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Ferro felt nothing at all. Nothing. The vampire tore at his belly and chewed at his neck. Ferro didn’t relent. Not when those teeth sank deep and tore chunks of flesh. Not when the undead ripped through his chest to get his own heart. He had cut himself off from the others, especially Lorraine with her shining light. He couldn’t afford to have her in his mind while he fought—and yet cutting himself off made the torment of nothingness far worse.
He extracted the heart and tossed it a distance from the vampire, keeping the creature locked to him while he summoned lightning. He took his time incinerating the heart as well as the undead and then cleaning the acid blood from his body. He spent more time destroying the insects the master vampire had created and then healing the trees, and shrubbery, restoring as much of the damaged forest as possible, wanting it clean and untainted for any inhabitants.
“Isai is ready for travel,” Gary said. “I healed the oldest boy and brought him back. Have you examined the others for wounds?” He was very pale.
Sandu immediately offered him his wrist. “Take what I offer freely.”
Gary’s sharp eyes moved over him before he bent his head to accept the offering.
“All of them are healed,” Andor assured. “Dragomir is removing their memories now. I restored their campsite and removed all signs of vampires from the area. The land will regrow without a problem. One of the crows slashed a nasty gash into the back of Lorraine’s head. I would ask that you take a look at it. The others offered to heal it, but something about it disturbs me.” Andor couldn’t quite shake the feeling that she had been specifically targeted.
“I looked,” Dragomir added, “but wasn’t certain what I was looking for. It looks like a laceration to me.”
“Perhaps the healer should wait until we are safely within the compound,” Ferro suggested. “He is already weak, and we need him at full strength. Andor and Isai are both in need of his skills.”
They weren’t the only ones, Andor decided, looking at Ferro, but he wasn’t going to say so. A vampire could do a tremendous amount of damage in a very little time.
“We have done all we can do here,” Dragomir agreed. “We need to get back to the two human traitors and make our way home.”
Andor wasn’t certain where home was, unless it was wherever Lorraine wanted to be. He took her hand and they walked with the others back to where they had left Adam and Herman.
The two human psychic males both sat with their backs to a tree just where they were left. Where before they had been bound without rope, now they had barbwire wrapped around their arms, shoulders and torsos. It was pulled so tight the barbs were embedded deep in their skin. That wasn’t the worst. Crows sat on their bodies, pecking at them so that neither had eyes and there were holes in their faces and torn into their chests.
Andor turned Lorraine into him, hiding her face. “It is best not to look.” He lifted his gaze to the others. “These two knew something we missed. Something Sergey did not want us to find.” As he spoke he led Lorraine away from the men, careful to keep her from seeing. She didn’t try to fight him, which he was grateful for. He didn’t want to ever force her compliance, but in this instance, he would have.
“We are missing something extremely important,” Ferro agreed. “Sergey sacrificed a lot here today, and there has to be a reason. He lost four very good fighters, vampires with good chances against anyone but the eight coming out of the monastery and Gary. There were too many of us here. He lost a master vampire as well.”
“I cannot hope to understand Sergey Malinov,” Sandu said with a small shrug. “Nor do I want to understand him and his reasons. I just want him dead.”
“Let us go now,” Dragomir added, glancing up at the sky.
The crows had lifted into the air when they got close, settled like silent, dark wraiths on the tree branches above them. Ferro flicked his hand toward them, and several burst into flames. The others took to the sky and raced away.
12
Tariq Asenguard leaned across the table, a slight frown on his face. “You should be in the ground healing, Andor, not sitting in on this meeting. Dragomir can represent you. The fact that you’re alive is a miracle, and all of us know that. Your woman must be … extraordinary in order to pull you back from the dead.”
Lorraine swallowed hard and dug her fingers into Andor’s thigh. He pressed his hand over hers to give her reassurance. They were both concerned. Worried. So were all the other brethren who had been with them.
“Gary and the others did the work,” Lorraine offered.
“Just the fact that all three of them bound themselves to you makes you extraordinary,” Tariq said.
Andor couldn’t help the flash of pride he felt in Lorraine. She was an amazing lifemate. She’d stood with him during attack after attack of vampire and puppets.
“It makes no sense that Sergey sent so many of his pawns after us,” Andor said. “At first maybe, when he knew I was mortally wounded and there was only a human woman to fight them off, but after? Three ancients from the monastery and a Daratrazanoff. Even if he didn’t know who they were, he would have recognized the way we moved and Gary’s features. It is unmistakable. We have to know why he was willing to sacrifice so many.”
“Do any of you have any ideas?” Tariq asked.
Gary stood behind Andor and Lorraine, his fingers pushing aside her hair to examine the laceration the crow had ripped so deep in her scalp. He didn’t respond, not even when Andor glanced at him.
“None of us know,” Sandu said. “But he killed the two human males we were bringing back to the compound. They were aware of something he did not want us to know. We should have taken more time examining them, but we were trying to get back here and do everything in the safety of the compound. We knew he was biting at our heels.”
“We also believe he is turning psychic males to build his army,” Ferro said, his voice grim.
Tariq sank back in his chair. “They would have no battle experience.”
