Wait for Dusk (37 page)

Maybe he was right. How were we going to make this work?

I walked over to the desk and leaned my hands against the top, staring down at the piece of paper on which I’d written the names of the leaders of Budapest. Picking up my pen, I drew an X through Ferko’s name. One down, four to go.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Danaus walk into the room still completely naked and oblivious to the broken bit of furniture and glass that still littered the ground.

“Why did you leave?” he asked as he came to stand behind me. “I wasn’t done with you yet.”

“I thought I’d give you a chance to recover,” I said, not moving from where I stood leaning over the desk.

Danaus reached down and pulled up the edge of the robe so my backside was exposed. I started to stand upright when he placed a firm hand on my lower back, keeping me bent over. His other hand swept over my thighs before he reached between my legs. He inserted two fingers inside me, drawing a groan from my throat as my eyes drifted shut. “Why did you run from me?” he demanded as he drew his fingers in and out.

“I didn’t,” I croaked. My throat would no longer work and I was choking on the words. “I thought you needed to rest.”

“You’re wrong and you’re lying,” he said. He removed his fingers and immediately pushed his rock hard penis back inside of me. He slowly drew it out and then pushed it back inside. “So wet,” he murmured. “Just for me. So tight and so wet, just for me.”

His words sent a shiver through my body as I could feel his pleasure. He grew harder and thicker as he moved within me. From this angle he was deeper than he had been before, driving me insane with his slow movement when I wanted him hard and fast.

“It’s never just sex between us, Mira. It never could be,” he whispered in a rough voice. He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to my shoulder that nearly brought tears to my eyes. “Does this feel like just sex to you? Do you think that’s even possible between us?”

“No,” I groaned as I tried to quicken the pace, but he held me still. He moved with a slow pace, driving me toward madness as he brought me to the edge of an orgasm, but I couldn’t quite reach it.

“Then why say it?”

“Because you have doubts. You don’t think we can work. I heard your thoughts,” I admitted. I tried to reach between my legs to touch myself, to finally push my body over the edge I was teetering on, but Danaus grabbed my hands and held them down on the desk and leaned forward.

“I have doubts, but I’m willing to try. It’s the best I can offer,” he said, growing still as his voice became deeper and huskier. “Will you try? I need you, Mira. Try for me.”

“I’ll try,” I whispered. I leaned over and pressed a kiss into his arm, loving the feel of him wrapped around me and pressed deep inside of me.

“Thank you,” he said. He reached down between my legs, pressing his fingers into my clitoris. My body jerked and hummed with a newfound tension as he pulled me back toward the edge. He picked up the pace, pounding his body inside of mine, earning a whimper from me as I hovered just short of an orgasm.

And then my world shattered. My bowstring taut body snapped and everything exploded as wave after wave of pleasure hammered through my frame, leaving me weak-kneed and shaking. Danaus held tight to my hips as he continued to pound into me until his body went stiff with the orgasm that swept through him.

Panting and covered in a fresh sheen of sweat, he leaned over me and bit my shoulder. “You’re mine, vampire, from here until the end. You are mine.”

I laughed at him. I was feeling light-headed and more than a little giddy. It had been too long since I’d last been touched, since I had last felt these warm feelings of concern and passion. It had been too long since either of us were happy.

“Then take me back to bed, hunter,” I commanded in a weary but contented voice. “Take me back to bed so you can be sure that I stay yours.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

U
nfortunately, any additional quality time was cut short by the appearance of Stefan in the hotel suite. He was considerate enough to appear in the living room instead of the bedroom where Danaus and I were spread naked across the bed. Danaus brushed his lips across my temple and heaved a deep sigh.

“Can I stake him?” he asked, running his fingers up and down my back in a slow caress.

I snuggled closer as I smiled. “No, you can’t.”

“Can you at least get rid of him?”

Leaning up on my elbow, I looked down at him. “I’m afraid not. We need to make plans for how we’re going to get rid of Veyron and his companions.”

“Back to work,” he groaned, sitting up in bed.

“Back to work.”

After pulling on some clothes, I went out to keep Stefan occupied until Danaus could join us. The nightwalker was also considerate enough not to make any comment on my obviously disheveled appearance. There was no question as to what we were doing.

