When we disappeared from my hotel room, I naturally assumed that I would be seeing the richly decorated rooms of Valerio’s Vienna home when we reappeared. Instead I found myself wrapped in Valerio’s arms outside the Nyugati train station in Pest. Pushing against him, I moved out of his embrace as I scanned the region. I could feel Valerio’s powers blanketing us, so no one saw us suddenly pop into existence in this part of town beyond the handful of nightwalkers I could sense in the immediate area.

I shoved a heavy lock of hair out of my face and paced away from my companion. “What are we doing here? I thought we were going back to your place.”

“The night is still so young, Mira.” Valerio reached for me again, but I dodged his grasp as I walked away from the noise of the train station. Despite the late hour, a heavy crowd of people lingered in the area nearby, along with a mix of nightwalkers. My heels crunched in the dirty grit of the street and I found myself tightening my arms on my chest as the wind picked up.

“What do you have in mind?”

“You just became the keeper of Budapest,” he said, throwing his arms out wide. “Don’t you think you should celebrate? Maybe spend a little time with your people?”

“Knock some heads around and instill some fear,” suggested Stefan as he stepped out of the shadows nearby, joining us.

I frowned and shook my head as an uneasy feeling sank into the pit of my stomach. I had lost Danaus, and now Valerio and Stefan were drawing me deeper into their own plans. I didn’t like this at all. “So how long have you two been planning this little party for me?” I asked, forcing a smile onto my lips.

“Since you announced that you were the new keeper,” Stefan said, matching my smile.

“It is tradition, Mira,” Valerio interjected quickly. “Anytime there is a change in leadership, it’s customary for the new leader to go out and be seen among her people.”

What Valerio and Stefan were truly saying was that it was customary for the new keeper of a domain to go out and sacrifice a few nightwalkers as a way of officially kicking off their reign—washing it in blood. They weren’t lying, no matter how much I wished at the moment that they were. I had started my own reign of Savannah in a tide of blood. While our numbers had been small at the time, more than half of the nightwalkers in Savannah and the surrounding regions died when I declared that I was the new keeper of the area.

Unfortunately, after last night’s bloodbath and my fight with Danaus, I found myself no longer wishing to wash the world in the blood of those around me. I wanted to slip into a dark quiet corner and let the world forget about me. I wanted to escape the notice of the naturi, and Nick, and the coven. But standing there in the cold with Valerio and Stefan, I knew I wasn’t going to get that. I was a powerful nightwalker, a coven Elder who had just claimed one of the oldest cities in Central Europe as her domain. It was expected of me to make an appearance and shed some blood.

I swallowed a heavy sigh as I straightened my shoulders and turned my attention to Valerio, who had been watching me far too closely. After my falling out with Danaus, he knew that I was feeling more than a little weak and vulnerable. He was trying to cheer me up the only way he knew how—with violence and chaos.

“So what place have you chosen for me to make my appearance? I would prefer for it to have a large impact on the nightwalker population, since we shall be dealing with the shifters tomorrow night,” I announced, trying to keep my voice sounding bland and even a little bored.

Valerio’s smile widened. He could see right through me, but at least he knew that I was willing to go along with his little game. “You’re going to love this place. From what I had been able to tell, it’s popular with both the tourists and the locals. It’s open late and draws a huge bloodsucker crowd. It’s the perfect place for us. It’s called Bahnhof and it’s just behind the train station.”

I shrugged my shoulders, shoved my hands into the pockets of my slacks and followed both Stefan and Valerio through the street. We carefully wove our way through the crowd and used a little bit of mind manipulation to get through the front door ahead of the line of people waiting to enter the bar. I paused at the entrance, some of the tension easing from my shoulders at the pounding music. From floor to ceiling the place was decorated in old railroad memorabilia, which only seemed fitting since the place was right next to Nuygati train station.

We slowly pressed through the crowd of humans, making a sweep of the two separate dance floors as well as the different secret niches modeled after railway cars. I could feel the eyes of every nightwalker on us as we walked through the place. They remained silent observers for now. As far as they knew, we were trespassing in their private domain. Of course, they could have also heard about last night’s slaughter as the Széchenyi Baths. Either way, they were giving us some space for now, but it was only a matter of time. I was waiting to see who blinked first. Considering that Stefan’s lone assistant hadn’t escaped the city, I was willing to bet that the nightwalkers of Bahnhof were going to press us first. I just needed to give them a proper reason.

It didn’t take me long to find it. Toward the back of the train-themed dance club was a private car filled with nightwalkers and the human pets that clung to them like bits of fleshy jewelry. This was the exclusive club car. The so-called best seat in the house. And naturally, being the new keeper of Budapest, this had to be my seat.

I stood in the doorway and smiled down at them in silence, my arms hanging loose at my sides. They all looked at me with varying degrees of dislike and disinterest. One female seated farthest from the entrance into the secluded area frowned at me as she unwrapped her arm from around the shoulders of a thin, sickly white human with wind-blown hair.

“This is a private party. It would be best if you left,” she warned, leaning forward on the table. Considering that nearly twenty people were crammed into the tiny area, the table was littered with surprisingly few drinks. There were more nightwalkers than humans in that tight region, and no one was bothering to keep up appearances that they were just average customers of the club. This behavior simply wouldn’t do.

“Yes,” I said in a low hiss as my smile widened. “This is a private party and we have come for this set of seats.”

A low round of laughter rumbled through the car as they shifted restlessly in their chairs. I smiled, chuckling as well. I was older than all of them. This wasn’t going to be a contest. This was going to be a slaughter.

Keep anyone from escaping out onto the main floor. I don’t want to cause a panic among the humans, I directed Valerio and Stefan.

You’re determined to drain all the fun out of this, aren’t you? Valerio whined.

I’ll leave the humans to you and Stefan. I just want the nightwalkers.

“And where do you get this notion that we’re going to move for you?” the female demanded. “You don’t belong here. You should leave this city and go back to your own home.” This time I felt a not so subtle mental shove as she tried to mentally direct me to do her bidding. It lacked finesse, strength, and even cunning. It was both crass and insulting that she even attempted it on someone of my years and experience.

I didn’t even give her a chance to move. In a flash I reached across the table, grabbed her by the throat, and dragged her across the tabletop. Drinks were sent flying in every direction, but the sound of breaking glass could barely be heard over the roar of music coming from the other end of the club. Pinning her to the table with one hand, I raised the other above my head and bathed it in flickering blue flames so that I now had everyone’s full attention.