The breeze stirred the leaves on the ground, throwing them playfully into the air. Dirt, cement and debris were piled high in the alley just behind the deserted building. The entire block of empty stores looked like a ghost town. The slight breeze used the alley as a private playground, lightly touching the debris, rifling through it. The wind slipped across the dirty glass of the windows, as if peering in, looking to see what state the shops were left in when people abandoned their businesses.
Dragomir circled one way, using the breeze to carry him where he wanted to go. Sandu and Ferro moved around the outside of the buildings from the main street, each searching for signs of vampire activity. Andor took the roof. The hunters were traveling in packs, spreading out through the city, following the underground map Emeline had laid out for them. She’d given it to Dragomir, leaving it in his mind after she’d pulled him into her dream.
Tariq and Maksim stayed in the compound surrounded by the human security force. With their women, they began teaching the children, the Waltons, Genevieve and Emeline as well as the security force how best to slay vampires. The drills had begun in earnest. It wouldn’t matter that they were children, women or humans, they were in the fight to stay alive and keep others safe. To do that, they needed to know how.
Carpathians had always been hunters. They had other skills, but it was ingrained in each of them that they had to hunt the vampire or any other threat to their people. They were born with the drive. In some it was stronger than in others, but no matter what, they hunted, found the enemy and destroyed him. It wasn’t personal. There was no sense of fairness, no rules. It simply was. They locked on to a target and they destroyed it.
Five ancients made up Dragomir’s pack. They had hunted together many times and were used to the way one another thought. They had taken one another’s blood and could communicate together separately from the common path of the Carpathian people, which gave them an advantage since the vampires couldn’t hear them.
It was their good luck that when they put out the call, others from the brotherhood answered. Benedik had joined them. He made up the fifth man in Dragomir’s pack. He was as cold as ice, with unique midnight black eyes that never blinked. He made his way around the block, coming in from the other side of the alley.
The second pack was also made up of ancients; all were in the brotherhood or had been at one time. Afanasiv, Nicu and Valentin were joined by Petru and Isia. They made a formidable pack, moving fast, going out to sea.
Tomas, Lojos, Mataias, Andre and Gary made up the last pack. At present, they were streaming out over the national park, where water ran in rivers beneath the ground. Those rivers connected directly to the lake bordering Tariq’s property.
Dragomir dismissed the other packs from his mind, knowing they were strong and could weather any storm sent their way by Vadim. His pack’s job was to enter the underground city undetected, observe what the vampires were doing and then permanently destroy any of the undead they found.
He used the wind to aid him. It was natural and would never give the vampires pause. On the outside, the alleyway looked as if no one had been there since a cave-in had destroyed the entrances and hallways inside. He studied the debris piled in front of the entrance from every angle, touching it lightly with the breeze. He felt the taint of evil. It wasn’t strong, barely more than a whiff of darkness. Ordinarily, he might have dismissed it as the trace of a vampire that had passed by long ago. Thanks to Emeline, however, he knew the vampires were still using the underground city, which made this faint scent of evil a trail worth pursuing.
He kept moving with the breeze so no alarms could be triggered. His progress was slower than he would have liked, but he felt no frustration. It was his job to hunt the enemy, and sometimes that took patience. The wind slipped into a crevice and found space. Emptiness.
One entrance here, he reported to the brotherhood. I’m going in.
Entering the tunnels would be more dangerous than staying outside where the breeze of his presence would seem natural. Now he would have to be a slight draft, cold air seeping in from the outside night.
There is an entrance from the floor of the shop I am in, Sandu reported. I’m going in.
Be careful. I am using a faint draft.
No worries, I am creating a nice habitat for the black witch moth. It isn’t small, it has a seven-inch wing span, but the undead would not believe a hunter would use such a creature to spy on them. I, however, will have to give my moth at least eight inches to be realistic.
Dragomir nearly choked. Leave it to Sandu. The black witch moth was legendary as a harbinger of death. And eight inches? It was starting. He shouldn’t have shared humor with any of them.
Found another entrance here on the street. Ferro this time. I will go in as a black witch moth. Perhaps I should make my wingspan that little bit bigger as in keeping with my size. Say, nine inches?
