Barrett lunged at me with a snarl, both hands now tipped with long claws. I sidestepped him, ducking under his outstretched hands. As he passed me, I kicked out with my right leg, knocking him into the wall. I needed some distance between us. Barrett wouldn’t shift. It would take too long and it would give me a chance to attack. But it wasn’t as if human form would leave him at a disadvantage. He was extremely fast and strong.

He pushed off the wall and threw himself into me. I was a half second too slow. We fell to the floor in a tangled heap, his elongated teeth instantly clamping onto my throat. I felt his teeth sink in, sending pain screaming through my frame. Yelling, I jerked my left arm free from beneath his body and punched him in the side. At least three ribs snapped beneath my fist, but I held back enough to keep from punching straight into his chest. He groaned, but clamped down harder, teeth sinking deeper into my throat.

My vision swam. I reached back and hit Barrett again, but this time I hammered his kidney. He yelped, finally releasing my throat. With a soft gurgle, I shoved him off me, sending him skidding a foot across the floor. Tapping down a fresh swell of pain, I pushed to my feet and grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket. His handsome face was covered in my blood and his eyes radiated with an eerie copper light. His large hand clamped on my wrists, threatening to snap them, but I didn’t give him a chance. I slammed him into the wall, trying to knock him out.

It didn’t work. Either his head was too thick or his lycanthropy made him too strong. I pulled him back and slammed him into the wall again, partially pushing him through the wooden studs. A third time left him dazed but conscious.

Dropping him to the floor, I grabbed an iron sconce off the floor and clocked him on the back of the head. He collapsed like a sack of dead fish. Blood immediately began to ooze from his scalp and trickle down his temple. I had cracked his skull, but I could hear his heartbeat. He would live.

Gritting my teeth, I took a step away from him, still clutching the sconce. Blood was still leaking from the wound at my throat that was struggling to close. A low roar had begun in my chest and was echoing through my brain. It wanted blood. It wanted Barrett’s blood, and it would only be satisfied when I’d finished draining him dry.

I took another backward step. It took everything within me to turn my back on him and walk to the door. The blood lust was lit and would only be satisfied when I finally made a kill, or at the very least, fed deeply.

Slowly opening the door, I peeked out into the main room. Chaos ruled. Curtains were shredded, tables overturned, and I could see at least five dead bodies. I immediately identified two of them as nightwalkers. Blocking the entrance were two naturi. Why were they there? Danaus wasn’t here.

The quickest way to end this struggle was to take out the naturi. They were the greatest threat. Reaching out with my power, I quickly located Knox but hesitated making my presence known. He was fighting a werewolf. I could feel his building anger, but a cool, underlying logic still guided his thoughts.

Please, don’t kill them, I whispered in his thoughts.

Thank God! Knox sighed back, relieved to find that I was still alive. Barrett—

The naturi. Kill the naturi and the werewolves will stop, I directed.

Tried that. Irritation filled the comment. They’ve killed Roland and Adam.

I’ve got it. Keep the lycans off my back.

I silently walked the last couple of steps down the hall to stand on the edge of the main room. And the battle instantly shifted. The two naturi saw me and smiled. One of them was obviously from the animal clan. He had the same wide bone structure to his face as Nerian and dark, shaggy hair. With a wave of his hand, the four lycans I could see on the dance floor looked over at me. At once, they all attempted to disengage from their opponents so they could come after me.

Unconsciously, I took a step backward, my mouth falling open. The naturi had come after me. Not Nerian. Not Danaus. They were looking for me.

Before the lycans could move more than a couple steps, the vampires surged, bringing them down. Sickly sounds of tearing flesh and breaking bones barely rose above the earth-shattering screams of pain. Knox was willing to follow my orders up to a point. He had directed the others to keep the lycanthropes busy, but as soon as it became apparent that I was the main target, the order had changed to protect me at any cost. The four werewolves were dead, outnumbered and overwhelmed.

Swallowing a scream of frustration, I conjured up a fireball in my left hand and hurled it at the two naturi who were slowly approaching. It never reached them. One of them gracefully lifted one hand. The fireball flowed to him and then disappeared. I looked carefully at him for the first time. Tall and thin like a delicate willow, his skin was snowy white and his hair fell about him in silken waves of gold. If the sun could ever cry a tear, he would have been formed from it. He was from the light clan, and I knew I was seriously screwed. I wouldn’t be able to use my ability to conjure fire as a weapon against them as long as he stood.

I smiled. He would just have to stop standing.

“I’ve already killed Nerian tonight,” I called to them from across the dance floor. There was no missing the laughter in my tone. “We’ve killed your poor foot soldiers. This will be your one chance to leave my domain while you can still walk out of here.” As I spoke, I conjured another fireball in my left hand.

Once again the naturi from the light clan captured the fireball, protecting them both. “You’re mistaken, Fire Starter. This is your one chance,” he replied. His voice was light and warm, like the early morning rays from the summer sun. “Come with us now, and we won’t destroy every vampire in your domain.”

My smile faded. Bright fireballs consumed both my hands this time. Quickly, I launched them both at the naturi from the light clan. With a wave of his hand, he easily dispersed the fire, but it did nothing to stop the iron sconce that had been engulfed in the second fireball. The heavy piece of iron struck him in the middle of his chest, throwing him backward as it embedded itself. I had no doubt that he was dead the moment his lithe body slammed into the wall.

The remaining naturi growled at me for only a second before darting out the open front door. Without the added defense of someone from the light clan, he didn’t stand a chance against fifty nightwalkers and the Fire Starter. It had been the only way the naturi could hold me during the first week. With a member of the light clan constantly hovering in my shadow, I’d been unable to use my ability against them. By the second week I was too weak to even light a candle.

Now, with the threat finally gone, I took a step onto the dance floor and surveyed the damage. I tried to shove both my hands through my hair but stopped when I encountered the dried blood left from Nerian. My body trembled in pain, exhaustion, and blood loss. But the faces of the nightwalkers watching me were worse. Haunted, confused, and frightened, many clung to each other or knelt beside the dead. The two nightwalkers I could identify as Roland and Adam had gaping holes dominating their chests where their hearts once were. Two more bodies lay in awkward positions on the ground, headless.

The bodies of the four werewolves were badly mangled and covered with blood. No one stood next to them. The lines were already being drawn, but they were the wrong lines.

“Mira?”

My head jerked up to find Knox standing next to me. His navy shirt had been ripped in several places and there were several superficial wounds healing on his arms and chest.