Bound to Me (6 page)

“Mira! Don’t!” Valerio shouted as I shifted my weight to lunge at the warlock with my knives. I froze, muscles straining against the sudden change in motion.

“Interloper,” the warlock growled. Flinging out one hand, the warlock released a wooden stake he had kept hidden in the folds of his cape. The stake embedded in Valerio’s chest, knocking him onto his back. A scream of panic and rage escaped me. I didn’t know whether the stake had struck Valerio’s heart. It didn’t matter. I was ready to rip the warlock’s head off with my bare hands as rage blinded me to everything else.

I jumped at the warlock, attempting to knock him to the ground while plunging my blades deep within his chest. I wasn’t fast enough. The warlock once again waved his hand at me with a smirk. Energy swelled in the air and pummeled me in the chest. For a second, I flew through the air, pain exploding in my chest at the impact. My body slammed into something incredibly hard and unyielding before I finally hit the ground several feet away. My vision swam as my fingers convulsed and released their hold on the blades. I lifted my head, trying to gather the strength to launch another attack before he turned his attention to Valerio, but it was too late. Blackness crowded my vision while panic washed up over me in an enormous wave. My last thought was of Valerio’s prone body before consciousness slipped from my grasp.

CHAPTER SIX

“D
rink, Mira.”

The command permeated the darkness, but the world swam around me as if my brain was floating in rough seas. Even before I opened my eyes, the scent of blood assailed me. Warm flesh brushed against my lips and I didn’t question. I opened my mouth and sank my fangs in. The blood flowed down my throat in a rush, heating my half-frozen body while pushing back a variety of aches and throbbing pains. I drank until the fog around my thoughts cleared and my brain stopped bobbing in the ocean. At the same time, I slowly became aware of a heartbeat that was growing slower and more sluggish. Whoever was supplying me with my warm meal was dying. With a great deal of reluctance, I released the person only to hear a heavy thud when the body hit the floor.

Running my tongue over my teeth, I drew in a slow breath and opened my eyes while trying to recall memories of what had happened to me just before the darkness overtook my thoughts. Delicate gold fabric hung over me in a canopy while my body sank into the softness of the bed. It didn’t make any sense. How did I get into a bed? The last thing I remembered was being in a park on the edge of the city.

And then my eyes finally fell on an older woman who stood at the end of the bed, a beautiful smile gracing her wrinkled face. I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen her looking so happy. But then, it had been more than a century since I had last looked on Sadira’s face, and I had prayed then that I would never see her again.

“How are you feeling?” she inquired as I stared mutely at her, trying to sort through a menagerie of jumbled thoughts and emotions.

Pushing into a sitting position, I tried to ignore the fact that the room spun slightly. “Fine. Where am I?” There was a crust of blood in my hair as well as a small lump on my skull from where I had either hit a tree or a rock.

Sadira’s smile widened. “Your home.”

“This isn’t my home.”

She paid me no heed as she walked over to the door and opened it. A young nightwalker with blond hair silently stepped into the room. He bent down and tossed the unconscious woman on the floor over his shoulder. I could still faintly hear her heartbeat. She was holding onto life, no thanks to me, but I was beginning to have my doubts as to whether she would survive much longer. I had just taken a large chunk out of their food stores, not to mention recently stopped Sadira’s group from acquiring more food. It was likely that Sadira would have the woman drained rather than wait on her recovery. It was just easier to get someone new to fill in the woman’s place.

“Oh, Mira, my child, this will always be your home. You were born here,” she said sweetly as she shut the door, closing us away from the rest of the world. At the same time, I threw back the covers and pushed out of the bed. I felt as if I was better prepared to take on whatever she planned to throw at me if I was on my feet. My hands slid down my sides only to discover that both of my blades were missing. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t completely helpless when it came to facing down my maker.

“This was never a home for me. You took me from my true home, held me prisoner.” My words stopped there because I refused to lie to myself about any other things that happened in this castle. I couldn’t blame her for making me into the monster that I was. That had been my choice. I could have chosen death over becoming a nightwalker, but I didn’t.

“You know that I was only trying to do what was best for you. You didn’t belong with those mortals,” she argued, lightly clasping her hands before her stomach.

I shook my head, closing my eyes against a rush of memories from my human years. I didn’t know if it was my own doing or if Sadira was mucking around in my brain, conjuring up these painful thoughts to cloud my judgment. Right now, this was an old and unimportant argument. There were greater things at risk.

