“Jabari, I—I…” I hesitated. I had some fears about our plan, but I didn’t want to volunteer my solution unless it was absolutely necessary. “Do you still mean to kill me?”
Lifting one hand, he cupped my cheek as he leaned forward and brushed his lips against my other cheek. His lips strayed down my jaw to my bare neck, sending a chill sweeping through my entire body. “My fragile desert blossom,” he murmured in my ear. “I want you dead in the worst way. But for now I have a use for you, so you live.”
That’s what I thought. I was trapped, surrounded by creatures that wanted me dead, but for now all seemed to have a use for me as some kind of weapon against the naturi. Except for Rowe. He wanted to use me as a weapon against the nightwalkers.
I bit back a sigh as Jabari stepped away from me. Our course was set. The big bad Ancient could make it sound easy all he wanted, but I knew the truth. When we walked back into the Minoan ruins that night, the naturi were going to throw everything they had at us to ensure that they completed the sacrifice. There was no way they were going to let us stop them a second time.
TWENTY-FIVE
Ryan and Danaus were waiting for us along the road to the Palace of Knossos. Both of them looked surprised to find Jabari walking beside me, but neither one asked about Hugo, which was probably the smartest course of action. His absence indicated that he either hadn’t made it through the day or was too weak to aid us tonight.
After last night’s freak storm, summer had returned to the island, leaving the air thick and heavy like a sweat-soaked blanket. The wind was silent, allowing any noise we made to travel easily to our intended prey. But I didn’t actually have much hope of sneaking up on them anyway.
As we walked along the side of the road, bits of gravel crunching beneath my feet, I completed my weapons check for the second time. The weapons Danaus gave me when we flew into Venice had been reorganized due to the unexpected arrival of James and Ryan. One of my guns now rested with James, whom I suspected was once again pouting alone in the hotel room. My sword had also been replaced with a pair of knives that rested in holsters strapped around my legs. I had more experience with close, hand-to-hand fighting, and my speed made me more lethal with a knife. The sword had been handed off to Danaus.
However, I still had one of the detested guns the hunter had given me. I pulled the Browning from where it rested at my lower back and ejected the magazine from the butt of the gun. The magazine wasn’t fully loaded.
“Here,” Danaus said, walking up beside me.
I looked down at the spare magazine he extended toward me. With a grunt, I accepted it, sliding it into my back left pocket. I hadn’t forgiven him. I wanted to spend several nights beating him senseless for what he’d done. A part of me also wanted to curl up into a ball and weep. But the naturi were gathering and I didn’t have time for either, so I accepted the bullets and kept walking.
“What’s the plan?” Ryan inquired from the rear of the line.
“Jabari,” I quickly said, hoping the nightwalker would happily step up into the lead. He was, after all, an Ancient and an Elder member of the Coven.
“This is your dance, Mira. You may lead. I am here only to fill in for the fallen nightwalkers,” Jabari called from behind me. I could almost hear his mocking laughter with each syllable. Rat bastard.
I hesitated, resisting the urge to look over at Danaus. Had he told Ryan about the Coven deal with the naturi?
“We have to face the fact that it is very unlikely the human they have selected for the sacrifice will survive,” I slowly began. My stomach churned with each ugly word I uttered. “Even if we rescue this person, as long as he or she in the area of the palace, they can be used as the sacrifice. The only way to eliminate the risk is to eliminate all humans from the area.”
“You’re saying kill the human before the naturi get the chance?” Ryan said. There was no surprise or disgust in his tone. He had asked matter-of-factly, as if simply confirming what I’d said.
“Our main focus needs to be eliminating the naturi threat,” I replied, aware of Danaus and evading a direct response. “Jabari and I will focus on Rowe. We will need you and Danaus to keep the naturi off our backs.”
If anyone was planning to comment on my ultracrappy planning skills, they lost out on the opportunity because we had reached the edge of the palace. With the gun clenched in my right hand and a knife in my left, I moved onto the first step leading up to the palace and paused. There was no time for fear or anger now. It was time to just worry about killing Rowe and surviving the next hour or so.
The energy I had felt last night was nothing compared to what I felt beating against me now. Ryan had created a storm with the force to not only destroy all of Crete but also wipe out several of other islands in the region, and it hadn’t even dented the energy I now felt vibrating in the air. It pushed against my skin, determined to once again find entrance into my body. I couldn’t use my powers tonight. This energy would shred me.
“They’re here,” Danaus murmured.
My head jerked toward the hunter, forcing me from my dark thoughts. “How many?”
“About two dozen. Most are centered in the main clearing, but there are a few hanging back toward the south. Two more are in the air.”
Before shifting my weight to take the next step, I scanned the area as well, looking for the exact location where the human was being held. The naturi would wait until the night was near its peak, but they would be preparing the human. I was willing to guess that Rowe was hovering close to the human as well. But the naturi managed to surprise me again.
“Damn it,” I snarled in a low whisper. I stepped backward and lowered my gun.
“There are three,” Jabari said from behind me, stating what I’d just discovered. I walked a few feet away from the entrance to the ruins, flipping the safety of the gun back on in an effort to keep from putting a bullet in my foot in a moment of frustration. There were three humans at the center of the ruins. Not one. Three.
“Decoys?” Danaus asked, drawing my gaze to his face for a flash.
I looked away just as quickly, my eyes darting from Danaus to Ryan before finally settling on Jabari. “Yeah, maybe,” I softly said, holding the Elder’s eyes.
“And one of those decoys is James,” Ryan announced.
“What? How?” I gasped, feeling the need to point my gun at the warlock. Bringing the human along had always felt like packing live bait to me, and now the young man was caught.
“He was grabbed during the middle of the day,” Danaus answered. “He ran down to the corner store and never returned.”
I wanted to smack them both for letting James out of their sight. Hadn’t my own mistake with allowing Michael to get involved in a fight against the naturi taught them anything? Humans only ended up dead when the naturi and nightwalkers were involved.
We needed to hurry now. It had been night for more than an hour already. They could have started the process. While they might not complete the sacrifice until the peak of the night, the naturi could spend several hours in the ritual, removing the human’s various organs and burning them. They would keep James alive and conscious right up until the end. But we wouldn’t have any hope of saving him if they had already cut him open.
“New plan,” I announced, insanely hoping I could convince Danaus and Ryan to go along with my newest bout of insanity. “There are three humans but only one is the true sacrifice. I will go after Rowe and keep the bastard occupied. Danaus will focus on freeing James and getting him over to Ryan. Once Ryan has James, the two of them will return to Heraklion.”