I arrived at my town house the following evening to find Danaus with his various weapons spread out across my parlor coffee table. He was running a check over his equipment, which seemed to have multiplied since his arrival in Savannah. Standing in the doorway to the parlor with my hands on my hips, I stared at the spread—an unfortunate reminder that we had to fly to Peru tomorrow night.

“Don’t scratch up the table,” I said by way of announcing my arrival.

“They’re in the kitchen,” Danaus replied, not even looking up from the gun he was cleaning.

“Magic lessons begin tonight. Pack up your toys. I want you to come along.”

A smirk lifted one corner of his mouth as his eyes shifted up to me for the first time. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

I shook my head at him as I continued down the hall to the kitchen. “Well, isn’t this coz—y,” I said, choking on the last syllable when my gaze fell on James, who was sitting at the table with Cynnia and Shelly, sipping iced tea.

The Themis member immediately jumped to his feet, his left hand smoothing his tie. A wobbly smile perched on his lips. James was the last person I expected to see sitting at my kitchen table. I could only guess that the warlock Ryan was up to something.

“Mira—”

“Is Ryan here as well?” I asked, rudely cutting off whatever he was going to say.

“No, I came alone.”

“With me,” I snapped, motioning for him to follow me down the hall to the office, where I shut the door behind him sharply. Turning on my heel, I quickly closed the distance between us and gripped him in a hug. I felt him flinch at my touch but ignored it.

“I’m so glad to see that you are safe. Have you healed completely from Crete?” I demanded, my hands resting on his shoulders as I held him at arm’s length from me.

“Y-Yes, I’m fine,” he said, his eyes wide with surprise behind his gold, wire-rimmed glasses. “There were no complications and I healed quickly.”

“Ryan is such a bastard,” I growled, releasing James as I paced away from him to the desk at the opposite end of the room. “He had no business bringing you along to Crete. You could have been killed.”

“I wanted to go,” James firmly said, but I just shook my head.

“Ryan knew how dangerous it was, and you’re in no way trained for such a situation.” I paced back away from the desk and plopped down in one of the chairs, motioning for James to take the seat next to me.

“It wasn’t just about the naturi,” he said, slowly taking the seat beside me. “I should have been the one to tell you about Michael.”

I shook my head, balling my fists in my lap. “You weren’t his keeper.” The thought of Michael’s dead body being taken still angered me beyond rational behavior, but I was getting control of my temper. “Least of all, you weren’t the keeper of his corpse.”

“It was my job to see to them while they were on the Compound grounds,” he said.

“You’re absolved,” I said with a wave of my hand. “My main concern is the naturi now. It is unfortunate, but as Ryan said, Michael is dead. They can’t hurt him now.”

“Thank you, Mira,” James said, straightening his glasses on his long, slender nose.

“What are you doing here anyway?” I demanded, shrugging off his comment. I didn’t deserve his thanks—the disappearance wasn’t his fault.

“I came to tell you that the next sacrifice location is going to be at Machu Picchu, Peru,” he said, leaning forward in his excitement.

“So I’ve heard,” I muttered, falling back to rest against the back of the chair while I stretched out my legs to cross them at the ankle.

“You’ve heard already?” he softly said, looking positively crestfallen.

“Two nights ago, Jabari dropped the news on me.”

“Oh.”

“Though I do appreciate the confirmation from Themis,” I said, forcing a smile. “It’s nice to know that the Coven isn’t lying to me.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, though he still looked a little disappointed that he wasn’t the bearer of important information, as he had assumed.

“Of course, you could have just called and told us this information. What’s the other reason for your appearance?”

A blush stained his cheeks as his brown eyes dropped down to his slender hands. “I also brought Danaus a fresh change of clothes as well as some additional weapons that I thought he might need for his trip to Peru. He’s been on the road for a while now. I thought he could use some fresh items.”

A smiled toyed with my lips, but I smothered it before he could see it. While James was a full-fledged researcher for Themis, his main role was assistant to both Danaus and Ryan, which included seeing to their random needs, such as fetching weapons, researching, and making travel arrangements. James was eager to be a part of the fray with Danaus, but his biggest stumbling block was that he was simply a human playing in the realm of powerful creatures out for blood. There was only so many ways he could be of assistance in our world, and right now he was limited to errand boy.

“I’m sure he’s grateful for the fresh items,” I said, hooking a stray stand of hair behind my right ear. “Is Danaus frequently away from the Themis Compound?”

“He spends more time away from it than at the Compound. He doesn’t like to be settled in one place for too long,” James admitted, sitting back in his chair as well.

“Where does he go?”

“Ryan usually has him on one mission or another,” James said with a shrug of one shoulder.

“But Danaus hasn’t been sent to kill that many nightwalkers. If he had, I would have heard about him much sooner than I did, and he would have come after me much sooner.” Unless, of course, Ryan had hidden my existence from the hunter for some reason—not that I currently found that strand of logic likely. “He must have somewhere that he goes when he’s not on a mission for Themis.”

A smile lifted James’s lips and he shook his head at me as he sat up in his chair. “If you’re trying to get some little tidbit of information regarding Danaus from me, you’re not going to get anything interesting. Danaus doesn’t talk to me. He doesn’t talk to anyone. I’m sure there is plenty of time when he’s not on a mission, but I don’t know where he goes. I’m still trying to get him to carry a cell phone so I can locate him when he’s needed.”

I sighed and stared straight ahead at the desk that rested before me. Beyond it was a large window that looked out on the square, which was filled with enormous live oaks whose leaves blocked most of the street lamps. Night had settled in around us, and I was wasting it trying to pry information out of James regarding Danaus. It was nothing more than curiosity since I was willing to bet I already knew more about Danaus than the man that sat beside me.

“It’s getting late,” I announced, pushing to my feet with my powers. James jumped to his feet as well, moving a fearful step away from me as he saw the boneless way I rose. “We need to get going.”

“Is there any way I can be of assistance?”

“You’re not going to Peru,” I snapped. The man’s life had already been threatened and nearly taken in Crete. I wasn’t about to risk it again.

“I didn’t think so,” he said with a little half smile. “I was thinking more along the lines of transportation, weapons, lodgings, etcetera.”

“I have someone that can arrange all of that,” I said with a shake of my head, then paused and looked over at him, scratching the tip of my chin with an index finger. “However, if Themis could convince the Peruvian government to close access to the mountain, it would be greatly appreciated. I would prefer it if I didn’t have to worry about the naturi grabbing a bunch of tourists on their way up to the ruins.”

“I’ll see what we can do,” he said, then extended his hand toward me. “I wish you luck. I hope that we have a chance to work together again. I feel there is a great deal that I could learn from you.”