We have to get out of the house. Get to the underground chamber and go through the ground to safety.
Natalya recognized Mikhail’s voice. He was calm, but there was an underlying urgency. At once their shelter disappeared and Vikirnoff’s weight lifted from her body. She sprang to her feet and raced toward the nearest hole in the floor. Walls of flames raged around them, the heat so intense she could barely breathe.
No! We cannot go that way. Vikirnoff gripped Natalya’s arm before she could jump, dragging her back against him, pressing her face into his chest to help alleviate her burning lungs. That way is closed to us, Mikhail. They await us with traps in the ground.
You are certain? Mikhail asked.
Vikirnoff nodded. Trust me.
Natalya touched Vikirnoff’s mind and realized he was using her connection to Razvan. He had turned the tables on her brother, reaching out on her telepathic path to her twin, unraveling the familiar safeguards and searching his mind for information.
I should have thought of that. And maybe she had. Maybe she just couldn’t accept what Razvan had become. I’m sorry.
Vikirnoff hissed something at her between clenched teeth, the images he was receiving from Razvan evidently infuriating him. We’ll have to shift. I will hold the image of mist uppermost in your mind and we will shift together as soon as it is safe to move.
Natalya nodded. She was furious at being trapped like a rat in a cage. It took two heartbeats to realize it was Vikirnoff’s fury she was feeling more than her own.
Get down. When I extinguish the flames after all of you escape quickly, and remember, they will know we are coming. Mikhail accepted that they had no choice but to use the common path of communication in the midst of the roaring flames and black smoke.
Natalya went to the floor, not waiting for Vikirnoff to drag her down. This time smoke mixed with oxygen within the hastily erected shield, but the air was still breathable. Vikirnoff settled on top of her and the tigress growled in protest, but remained still.
She was more prepared this time for the ground trembling and the force of the air being removed from the building. Again there was the same eerie silence. The Carpathians threw off the shields and began to shimmer into mist. Vikirnoff’s fingers curled tightly around hers as he pushed the image of vapor into her mind.
Stop! The order came from Vikirnoff again as he delved even deeper into Razvan’s brain, reading the battle plan. They have devised a method to keep us from restructuring. Xavier and Razvan have constructed a net to entrap us. If we shift, we will be caught in that form, unable to change. It is what they expect of us.
Are there any flaws in it? Mikhail didn’t waste time with argument or bother to hide the conversations from the vampires. They wouldn’t know yet where the Carpathians were getting their information. Let us all see what they have done.
It is much more than that, Natalya confirmed. If we try to use much of our magick it will backfire on us. I think we have only the weather left to us. He could not prevent that.
Dominic backed her up. She is right. Do not try to shift or use magick of any kind other than the lightning or the wind and rain. They think to force us to use the old ways to fight. And they hear us. Feel their triumph?
Natalya reached for Vikirnoff on their private telepathic path. Razvan and Xavier cannot spread the shield too thin. If we get to the forest we will be able to shift. Find a way to get that message to them all.
Will do.
Natalya’s heart nearly exploded in her chest it was pounding so hard. The urge to run was nearly overwhelming. She glanced at the other two women and saw the same desperation on their faces. Sara’s hands covered her stomach protectively and Natalya’s heart lurched. She met the other woman’s gaze and Sara nodded slightly at the question in Natalya’s eyes. Vikirnoff! We have to get out of here right now.
Already the fireballs were slamming into the house, this time coming through the sides of the structure. We have to fight our way out. Mikhail sounded calm. Keep the women in the center.
Natalya drew her guns. Not this woman.
Vikirnoff bent low, his fingers biting deep into Natalya’s wrist as the smoke swirled heavy around them. Stay close to me. Right beside me.
Sara is expecting a baby. Keep an eye on her. Natalya refused to allow him to treat her as less than the warrior she was. If he couldn’t handle who she was, he needed to know it now—and so did she.
We need to get out now. The entire house creaked and strained as it crumbled. The men burst through the doors and windows in a synchronized escape, the women right behind them. Natalya fell back to cover Sara as the vampires leapt on the hunters, ripping and shredding, masked with animal forms and teeth and claws.
