Jocelynn Drake - Nightwalker

“What do you need me to do?” I asked, staring down at her.

Rowe stepped in front of me and gently grabbed my chin, tilting my head up so I was forced to look him in the eye. “You will do this?”

“It’s time to end this war.”

A half smile lifted one corner of his mouth briefly and he nodded. “You must cut out her heart and place it on the ground. Her blood must saturate the earth before we burn her heart.”

I had to be sure. I couldn’t make any mistakes now. As Rowe stepped back to my side, I took a step closer to the woman. She stared up with wide eyes, pleading silently with me to free her. But I couldn’t. She was the only human in the area. As long as she lived, she could serve as a sacrifice for the naturi whatever I did. The best I could do for her was make it quick.

Staring down at her, I focused on her heart. The slender woman gasped suddenly, shattering the silence in the night air. Her body arched off the ground and all the naturi took a step backward. The woman jerked again, this time screaming.

“What’s happening?” someone demanded.

“It’s the nightwalker! She’s killing the woman,” another voice snarled, but I didn’t look up. I remained focused on the woman’s chest until her pale blue shirt with pearl buttons finally started to blacken and catch on fire.

“Stop her!”

Rowe grabbed me and threw me backward into one of the enormous stones, breaking my concentration. I fell back to the ground, my eyes clenched shut as I waited to see if I’d hit the stone with enough force to knock loose the other stone balanced on top of it. When I wasn’t immediately crushed, I opened my eyes, trying to ignore the pain throbbing to life along my spine and in the back of my skull.

“Can we still use the woman?” Rowe demanded, looking briefly over his shoulder at the woman, who was no longer moving.

“The heart has been destroyed,” someone else confirmed.

The naturi with the eye patch turned back to me, a knife clutched in his right hand. “Then we will try it with her heart,” Rowe proclaimed.

I dug my heels into the earth and tried to scoot backward, but I was halted by giant stone sticking up from the earth. I had used the last of my powers to kill that poor woman, and now I had nothing left to save myself.

My only warning was a slight building of pressure, a shift in the powers that filled the circle, and then Jabari was standing beside me.

Rowe and the other naturi jumped back, gathering on the other side of the circle, the woman’s corpse between us. The knife in his hand trembled as he stared at the Ancient, his breath hissing between clenched teeth.

“You cannot have her,” Jabari proclaimed.

Rowe hunched forward, then a low growl escaped him as giant wings exploded from his back. As black as a moonless night, the fully extended wings were more than nine feet long from tip to tip and resembled those of a bat. “You cannot keep her forever,” he snarled, pointing his knife at Jabari.

I looked up at my onetime mentor and protector to see a wide grin split his handsome face. He extended his arm so his hand was nearly over my head. Power immediately surged through my body, ripping a whimper from my throat. It was as if strings had been attached to various parts of my body and I was pulled back to my feet. There was no voice in my head commanding me, but I could feel a presence, a subtle push of power. There was nothing to fight. Nothing to push or struggle against. I was merely a spectator in my own body. Reduced to a mere marionette.

A second wave of power pushed through my body, nearly blinding me with pain. My left arm lifted and three of the naturi exploded into balls of fire. I could feel the member of the light clan trying to extinguish the fires, but she was no match. She was engulfed in flames next.

With a single flap of the enormous wings, Rowe launched himself into the air. “See you with the dead,” he bit out, and then he was gone, leaving behind the last two naturi to be burned alive.

When the last of the naturi were reduced to ash, Jabari released me. My knees buckled and I collapsed back onto the ground. Pain seemed to be a living, breathing entity within my body. I didn’t seem to exist anymore. There was only pain and horror.

I blinked a couple of times, trying to clear my vision, and saw Jabari extend a hand toward me, offering to help me back to my feet. I jerked away from him. “Don’t touch me,” I snapped.

His dark laugh rose up in the silence, wrapping itself around me like a noose. “I don’t need to.”

A shiver rippled through me and I clenched my teeth to keep them from chattering. No. No, he didn’t need to touch me to control me.

“We go to Venice. It is the best way to protect you from the naturi,” Jabari announced.

I certainly didn’t want to admit it, but he was right. Venice was the one place I would be safe from them. They never set foot in the city. The old tales said that one of the naturi’s gods had died in what is now the city of Venice, creating the canals that wove their way among the tiny islands. The naturi supposedly couldn’t enter the city. Unfortunately, Venice was also the home of the Coven. I didn’t want to be anywhere near another Ancient, let alone near at least three of the most powerful nightwalkers in existence.

I frowned, realizing I had no options. I didn’t have the strength to fight Jabari, and even if I did, I didn’t know how. The bastard could control me like a puppet. And if I slipped away from him, I had no doubt that Rowe would cut my heart out the first time he caught sight of me. At least Jabari needed me alive for the time being. I had stopped the second sacrifice, bought us a little time. The naturi would strike again.

But the triad was reformed, even if it now included a vampire hunter. And the triad still had me, a weapon that could kill or bind them.

The sound of a car engine jerked us both from our thoughts. It was Danaus. I knew it without using my powers. It was the hunter.

“You will travel to Venice and you will bring the hunter with you,” Jabari ordered. “We will be waiting for you.”

I nodded, my eyes darting away from his face. “Sadira?”

“She has already left for Italy. She asks that you bring her child.” My gaze jumped back to his face, to find a mocking smile lifting his lips. She would demand that, keeping both Tristan and me on a short leash. As the car drew close, Jabari stepped backward and disappeared.

My eyes fell shut and it was a struggle just to remain upright. For the first time, I wondered if I’d chosen the right side. If I’d sided with the naturi, I would have been forced to kill nightwalkers and stand by while the naturi killed the humans. If I’d sided with the nightwalkers, I would have been forced to kill the naturi. And regardless of which side I might have chosen that night, the innocent human woman would still have died by my hand.

The car engine stopped and I could hear the sound of heavy footsteps running across the field. I opened my eyes in time to see Danaus come between a pair of large stones, a long knife in his right hand. His eyes quickly swept the carnage, pausing briefly on the woman that lay to my left, before he finally put his knife back in its sheath at his side.

I slowly pushed to my feet, but my legs buckled again. Danaus crossed the short distance separating us, grabbing my arms and keeping me from hitting the ground again.

“Jabari?” he asked.

“Come and gone already,” I said. My voice was harsh and rough as I forced it past the lump in my throat. “We go to Venice.” A fragile, mocking smile slipped across my lips. “We did it. We reformed the triad and even have a weapon that can stop the naturi.”

I flinched as his large hands cupped my cheeks, but the power that filled him didn’t try to push inside of me. It swirled around us, forming a warm, comforting cocoon.