“How did I get here?” I demanded, quickly changing the subject.

“I brought you here.” Sadira took a cautious step closer. “I felt your pain and I rushed to your side. I would never allow anything to harm my child.”

A derisive snort escaped me as I clenched my teeth. She wouldn’t allow anything to harm me that didn’t have her explicit approval first. I had suffered through years of mental and physical abuse not only at her hands, but under her direct gaze as others pummeled me in my youth. Sadira’s memory had always been very selective, but then it was how she succeeded in controlling those around her.

“Did you see the warlock?”

“Yes, Artus allowed me to take you, so long as you promise to stay within the confines of the castle.”

“Where is Valerio?” I demanded, but I was already reaching out with my mind for his. I stretched all the way back to the city with its bustle of people, but I could not sense him. A chill gripped my frame and a lump grew in my throat, threatening to choke me. I couldn’t sense him. I remembered seeing him get hit with the wooden stake and fall to the ground, but at that time I could still sense his essence. He had not been killed.

Not being able to sense Valerio now meant that he was either dead or that he had left the immediate area completely. The thought of his possible death shattered my thoughts, but I felt no better if he was alive and had chosen to leave me alone in Sadira’s clutches. I would have been safer in the hands of Artus.

“I believe Artus has him, though I do not know if he lives still.”

“Then I have to go after him,” I declared, taking a step toward the door. Sadira quickly slid between me and the door. She raised her hands to touch me, but I lurched backward, out of her immediate reach. I was taller than she, but I wasn’t willing to bet that I was stronger. She was older than me by centuries, and beneath her old, frail demeanor was a vicious tiger waiting to bare its claws. I had learned to tread cautiously when dealing with my maker.

“You can’t leave here, Mira. It’s not safe.”

“I won’t stay hiding in the castle with you and the rest of your family. I’m going after Valerio.”

“A full day has passed since I found you in the park. It’s likely that he’s dead now and you will only follow in his footsteps if you attempt to take on Artus. He’s extremely powerful.”

“All the more reason to go. Someone must avenge his death,” I said in a rough voice as grief threatened to swamp me. There couldn’t be a world without Valerio in it. Such a thing couldn’t exist. He was the one that taught me to laugh. He was the one that taught me to enjoy my gifts and powers in this dark and violent world. He was my only bright spot in the eternity that stretched out before me.

“Rest, Mira,” Sadira cooed, approaching me in such a way that I was forced back against the bed. “You’ve been through so much. I can feel what Valerio meant to you. He was a wonderful friend to you and I am grateful that he had been by your side these many years. But you have to keep in mind that he was also an old and powerful nightwalker. If he was killed by Artus, what hope do you have?”

Pain and anguish swamped me, pulling me down until I found myself sitting on the edge of the bed again. Tears slipped unchecked down my cheeks as I stared blindly ahead at a tapestry hanging on the wall. Sadira’s cool hands cupped my cheeks as she wiped away my tears. I could feel her in my mind now, weaving her way through my thoughts and memories as if she were a vine choking out the life that was growing there.

“You’re home now and safe. Away from the demands of the coven and back where I can watch over you, protect you,” she murmured in a haunting voice. While the pain of Valerio’s death consumed me, there was a simple comfort in her words. If I stayed in the castle, I would not have to go back out and deal with the coven again. I would no longer be a pawn to be batted about in the war between Jabari and Macaire. Sadira would keep me veiled from the sight of the world.

Tipping my head up, I found myself getting lost in her dark eyes. “With you home again in the castle, Artus will leave Madrid and make trouble elsewhere. We are all safe.”

I blinked a couple times as a thought came nagging back to the forefront of my mind. “That’s not what the coven wanted.”

“It doesn’t matter what the coven wants,” Sadira corrected. “All that matters is that you’re home and that the nightwalkers in this little family are safe again. Isn’t that what’s important?”

Another thought swam forward through the darkness that was crowding my brain. A memory of the coven and Jabari sitting on his chair. Jabari had protected me, taught me, loved me while Sadira had been the one to manipulate and tear me down so that I was easier to control. Jabari had sent Valerio and me to kill this warlock to protect our people. The assignment had originally been given to Valerio, but it now fell to me, following his supposed death. The coven was the true power in my world, not the promises of safety that Sadira was so carefully weaving.

