Dark Song

by Feehan, Christine

  Sergey grows impatient, doesn’t he? he asked Elisabeta.

  Yes, he is insisting they leave to head for the lair in the city. He does not want to wait for the lesser vampires’ servants. He does not like to wait, he never has. He feels it makes him look small. He says clearly there are no hunters close. He is insisting Sedrick and Edward go out in plain sight, walking beside the lake. They are to take to the air and see if that draws anyone out. If it does not, he will send the whining, simpering newly made vampires next. I am quoting him.

  Elisabeta clearly didn’t want the ancients to think she would refer to the victims in such an uncompassionate way. Ferro sometimes found himself swamped with love for her at the most unexpected times. She was incredible, guiding the hunters through the traps and now waiting with them to see what Sergey would do. At the compound, she had Julija and Lorraine with her, shielding her from so many curious eyes watching her.

  You must be very careful that the newly made vampires do not come in your direction, Ferro. If they alert, Ambrus will know you are close whether or not Sergey believes it. He will call all the servants out, and it is an army of them. They will be hungry and the five of you are ancient. Your blood is the most prized of all.

  They were all very aware of the truth of what she was saying. We will go higher, into the clouds, drifting slowly so there will be nothing to trigger an alarm. Elisabeta, I am counting on you to let us know if there is the least concern. We will stop moving if you warn us.

  Ferro again wanted to give her a task so she wouldn’t panic. He knew any movement near seven master vampires was extremely dangerous. Elisabeta had spent centuries around them. She would know that just as well as all five hunters. The five ancients began their ascent just as Sedrick and Edward emerged from the small grove of trees. Edward hung back a little on the pretense of adjusting his clothing to make certain he looked fresh and clean.

  Sergey is very fed up with Edward. He wants Cornel to discipline him. He has noticed that Edward takes the lion’s share of all victims’ blood and runs from a fight. Cornel agrees with him and said he has waited for Sergey to give him the go-ahead. He has something special planned for Edward to learn his lesson.

  The effort to keep Ferro and the others informed was taking a toll on Elisabeta. He could feel her worry that she might make a mistake and they would pay the price. She paid strict attention to the vampires now, staying more and more in the place of retreat in her mind where Ferro couldn’t follow. The situation was suddenly very unsettling to him. He found he didn’t like her being there. He wasn’t certain if she was safe or not. He had no way of knowing, and there, in the middle of danger, he couldn’t ask her.

  Piŋe sarnanak, it is more important that you stay safe for me than for us to have this information. If you are not safe, retreat now and stay in the compound. We will do what we always do and I will come back to you when I am finished. That is a command. His heart ached. His soul ached. She had to obey him in this one thing. This could not be the time for his little songbird to decide it was time to fly from her cage and soar free.

  Why would you think I am not safe? Julija and Lorraine are with me. I am merely getting information for you.

  Does Sergey have a way of detecting your presence? If he had a heartbeat in his present form, it would be accelerating so fast it might burst in his chest.

  Not unless I want him to know.

  The relief was tremendous. We definitely do not want him to know. Ferro was adamant on the subject.

  The two master vampires, Sedrick and Edward, took to the air and were gone without interference. Only the sound of the waves could be heard lapping at the shores of the lake.

  They are sending out the newly made vampires. Are you high enough that they cannot detect you?

  Ferro hoped so, but they had no way of knowing what the range was.

  Do not move, Elisabeta warned, her voice tight. None of you.

  Below them, coming out of the forest from various directions, looking like gray, shadowy wolves, the newly made vampires emerged, slinking apprehensively on hands and knees or bellies. There were only six left and they were quite a distance from one another, something Ferro hoped would help raise the odds in their favor. Each crawled or dragged itself to the lake and then stood, stumbling as if drunk. One raised his head a few times, looking skyward, but the clouds continued to drift and he shook his head as darkness engulfed him and twice he went to his knees.

