“It’s been a long time since I was last here.” And even then, the memories were not so great. I had been running with Valerio at the time, and causing more than my fair share of mischief. I wasn’t always the good little girl that I was now, and Valerio was no help on that front. The nightwalker had a wicked sense of humor and a dangerous definition of fun.

“I doubt that’s what’s preoccupying your mind.”

A smile tweaked the corners of my mouth as I looked up at my companion. “You know me too well sometimes,” I said, then shook my head. “I cannot begin to guess at what Macaire has in store for us. He would not have sent us to Budapest unless he had something special planned that would finally get me off of the coven and permanently out of his hair. And if he can get rid of you in the process, all the better for him.”

“It can’t be too complicated.” Danaus shrugged, his shoulders brushing against mine. “Either the keeper in Budapest is extremely old and strong, making it unlikely that you’ll be able to defeat him. Or there are a high number of naturi here, making it impossible for us to win against those odds.”

My frown deepened. It was the same two scenarios that I had come up with as well, and it didn’t make me feel any better. “A single Ancient keeper doesn’t stand a chance against both of us. And neither do the naturi. We’ve wiped them out before. We can do it again.”

We can’t. We can’t combine our powers as we had before, Danaus countered, switching to our private path in the event that our driver could actually speak English. We had lost our greatest weapon. Through the combination of our powers, we could destroy our enemies with a thought. However, the downfall of that ability was the fact that it sent the soul energy directly to the keeper of Danaus’s soul, a bori by the name of Gaizka. We had just finished locking him away once again at a great cost. I was in no hurry to have yet another run-in with the bori.

“Macaire doesn’t know that,” I replied. “I’m sure he still thinks that we can wipe out the naturi with a thought. I can’t imagine what edge he thinks he finally has over us.”

“We’ll figure it out.” I wished I felt that same confidence Danaus exuded, but then I’d had more experience dealing with the Elders than he did. They were careful plotters and evil manipulators. They acted with purpose and caution so they could be sure they knew that the outcome would fall in their favor. It was rare that you could surprise an Elder, and even rarer that you could escape their schemes.

“When was the last time you were in Budapest?” I asked, happy to change the subject.

“The Turks called this place home at the time,” he replied, putting his last visit sometime during the late fifteenth century to the early sixteenth century.

I slid my fingers through his open hand beside me. “A lot has changed since then.”

“And yet some things have not.” He stared down at our entwined hands. His fingers remained loose, not truly holding my hand, but at the same time he didn’t pull his hand free of my touch. “Mira, I—I’m not sure I can do this.”

“Do what?”

Danaus raised our hands. “This? We’re so different. We’ve got pasts that we can’t escape. Pasts that are going to eventually get in the way. I don’t see how we’re going to make this work.”

“I’m not worried about making something work. It’s about enjoying each other’s company while we have it,” I said, fighting to hold onto the fragile smile that was perched on my lips. My muscles in my chest tightened nervously; I could feel him already pulling away from me before we had taken any real steps forward, and despite what I said, I did want to make this work.

“What if there is nothing between us but lust?” He lowered his voice as if this was some dark topic not fit for human ears.

I lowered my voice as well and slid closer to Danaus, so my shoulder touched his. “Is that such a bad thing? At least it is the start of something; something that we could possibly build upon.” I reached up with my free hand and slid my fingers along his jaw, loving the fact that he no longer drew away when I touched him. I could feel the energy balled up inside of him. He was stiff and anxious, but he didn’t move away. The urge to kiss him welled up inside of me once again, the need to taste him. Instead, I dropped my hand back into my lap and lay my head against his shoulder.

“The road ahead of us is dark,” he warned, but at the same time his fingers tightened around mine.

“But we’re no longer alone.”

Giving Danaus’s hand one final squeeze, I sat up and pushed to the edge of my seat so I could lean across the front seat to speak to the driver. While my Hungarian was more than a little rusty, I still managed to direct him to drop us off near an empty corner in City Park. I could feel Valerio and Stefan lurking in the region. We were close to our meeting place, and I preferred to walk the rest of the distance without the watchful eyes of any humans nearby. I handed over six thousand Hungarian forints as he pulled the car to a stop. It more than covered the fee for the taxi ride and was a nice enough tip that he didn’t ask any questions about us being dropped off in a lonely part of a park near midnight.

Danaus slid out of the car, releasing my hand, and I followed behind him, shoving my hands into the pockets of my long coat in an effort to fend off the bitter cold. With a jerk of my head, we started walking in the direction in which I sensed Valerio. Stefan’s presence was a bit shadowy, as if he were quickly flitting from one place to the next so I couldn’t keep a clear sense of where he was, and yet he wasn’t cloaking himself completely from me.

After a few dozen yards along a winding path, Valerio stepped out of the shadows, blocking the light from a nearby streetlamp. He wore a heavy coat that stretched to his ankles, while a thick scarf was wrapped around his neck. The cold was little more than a nuisance to most nightwalkers, but he dressed so that he easily blended in with the humans. Plus, he liked to keep up with the latest fashions.

“Have you found someone worth talking to?” I asked as we joined him.

“She’s up ahead. From what I’ve been able to discern during the past few hours, she tends to hold court here most nights.”

“Keeper?” Danaus inquired.

“Doubtful. She’s old, from what I understand, and long used to getting her way, but no one has used any term with her that has even a vague resemblance to the term ‘keeper.’ It sounds like she’s just an old nightwalker,” Valerio said with a shrug.

I frowned, not liking what I was hearing. Old nightwalkers were extremely territorial and hated to play nice with other old nightwalkers. Unfortunately, as much as I hated to admit it, I too was an old nightwalker, and I was long used to getting my way. It frequently made for ugly clashes, as one was forced to finally give way to the other, usually through bloodshed and possibly an unexpected death. “What’s her name?”

“Odelia,” Stefan said, gliding out of the shadows to my right. I was relieved to see that Danaus didn’t flinch. I had not sensed Stefan until a second before he officially appeared, and I doubted that Danaus had sensed him at all. Stefan was just trying to prove to me that he was my superior when it came to powers and experience. I, on the other hand, wasn’t in the mood to play. We had bigger concerns, and the sooner Danaus and I got out of Budapest, the better it would be for all those involved. We needed to get back to Savannah.

I stared down at the snow-covered ground as I wracked my brain for a memory of someone by that name. I had known too many nightwalkers over my long life, and too few of my memories were good.

“Do you know her?” Danaus asked.

“I may have encountered her a time or two,” I admitted with a shake of my head as I looked up at Valerio and Stefan. “But I don’t truly recall her. The name sounds vaguely familiar. Do you know her?” I asked Stefan.