And now you're making yourself bait.
It's a decent plan. Are you on him yet?
Not until he fires again.
Dimitri hissed a curse out between clenched teeth. He risked another run, streaking past the fallen sniper, slashing down with his silver sword to sever the head from the body as he ran. He made it to the hole in the wall, and instead of going through it, as the assassin would expect, he leapt back through the hole in the roof and sprinted for the other side.
A succession of bullets followed him, one smacking into the tree trunk on the other side of the meeting hall, head level. He zigzagged, and then dropped low, shifting as he did so. If Fen couldn't find the bastard after that, he was going to do it himself.
Fighting had died down in the streets. He saw a few bodies as he sped away from the meeting hall, trying to trace back the last bullet that had been fired. He didn't use vapor--the Sange rau would be expecting it.
He isn't vampire, Dimitri informed Fen. How can he be Sange rau basically committing murder, if he isn't rogue or vampire?
Whoever is behind this has built himself an army and they're fanatical. Hemming is either a mercenary, or he believes what he's doing is right. I'm coming around downwind of him. He's packing up his rifle to make a run for it. I'm not close enough to stop him yet.
Deliberately, Dimitri shifted, moving stealthily through the buildings, giving the sniper just a glimpse or two of him, enough to make him hesitate leaving. If he had a mission to fulfill and he had been trained in the military, he wouldn't stop until he'd managed to kill his target.
He's buying into it, Dimitri, be careful. He's intelligent. If you overplay your hand, he'll know we're on to him.
I'm going to give him a shadow to fixate on and then I'll swing around and come in from the other side.
Dimitri projected his shadow on the shop closest to where he had revealed himself to the sniper. The shadow crouched low, keeping within darker shadows as much as possible as it wove in and out of the buildings, moving toward the church. Once he knew his shadow clone appeared realistic, but stayed where the sniper could only catch glimpses of it, he began to circle around to close in on Hemming from the side opposite Fen.
He's settled back on the roof and is hunting you, Fen reported. I'm in position and staying still. I don't want to spook him.
Pack hunting was new to most Carpathians, but Dimitri and Fen had used the tactics of the Lycans often over the last few centuries. They worked well together. There was little difference between hunting the vampire and hunting the Sange rau--not now when they were evenly matched in speed, intelligence and skill.
Dimitri closed in from the other side and signaled that he was ready. They had to be fast, stripping Hemming of his rifle and any other gun quickly. He, no doubt, was deadly with them.
Fen struck from the left, streaking fast, keeping his energy contained, slamming into Hemming, rolling him out of the tree and riding his body down, so that when they hit the ground he could slam the stake into the assassin's heart.
Hemming was struck so hard he dropped the rifle, but as they fell and Fen's legs clamped around him, he drew his own dagger and stabbed Fen's thigh. He was fast, piercing flesh and muscle three times before they hit the ground. Fen didn't flinch, ignoring the wounds, waiting his moment. He slammed the stake into Hemming's chest as they landed in the dirt, using the momentum from the fall and the unforgiving ground to ensure he struck deep enough. Hemming had been thrashing so much, the stake cut through the edge of his heart, but failed to pierce the center.
The breath was driven from their lungs, but Hemming retained possession of his dagger. He rolled, slicing at Fen's chest and throat in desperation, trying to pull the silver stake from his body as he did so. Before he could rise, Dimitri was there, silver sword flashing. He severed the head and Fen jerked the stake free and slammed it home again, this time penetrating the heart all the way through.
The two of them sat in the dirt beside the body, trying to get their breathing under control. "We're getting better at this," Fen said.
Dimitri surveyed the damage to his brother. "I can see that." He pushed his hand through his hair before kneeling up to stop the flow of blood leaking from the wounds on Fen's thigh. "He had military training, Fen, but wasn't like us. He didn't have centuries of growing as a mixed blood. Where are they coming from?"
Fen sighed. "We've got one of them alive. The council members and Mikhail will question him. I did notice that he had a small tattoo on his wrist, an intricate kind of tribal design, in a circle. Arno has that same tattoo."