“No. The important thing is killing Artus. That is what the coven ordered and that’s what I’m going to do,” I said, my voice gaining strength as I spoke.

“Is this how you’re going to honor Valerio’s sacrifice? He died trying to protect you and now you’re going to throw your life away by chasing after this warlock?”

I pulled my face out of her grasp and pushed to my feet, forcing her to take a step backward, away from me. “Valerio would respect my choice. The coven ordered that this warlock be hunted down and killed for what he has done to our people. I obey the coven. I obey Jabari’s wishes.”

Turning, I started toward the door, confidence starting to fill me once again. I was pushing Sadira out of my thoughts and I was focused on a single mission: kill Artus. Nothing else mattered.

“He’s using you, Mira,” Sadira said sharply, halting my hand as I reached for the door handle. “Jabari is only using you.”

Narrowing my eyes, I gazed over my shoulder at my maker, waiting for her to continue. Her expression had changed from one of happiness and sweet compassion to a cold, hard look. I had always suspected there was a growing animosity between the two nightwalkers, considering that Jabari had essentially stolen me right out of Sadira’s arms. I knew there was no love between them, but I wondered how far either creature would go to have complete control over me.

“Jabari is merely playing a game with you, testing you,” Sadira continued, now that she was sure that she had my full attention. “He wanted to know if I could steal you back if you were forced to enter my domain again.”

“Jabari sent Artus to Madrid?”

“Yes.”

“Jabari told Artus to kill nightwalkers?”

“Artus has killed at least a dozen nightwalkers and it is all because of Jabari.”

“And Artus has killed Valerio,” I murmured, turning to look at the door again.

“Possibly so.”

“All in the name of a tug-of-war contest between you and Jabari over control of me,” I snarled. “I’ve heard enough. I’m going to kill Artus and then I will deal with you and the Ancient.”

“Mira, you can’t think to take on Jabari,” Sadira argued. “He will destroy you or worse.”

“Worse? Worse than what? Remaining here as your puppet and witless doll? Jabari may have his games, but he doesn’t try to control my actions the way you do. I’ve had enough. Don’t come near me again.”

“Mira!” she cried, her hand falling on my shoulder as I jerked open the door. At her touch, I could feel her attempting to push into my brain again where she could warp my thoughts. I shoved her out of my mind as I shrugged off her touch. The door burst into flames as I slammed it shut behind me. Sadira’s scream of terror could be heard echoing throughout the old castle. I could hear her thoughts clearly as she called for her children to help her. She was unharmed, but flames were starting to creep around the room, scaring her. I wasn’t concerned. There was a window in the room. If she wanted freedom, she had a way out. She was first seeing who would come rushing to her rescue.

A dark smile lifted the corners of my mouth as I stalked past more than a dozen nightwalkers down the long hall. Not one of them reached out to stop me. Not one attempted to knock down the door to free their precious savior. They feared Sadira and the punishment that she would mete out, but they feared the Fire Starter more.

I didn’t know whether to believe everything Sadira had told me about Jabari, and in truth, it didn’t matter. My only concern now was hunting down Artus, killing him, and discovering whether Valerio was truly dead.

CHAPTER SEVEN

I
focused all my powers on looking for the energy signature of the warlock and/or his apprentice somewhere within the city. It didn’t take me long to finally stumble upon a large house not far from the park where I could sense both the warlock and his young apprentice. I had a suspicion that neither were actually expecting to see me considering I had fallen back into Sadira’s hands. I was hoping to use that little bit of surprise to my advantage when I had no other edge to cling to when it came to facing down a powerful warlock.

Standing on the street outside the rambling house, I scanned it one last time before walking up the stairs. Inside I felt the faint pulse of power that was unique to nightwalkers. Artus was holding a nightwalker hostage in the cellar. The nightwalker was extremely weak, but still alive. Hope bloomed in my chest for the first time since leaving Sadira’s castle. Valerio might still be alive. He had been the only other nightwalker within the city and it made sense that he might be the one that Artus could be holding.

Wrapping that hope up in my clenched fist, I mounted the stairs and kicked in the front doors. Candles flickered around the empty hallway while oil lamps burned steadily. I was sorely tempted to force the lamps to explode in flames, coating the rugs and walls with oily fire, but I held my temper. I would need a safe route out of the house if I was going to save Valerio. Besides, I needed to save my energy for the warlock.

“You should never have come here,” echoed an empty voice as I stepped farther into the hallway. Behind me, the double doors slammed shut and locked.

