Dark Song

by Feehan, Christine

  Ferro caught the faint trail of shame in the boy’s mind. You are not being relegated back to being a child. I do not think of you that way. There are women in that club. Our women. Human women. O jelä peje terád, Josef. He swore in his native language. You are a valuable asset Cornel has already devised a plan to kidnap. Why am I even bothering to explain this to you?

  He caught a glimpse of a smile in his lifemate’s mind, and at once all annoyance was gone. He understood now why Josef’s reputation had preceded him, although he didn’t think it was truly deserved. The boy was a good kid; he just needed a little guidance. And a firm hand. A much firmer hand than anyone had ever given him, probably because he managed to squirm out from under it too fast.

  Josef sauntered over to the door, took a firm grip on the bar and shoved down to open it. The door was heavy and he had to step outside. The moment he did, a man with stained teeth exposed through loose, salivating lips caught at his long red hair and dragged Josef to him, spinning him as he did so, exposing his neck. Ferro recognized Varga trying to feed off the woman he thought he controlled. Two others came close but the master vampire paused long enough to kick at them and indicate for them to get inside and collect their intended victim.

  Before Varga could sink his teeth into Josef’s neck, Josef shocked Ferro by slamming his fist deep into Edward Varga’s chest and wrenching his head to one side, avoiding the long teeth seeking his blood. That small split second allowed Traian to come in behind the vampire so that when Josef drove his fist into the front of the chest wall, the force of the blow helped send the vampire straight back into Traian’s fist.

  They know. They are here, Elisabeta warned.

  Ferro didn’t wait to see the outcome of the battle between Varga and Traian. He had to believe that the Carpathians stationed in the underground caverns could protect those there. He had to find the master vampires and destroy them. Once they were gone, any lesser vampire breaking through into the nightclub would no longer have direction and would be easier to kill.

  We need the location of the master vampires, Elisabeta. Let the hunters do their jobs now. Drop everything else. You cannot be distracted. He wished he was with her to shield her from what they all knew they couldn’t completely prevent.

  On the private path between brethren, he reached for Isai. Let Julija know she will have to do her best to keep Elisabeta from feeling the full effects of the vampires tearing into the humans. Once Cornel or any of them are aware she is aiding us, they will know she is too sensitive and they will order their servants to be as cruel and as messy as possible.

  Ferro was grateful to be out of the underground and into the night. He could smell the ominous threat in the air. Overhead, the clouds churned a dark twisting mass of gray and black threads, blotting out the moon and stars as if they’d never been. When he inhaled, he smelled rotting flesh. Grating noises hurt his ears. Shrieks and talons scraping at windows told him vampires were trying to get into the nightclub.

  The waiters in service to the Malinovs had been contained by the Carpathians the moment the notice was given. They couldn’t open doors or invite the vampires in. That didn’t mean any number of the guests inside couldn’t do it. Sooner or later, someone would. The moment that happened, the vampires would begin to feast. After the first blood spilled, it would turn into a frenzy for the servants of the master vampires they’d deliberately kept so hungry.

  Elisabeta? We need direction, he prompted.

  She hissed at him—actually hissed at him. His beloved, sweet, docile Elisabeta was definitely coming into her own. He would have smiled but she would have known.

  This is not easy. They have to move in their minds. They are hidden, buried deep in their disguises. I have to discover them, see them through those disguises. It takes patience and attention to detail.

  He did smile. He had used words very similar when he was giving her lessons in shifting or flying. He’d made her practice hundreds of times. She was taking not just him but many centuries-old ancients to school. She might pretend she thought it was just her lifemate she was talking to, but she knew those he was connected to were listening and he was sharing with others.

  Forgive my impatience, piŋe sarnanak.

  At once he felt her instant horror that she had come close to rebuking him. She hadn’t considered that any others might hear them. No, Ferro, please forgive me. I feel stretched in so many directions, trying to reach out to find them, and I was not thinking.