Dimitri pulled back the sleeves of the sniper. "He's got it as well. So do most of the dead Lycans I encountered in the street."
"So if someone wants to kill all of the mixed bloods, why are they using them to aid their cause?" Fen asked. "The deeper we get into this puzzle, the less any of it makes sense."
"I'm at a loss for an explanation," Dimitri admitted. "But that symbol they all wear means something."
"We'll have to ask Zev what it means." Fen took a deep breath. "If he lives. They're still fighting for him."
"Let's go help," Dimitri said. "I reached out to Gabriel and Lucian, and they have everything under control and we're not needed right now. They'll do cleanup and burn any bodies."
Fen nodded and accepted his brother's help rising. "Andre, Tomas, Lojos and Mataias took the remaining council members back to the inn. Mikhail and Gregori are sorting all that out. We just have to make certain Zev survives."
Dimitri and Fen made their way back to the rubble that was the meeting hall. Skyler and Tatijana had taken turns working inside Zev's body. Arno had given blood more than once and clearly was dizzy, lying down beside Zev's body.
Skyler looked so pale Dimitri rushed to her side, wrapping his arm around her and immediately offering her blood. The energy it took to heal such a severe wound required a tremendous supply of life-giving blood.
Zev needs blood much worse than I do. Arno couldn't keep up and both Tatijana and I have had to work to clean and close this terrible hole in his body. The stake went through numerous organs, Skyler reported to both of them.
Fen immediately dropped down beside his lifemate. "I can give him blood."
Tatijana glanced at him, taking in the sight of his wounds. She sighed but said nothing as he tore a laceration in his wrist and held it over Zev's lips to drip the ancient blood into his mouth. Zev didn't respond and the drops ran down to his jaw.
Zev, you must take this offering of blood, Branislava called to him. Allow Fen, your brother-kin, to give to you what you need.
Zev heard that angelic voice, but he didn't respond. He heard the call and answer chant, the swelling volume of voices, so many warriors and women and even children, attempting to draw him back.
Yes, come back.
That voice was a melody, a sweet, soft melody playing through his mind as elusive as the wind. He knew he should recognize it, but he was tired and trying to work puzzles out was too difficult. I am weary of this life. I have lived far too long. War and killing have become all that is left to me. Letting go would be so much easier than facing the pain of his horrendous wounds and the endless loneliness that would follow. He had done his duty a million times over. What was really left for a man such as him?
Stay. We are bound together, you and I. Our spirits are woven together. There was no other way to save your life. If you go, you take me with you.
That made no sense to him. He was bound to no one, forever alone. The blood dripping into his mouth became bothersome. He licked at the drops to remove them. The taste burst through his system, a rush of adrenaline. Fen. Fen was there. Of course.
The adrenaline allowed him to identify that soft melodic voice. Branislava, the woman he couldn't get out of his mind. He didn't ever get involved with a woman. His lifestyle forbade such a thing. No one had ever intrigued him or had drawn him the way she had. She was off-limits and yet, he couldn't get her out of his head.
I'm dreaming. That was the only answer, and men like him didn't dream of beautiful women weaving their spirit with his in order to fight for his life. No one would do that. No one. The risk was far too great.
Stay with me. Take the blood Fen offers. It is ancient Carpathian blood. It is the blood of the Lycan. We will go together to the ground, allowing the earth to heal you. You will not be alone. I have tied my fate to yours.
She made the revelation so simply as if what she had done was nothing. He knew better. Zev pushed aside weariness and forced his body to respond to Fen's offer. He couldn't do less for a woman who offered her life for his. He wasn't a coward and he wasn't afraid of pain. He would not allow an innocent to die simply because it was a difficult road to travel back to life.
His entire lifetime had been a fight. He wouldn't lose this one.
20
Skyler ran into her mother's arms, hugging her tightly. "I missed you so much, Francesca. I'm sorry I caused you such worry."