Dragomir would have laughed if his present form allowed it. They might not find humor in the things they said, but they were funny. Now that he had regained his emotions, he shared them automatically with the others. It had been so long since any of them had felt anything, they almost didn’t remember what humor was.
If we went by that, I would have to go for a ten-inch wingspan, Andor said, his voice droll. Sandu, I hope that you do not feel embarrassed.
Given that much larger than eight or nine inches is going to draw attention and be smashed first by some stubby vampire, I have no reason to feel this emotion – this embarrassment you speak of.
That rules out my twelve-inch wingspan, Benedik grumbled. I am going in by the back wall three shops down.
Dragomir’s heart clenched hard in his chest. He knew that entrance – or more precisely – exit. Vadim had used it after he had impregnated Emeline. Be especially cautious. That leads directly into Vadim’s private lair.
He moved into the pile of debris, floating in the steady breeze down through the crevice and into the hallway of the underground city. Rock and dirt covered the floor in great impassable mounds. One rock blocked the door to the chamber where Bella, Liv and, farther back, Val had been held. Live experiments with children had been conducted there. Children were fed to the flesh-eating puppets Vadim had created. Most of those children had been alive at the time. In hunt mode, he was grateful he’d put some distance from his emotions. As it was, the place turned his stomach and sorrow slipped in. He began to drift away, more than happy that there was no sign of Vadim or his pawns.
He halted abruptly, staying in the steady cool stream of air, but not moving with it. He couldn’t overlook anything. It seemed ridiculous to think that Vadim would use the chambers again, but they couldn’t afford to take the chance. He slipped out of the breeze and, moving slowly so as not to trigger any alarms, slid into a tiny opening between the rock and the chamber wall.
At first the room appeared empty. He nearly turned to go back, but then air was displaced and figures shimmered for a moment. They appeared translucent, so that anyone looking could see right through them to the dirt-covered ceiling, the blood-stained floor and the dark, ominous scratches in the walls.
Dragomir slipped into a corner and stayed absolutely still as he focused his Carpathian vision on the interior of the chamber. It only took a few moments before the images began emerging into flesh-and-blood apparitions. There was a woman of indeterminate age in the cage. Her hands were tied at the wrist, suspended over her head. She had scars on her neck from rough biting and there were more on her arms and even one up high on her thigh where her skirt was pulled up. Her hair was pulled back in a loose, disheveled ponytail.
He could tell she was tall and very thin, almost emaciated. Her hair was very thick and long, the color dark with a few streaks of silver woven through. Her face and body appeared young, but there was something about her that made him think she was older.
She appeared dehydrated, glassy-eyed and beaten. There were bruises everywhere he could see. Her head was down, but without warning, her gaze shifted toward the corner of the room – the corner where he stayed so still. She took a breath and let it out slowly. Her head moved, her chin jerking slightly toward the second chamber, the one where Valentin had been held.
Telling him something. Warning him, perhaps? She knew he was there. She was aware of him even when the vampire was not. What did that say about her? Who was she?
A vampire moved around a long stone table. He muttered to himself and kept casting murderous glances over his shoulder at the prisoner. She had once more dropped her head, looking defeated when Dragomir knew she wasn’t. There was fresh blood on the floor and smears of it, small bloody footprints, leading into the next chamber.
Dragomir didn’t much like the fact that the woman knew she was no longer alone in the chamber with the vampire so close. He needed to find out what was in that chamber before he made a move against the vampire. And he had to kill the vampire without alerting the underground city.
Vadim had woven a spell over the chambers, one that the Carpathians had already fallen for once. They had examined these chambers once before and believed he had abandoned his city, but it was still in use. He just hid it better now.
Dragomir moved slowly, inching his way through the chamber to keep from moving air. The vampire was engrossed in what he was doing, still muttering to himself, obviously angry at his assigned task – or the orders to leave the prisoner alone. It was the way the vampire alternated between glaring at her and licking his lips hungrily when he eyed her that had Dragomir certain he had been given orders to stay away from the woman.
Without warning the chamber door banged open so hard it hit the rock, bounced closed, swung open a second time with equal force, but this time a large vampire stood framed in the doorway. Dragomir recognized him immediately. Eugen. He had successfully escaped from the cave, but he was covered in scars from his encounter with the sun. He’d burned severely. Half of his face was a flat silver sheet with strange, almost cheesy skin around the borders. As if it were a mask, when the vampire spoke, the skin, already pulled tight, didn’t allow for expression.
