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 cha
nged 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.”
As Lorraine watched herself stumble out from under the ceiling, and the birds fly at her, the entire attack took on a sinister rhythm she hadn’t noticed before. She felt that itch between her shoulder blades again, as if a target had been painted on her back. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She detested the sight of those crows flying at her, circling her, looking for an opening.
“Stop,” Sandu called. “Lorraine, this is important. What were you feeling right then? Emotionally, what were you feeling?”
“That I had to stop the vampire from getting back up.”
“Why? What motivation did you have that was strong enough to make you disobey Andor’s orders to stay there?” Sandu persisted.
Lorraine didn’t like that at all. She hadn’t thought about disobeying Andor’s orders. She hadn’t been thinking at all. She tried to find words to articulate what she felt. “It wasn’t like that, Sandu. I listened to everything all of you told me. I knew I had no chance against one of them myself, not without aid and not without the weapons you all created for me. I never, at any time, thought about disobeying Andor’s orders.”
Andor’s fingers curled around the nape of her neck. Breathe, Lorraine. No one is accusing you. They only wish to get at the truth.
She knew that. Intellectually she knew Andor was right. She forced herself to calm down and to look deep to see what she had been feeling. It wasn’t easy to lose her ego and need to defend her actions, but thankfully, at no time had anyone acted accusatory.
Follow my breathing. Follow my heartbeat.
Her Andor. He was right there, breathing for her. His heart ignored her accelerated rhythm and beat a smooth, steady one for her. She took her time, getting herself under control. While doing so, she realized what happened.
“After finding my brother, parents, aunt and uncle and their friends murdered, I’ve suffered panic attacks. I saw Andor fighting off a particularly difficult vampire and found myself panicking. I needed to help him.”
Tariq raised his hand. “You needed to help him. Do you feel that need was so strong because you were lifemates?”
She frowned, trying to remember. She wanted to yell at Andor to take the entire sequence down. She couldn’t think clearly with it up in the air like a large screen. She pressed one hand to her stomach. “It’s affecting me now, Andor.”
Tariq and Gary both hitched forward instantly. Sandu was out of his chair and standing beside her as if he would fight off any enemy. Andor wiped the screen clear. “Breathe with me, Lorraine. He can’t get to you here.”
“He just did. Every time I look at that, I get sick. And it becomes worse with every viewing.” She sat up straighter. “But he isn’t going to win. Now that I know he’s getting to me that way . . .”
“No,” Andor said firmly. “Absolutely not.”
“He can’t win,” Lorraine protested. “If he does, I’ll fear his power over me every single time. I have to know I can defeat him. He cast a spell and had his crows carry it out. That spell played on my fears of losing Andor after I lost my family. Does that sound about right, Gary?” Deliberately she went to someone she knew was tied to her and was powerful. He was adept with spells. He knew what they could do.
“That sounds right, Lorraine,” Gary conceded. “But breaking spells is dangerous. We would have to get back to the crows and look at them repeatedly until we know what we’re working against.”
“Then let’s do it,” Lorraine said. “Andor, you know we have to. You can’t have me panicking if there is a real fight against this monster and I’m anywhere near him.”
“Once she is past this part, we can figure out what he placed in her and how,” Benedek added. He rarely spoke, so when he did, Lorraine felt the way Andor reacted. It was a straightening of his spine, a snap to attention. And Benedek had those eyes. Unique. Midnight black, like ink. He could look at you and cut you in two with one flick of his eyelashes.
You are certain, Lorraine? You do not have to do this.
You know I do. I can’t live with being a coward. I can’t shy away from doing something I think is right because it happens to be frightening. He took one of my worst memories, and he played me. He also may have done something to make me into some kind of walking bomb meant to destroy everyone in this compound. If that is the case, we need to know and figure out how to counter his move.
Andor inclined his head and then put the memory back up the way one would turn on a big screen. Lorraine forced herself to watch the crows moving into formation over and over. “Why is it so obvious now? I should have been able to notice the pattern. How could I have been so unobservant?”
“We all were,” Sandu said. “I sat in the branches with the crows. I saw them fly off. Sergey distracted me with a fight and Ferro with a master vampire. Andor was busy. So was Gary. Sergey is a master at planning. I have to respect that trait in him.”
“I think I’ve got most of the spell,” Gary said. “It’s simple enough that I think I can take a stab at the rest.” He leaned forward and lifted his hands.
Circle of three I summon thee
Each to his own a piece to see
Search inside to find the hidden
Finding the tie for that which was given
Obtain the gift
Fasten the thread
Raking the claws
Now tap the head
Choices taken
The unbinding done
Threads seared
By the morning sun
“That is the spell, or the gist of it,” Gary said. “I can see that it still haunts you, Lorraine. I am soul-bound to you and Andor, and I feel the weight on me as well as you.” He looked at Sandu. “Can you not feel it?”
“I feel I should have wrung those crows’ necks,” Sandu said. He rubbed his temple and then nodded. “There is a weight, yes.”
“Can you get rid of it?” Lorraine asked. She gave a small, delicate shudder. “I don’t want one thing in me or on me or whatever from that horrible vampire.”
Andor nodded. “Yes, sívamet. We can do that.” He lifted his hands and Sandu and Gary joined with him in a chant. The way their hands moved fascinated her.
I call to Morrighan
Washer of the ford
She who sees
Carrion Crow
She who serves to judge the day
I seek your power
Your eyes
Your knowledge
Renew the bond, refasten the tie
Binding the two so none shall die
I call to you to right the wrong
Bring forth the power of the Carrion Crone
Mend that which has been broken
Which is now unsure
Reminding two hearts
They are bound and pure
It was shocking how much tension eased out of her. Lorraine hadn’t known she was so tight, so edgy and stressed. “I swear I think that worked. Either that or you have the best power of persuasion imaginable.”
Gary smiled at her. “I was there, sisarke. I should have caught this. He made certain each of us, those who would recognize a spell, was otherwise occupied.”
It was the first time he had ever called her little sister and something inside her melted, just as it had when Sandu or Ferro called her that. She knew the ancients were hanging on by a thread, and she was grateful that they all considered her family when she no longer had any.
“If you are feeling better, Lorraine,” Tomas, one of the triplets said, “we should continue to attempt to find Sergey among the crows.”
“What does it matter?” Lorraine asked. “We can’t do anything about him now.” It really didn’t make sense to her.
“Have you noticed the birds surrounding the compound?” Tariq asked, his voice very gentle, as if he thought she needed to be soothed, or comforted.
Maybe she did. She didn’t feel sick or panicked, but the entire thing was taking a toll on her. She seemed to be thrown from one trauma to the next and there was no letup. She glanced at Andor’s face with those lines carved so deeply. Sandu and Gary had those same lines, as did Petru and Benedek. They had endured so much. Ancients had been in far too many battles, she knew.
It is our way of life, Lorraine, Andor said gently. Do not worry about us so much. We had choices, whether you think we did or not.
“Let’s just do this,” she whispered and turned her gaze to the screen.
Without the disorienting, sick feeling she’d gotten when she’d looked at the memory before, it was much easier to watch the crows. “How could you possibly tell one crow from another? I still don’t understand why we’re doing this.”
“We will be able to tell the difference. Remember, he was much larger than the others,” Mataias explained. “Once we spot him, each time he takes that same shape—and he will—we will know it is Sergey.”
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