I paced back toward the car, shoving one hand through my hair, getting my fingers temporarily stuck. My dirty, blood-matted hair was a knotted mess. “Are you going to put him down or are you going to let me talk to him first?” I needed to know if our unexpected guest to the city of Savannah had anything to do with Bryce’s murder.
“Will he survive the interview?”
“It depends on his answers. It’s doubtful.”
“Then you can have him.”
I clenched my teeth and swallowed my next snide comment. I was determined to have this man regardless of what Barrett’s wishes were. Two nightwalkers were dead, a house had been blown up, and a human was dead in connection to one of the dead nightwalkers. And now I had some unknown Daylight Coalition schmuck wandering around in my territory. He had to be connected to this mess in some way. I just had to figure out how he fit in this puzzle.
“How much longer do you think he’ll be at the restaurant?” I demanded as I reached into the front pocket of my jeans and pulled out the keys.
“Probably another thirty minutes at the most. He’s already ordered his dinner and it should be arriving within a couple minutes.”
“That’s fine. I can be there by then. I’ll park behind the restaurant and follow him after he leaves.”
I paused as I was about to jump in the car and looked up at Ravana’s house. The fledgling was still in the attic, chained to the wall. For a moment, I wondered if I should go up and free her, but I quickly shook off the thought and got into the car. If she couldn’t find a way to free herself, then she would never survive in my world.
Back in the car, I was flying across the city. The restaurant was downtown, not far from the Dark Room. I planned on swinging by to get Knox before arriving at the restaurant. I didn’t particularly need the backup, but this was Knox’s investigation, and I had a feeling we would be able to get a lot out of this human if we could keep him alive long enough to pick his brain.
“I have to get back,” Knox announced as he fell into the passenger seat beside me. “Gregor knew Bryce and Katie.” I had filled him in about Katie’s death when I called to tell him I would pick him up. He already knew about what happened at Justin’s; all the city’s nightwalkers knew about that.
“Hopefully, he’ll stay alive long enough to be questioned,” I said under my breath.
“Another body?”
“Not yet, but our luck hasn’t been that good tonight.” I looked over my shoulder at the front entrance where a nightwalker bouncer by the name of Adam stood glaring at the crowd. His brown hair was cropped short on his head and his black T-shirt was stretched over bulging muscles, making him an impressive figure even if he hadn’t been a nightwalker.
Adam, tell Gregor that I want him to remain here when he arrives. Knox and I want to speak with him. This message was conveyed with a brief touch of my mind to his. Yet, no matter how brief, I could still feel the flood of fear that shivered through him at my touch. I tried to ignore it, but there were times when it ate at me nonetheless. I was trying to protect him and all of my kind, but he feared me like most nightwalkers feared the Coven. And after what had happened at Ravana’s, it was worse than usual. I could feel a wave of fear crashing off all the nightwalkers that saw me outside the club.
Turning my attention back to the road, I let off the clutch and jumped out into the traffic. We rushed down to the river, cutting down and around one street after another as we drew closer to Bella Luna. It took only a few minutes to reach the restaurant, leaving me to settle the car in a shadowy area in the back where the deliveries were made.
“Do I scare you?” I asked without warning after sitting in silence for several minutes.
“I beg your pardon.” Knox turned in his seat and looked at me, his lips twisting slightly as he was fighting to hold back a smile.
“Do I scare you?” It was harder to say the second time, but I forced the words out.
“Scare me?” Knox stared at me for a moment before a sigh finally escaped him. He leaned his right elbow on the door and shoved his fingers through his dirty, bloody blond hair. He had taken the time to clean up slightly while at the club, but he still looked ragged. “Mira, I feel like there’s no right answer here.”
Slumping in my seat, I relaxed my grip on the steering wheel, letting my hand fall into my lap. “You know me, Knox. I want the truth.”
“Yes, you scare me. You know you do. After the show of power at Justin’s, how could we all not fear you?” Knox said in a sudden rush as if the words were stampeding from his chest. “You’re the Fire Starter. You can kill us all with a thought. And even if you weren’t the Fire Starter, you’re still powerful enough to wipe the floor with any one of us. So, yes, you scare me.”
“But…” I inserted, prompting him to continue when he seemed to hesitate.
“But I know Valerio. I spent more than two centuries with my maker. You’ve known him for even longer. I think you’re more like him than you sometimes realize. You’re more emotional, but you can be just as methodical. Whether anyone else realizes it, there’s a method to your madness, like Valerio. You’re about protecting the secret and being honorable. As long as a nightwalker doesn’t cross those two lines, he’s going to wake up the next sunset. The others don’t realize it, do they?”
“I can feel it when I enter a room or when I touch their minds. I can feel the shiver of fear, the recoil when I get too close. I feel trapped. I don’t want them to fear me, yet the only way I can get their complete obedience is for them to fear me.” Each word was forced out between my clenched teeth. I was tired of being the outsider after more than six centuries of life. I was tired of being the outsider within my own domain.
“Do you know what would make it easier for them to accept you?”
I shifted in my seat slightly and looked over at my companion, surprised that he was willing to offer me a suggestion. “What?”
“Date another nightwalker.”
I chuckled softly to myself and shook my head. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No, I’m not. I’ve been here awhile and I’ve never heard of you with another nightwalker.”
I looked over at Knox again, stunned to find that he was absolutely serious about this ridiculous suggestion. “Not a chance.”
“Mira, dating another nightwalker within your domain might convince them that you’re not a heartless killing machine. That there is something feeling about you.”
“Mmm…your comments warm my cold, dead heart,” I mocked. This conversation was taking a turn that I wasn’t expecting. I turned the key in the ignition enough to get the clock radio to flash on. We had been sitting there for only a couple of minutes. Damn it! I had started this nightmare conversation.
“I’m serious.”
“So, what? Are you offering to be my boyfriend?”
Knox stared at me for a long time, his eyes moving over my face. I knew I looked like a mess. All the wounds I had sustained while at Bryce’s and Justin’s had healed, but I was still covered in my own blood along with dirt and a little of Knox’s blood. There was nothing attractive about me at this moment in time. But it was more than that. Knox knew better than most who I was. He knew of me before we had ever met. His maker, Valerio, and I had run together for a few centuries back in Europe. I had no doubt that Valerio had told his fledgling more than a few entertaining tales of the old days. Beyond that, Knox had been brave enough to try to get to know me when he arrived in Savannah. Unlike anyone else within my domain, I felt like a rejection from Knox would actually be a rejection of who I was, not necessarily of the image I presented to those in my domain.