Dear Readers: When I originally started Pray for Dawn, I wasn’t sure that I would be permitted to tell the story from Danaus’s point of view so I started the story from Mira’s point of view as well. Here is a snippet of story. Pray For Dawn Deleted Scene 1 Chapter 1 A tree frog chirped in my left ear. My upper lip from curled in disgust as I pushed off the tree I had been leaning against and quietly strode back to the car, my arms crossed over my chest. The crisp October air was threaded with fog and was making little puffs of white smoke as James heavily exhaled. It was roughly four hours from sunrise and I was standing on the edge of some thick woods in a part of Scotland that I wasn’t particularly familiar with. I didn’t like being out in the woods. Vampires didn’t like the woods. We preferred crowded cities teaming with potential blood donors. The woods belonged to the naturi. “Where the hell is he?” I seethed softly as I paced by the neat and tidy researcher. James wisely remained silent as this was not the first time I had asked that question. His boss was running late and there weren’t too many excuses he could offer up to mollify an impatient vampire. Of course, I wasn’t just irritated with the tardy warlock. I was beginning to seriously question the wisdom of flying to Scotland alone. Two nights earlier, James had located me at one of my favorite haunts and informed me his boss had a gift for me. Unfortunately, the gift came with strings like the fact that I had to fly out alone with James that night and that I hadn’t known where I was going. It had been a stupid decision on my behalf to agree to this little jaunt. Sure, I had been on relatively good terms with the warlock when I last saw him, but then again, his group was facing a swarm of naturi that was determined to kill all the occupants of the Themis Compound. I might have successfully protected his people, but I had also been the reason the naturi appeared at the mansion that night. So I wasn’t very good at making friends. I leaned against the car just a couple feet away from James. The wiry researcher with the copper-colored eyes was dressed in a navy peacoat made of thick wool, a navy turtleneck, and a pair of dark blue jeans. His gold-rimmed glasses glinted in the pale moonlight. For a moment, he pushed off the car and stood upright, then seemed to change his mind and leaned against the car again. He wasn’t comfortable being this close to me and was apparently fighting the urge to pace. His fear perfumed the night air, taunting me. “Fifteen more minutes and then we leave. You’re making me hungry,” I grumbled, resuming my pacing. The car was parked on a lonely little road that was now more grass than gravel. The large, dark trees closed in around us, stretching up to blot out the stars. “How is that supposed to make me feel comfortable, Mira?” he said tartly, shoving his gloved hands into his coat pockets. “It’s not,” I replied in dry tone as I turned back to approach the car. My Adidas running shoes were silent on the grass. I know, a nightwalker in sneakers. Not exactly the image that most vampires have presented the past several centuries, but neither were the worn blue jeans or the pastel green t-shirt I was wearing under my leather jacket. After discovering that I was traveling with only James, I decided to stray from my normal attire of black leather and tight tank tops. I thought if I looked more like an average human being, he might relax a little around me. It worked, but not much. Pausing in the middle of the lonely road a few feet from James, I scanned the area with my powers. Reaching out in a wide circle, I sent a wave out from my body, skimming over the region in search of any living creature. All nightwalkers can do it to varying degrees depending on age and strength. I would have been able to sense any human or vampire in the surrounding area up to a few miles. Unfortunately, I was blind to the presence of the naturi, but at least they couldn’t sense me either. There was no one else for a few square miles in all directions except for a small clutch of humans about a mile west of our current location. At the same time, James shivered a little, catching my attention. Humans, in general, couldn’t feel my scan; only magic users like psychics, witches, warlocks, telepaths, and, of course, lycanthropes. “Did you feel that?” I asked, walking slowly toward James. “I- I felt something,” he admitted. “It was like a cold wind just passed right through me. What was that?” I ignored his question, coming to stand directly in front of him, my hands hanging limp at my side. James refused to meet my gaze, staring at some point just past my right shoulder. I wasn’t trying to glamour him, though it would have been an easy enough task. He was a new quandary and an interesting distraction while we waited. “Are you psychic?” I inquired. His wide eyes darted up to my face briefly then quickly fell back to my shoulder. “No,” he replied stiffly, pushing his hands deeper into his pockets. “Telepath?” I prodded. “No,” he said, his tone starting to become a little more belligerent. “Hmmm.” I placed the fingers of my left hand under his chin and forced him to look up at me. He definitely wasn’t a lycanthrope. Those I could spot across a crowded room. Their energy just flowed off of them in heavy waves. It was in the way they smelled, moved, and affected the way their blood tasted. While I had yet to take even a sip of James’s blood, I knew he wasn’t a lycan. “Were your parents psychic?” I continued, mentally digging through the possibilities. Maybe he had some latent gifts he had yet to develop. Jerking his chin out from my touch, James glowered at me. “That’s a rather personal