arms to encompass both Barrett and myself. “They don’t need to know about this world if it can be helped.”
“They won’t know,” I quickly said. “Barrett and I have ways of helping. Your wife and daughters will have nothing to worry about, whether it be money or protection from the Daylight Coalition.”
“That’s all I care about,” Daniel said with a slight huff as he pushed out of his chair, followed a moment later by Barrett. “If you don’t mind, I need to get home to my wife and girls. I’d like to spend a little time with them before I leave town.”
“I understand,” I said, showing them to the front door.
“I will keep you updated on any information Daniel sends to me,” Barrett offered as I pulled the door open.
I nodded, my hand tightly clenching the doorknob. This was my last chance. Daniel was going to walk out and disappear within the Daylight Coalition in Atlanta. I could stop it all right now with the right suggestion, a brilliant idea that would keep him from sinking even deeper into our world. But I said nothing as both men left. I shut the door then and stood facing it, staring out the glass front. I didn’t see them chatting, making plans, as they descended the stone steps. There were only my own swirling thoughts.
Danaus came up behind me and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, squeezing lightly. “He’ll be fine,” the hunter said, but I didn’t hear his usual conviction embedded in those words. Neither of us thought Daniel was going to be fine. He was willingly walking into the devil’s lair because we were desperate.
“I hate this,” I said one last time, letting my eyes fall shut, because there was nothing else I could do that wouldn’t risk his life more than we already were.
Seven
My only warning was a surge of power filling the air in the narrow hallway. Flaring out my own powers, I twisted around in time to see Jabari pop into existence behind Danaus. The dark-skinned nightwalker grabbed a fistful of the hunter’s thick hair and jerked him backward, holding him close with his neck exposed.
“It’s good to see you, my Mira,” Jabari growled. I lurched forward, grabbing for Danaus, as I felt the rise of power, but came up with only empty air and fell flat on my stomach on the hardwood floor as Jabari and Danaus both disappeared. They were gone. Panic filled me as I searched my brain for a way to quickly reach the hunter when the two finally reappeared.
Clenching my teeth in rage, I pushed off the floor and flew through the house, weaving through the rooms and past furniture until I busted out the back door in an explosion of wood and glass. Nothing would keep me from Danaus, particularly when he was in the hands of one of my enemies.
Jabari stood behind Danaus, toward the back of the yard under a large tree, almost hidden within the thick shadows. Yet, the moonlight still danced on the bloody tip of the blade that protruded from the hunter’s stomach. Jabari kept one hand on his muscular shoulder, holding him in place.
“Release him,” I ordered, my voice cracking like a whip.
“As you wish,” he hissed, an evil grin spreading across his thin face. He pushed Danaus forward so that he slid off the sword the nightwalker had plunged through his body. As Danaus staggered forward a couple steps, Jabari raised the blade with the intention of chopping off his head.
Tapping into the energy swirling about me, I located the powers that emanated from Jabari and wrapped them around my fist. With every muscle clenched in my body, I held tight, forcing Jabari to stay his blade. The Ancient fought me, inching the blade slowly closer to Danaus, but the hunter stumbled from the nightwalker’s immediate reach as he clutched his wounded stomach.
Nick had given me the ability to sense the powers of others and ordered that I learn to control my two previous puppet masters. During my last visit to Venice, I had used Jabari’s powers to kill our mutual enemy, Macaire. Since then I’d been waiting for Jabari to strike back at me. He couldn’t afford to leave alive someone who could control him. It went without saying that I felt a certain amount of justice and satisfaction in being able to control him after centuries of being his plaything. Unfortunately, I wasn’t nearly as good at it as he was.
A low roar rumbled from his chest as he finally broke free of my hold, pushing my energy back at me with enough force that I hit the back of the house. He glared at me, his arms hanging limp at his sides in exhaustion, while I pushed away from the house and stepped into the yard. Danaus stood off to the side, a hand on his stomach to stanch the bleeding, a knife clenched in the other hand.
Lifting one hand, I summoned up a fireball. “It took you almost four months?” I mocked. “I really expected you sooner.”
Jabari stood relaxed before me with his hands clasped behind his back. “Considering that you were successful in destroying Macaire in a rather exquisite display of power and violence, I thought I would give you a slight reprieve. A chance to revel in your brief triumph.”
“Yes, I forgot to thank you for the minor assistance you provided.” I edged a few feet deeper into the yard, closing the distance between us as I attempted to put myself between him and Danaus. “It certainly made Macaire’s demise more entertaining.”
“Minor assistance!” Jabari bellowed, his temper finally snapping. “You would never have survived a minute alone with Macaire if you had not learned a new trick.”
I chuckled, moving my fingers through the flames. “And that’s why you paused instead of killing me immediately. You had to know where I learned my new trick. Couldn’t figure it out, could you?”
“I’m not concerned. You’ll be screaming it to me before I finally kill you.” He raised his hand and I felt pressure building until the fire that hovered above my right hand was extinguished. At the same time, the Ancient pulled a long, wicked-looking knife from his belt and threw it at Danaus. The hunter lunged out of the way, but the blade still embedded itself in his shoulder, rather than his chest.
“Danaus, get out of here,” I snarled as I pushed back against the power filling my body.
“I’m not leaving you!”
“He’s using you as a distraction! You’re going to get me killed.”
“I’m ending this,” Danaus growled, pulling the knife out of his shoulder. Extending his right hand toward Jabari, I felt a wash of the hunter’s powers brush past me as he summoned up his special gift. He was preparing to boil Jabari’s blood, ending this stalemate once and for all.
A scream was ripped from my body as Jabari threw more of his powers into me. I tried to grab hold of them and push them out, but there was too much pouring in. The Ancient was too old, too strong. I was still learning how to use my new abilities. I wasn’t ready to stand against this monster. I had succeeded against Macaire only because I had both Danaus and Jabari working with me.
“Trust me, hunter,” Jabari said in a strained voice. “I’ll destroy her before you can kill me.”
Danaus immediately dropped his hand, allowing his powers to flow away with an errant breeze. My own screaming stopped a second later as Jabari eased back on some of the power flowing through me. Pain radiated through my entire body, and I knew that the Ancient no longer needed me alive.
“Come now, Jabari,” I choked out. “Are you sure you’re done using me? Don’t you want to go after Our Liege next?”
A fresh surge of energy pushed through my limbs, sending my arms straight out into the air as if I were being crucified. It was one of Jabari’s favorite positions, because it left me helpless.
“I have run out of uses for you, my desert blossom,” he replied sweetly. “It’s time you joined the others that I tried to make to replace you. Time for you to die, but first I’ll allow you to watch the painful death of your companion.”
With a grunt, I gathered my energy and pushed against Jabari’s powers, forcing my arms to lower back to my sides. I would not be controlled by this bastard any longer, and I wasn’t about to allow him to lay a finger on Danaus.
As Jabari reached down and picked up the blade Danaus had pulled from his body, I grabbed his powers once again. Using the Ancient’s psychokinesis, I threw him across the yard until he slammed into the brick wall that
