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Aidan is a Carpathian who has been some time in the States. Everyone believed he would be chosen by the prince to lead in this place, but he is moving to New York. There has been activity reported there.
Tariq glanced at Gary. “I will let the healer answer.”
Gary shrugged. “I went to him to see what I could do to help. His family was there. Darius and his lifemate, the others from the Dark Troubadours.”
“Wait. What? The Dark Troubadours? Are they Carpathian?” The band was renowned and working their way into genuine stardom. Everyone she knew was vying for tickets. The band preferred small venues, so it wasn’t easy to be one of the lucky ones to get in.
Andor answered for the others. “Yes. Darius is Gary’s brother. A Daratrazanoff. That should tell you something right there.”
Lorraine didn’t know what it was supposed to tell her other than that maybe Darius was a healer like Gary and Aidan’s wounds had been fatal, much like Andor’s. She felt a sudden kinship with Aidan’s lifemate. Through the tie of their souls, had she held him to her in the same way Lorraine had held Andor? She glanced at her lifemate, knowing he was in her mind, just as she was in his. Did she?
Yes, sívamet, she did.
“He must have been very bad to need two healers,” she pointed out. Now, more than ever, she was worried about Ferro. Why weren’t they talking about his wounds?
Tariq inclined his head. “Aidan was caught in a trap. He fought several vampires, destroying them, and the trap was sprung once he was wounded.” Tariq turned the full power of his gaze on Andor. “This trap was exactly the same as the one the undead used on you. I’ve sent the information to every Carpathian hunter to beware. I know that we’ve always been solitary hunters, and that worked for centuries, but I propose we hunt in twos or threes. We don’t have the armies they have. Sergey is making himself an army by turning human male psychics into newly made vampires.”
“With no experience,” Sandu pointed out.
“Absolutely none,” Tariq agreed. “But they are voraciously hungry and have no control. Those two traits alone make them dangerous. We are outnumbered. We can’t afford losses. We thought they couldn’t, either, but now that we know he’s creating an army, we know we are not taking down his numbers.”
That makes it more important than ever that the women learn to defend themselves.
Then say it. Tell Tariq what you think. Everyone is allowed an opinion and is encouraged to give it when they sit at this table with him.
She liked that concept. She lifted her gaze to that of the leader. “I think it’s time to teach the women and children to defend themselves against vampires. You should all work with them and share the experience of your battles. If you have new weapons that would even the playing field between a woman and the vampire, they need training in how to use them.”
Abruptly, she went silent. Her heart pounded. Her mouth went dry. Ordinarily, she had no problem sharing her opinion, but at the table she was surrounded by Tariq’s men, his army, and they appeared larger than life. Very scary and dangerous. Mostly, just plain powerful. Giving them advice or telling them they had missed a great opportunity in training the women seemed a little presumptuous of her. She didn’t mean it that way and hoped they didn’t take it that way.
Tariq’s fingers drummed on the tabletop. “I have considered this for a long time. Blaze has been pushing for this same thing. It breaks with our tradition. Women have always been of the light, and taking a life doesn’t come from that place inside of us. Any life. There is a tearing at the soul when one has to kill another being, no matter what it is. That is how it should be. It is the reason we believe the hunter has no emotions after a certain age. He knows it is wrong to kill, yet he has no choice in the matter. He must destroy the vampire.”
Sandu nodded his head. “Having a woman in on the battle would divide the attention of the hunter. No matter how good she was at the hunt, we would be unable to forget she was there. The hunter would end up dead and so would she.”
“Sandu.” Lorraine leaned forward to look him in the eye. “I’m not talking about taking a woman on a hunt. I’m saying she needs to know how to defend herself. If a vampire gets past your safeguards or she is somewhere unprotected, she has to know she has a chance to defeat him. That isn’t the same as demanding to go on a hunt.”
“Blaze goes with me,” Maksim volunteered.
