“Even Sofia. Undoubtedly she secretly called for your help when I killed her. You could have easily come riding to her rescue but you abandoned her.”

Clarion shrugged his wide, narrow shoulders. “She chose to go along with Macaire’s silly plan. Who am I to deny Sofia her fate? But where does that leave us?”

“At an interesting impasse, I’m afraid. We could try to kill each other now, and I’m sure at least one person is likely to crawl away from this battle, but that won’t settle the question of Budapest’s future.”

Clarion pushed against the wall and took a step toward me. “What do you want with Budapest?”

“Only peace and quiet.”

“Will you renounce your claim as keeper?” he demanded in a rush.

I took a step forward and rested one boot on Veyron’s chest. “Can’t do that. It leaves the city open to any power-hungry nightwalker to move in and cause chaos. I can’t allow that to happen. However, I have noticed that my name alone has the power to keep order.”

“Yes, I have heard such things.”

“I am thinking of being more of an absentee landlord. I keep my main home in the New World, while maintaining a vacation home of sorts here in Budapest. All I ask is that you maintain order here among the spellcasters. Keep the peace and quiet.”

“An alliance?”

“No!” I said sharply, and then laughed. “I’ve seen how you operate in alliances. I was thinking of mutual acquaintances with similar goals. You go your way, I go mine. We both just protect the secret of our world from the humans, and otherwise don’t associate.”

“Sounds too good to be true,” Clarion said with a distrustful shake of his head.

“Only because I’m at an interesting crossroads. Normally, I would go after anyone that tried to kill me or plotted the death of my companions. However, you’re not the biggest fish in the pond, and I’m after him.”

“Macaire?” Clarion guessed.

“Macaire.”

“And once you’ve killed the nightwalker, will you come after me?”

“No. We’re wiping the slate clean. You were simply going to steal this territory, and I got in the way. I’m willing to let you have it on behalf of the spellcasters so long as you let me handle the nightwalkers.”

“Friends?” One corner of his mouth quirked in an odd smile.

“Not quite. Just not enemies. Try to kill me again and I will make you suffer,” I warned as I extended my hand to him. I was taking a chance, and I could hear both Valerio and Stefan cursing me in the back of my head. Clarion could kill me in the blink of an eye this way, but I was trusting he wouldn’t. He simply wanted this territory to himself without the politics, demands, or interference of any of the other races.

“Not enemies,” Clarion repeated as he slowly took my hand. We shook twice and then quickly released, as we both were unsure of this tentative truce.

“Now, as a little advice from one nonenemy to another, I would leave. I need to burn this place to destroy the evidence of tonight’s fun,” I said with a smile.

Clarion returned my smile. “Next time you’re in town, stop by Gerbeaud Cukrászda and we will chat over coffee. You can tell me how you did your new little trick.”

“Right,” I said sarcastically just before he disappeared.

“Are you insane?” Stefan demanded the second he was gone.

“Most definitely.”

“How do you know he won’t come after you again?” Danaus asked.

“Because he never truly came after me before. He didn’t attack you at the hotel with the lycans, did he?”

“No,” Danaus said with a shake of his head.

“And he could have definitely killed us in the taxi, but he didn’t. It was merely a warning. He could have easily killed us tonight, but that’s not his goal. He simply wants Budapest to himself, and now he’s got it.”

“So, he’s keeper of Budapest now,” Valerio chuckled.

“In a manner of speaking.” I turned and started to trudge up the stairs with Danaus and the others following close behind me. “I don’t want Budapest, but I need to be sure it doesn’t slip into chaos. Clarion will keep things quiet here and my somewhat bloody reputation will aid that.”

I paused in the hallway to find the bodies of the nightwalkers that tried to escape strewn all over the place. Heads had been ripped off and hearts torn from chests. They had all died as quietly and quickly as possible. I was proud of the work my companions had done, even if it was gruesome to behold.

“Besides, what I told him was true. I didn’t want to die uselessly trying to kill him, when my true target was just beyond my fingertips.”

We filed silently out of the house and onto the front lawn, which was still coated in snow. I sucked in a deep, cleansing breath. I could smell the crisp snow and pine needles over the thick scent of death and blood. I raised both hands over my head and flames instantly engulfed the house from top to bottom. I poured all my energy into the flames, melting glass and incinerating wood. Bodies were reduced to ash and made unrecognizable. I wouldn’t be able to get rid of the evidence of gunfire, but I was hoping that the police would attribute the mess to a mafia hit. Regardless, a fight between nightwalkers wasn’t going to be their first theory.

When the sound of sirens finally rang through the silence of the night, I lowered my hands back to my sides, leaving the fire to burn on its own. I leaned backward into Danaus, who wrapped a supportive arm around my waist.

“Mira, you need to reconsider your plan to take on Macaire,” Stefan said in a low voice, surprising me. “He’s a powerful Elder. You haven’t a chance. You can’t even teleport.”

“I’ll find a way to kill him.”

“Stefan is right,” Valerio agreed. “You can’t do this. He won’t give you the opportunity to use your gift.”

I gritted my teeth and stared at the ground. My boots were leaving red footprints in the snow from all the blood I had been wading through. “If I don’t, he is going to keep coming up with schemes to kill me and anyone associated with me. This time we got lucky. But next time, maybe not. I won’t allow someone to die because Macaire has it out for me.”

“And if you do win, what about Jabari?” Danaus asked. “He won’t have a use for you any longer.”

“I know.” But right now Macaire was at the top of my hit list.

Venice had never looked so good to me. It represented the last stop on a tedious journey; the last thing keeping me from my beloved Savannah. I needed to go home. My sudden departure from the southern city had left many things hanging in the air. Tristan needed me. His battered psyche was being eaten away by guilt from having a hand in Lily’s death. The chaos created by the presence of the bori left the nightwalkers unsettled, and Knox had been forced to manage things in my absence. I needed to return home so I could smooth everything over. I needed to be there for Tristan.

But for now I was stuck in Venice while I waited for the members of the coven to reconvene. I sent Valerio on ahead to check in on the court and see what the recent gossip was. Danaus and I wandered along Guidecca Island as we awaited his return. The sidewalks were slick from a recent rainstorm and the water in the canals was high, slopping over the sides and past the railing. Storm clouds churned overhead with the promise of yet another storm that would leave many of the low-lying plazas underwater by morning. The lights in lampposts seemed to have dimmed, barely beating back the night, and an oppressive feeling hung in the air.

“Something ill is waiting around the corner,” I said, slipping unconsciously into Italian. This place, with its centuries of bloody memories and violent flashes, pulled me into the safety of old habits.

“It is only the weather,” Danaus replied in Italian as well.

Stopping near the edge of the island, I stared out across the lagoon toward San Clemente Island, the resting place of the coven. My stomach twisted into knots and I anxiously shoved my hand through my hair, pushing it away from where it had blown across my face. I couldn’t remain waiting here. I needed to get on that island to find out what was happening. I needed to wrap my hands around Macaire’s neck so I could rip his head off.