“Stupid humans,” Rowe growled, letting his arm fall back to his side. “You’ll never gain the ability to control the weather. The earth is beyond your comprehension.”

“Wow!” I mocked, luring his stare back to me. “I would never have guessed you to be an elitist prick.” Gathering up my energy before Ryan could tap it, I created a fireball in each hand. Because of the ceaseless rain, I put a little more energy behind it.

But something unexpected happened. The energy that had been pressing against me finally found a way into my body. The softball-size fireballs I had attempted to create appeared in my hands larger than basketballs, crackling and spitting in horrific fury. I hurled both of them at Rowe before I could contemplate it any further. However, once the energy found a way into my system, I had no way of stopping it. The power continued to flow in, hot and biting.

I blinked, struggling to rise above the flow of power, watching as Rowe darted away from the fireballs. With the energy filling me, I had no choice but to continue to pitch fireballs at the dark naturi in hopes of setting the bastard on fire. Not the easiest of tasks even with the free flow of energy. I had an amazing source of power, but I didn’t have the same level of control I had perfected over the long centuries.

As Rowe hit the ground, he swung one arm at me. A bolt of lightning plunged from the sky, striking a few feet from where I stood. I lurched backward, my onslaught of fire halted. Rowe took advantage of the pause to cause the storm to build again. Lightning bolt after lightning bolt hammered the earth, each striking closer and closer to me. He was driving me back, farther from him and the center of the clearing.

Keeping me on the run was also stopping me from using the power building within my body. I couldn’t force it out. I couldn’t stop it. The only relief I could find was to use the energy, but I couldn’t concentrate on using my ability if I was dodging lightning bolts.

Mira.

The relief I felt at the sound of Danaus’s voice within my mind was instantaneous. I had been so centered on taking out Rowe, I forgot that the hunter was lurking somewhere about.

What do you need me to do?

Get Ryan out of here. They could use him, I ordered in a brief respite between strikes. I quickly threw another fireball at Rowe, but it went wide of its mark and struck another naturi, bathing him in liquid orange flames. I hadn’t had enough time to concentrate and aim.

Another lightning bolt. It hit far too close. I jumped but didn’t look at where I would land. My right foot came down on a large chunk of rock and I fell backward, landing heavily on my back. I cried out as the pain shot through my spine and ribs. My control slipped on the energy that was vibrating through my body. A wall of fire whooshed up around me with an angry roar.

Laying on my back, I looked up to find a circle of fire surrounding me, reaching up more than ten feet into the heavens. The snapping orange and yellow flames encased me like an oven, drying my clothes and hair, sucking away cold that had chilled me to my bones. I hadn’t thought of the wall of flames. After more than six hundred years, it was a reflexive move, like raising my hand to protect my eyes from a bright light.

Mira! The frantic shout in my head was my only warning. Danaus was there. More than just a presence in my head, he was inside me, his power burrowing down into me until I could no longer separate myself from him. Pain exploded in my frame. I thought my bones were going to splinter under the force of the energy he was pushing into me.

I nearly shouted at him to release me when I realized that as his energy filled me, the energy flowing into me from the earth was being pushed out. The circle of fire was shrinking back down into the earth. I lay still, letting my eyes fall shut as I concentrated on the war being fought within me, but without my influence.

“Mira!” Danaus shouted. He was still within me, but he was calling now. He was close.

“I’m fine,” I muttered, but that was questionable. My body hurt in a hundred different ways, making me wish I’d let Rowe hit me with a lightning bolt. I couldn’t imagine a nightwalker surviving such a thing. Of course, it would be just my luck that I would.

Release me, I said to Danaus, using our private connection. No reason to let everyone in on our little secret. We had enough problems. Slowly, I felt him pull his powers out of my body, leaving me feeling cooler, emptier. I immediately noticed that the power I had felt pouring from the earth into me didn’t return, but went back to pushing against my skin.

A light rain splattered on my face and a grumble of thunder rolled in the distance, pulling me back to the present. I lurched back into an upright position, wincing at the pain in my back and in my head. Rowe had been firing lightning bolts at me only moments ago. But now he was gone. All the naturi were gone.

“Where?” I whispered in confusion, pushing back some hair that had fallen around my face.

“They left,” Penelope answered as she hesitantly stepped closer. “When the wall of fire went up, they ran.” I briefly wondered if this new cautious attitude was the result of the havoc Danaus and I had created when we destroyed so many naturi near Stonehenge.

“Should we follow?” Danaus asked. The hunter extended one hand to me, offering to help me back to my feet. I hesitated only a second, frowning at his hand. Before when he had pushed his powers into me, he needed to be touching me. But, much like Jabari, Danaus had learned to do it without touching me. I didn’t want to know how far away he’d been at the time.

“No,” I said, shaking my head as I regained my feet with his help. I had a feeling we had a new problem. “We need to find out what happened to Hugo first.”

TWENTY-TWO

Penelope and I stumbled across the clearing, weaving through the crumbling remains of the ruins until we reached the far eastern edge of the Palace of Knossos. We could still sense the nightwalker’s soul, but it was weak and thready. He wasn’t going to last much longer if he didn’t receive help very soon. The rain had slowed to a light drizzle, more annoying than anything, as it added a chill to the air we shouldn’t have felt for a late summer evening.

Slipping in a patch of mud, I finally located Hugo lying under a couple of trees, covered in blood. I hadn’t liked leaving him alone to face the naturi, but I was short on help. I had hoped that his enormous size would add some menace to his figure and deter the naturi without him needing to raise a sword or gun. Instead they had taken advantage of the fact that he was alone and overwhelmed him.

I knelt beside the wounded nightwalker. His eyelids fluttered as he attempted to open his eyes. I hadn’t made a noise in my approach, but he could sense me. I laid a hand on his barrel chest and he flinched at my touch. There was a long cut on his throat and another across his middle. Shallow cuts covered his arms and legs. His face was bruised, with his left eye nearly swollen shut. Hugo was lucky they hadn’t cut off his head or carved out his heart. They had left him to suffer as pints of blood slowly poured from his body. He was losing blood too fast for his body to heal the wounds and hold in the blood.

Looking over my shoulder at Penelope, who was staring white-faced down at Hugo, I ordered her to fetch a car. We needed to move the giant vampire. If we were going to be lucky enough to save him, we couldn’t do it here.

“What should we do?” Ryan inquired, taking Penelope’s place behind me.

I gritted my teeth, catching a whiff of his blood on the slight breeze. It wouldn’t help Hugo. Ryan wasn’t a candidate for a donation. Warlock blood didn’t always go well with every nightwalker, and I didn’t see Danaus allowing it even if Ryan agreed.