“They did not,” Dragomir said. “At. All. They were obviously newly made. They were given very rudimentary skills and sent out against ancients. Sergey knew they would all die, but he still sent them.”
“If he sent human psychic males, newly turned, he was not having to sacrifice his vampires, the ones with less battle experience, but still valuable,” Tariq mused. “That would make sense. He has to be running out of men and he can’t keep throwing them at us and watching them all fall.”
“Exactly,” Andor said. “I can see him sacrificing the six newly made vampires. But the others? There were four that would have been good soldiers, and a master vampire. The five of them could have cost us had they been up against others not so battle-worn or if they came across one of us alone. I took on seven of his men. He knew we were skilled and yet he kept coming at us, even after the other brethren joined Lorraine and me.”
“Gary?” Tariq asked.
The room went quiet. Around the table were the other Carpathian hunters. Maksim, Tariq’s partner in the nightclub business. The triplets, Tomas, Matias and Lojos, renowned for their fighting skills. Dragomir and Sandu and Benedek and Petru, all brethren from the monastery. Isai and Ferro were deep beneath the soil in the healing grounds. Nicu Dalca, an ancient who moved like lightning. Valentin Zhestokly, his eyes as black as ice in a violent storm, sat quietly across from Tariq and with him, Afanasiv Balan, an ancient who was considered extremely dangerous by those at the table.
Gary straightened and shook his head. “The wound is deep and vicious. I should have taken the time to heal this before we took to the air.”
Lorraine shook her head and then winced. “You had already spent time on Isai,” she pointed out. “We all just wanted to get here before Sergey sent more after us.”
Andor pressed her palm deeper into his thigh, feeling her tremble. The brethren hadn’t cared about getting there fast, other than to get Lorraine to safety. They lived to hunt. He had done so as well, for so many centuries. No
w, he lived for his woman. He had blocked the pain for her, so she felt no discomfort.
“Lorraine, I will have to heal this from the inside,” Gary said. “Maksim and Sandu, I could use your help.”
Andor knew what that meant. Gary was going to try to find anything that the bird might have planted in her before they were put in the healing grounds. The fact that he had requested Sandu and Maksim meant he was as concerned as they were. Andor wanted to be the one to make absolutely certain nothing evil had touched Lorraine, but the fact remained, he needed healing himself.
“Rather than Sandu,” Tariq said, “I will aid you.”
Gary shook his head. If something was planted that could possibly attack one or all of us, you cannot be in the line of fire.
Tariq all but ground his teeth, but he didn’t argue. Andor knew he could never be in Tariq’s shoes. The man had been a hunter for centuries. Now, he was the one they all protected, kept behind a wall of warriors in order that he lead. Andor understood it was necessary, and he knew Tariq did as well, but it didn’t make the transition any easier.
Gary didn’t wait, but shed his body. Maksim and Sandu did as well. Lorraine held herself very still. They all felt the way she steeled herself. She wasn’t Carpathian and this method of healing was new to her. Having others inside her body, moving through her with only the white heat of their healing spirits, had to be frightening for her.
I am with you, Lorraine, he assured.
As am I, Sandu and Gary echoed.
Gary divided the work into three sections. Her arteries and veins, the blood supply running through her body. That was Maksim’s territory. Sandu took the organs. It was Gary’s job to look at the brain. The problem was whatever the crow might have injected into Lorraine could be so tiny that no one could spot it. It could be anywhere, even a sliver along her bones. A tiny foreign object was difficult at best. With someone like Sergey planting it, it might be impossible to find.
Sandu was meticulous, and Andor monitored all three the entire time. He didn’t want any part of the master vampire in his woman. He was certain if Sergey had left behind a splinter of himself, Gary would find it. That was what they all feared the most. Vadim had been adept at splintering. It was a dangerous practice, because if that splinter was found and destroyed, a part of the person leaving it behind was destroyed as well.
Time passed slowly, no one speaking in the conference room. Sandu emerged first, looking exhausted and pale. At once, Benedek was there, offering him his wrist and murmuring the ritual words to him. I offer freely. It was an age-old ritual, meaning one life for another if necessary.
Maksim and Gary returned to their bodies at the same time. Gary looked strained, as if he was stretched thin from all the healing he had been forced to do in the last few days. Andor knew that besides Isai, the healer had also attended everyone’s wounds, including Ferro’s. Once back at the compound, he had worked on Andor again.
“Your verdict?” Tariq said.
All three shook their heads. “She appears to be clean of anything Sergey’s servants may have left behind,” Gary said.
“But?” Lorraine asked. She was tied to Gary soul to soul and she could read him just as well as the others tied to him.
“I don’t like it, Lorraine.” Gary gave her the respect due her, telling her the truth. “Would you mind if we replay exactly what happened so all of us could see?”
She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue, giving away the fact that she was nervous. That wasn’t characteristic of her. She also tried to pull her hand out from under Andor’s. He pressed her palm tighter to his thigh. I am with you, sívamet. No harm can come to you in this place.
I know. It’s just that when we were out there, in the mountains, even with vampires and puppets coming at us, I didn’t feel different from you. Here, I do.
