“Is she still alive?” Tristan asked, ready to jump in the hole the moment I deemed that it was safe.
“She’s asleep,” Shelly said, her voice soft and wavering. The earth witch stepped forward and looked down on the two women, as different as night and day. Amanda was pale and blond, while the other had dark hair and tanned skin. “This is a sleep bubble. It keeps whoever is inside in a deep, protective sleep.”
“Why keep a naturi asleep with a nightwalker that you’re holding prisoner?” I asked as I knelt down across from the naturi, keeping a safe distance from the bubble. “Is the naturi torturing Amanda in her sleep?”
“Unlikely. They’re both asleep. A deep sleep. There’s no thought, no dreams. It’s like being dead.”
“It’s two prisoners,” Danaus suddenly said. “Look at her wrists.”
The naturi was curled into the fetal position, with her hands pressed against her stomach, but there was no missing the iron bands wrapped around her slender wrists or the chain connecting them together. This sleeping creature was a prisoner, an enemy of my darkest enemy. A smile flitted across my lips.
“That’s interesting,” I murmured, mostly to myself.
“What do you plan to do?” Tristan asked, taking a step away from Amanda for the first time. The situation had become more complicated. It wasn’t as simple as waking Amanda up.
I had a feeling that in order to remove Amanda, we had to get rid of the bubble, which meant waking them both up.
“I haven’t decided yet,” I truthfully replied. “A naturi has just fallen into my lap. What should I do with it?”
“Besides kill it?” Tristan snapped. “Is that…that spell hurting Amanda?” he demanded, turning his attention to Shelly. The witch had bent down to examine some marking in the dirt around the bubble.
“No, she’s perfectly safe. She’s simply asleep.”
“A healing sleep,” I added. “Something she needs right now. There’s no telling how long the naturi tortured her before we were able to get to the island. Let her sleep while she can.”
“Are you planning to keep her like this because of the naturi?” Tristan demanded, taking a step toward the hole that held Amanda as if he planned to jump in and grab her up, spell be damned.
“No, of course not. But a few more minutes won’t harm her.” I rose and walked over toward Tristan. I grabbed his hand and pulled him back a couple steps away. “We need to think this through. We have an interesting opportunity before us and we need to make the most of it.”
“What do you mean?” he said, his hand slipping from my grasp.
“Yes, Mira,” Danaus said with a hiss. “What exactly do you mean?”
“We have a naturi prisoner at our fingertips. Don’t you think it would be within our best interest to try to get some information out of her?”
“You’re not going to kill it?” Tristan shouted, pointing at the sleeping naturi as if it were a snake slithering toward them on the ground.
“Of course I’m going to kill it, but it’s all a matter of when.”
“Is it the same when’ that has Danaus’s life hanging by a thread?” Knox asked, bringing a frown to my lips. I had been saying for months now that I would kill the hunter, and it had yet to be accomplished. I still had too much use for him. I didn’t expect the naturi to be quite as useful.
“Not quite,” I growled. Walking back over toward the naturi, I crouched down low so I could closely look at it. She seemed young; a teenager somewhere between the age of fifteen and seventeen, but then that was just her appearance. The naturi aged slowly if at all. She could be centuries old and not look it. Her clothes were dirty and there was a bruise on her temple. While she hadn’t been treated as poorly as Amanda, she was no precious cargo either.
“She could be a plant,” Danaus said, breaking into my thoughts. “The naturi knew she would be of interest to you like this and took a chance that you might try to get some information out of her. She could prove to be nothing more than a spy.”
Dusting off my hands, I stood and turned to face the hunter. It was an angle I hadn’t considered. We certainly couldn’t trust her if we did bother to awaken her. “True, but who is she going to report to? We killed all the naturi within the immediate area. She has no one to report to even if she does find something out.”
“You think nightwalkers are the only telepathic creatures?” he retorted. “I bet she could talk to any naturi she wanted to, regardless of the distance.”
