Breath of Fire (8 page)

I sat up straighter in surprise and then looked at Erik. He sat very still beside me, and even though it was unconscionably rude, I read his mind to see if he’d known about Calista’s mother. From what I gathered, he’d only overheard the rumors of the treachery, never the story itself. He gave me a long look, and I winced in apology at my rudeness.

“Niklos’ lover, Maliah—my mother—was his human mate for a short time. I was only a child when she betrayed him, barely twenty, but I remember every detail. Dimitris, one of the other Archos had seduced her and convinced her to kill Niklos and turn our clan archives over to him, promising her immortality if she agreed. All she had to do was bring him Niklos’ ashes to show him the proof. She was a vain woman, and she hated that she looked older than her lover, so she accepted his offer.

“Dimitris bespelled her so Niklos couldn’t read the truth in her mind—only lies he’d planted there—and he kissed her, giving her one use of his dragon’s fire so she could destroy Niklos. Maliah then went back to Niklos, claiming she was with child again, and he believed her because the lies had been planted. As you know, a pregnant woman is to be treasured above all else.

“Maliah had free rein over Niklos’ private chambers and went to his bed boldly, wielding her axe with the rage of a woman who was losing her beauty, taking his head off in one fell swoop. She breathed out Dimitris’ fire as he’d taught her, and watched her lover turn to ash.

She wrapped his ashes in animal skin and stole the archives of our clan, leaving Niklos’ lair to return to Dimitris. She traveled for two days and nights to reach his camp, and his victorious shout rang out across the Earth Realm, calling all the other Archos who had once been his friends. Dimitris thanked Maliah for killing his enemy and then fed her to his people.

“The other Archos came to Dimitris and agreed to join with him for a short time to declare war on our clan. Their sole purpose was to obliterate us entirely. We had no immediate leader and were considered weak, especially since Niklos had been destroyed by a mortal woman. The position of Archos couldn’t be filled because our clan members began to vanish right in front of our eyes. There was no trace of them, as if they’d never existed. Much like the clan members who have recently disappeared.”

A chill ran over my skin, but I held in the shudder.

“The loss of our archives is what gave the other clans our weaknesses. The archives held our entire history—the marvelous things our people had created, every documented power, every major event, births, deaths and marriages. Our lair was impossible for outsiders to see in that time period, but with our archives in their hands we no longer had a safe haven. Our lair no longer had to be hunted for, and our scents no longer had to be tracked. All they had to do was travel to a specific place and time, at a specific moment in our history, and wipe us out one at a time.

“They assassinated the most powerful of our kind first. Alasdair and I were the youngest of Niklos’ children and the weakest. Niklos had sired twelve children in all. I waited in fear for the day of my disappearance, but it never came. And when our enemy clans traveled back in time to kill my brothers and sisters, it changed the course of history, so all of their children vanished as well—for they had never actually been born.”

“How was it stopped?” I asked.

“Niklos and the other four warriors were the only ones who had the ability to open the portals to travel through time or between the other Realms. It was considered a lost power after the Banishment. But after decades of senseless killing, Alasdair’s rage manifested into the ability to open portals just as Niklos could. His power to do so had been lying dormant all that time.”

She paused and gave me a meaningful look, and I remembered her earlier words about my lack of powers.

“Alasdair went back to a little-known time in our history, a time that was insignificant to our enemies,” she said. “He moved the entire clan to a safe location, changing the course of our future. He saved hundreds of lives, and his heroism kept our clan from becoming extinct. His new powers gave him the right to be Archos.”

“So you’re saying the traveling power has manifested itself in others, and they’re jumping time to kidnap other Drakán? To what purpose?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, not even I can see the enemy’s thoughts or intentions. I have heard of only one other of our kind who possesses this power besides your father. And they are only rumors, whispered from fear, but I have heard them often during my travels through the other lands. There’s a reason we consider the Belgian clan the most dangerous of all. It is their Archos, Julian, who is said to hold this power. Julian is the son of the original Archos Dimitris, but there is a rumor that his mother was a Romanian descendant. Which means that Julian has the blood of two lines in him, making him the most powerful of our kind.”

I’d heard similar rumors over the centuries, but I never thought they were real. Stories of Julian of the Belgae were like human stories of the bogeyman. Complete fantasy.

“If he’s as you say, wouldn’t Julian fulfill the Prophecy?” Erik asked.

The Prophecy was the most important thing to the entire Drakán race. It was what gave us hope—a reason to follow the guidelines of human civilization. After the gods banished the five warriors to the Earth, one of the goddesses felt pity for the Drakán, and she came to them in human form. She called them to her and handed each of them a scroll, promising them a way to restore the Drakán Realm. She took one drop of their blood and put it on each scroll, and the words of our Prophecy appeared as if by magic.

“Not necessarily,” Calista answered him. Her pupils grew large as she looked—into the present or past, I couldn’t be sure. I felt the rush of her power tingle over my skin as she spoke the words.

“There will be a child born of two descendants, whose power is greater than all who have come before him. A child to rule all, to make peace with the gods as his forefathers failed to do, and return us to our homeland.”

“But there are two sides to every prophecy, Rena—the light and the dark. One side gives us hope, but the other delivers despair.”

Her words sank in and the blood drained from my head, leaving me lightheaded. “Shit. I swear I didn’t know. I didn’t realize.” Panic tinged my voice, and the cold sweat of fear ran down my spine. I’d had no idea that what I was hunting for would be the one thing that was supposed to destroy us all. If I’d had all the pieces of the puzzle to begin with I would have figured it out sooner.

“I know, Rena. But now the knowledge is yours. My visions have shown that the one responsible for these crimes is the Destroyer. And it is someone I’ve met in my time, otherwise the vision would not have come to me. I met Julian when he was just a boy. And I can still remember the strength of his power and his ability to make others want to follow him, even at such a young age. Remember what the second part of the Prophecy says about the Destroyer.”

