Danaus snorted and shook his head as he sat back against the seat, resting his hands limply in his lap. “Why? So you can try to convince me that you’re not soulless killers, spreading evil by converting humans? Nerian was right—you’re parasites, feeding on humanity, your only drive to fulfill your own desires.”

My head fell back and I laughed, my right hand covering my eyes. “How is that any different from humans?” I dropped my hand back to the leather seat, where I tapped my nails softly on the bench. “Haven’t you just described humanity? Creatures surviving off the lives of others, driven to fulfill their own desires?”

He remained silent and I let the subject drop as the plane lifted into the air. We both had our own issues to work out, but I was still curious about him, and he was at my disposal for several hours.

“What are you, Danaus?” I asked. His eyes darted over to the bank of windows over my right shoulder, avoiding me. “I’ve been turning that question over in my head for more than a month now,” I continued, as if he’d spoken. “I’ve known several odd creatures in my time, but nothing like you. You have all the trappings of a human—wrapped up in your very human anger—but at the same time you sit over there pulsing with power. Are you even aware that you’re doing it? Your powers are so warm and alive, so wonderful. And the angrier you become, the stronger the pulse.” He still hadn’t looked at me, but I knew he was listening. His jaw hardened as he clenched his teeth and his eyes narrowed. I wondered how much he understood of himself.

“You know, you smell of the wind and of some distant sea. Sometimes I think it’s the Mediterranean, but it has been too long since I stood where it lapped the shore. You also smell like the sun.”

The description made the corner of his mouth quirk. He was suddenly fighting a smile. The description was strange, but it was the image conjured in my brain when I breathed him in.

“If you will not tell me what, then tell me how old you are.”

He stared at the windows hard, and I had about given up when his lips finally parted. “I served as a guard under Marcus Aurelius.” The accent I had heard when we first met flared to life again, teasing at my thoughts.

My brain shuffled through the card catalog of names in my mind, digging deeper for a time and place. It took only a moment, and when I placed it, my mouth fell open. Several minutes passed before I could organize my thoughts enough to form a coherent sentence. “You’re nearly three times my age,” I whispered, bringing a smile to his lips as his eyes finally returned to my face. “You look good for an old man.” The smile faded. “It also means you’re Roman in the truest form of the word. You watched the fall of the empire.”

“I had left already,” he volunteered in a low voice. While his expression never changed, the light in his eyes seemed to dim. Had the fall of the great empire bothered him? I think I wanted it to—it made him seem a little more real.

“Where have you been?” The question escaped me in a whisper of wonder and awe. I was just over six hundred years old, but it always filled me with a childlike giddiness when I encountered a creature older than me. I envied the knowledge their brains held, the sights they had seen that were now forever gone from this earth.

“Everywhere,” he replied, his own rough voice sinking into softer tones. His eyelids drifted low, as if he were reliving some old memories. “Rome, then west across the Carpathian Mountains, through Russia and south through Mongolia into China. I came back through India, the Middle East, Africa, back through Europe, where I lived with monks.” His eyes flicked back to my face and his voice hardened. “And across all those countries and through all the religions, one thing held true. Vampires are evil.”

“How did you capture Nerian?” I asked. He blinked at me, his mind seeming to stumble over the abrupt change of topic. There was no discussing my species’ right to live. Words would not be what convinced this man: only actions would accomplish that feat. Of course, I didn’t expect him to live long enough for that.

Danaus pressed his lips into a thin line as his expression hardened. I was beginning to recognize that expression; his “I don’t have to tell you anything, bitch” look.

Sitting forward on the leather sofa, I balanced my elbows on my knees. “You’ll be asked that again, by those who have a lot less patience than I do. You can tell me now and we move on, or we can wait and let them drag it from your lips using pain. Whether you’ve realized this or not, I am the only buffer between you and them.”

I sat back again, draping my left arm over the back of the sofa. Danaus was a rare gift. He was strong, powerful, and intelligent. I wanted the pleasure of picking apart his secrets, and then I wanted to hunt him. The challenge he offered was worth a little work, a little risk.

Minutes ticked by with only the roar of the wind outside the plane filling the tense air. He stared at me, as if weighing his options. They weren’t great and I couldn’t promise to protect him even if he did deliver the information. If an Elder stepped in, I would have to back off.

“Luck,” he said at last.

“Luck?”

“He was following you. I caught him off guard and knocked him out.”

I smiled and shook my head. I don’t know whether I completely believed it, but only Nerian would be so cocky as to not pay attention to a human that close to him. Of course, I was beginning to wonder how badly I was underestimating Danaus as well.

“How long did you have him?”

“A week.”

I nodded, rising to my feet. I stood in front of him for a moment, hands on hips, my legs spread against the slight turbulence. He tensed but his hands didn’t move toward the knives concealed on his body. I didn’t know how much, if any, information he had dragged out of the insane naturi, but a week was enough time to get some juicy tidbits. I was going to have to kill Danaus soon. His interesting qualities would be outweighed by the fact that he was becoming too dangerous to leave alive.

“Have you learned anything about Rowe?”

“Nothing yet. My contacts are still digging,” he said.

I couldn’t begin to guess at whom he was in contact with or how they would acquire information about the naturi. While nightwalkers stuck to the shadows and were diligent about maintaining our secrecy, the naturi were mere ghosts in this world.

With a sigh, I walked to the back of the jet and curled up in Michael’s lap. He wrapped his large arms around me and held me against his chest. I placed my ear against his heart, letting the steady rhythm soothe my mind. My right hand restlessly played with the hair at the nape of his neck while the other rested on his shoulder. My thoughts calmed as I lay in his warmth.

I didn’t want to be a part of this. I wanted to live in my city and seek pleasures where I found them. My great deed had been done more than five hundred years ago, and I walked away from my kind after that, never seeking a nightwalker companion for more than a night or two. But now I was being pulled back down into their ranks, sucked deeper into the mire. I could struggle all I wanted, but there would be no escaping.