“And tell them what? Where to find me? They already know Savannah is my domain.”
“It’s worth the risk,” Knox said, sliding his hands into his jeans pockets. “Any information that we can gain at this point would be of value.”
“You expect her to tell the truth?” Tristan asked.
“Not at first,” Knox replied. He shrugged his wide shoulders, a dark grin lifting one corner of his mouth. “But I’m sure under enough pain she’ll talk.”
“Shelly, wake them up,” I said, taking a step back from where Amanda and the naturi were encased in the glowing blue dome of energy.
The witch stepped up to the bubble and paused to look over her shoulder at me as if questioning one last time if this was what I truly wanted. I nodded once, prodding her on.
Drawing in a heavy breath, Shelly reached her right foot forward and with the toe of her shoe smudged the circle in the dirt that surrounded Amanda and the female naturi. There was a small pop in the air as the bubble over the two completely disappeared.
“That was it?” I asked in surprise.
“Sure. It’s just a sleep spell,” she replied, stepping back at the sound of Amanda beginning to stir within her hole in the ground.
“Could you replicate it if necessary?”
“It’s been a while, but I think so.”
“Brush up on it. We may need it,” I said, returning my attention to the two creatures at my feet.
A low moan escaped Amanda as she slowly awoke and shifted in the hole. Keeping one eye on the naturi that had yet to move, I walked over to the hole so Amanda could see me.
Her beautiful blond hair was matted with dirt and blood. Her clothes were torn and the visible skin was crusted with dried blood. She had briefly walked through Hell and survived, but I was solely concerned about how it would change her. My time with the naturi had not left me a better person.
“Mira?” she whispered over cracked lips.
“I’m here. The naturi are gone,” I said in a low, soothing voice. She had not yet opened her eyes, yet when she did, she let out a wounded whimper at finding herself in what amounted to a freshly dug grave. Knox leaned down, extending his hand to her while Tristan took her elbow, both men bringing her slowly to her feet. Amanda wobbled once, and then took a long sniff of the air. She had picked up either Shelly’s or Danaus’s scent, and she was hungry. Her blue eyes glowed as they focused on the young witch and a smile curved her lips.
I stepped forward and placed a restraining hand on Amanda’s shoulder. A low rumble of warning rose from the back of her throat but I ignored it. “Amanda, you can’t feed here. Knox and Tristan will help you.” I then directed my attention to Knox, who was standing on her right. “Take the boat and get her back to Savannah. Let her hunt there. We’ll take one of the other boats back.”
“Do you need any help with…?” Knox nodded toward the naturi that still lay on the ground.
I shook my head, a frown teasing the corner of my lips. “No, we’ll be fine. Get going.”
The female naturi finally began to stir when Amanda was being helped back to the boat with Tristan and Knox. She jerked into a sitting position, the manacles jangling as she raised her hands to ward me off. Her wide green eyes swept over the area, quickly taking in me, Danaus, and Shelly.
“They’re all gone. Dead,” I confirmed, in what I thought was my most threatening voice.
I must have been off my game because she actually sighed in relief. “And you’re left with us,”
I continued, waiting for the fear or at least the burning hatred to kick in.
“Who are you?” she inquired in a soft voice that somehow reminded me of the wind.
“Could you help me take these off?” She lifted her chained wrists to me and I laughed.
“I’m a nightwalker,” I said, causing her face to crumple.
“Oh, I guess not,” she murmured, lowering her hands back to her lap.
I stood before the naturi with my hands on my hips and my legs spread wide. “Who are you?”
“My name is Cynnia. Did you come to rescue the nightwalker they were holding?”
I ignored her question. I thought it was obvious why we were there. “Why are you bound? Are you a prisoner?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” I repeated between clenched teeth when she didn’t say anything else.
“They accused me of being a traitor,” she softly said, dropping her eyes down to the iron manacles around her slender wrists.
“Mira!” Danaus snapped. I understood why he was suddenly upset. Her words had left me ill at ease as well. It was too convenient. A traitor to the naturi in the hands of the enemy.
