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  “Are any of them a member of Ravana’s family?”

  “Kari and Bridgette are, I believe.”

  “Where can I find them?” I demanded, drumming my fingernails on the sticky surface of the small circular table that separated us.

  “All three ladies are back at the Dark Room. Charles is—”

  “Thanks, Gregor.” I pushed to my feet. I had heard enough. I knew who had killed Katie and set the Daylight Coalition on Bryce.

  “Mira, you don’t think it was one of those girls?” Gregor demanded, lurching awkwardly to his feet in his surprise. “They’re just fledglings. They couldn’t have . . .”

  “Stay here, Gregor. You don’t want anyone to know you ratted them out,” Knox said, earning a low snarl from the nightwalker. I bit back a smile as I walked out of the nightclub and into the fresh air. It wasn’t much cooler than the uncomfortably warm nightclub.

  Knox was as irritated with Gregor as I was. The nightwalker seemed to parade himself around my domain as if he ran it. He made sure that he was acquainted with everyone within the Savannah area and made himself up to be more powerful than he really was. However, those within my domain that were more powerful and stronger (including myself) tended to ignore him since he was just an annoyance. He also proved to be a valuable source of information on the rare occasion, so we all let him be. Regardless of all his pomp, he knew where the line was and he was very careful not to cross it. Dance on it, spit on it, and kick dirt on it—sure. But he didn’t cross it.

  “So, you know who the killer is?” Knox said, walking beside me as we headed back to the Dark Room.

  “Yes, and you’re going to end her bloody reign for me.”

  I looked over at Knox to find him smiling at me, a faint glow touching his eyes. “As you wish.”

  Chapter 9

  I paused just off the entrance of the Dark Room, beyond the two empty coat check rooms, and looked over the club. The main floor was lit almost entirely by candles in wall sconces and in hurricane lamps on the tables. The walls were lined with booths that were cloaked in deep shadows that could be easily penetrated by our superior night vision. Thick burgundy curtains made of heavy velvet lined the entrance to each booth, ensuring just a little more privacy for its occupants. The music was a low, hypnotic beat, burrowing its way into the brains of the dancers as they swayed and moved with it.

  The Dark Room was an alluring den of seduction and peace in a world that seemed to be passing with greater speed. In here, everything stopped for those few night hours and we were able to stop pretending to be something we were not. Of course, it meant that we had to find a way to live in harmony with each other while within the confines of the bar, but even that was a temporary arrangement as Bryce’s death had proved.

  It was nearly midnight and the place was busy. The dance floor in the center of the main room was packed with writhing bodies and the booths were filled with others. It seemed as if they majority of the lycanthrope and nightwalker population had showed up. I hadn’t planned to make this a performance for both races, but then an audience had never deterred me when something important had to be accomplished. And in this case, it might prove to be useful.

  Tilting my head back toward my right where Knox was standing behind my shoulder, I asked, “Do you know the group that he spoke of?”

  “They’re in the booth at the far corner toward the right,” he replied in a low voice so that no one could hear us over the music that was pumped through the cool air. “Do you seriously know who we’re looking for?”

  “Without a doubt. I’m just not completely sure of the why at this point, but I imagine we’ll know before the night is out.”

  I descended the stairs down to the main floor and strolled back to the booth that Knox had indicated. Lycans and vampires both skirted me as I passed through the crowded region. Everyone knew of Bryce’s death by now. Everyone would suspect that I was looking for the killer, and no one wanted to fall under my searching gaze.

  The booth consisted of two long benches that ran parallel to each other with a low table in the middle. It was easy to figure out which one of the three women that sat in the booth was Lauren. Her short blond hair and petite figure made her a relatively close physical match to not only Katie, but also the image that I picked out of Franklin’s mind. She lifted her blue eyes when I blocked the entrance to the booth, and she didn’t at all look surprised to find me standing there with my fists on my hips.

  “So, I guess it’s safe to say that Franklin failed in his task,” she announced, drawing some confused looks from her companions.

  “No, he managed to kill Bryce,” I corrected.

  Her bright pink lips twisted into a moue before she coolly corrected my wrong assumption. “He was supposed to kill you, too.”

  Her companions gasped and started to move as far from her within the booth as possible before encountering me. I had wondered if she had worked alone or if any of her companions had helped, but their utter shock and horror was easily picked out of their respective minds. This plot was Lauren’s alone.

  I shrugged my slim shoulders, frowning at her. “He nearly did, but then, I’ve survived worse. Why do it? Your life is forfeit for involving the Daylight Coalition, for attempting to kill Knox and me. Why kill Bryce and Katie? Because I wouldn’t allow her to be reborn?”

  “You stupid bitch!” she exploded, all her rage suddenly rising to the surface to mar her beautiful face. “You think that’s all. If it had been simply not allowing her to be reborn, then I would still have Katie. But that wasn’t enough for you. You had to have her memory wiped as well. Bryce took her from me!” Lauren’s fingers curled into shaking fists and she raised tear-glazed eyes to me.