  He gentled his voice, cursing the entire situation, wishing he was a gentler man. You are doing fine, sívamet.

  He was moving with the wind, letting his body drift toward the heaviest cover. There was a massive parking garage. There would be plenty of victims for the vampires to prey on there, but he doubted if any of the master vampires would want to be caught with concrete and stone hanging over their heads. They would want to be very close to the nightclub itself. Cornel in particular was certain the piece that he thought would aid him to rule the Carpathian people, or destroy them, was hidden somewhere in the building. Where? Where would he think Tariq would keep such a valuable item? His office? That just seemed too easy.

  In the landscaping at the back entrance where the patios are on the ground level. There are heavy bushes there. Elisabeta seemed tentative, as if she’d lost her confidence.

  Ferro couldn’t pour himself more fully into her mind without risking giving her away to Sergey or one of the others. He detested using her. The ancients were used to hunting their way. They shouldn’t need his woman to spotlight their quarry for them.

  Sandu, Benedek and Isai had spread out, drifting like Ferro with the wind, looking to spot a single sign of the master vampires hidden in the city structures, the cars and parking garages, rather than the forests and mountains that were their normal hunting grounds.

  Sedrick is in the patio itself. He has made himself part of the roof. Ivy grows along the overhang and hangs down the supports. Are any of you close enough to see if the leaves have withered? Elisabeta sought confirmation that she was correct.

  Benedek answered immediately. I will work my way around to the patio, little sisar.

  Ambrus has concealed himself just to the left of the underground club exit door, closest to the trees. He is working to bring down the safeguards over the door of the nightclub, not the underground club. While he works, he is in communication with someone inside. She was silent for a moment.

  Ferro, as did all the others, felt the brush of pain, as if an electrical charge passed through their minds. He went very still. Elisabeta? Is Ambrus aware of you? Does he know that you are tracking him?

  He is very powerful, and each time I touch his mind, he is wary. I told you, his instincts are more animal than human. He senses a presence, but has no idea who or what that presence is. He sent out a probe. I was slow in shielding all of you from his investigation. It can sometimes be painful. I am used to it and forgot you would not be. I apologize.

  Elisabeta’s admission set Ferro’s teeth on edge. That sweet, gentle voice admitting that she knew Ambrus’s probe would be painful meant she had often reached for his mind and felt him trying to find if an enemy really might be close. Could he trust his senses? She didn’t flinch from the pain because that would give her away. Sun scorch the woman, she was going to be the death of him, not some master vampire. She was going to tear out his heart.

  Ambrus, yes, Elisabeta, I see him now. He is very busy, Sandu said. He has two servants with him, guarding his back.

  His servants are like him. Elisabeta was quick to give out the information. Instinctive, like animals. Fierce in battle. They always go for the belly and genitals. If you have spotted two, there will be three others concealed nearby. Ambrus hunts with a pack. He is the one I would consider the most dangerous in battle. Cornel is the strategist. He can plan a war, but Ambrus is the fighter. His servants are close to having the skills of a master vampire without being one.

  Ferro didn’t like the sound of that.
Sandu wouldn’t hesitate to take on Ambrus and his pack of servants. He was an ancient and they did one thing—they destroyed vampires. He had no lifemate and no reason to continue his existence. Ferro chose to make his stand with Sandu. Sergey was not going to escape him again, not unless he was dying or dead, but he had to make certain Sandu had a fighting chance to survive.

  Ferro. Her soft little protest trembled, but Elisabeta pulled it together for him. Addler is sending two of the newly made vampires to the door of the nightclub. He is watching to see what happens. A couple just drove up in a car. He wants to use them as bait. The vampires will tear them to pieces.

  He heard the trepidation in her voice. How many servants does he have left? He knew the master vampires had counted on their servants coming through the city, but the hunters had quietly wiped out most of them.

  Only two. He is very upset. He has two servants but also two of the newly made vampires with him as well.

