the coven again. I would no longer be a pawn to be batted about in the war between Jabari and Macaire. Sadira would keep me veiled from the sight of the world.
Tipping my head up, I found myself getting lost in her dark eyes. “With you home again in the castle, Artus will leave Madrid and make trouble elsewhere. We are all safe.”
I blinked a couple times as a thought came nagging back to the forefront of my mind. “That’s not what the coven wanted.”
“It doesn’t matter what the coven wants,” Sadira corrected. “All that matters is that you’re home and that the nightwalkers in this little family are safe again. Isn’t that what’s important?”
Another thought swam forward through the darkness that was crowding my brain. A memory of the coven and Jabari sitting on his chair. Jabari had protected me, taught me, loved me while Sadira had been the one to manipulate and tear me down so that I was easier to control. Jabari had sent Valerio and me to kill this warlock to protect our people. The assignment had originally been given to Valerio, but it now fell to me, following his supposed death. The coven was the true power in my world, not the promises of safety that Sadira was so carefully weaving.
“No. The important thing is killing Artus. That is what the coven ordered and that’s what I’m going to do,” I said, my voice gaining strength as I spoke.
“Is this how you’re going to honor Valerio’s sacrifice? He died trying to protect you and now you’re going to throw your life away by chasing after this warlock?”
I pulled my face out of her grasp and pushed to my feet, forcing her to take a step backward, away from me. “Valerio would respect my choice. The coven ordered that this warlock be hunted down and killed for what he has done to our people. I obey the coven. I obey Jabari’s wishes.”
Turning, I started toward the door, confidence starting to fill me once again. I was pushing Sadira out of my thoughts and I was focused on a single mission: kill Artus. Nothing else mattered.
“He’s using you, Mira,” Sadira said sharply, halting my hand as I reached for the door handle. “Jabari is only using you.”
Narrowing my eyes, I gazed over my shoulder at my maker, waiting for her to continue. Her expression had changed from one of happiness and sweet compassion to a cold, hard look. I had always suspected there was a growing animosity between the two nightwalkers, considering that Jabari had essentially stolen me right out of Sadira’s arms. I knew there was no love between them, but I wondered how far either creature would go to have complete control over me.
“Jabari is merely playing a game with you, testing you,” Sadira continued, now that she was sure that she had my full attention. “He wanted to know if I could steal you back if you were forced to enter my domain again.”
“Jabari sent Artus to Madrid?”
“Yes.”
“Jabari told Artus to kill nightwalkers?”
“Artus has killed at least a dozen nightwalkers and it is all because of Jabari.”
“And Artus has killed Valerio,” I murmured, turning to look at the door again.
“Possibly so.”
“All in the name of a tug-of-war contest between you and Jabari over control of me,” I snarled. “I’ve heard enough. I’m going to kill Artus and then I will deal with you and the Ancient.”
“Mira, you can’t think to take on Jabari,” Sadira argued. “He will destroy you or worse.”
“Worse? Worse than what? Remaining here as your puppet and witless doll? Jabari may have his games, but he doesn’t try to control my actions the way you do. I’ve had enough. Don’t come near me again.”
“Mira!” she cried, her hand falling on my shoulder as I jerked open the door. At her touch, I could feel her attempting to push into my brain again where she could warp my thoughts. I shoved her out of my mind as I shrugged off her touch. The door burst into flames as I slammed it shut behind me. Sadira’s scream of terror could be heard echoing throughout the old castle. I could hear her thoughts clearly as she called for her children to help her. She was unharmed, but flames were starting to creep around the room, scaring her. I wasn’t concerned. There was a window in the room. If she wanted freedom, she had a way out. She was first seeing who would come rushing to her rescue.
A dark smile lifted the corners of my mouth as I stalked past more than a dozen nightwalkers down the long hall. Not one of them reached out to stop me. Not one attempted to knock down the door to free their precious savior. They feared Sadira and the punishment that she would mete out, but they feared the Fire Starter more.
I didn’t know whether to believe everything Sadira had told me about Jabar
i, and in truth, it didn’t matter. My only concern now was hunting down Artus, killing him, and discovering whether Valerio was truly dead.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I focused all my powers on looking for the energy signature of the warlock and/or his apprentice somewhere within the city. It didn’t take me long to finally stumble upon a large house not far from the park where I could sense both the warlock and his young apprentice. I had a suspicion that neither were actually expecting to see me considering I had fallen back into Sadira’s hands. I was hoping to use that little bit of surprise to my advantage when I had no other edge to cling to when it came to facing down a powerful warlock.
Standing on the street outside the rambling house, I scanned it one last time before walking up the stairs. Inside I felt the faint pulse of power that was unique to nightwalkers. Artus was holding a nightwalker hostage in the cellar. The nightwalker was extremely weak, but still alive. Hope bloomed in my chest for the first time since leaving Sadira’s castle. Valerio might still be alive. He had been the only other nightwalker within the city and it made sense that he might be the one that Artus could be holding.
Wrapping that hope up in my clenched fist, I mounted the stairs and kicked in the front doors. Candles flickered around the empty hallway while oil lamps burned steadily. I was sorely tempted to force the lamps to explode in flames, coating the rugs and walls with oily fire, but I held my temper. I would need a safe route out of the house if I was going to save Valerio. Besides, I needed to save my energy for the warlock.
“You should never have come here,” echoed an empty voice as I stepped farther into the hallway. Behind me, the double doors slammed shut and locked.
“I am here for Valerio,” I said as I marched through the seemingly empty house, following the nightwalker energy signature that I could sense. After jerking open several doors at the back of the house, I finally located one that hid a set of stairs leading beneath the first floor. Darkness swallowed up the stairs, looking as if I was plunging down into the bowels of Hell itself. I didn’t hesitate. I was finally getting close to Valerio. He needed me.
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