question,” he snapped. “You’ve asked a few of me the past couple of days,” I reminded him, but James didn’t budge. “Are you studying to be a warlock?” I continued. “That’s none of your business,” he said, pushing off the car and stepping around me to pace a few feet away. He didn’t go far considering the area was pitch black and he was alone with a vampire. Almost reluctantly, he shuffled back to the car, leaning against the hood. “I-,” but the sentence froze in my throat, my gaze jerking to the main road at the end of the lonely path we were parked on. “What?” James demanded, fear spiking in his voice. “Car.” The word escaped me as a whisper as I darted for the tree line, disappearing into the inky black. I had been concentrating so much on James that I hadn’t noticed it approaching until the sound of its engine changed as the driver downshifted so that he or she could make the turn down our path. The driver was a magic user, but I didn’t scan the car. It was most likely Ryan, but I didn’t want to be out in the open until I knew for sure. Of course, I didn’t go far. If I had to protect James, I could be there in one of his heart beats. Standing in the darkness, half-hidden behind a tree, I pulled my powers back into my body. It was a nice trick, though it took a great deal of energy to maintain. I could cloak myself from anyone using magic to search me out. At best, I could maintain the cloak for only a couple of hours on end, but I didn’t need it that long. “Mira!” James said in a harsh whisper, his eyes vainly searching the woods for me. He had walked over to the driver’s side and had his hand on the handle. He wasn’t particularly comfortable standing in the dark, waiting for his boss either. The car pulled down the path and parked directly behind James’s. The brown-haired researcher threw up one arm against the bright lights of the car’s headlights. I looked down at the ground for a moment, protecting my night vision as best I could. The lights instantly shut off and the car’s engine died. “It’s me, James,” called a familiar voice as the car door opened. Ryan stepped out of the car, his white hair almost glowing in the moonlight. James breathed an audible sigh of relief, slumping against the car. “Where’s Mira?” “Around,” James said, sounding a bit exasperated as he waved one arm toward the woods behind him. The warlock chuckled lightly as he walked over to James, patting the man reassuringly on the shoulder. The young man had not spent a great deal of time around nightwalkers and I knew I could be quite a trial on a human’s patients, particularly when they knew I could tear their throat out in the blink of an eye. I watched Ryan for a moment, admiring his tall, lean form. He was also dressed in a pair of blue jeans and leather jacket that fell to his thighs. His shoulder-length white hair was pulled back from his angular face, held by a narrow black ribbon. Darting silently forward like a will o’ wisp weaving through the trees, I came up behind the warlock before either man even knew I was there. I slipped left arm under his left arm and slapped my open hand over his heart, which jumped briefly at my unexpected touch. With Ryan coming in several inches taller than me, I was forced to stand on the tips of my toes so I could whisper in his ear. “You’re late,” I hissed. Normally, being held in such a position by a vampire would warrant a little terror on the behalf of the victim. Unfortunately, there was nothing normal about Ryan. By my best guess, the warlock was at least two centuries old and was definitely one of the most powerful human magic users I had ever encountered. I had no doubt that he could toss me across the path with only a thought. Yet, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointment when his heart didn’t speed up at my surprise arrival. A little fear would have been nice. “I apologize. I was unexpectedly detained,” he said, turning his head slightly so that he could address me over his shoulder. I caught a glimpse of one of his beautiful gold eyes. His powers had definitely left a mark on him. “I rushed my last meal so I could be here on time,” I bit out, still holding his back pressed to my front. “I’ve been kept waiting in the woods, Ryan. In. The. Woods.” “I believe you will find the wait was worth it,” he gently said. The warlock reached up and covered my left hand with his. A light jolt his powers surged through me like a tingle of electricity. It couldn’t be helped. I had a feeling he was always plugged in. I snorted and slipped my hand out from under his. “Unless you’re handing over Danaus so we can finish our business together, I doubt you have anything worth offering to me,” I said stepping around him. I regretted the words the moment they tumbled past my lips. I had not wanted to speak of the hunter, hadn’t wanted another person to know that he was still in my thoughts. Danaus was an enigma that seemed to be constantly teasing at my thoughts, begging for me to finally comprehend. He hated my kind, but in the end, he saved me when he had absolutely no reason to do so. Danaus argued that it was so we could kill each other like we had originally planned; a fatal duel of two equally skilled monsters. Yet on the march to the top of Machu Picchu, even that tired rationale had rung pathetic and false during those last hours. If I was at all honest with myself, Danaus was the reason I had agreed to this little trip against my better judgment. Though James had never mentioned the hunter’s name when we spoke, Danaus was the only reason I still had any kind of association with the members of Themis. This little group specialized in watching and cataloging all the strange creatures of this world. Of