He detested that, but he didn’t object. He tried to go over every reason she might feel that way. She was surrounded by male Carpathians. All were hunters. All held power. Only three had lifemates—not counting him. It came to him then. They had continually used the word human to differentiate the psychic males, putting humans on one side and the Carpathians on the other. Of course, she would wince each time that word was used.
You are my lifemate, Lorraine. We belong together, no matter which of our cultures is chosen. It is the two of us together always. Know I stand with you. If you open your mind, you will see that Ferro, Sandu and Gary stand with you as well. The other brethren will. I believe, in spite of what might be a danger to the compound, Tariq, Maksim and the others will hold you as one of theirs, no matter human or Carpathian.
They all say the word human with disgust. All of you look down on us.
You are wrong. There are humans living in this compound and they are loved and respected. A human security force has aided Tariq more than once in fighting for those he loves. They are respected. Gary was human and he was revered by our people. Did we have respect for Adam and Herman? No, sadly, they were traitors. They were willing to trade your life for immortality.
“Lorraine?” Tariq prompted. “Does our seeing this battle upset you?”
She took a deep breath. Andor felt the way she steeled herself to answer. He’d felt it before. He saw that Sandu came alert. He’d felt that as well. He glanced at Gary. The man looked impassive, but he had moved closer to Lorraine, just as Sandu had done mentally.
“Tell me how to do it.”
“You have to open your mind to your lifemate, and he can replay it for us all.”
She glanced up at Andor. He leaned into her. I am extraordinarily proud of you, hän sívamak. You handled that battle as if you were a warrior with years of fighting experience.
Yes, until I made that mistake and ran out from under the ceiling you’d constructed to prevent the very thing that happened.
Was that what worried her? That everyone in the room would see her mistake and blame her for the fears they were now dealing with? Sívamet, few would have had the courage you displayed. You were fighting for your lifemate. He let her hear and feel the pride he had in her.
She just nodded and closed her eyes. Those long feathery lashes fanned her cheeks, drawing his immediate attention. She took his breath with her bravery and he was just now registering that, aside from the fact that no matter what, to him, she would always be the most beautiful woman in the world, she was probably considered beautiful by the human world as well.
He took the fight from her mind and replayed it for the others, using their common telepathic pathway. Tariq lifted a finger when it was over and did a short spin. Andor replayed the sequence a second time. When the scene reached the part where Lorraine ran out to confront the vampire and the crows swooped down on her, Tariq held up his hand and Andor instantly paused the unfolding events.
All of them studied the birds surrounding her. The crows were close, wings outstretched, some striking her, but no other talon or beak was close to her.
“If they were attacking her, wanting to harm her, as they should have been,” Tariq said, “more than one bird would have used its beak. Definitely their talons. Beaks and talons do the most damage. We’ve seen attacks from the vampire’s creatures before. They shred flesh whenever they can. They look to do the most mutilation possible.”
Siv nodded his assent, studying the frozen moment in time. It was difficult not to want to shield Lorraine from all the warriors’ scrutiny. “Andor, show us the next frame and stop. I want to see the bird that actually attacks her. Or more precisely, what the rest of the flock does when that one crow approaches.”
Andor felt Lorraine shudder. He slipped his arm around her stiff shoulders. She tried to hold herself away from him. He understood. The others watched what happened to her with eyes that had seen so many battles, and they were unemotional. He could tell her repeatedly that they truly couldn’t feel, but she couldn’t experience that and to have them watch what had transpired—her personal nightmare—while so detached had to be diffic
ult for her.
Andor wrapped his arm around her in spite of the way she stiffened. He pulled her beneath his shoulder, his thigh touching hers, their chairs not a paper’s width apart. He wanted the physical closeness with her. More, he wanted the intimacy of the two of them, mind to mind.
Sívamet, I know this is difficult. Touch me. My mind. Slide into me and feel me surround you. These men seek to maintain your well-being. They do not want to take the chance of anything harming you.
They seek to find whatever Sergey left behind in me, if anything, just in case I’m a threat to them.
His breath caught in his throat. It is not like that at all. Regardless of what he left, you are no threat and they know it. Do you really believe Ferro and Sandu would abandon you? Or that I would? Even if Sergey planted half of himself in you, we would fight for you.
There was a moment of absolute stillness, and he knew he’d made a terrible mistake. The rest of the warriors around the table knew something happened. They all looked up, their gazes no longer turned inward to study the replay.
“What is it?” Tariq asked.
Everyone could hear Lorraine’s accelerated heartbeat and her shallow breathing. They could feel the raw burning in her lungs as she tried, unsuccessfully, to pull in air. She began to struggle, as if she might free herself from him, but Andor held on tight.
“Csecsemõ, take a breath. Feel me breathing and breathe with me.” He locked her to him and then took her hand and placed her palm over his heart. “Feel my heart beating. Slow down and let your body follow mine.” He willed her to listen to him. In her mind, there was chaos. Fear mounting to terror. All he saw was a jumble of puppets feeding on children. Tears swam in her eyes and dripped off her lashes.
“What is it?” Tariq asked again. “How can we help?”
“I have to leave. I have to go.” She struggled against his hold.