They were everywhere. So many of them Natalya’s heart froze at the sight, an army of what had to be clones, tearing at the hunters aggressively. She saw Falcon shove Sara back as a huge monster of a bear dropped from the branches of a tree directly onto his shoulders. Sara rushed the creature, intending to use her bare hands if necessary. Natalya shot the thing, emptied a full clip into the throat and heart as she ran toward it, pushing past Sara to protect her. She kept running, snapping a fresh clip into her gun and firing again almost at point-blank range. The bear fell back under the assault, shifting to its natural vampire form.
Falcon punched his fist through the chest cavity and tore out the heart. Lightning streaked from the sky to destroy the heart and incinerate the body.
Natalya caught sight of Vikirnoff, battling three of the creatures. Already his clothes hung in strips and blood gleamed on his back from several blows the vampires had landed. One already lay on the ground and she could see a fifth one creeping up behind him. Her heart in her throat, she leapt between the vampire and Vikirnoff.
She shot the huge creature again and again but it kept advancing until it was on top of her. She felt hot, foul breath on her face, saw the hatred in the red-rimmed eyes. Shoving the gun against the chest she fired in rapid succession straight into the heart. The vampire jerked with each explosion, but the claws only dug into her arms deeper. Natalya dropped the gun and palmed a knife, slamming it with all of her force into the monster’s throat. “Get off of me!” She pushed him away from her, kicking out with repugnance, scoring a hit to the chest, knocking it farther back.
Vikirnoff thrust Natalya out of his way, his eyes wild with fury. Lightning arced in the sky, zigzagged overhead and punched into the earth, sizzling through the vampire’s body, taking the heart as it did so. “Do not dare put yourself in danger like that again for me.” He was shaking with rage and his fury spilled over into his voice. He would not lose her, not like this. The other women were accepting the meager protection of their lifemates, but not his Natalya. She had to be front and center in the battle.
Protect Sara if you must, but do not try to protect me. Damn you, Natalya. You cannot ask me to allow you to put your life in danger to save mine. I will not have it.
Damn you right back. I’m not going to let some wannabe badass kill you because your ego is too big for words. I won’t have that.
Vikirnoff snarled, baring white teeth at her, but he had no chance to say anything else, meeting the rush of another small army of vampires.
Natalya glanced to her right and noted Dominic and Manolito were fighting with lightning swords, long flashing lights that sizzled with heat as they sliced through several clones. She drew her sword and grinned at Sara. “I want one of those.” She indicated the light sabers with her own sword.
“You said we could use weather?” Sara asked.
Natalya nodded. “They couldn’t prevent that. Razvan and Xavier were upset about it because they wanted to prevent the Carpathians from calling down lightning.”
“I’ll just bet they did.” To Natalya’s astonishment Sara jerked a knife from Natalya’s belt and held her hand to the sky. What appeared to be lightning leapt from the sky and melted onto the shaft. She held it out to Natalya.
Natalya took two
experimental cuts with the sword, feeling the balance, hoping she could control the dazzling light. It felt alive, a source of power, but when she gave two practice cuts it handled like a dream. She felt something behind her, and spun around, slicing with the lightning sword as she did so. A furry arm ending in long claws dropped to the ground and the creature howled in pain.
“Whoops. Sorry. Back off furball or I’m going for something much more precious to you.” She held the sword at the ready, coming up on the balls of her feet and without another word, thrust straight into the furry chest. The heart incinerated immediately and Natalya grinned. “This is way cool. Much better than hairspray.”
There are too many of them. We have to break through their line.
That was Dominic. Natalya could see him battling several vampires, back to back with Manolito, trying to keep them from the prince. The vampires concentrated most of their clones on the hunters, but there was no doubt they were after Mikhail and his lifemate, Raven. While the clones occupied the hunters, the more skilled of the undead attacked the prince. Raven had a sword and fought beside her lifemate, but there were just too many.