“The Destroyer is a great pretender. His power is to be feared. He is seduction incarnate, and all will follow him into battle without knowing the truth. He will destroy humanity, so the Drakán will starve and be forced to feed on the weakest of our own race. If the Destroyer comes to power, then this shall come to pass.”

Calista looked straight at me—a piercing gaze right through to the depths of my soul. “If the Promised Child is yet to be, then Julian must be the Destroyer, also a child of two descendants and whose powers are said to rival the gods themselves.”

At the mention of the Destroyer, it was as if a lock snicked open somewhere inside me. There was a connection—an invisible thread that tied us together. I didn’t know why or how. I should have been afraid. But I wasn’t. Anticipation coiled in my gut and held there, ready to spring loose at any moment.

“You must find the Destroyer, Rena. Seek him out. It is he who is behind these attacks on our people. It is your destiny to keep the balance in our world. But know this—in the end you must make a decision. A decision that will affect us all. For the dark side is temptation unto itself.”

Chapter Seven

I wasn’t quite as convinced as Calista that this Julian was the Destroyer. Just because he was a Viator didn’t make him the only suspect. There could be other Viators out there that kept their powers hidden. Hell, right now all the signs seemed to be pointing to Alasdair, but somehow my gut was steering me away from him. I didn’t know if it was because Alasdair was truly innocent or because the human in me found it distasteful to accuse my father of being the destroyer of the world. But whatever the case, it looked like Julian was as good a place to start as any.

Erik’s piercing gaze was almost enough to make me squirm in my seat. I knew he couldn’t read me, but sometimes I thought his intuition was as good a strength as any dragon power. And somehow, after Calista’s foresight about my destiny, it felt as if Erik found me lacking in some way, though he was too polite to say it.

“I must leave,” Calista announced suddenly. She drank the rest of her whiskey and then threw the glass against the stone of the fireplace, shattering it into shards of glittering dust. “I really hate this house,” she said, repeating her earlier sentiment. I wondered if it extended to the people who lived here.

Erik and I kept our seats on the couch, undisturbed by her theatrics, and watched as she exited the room with a swish of silk. I didn’t hear the front door close behind her, but I knew she was gone for good. Again.

“What are you going to do?” Erik asked.

Nervous energy pulsed under my skin like small electrical shocks, and I got up to pace around the room while I thought about his question. I wished I knew the answer.

“I’m going to get your blood off my hands, and then I’m going to go to dinner with a man I can’t read. A man, I might add, who has somehow managed to keep a file on me without my knowledge.”

“And you let him live?” Erik asked.

“For now. He intrigues me.”

Erik raised his brows in interest, but he didn’t say anything. He’d always been good at passing judgment without having to utter a word. I could tell he didn’t approve. Erik was fiercely loyal to our society, and in his opinion any threat must be eliminated immediately.

“I’ll deal with him how I see fit,” I said in answer to his silent question. “He could be of use to us.”

Erik stood so we were face to face. The look in his eyes made it easy to see why so many Romans had cowered in his presence.

“You need to stay focused as Enforcer,” he said. “Don’t let a mere human distract you from your duty to your people. Whoever is Master over these killers is outsmarting you.”

I stood straighter and moved in closer. “Since when have I ever done anything other than my duty to the clan? I said this human might be able to help me. My word is final on this matter. And since when have you ever shown any interest in my job as Enforcer?”

“Since your attempts at capturing these Drakán have proved unsuccessful.”

“I’ve always done what I’ve had to do. I didn’t wish for Calista to leave me to this job by myself. But I’m stuck with it, and I don’t care if you or anyone else approves of my decisions. I’m only one Drakán, dammit.”

I’d stopped trying to gain anyone’s approval the night I had to fight Alasdair in a duel. He’d submitted my name under false pretenses as wanting to challenge him for Archos just so he could hurt me. I didn’t have any choice but to fight, even though I knew he’d arranged the match, and what he’d done to me earlier in the study was nothing compared to the horrors I’d faced at the gathering. The only thing that kept me sane through the ordeal was the reminder that he couldn’t kill me because I was an Enforcer. Lucky me. But the thick ridge of scars across my back was a daily reminder of what I was and where I came from.

“You’re right,” Erik said apologetically. “Yours is not a responsibility to be taken lightly. I just wish you’d take more care. You don’t know who this man might be, and it sounds as if he knows too much about you.”

“I’ll be as careful as I can be under the circumstances.”

“What are you going to do about the Destroyer?”

“My job. I’m going to have to travel to Julian’s territory and speak to him. I have no other choice if I’m to decide if he really is the Destroyer.”

“He’ll try to kill you if you cross his boundaries. Not even the law protects you if you go into enemy territory uninvited.”

“No, but law says he has to wait until my investigation is completed and a verdict is passed before he challenges me. And only then if the verdict is not guilty.”

“Do you think someone like the Destroyer is concerned with Council law? Julian of the Belgae
is
Council law. Even Alasdair fears him. He’s always feared him.”

“I have no choice, Erik. The entire Drakán race is in jeopardy.”

“You must do your job. Just remember that it is better to die with honor than to live with shame.” He gave me a shallow bow and exited the room.

I guessed by Erik’s advice that he thought I would come out on the losing end of a battle with Julian. I had to admit I was pretty worried about that too.

I’d talked myself out of meeting with Noah Ford more than a dozen times. But as the day grew longer, and the time for a decision grew closer, I found myself indulging in the female rituals of the mating game. I selected my clothing with care, something sleek and short and sexy, and I spent extra time on my hair and makeup, wanting the right combination of innocence and siren. Human men seemed to want both when they searched for mates. I’d never understood why.