  I was beginning to realize exactly how wrong I had been about this entire situation. Katie had not been Bryce’s lover, but Lauren’s. Unfortunately, Lauren was too young to bring a human into our world so she convinced Bryce to secretly handle it outside Justin’s knowledge.

  It was common practice to wipe the memory of any human that had been denied access to our world. It was too risky to leave them walking around with knowledge of our world. In a moment of anger at being rejected, they could strike out and talk to many of the wrong people, spreading knowledge of the nightwalker and even lycanthrope world. I had never considered what would happen to someone who hadn’t that intention but truly had a connection with a nightwalker.

  “I’d been with Katie since high school. He took all her memories of me. There was no getting her back. She didn’t know me! Didn’t remember us!” she moaned.

  It was all gut-wrenchingly clear now. Lauren had killed Katie rather than face what she saw as a horrible eternity without her. Katie might not have recognized Lauren, but her appearance was deceivingly sweet and innocent. Katie wouldn’t have hesitated to open the door. Lauren had gone to the woman’s house, broke her neck from behind so that she would feel no pain, then drained her completely dry so that no one else could ever have her blood. Afterward, Lauren lovingly arranged her companion on the floor as if she was simply resting. Sleeping Beauty waiting for her lover’s kiss to awaken her.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know the situation, but—” I started, but rage had finally overtaken Lauren’s grief.

  “You’re sorry? You ruined our lives!” Putting one high-heeled foot on the table, Lauren pushed off the wall and launched herself at me, her fingers raised toward my face like claws. I tried to sidestep her, but hunger and fatigue had made me slow. Her nails scored four long cuts along my arm and another across my cheek before we crashed through the outer ring of tables. Still struggling, we smashed into the crowd of people on the dance floor. There was a cacophony of cries, curses, and hisses that went up at the collision, but we ignored them all as Lauren worked to regain her feet. Her eyes were locked on me.

  Still lying on my back, I swung my leg around into her, knocking her back to the floor. I rose faster than her and slammed my fist into her face, breaking her jaw, before taki
ng a step backward. Lauren howled in pain but still took another blind swipe at me with her long fingernails in hopes of drawing blood again.

  Knox stepped in front of me, ready to take over the fight. To my surprise another combatant had jumped into the ring, and I hadn’t even noticed her in the nightclub. But then, that was Amanda’s special gift. She had a special way of fading into the background so that you didn’t immediately notice her there. It made her all the more dangerous.

  Amanda had one fist wrapped in Lauren’s hair, pulling her head back so that the long expanse of her neck was exposed. Her right hand held Lauren’s right arm, twisting it behind her body. Hovering inches from Lauren’s throat, Amanda’s fangs were poised to tear it out if I so much as blinked my approval.

  “Hold,” I said, brushing off my hands. “This is Knox’s fight.”

  Amanda frowned, sheathing her fangs for the moment. I knew the look of disappointment. There was a truly heartless, vicious quality about Amanda. She reveled in their pain and the violence that our kind was capable of. Yet it was more than that. While Knox saw to the night-to-night workings of my domain in many ways, Amanda was an enforcer for me among the fledglings. She saw it as her duty to keep the young ones in line, and somehow Lauren had slipped by her. Amanda felt responsible, and now she needed to be a part of Lauren’s demise.

  “Mira, please.” Amanda’s plea came out in a wavering whisper.

  Slipping my hands into the front pockets of my jeans, I nodded. “Help him clean up.” I watched as Amanda and Knox ushered Lauren to a hallway toward the back of the nightclub where they would destroy her in the basement. As the trio disappeared behind a door, Adam appeared at my elbow. With another nod from me, he ushered Kari and Bridgette from the club. There was such a thing as guilt by association in my world. While they may have been innocent, I simply didn’t want to look at them.

  I settled into the back corner of the empty booth and set my crossed feet on the low table as I waited for Knox. Something twisted in my stomach as I listened to Lauren’s screams just under the throbbing beat of the music that had once again started. The dancing seemed a little more frenzied as the occupants of the nightclub either enjoyed the rush from her painful end or fought to block out her death with music and dancing.

  Our world was a delicate balancing act. We held these amazing powers in the palms of our hands, but in a moment of carelessness, we could lose everything to the humans that surrounded and outnumbered us. Over the long centuries, we created a series of rules and laws that we all had to abide by, from fledglings to the Elders in the Coven. But I’ve seen these rules crush those they were attempting to protect just as frequently as I’ve seen them save us.

  Lauren broke our most sacred rule of never informing a hunter of our existence. Even if she hadn’t attempted to have me killed, she would have been dead tonight.

  Bishop sat down at the table and handed me a linen tablecloth. With a grateful nod, I pressed it to the line of claw marks Lauren had scored on my right arm. He gazed at the assembled crowd, a frown teasing at the corners of his mouth.

  “Didn’t quite accomplish what you set out to, did you?” I announced, drawing his gaze back to me.

  “I can still take you back to Venice with me,” he threatened, his dark eyes narrowing on me.