  That meant that the Carpathian numbers were growing as the hunters were tracking the last of the servants of the master vampires to the nightclub. That was a plus.

  I have Addler in my sight as well as the vampires and the couple. Have stopped the couple from getting out of their car. They are driving away, Petru reported.

  All of them felt the buildup of energy in the air as Addler attempted to force the couple to turn around. Both newly made vampires took to the air to fling themselves at the windshield. Petru waved his hand and both dropped from the sky, feathers bursting from their shrunken bodies so that they appeared to be nothing more than two owls. As he did so, lightning forked across the sky and thunder crashed.

  Lightning had been lashing the city for what seemed nearly a quarter of an hour as the storm stalled, bringing heavy roiling dark clouds, thunder and an endless electrical show that kept everyone off the streets. A series of lethal sizzling bolts hit dead center on the roof of the extremely popular Asenguard Nightclub. Sparks flew in every direction, rising into the air, a colorful display rivaling that of fireworks.

  Over and over the jagged lightning bolts continued to hit in exactly the same spot. Each hit was precise, as if directed by laser beam.

  Elisabeta tried not to wince each time a bolt struck. The weaves of protection held, but that didn’t stop the shaking of the building from the strength of the blow. Each time the rocking was so strong it nearly knocked the three women off their feet.

  “That is Cornel, knocking politely,” she announced solemnly as they clung together.

  Lorraine and Julija burst out laughing with her. Elisabeta found herself amazed that she could be sharing laughter when the night was lit up with bolts of lightning aimed specifically at the rooftop where the three of them were standing.

  “How very polite of him,” Julija said. “I suppose we should be just as eloquent in our response to him.”

  Lorraine and Elisabeta automatically stepped back to give Julija room. She was from a powerful Carpathian lineage, but she was also a direct descendant of one of the most powerful mages in the world. She lifted her hands and began to weave her spell, concentrating on that small pinpoint where the tip of the bolt was directed with each strike.

  Julija timed her response so that when Cornel slammed his next attack onto that weave of protection in order to penetrate it, her spell countered his. A blue ring whirled around the tip for one brief flash and then rushed up the jagged electrical bolt, seeking the sender.

  The strikes abruptly broke off and black smoke trailed through the sky. A thick, noxious vapor poured into the air, smelling of rotting and decomposing flesh.

  “Cornel,” Elisabeta said, a little shocked. “Julija, you not only incapacitated him for the moment, but you brought him out into the open.”

  “As I meant to do.” Julija spread her arms wide to encompass the sky, taking in as much of the dark, spinning clouds as possible. “I reversed his intentions. It won’t last long but it should give you enough time to find his heart.”

  Elisabeta closed her eyes and sent her mind seeking Cornel’s while Julija began to move her hands gracefully, murmuring her powerful spell as she did so. Cornel was stunned almost beyond comprehension. He had no idea what had happened to him and he was incapable of protecting himself. His heart, a black, withered organ he protected by moving it continually around his body, was still for the first time in many centuries while he was awake. She found it near his belly, a shriveled lump. Immediately she directed Julija to the target.

  Lorraine held the whip of lightning, ready for Julija’s magic to penetrate the inevitable shields the master vampire would have around him while Elisabeta pinpointed the target with absolute precision. Julija struck at the shields and Lorraine simultaneously sent the bolt of lightning straight at the master vampire’s heart.

  The white-hot sword hit an impenetrable shimmering barrier, sending a tower of sparks high into the air, thunder crashing, roaring so loud it threw all three women to the ground. Fireballs rained from the sky, a meteor shower of bright, hot spinning orbs pounding down on the roof, aimed directly at the heads of the three women. A dark shadow swept back and forth over them, wings spread wide, mouth open wide spouting a long, steady stream of fire at them.

  “Dorin,” Elisabeta said, trying to get her hands under her to get to her feet. The building kept rocking, as if an earthquake had seized the ground and was desperate to split it in two. “He threw that shield up to protect Cornel at the last second.”