“Get a move on, Artur, I’m tired of waiting. We don’t have all night.”
Artur glared at Eugen. “You got to eat. I’m starving. She smells delicious. Her blood must be… powerful. I want just one taste. I’m hungry.” The last was almost a whine.
“I don’t give a rat’s ass if you’re starving. I’m not going to let you get me killed. Sergey wants the information and I told him I’d get it for him.” Eugen glanced behind him, bared his teeth and swung around. “I can see you’re anxious for your treatment today,” he said to someone behind him.
“I don’t have anything to prove to him,” Artur snapped, almost gleeful, although he shot a glance toward the door behind him, as if Sergey Malinov might step through at any moment.
Dragomir inched closer to the open door. Inside he could see a second female, and this one looked very young, maybe in her early twenties. She was chained to the wall and hadn’t fared any better than the other woman, maybe worse. She’d been severely beaten. Her face was swollen and bruised. Streaks of blood were smeared at her rib cage and along her right arm, where there was a large cut.
Eugen stomped back to the girl and grabbed her throat, his thumb forcing her face up. “If you don’t give Sergey the information he wants this time, I’m going to hurt you like you’ve never been hurt.” A malicious smile revealed his spiked, stained teeth. “Or I’ll tell him you’ve deceived him all this time and you don’t know how to undo Xavier’s spell.”
Dragomir had continued floating, inching his way around Eugen, but that brought him up short. Xavier had been one of the most powerful mages ever born. He was wholly evil and had almost succeeded in stamping out the Carpathian people.
There was a stir behind him and both vampires trembled, fear removing the cocky looks on their faces. Eugen had always been a fighter. He was no newly turned vampire. In fact, Dragomir would have thought he was well on his way to becoming a master vampire, yet whoever was coming to the chamber had inspired pure fear. It permeated both rooms. Even the two women looked scared.
Artur quickly began to lay out a tray with instruments of torture. That was purely psychological for the humans. No vampire needed such things to hurt a victim. Dragomir studied the older woman. Her gaze was glued to the door, but he felt a warning, a distinct push to leave the chamber. To leave the women to their fate.
Everything in him stilled when he felt that delicate push. He studied the woman much more closely, moving slowly to the cage. She wasn’t human, this one. She was ancient. A Carpathian. The Malinovs had a Carpathian woman in their possession. He couldn’t begin to recognize her. He’d been gone far too long to identify her. He’d heard news, of course, of lost women, those who had disappeared, but too many centuries had gone by. He didn’t remember who they were or if they’d been found.
Eugen’s fingers tightened around the throat of the girl hanging by chains on the wall. He squeezed down hard, cutting off her airway. Immediately the woman in the cage reacted, throwing herself at the bars, kicking at them. She didn’t call out or speak, but she made such a ruckus with her body against the bars that Eugen whirled around with a hiss.
“Stop it or I’ll kill her.”
Instantly the woman in the cage subsided. The girl in chains gasped for breath, coughed, wheezed and then drew in a lungful of air. The outside door to the chamber opened and Sergey Malinov strode in. Dragomir had encountered him several times. In the pack of five brothers, Sergey had never stood out. He seemed to disappear when there was a fight and almost never voiced his opinion, preferring to follow his brothers’ lead.
The temperature in the chamber dropped several degrees. Sergey looked handsome, a man made for the present century. He first looked to the woman in the cage. He smiled at her, and bowed slightly, an old-world, courtly gesture. “Good evening, Elisabeta, I trust you slept well.”
The woman inclined her head, but didn’t speak. Her eyes, on Sergey through lowered lashes, held a kind of terror, yet there was defiance in every line of her body.
Sergey’s eyebrows went up. “Really, Elisabeta, I tire of your continued behavior. This girl is not a good influence on you.”
Elisabeta seemed to shrink, looking smaller and defeated.
Sergey turned to the vampire standing beside the girl in the second chamber. “Have you gotten the information I require?”