  They were more bait for the hunters, but Ferro thought it was a little insulting that Sergey and the other master vampires would think such easy victims would draw them out when Sedrick and Edward hadn’t managed to do so. Now the newly made vampires were trying to take to the air, running and leaping, falling flat on their faces. They were human, not Carpathian, and they had no idea how to fly. No one had ever shown them. They’d woken starving, disoriented and mostly terrified, a condition the master vampires would enjoy to the fullest for as long as they could.

  Ferro, Gary, Sandu, Petru and Benedek watched impassively the terrible spectacle below, but all of them could feel Elisabeta’s silent weeping. Her compassionate nature couldn’t stand the horror of what these oncehuman men were going through. It had been their choice, through greed, to join with Sergey, but she wouldn’t think or care about that; she would only see their suffering. He felt the rise of her need to aid them, to soothe and comfort them, that giving nature, her gift that she sometimes felt was a curse—as it was at that moment.

  Do not, Elisabeta. That is a command. If you must break our merge to hold back aid to them, then do so now. Ferro detested that he had to use what to him amounted to the same tactics that Sergey had for all those centuries, taking Elisabeta’s free will from her.

  He had always thought he would be the kind of lifemate who would want his woman under his command, but the more he saw what that kind of life of total submission had done to Elisabeta’s true nature, the more he knew he didn’t want that. Not for her. She was beautiful inside and out, whether she knew it or not. She was strong and powerful. She was gentle and compassionate. She was intelligent. She was a partner. He wanted that. Yes, he wanted, even needed, to stand in front of her and protect her—he would always be that kind of man—but he would never want to suppress her true nature.

  An extremely large owl flew from the grove of trees, talons extended, digging into the back of one of the vampires as he fell over. The vampire was lifted into the air, kicking and screaming. The others, on the ground, lifted their heads to look as the owl took their companion over the lake and dropped him into the very center, where he sank beneath the murky waters like a stone. He might drown, but he wouldn’t die. Vampires didn’t die, not like that.

  There was a distinct snicker coming from the grove of trees, and a rustle of leaves told Ferro one of the master vampires—it sounded like Addler Astor—was hidden in the trunk of the tree right on the very edge of the grove. The owl wheeled in the air and dove at another of the cowering vampires now desperately trying to take to the air, their only way to keep from being targeted for amusement by the master vampires.

  Cornel is disgusted and wants Sergey to put a stop to this. He says it will prevent the hunters from coming in to take the bait.

  Cornel knew no hunter would believe that, in chasing master vampires, they would accidentally stumble across such newly made vampires unable to fend for themselves.

  He and Dorin insist they call some of their servants to escort Sergey and the rest of them to the lair beneath the city so Cornel can use the computers to see what went wrong. Sergey is ignoring him, but that is what he does when he gets stubborn. It is Addler who has one of his servants playing with the newly made vampires. He does things like that to incur favor with Sergey. Sergey can be very cruel, and he enjoys cruelty and even admires it in others. Addler knows that and feeds that vile streak in Sergey as often as he can.

  The vampires scrambled in all directions, looking up at the sky, watching for the owl as it dropped out of the
darkness, having already selected its next victim. Addler’s high-pitched giggle gave his position away. He was definitely the master vampire hidden within the tree trunk at the very edge of the grove.

  Do you know Sergey’s exact location, Elisabeta? It suddenly occurred to Ferro to ask. She had known where he was going and pointed the ancients in the right direction.

  There is a tree, a large one in the center between five others. Addler is directly in front of him, although Sergey is higher, so he has good visibility of the lake and the surrounding area. Cornel is to the right. Dorin to the left. Directly behind him is Ambrus. Do not ever make the mistake of discounting Ambrus.

  Each time Elisabeta mentioned Ambrus, Ferro not only could hear but could feel her nervousness. That told him that, although she admired Cornel, and Dorin’s intelligence, Ambrus had a cunning in battle that was frightening to her.

