“Are you willing to come with me? Let me protect you?”

“You won’t dump me with Family Services?” she demanded, her smile instantly fading.

“As long as you agree to help me as well. I need as much information as you can give me. This creature has killed a few people, and my friend and I have to stop it before it hurts anyone else. It could be dangerous, but I will do everything I can to keep you safe,” I promised.

She looked at me again, squinting slightly. I was willing to guess that she was reading my aura again, gauging my sincerity. I remained sitting quietly while she stared at me. Lily was trapped between a rock and a very hard place. She could either take her chances with me, which would potentially put her in danger, or she could take her chances with Family Services, which offered little to no protection whatsoever.

“Can we stop and get something to eat first? I’m starving,” she said at last, earning a surprised chuckle from me. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I had spent this much time with a child, and Lily was undoubtedly different from anything I might have expected. Much like Mira, I was sure that she was going to keep me on my toes until this creature was taken care of at last. The only plus was that I finally felt as if we had taken a step forward in this investigation. Lily had seen the mark of the creature’s aura. While it might be forced to switch bodies, with the girl’s help we might be able to find the creature. We might still be searching for a needle in a haystack, but at least we had acquired a metal detector to help with the process. I just hoped we could finally catch this thing without putting Lily in any more unnecessary danger.

My stomach tightened as anxiety pumped in my veins the closer we drew into Mira’s house. After grabbing some fast food for Lily we had returned to the town house, where she could finally clean up, eat, and sleep. I kept her up on the third floor in hopes of slowing any attempts to sneak away. But for now she seemed content to curl up like a cat in the middle of the queen-sized bed and sleep.

However, a phone call from Gabriel quickly destroyed our cozy atmosphere. Mira’s bodyguard sounded more than a little harried when he demanded that I immediately come to Mira’s house and help him make the nightwalker see reason. He would give me no more information other than the fact that Tristan’s life was on the line.

Considering that the naturi could seemingly sense and track me, I was more than a little hesitant to go trotting off to the Fire Starter’s secret lair. I was also nervous about dragging Lily into a particularly dangerous situation, but I had no choice. I couldn’t leave her alone, and with Gaizka hunting her, I thought she was better off at my side than left alone in the town house. Besides, Mira would need to meet the kid soon enough, and the two of us, along with Gabriel, could provide better protection for Lily than if she were on her own.

With a frown, I parked the car in front of Mira’s garage and turned it off. But I didn’t get out of the car. Instead, I looked down at the young girl seated next to me. Was I putting a child’s life in danger by bringing her to this house? Just a few months ago, my answer would have been an unwavering yes. Now, I couldn’t imagine Tristan or Mira doing anything to harm her. Had I finally spent so much time surrounded by nightwalkers that my sense of reality had been severely compromised?

“Whose house is this?” Lily inquired when it became obvious that I was reluctant to go inside.

“A friend,” I replied then frowned. I couldn’t think of any other description that would make Lily feel comfortable, and “an enemy” was neither accurate nor comforting. “She’s the one helping me to catch the killer.”

“Is she human?”

“No,” I drew in a deep breath and slowly released it. “Mira is a nightwalker. Both she and Tristan live here and are nightwalkers.”

“Are they dangerous?”

My frown finally eased into a half smile and my hand dropped to the door handle. “Not with me here,” I said, earning a grin out of Lily as well.

We had started to walk toward the front of the house when Gabriel opened the back door and motioned for us to come that way. The brooding figure stared down at Lily from the patio, his large arms crossed over his chest. Dark circles underlined his eyes and his shoulders seemed to slump under some unknown weight.

“This really isn’t a good time for visitors,” Gabriel said, pulling his confused gaze from Lily to me.

“She needs to meet with Mira,” I said firmly when Lily’s step faltered and slowed so that she was now a couple paces behind me.

Gabriel frowned as he pulled the back door completely shut and stepped out onto the patio. “Like I said, this really isn’t a good time,” he repeated in a low voice. “Mira’s not doing so great.”

“What do you mean?” I snapped, resisting the urge to lower my voice as well. “Vampires don’t get sick.”

“Mira is,” Gabriel said, causing me to pause before I made a grab for the backdoor knob. “She’s had me running around the city all day and when I get back, she’s completely forgotten that she sent me out. I’ve caught her shouting at the open air, seeming to argue with someone called Nerian—”

“Nerian?” I demanded, my stomach twisting into a tight knot again.

“Yeah, shouting at nothing. Pointing and creating fires while addressing someone called Nerian. Who is that?”

“A dead naturi,” I said under my breath as I grabbed the doorknob. Something was seriously wrong. Nerian was dead. There was no question about it—she had ripped out his throat and incinerated him months ago. This didn’t make any sense. Unless the naturi had found a way to mess with Mira’s mind.

I pushed open the door, but Gabriel put a restraining hand on my shoulder, stopping me. “She’s in there with Tristan now. She’s been on his case for more than an hour. She’s upset. I’m afraid she’s going to…I can’t go in…” he trailed off in frustration.

Gabriel didn’t need to say it. He was afraid that Mira was going to kill Tristan, and he knew that he didn’t have a chance at stopping the powerful nightwalker without getting himself killed in the process. I, on the other hand, had a chance of getting Tristan out alive.

“I’ve got it,” I said.

“Danaus?” Lily said, capturing my attention. Her voice was soft and unsure, not that I could blame her at all. I had brought her to a strange place that was now more dangerous than I had anticipated.

“Everything is going to be fine,” I reassured her, though I wasn’t sure how I was going to help Mira if the naturi were attacking her mind. “You stay with Gabriel. Order some pizza. We’re going to be here for a while.”

As I stepped over the threshold, I was immediately swamped by the overwhelming hunger radiating from Mira. The world was washed in a red haze and there was a strange roaring in my ears, as if I were next to a rushing torrent of water. My vision swam and everything seemed off kilter. I laid my hand on the kitchen counter as I tried to get my bearings. Closing my eyes, I sucked in a deep breath and raised as many mental shields as possible, trying to block Mira’s presence. It wasn’t easy. The Fire Starter filled the air like smoke in a tiny nightclub.

Getting my sense of balance back, I walked through the kitchen, briefly nodding to a strange Asian man hovering in the doorway between the kitchen and the hallway to the rest of the house. Mira had mentioned hiring someone to replace Michael, her fallen bodyguard, but I had yet to actually meet the man. Of course, now wasn’t the time.

“Do it again!” Mira shouted, her voice carrying down the hall. She sounded positively angry, making this a potentially explosive situation. I peered in the open door to find books floating around the room as if they had grown invisible wings and decided to take flight. Mira stood in the center of the room with her hand wrapped around Tristan’s neck. The younger nightwalker was looking up at the books, his hands extended and shaking.