“Look to the north, toward the forest. There is an opening.” Falcon caught Sara’s arm and thrust her toward that direction. “Fight toward the north and perhaps we can break free.”
Blood smeared all of the hunters, deep wounds they didn’t have time to heal. Natalya couldn’t look at Vikirnoff. He stayed close to her, battling too many opponents to handle and the slices covering his body had to be weakening him. She knew they were running out of time. She had killed several clones, but they kept coming, more and more until it seemed impossible to defeat them.
“Maxim is here and is subtly influencing us to believe we will be overwhelmed.” Vikirnoff kept striding forward, slicing through the clones and burning as many as he could. It seemed an impossible task. “The forest, Natalya. Keep moving that way.”
“I’m trying.” The one facing her was in human form and he was no clone. He answered her lightning sword with one of his own and he looked both proficient and confidant. When his sword met hers, the shock waves went right up her arm. She staggered under the blow and just managed to parry his second blow, which came straight at her heart. She glided to one side, deflecting a third blow, allowing the force of the contact to take her sword in a small circle and right back into her opponent.
He screamed with rage, driving at her hard, forcing her to retreat away from the north and safety. Natalya parried blow after blow, all the while trying to move away from the direction he was taking her. There was something in his eyes, a glow of triumph that frightened her. Determined to stop backpedaling, one of the worst mistakes any fighter could make, she stepped to the left. Roots erupted around her foot, circling her ankle and holding her captive. Natalya swung her sword at the vampire and let the blade continue on its natural path, slicing through the vines. Blood erupted and the plants withered and fell lifeless to the ground.
Vikirnoff rose up behind the vampire, swinging his own lightning sword. The head went flying and Natalya thrust through the heart. They turned together to fight off the small trio of clones coming at them.
The noise around them seemed deafening. Vikirnoff dropped back in an attempt to get Natalya out in front of him where he could better defend her. All the while his sword was thrusting and parrying, a part of him watched her. It occurred to him they would probably die here. The rage in him calmed. She was fighting beside him. His warrior woman, his miracle, the ultimate lifemate created to be his match in every way.
If they had to go down, they would go together—as they were meant. Tears stung his eyes at the realization of what she was, the skills she possessed and the way she loved him. Enough to place her body between his and death. I love you. He had to tell her. Had to let her know he understood what he had in her, even there in the midst of the battle—especially there.
She sent him a small smile as she thrust her lightning sword straight through a clone’s heart. Of course you do. How could you not?
Go! Vikirnoff’s voice was urgent.
Natalya turned and ran, trying to make for the forest and the tight knot of Carpathians fighting their way towards the one small hole in the enemy lines. Sudden awareness wrenched at her mind and pulled her back around. She was yards from Vikirnoff, but she could see him clearly and he was surrounded. Worse, far worse, the ground around him had erupted into several heaps much like termite mounds. Insects boiled out of the mounds, and right behind them, Razvan stepped into the open.
Everything in her stilled. The battle seemed far away. There was her brother. Her twin. She hadn’t seen him in a century, but the moment she laid eyes on him, the years dropped away to leave her that young child again. He turned, green eyes glittering, going midnight blue, and met her gaze over the heads of two vampires. Tears filled her eyes. She didn’t know if she was weeping in sorrow or happiness.
Vikirnoff’s blade sank into one of the undead, but another directly behind him struck hard, driving him to his knees. The sight of him on the ground galvanized Natalya into action. She raced forward and sprang into the air, kicking at the head of the nearest clone as she went over him and swinging her sword at another, cutting him nearly in two. She landed on the run, still a great distance from her goal.
Vikirnoff somersaulted, coming up to his feet, his sword flashing as he parried several attacks, scored a direct hit on a heart, incinerating it and slicing the last vampire across the throat. He stood facing Razvan. His lungs burned for air. He became aware of every wound, every cut, the precious blood seeping from his body. He had no idea how many clones he had destroyed, but as fast as they went through them, Maxim created others to take their places. These were all pawns to be sacrificed while Maxim remained safe, waiting for the hunter’s strength to be worn down. Natalya’s brother waited, too.