Eugen turned stark white beneath the sallow, grayish skin. “There hasn’t been enough time. She is strong and doesn’t react to the —”
Sergey raised his hand, one finger apart from the others, his nail a long, thick talon. He slashed down, and Eugen screamed as the good side of his face was torn nearly in two. The master vampire did it casually, with no expression on his face, sending a chill through Dragomir. Sergey wasn’t weaker or less dangerous than his brothers. This man was fully in control. Fully in charge. Those in the chamber knew it. Both women had gone utterly still, as if faced with a venomous viper, and neither wanted to draw his attention.
Sergey ignored Eugen to focus on the girl. At once the chains holding her began to smoke. She gasped but didn’t cry out. The skin on her wrists where the cuffs held her began to blister.
“I suggest, Julija, that you give me what I want, or you are of no use to me. I have run out of patience.” He snapped his fingers, and the chains fell to the dirt floor and slithered there like snakes. He pointed to the stone table behind him and the girl’s body jerked and then began to come toward him, one unwilling step at a time.
Sergey had escaped death several times, and watching the casual way he wielded power, Dragomir was reminded of Xavier, and recalled that Sergey had a splinter of the high mage in him. He had obviously utilized it, learning from it. This was a dangerous adversary. Clearly he had been all along, but none of the hunters had recognized that he was far more powerful than his brothers. More cunning – hiding his skills and biding his time. He allowed his brothers to shine, to be the most feared while he worked in the background. That made him the most unusual vampire in the history of Carpathians.
Was he hiding those same skills from his brothers? Dragomir compared him to Vadim. Vadim was always the one in charge. He directed everyone, including Sergey, taking the lion’s share of whatever they received for himself. He was always the first to feed and the one to make the decisions. Vadim considered his brother as less than himself – and he was making a big mistake. Sergey was recruiting quietly behind his brother’s back. He had a plan, a strategy, and so far, it seemed to be working.
Before Dragomir made a move, he had to determine just what was going on. He needed information. He would have to send for backup in case one of the vampires escaped the chambers, but that required energy and Sergey would feel it. He remained very still. If Sergey tried to kill the girl he would have no choice but to intervene immediately, information, backup or not.
Julija made it to the stone table, her eyes on Sergey the entire way. There was fear, but there was defiance. She was a fighter, this one, and she was angry.
From the cage came waves of soothing peace. The feeling settled over all of them, vampire, hunter and enraged female. Sergey glanced up, his face softening. He smiled at Elisabeta.
“I see you are determined to work your magic on all of us, my dear. You don’t have a mean bone in your body. I would give you anything you asked, but this one continues to defy me. We must move you. We must find a way. Vadim wants this part of the city abandoned. If he knew I was returning here, he would know I had a very good reason, and he would find you. I keep you safe from him. The least you can do is be grateful and tell this idiot mage to give us the proper spell. She isn’t helping us, Elisabeta, and I cannot have that.”
“If you move her, you know you will hide her away somewhere the Carpathian hunters will never find her,” Julija said. “Giving you the spell will harm her, not help her.”
Sergey turned the power of his penetrating glare on the mage girl. Both Eugen and Artur took a step back as if any moment he would explode into violence. “I spent a good many years searching for a direct descendant of Xavier…”
“Well, you didn’t find one.”
The vampire’s hand struck like lightning, slapping her face and then catching her arm, turning it over to show the mark on her forearm. “This is the mark of a high mage. You must be born with it. No one can wear such a mark without a direct lineage.” He hissed each word. Enunciated as if she were a child and wouldn’t understand.
“I am aware I was born with the mark,” Julija answered. She didn’t touch her reddened cheek. She didn’t rub at the blisters circling her wrists. She stared up at the vampire with a calmness that belied her years. “I am the direct descendant of Xaviero. Or perhaps Xayvion.” She shrugged. “Maybe I am from Xavier’s bloodline. Who knows? I understand they liked to share. At least Xaviero and Xayvion did. In any case, I am far more powerful than you know.”
“I am aware of that. I was aware of it when you had the chance to escape and you stayed to help Elisabeta escape. She is precious to me.” He changed tactics, his voice softening. “My brother would be cruel to her. Elisabeta and I belong.” He lifted his head to smile at the caged woman.
“Because you have emotions when she is near. Xavier imprisoned a Carpathian female in the hopes of children. Vadim is experimenting in the hopes of children. What is it you want? A child? I don’t think so.” Julija’s voice was speculating. “I think you crave the emotions she gives you. It is Elisabeta that allows you to think and plan so clearly. She keeps the negative traits at bay, doesn’t she?”