“I am here for Valerio,” I said as I marched through the seemingly empty house, following the nightwalker energy signature that I could sense. After jerking open several doors at the back of the house, I finally located one that hid a set of stairs leading beneath the first floor. Darkness swallowed up the stairs, looking as if I was plunging down into the bowels of Hell itself. I didn’t hesitate. I was finally getting close to Valerio. He needed me.

The cellar was largely empty. A single oil lamp burned on a table in the far corner, revealing a clutter of items that had been shoved into jars for safekeeping until they were needed for spells. Stone columns ran down the center of the large room, holding up the old house. Near the back of the room, I found Valerio tied to a chair. He was slumped forward with his lovely hair obscuring his face. Blood soaked into his shirt as the wooden stake still protruded from his chest, just below where his heart rested. He had hung on through the day and was barely clinging to life now as blood leaked from his chest. Valerio desperately needed to feed if he was to survive the night.

Artus stepped out from behind Valerio’s chair, frowning at me, while his apprentice leaned against the wall near the oil lamp with his arms folded over his chest. His expression was blank, giving me no indication as to what he felt about the events that were about to unfold before him. There was obviously no love between him and his master, but I doubted that there was enough animosity to benefit me.

“You shouldn’t have come,” Artus said in a low voice.

“You have something that belongs to me,” I replied, pushing the words out through clenched teeth.

“Leave here. Return to Sadira and I will release this one as he is.”

“It’s too late for that. Sadira has lost her hold on me. Jabari and the coven have ordered your death for what you have done to my people and I will follow through on their command.”

“Then I guess both of you will die,” he said smoothly. As he took a step toward me, Artus gave Valerio’s chair a hard shove, knocking it off balance so that he was falling forward. I surged forward in a flash, grabbing Valerio by the shoulders before he could crash to the floor, driving the stake further into his chest. At the same time, Artus plunged a knife in my back as I knelt on the ground with my hands full. I screamed in pain and in rage as I set Valerio’s chair on all fours again.

Twisting around, I found Artus standing where I had been just moments ago, clutching a bloody dagger in his left hand. I hadn’t retrieved any of my missing knives from Sadira; I didn’t need them to destroy the warlock. Pushing to my feet, I concentrated on the warlock, creating a circle of fire around him to keep him locked into one location. I conjured up a ball of flames in my right hand. Throwing the fire ball at him with all my strength, I prayed it would burn the bastard to a blackened crisp. The fire ball slammed into a blue-tinted barrier between him and me and quickly dissipated. The warlock waved his hand and the flames around him also disappeared. My ability to set him on fire had been effectively nullified. I would need another form of attack.

With a smile thinning my lips, I walked over to the warlock and attempted to simply punch him, but I couldn’t physically get through the barrier either. Unfortunately, he could. His dagger slashed at me with lightning speed, forcing me to quickly jerk out of his reach before the silver blade could catch me across the throat.

Standing back out of his arm’s reach, I clenched and unclenched my fists as I struggled to think of some way to strike at him. I had no other magical abilities at my disposal and my physical attacks had been easily blocked by his magical barrier. He could strike at me all he wanted, but I couldn’t touch a hair on the top of his balding head. It was frustrating enough for me to nearly set the room on fire and try to burn us all rather than allow him to walk away from this battle.

A metallic clatter jerked my gaze around toward the apprentice, who was still leaning against the wall. I looked down to find that a silver and gold dagger had been dropped on the stone floor at his feet. With his right foot, he gave the dagger a kick, sliding it across the floor toward me.

“Traitor!” Artus screamed, pointing toward his young apprentice.

“You betrayed us all with this agreement. Why should I support you?” the apprentice said nonchalantly.

“I’ll kill you for this!”

“Not if she kills you first.”

Bending down, I picked up the dagger, testing its weight in my hand. It wasn’t a particularly well-made blade, but it didn’t matter. I could feel the magic embedded in the metal so that it practically hummed with a life of its own. Turning to Artus, I sliced through the air near him. The warlock jumped backward so that he slammed into the wall behind him. With an evil grin, I noticed that the blade easily made it through the blue-tinged barrier that surrounded him. The fight had been put back on even ground.

Taking another step closer, I slashed at him, aiming to open up a series of cuts on him so that he would slowly bleed to death like Valerio. The warlock barely managed to block my swings as sweat beaded on his brow in panic. A second later, he disappeared completely. I spun around, waiting for him to attack my back, but he didn’t appear where I thought he would.