Lorraine wanted to kiss him. He was Tariq’s partner and he seemed very relaxed, deceptively lazy in the way he leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs under the table.
“We are all well aware you choose to risk your lifemate,” Petru said.
Lorraine’s heart sank. She was going up against the ancients and knew that battle wasn’t to be won. She’d thought without Ferro sitting at the table she would have had a chance to talk some sense into them.
“I choose to allow my lifemate to be who she is. Who she always must be. You will do the same when you find yours, Petru.”
Maksim hadn’t taken offense at Petru’s pointed accusation. Lorraine was determined to be the same way. She had a temper that she tried hard to suppress—or temper with wisdom. So far, she hadn’t achieved her goal.
“Petru, I really am talking about the women and Amelia and Liv. Right here in this compound. The vampires managed to get inside. They could again.” She had one ace, and maybe it was time to play it. “It is even possible one of you, one trusted, would turn vampire, and you’re already inside. What happens when you go to tear apart one of the girls and the only ones here are the women? All the men went somewhere and you were left to watch over them. What happens then, Petru?”
There was a shocked silence. Most people, men and women, were careful how they spoke to the ancients. Sometimes, it seemed, the ancient hunters were more feral predators than humans. She had to fight to keep from moving closer to Andor for his protection. The others would use that against her. Still, Petru was intimidating with his eyes the color of mercury and his silent stare.
No one has brought up the threat the ancients present, living here in the compound with us, Andor explained. Not even when I was without you.
Gary moved, drawing the attention to him. It was the slightest of moves, but it was enough when he was usually so still. “This debate has raged in the Carpathian Mountains as well. My brother, Gregori, is categorically opposed to the idea. The prince, however, feels this is something that should be left up to lifemates. He feels forcing a decree, an absolute law, on everyone doesn’t account for individuals, and I have to agree with him. No two people are alike. Ivory is an incredible huntress. Blaze is good as well and an asset in a fight. I do not believe a woman such as Genevieve would be.”
Lorraine thought he was extremely intelligent to use Genevieve as an example rather than one of the Carpathian woman. Her lifemate might object on principle and the discussion would turn into something altogether different.
“My feeling is that all women should be taught to defend themselves. The children should be taught,” Gary continued. “Vampires have evolved, and we have to evolve as well. We’re behind because we didn’t take advantage of technology. We didn’t believe vampires would ban together to fight us, even when we were presented with the evidence. I know it is because Mikhail was struggling just to keep the species alive. I was in that fight. I saw the cost to us, but this is different. If Sergey succeeds, we will be extinct very quickly. It is necessary to change in order to survive.”
There were low murmurs as the individuals around the table argued back and forth. Tariq was the one to put a stop to it. “I believe as Gary does. As far as whether or not a woman goes into battle, it is her lifemate’s decision with her, not ours. If Maksim tried to stop Blaze from fighting at his side, she would be unhappy. Our purpose is to keep our lifemates happy. It is a vow we take, and there is no other recourse.”
“Ferro would never agree to such a thing,” Sandu said. “Petru and I will stand with him.”
“I wou
ld imagine, if that is the case, your lifemates will not be the kind of women who would want to go into battle beside you. If they were, they were not made for you. On the other hand, I see no reason that they not be taught the art of self-defense.” Tariq turned toward Lorraine. “I would very much like you to begin training after you rise from the conversion. Blaze will work with you once she is no longer needed on the patrols. And that brings us to another topic and the reason you were asked to join us.”
Lorraine inclined her head. “I would be happy to start training the women, but it would be helpful if some of the men volunteered to help us out. I need someone to be an attacker as well as those who would allow the women to see into their minds, to the battles. Gaining experience that way is easier and far more useful. They can see actual battles. I was lucky enough to have Ferro, Sandu, Gary and Andor help me. From their experiences, I was able to choose techniques that I knew applied in the situation I was in, and that I was capable of doing.”
