“The safest place I can think to put you.” I paused, stepping away from James, to stand directly in front of her. “In a den of hunters.”
Sadira came out of her chair instantly, her body rigid. “Are you mad?” Her eyes were wide and sparkling in the pale yellow lamplight.
“I have no other options. They won’t harm you as long as you don’t attack them.”
“Can you promise that?”
“No,” I admitted with an indifferent shrug. “But it’s in their best interest that you remain alive since you’re key to stopping the naturi. Of course, if you threaten them, I’m sure they have ample stakes lying around.”
“You can’t do this, Mira!”
“Do you have a better idea?”
She stared at me, impotent rage and fear blazing in her eyes. Her small hands were balled into fists at her side.
“I didn’t think so. I’m sending Michael and Gabriel with you as well, to help act as protection and a buffer between you and Themis. Don’t think to strike at me through them…you have your own string of pets that I can go through too.”
Sadira sat back down, lifting her chin a little higher. “You’ll regret this.”
I laughed at her. “You’re not the only one who wants my head on a pike at the moment. Take a number and get in line.” I turned my back on her and walked over to the windows, still shaking my head.
“Themis will never let them in.” James’s voice was fragile, as if he was terrified I would rip his throat out at any second.
“Call Ryan.” Danaus said before I could speak. The two members of Themis just stared at each other.
“Use the phone in the bedroom,” I said, pointing toward one of the doors in the two-bedroom suite. “I’ll have my limo brought around to the front while we wait.”
Finally, James frowned and left the room, closing the door behind him. Michael had already risen from the sofa and was calling down to the front desk for a limo, while Gabriel sorted through weaponry.
“Take it all,” I said. His head snapped up, lines of confusion digging furrows in his forehead as he looked at me. “You may not be returning here again. I want you and Michael prepared for anything. Set up sleeping shifts when you arrive at this Compound. I want one of you awake and with Sadira at all times.”
“But at dawn…?” Gabriel started before the words seemed to die in his throat.
“I’m not sure where I’ll be. Hopefully, I’m being overly cautious.” Gabriel frowned, his gaze darting over to Danaus for a moment. I noticed that his hand tightened on the dagger he’d been about to place in a belt sheath. “He will not kill me while I sleep,” I told him.
“But will he protect you?”
“Yes, I think he will.” The idea was amusing, lifting my mood a bit. I looked over at Danaus, who stood stiff and expressionless. He was completely unmoved by Gabriel’s glares and our conversation. “I think he would much rather kill me himself than allow someone else to do it.”
“That is not much comfort,” Gabriel said, a wry smile briefly touching his lips.
I looked away from my guardian, my eyes falling on Sadira. She had been closely watching the conversation, a smug smile lifting her lips. “Now you have your own,” she said. I had always mocked her about her need to be surrounded by pets and puppets.
“It’s not the same.” My momentary amusement drained from my body. “Their job is to guard me when I cannot protect myself. Nothing more.”
“Really?” Her smile grew as her eyes slid over to Michael sorting through the pile of weapons at Gabriel’s side. She could tell that I had fed off of him. The faint mark we left behind was a warning sign to other nightwalkers. If I did not feed off of him again in a week’s time, the mark would fade.
“Only when I travel,” I said. “And they are still human. When they return home, they have other lives in the sunlight. For your pets, there is nothing for them beyond you.”
James picked that exact moment to come out of the bedroom. I hadn’t wanted to continue this conversation with Sadira anyway. She had a knack for twisting things, and I didn’t need to justify my actions when it came to my guardian angels.
“We can go,” James said, his shoulders sagging a bit. “They are expecting us.”
“Good. The limo is waiting. With any luck, Danaus and I should be no more than an hour behind you.”
“Wait!” Sadira suddenly cried, drawing my gaze back to her face. “If I am to go to this Compound, you must fulfill a request for me.”
“We don’t have time for this, Sadira,” I growled.
“You know you have no choice. They cannot keep me where I do not want to stay,” she reminded me with a small smile.
She was right. She was an Ancient nightwalker who would be surrounded by humans. If she didn’t want to stay at Themis, she could leave regardless of the fact that she would be risking her own life. “What do you want?”
“There is another nightwalker traveling with Thorne; tall, brown hair with blue eyes. Tristan belongs to me. Bring him back with you as well.”
“If he belongs to you, why is he with Thorne?”
Sadira dismissed the question with a wave of her slender hand. “Just a little misunderstanding. Bring him back to me and I promise to behave.”
I stared at my maker, my teeth clenched. I didn’t like this. Why was this nightwalker with Thorne if he actually belonged to Sadira? Was I about to step into a battle between two Ancients? Or was Sadira playing some other game? Damn it, I didn’t have time for this nonsense, but if I didn’t protect Sadira and reform the triad, Jabari was going to have my head.
“Very well,” I snapped, looking away from her.
“Thank you, my daughter,” Sadira purred. I wanted to shove a fireball down her throat.
I turned my attention to Danaus again. “Anything?”
With his arms folded over his chest, he closed his eyes, his thick eyebrows drawn over his nose in concentration. His powers filled the room like warm sunlight, but no one’s expressions changed, not even Sadira’s. Was I the only one who could feel the wonderful wave of power bathing the room?
Out of the corner of my eye I saw him lift his head, his eyes opening. “No naturi in the immediate area. They should be able to make it to the Compound safely.”
“Go now,” I said, resisting the urge to shake my head in an attempt to shed the last tendrils of warmth still clinging to my brain. James led the way out the door, and Sadira didn’t look back as she followed. Michael and Gabriel both nodded to me once, then left without a word. A part of me wanted to hug both my angels. I wanted to hold them and then send them straight back across the ocean. Their job was to protect me during the day, with the expectation that it would only be against any human that found me. My intention had never been for them to face anything like the naturi. It was more than either had ever bargained for, and I had not wanted this for them.
Biting back a sigh, I followed my angels down to the lobby with Danaus at my back. I had just handed Sadira over to a pack of vampire hunters while crawling through the bowels of London looking for Tabor’s replacement. I doubted this was what Jabari had in mind when it came to protecting Sadira.
Seventeen
Every city has a section that police seem hesitant to enter, even ultracivilized London. In my own beloved Savannah, these dark streets, which housed the Docks, were among my favorite to stroll down. In London the dark section was far from Mayfair and Hyde Park. It grew out on the fringes of the city, filled with tightly packed, brick tenements. The air was thick and heavy in the summer heat, filled with ghosts and old, grim memories. I doubted there were many psychics in that part of town; the dead would have given them no rest. But the air pricked my skin and tingled with anticipation. You came here to get problems taken care of, one way or another.