I sensed his energy a second before he appeared across the room in front of his apprentice. Artus didn’t take the time to put the protective barrier back in place as I was sure that he was expecting to be in the spot for only a second. He raised his hand with the dagger and brought it down in a slashing motion toward his apprentice, who was staring over his master’s shoulder at me. I caught the hand from behind just before it plunged the knife into the apprentice’s chest.

“Never turn your back on a nightwalker,” I hissed as I shoved the dagger I was holding deep into the warlock’s back. Artus had been so consumed with anger that he thought he could strike down his apprentice and then disappear before I could reach him. He underestimated me and now he was paying a steep price.

Jerking the blade free, I pressed it to the warlock’s throat while still tightly grasping his hand. I squeezed until his fingers broke in my hand and his dagger clattered to the ground. A low moan escaped Valerio as the scent of blood finally drew a response out of the dying nightwalker.

“Get out of here. When I release him, he won’t try to differentiate between the two of you. You’ll only be a source of blood,” I warned the apprentice. He nodded before slipping around his master and running across the room. I waited until I heard his footsteps echo across the hallway and the front door slam shut before I slashed open Artus’s throat.

The warlock crumpled at my feet when I released him, pressing both hands to his throat to stanch the blood pouring forth. His breathing came in gurgling gasps, but I thought I heard Jabari’s name once among his desperate breaths. A cold chill slipped through my frame as I once again questioned whether Sadira had been telling the truth. Had this all been a game between my maker and my mentor? A game that nearly cost Valerio his life.

Picking up the dagger from the ground, I walked over and cut the ropes that bound Valerio to the chair. The nightwalker swayed to his feet, one hand clutching the stake in his chest. With a roar of pain, he jerked the stake free while his other hand covered the wound to hold in the blood. With glowing eyes, he turned toward the sputtering warlock and leapt on him. It sounded as if Artus attempted to scream, but his slashed throat prevented it.

Valerio drank deeply of the warlock, replenishing some of the blood that he had lost. The warlock would have stronger, more powerful blood than the average human. This would help speed up the healing process, but I knew that Valerio would need to feed several more times tonight before he was well on his way toward recovery.

I stood nearby with daggers in both hands, keeping a close eye on the warlock to make sure that he didn’t attempt one last spell before he died. However, pain flooded his wide eyes, keeping him from being able to cast anything before death finally gripped him. I could feel his soul flutter coldly past me when his heart stopped.

Valerio pushed the dead body away from him in disgust before he moved to sit with his back against the wall. There was a fine tremble in his hands as he pulled open his shirt to reveal a slowly closing hole in his chest. The flow of blood was merely a trickle, but it all needed to be replaced. And it would be.

“You came for me,” he said in a rough voice. Valerio closed his eyes as he leaned his head back against the wall. His hands dropped limply to his sides as he rested.

“Of course I did.”

“I vaguely recall him telling me that you were with Sadira. I had my doubts,” he admitted.

“Sadira has no control over me,” I said brusquely. It angered me that he had so little faith in my loyalty and devotion to him, but I said nothing. I couldn’t because I knew that his fears were founded in truth. Sadira had a special way of getting into a creature’s head and twisting their thoughts. I had spent a century under her control, making me vulnerable to a repeat performance. “She said that you were dead and I was not about to let the warlock escape without retribution.”

A ghost of a smile tweaked the corners of his beautiful mouth as his eyes fluttered open to look at me. “
Grazie
.”

“Save your strength,” I chuckled. “You still need to feed. I am eager to get back to Venice. Jabari has to answer for this mess.”

“Jabari arranged all of this?”

“As a test or a game, I’m not sure which. I would like to have some words with the Ancient.”

“Be careful, Mira. It’s one thing to defeat a warlock. It’s not wise to try to take on Jabari. You know you’re not strong enough.”

“I just have some questions for him,” I said with a shrug.

“I’m sure that’s all it will be,” Valerio said, his voice edged with sarcasm. With a weary shake of his head, he raised one hand to me. “Help me up. Let’s hunt and then be free of this city. I never was a fan of Madrid.”

“Neither am I,” I murmured, carefully helping him to his feet. Of course, I was eager to put more distance between Sadira and myself. I was beginning to feel the same way about Jabari, but first we would have words. I just hoped that he wouldn’t kill me for my impertinence.