course, this little cult also had a pack of hunters, which were dispatched to keep us outsiders from revealing to the rest of the world that we existed. Other than some mild curiosity regarding Ryan, I had no interest in this group. They had slaughtered a number of nightwalkers in their time. We might have a common interest, but I was particularly fond of them. Nightwalkers could watch their own. Well, sort of. Gritting my teeth, I spun on heel and faced the warlock and his human assistant, my hands resting in the pockets of my leather coat. I was an idiot for agreeing to take this trip. I might as well get this over with so I could return home. “So, what’s the deal?” I said. Ryan’s smile widened, giving me a glimpse of his perfect, white teeth. “Not here. A little more than a mile to the east,” he said with a jerk of his head toward the narrow path that stretched into the darkness. “Then let’s get this done,” I replied, my tone colder than I had meant it to sound. The warlock turned his head to look over at James, who had been watching the exchange. “Remain in the car. We should be back in a couple of hours at most,” Ryan instructed. James obediently nodded and slipped back behind the wheel of the car he had driven to this remote spot earlier in the evening with me. When Ryan was looking at me again, I arched one brow at the warlock in silent question. It might have been extremely dark, but I was willing to bet that his eyesight was nearly as good as mine. He didn’t prove me wrong. Ryan shook his head once as he started walking toward me. I waited until he was right next to me before I started walking beside him, headed deeper into the woods. We walked for nearly a half a mile in silence before Ryan motioned for me to follow him off the worn and overgrown path into the woods. I paused for half a second, staring into the darkness. I still only sensed Ryan and a trio of humans less than a mile away. That was all, but that didn’t mean something wasn’t waiting for me. Frowning, I stepped off the path and over a fallen tree, my running shoes silent. Ryan, on the other hand, was making quite a bit more noise. He might have had great night vision, but he still moved like a human through the woods. We definitely weren’t going to sneak up on anything. “Where’s Danaus?” I asked at last, my mind unwilling to relinquish questions regarding the hunter. Ryan would be my best source of information, though more dangerous than James. “France,” he said, grabbing a low branch to steady himself as he stepped over another fallen log. His foot slipped on a wet patch of fallen leaves, but I caught his elbow before he could slide to his butt. The warlock flashed me a somewhat sheepish grin then continued to lead me through the woods. “He checked in a couple days ago. There’s a Red Cap causing some problems as a small, provincial hotel. He’s taking care of it.” “A Red Cap?” I repeated. “A naturi? You have him hunting naturi?” “He’s the best one for the job,” Ryan continued, glancing over his shoulder at me. “He can sense them and he’s immune to their glamour. I have only a couple magic users on staff than can boast those skills, but they’re not trained fighters. They wouldn’t last if I sent them in.” “And the nightwalkers?” I asked. Ryan stopped walking, his left hand resting against the trunk of an enormous oak tree. I stepped around him so that I was standing directly in front of him. The ever-present smile has slipped from the warlock’s narrow face. “I have him hunting naturi exclusively.” “You removed him from vamp duty?” I demanded, unable to keep the surprise from my voice. From what I understood of his years with Themis, Danaus had spent several centuries hunting down all creatures that threatened mankind and the veil that separated humanity from the dark, creepy things they thought were just myths, legends, and fodder for a good monster movie. However, hunting down vampires was Danaus’ specialty. “I thought this would please you,” Ryan countered, his brows meeting over the bridge of his nose. “I’m … surprised,” I said softly, my gaze darting away from his intense stare. He was watching me too closely. In a way, I was pleased. Ecstatic. Danaus was too damned good at hunting my kind. He was quick, efficient, and absolutely lethal. It went beyond the fact that he had years of training and practice with more weapons than I wanted to guess at. It was more than the fact that I couldn’t glamour him if I wanted to and that he could sense my kind. No, a good chunk of my fears regarding Danaus were born out of the fact that his “godfather” was a demon, giving him lycan-like speed and healing abilities and vampire-like immortality. Oh, and then there was the blood boiling. Danaus could make a creature’s blood boil within its body, killing in quite a painful manner. But while Danaus was no longer hunting nightwalkers, I didn’t feel the kind of relief I should have. In fact, I was angry. I had wanted the decision to stop hunting my kind to be his decision. No one else. Danaus hunted my kind to save his own soul, attempting to purge the earth of “evil” in hopes of buying his way into heaven. I didn’t believe that nightwalkers were spawned out of any kind of evil or pact with the devil. We just were, like lycans, humans, … and even the naturi. “Why?” I asked, finally dragging my eyes back up to meet Ryan’s, who looked confused. “Because of the naturi…” “No,” I stopped him, shaking my head. “Was that the only reason?”
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Coming Soon |
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Pray For Dawn |
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Wait for Dusk |
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