"You scared us to death," Francesca admitted, tears welling up in her eyes. "If it wasn't for Gabriel, I would have . . ." She broke off and shook her head. "I never want to go through that again. Thank God, your connection with Dimitri was so strong he was able to pull you back. Do you realize how far gone you were? Neither Gabriel nor I could reach you."
Skyler hugged her again hard. "I did try to hold on, when I realized I was slipping away so fast, I knew he would come for me. I anchored myself as best I could, but it was so cold and I was so lost, I was terrified I couldn't hold on long enough."
It had been her absolute belief that Dimitri would find her that allowed her, even as her spirit slipped away from her dying body, to withstand the icy cold and dark. It had been terrifying in that other place, the flicker of life in her drawing the attention of those crouched in the darkness, waiting for a new soul to steal.
Francesca drew back to look her over carefully. "I inspected you when they flew you back here, although you probably don't remember much. You were exhausted, needed blood, rest and healing. How are you feeling?"
"I feel fine," Skyler assured. "Fully healed. I couldn't wait to see you, but Mikhail wanted Dimitri to talk to the council members first."
"I heard." Francesca gave her a faint smile. "Were you able to keep your temper while they talked as if Dimitri was a bug to be squashed?"
"You mean exterminated," Skyler corrected with a faint grin. "I didn't blow the place up, that was someone else."
They walked together out into the meadow, crossing a field of wildflowers. "He's good for you," Francesca observed. "You're confident and happy."
"I'm so in love with him," Skyler confessed. "More even than I thought possible."
"We should have seen that you were grown-up," Francesca admitted. "Neither of us could bear the thought of you going away from us so soon. It was selfish, but you're our first and we've always been a bit overprotective."
"I understand. I hated lying to you. It was truly the worst feeling in the world, but no one would give me any information on where he was or what they were doing to save him."
"That was wrong as well. We knew you were his lifemate," Francesca said. They reached the center of the meadow where the flowers grew in abundance. Francesca sank down into the middle of the fragrant wildflowers. "As his lifemate you should have been kept informed at all times."
"Still," Skyler sat beside her adopted mother, "I might not have gone off on my own to rescue him, and he wouldn't have lived. Fate seems to have a funny way of making things right."
Francesca smiled at her. "You came to us and made our lives so full, Skyler. Never think that I don't feel love just as fiercely for you as I do for Tamara. We chose you. I think you were always meant to be ours."
"I think so, too," Skyler said. She was a silent a moment and then reached for Francesca's hand. "You know what Dimitri is, a mixed blood, the very thing that caused all this fighting."
"The Han ku pesak kaikak," Francesca said firmly. "He may have been the catalyst, but he wasn't the cause. This type of warfare had to be planned a long time in advance. Our enemies had no way of knowing that Dimitri was Han ku pesak kaikak, let alone that he would fall into their hands. They used him as their excuse to start their war."
Skyler nodded. "The thing is, we don't know what having mixed blood might do to a child. MaryAnn and Manolito haven't gotten pregnant. Tatijana is like me, not yet there, but both of us will be someday. It may be that we can't have children."
Francesca was her usual thoughtful self. She didn't jump in to reassure Skyler, but thought it over in her mind. "There are two ways for you and Tatijana to look at this. You could try to get pregnant now, before you have enough of the Lycan blood to fully transform you, or you can wait and see. There is no sense in worrying about something you have no control over."
"I just thought . . ." Skyler trailed off and reached out to grasp a flower stem, pulling the flower to her so she could smell the perfumed center.
"What?"
"The flowers up in the mountains, the Night Star flower, do you think the ceremony helps beyond fertility? Do you think it actually prevents miscarriages?"
"I know that it enhances one's addiction--for lack of a better word--for the taste and scent of one's lifemate. The flower ritual seems to create a tight sexual bond between lifemates, but as to whether or not it helps keep a child alive, no one honestly knows yet."
"But Gregori and Savannah and Mikhail and Raven didn't actually undergo the ceremony, and their babies have survived."
"So has Shea and Jacques's little boy. Tamara survived. Corrine and Dayan's little Jennifer is doing well and she had a very scary start," Francesca said. "None of them even knew about the fertility ceremony."