Petru and Benedek exchanged a long, shocked look. “Sandu? You did this? You allowed her access to your memories?”
“It was necessary to save Andor’s life,” Sandu said, with a small shrug.
“And Ferro did this as well?” Benedek prompted.
“Yes.” It was Andor who replied, and his answer sounded terse and clipped. “Ferro has great respect for my lifemate. She was cool under fire and aided us greatly.”
Tariq nodded. “From all the details, I have to agree with you. Lorraine, we would very much like to go over the attack again, one frame, so to speak, at a time. During that time, some of us would question you. We have been unable to find a single parasite in you, yet we all agree, the entire battle and trap was orchestrated in order to get to you. Even the campers he chose had children, which would appeal to you and your protective instincts.”
Lorraine wanted the entire matter over. They’d gone over this so many times, yet found nothing. A part of her was trying to believe Sergey had failed at whatever plan he had. The idea that he hadn’t, that somehow he had put something foreign into her, something vampire, filled her with repugnance. She also feared she was a threat to those living on the estate. She’d met them and liked them all. She certainly didn’t want to be the one to bring them harm.
“Of course, I’ll be happy to have you go over this again. I want to be thorough.” She bit her lip, glanced at Andor and forced herself to make the offer. “I would leave if you wanted me to. I would understand.”
Andor reached out, took her hand and brought it under the table to press her palm into his hard thigh. That connection instantly grounded her. His thumb slid back and forth over the top of her hand in a soothing gesture of camaraderie. He was standing with her. She knew he would, but having him show it to her, show he believed in her, meant everything. She found herself smiling at him, uncaring if her heart was in her eyes—and she was certain it was. How could she not feel overwhelming love for him? He trusted her to argue her case without him interfering and making her look weak.
“We don’t want you to leave,” Tariq said. “You clearly are an asset to us. We’re just trying to figure out what we’re missing. Something small we didn’t catch before. Andor, you replay the combat in her mind. Give us every detail.”
She nodded to indicate he could start at any time.
Lorraine watched the battle for the family begin to unfold. She paid particular attention to the crows this time, because, obviously, that was what the Carpathians were most interested in. The birds sat in the trees a distance away from her, which was why she hadn’t really felt a particular threat from them. Occasionally, one would flap its wings. Another crowed loudly. Two or three took flight, circled the area and returned to the branches.
“Stop there,” Sandu said. He looked around the table. “I was busy fighting my own battles, but I had actually sat among the crows. I remember them flying in a circle and knew they were gathering information. Because they circled the entire battlefield, I didn’t equate it with gathering information on Lorraine, as they clearly are doing.”
“How is this clear to you?” Tariq demanded. “I see crows flying in a wide circle and returning to their perch. I know they are Sergey’s spies, so I am guessing they are recording what they see for him.”
“I was there. I felt the malevolence. They were definitely Sergey’s spies, and when they returned from that mission, they settled on the branches, folded their wings and began talking. I was in a crow’s body so I could have listened in, but I didn’t. I should have known they were discussing Lorraine by the way they all looked down at her. All of them. Not just one or two. They kept their gazes fixed on her.” Sandu lifted his eyes to hers. “I am sincerely sorry, Lorraine. I should have been paying more attention. I didn’t catch that detail in the battle, but watching this sequence over and over shows that I failed you.”
She gave a little shake of her head. Never think that, Sandu. We were all fighting for those campers to live. The boy was screaming, and the puppet was tearing at him. All of us had to wait for the signal that all the children were placed safely within a circle before we could move, and that puppet ripping chunks from the boy was terrible to witness. It was awful and nerve-wracking.
She felt the warmth of his spirt and then it was gone.
“Is it possible for you to pull your memories up and within those memories, access what your crow is hearing?” Dragomir asked.
“I’ve never tried such a thing.” Sandu pulled his version of what happened out of his head and put it into the air in front of them, just as Andor had taken her memory of the incident and everything leading up to it.