  The owl approached again in attack formation; razor-sharp talons extended as it came straight at the vampire standing awkwardly frozen, motionless onshore. The mouth of the newly made vampire was open wide as he screamed, but he still didn’t move. The other vampires dove for cover, although one did manage to make it into the air. He took off into the night, triumphant, presumably following the coordinates placed in his head by one of the master vampires.

  The owl struck the frozen vampire hard, knocking him to the ground, ripping the flesh from the bone, shredding his face from eye to chin, removing it completely.

  Elisabeta made a single sound of pain and sorrow. Before Ferro could order her to leave him so she would not continue to see the cruelty the vampires were displaying toward their newly made brethren, she began reporting the conversation between Sergey and Cornel. Her voice was tight and dripped with tears, but she held herself together.

  Cornel is arguing for a compromise. He wants Sergey to allow each of the master vampires to bring seven to ten servants with them.

  Seven to ten? There were seven master vampires if one counted Sedrick and Edward. If they weren’t bringing all of their servants, that meant the Carpathians were outnumbered by far more than they had counted on. The Malinov brothers had planned their coup for centuries. They’d had a tremendous amount of time to find a way to get other vampires to follow them. No one had ever thought it possible.

  They will call some to go with them, but not all, because they do not want a bloodbath in the city. That would draw too much unwanted attention. Cornel still wants to draw Josef to the underground club using a woman he would be attracted to. At that time, he would bring more servants to feast.

  Ferro had wanted to kill Sergey. That had been his primary mission. Now, for the safety of the Carpathian people, as well as the humans who had thrown their lot in with Tariq and were helping to guard the children and even the Carpathians, the ancients had no real choice but to get the information back to the compound. With Sergey and the other master vampires traveling with such a large army, they wouldn’t be able to attack without the vampires becoming aware that they had overheard their plans and even knew their numbers. It went against the ancient hunters’ code to leave the master vampires without killing a single one of them. It was almost painful to let them go.

  Ferro studied the exodus of vampires, the way each of the master vampires and his servants left the forest. Ambrus was the last to leave and he kept circling above the twisted trees with their dank, gray netting of poisonous webs. He showed the suspicion of a wild animal. At one point he even put his nose to the ground and sniffed and had his servants do the same. Eventually, he gave up and took to the air, heading in the same direction as the others.

  He will come back. Do not move, Elisabeta warned.

  Ambrus returned a few minutes later, swooping out of the sky and dropping low to examine the earth again. He quartered the area, using his heightened sense of smell. Finally, satisfied, he followed the others.

  You cannot clean up the forest or clean out the lair yet, Elisabeta cautioned. Not if you do not want them to know you have been there.

  That was also a blow to Ferro, but the safety of the compound had to come first.

  17

  A symphony of power rolling through the land;

  You and I together, here we make our stand.

  Ferro sang his song to wake his lifemate, to bring her to him. He had woken, his first thoughts of her, his woman, his true purpose now, where before his life had been consumed by hunting—and killing the vampire. Now, the first awareness was of Elisabeta. The joy of her. The compassion in her. The soft sweetness of her. Just . . . Elisabeta.

  She had become his everything. His center. His world. He had always held such a misconception of lifemates. Maybe it was just him—or perhaps all males did. He had never thought to ask Isai or Andor what they had considered before they found Julija or Lorraine. Ferro had believed he would be Elisabeta’s center and she would devote herself completely to him. He would carry out his work hunting the vampire and return to her when he was able. It had never occurred to him that the power of lifemates meant he would never want to be without her. Again, it was possible that it was Elisabeta’s power over him.

  The moment he was aware, even before he opened his eyes, he felt joy in just being. In the miracle of knowing she existed. He found her to be the most amazing, multifaceted creature on the face of the earth. She held so much talent, so many gifts, was so giving and yet was so selfless and thought so little of herself or for herself. She was a complex, wonderful puzzle he knew he would never completely understand in the time they had to share together.