Sergey inclined his head. “Clever girl. I will never let her go. If you cannot help me, you are of no use, Julija, so I suggest you figure out very quickly how to undo the spell that holds her here.”
She sighed. “It’s complicated. You used a spell you chose from Xavier’s memories without knowing the consequences.”
“I showed it to you.”
Again, Dragomir had the impression that Sergey’s patience was wearing thin. The moment that happened, that wave of soothing peace filled the room. It wasn’t just Sergey affected by Elisabeta’s wave of peace. The other two vampires, the mage and Dragomir all felt that peaceful surge moving through them, quieting tempers.
“Yes, Sergey, you did,” Julija admitted. “But it wasn’t the entire memory. I need more. I have started to unravel it, but it’s complicated. Very complex. Xavier put a holding spell on a Carpathian. He held her prisoner for a very long time, just as you have done to Elisabeta, using those same methods, but this spell, this is extremely difficult to undo. I cannot do it without seeing his entire memory.”
There was the ring of truth in her voice, and yet, Dragomir had the feeling the girl was either very close or might have figured it out. Clearly there was a spell holding Elisabeta to the underground city, the part Vadim wanted vacated. Sergey couldn’t leave his prisoner there, a prisoner his brother wasn’t even aware of. That was an added complication for Dragomir. Even if he could kill all three vampires, he wouldn’t be able to free Elisabeta unless this girl could actually remove the holding spell.
Without warning Sergey’s hand lashed out again, sending Julija tumbling back against the stone table. “You will unlock this spell or die right now.” There was no anger in his voice. He was a cold killer. This was the man Elisabeta feared. The one the vampires feared. He raked his talons down Julija’s forearms, shoved his fist into the air, which lifted her body and slammed her down onto the top of the table like a human sacrifice.
Elisabeta kicked at her cage frantically, still not speaking, not making a sound. Part of the holding spell had to include being unable to speak. That made sense – Xavier would have needed to keep his victims silent if the Carpathians were close. But what else had Sergey given away? Julija had the chance to escape and she hadn’t taken it. She’d stayed, risking her life on the gamble that she might be able to rescue Elisabeta. That said a lot about her character and courage. Dragomir couldn’t allow Sergey to kill the mage, no matter the danger of any of the others escaping.
Sergey suddenly lifted his head and looked around the chamber, searching inch by inch. He looked up at Elisabeta, who kept her head down. He smiled at her. “You have earned another lesson, my dear. You know you deserve punishment for what you’ve done.” He uttered the words very softly, his white teeth snapping together. Elisabeta shuddered and kept her eyes to the ground.
He whirled back to the mage lying on the stone table. He slammed one long talon – spiked like a thick ice pick – right through her throat. Leaving it there, pinning her to the rock with one long dagger, he waved his other hand toward Elisabeta.
To Dragomir’s horror her body began to dissolve, to become part of the rock her cage rested on.
“Keep her alive or you die,” Sergey said to his vampire servants. “If she lives, the rewards are vast,” and then he was gone. That fast. So fast Dragomir couldn’t see him move. He must have gone under the door of the chamber, or even through it, because he didn’t open it. One moment he was there, and the next there was an empty space.
Blood bubbled from the horrendous hole in Julija’s throat. She coughed and blood sprayed across the room. Eugen sprang toward her at the same time as Artur. They bumped into each other, but it was Eugen who covered the wound with his hand, applying such pressure that the girl couldn’t breathe.
The Carpathian woman was still dissolving, her body melting until there was no way to see her, not even when directly looking at the place she’d been. The cage remained. The hook where her hands had been suspended above her head, but not the woman. The woman had been absorbed by the stone around her until there was nothing left of her.
In this chamber. Sergey fleeing, Dragomir warned the others.
All the vampires are exiting, Ferro reported. It happened so fast that half of them are already deserting the place.
Engage. These men are Sergey’s soldiers, not Vadim’s. What was he going to do about the mage’s injuries? Elisabeta’s imprisonment? Gary, I have great need of you. He had skills. So did Sandu, but Gary’s skills were far superior. If he got there in time he might save Julija.
