Clenching my fists at my sides, I turned my head and glared at Mira. I wouldn’t apologize for what I had done. I couldn’t do it. I still believed in what I was doing. Someone had to protect the humans from the nightwalkers.

Yes, but some humans don’t want or need your protection, Mira mentally said to me, proving that she had been listening to my thoughts. Your actions have more severe repercussions than you sometimes realize.

I save lives.

And sometimes you destroy them. A sad look filled Mira’s lavender eyes as she met my gaze. For a moment, it felt as if she pitied me and I wondered if she was right. But I crushed the thought as quickly as it appeared. Someone had to protect humanity from vampires. Right?

I won’t apologize, I sent the stubborn thought to her, though it felt more than a little tired and worn.

I never asked you to, Mira replied. She slid out of the booth and flowed to her feet like liquid. I could feel all the eyes in the room suddenly shift from me to the keeper. She was finally going to take control of the situation and everyone knew that someone was going to finish the night in pain.

“Who does this woman belong to?” Mira demanded, raising her voice so that it easily reached all the dark corners of the club.

When no one immediately spoke up, Gregor ventured a guess. “Mark?” I resisted the urge to look over my shoulder at the nightwalker, suddenly understanding why Mira found him to be such a nuisance. Instead, I let my gaze travel around the room. No one was willing to meet Mira’s direct gaze.

“All right. Let me try this again. Who brought this woman into the Dark Room?” Mira demanded, her tone growing sharper with each word. The Dark Room was a membership-only club and members had to be either nightwalkers or lycanthropes. Humans were only allowed into the club under a lycan or vampire escort.

“I brought her in,” said a blond nightwalker. She held her hand slightly above her head as she stepped forward from a knot of nightwalkers. “We’re friends. I didn’t know you were going to bring the hunter here. If I’d known, I would never have let her in.”

“But I’m sure you were kind enough to inform her exactly who Danaus was when he did appear,” Mira sneered.

“She asked,” the vampire said with a shrug. “I didn’t know she would react like this.”

Neither Mira nor I believed her. The nightwalker could have easily read my attacker’s mind and seen what she planned to do. Of course, there wasn’t a nightwalker in the place that I would have expected to stop the woman before she brandished her knife. Mira might be the possible exception to that, but even that was doubtful, depending on her mood. The only thing about this whole mess that I did find surprising was that Gregor had seen fit to warn me that she was about to strike. He could have easily allowed her to stab me and no one would have thought less of him.

In a flash, Mira palmed a knife that had been at her side and threw it at the blond. The knife hit her with enough force to throw her back a few steps as it buried itself in the vampire’s shoulder. The blond cried out in pain and surprise as she wrapped her hand around the knife. The scent of fresh blood once again hit the air and the haze of bloodlust grew thicker, but this time there was a new feeling in the air. It was the same demand for death and pain that I felt when Mira was punishing David at the First Communion. When it came to a struggle between two nightwalkers, there was little loyalty to be found, only a thirst for destruction and violence.

“Your lack of discretion could have created chaos and deaths we cannot afford among our ranks. You are not welcome at the Dark Room until you are back in my good graces,” Mira pronounced. “I will not abide attacks on my guests and on members of my family.”

A second later, a bouncer that had been hovering at the front door of the Dark Room when I walked in with Mira swooped down and grabbed the blond by the arm and ushered her out of the club before she could even pull the knife free from her arm.

A heavy silence settled over the club except for the loud sobbing of the woman still seated on the floor. She had not moved during the brief scuffle between Mira and the blond nightwalker that had been her friend.

“What do we do?” I asked, dragging Mira’s gaze back to me.

She frowned at me, creating little lines between her thin brows as she gave a little shrug. “That’s actually up to you. She attacked you. You beat her. By our laws, her life belongs to you now. You can kill her if you like.”

The woman let out a soft whimper and pushed a little away from me before I could even speak.

“Absolutely not!” I snapped. “Just let her go and let’s forget about it all.”

“Unfortunately, that’s not a possibility either,” Mira said. She turned and looked down at the young woman with the red, tear-streaked face. “She broke our rules. She attacked my guest, insulting me and shaming her host. She’s proven that she can’t be trusted. How do we know she won’t turn us in to the Daylight Coalition next because she didn’t get her proper vengeance?” The Daylight Coalition was a group of human vampire hunters, and they would love to get information from an insider.

“What do you suggest?” I inquired, a part of me dreading her answer.

Mira turned her gaze on Gregor, who was still lounging in the booth, watching the drama unfold like a movie on the big screen. “Wipe her memory,” Mira ordered.

“How much?” he inquired, slowly pushing out of his slouch to the edge his seat.

“All of it. Everything associated with our kind and lycans.”

Gregor frowned, but nodded at the direct order from the keeper of the domain. Rising to his feet with the natural, fluid ease of a nightwalker, he walked over and knelt before the woman, who was still sitting on the floor. My attacker tried to push backward, putting some distance between herself and Gregor, but the nightwalker grabbed her wrist, holding her in place.

“No! Wait! You can’t—”

“It’s okay,” Gregor said in a low, soothing voice. “This won’t hurt a bit. In fact, it’ll take the pain away,” he promised. The nightwalker pressed his hand against the woman’s head and temple before his eyes fell shut. A couple seconds later, the woman went completely limp, her eyes falling shut as well. The two stayed like that for a moment before Gregor lowered his hand and lifted his head.

“It’s done,” he announced. He slowly pushed back to his feet. As he wobbled slightly, one nightwalker caught him by the elbow and held him steady.

“Someone take her home,” Mira ordered. “I never want to see her here again.”

I watched as a tall male nightwalker bent down and put the unconscious human over his shoulder before carrying her out of the nightclub. The rest of the nightwalkers returned to their booths or dancing on the dance floor, the event of the evening seemingly forgotten. I walked back over to Gregor’s booth and stood next to Mira as she gazed down at the annoying nightwalker.

“It’s always interesting when you’re around.” Gregor chuckled when he looked up at Mira.

“Do you have any other information you can provide me about Abigail Bradford?” Mira stiffly said, ignoring his comment.

“Nothing that I can think of,” Gregor said with a shrug. “I believe that she was chosen simply because her death could cause the most trouble in our world.”

“But that means that the killer had to know something of our world in the first place,” Mira replied.

“Chilling thought, isn’t it?” Gregor said, his carefree demeanor finally slipping away. His gaze drifted up to me as he continued, “It’s as if our world is changing around us and not for the better.”

“Our world changed forever when the naturi returned,” I said.

To my surprise, Mira threaded her fingers through mine and we walked out of the Dark Room side by side. I had a grim suspicion that my appearance and obvious guest status in the nightclub had shaken up more than one nightwalker in Savannah and I knew the repercussions would be felt for many nights to come. I didn’t know what Mira was planning, but I truly doubted that I would like it. I rarely did.