“Was it necessary to frighten the woman?” he finally growled at me after we were in the car for several minutes.
“This time, yes, it actually was.” It was a struggle to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. “She will carry back to Veyron stories of me and my companions. Veyron needs to know that the Fire Starter is here and she will burn through his domain if necessary.”
“You mean your already dark reputation wasn’t enough to convince Veyron? You needed to scare some poor, helpless human as well?”
I held back my next comment and stared out the window. I truly doubted there was any real reason to pity the poor girl. She looked like she was well taken care of, by the quality of her clothes and the expensive choker that ringed her neck. The woman was obviously Veyron’s pet, which meant that she was accustomed to dealing with nightwalkers. And she carried some value to Veyron since he went to the trouble of arranging a pair of bodyguards for her.
“You needn’t get so worked up about the girl. I have little doubt that she can take care of herself.”
Danaus opened his mouth to comment but I didn’t hear it. A large bundle of magic energy gathered in the air just above out taxicab as we waited at a red light. There wasn’t time to search out who it was or what the reason for the ball of magic was for. It didn’t feel right, and I had survived countless centuries by listening to my instincts. Grabbing a handful of Danaus’s leather coat, I jerked him forward while I crouched down as much as I could in the backseat of the tiny taxicab.
“Get down!” I shouted just before a large explosion reverberated through the air, causing my eardrums to rattle in my head. Something large slammed into the side of the taxi, flipping the world upside down. I was thrown into the side of the taxi with Danaus landing on top of me. His elbow crashed into my jaw while the back of my head hit a combination of the glass and the street as we turned over. The whole world changed from darkness to a flash of white light as the taxicab rolled onto its top and I was crushed under Danaus’s weight. The noise of the metal scraping along the street was horrendous, clogging up all my other senses besides the horrible sense of pain.
Danaus finally shifted on top of me. Around us I could hear the shuffle of feet and the cries of terrified voices from the people that crowded this busy section of downtown Budapest. My body ached and my thoughts felt fuzzy, as if they were covered in cotton. There was a warm wet spot on my temple where my scalp had been cut and I had a sneaking suspicion that I had cracked my skull when we turned over. A part of me just wanted to lie there, but I couldn’t. A creature was lurking somewhere outside the car, desperate for my undivided attention. I wasn’t about to disappoint him.
Are you okay? I asked Danaus, using our private path. I had begun to cloak myself from the human onlookers so I could sneak out of the car.
Been better. Driver’s dead.
Yeah, well, it could have been us just as easily. Stay here and play dead. I’m going to go look around.
I can help.
Keep an eye on the crowd if you can. I’m not sure what hit us or if it’s gone.
Sliding out beneath Danaus on a bed of broken glass, I crawled out through the back window, which had been smashed. It wasn’t easy to weave through the people that were gathered around the overturned car, trying to get a look in at Danaus. I was cloaked, but I wasn’t sure how long I would be able to keep it up. My head was throbbing and the world swayed around me, keeping me off balance.
Outside of the crowd, I scanned the thoughts of the people, reviewing their memories. They were filled with confusion and fear, as no one could recall what had pummeled the side of the car. Only that something hit it with enough force to flip it over and send it skidding across the street. In the most anxious of those gathered, I inserted the memory of a car slamming into the side of the taxi before it drove off. It wasn’t a pretty image, but it was more settling that the gaping void that filled their minds now.
I scanned the area for our attacker but no one stood out initially. There was a heavy feeling of magic and power in the night, but I couldn’t tell if it was residue from the spell that had been cast or if the attacker was still in the region. The only thing I was confident of was that our attacker had been a warlock or a witch. The magic in the air didn’t feel like a nightwalker, and lycanthropes didn’t use magic. Even a naturi would have had a different feel to it.
A knot twisted in my stomach as I switched my focus to scan specifically for Nick. I had to wonder if he had struck out at me simply because I was not making progress fast enough, but I couldn’t sense him. Of course, that didn’t mean the bastard wasn’t lurking somewhere close by, watching the show.
Energy thickening in the air was my only warning before I was slammed into the side of a building with a crushing force. My hold on my cloaking spell wavered once, but I managed to keep a grip on it so no one saw me flying through the air. Three ribs broke, puncturing once vital organs that now only seemed to be source of pain for me. Smashed against the wall, I gazed around the area to see a figure outlined by the moonlight as the person stood at the edge of a building.
With a smile, I summoned up my powers as a fourth rib threatened to break under the pressure pinning me against the wall. Fire flared around the figure that was casting the spells, but just as quickly the fire was extinguished with a hand wave. That was why I didn’t go picking fights with warlocks. You find one with just enough skill, and my ability to manipulate fire no longer gave me an edge. However, the distraction was enough to free me of his magical grasp.
Sliding down the side of the building, I was relieved to see Danaus crawling free of the car. I considered reaching for his powers but squelched the thought just as quickly. The hunter was already angry with me. No reason to make the matter any worse, though I knew I would have to eventually.
Danaus, the rooftop across the street, I directed as I tried to push to my feet.
Got it. I felt the warm brush of his powers as he gathered the energy around him just before sending it across the street to our attacker. The figure jerked sharply and then ran from the edge of the building, moving out of our line of sight. Danaus dropped his hand and muttered a soft curse. He couldn’t boil the attacker’s blood if he could no longer see him. The magic user had escaped, but at least we were both still alive.
Too often nightwalkers were seen as the most dangerous of the supernatural creatures because of our need for blood to survive. However, warlocks and witches were frequently the most brutal of the others simply because there were too few of us strong enough to stand up to them. The only thing we had in our favor was that warlocks and witches didn’t frequently feel the need to strike out at the other races. Like nightwalkers, they were content to fight among themselves.
With a few solid mental pushes and a little misdirection, I finally managed to extract Danaus from the crowd gathered around him and the car. He stumbled over to where I was leaning against the wall, a frown creating lines in his brow.
“Warlock?” he asked.
“Or witch. Apparently we have an admirer in town besides Rowe,” I grumbled in a low voice, still trying to avoid the attention of the crowd that was now being dispersed by the newly arrived police and ambulance. I squinted my eyes against the flashlights on their cars, which bathed the area in bright shades of red and blue.