Sandu sauntered into the chamber, Andor behind him. Andor didn’t waste time – he flew at Artur, his indigo eyes every bit as piercing as Sergey’s talons had been. His inky black hair fell to his waist in a braid as thick as his arm. He blew past Eugen and slammed his fist into Artur’s chest. Dragomir materialized behind Eugen and hit him with his fist. A short, powerful punch that crashed through bone, driving straight toward the withered heart.
Eugen twisted, screaming in fear and hatred. He thrashed, sending Julija tumbling from the table. Sandu caught her in a firm grip, his hand covering the gaping wound in her throat as he did so. He took her to the floor, on the opposite side of the table from either of the vampires and the hunters fighting them.
She started to struggle, and he simply waved his hand and her body stilled, but her eyes radiated pure fury. He kept his hand over the wound on her throat and slipped from his own body, right there with two vampires in the room, leaving behind a shell to become pure spirit. He moved through her body quickly, noting all the signs of torture. The woman had endured a lot over time. He saw scarring that indicated she could have been held as long as six months. Maybe even a year.
Sandu bypassed all of it, even the fresh lacerations and tears, to get to the puncture wound on the girl’s throat. He had to stop the bleeding. That had to be done or they couldn’t leave with her. He closed the wound from the inside out. There was damage to her larynx. The two-inch tube was shredded. If she was going to speak again, he had to at least address that.
It took longer than Sandu expected, and by the time he’d managed to get some of the tubing to stick together in the beginnings of a repair, someone or something hit his body, knocking it sideways, and his spirit abruptly was pulled from the girl back to his own shell. A boot stomped down close to his thigh and even closer to the girl.
He threw himself over her, covering her smaller form easily. The boot narrowly missed his back as the vampire stumbled backward, trying to escape Dragomir.
Dragomir kicked Eugen in the head, driving him farther away from Sandu and Julija. He spared them one glance to ensure they both were alive as he leapt over them, following Eugen. Eugen tried hard to take another form, but Dragomir was on him, preventing the change. He pinned him against the wall and slammed his fist deep, searching for the elusive heart.
Eugen roared and somersaulted, taking Dragomir with him as he rolled across the dirt floor, acid blood pouring over Dragomir and soaking into the ground. He landed on top of the Carpathian so they stared into each other’s eyes. Dragomir never wavered, his fingers still digging relentlessly for the heart.
Behind Eugen, Andor loomed above them both, his indigo eyes fierce, his features brutally savage. He slammed his fist through the hole in Eugen’s back that Dragomir had originally made. The vampire screamed, throwing his head back in an effort to strike the Carpathian attacking from behind. On the ground, he had no leverage, so he slammed his head forward into Dragomir, hitting him in the skull, trying to crash through it, to shatter the bone. When that didn’t stop the hunter, he bit down with all his might, letting the rich ancient blood pour into him.
The moment he tasted that blood, his world went white. Narrowed. He felt nothing but craving. A dark, terrible craving that took hold and refused to release him. He thought of nothing else but getting more. The hole opening inside of him was enormous, yawning open so that the blood could fill it. Rich. Satisfying. The only taste that would ever do.
He was aware of Dragomir extracting his heart, but Andor bunched Eugen’s hair in his fist and yanked his head back so hard it cracked bones in his neck. That didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was getting to the blood. He could see it, just out of his reach. Dark rubies. Gems of the purest blood he’d ever tasted. He had to have more.
Lightning arced around the room, jumped to the heart on the floor, incinerating it, turning it to ashes. The white-hot energy bathed away the blood on both Carpathians and then the floor. Sandu had kept his arms and body over the mage but now he slowly released her.
“I stopped the bleeding, but she can’t talk yet,” he announced, lifting her easily to carry her to the stone table out of the way.
Andor finished the job by incinerating the bodies of the two vampires.
“Gary is on his way,” Dragomir said. “Her name is Julija and she’s mage, a direct descendant of Xavier or one of his brothers. Sergey is also holding a Carpathian woman named Elisabeta.”
Andor’s eyes went wide. “There was a young girl, Elisabeta. Traian Trigovise’s sister. I would go to her home and somehow she could make me feel lighter, as if I had emotions again. The longer I stayed in her company, the longer the effect lasted. She has been gone for centuries. She disappeared one day and no one knew what happened to her. No one could trace her. I know Traian looked for centuries. She was quite a bit younger than him, younger by at least five hundred years. Maybe more.”
