In fact, my people were on the fast track to extinction. Just on the off chance that we did succeed in stopping the naturi from opening the door and flooding the world with their kind so they could start a massive war, there was still Our Liege’s plan. Pushing the Great Awakening ahead of schedule was going to start a war with every lycanthrope, warlock, and witch on the planet. The war would leak out and humans would discover us ahead of schedule in the darkest light. They would join Danaus in the hunt for nightwalkers. Our nights were numbered.
Danaus shocked me when he reached up and gently moved some hair from where it had fallen in front of my face. I looked up to find him faintly smiling down at me as two of his fingers rubbed a lock of my hair as if memorizing the feel. “Rowe won’t get you. Remember, we still have to finish our dance. I won’t let some dirty naturi kill you when I’ve promised myself that honor.”
“We’re overdue for that dance,” I said, smiling back up at him.
He shrugged his large shoulders and dropped my hair, letting his hand fall limply back at his side. “Things have gotten in the way. There’s still time.”
“Is there? What have you told Ryan about the bargain?” I asked, abruptly changing topics. I knew this might have been my only chance to question the hunter while we were completely alone. I had to know if the warlock was looking for a way to stick a knife in my back at the first opportunity.
“Against my better judgment, I’ve said nothing to him.”
“Really?” There was no hiding my surprise. I couldn’t begin to fathom Danaus. He did trust me in some strange fashion, just not when it came to controlling the baser needs of my kind. I was beginning to wonder exactly what he felt when he sensed my hunger.
Danaus shoved both of his hands through his hair as he paced a few steps away from me. “I thought you might have a plan to stop this from turning into a war among the races. Ryan is viewed very highly among the warlocks. If he says one word about what is going on in Venice, there will be no stopping the war.”
“I have been thinking about it, and no matter what we do, we’re screwed. If we let the door open, so we can get our shot at Aurora, the naturi will spill out. There’s going to be no hiding them or the war they start. The Great Awakening will happen regardless of anyone’s wishes.” I leaned back against the small crypt, folding my arms over my chest.
“And if we break the bargain?”
“Assuming we can, we stop the sacrifice and kill Rowe. Once that’s done, I imagine that Macaire will hunt me down and cut my head off after he’s done torturing me. The Great Awakening will happen within the next year and there will be war among the races, but then, I think we’re building toward that already, considering we saw a witch and a lycan traveling with a Coalition member.”
“One war or two. That’s what we face. Fighting a war on one front or on two.”
My head snapped up and I stared silently at him. I didn’t need to read his mind to know that he was thinking of the same thing I was. At some point that war was going to put us on opposite sides. He would fight with my kind against the naturi, but he would fight against nightwalkers if it meant protecting humans from us.
We had gotten accustomed to being on the same side. We fought well together, like two dancers in an intricate tango.
“We break the bargain,” I said at last, shattering the growing silence. “No bargain should be made with the naturi. We may still find a way to stop Our Liege from pulling back the veil so early. The only problem is, how do we convince the naturi faction that the bargain has been broken?”
“Besides stopping them from breaking the seal?” Danaus said, walking back toward me.
I shook my head, shifting from one foot to the other. Night was wasting away and I was exhausted. I had fed enough, but I needed my rest. Unfortunately, we needed to have this settled before we went into battle tomorrow. “It needs to be more than that. There has to be no doubt in their mind that we are the enemy and they are not going to be permitted to open the door for any reason. They need to know that we won’t allow anything to happen to Our Liege.”
“You could kill the naturi we saw in Venice,” Danaus suggested. “That could be pretty convincing.”
“A little late for that now that we’re in Crete. I can’t go running back—”
“She’s here,” Danaus interrupted. “I saw her tonight and I noticed that she wasn’t among the dead. She’s here with Rowe. Apparently, she’s making sure everything goes according to plan.”
“Sounds like a good plan to me.” I nodded, then moved my head to one side, cracking my neck. “Now get out of here so I can get some rest. We’ll come up with a more definite plan tomorrow when we have Ryan with us.”
“Hugo?” he asked hesitantly.
“Resting for now. If he’s lucky, he’ll make it through the day, but he won’t be with us tomorrow.”
Danaus nodded but didn’t move from where he stood staring at me. “I can stay.”
And a part of me desperately wished he would stay. While trapped at Themis, he’d sat outside the room where I slept helplessly throughout the day while surrounded by his brethren. He had hovered close on so many occasions while I slept that I now hated the idea of him not being there when the sun broke above the horizon. Danaus was my only sense of security in this world that was changing too fast. He threatened to destroy everything that I believed in and everything that I protected. But at the same time, he seemed to be the only one left trying to protect me.
“Get out of here. You’ll attract too much attention. I’ll be fine,” I said, waving him off.
He hesitated a moment before turning around and wandering out of the cemetery back the way he had come in. I concentrated on him with my powers until I felt him just on the edge of the city, well away from the graveyard.
My whole body ached and felt like a giant bruise. I needed some rest, but even now with the approaching dawn, I wasn’t tired. In fact, I was wide-awake with a new frightening thought. Killing the naturi wasn’t going to be enough to convince the faction that some rogue nightwalker had the power to break a promise made by the Coven. I knew what had to be done. The only problem was, I needed either Jabari or Macaire’s help to accomplish it.
TWENTY-FOUR
I didn’t want the sun to set. The dawn had finally brought on a blissful peace, sweeping me away from death, Danaus’s betrayal, and the wars that were brewing. By the time I had settled into the windowless crypt, I was trembling from exhaustion that reached down to my very core.
Lying in the stone crypt at nightfall, ignoring the sound of bugs crawling around me, I tried to focus my thoughts. I needed to know how old the night was. I needed a plan for how to deal with the naturi. But instead I got the feeling I wasn’t alone in my tiny mausoleum. I scanned the immediate area but didn’t sense anyone—not human, vampire, or warlock. Regardless, I still couldn’t shake the feeling.
My right hand tightened around the gun I’d left on my stomach while I slept. With the other hand, I pushed back the heavy stone lid to the crypt that had protected me from the sun. It was not the first time I’d slept in a cemetery, and no matter how distasteful I found it, I doubted that it would be the last. When desperate, it proved to be one of the safest places to hide without fear of being exposed to the sun.
Sitting up, I pointed the gun directly in front of me, swinging it back and forth, trying to find the creature my instincts were screaming was close. Fear and anger swelled in my stomach and I clenched my teeth. The sight of the gun wavered when my gaze fell on Jabari leaning against the wall near the door. I still couldn’t sense him, but I had known he was there. All I could figure was that he had appeared the moment I awoke for the night, and I sensed the shift of energy in the air.