  He had hunted for fresh blood, taking enough for both of them, as he did each rising. There would come a time soon when he would have to teach her to be more self-sufficient, but there were so many other lessons, and she was pushed to her limit as it was. She never protested, but he could feel her struggling at times and he felt he walked that fine line of trying to shield her and letting her take those steps on her own.

  Ferro opened the ground for her and met her there, his arms welcoming. The moment Elisabeta floated to him, her body tight against his, he took her to their forest, where he knew she was the happiest. Without the modern confines of a house and the pressures of trying to figure out furniture and entertaining, they could just be Ferro and Elisabeta, lifemates, learning about each other and enjoying the process. They had this one rising before they would have to once again serve their people. This time was theirs.

  Elisabeta wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled him, the feel of her mouth against his skin exquisite. The softness of her breasts pressing tightly to him as she took his blood added to the sheer intimacy of the erotic feeding. He had taken blood over centuries and given it, but nothing had prepared him for taking from or giving to his lifemate. She made his blood rush hotly in his veins to pool wild and thick in his groin. He savored the feeling and always would, never taking it for granted after so many centuries without her.

  He pushed back her dark hair, needing to see her beloved face, her high cheekbones, her large eyes and those lush lashes. He had memorized every detail of her, but each rising he marveled at her beauty. It seemed impossible to hold the exact feel of how soft she was, or how feminine her form truly felt against his no matter how many times he took those images into his mind and etched them there.

  Ferro. You think these things and I do not know how to process them. The healing saliva closed the pinpricks, her tongue sliding over his neck in a velvet, sensual rasp. She slowly sat up, blinking up at him with a faint smile on her face.

  His woman. She was still uncertain what she really meant to him. She had so long been made to believe that she was worthless. It was difficult for her to really understand his feelings even when she was merged with him.

  He bent his head to take her mouth. Those lips of hers. So tempting. How could he possibly resist? I think those things because they are true, minan piŋe sarnanak. It would be impossible for me to do without you. You really are my world.

  That mouth of hers. Hotter tha
n hell. Igniting a firestorm in him—in her, in them—until it burned so out of control neither could think clearly. Kissing her took him to another realm, one he hadn’t known existed. Fire burned through him, flames licking along his spine, dancing over his skin, over their skin. Little sparks of electricity arced between them.

  They had to stop before he couldn’t. He knew it was getting more difficult for him every rising, not claiming his woman. He didn’t want her to come to him for the wrong reasons—and she would. That would be so like Elisabeta, putting his needs before her own. Throughout the centuries they would spend together, he would always have to check himself that he didn’t take advantage of her giving nature.

  He broke off the kiss reluctantly, clothing both of them as he stood, setting her on her feet, right on the narrow deer path just at the edge of the meadow.

  “Ferro?” Elisabeta touched her lips with slightly trembling fingers. “Is something wrong?”

  “Everything is right, sívamet. Too right. You are very difficult to resist.” He took her hand and began to walk along the trail with her, deeper into the woods. “I want you to pay attention to every detail around you. You are very good at that. You have to have every image in your mind so that you can reproduce each detail when you need it. That will be essential when we lay our traps this next rising.”

  She moistened her lips, her gaze shifting up to his face. “Our traps?”

  He nodded and pulled her closer, matching her shorter steps. “Cornel has devised a plan to attack the nightclub. He plans to let loose an army of their servants, all hungry for fresh blood, a diversion to acquire young Josef for them. And you for Sergey. We do not want to lose any humans to their army of servants. We have called our own army to combat them. You are our secret weapon against them, Elisabeta. And you are my secret weapon against Sergey.”

  She walked beside him in silence, her back and shoulders straight. His woman, up to the challenge. Thoughtful. “Sergey is very dangerous. Cunning. Never forget that he has slivers of each of his brothers residing in his brain. If that is not enough to beware of, he also has two of Xavier, the high mage.”