“It could be the same woman,” Dragomir conceded. “She kept Sergey from losing his temper.” Ferro, Benedik, where are you?
Sweeping the underground city. The vampires left quickly. We’ve systematically gone through every room here, and they are all gone.
Sergey had clearly sacrificed two to save his army. The vampire had to have felt their presence. Julija had been deliberately injured, the extent bad enough that the master vampire knew they would have to heal her or she would die.
“The healer is on his way. We can’t leave here without figuring out how to save Elisabeta.” Dragomir stalked over to the cage and walked around it, studying it from every angle, trying to see what wasn’t there. “He made her part of the stone. The rock. I was looking right at her and she disappeared into the walls.” He glanced back at the mage. Her eyes were open and she regarded him with suspicion, but there was also a faint trace of hope on her face.
“Can you bring her back? Do you know the spell?”
She visibly took a breath, flinched and started to grab at her throat. Sandu caught her hand and shook his head. “Wait for the healer. You don’t want to have permanent damage.”
Her gaze shifted to him. She studied him for a long time and then she looked back to Dragomir and nodded.
Relief flooded through him. “Did you work out the spell to reverse whatever is keeping her here?”
He could tell by her face she wanted to protect Elisabeta from all of them. She didn’t trust them, and he didn’t blame her. She didn’t know them. She might think they were part of Sergey’s plot to get the information out of her.
Her gaze went to the terrible wound that had coated his neck and shoulder with blood. She frowned and looked back at Sandu.
“She wants me to heal you,” Sandu said. “I’m not the healer. I’m a peje hunter.”
“Stop complaining. You didn’t have to stick your arm in acid up to your elbow,” Dragomir said.
Where are you? he asked Petru and Isia. We need to regroup.
We need to wipe this pipeline out for good. Vadim is using the sea to escape. He’s created his own city down here complete with a fresh smorgasbord, Petru answered. We need to call everyone in and destroy this. Now. Tonight.
Come back to the underground city. I’m calling the third team back as well. We’ll include Tariq and come up with a plan. In the meantime, I’ve got two women here that need healing. One needs to go directly into the healing grounds. I think we have solved the mystery of the disappearance of Elisabeta Trigovise.
There was silence. Elisabeta had been legendary in the Carpathian world because she could restore emotions to those warriors at the very end of their ability to continue. She hadn’t exactly restored them, so much as lightened their burdens for the time in her presence. She’d smiled and the world had seemed filled with joy.
Dragomir hadn’t seen her smile, but he felt her peace. That enduring serenity. There was calm in her that spread through the room the moment it was needed. She was clearly conserving strength, and she needed blood. Her hunger had beat at him, but so gently he barely registered it until she was gone, made to be part of the walls of the chamber.
Elisabeta? The name was whispered for all the brotherhood to hear. That magical girl. All of them who had ever crossed paths with her would never forget her. She’d been considered an angel, her gift nothing short of miraculous. The child had grown into a beautiful young woman, still as angelic and as selflessly giving as she’d been as a child.
More than one warrior had crossed oceans to get back to her, to just be in her presence. If they had found Elisabeta, they had found a treasure unsurpassed.
Did Vadim have her? Benedik made the demand.
I do not believe Vadim knew of her existence. Sergey had her. He has had her for some time and has hidden her from his brother. He is much more dangerous than we ever gave him credit for. In fact, I believe he is our true enemy. Vadim thinks he is in charge, but Sergey has quietly built an army, and he’s learned much from the splinter of the high mage.
I thought Vadim has a splinter of the high mage as well, Ferro said.
Just because he has it, doesn’t mean he uses it, Dragomir pointed out.
Power burst into the small confines of the chamber. Gary Daratrazanoff strode in, his long hair flowing behind him. The muscles beneath his thin shirt rippled in an impressive display of sheer strength. His gaze fell first on the mage, jumped to the injuries on Dragomir and then slowly slid over the wall where the empty cage sat.
“I feel her presence,” he said softly. “She is very powerful and a boon to any man such as I. Before we try to bring her back, I will do what I can for the mage and you, Dragomir. I grow weary of you and your injuries.”
Sandu nudged him. “I told you to learn to be a little faster.”
Dragomir sent a very rude gesture Sandu’s way.