It seemed like a dream come true, but it felt like a trap.
“Scan the area!” I replied without looking over my shoulder at him.
“Mira?” the naturi asked, her head popping up again. “Mira? As in the Fire Starter?”
“The one and only,” I said with a devilish grin. She got a good look at my fangs and lurched backward a couple feet, trying to edge away from me, but there was nowhere for her to go.
Danaus’s power swept over the island and over the surrounding marshlands. I flinched inwardly, my body still sore and aching from our earlier connection. I was in no hurry to feel his powers again.
“There aren’t any naturi in the area,” Danaus replied.
“Where’s Rowe?” I demanded, taking a step closer to Cynnia.
“Rowe?” Her voice wavered as her gaze darted from me to Shelly and then to Danaus.
“Yes, Rowe. Where is the one-eyed bastard?”
“I—I don’t know. I’ve never met him,” she said with a shake of her head.
I was on her in a flash. Kneeling next to her, I roughly grabbed a chunk of her hair and jerked her head back. I pressed my knife blade into the long line of her throat, drawing a bead of blood that slipped down her neck. “Where is Rowe?” I growled.
“I’m telling the truth. I don’t know,” she said.
“Mira!” Danaus sharply said, snapping my head around to look at the hunter. A low snarl rumbled in the back of my throat, and my upper lip curled so he could see my fangs. It was a warning. “What if she doesn’t know anything?” he asked, his right hand on the handle of the blade attached to his waist. He was ready to attack if he thought I pressed things too far.
“Then she’s going to die in agony,” I said, tightening my grip on her hair, causing her to let out a little whimper.
“Please…I—I don’t know anything,” Cynnia said. “I just arrived here and they said I planned to betray my sister. I’ve been held captive for days.” The words flowed from her like a river.
“Your sister? Who’s your sister?” I asked, lowering the knife slightly.
“Aurora,” she whispered.
I lurched to my feet and took a couple steps away from the naturi. At the same time, Danaus stepped forward so he was now standing beside me. I suspected that his thoughts were whirling away in the same direction as mine. Could it be possible? Were we truly holding the sister of the queen of the naturi? I couldn’t be that lucky, but even as my doubts mounted, I couldn’t get over the fact that she looked familiar. And now I knew why. She looked like Aurora. I’d caught a brief glimpse of Aurora centuries ago, when we battled the naturi on Machu Picchu and her frighteningly beautiful face had been burned into my brain. I would never forget it, and now I saw kneeling before me a younger, more vulnerable version of the queen.
“You’re Aurora’s sister?” I demanded slowly, needing to say the words aloud.
“Yes,” she winced, possibly realizing her vulnerability now. “Please, I love my sister. I would never do anything to harm her. I came here looking for my brother. This war needs to be stopped, and I thought my brother would be able to help me.”
“Who’s your brother?” I asked, swallowing a smile. I felt like Alice slipping down the rabbit’s hole. It all seemed too fantastic.
“His name is Nerian, and he has brown hair like me. He—”
“Had,” I interrupted coldly. “Nerian is dead.”
She lifted wide green eyes to my face, a frown pulling at the corners of her mouth. “You killed him, didn’t you?” she asked, though the question wasn’t accompanied by the splash of tears I had been expecting. In fact, she seemed quite calm about the news.
“Yes,” I hissed, grinning from ear to ear. Nerian had been my tormentor at Machu Picchu, my constant waking nightmare. I couldn’t begin to express the relief I felt at wiping his existence from the face of the planet.
Cynnia shook her head and looked back down at her hands. “I never knew him.”
“Count yourself lucky. He was a cruel, sadistic bastard. Completely insane.”
“A good soldier,” Danaus added, to my surprise. “He believed in your sister’s cause. He would never have helped you.”
“Why here? Why were you being held here?” I demanded, drawing her attention back to me.
“I don’t know. I was brought here from across the ocean. They seemed to be following someone.”