  She subsided onto the roof, letting her exhausted body have a reprieve. They weren’t going to get a second chance at Cornel and all three women knew it. He was too intelligent to stay around when his servants had been attacked, the nightclub was protected and he had been injured. He could leave, regroup and fight another day.

  Cornel is injured and is near the trees just north of the parking garage. She passed the information on to the hunters. He is trying to escape. Dorin is protecting him along with their combined servants. They have called to Sergey and Ambrus and the other master vampires to leave with them.

  The three women sat together, heads back, looking up at the dark, malevolent clouds, linking their minds together, using the pathway through Elisabeta to follow the various battles.

  “Ambrus, I see that you desire to dance with the devil this rising,” Ferro greeted as he strode up the intricate paved walkway leading to the door the master vampire was attempting to open. “I must confess, I thought you had a liking for the forest, as I do. This city is too closed in for my taste, and these buildings feel as if they are nothing but heavy weights hanging over my head where I cannot breathe.” He kept his voice friendly.

  Ferro had removed all traces of Elisabeta’s scent from his body. He kept her from his mind on the off-chance that Ambrus had found a way to read Carpathian hunters. He ignored the two servants who pressed close, inhaling deeply, drawing the scent of rich, ancient blood into their lungs as he passed them by. It was very necessary to keep Ambrus and his servants’ attention completely centered on him. He wanted the master vampire confident that he could take him at any time. The vampire had three more servants in hiding, waiting to spring his trap. He would want to kill Ferro before he joined Cornel in what he saw as defeat.

  “Ferro,” Ambrus greeted in return. “It is good that it is you. Someone worthy at last. So many with no skills have challenged me in the last half of the century that I thought maybe there were none left.”

  Ferro shrugged. “A few. We were in the monastery, but the call came upon us and we had to answer. You know how it is.”

  “The call?” Ambrus prompted, gliding a step closer. His eyes had taken on a red glow. His arms dropped low, giving him the appearance of harmlessness, his fingers spread wide, but his nails had lengthened just a tiny bit and sharpened to lethal points. He tapped his index finger on his thigh, a subtle sign few would catch.

  “Two women came to the monastery. Both had gifts and were able to tell the brethren that our lifemates were alive in this century. Naturally, we
once more set out looking.”

  Ambrus lifted one hand to his angular jaw and scratched. “You still believe in such a myth, Ferro? That is how the prince keeps you tied to him. You should know better. I always thought you smarter than that.” The finger tapped again.

  Behind Ferro and to his right, a leaf whispered as something brushed against it. Ambrus slid his foot an imperceptible quarter of an inch forward, much like the stalk of a leopard.

  “I believe because I did find her, Ambrus. It is no myth. You know Andor found his lifemate. I have found mine.”

  Ambrus froze. He shook his head slowly. “This is impossible. Not for one such as you. They say Zacarias De La Cruz also found a lifemate. We all know this to be impossible. It is simply a trick to make us believe the Malinov brothers lied to us.”

  “What would I gain by telling you I have found my lifemate?”

  A look of absolute cunning crept over Ambrus’s heavy features, giving him that animalistic look that further warned Ferro that this man thought and fought with the skills of both hunter and animal. “It matters little your intention, Ferro. You walked into an ambush and I bid you good luck surviving, although you seem to have proven your skills in battle time after time these long centuries. It will be interesting to see how you fare against my pack of very hungry dogs. I like to keep them on edge so they fight all the harder for their reward.”

  Ferro smiled, started to give a small courteous bow, and Ambrus attacked, rushing him. Simultaneously, the master vampire’s two servants converged from either side, talons like the harpy eagle reaching for his belly and eyes to rip and gouge. Three more of the pack leapt down from above, straight at his back and head, their intention to drive him forward onto their master’s fist so he could wrench the beating heart out of Ferro’s chest and be done with the fight before it ever truly began.