Again, they watched the birds flying in a wide circle, dipping low, beady eyes on Lorraine. They never stopped watching her. Lorraine gave an involuntary shudder. It was creepy to have the birds looking at her that way. They looked intelligent and malicious at the same time. The combination terrified her. Andor’s hand pressed hers deeper into his thigh, making her aware of all that steel running through his body. He made her feel safe in spite of knowing she was Sergey’s target.
“As far as I can tell, they just repeat to one another that she is the one. Watch her. She is the one. Master says do not touch her. That’s a very loose interpretation. All those squawks and annoying clicks added things to the conversation I cannot possibly interpret.”
Lorraine wanted to throw her hands in the air out of sheer frustration. She was the one … what? What did that even mean?
“Keep going, Andor. We want to see everything,” Tariq said.
The battle unfolded with maddening slow motion. Occasionally, someone would hold up his hand, Andor would stop the replay and they would try to answer the question to the best of their ability. Lorraine hated the tedious work. For one thing, she knew the attack was coming and every time she had to relive it, she felt what she had been feeling in that moment all over again.
Then the crows took flight, leaving their perches to make a wide circle around her. At the time there seemed like so many, but now she could count them, and there were only fifteen. When they made their pass at her, flying low, one came in so fast and hard, she had to turn away or it might have knocked her flat. She had the flamethrower in her hand, but she didn’t use it.
Tariq indicated to freeze the frame there. Crows circled around her, some far closer than others, and she had been unable to return to the safety of the ceiling Andor had created so they all would be out of reach of the crows or anything else coming at them from overhead.
“Stupid mistake,” she chanted over and over, putting her head into her hand. “I can’t believe I did that. All that time I had the ability to fry those things and I didn’t use it.”
“It is the same as with Sandu,” Andor answered. “In hindsight we can make better choices because we have the opportunity to review things, but at the time, there is no way. Things are happening too fast. You act on instincts and do your best.”
“That was my point earlier,” Petru pounced. “Women
don’t have a hunter’s instinct.”
Lorraine wanted to kick him. “Don’t say I don’t have the instincts of a hunter,” she snapped. “Because I do. I don’t honestly know why I left the safety of being with Andor to rush out there like a fool, or why I didn’t use the flamethrower.”
“I am going to replay the crows flying over and at Lorraine,” Andor said.
Do you have to? This part always makes me feel sick. I don’t know if I can go through it again and again. She had to be honest because her stomach lurched ominously.
Andor brought her hand up to his mouth and pressed a kiss into her palm. “I think this is where they lure Lorraine out into the open. The crows circled in one direction over her head. Then they did a reverse circle. It was so smooth we didn’t catch that.”
“I caught it,” Dragomir corrected. “But I have no idea what it means. It just looked like the crows changed direction several times.”
“Yes, they did. They flew low and they flew high. Above and below. They flew clockwise and counterclockwise,” Isai pointed out.
“A spell. Sun scorch those birds, it was a spell,” Sandu said.
Lorraine stared at the vision of the birds, her eyes narrowing, wishing the crows would go up in flames. “What kind of spell?”
“To compel you to leave your shelter. Of course, they used the vampire to lure you,” Gary said. “I suspect, with the way your shields are, it took a tremendous amount of effort on Sergey’s part, which is why it was so easy for the rest of us to defeat the others. He couldn’t bolster them. His puppet was the easiest I’d ever faced. At the time I questioned it, and thanked my lucky stars that he didn’t kill the boy before I could get to him.”
“He pulled us all off Lorraine,” Andor said. “All those combined years of experience and we still fell for it. Sergey Malinov is one to be reckoned with.”
“Did you spot him in the trees?” Tariq asked. “He had to have been there directing the entire sequence of events. He didn’t care if his pawns lived or died. He only cared that Lorraine moved out into the open. We have to figure out why.”