Jocelynn Drake - Nightwalker

“What about mine? You’ve been sending hunters after my kind.”

“Both of our worlds are changing; much faster than I expected, I must admit. A couple centuries ago some of the things written about vampires were true. Most were ruthless hunters that killed every time they fed, but now I have found they are using some discretion. You’re still very dangerous, and without some fear of you, I worry humans will run blindly into your inviting arms.”

“I may have disillusioned poor James of some of these archaic notions. Will you silence him to keep him from infecting the rest?”

“No, of course not,” he said with a shake of his head, looking amused. “I won’t suppress the truth within Themis. However, I want them to find it on their own.”

“And the hunters? Were they your creation? Another attempt to protect your flock?” I slowly paced back over toward him, my footsteps muffled on the thick Persian rug.

Ryan had yet to move other than to turn on a heel so he was continuously facing me. “The hunters were created long before I ever joined Themis.”

“But you’ve done nothing to get rid of them since joining this little cult, despite your enlightened view of my kind.”

“What makes you think that my view of nightwalkers is so enlightened?” he countered, arching one brow at me.

“I’m here and still alive,” I said, holding out my hands, palms up at him. I stood directly in front of him, only a couple feet of empty space separating us. “You could have ordered Danaus to stake me and the others during the daylight hours, but you didn’t. I also know that you couldn’t have attained the kind of power I feel in this room without running into things far worse than me during your long years.”

“What could be worse than a nightwalker who can control fire?” he said, his smile finally returning.

“Danaus.”

Ryan’s smile instantly vanished and a shadow seemed to pass over his eyes as he stared at me, weighing my answer. We were both now standing in a field of land mines, each wondering how much the other person knew. His hands shifted in his trouser pockets, his eyes narrowing in thought. I had never run across such an eye color in any creature before—not yellow, but the true, deep luster of gold.

“Danaus is an interesting…person,” he said, pausing for a breath before continuing. “He’s had a particular interest in you during the past several years.”

“How long have you known about the naturi’s plans?” I demanded, my voice hardening. My hands balled into fists at my sides and I resisted the urge to take a step closer.

“His interest in you had nothing to do with the naturi.” Ryan’s broad shoulders slumped as he seemed to relax. He moved back to lean against the front of the desk and motioned for me to take a seat in one of the leather chairs resting before it. I was feeling indulgent, so I sat to his right, crossing my legs as I waited for him to continue.

“Before arriving on Themis’s doorstep,” he said, “I understand that Danaus spent many years living with monks, who taught him that good and evil was a black-and-white issue in this world. Humans were created by God and were innately good. By that logic, everything else was evil and had to be exterminated. You were an interest of his because you seemed to embody the ultimate evil. A nightwalker, a human that has turned from God, that can control fire, directly linking you to Satan and all that is evil.

“You’re somewhat of a mythical creature among your own kind. It took him almost a decade to track down your given name. Most still just know you as the Fire Starter.”

“‘Mira’ doesn’t strike the same kind of fear,” I said with a shrug.

“Danaus became quite determined to find and destroy you…” Ryan paused, staring at me. A dark shadow seemed to passed over his face as he regarded me with his too perceptive eyes, sending a chill up my spine. I suddenly wished that I wasn’t seated so close to the warlock.

“And then something changed for him. In all his searching and digging, not once did he hear a tale of you killing a human. Of course, there were numerous stories of you slaughtering your own kind, particularly those who had carelessly killed humans.”

“But he thought I killed when I fed,” I interjected, recalling our conversation during the plane ride to Egypt.

“True, but I think he was beginning to have doubts about that old myth as well. Before we discovered the naturi’s sacrifice, he had stopped his search for you. You were beginning to raise some uncomfortable questions…I think he was even contemplating leaving Themis. When I sent him to look for you in the States, he had regained his resolve to destroy you.” Ryan paused, staring thoughtfully. I knew he must have made sure that Danaus once again had ample motive to go after my head. “But something has changed for him.” Ryan said the last softly, as if thinking aloud rather than talking to me. I knew his thoughts as though I’d read them. He was wondering about that change. Danaus had more than enough opportunities to kill me but he hadn’t, and protected me on more than one occasion.

“He’s learned that Themis doesn’t have all the right answers,” I said stiffly. “He’s not pleased with your little group at the moment. Danaus has been misled and used. You’ve lied to him.”

“I never lied to Danaus,” Ryan said. The warlock frowned at me, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “If he asked, I would have told him all I knew of your kind. He had his mind made up about nightwalkers long before I was born.”

“You could have told him.”

“He had to discover it on his own.”

“Nice excuse,” I said snidely. “You had your own agenda, and the fact that you could use Danaus’s misinformed conclusions to your advantage provided you with no moral dilemma.” I leaned forward in the chair, tightly gripping the arms.

“Don’t we all.” He shrugged his wide shoulders. “I wish you would not think so ill of me, Mira. We have the same goal.”

A dark smile lifted the corners of my mouth as I stood. “I doubt that.”

“I’ll give you that you probably have more fun at it than I do, but our goal is the same: maintain our secret as long as possible.”

“Is that your goal?”

“I’m not the villain you want me to be. We’ve both done things to keep the humans from discovering what surrounds them. You’ve killed numerous nightwalkers that jeopardized the secret. I’ve done the same with the hunters. We’re both guardians, protecting that fragile wall that separates our world from the world of the humans.”

Ryan stood a step forward, closing the distance between us to less than a foot. He slowly raised his hand, with his finger bent, and held it beside my cheek. “May I?” he whispered.

“May you what?” I watched him through narrowed eyes. Warlock or not, I could still be on the other side of the room before he moved.

“I just wish to touch your face.”

I stared, confused at him for a second, my brow furrowed. It seemed an extremely strange request coming from him, but I didn’t think it was necessarily a trick. When a witch or warlock casts, you can feel the building of power in the air. Of course, Ryan was more powerful than any I had known before. There was enough energy in the air already that I might not notice any specific shift. But I nodded, regardless.

Noticing my wariness, he inched his hand forward until the back of his fingers gently caressed my check, sliding down from my cheekbone and along my jaw. His skin was warm and I felt only a slight jolt of energy from the contact, but nothing more. It was his voice that actually held me entranced briefly. “Forgive me,” he murmured. “You’re not as cold as I expected.”