Setting an overturned chair back on its four legs, I sat down on the soft cushion. “How’s Valerio?”

“Better. He should be arriving shortly.”

As if summoned by our words, Valerio appeared near the entrance to the room. He gazed about, arching one eyebrow at the chaos. “I see the cleaning service hasn’t been through yet. Of course, if you’re comfortable with this arrangement, who am I to judge?” he said blandly.

I jumped out of my chair and rushed over to him. The nightwalker gave a slight grunt when I wrapped my arms around him, but he returned the hug. Seeing him strung up on the cross with a stake in his chest had terrified me. I knew I’d come to close to losing him.

“So glad to see you still alive, old man,” I said, brushing a kiss across his chin.

“I am glad to still be alive,” he said with smile. His cheeks were still a little paler than usual and he didn’t look as strong on his feet as he should. He was not up to his full strength yet, but coming back to Budapest was a start. As I stepped away from him, I noticed the smile fade from his lips. “However, I am disappointed to hear that you had a chance to kill my captor and you let him go. I’m curious to know why.” His words were deceptively calm and neutral, but I could sense frustration boiling away inside of him.

“I would like to know why you didn’t kill Rowe either,” Danaus spoke up. I spun around to find him standing in the bedroom doorway with his arms folded over his chest. At least he looked as he always did, with his dark clothes and sturdy boots. I, on the other hand, was skipping around the room barefoot, trying to avoid shards of broken glass, chunks of wood, and spent bullet casings. “He’s hunted you for months, Mira. He’s going to continue to do so. Why take such a risk as leaving him alive?”

“I couldn’t in good conscience kill him.”

“You couldn’t in good conscience kill the creature that was going to end my existence?” Valerio repeated, humor and sarcasm filling his voice.

“I’m sorry, but no. Rowe was trapped in a tiny cell with me all throughout the day. He had more than ample opportunity to kill me while I was unconscious and vulnerable, but he didn’t. I don’t know why he didn’t kill me, and in truth, I don’t want to know. The only thing that matters is that he didn’t. In repayment for that act of clemency, I agreed that no one would attack him so long as he did not attack me or anyone within my party while we attempted to escape Veyron’s house. He kept to his part of the agreement, so I kept to mine.”

“So, you’re not going to kill him now?”

A deep laugh escaped me as I wandered back over to my chair and plopped down. “Of course I’m going to kill him. If I see him on the battlefield again, I’m sure neither one of us will hesitate to attack, but I promised for that brief period of time at Veyron’s that I would not attack him. It was the fair thing to do.”

“Fair thing? He tried to kill me!” Valerio said.

“And he had ample opportunity to kill a sleeping vampire that was his enemy for centuries, but he didn’t. There is still time, Valerio. We will kill him soon enough. Please say that you understand why I did it.”

“I understand. What I do not understand is where you got this strange sense of justice and fair play. Your conscience is going to get you killed,” he warned, frowning at me.

“Possibly, but not tonight.”

“No, Veyron is going to kill you tonight. Or rather, this morning,” Stefan said grimly.

“If it’s okay with Valerio, I would prefer to retreat to Vienna during the daylight hours and regroup here in the evening for our final attack on Veyron.”

“You think Veyron will send another daylight raiding party?” Danaus asked.

“Not really, but I cannot judge Macaire’s potential attachment to Sofia,” I said with a shrug. “If he was fond of her, he may force Veyron to send people after me.”

Valerio finally entered the room completely and sat down on the sofa after brushing off some of the debris. “So, tell us you’ve got this whole mess figured out. I don’t believe that Macaire sent us here simply to get rid of the naturi.”

“What you have to keep in mind,” I said, “is that he only sent me to Budapest. He knew I would bring Danaus with me. You and Valerio are just expendable.”

Stefan grimaced. “Nicely put.”

I ignored his comment and continued. “There’s a power structure here unlike any of the other domains, and Macaire was counting on it being strong enough to kill both Danaus and me.” Pushing out of my chair, I went over to the desk and picked up the piece of paper I had been scribbling on. As I returned to my chair, I handed it to Valerio, who looked down at it.

