Jocelynn Drake - Dawnbreaker

“It could help when we go against the naturi at the next sacrifice.”

“Any word on when and where that will be?” I asked as I slowly mounted the stone stairs to the patio. With a wave of my hand, I lit a handful of candles I kept outside for Danaus’s benefit. His eyesight was nearly as keen as mine, but I imagined that he would feel at least a little more comfortable in the circle of candlelight.

“No word from Themis yet. The fall equinox is coming up, and our theory is that they will strike then.”

“I thought as much.” I slumped into a chaise and stared into the candlelight while Danaus chose a chair across from me.

“If you’re going to learn how to control the power you get from the earth, you’re going to need a teacher,” he said, thoughtfully scratching the dark stubble on his chin.

“I doubt I’m going to find someone listed in the yellow pages,” I sneered, shoving one hand through my hair to push it out of my eyes.

“True. You need an earth witch.”

“Hmmm…yeah, that would be a great idea if all the earth witches weren’t already sided with the naturi. I’d rather not get a mentor that was trying to kill me at every turn.”

“Not all of them are.”

Grabbing both arms of the chaise lounge, I pulled myself up until I was sitting on the edge of the seat. “You know of someone,” I announced softly.

“Yes.”

“Is this person associated with Ryan in any way?” I asked, dreading the answer. I didn’t want the head of Themis involved in my training, if it was at all possible.

“No, she’s outside of Themis. I met her months ago when I was looking for you. She lives just north of here in Charleston.”

“Girlfriend?” I demanded, leaning in close for his answer, but he only snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s right. The powerful Danaus doesn’t participate in such base human emotions such as love and lust. You just kill.”

“Much like you,” he countered quickly.

“No, I loved Michael,” I whispered as I pushed to my feet. I had loved my bodyguard, and the naturi stole him from me. “Sometimes living is about taking ugly risks that don’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell. But all in all, those are the risks truly worth taking.”

“I take risks.”

“Calculated ones.”

“Working with you is a calculated risk?” he demanded, arching one eyebrow at me.

A smile finally teased at my lips as I looked down at him. It was a calculated risk, but one that was only slightly in his favor. We both hated the naturi and we both had a deeply ingrained sense of honor. Beyond that there was little else keeping us from killing each other. “Please contact the earth witch for me. See if she will come to Savannah. I have some questions I would like to ask her.”

“Do you want me to bring her here?”

“No!” I caught the panicked flare of my temper and cleared my throat. “Take her to my town house in the city. I’ll meet you both there when she arrives. My secret home outside the city is starting to feel significantly less secret than it had before.”

It was nearly an hour later before I finally shed my dark shadow so I could travel to my next meeting alone. While I appreciated Danaus’s presence when there were so many naturi wandering around, I needed to take care of this next matter alone, though I still had mixed feelings about it.

I meandered through the cemetery with the heels of my boots sinking into the soft earth. The rains that summer had been heavier than usual, leaving the earth feeling like a damp sponge. The graveyard was outside the city limits, but judging by the headstones, was as old as the city herself. Angels wept, their faces streaked with time and wear. Grave markers were worn to the point that the names could be made out only by touch now. I wandered toward the back of the expansive graveyard and crossed a small stone bridge that led to an isolated island in the middle of a large lake.

With the death of my first bodyguard, I had purchased all the plots on the island. Here, I would give my guardians their resting place. Upon reaching the island, I paused before the gravestones of Thomas and Filip. Neither had served me long, preferring to pick fights with creatures they had no business tangling with. There had been nothing I could do to stop their unfortunate deaths.

And then I came to Michael. The last of my bodyguards to die. After he had been hired, I referred to him and my current bodyguard, Gabriel, as my guardian angels. Michael, with the golden hair and sweet smile, looked after me with an unwavering vigilance. He protected me during the daylight hours and chased away the darkness during the night.

Now I simply wanted to weep for him. I should never have brought him with me to England. After it became clear that the naturi were hunting me down in Egypt, I should have sent him straight back to the United States where he and Gabriel would be safe. But instead I kept him close to me out of my own selfishness. And the result was his death.

To make it worse, I didn’t even have his body to bury here among his comrades in arms. According to Ryan, his body had been stolen away by the naturi for some bizarre reason.

I knelt down in the damp grass and ran my fingers over the letters of his name etched into the thick marble slab. My fingertips slid over the smooth edges as I tried to recall his crooked smile or the rough feel of the tiny hairs along his arms. Gabriel had taken care of all of the arrangements once he returned to the United States, and I visited as frequently as I could. I didn’t want the naturi to see me here. I wouldn’t fight them while standing over Michael’s grave. My angel deserved his rest. He had earned it.

Behind me a shoe scuffed along the concrete of the bridge that connected the island to the shore. I had sensed Gabriel coming, but he was being polite by making a little noise to announce his arrival. He didn’t want to catch me unaware with his new guest.

While they approached, I scanned the entire graveyard to find that we were completely alone. Well, as alone as we could be. I couldn’t sense the naturi, and was beginning to wonder if I should have brought Danaus along for the meeting. This was as good a site as any for an ambush.

You trust this one? I sent the question winging into Gabriel’s mind. The unexpected words caused him to nearly stumble but he quickly recovered.

Less than the others before him, but more than any of the others I was considering. He concentrated on making the sentence as clear in his head as possible so I could read it. Gabriel wasn’t a telepath, but I had taught him to arrange his thoughts in such a way that I could easily read his response without the clutter of other thoughts and emotions.

“I pray to you do not regret the choices you’ve made that have brought you to this point,” I announced in the air without turning from Michael’s empty grave.

“I think I have stepped beyond the point of regrets,” came a reply from a soft, even voice I had never heard before. The accent was Asian, possibly Japanese. I hadn’t spent a great deal of time in the region, so my knowledge of the dialects and accents was weak.

Wiping all expression from my pale face, I turned and looked at my newest companion. He stood just over five and a half feet tall, with a slender build and short spiky black hair. His age was hard to determine. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties, but the images and memories running through his mind spoke of a life lived much longer. He had to be closer to ten years older, at least.

“As I am sure that you have been told, my name is Matsui,” he said with a slight bow of his head.

“Yes, Gabriel also told me that you came looking for me and that you already know what I am,” I replied, keeping a comfortable distance between us. “How do you know of me?” As I asked the question, I sat within his mind. I could not read many of his thoughts, as I didn’t understand the language, but I saw the images in his head. He had known other nightwalkers.