I raised both of my hands out to my sides. Summoning up my powers, I directed them at the house, attempting to set the building on fire. It would have been easy if I could just burn the entire structure and everyone inside all at once. It would all be done in one quick and easy move, and I wouldn’t have to worry about putting my companions in danger. But nothing is ever easy.

Electric energy filled the air around the house, sizzling like a lightning bolt looking for a metal pole. The energy dampened my own powers, keeping me from burning the house to the ground. I wasn’t particularly surprised. It was a simple spell, one I had known for centuries and used in Peru to protect us from the naturi while we slept at the foot of the Machu Picchu ruins. I knew Clarion wasn’t going to make it easy for me, but I had to at least try.

Dropping my hands back to my side, I could feel Valerio chuckling in the back of my brain as I walked toward the house. He could read my thoughts, hear as I cursed the warlock for making this more difficult than it truly had to be. But those fragments of laughter quickly grew still as I stepped to the front door and pushed it open easily.

Darkness waited for me as I stepped across the threshold. Leaves and snow had blown into the open doorway, as if the house had been abandoned for years instead of just a few hours. Standing in the hallway, I waved my right hand, sending my power out, seeking candles, but no lights sprang to life. With a low hiss, I summoned up my powers again, this time attempting a small fireball that would hover just in front of me. Again nothing happened. Not only had Clarion cast a protective spell on the house itself, but he had found a way to dampen all fire. My ability was useless as long as the warlock lived.

Dropping my hand back to my side, I clenched my teeth and continued to walk through the house, weaving through room after room. The furniture was overturned and valuable knickknacks and paintings were now missing. The house had been ransacked in anticipation of my arrival. My guess was that Veyron was expecting to live through this fight but didn’t believe that his residence would survive. He was planning ahead, but he wasn’t planning well. If he was truly smart, he would have run and never shown his face in Europe again.

As I turned a corner to go through what appeared to be the dining room, gunfire opened up. Running across the hardwood floor, I dropped to my knees as I turned, sliding across the floor as I pulled a pair of knives from my side. Despite the heavy darkness in the room, I picked out my two assailants and flung my knives at them. One screamed as the knife buried up to the hilt in his arm, while the other man simply gurgled as the blade found his throat. He fell back, choking on his own blood, while the other man stumbled backward. He pressed his wounded arm to his stomach as he tried to awkwardly fire the gun with his left hand. He squeezed off several shots with the automatic weapon, sending two bullets clean through me before I finally reached him and snapped his neck.

Are you all right? Danaus instantly demanded as pain flashed through my frame.

Fine, I growled in return. My shoulder and leg burned but I could feel the holes already closing. I wouldn’t lose much blood, and the pain was only a minor distraction. Bending down, I pulled the knives out of my two victims and wiped them off on their clothes before returning them to their sheaths.

The house was as quiet as a mausoleum now that the gunfire had stopped. I went completely still, straining to hear something. Above me, I heard the ever so faint creak of floorboards under the weight of heavy boots. There was the occasional deep breath and the slight sound of rapid heartbeats pounding away in anticipation. I sent my powers out from my body again. The humans were on the top floors, while the nightwalkers were in the basement. Clarion was completely missing. I could only guess that he was cloaking himself, but I had no doubt he was waiting for me in the basement with Veyron.

If I went directly after my prey, I would have a horde of humans with automatic weapons at my back. I needed to clear out the upper floor first before I went after Veyron and the others. Of course, I didn’t trust this setup at all. I knew that Veyron, Odelia, and Clarion cared nothing about sacrificing a few humans if it meant destroying me.

I relayed my plan to Valerio and Danaus, and neither of the two men liked it. They demanded that they be allowed to assist me, but I told them to hold back. If I could pick off each human without risking more lives than necessary, then I planned to proceed in that manner. They would be taking on enough risk when they went up against Clarion.

Save Odelia for me, Stefan demanded, surprising me. I had not felt his presence in my mind, but then I hadn’t been looking for him. Stefan abhorred my touch, and I had no doubt that he thought he was lowering himself to contact me in such a way, but at the moment it was a necessary evil.

I’ll see what I can do .

Take a gun, Mira, Danaus ordered as I started to pass by the bodies.

I swallowed my argument and picked up an ugly black weapon. I didn’t know how to load this monster and I could only hope that it didn’t have a safety that I needed to flick off. I just wanted to be able to pull the trigger and have the thing send out a spray of bullets at my enemies, but I wasn’t going to rely on it. I didn’t like guns. Too unreliable and too noisy. Knives were so much more personal.

Heading back to the front of the house, I paused at the foot of the stairs. The second floor was open and overlooked the main foyer. I felt too exposed standing there, and knew I would be pinned against the wall as I climbed to the second floor. Looking around, I spotted an ornate chandelier directly overhead. With a smile, I leapt straight up into the air and grabbed a bottom section of the light fixture. There was a slight groan but the chandelier held. I swung back and forth a couple times like a circus performer on the trapeze before releasing myself. My left foot slipped on the edge of the second floor but my right foot held, allowing me to catch the railing.

As I climbed over the railing, gunfire shattered the silence and lit the darkness. Crouched on one knee, I swiveled from left to right, firing back at the men trained on me. Bullets pockmarked the walls and the wood railing around me. I was hit a couple more times but not before I managed to kill the three men that surrounded me with the automatic weapon.

Sitting on the floor, I clutched the gun to my chest while waiting for my body to heal. I was tempted to feed off one of my still dying opponents but decided against it. There was nothing worse than being interrupted in the middle of a meal. I gazed down at the gun in my hand and frowned.

I told y—

Shut up, Danaus. I had no doubt that the hunter had been waiting months to utter those words, and this time he was right. In a firefight with humans, guns were effective against guns. Well, at least they were effective when I couldn’t set them on fire.

Do you need us? Valerio inquired. I wasn’t accustomed to having so many people running willy-nilly though my brain. I was tempted to throw up some barriers and block them all out so I could concentrate but decided against it. They might be needed in an instant, and it was easier to contact them if they were already waiting in the wings of my mind.

Not yet. I sense only two more humans in the house. Let me clean them out and then you can come, I said, forcing myself to calm down and relax. The first stage was nearly complete.

Rising off the floor with ease only a vampire could show, I silently walked down the hall to my right. I eased past one open doorway after another, peering into the vast darkness to see the vague outline of a large bed and what were probably ornate bureaus. Nothing moved.