“I don’t understand,” he said, handing the paper over to Stefan.

“Macaire built a ruling system here similar to the coven, with five shared rulers,” I explained. “My guess is that he drew Veyron and Odelia, but also struck a deal with Ferko and the warlock Clarion. They held the city in a firm hand, killing off any creature that might have been seen as a threat to their control.”

I looked up at Stefan and frowned. “Odelia may have given the excuse of Michelle’s beauty, but if they knew she belonged to you, they might have feared that she was a scout for you, looking for new territory. She may have been killed simply as a poorly thought out warning against coming into their domain.”

Stefan clenched the paper in his fist and stared down at it. “So, Veyron, Odelia, Ferko, and Clarion all conspired together to be the keepers of Budapest, and Macaire knew.”

“Macaire didn’t just know, he arranged it,” I said. “We’re not talking keepers. He was setting up a replacement coven. He had the liege role here in Budapest and planned to extend his power once his little group destroyed Danaus and me.”

“Th-That’s treason,” Stefan stuttered. “Our Liege would never allow it.”

“I think the hope was that he would never be able to withstand an assault by all five of them, particularly with the warlock in hand. Macaire’s first goal was to get rid of me.”

Valerio leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “The odd thing is that this should have worked. If they all had acted in concert, we never would have been able to adequately protect you, especially not with Clarion as backup. You should be dead and you’re not.”

“How kind of you,” I said with a smirk. “You’re right, though. In a perfect world it should have worked, except that nightwalkers don’t play well with other creatures.”

“The agreement between the various members was falling apart?” Danaus asked from the other side of the room.

“Or it never really worked in the first place because it never really had a good test,” I replied.

“They set up Ferko to take the fall for Michelle from the very beginning, knowing we would strike back by wiping out his entire pack along with Ferko, freeing the others from their agreement. They could have come riding to his rescue at any time, particularly earlier tonight at Veyron’s house, but they didn’t. Someone wanted him out of the way. He was sacrificed.”

“And Sofia?” Danaus asked.

I frowned, still hating to hear her name pass his lips. “Just one of Macaire’s pawns.” I turned to look at Stefan and Valerio, wiping my face clean of expression. “Her job was to separate Danaus and me using his weakness for humans. Their hope was that we would kill each other so they wouldn’t have to do the job themselves. If Danaus didn’t kill me first, it was a given that I was going to kill Sofia for her trouble, even if I never discovered that she was truly a witch in disguise.”

“How sweet! A crime of passion,” Stefan mocked.

I bit my tongue. Stefan had committed his own crime of passion when he ripped Ferko to shreds over Michelle’s death, and I had no doubt that he planned to do the same to Odelia when she crossed his path again.

“So, we’re left with an intimate trio of conspirators against you,” Valerio said, sitting back against the sofa again with a heavy sigh.

“Oh, no. This is a quartet, and I fully intend to clean house. I won’t tolerate being hunted. This conspiracy was not only for our death, but yours as well. I don’t find myself quite so forgiving as you when it comes to the planned assassination of those I consider to be my friends.”

Skepticism filled Stefan’s expression, and in truth I couldn’t blame him. We’d never seen eye-to-eye on anything, and I had no doubt that he would take the first opportunity that presented itself to kill me for my seat on the coven. But by the same token, he had protected and defended me on more than one occasion since Peru. He was proving to be more useful than I initially anticipated, though I still didn’t trust him. Stefan needed a seat on the coven if he was ever going to be satisfied.

“Mira, you can’t mean . . .” Valerio started, but his voice faded off. Even as we sat in Budapest, a long distance from Venice, it still didn’t feel safe to say the words out loud.

“I do and I will. It’s the only reason that Jabari allowed me to join the coven in the first place. It’s time I fulfilled my purpose so I can move on with my life,” I grumbled, staring at the sparkling glass-covered floor before me.

“If you fulfill your purpose, then what reason will Jabari have to keep you around?” Danaus asked softly from the far side of the room.

“None,” I whispered, then shook my head. “I’ll deal with that problem when the time comes.” Though I had a feeling I would have to deal with it sooner if Nick had any say in the matter. My time was running out. Soon I would have to deal with two coven Elders, not just one.