Jocelynn Drake - Wait for Dusk

A part of me longed to burn him. I wanted to wash him away in a river of flames that reached nearly to the ceiling of the hall, but I couldn’t risk him escaping me when I let go of Jabari’s powers. Instead I was content to kill him the old fashioned way.

“No!” Macaire screamed as I raised my right fist. He tried to catch it with his wounded left hand that was still leaking sizzling blood, but he was too weak from my earlier attack. My fist punctured his breast plate and went straight to his heart. His blood was just below the boiling point, burning my flesh.

I screamed in pain and triumph as I wrapped my fingers around his shriveled heart and slowly pulled it free of his chest. Macaire immediately went limp as his soul fled his body, released from a long lifetime locked in that frail frame. It wasn’t enough. I dropped the heart at my side and grabbed his head underneath his chin and ripped it from his neck with a sickening cracking of bone and tearing of flesh.

Standing on wobbly legs, I hovered over Macaire’s headless, lifeless corpse. All the energy I had felt slipped from my body and resumed its flow around me as if I were nothing more than a large rock in a stream. Smiling, I walked over to Macaire’s chair on the dais. Hooking the heel of my boot under the edge of the chair, I tipped it over onto its back, sending a loud crash through the silent hall.

“It seems we have another opening,” I announced. I turned around to face the crowd of nightwalkers that was closely watching me. “Do we have any takers?”

Silence followed for several tense seconds before Stefan finally stepped forward. A part of me relaxed—I had been concerned that Valerio might go for the open spot, when I had promised it to Stefan already. I didn’t want Valerio on the coven. I had other, better, uses for him. Stefan and I would never see eye-to-eye on most matters, but we agreed on one thing that was important: the naturi. I knew that he would not be making secret alliances with the naturi, jeopardizing the future of our kind or the life of Our Liege.

“I claim the open seat on the coven,” Stefan proclaimed in a loud, strong voice.

I nearly laughed in my delight. Macaire’s blood had not even grown cold yet and he had already been replaced.

“I recognize your claim to the coven,” I replied. “Does anyone want to counter his claim?” Silence once again reigned. Stefan’s quick claim to the coven and my obvious support left everyone fearful to move, let alone question the nightwalker’s claim to the open chair. After watching my brutal slaughter of Macaire, no one was willing to question Stefan, which pleased me because it put Stefan in my debt. I could use a favor for him on a rainy evening.

“Apparently not,” I chuckled. With a sweeping bow, I backed away from the tipped over chair, directing Stefan to come forward. The Ancient’s face was expressionless as he turned the chair right side up. He paused, looking over the gathered nightwalkers as if surveying his new kingdom before finally taking a seat.

I turned as well, but toward the coven, my gaze traveling from Elizabeth’s look of horror, to Stefan’s expression of reserved contentment, to Jabari’s quiet rage. He and I would still have to have words, but for now he could wait. He’d gotten his wish, and his enemy had finally been vanquished by his little protégé.

As I took my first step toward my seat, a low chuckle filled the hall. I paused and looked around, trying to determine where it was coming from when it finally dawned on me that it was coming from Our Liege’s chair. Everyone looked up and a chill went through the room when they saw that the chair was still empty.

But it wasn’t really. I could feel Nick’s energy filling that chair. I could easily imagine him lounging in that chair with one leg thrown over the arm, looking for all the world as if he owned the place. He wasn’t Our Liege. I didn’t know who Our Liege was, and I wasn’t looking forward to that meeting, but I knew it wasn’t Nick. He had been around for my battle with Macaire, whispering dark secrets into the back of my brain. Nick goaded me on, firing the anger that seemed to burn relentlessly inside of me beyond all reason.

I had not only succeeded in fulfilling Jabari’s wishes that night, but I’d also achieved what Nick wanted. I had learned to control the powers of both Jabari and Danaus. The only problem was that I knew Jabari could still fight me, stop me if I tried to do it at a moment when he wasn’t in accord with my wishes. I had a feeling that Danaus could do the same.

The laughter stopped as suddenly as it started, and everyone was left scratching their heads, naturally assuming that Our Liege had made a rare visit. Nick’s energy faded from the room, which was now filled with the heavy scent of blood. He seemed content to leave me alone for a while. I had accomplished his great task, but I knew he would be back for more at a later date. I would have to find a way to escape him.

But not now.

My legs were trembling with fatigue as I shuffled down to my seat on the dais. My body was suddenly filled with a hundred aches and pains I had not noticed earlier, and my chest felt as if a heavy weight rested on my heart. As I resumed my seat, my eyes fell on Tristan’s limp body and my heart broke for a second time. I had destroyed the man that had tortured him, but I had been unable to save him. And that’s all I ever wanted for Tristan. I just wanted to save him from the world.

My right hand trembled where it hung over the arm of the chair, sending a fresh cascade of blood drops to the floor. I slumped low and rested my head against my left hand while placing my elbow on the arm of the chair. My eyes didn’t drift from Tristan until I felt fingers twine themselves around my fingers. I looked down at my right hand in confusion to find Danaus’s hand wrapped around mine. Gazing up at his face, I saw a pair of beautiful blue eyes caressing my face. He was there for me, standing between me and the rest of the nightwalker nation. He was there watching over me.

In that moment, I knew that Danaus was my last refuge, my only harbor of peace and security. He was my happiness. And the only thing standing between me and complete oblivion.

I wish to thank my amazing agent, Jennifer Schober, as I know I would be lost without her guidance. I also wish to thank my wonderful and patient editor, Diana Gill, for demanding the absolute best from me. Thanks for always pushing me so hard!

The Dark Days Novels

N IGHTWALKER

D AYHUNTER

D AWNBREAKER

P RAY FOR D AWN

W AIT FOR D USK