  “No, you can’t. I’d never willingly go, but it might have been easier if I had been mentally or emotionally broken by the events here.” Drawing a deep breath, I lowered the napkin that was stained with my blood. I was sore and tired from the various fights that had filled my night, but this one was going to be my most dangerous. “Were you the one to introduce Lauren to the Daylight Coalition member or did you handle that all by yourself?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he blandly said.

  “Of course you do. You’ve been in town for months now, watching and listening. I know what’s happening in my own domain. Only the urging of someone older and stronger would have gotten a fledgling to actually plot out my death. Involving Justin Ravana’s family was a nice touch, though. He never actually contacted the Coven, did he?”

  “No,” Bishop finally admitted, flashing me a smile full of fangs and menace, as he realized that I had figured out his part in this plot to end my existence. “Fledglings are meant to be used.”

  “And Ravana?”

  “I didn’t want to deal with him when I take over your domain.”

  “Which you get if I go back to the Coven.”

  “Or simply die.”

  Bishop lunged across the short distance between us, as he drew a small wooden stake out of his pocket. I grabbed his wrists, but he was bigger and stronger than me, and I was already weak from the night’s encounters—something I’m sure he was counting on.

  The chunk of wood bit through my flesh as he put his entire body weight behind the stake. Pain lanced through my body as it dug into my chest, grinding closer to my heart as I pushed against him.

  A part of me didn’t want to kill him. I thought I had known Bishop, but I had been wrong.

  “Don’t do this,” I cried in a pained voice.

  “It’s too late to plead for your life,” he said past gritted teeth.

  “I’m not. I’m pleading for yours.” Bishop increased the pressure on the stake so that the tip punctured my heart, winning a scream from me. Closing my eyes, I conjured up flames so that they instantly consumed his body. I continued to hold his wrists, trapping him in the booth with me. His screams rose above the music, add their own unique chorus to match Lauren’s screams coming from the next room. When he was reduced to ash, I removed the flames and opened my eyes. With a grunt, I pulled the stake from my chest and grabbed the napkin to once again stanch the bleeding.

  I looked up in time to see Knox crossing the dance floor toward my booth. Fresh blood was splattered across his clothes and skin. Knox’s eyes glowed with an almost frightening light as he stepped back onto the main floor. Dropping the napkin on the table, I slowly pushed from my seat and walked toward him, meeting him in the center of dance floor. Energy vibrated from his slender form, born from the rush of killing another creature in what I was sure was a brutal death. Valerio would have taught him well.

  Cupping his head with my right hand, I stepped close and ran my tongue along his neck and up his jaw, drinking in some of Lauren’s blood from where it had sprayed across him. A shiver ran the length of his body, and his right arm locked around my waist. “Dear God in heaven, Mira,” he uttered in a husky voice. “You can’t do that.”

  I simply chuckled as we began to sway to the beat of the music, his body hardening against mine. Knox tightly wrapped both arms around me, pulling me tight against him as he buried his face in the crook of my neck. His fangs scraped the bare, tender skin there, lifting a sigh from my parted lips.

  The murder was solved and the plot to dispose of me had been unraveled. We could relax for a few minutes before the next disaster hit, threatening to tear apart our fragile world. We could afford this moment to forget about it all as we stood safe in our own sanctuary listening to music that pulsed through and around us.

  Did she tell Franklin anything else about us? I silently asked after a couple minutes.

  Nothing. His right hand squeezed my waist in what was meant to be a reassuring gesture. Just the address of where to find Bryce and to kill anyone that came to the house that night.

  Barrett and the lycanthropes would see to Franklin. We would need to watch for anyone else during the next few months looking for Franklin or any signs that he had sent information to his companions at the Daylight Coalition. We still weren’t out of the woods, but we could see moonlight at the end of this dark journey.

  “Bishop?”

  “Disposed of.”

  After the song ended, I pressed a kiss to Knox’s cheek and started to pull out of his arms, but he stopped me.

  “I got a call while you were away looking into Katie Hixson’s murder,” he began, erasing our light moment of relie
f. “It was from a contact I have up in Cincinnati. She said that a hunter rolled into a town a few days ago looking for you.”

  “By name?” I asked. It was extremely rare for anyone to know me by name outside my own domain. Most simply referred to me as Fire Starter. Any hunter that knew of me would know me by that moniker.

  “Yes.”

  I understood why the call was being made. Knox’s contact was looking for permission to send the hunter my way and get the person out of that domain. A dark grin spread across my face. “Tell your friend to send him my way. I’ll be ready for the hunter.”

  About the Author

  The bestselling author of the Dark Days series and former financial analyst, JOCELYNN DRAKE lives in Kentucky.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

  Also by Jocelynn Drake

  The Dark Days Novels

  Nightwalker

  Dayhunter

  Dawnbreaker

  Pray for Dawn

  Wait for Dusk

  Burn the Night

  And Coming Soon…

  Angel Wings

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  The Dead, the Damned, and the Forgotten originally appeared in the print anthology Unbound, published in paperback in 2009 by Eos, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

  THE DEAD, THE DAMNED, AND THE FORGOTTEN. Copyright © 2009 by Jocelynn Drake. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.