"Did you know about it?" Skyler asked.
"I'd heard of the ceremony, but of course I'd never witnessed it," Francesca admitted. "Why are you so worried about having a child, Skyler? You and Dimitri are just starting your lives. You'll know eventually because, truly, you have all the time in the world. There is no ticking biological clock for you. You're Carpathian."
Skyler plucked at the hem of her jacket. "Maybe that's true, but what if the clock is ticking? What if I can't have children because I'll be a mixed blood? Josef had to convert me," she confessed in a little rush.
"Because Dimitri had to hold you to earth."
Skyler shook her head. "Not just that. He was afraid to convert me. No woman has gone through the conversion as a mixed blood."
"MaryAnn . . ."
"Was already Lycan," Skyler finished. "Her body refused the total conversion. She retained her wolf. The two bloodlines coexist in her, just as it does in Fen and Dimitri." She bit her lip and looked at her mother. "I knew everything, every concern Dimitri had when I asked him to convert me. And I accept it, if we can't have children, I really do. Dimitri is my everything, but I did always picture us having children."
Francesca stroked caresses over Skyler's hair. "Don't give up on the idea. And you need to talk to Dimitri about your fears."
"I don't want to make him feel bad, it's not like he can do anything about it. This mixed blood thing isn't anyone's fault. It started centuries ago when he would fight vampires, need blood and there you go. He is what he is, and I'll be the same." She shook her head. "I guess I had all these fantasies in my head about my little house and my children and you and Gabriel coming to see us. It's silly."
"It isn't silly. You have a house you and Dimitri will fix up into a beautiful home," Francesca pointed out. "Whether you have children or not, we'll come to see you. Skyler, it's okay to be worried or upset, even when you have a lifemate. It's a natural part of life. Dimitri is there for you to talk to. If children are important to you, he'll find a way to make it happen."
Skyler nodded. "I know he will. I just needed my mom for a minute to tell me everything is going to be okay."
"It will be," Francesca assured. She looked around the meadow. "Look how beautiful the night is, honey. Who would ha
ve thought that only two days ago men were killing one another?"
"Does anyone know why yet?"
Francesca shook her head. "I'm sure they all thought they had good reason. The Lycan council is staying to try to work the alliance out with Mikhail. They've sent for their own packs, ones they believe they can trust." She hugged Skyler again. "You saved Zev's life, Sky. It was an impossible wound to heal, but you saved his life."
Skyler shook her head. "I had a lot of help. Tatijana and I played tag team. When one got too drained the other went in. The Carpathian people came through for us in spite of the battle going on, and Branislava"--she shook her head--"I don't even know what she did."
"She's with him now, in the ground," Francesca asked.
Skyler nodded. "I think everyone fears if Zev wakes he'll think we buried him alive. He's Lycan more than Carpathian, at least in his mind. I know what it feels like to think you're buried beneath the earth and can't get out." She shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself.
"Maybe your father and I did you a disservice by allowing you to remain human."
Skyler sent her mother a smile. "No, I think you raised me exactly right. Dimitri's teaching me everything I need to know, and Ivory's been helping me as well. She and Razvan have offered us wolf pups. We're both very excited to be able to have them and become a pack with them."
Francesca's eyes widened. "How amazing. Ivory and Razvan are very . . . elusive. I'm glad he's reaching out to you and sharing your life a little more."
"It was me more than him that kept a distance," Skyler admitted. "The idea of having mage blood was repugnant to me, until I needed it. Suddenly I was more than grateful to have it. I realized the blood and lineage had nothing to do with whether or not I chose to use my gifts for good or evil. That is my choice and my responsibility."
Francesca smiled at her. "I'm so very proud of you. The things you've accomplished already are far beyond your years. Dimitri is lucky to have you."
"I'm lucky to have him. He's so good to me and patient. He never once pushed me for anything. He just was this constant in my life. A rock. Always there, expecting nothing from me. How could I not fall in love with him?"
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