“They were following you,” Danaus said. I looked over my shoulder to find the hunter’s intense gaze locked on my face. “They followed you from Europe back to your home.”
It was an interesting theory. “Why?” I murmured, sliding my hands into my back pockets as I stared down at the naturi once again. She was a strange puzzle piece that I had to figure out if we were to survive the next few nights.
“For two possible reasons,” he said. Danaus walked forward so until he was standing beside me, his arms folded over his strong chest. “They expect you to kill her.”
“Which would not be out of the ordinary for me,” I said with a nod. I tended to kill the naturi and ask questions later. The naturi were better off burned to a crisp, not running around causing problems. “And as the sister of their queen, it could definitely work to unite the splintered factions within the naturi host. The evil nightwalker kills the sweet, innocent younger sister of Aurora, unifying them against a common evil. Of course, that’s assuming she’s telling the truth.”
Cynnia’s head popped up and her mouth fell open to argue with me, but the words halted in her throat when I pointed my blade at her.
“Or they expect you to take her hostage and torture her for information,” Danaus continued.
“That wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for me either,” I admitted with a nod. “But then they could be counting on me wanting to have control of Aurora’s so-called sister as a bargaining chip. We take her with us, and she kills us all in our sleep.”
Frowning, I slid the knife back into the sheath on my side as I stared at the naturi, turning over the different options facing me. Killing her now would rid the world of one more naturi. But leaving her alive gave me that chance to garner a little information out of her. And what better source of information could I ask for than Aurora’s sister?
What’s more, it might actually draw Rowe to my side, at long last. The naturi had been happy to appear in Venice when it looked like a naturi was being held by the Coven. If word reached him that I was holding a naturi hostage, especially if it was his wife-queen’s sister, then he might finally come running. And ending this standoff between the naturi and the nightwalkers was dependent upon Rowe finally meeting an untimely demise.
We could use her to draw out Rowe. I pushed the suggestion into Danaus’s brain, preferring to keep my plans private from both Shelly and Cynnia. The earth witch had turned a sickly shade of g
reen when I put the knife to the naturi’s throat. I was reluctant to count on her to keep her mouth shut when it came to the well-being of my new captive.
Do you think he will come for her?
Don’t know. But he hasn’t come gunning for me, so why not try something new?
We have to leave for Peru soon. We’re out of time.
I frowned. He was right, we were running out of time. But I was unwilling to waste this unique opportunity. Cynnia was the first naturi I had met that didn’t seem to immediately want to kill me or use me. I had to find a way to get a little information out of her before I finally killed her.
“Do you still have that house? The one with the basement?” I asked, looking over at the hunter from the corner of my eye.
He shook his head, a frown pulling at his lips. “No. Burned down.”
I wasn’t surprised. I had killed Nerian in that house. It would have been a perfect place to keep Cynnia locked up for a day or two, but I suspected that Danaus had seen to it that the house burned down in an effort to wipe away all evidence of both his and Nerian’s existence.
“Then we’ll take her back to my town house. Shelly, can you replicate the sleep spell that they used?”
“Th-The sleep spell?” she stammered, suddenly nervous. She wrung her hands together, her eyes darting from me to the naturi watching us. “Yes, I can duplicate it. It’s an easy enough spell.”
“It’s your lucky night,” I sneered at Cynnia. Reaching down, I grabbed the chain linking her manacles together and jerked her to feet. “You’re going to live awhile longer. And the longer you live depends on how useful you prove to be. Lie to me and you’ll wish I killed you now.”
Mira, you don’t have to be so cruel. She’s terrified as it is, Danaus chastised, following close on my heels.
I laughed. You haven’t even begun to see cruel.
Twelve
Danaus parked my car and sat with his hands gripping the steering wheel. I sat in the backseat with Cynnia, splitting my attention between my captive and Danaus, who was growing angrier by the minute. The long silent drive had given him ample time to stew about what had happened on the island.
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