Vikirnoff knew who he was immediately. Razvan was not Natalya’s identical twin, but the eyes were the same and looking into those dark, midnight-blue eyes, sorrow welled up in Vikirnoff. He had no choice but to take this man’s life and the deed would haunt him for all time.
“So you are the man who captured the heart of my sister.” Razvan sighed softly. “I had hoped I could keep her from your kind. I kept her from Xavier and yet I could not prevent you from finding her.”
Vikirnoff remained silent. Razvan’s voice was a soft beguilement. It was unlike that of the vampire, which was a mere illusion. Razvan’s voice was real, filled with purity and truth. How could that be if he had turned vampire? Why wasn’t he attacking?
“I cannot allow anyone to harm her. What trick you have used to make her believe you love her, I do not know, but I will find a way to clear her mind.”
Vikirnoff frowned. Had Razvan actually committed the hideous crimes he was accused of? Had Xavier managed to corrupt the scenes of the past? He shook his head, trying to think clearly. The things Razvan said made no sense.
Natalya knew she would never get there in time. She could see Razvan inching closer to Vikirnoff. His movements were so slow he didn’t appear to move, but he was. She touched Vikirnoff’s mind and read his confusion. Razvan was a master of using his voice. She had forgotten that, forgotten to warn Vikirnoff. Worst of all, she had put the reason for hesitation in Vikirnoff’s mind and Razvan was capitalizing on it.
Razvan inched closer to Vikirnoff, drawing a curved dagger from his sheath and palming it, the blade against his wrist where Vikirnoff couldn’t see it—but she could. Despair overtook her. Terror for Vikirnoff choked her. Kill him Vikirnoff! She issued the order even as she threw her sword. Natalya knew she was too far away, but she had to try. She used every bit of strength she had, forgetting she was now completely Carpathian. The sword whistled through the night, the light spinning, a dazzling display that hurt her eyes. Razvan lunged at Vikirnoff just as the sword penetrated his back and slammed through his body to the hilt.
There was no sound. No scream. Razvan turned his head to look at he
r as he went down on his knees, both hands coming up toward the sword. The ground around him caved inward and he disappeared. His blue gaze went green and locked with hers as he slipped beneath the soil. The last thing she saw was the shock and horror in his expression.
Natalya screamed as she covered the distance to her brother, reaching toward him. She hadn’t had time to think. She could only choose, not weigh whether or not Razvan could be saved and now it was too late. What had she done? Why had she been so accurate when she’d thrown the sword? The earth was already filling in over him. She dropped to her knees and began to dig with her bare hands, great sobs choking her. “What have I done? What have I done?”
Natalya’s shattered cry nearly tore Vikirnoff apart. He ran toward her, catching her up, his arm a band around her waist, jerking her off the ground. “Natalya, stop it! Leave him! We have to go! Do you hear me? We have to go now!”
The clones surged toward them and Vikirnoff shook her. His gut twisted with pain. “Natalya!” He refused to let her go, even when she looked at him without recognition, when she looked so bruised and tormented and fought him like a madwoman. “Look at me, damn it.” He shook her again. “Look at me.”
She swallowed hard, her gaze focusing on him. Quickly she looked over to the clones converging on them. “I’m all right now. Really.” She swiped at her eyes and drew her other gun, firing several rounds into the clones, temporarily driving them back.
Vikirnoff shoved her in front of him, pushing her toward the Carpathians fighting their way to punch through enemy lines. Manolito had turned back to aid them, running in front of Natalya and for once she didn’t object to the protection.
Vikirnoff knew they were in trouble. They had to get out of the trap Maxim had set for them or they would all die here. There were far too many clones and all of the hunters had suffered injuries. Worse, Maxim hadn’t even shown himself.
“Mikhail says help is coming,” Manolito reported. “We have to make it to the forest and hold out a few more minutes. Gregori and Jacques have returned and are coming as quickly as possible.”
Christine Feehan 5 CARPATHIAN NOVELS Page 113