The second pack was also made up of ancients; all were in the brotherhood or had been at one time. Afanasiv, Nicu and Valentin were joined by Petru and Isia. They made a formidable pack, moving fast, going out to sea.
Tomas, Lojos, Mataias, Andre and Gary made up the last pack. At present, they were streaming out over the national park, where water ran in rivers beneath the ground. Those rivers connected directly to the lake bordering Tariq's property.
Dragomir dismissed the other packs from his mind, knowing they were strong and could weather any storm sent their way by Vadim. His pack's job was to enter the underground city undetected, observe what the vampires were doing and then permanently destroy any of the undead they found.
He used the wind to aid him. It was natural and would never give the vampires pause. On the outside, the alleyway looked as if no one had been there since a cave-in had destroyed the entrances and hallways inside. He studied the debris piled in front of the entrance from every angle, touching it lightly with the breeze. He felt the taint of evil. It wasn't strong, barely more than a whiff of darkness. Ordinarily, he might have dismissed it as the trace of a vampire that had passed by long ago. Thanks to Emeline, however, he knew the vampires were still using the underground city, which made this faint scent of evil a trail worth pursuing.
He kept moving with the breeze so no alarms could be triggered. His progress was slower than he would have liked, but he felt no frustration. It was his job to hunt the enemy, and sometimes that took patience. The wind slipped into a crevice and found space. Emptiness.
One entrance here, he reported to the brotherhood. I'm going in.
Entering the tunnels would be more dangerous than staying outside where the breeze of his presence would seem natural. Now he would have to be a slight draft, cold air seeping in from the outside night.
There is an entrance from the floor of the shop I am in, Sandu reported. I'm going in.
Be careful. I am using a faint draft.
No worries, I am creating a nice habitat for the black witch moth. It isn't small, it has a seven-inch wing span, but the undead would not believe a hunter would use such a creature to spy on them. I, however, will have to give my moth at least eight inches to be realistic.
Dragomir nearly choked. Leave it to Sandu. The black witch moth was legendary as a harbinger of death. And eight inches? It was starting. He shouldn't have shared humor with any of them.
Found another entrance here on the street. Ferro this time. I will go in as a black witch moth. Perhaps I should make my wingspan that little bit bigger as in keeping with my size. Say, nine inches?
Dragomir would have laughed if his present form allowed it. They might not find humor in the things they said, but they were funny. Now that he had regained his emotions, he shared them automatically with the others. It had been so long since any of them had felt anything, they almost didn't remember what humor was.
If we went by that, I would have to go for a ten-inch wingspan, Andor said, his voice droll. Sandu, I hope that you do not feel embarrassed.
Given that much larger than eight or nine inches is going to draw attention and be smashed first by some stubby vampire, I have no reason to feel this emotion--this embarrassment you speak of.
That rules out my twelve-inch wingspan, Benedik grumbled. I am going in by the back wall three shops down.
Dragomir's heart clenched hard in his chest. He knew that entrance--or more precisely--exit. Vadim had used it after he had impregnated Emeline. Be especially cautious. That leads directly into Vadim's private lair.
He moved into the pile of debris, floating in the steady breeze down through the crevice and into the hallway of the underground city. Rock and dirt covered the floor in great impassable mounds. One rock blocked the door to the chamber where Bella, Liv and, farther back, Val had been held. Live experiments with children had been conducted there. Children were fed to the flesh-eating puppets Vadim had created. Most of those children had been alive at the time. In hunt mode, he was grateful he'd put some distance from his emotions. As it was, the place turned his stomach and sorrow slipped in. He began to drift away, more than happy that there was no sign of Vadim or his pawns.
He halted abruptly, staying in the steady cool stream of air, but not moving with it. He couldn't overlook anything. It seemed ridiculous to think that Vadim would use the chambers again, but they couldn't afford to take the chance. He slipped out of the breeze and, moving slowly so as not to trigger any alarms, slid into a tiny opening between the rock and the chamber wall.
At first the room appeared empty. He nearly turned to go back, but then air was displaced and figures shimmered for a moment. They appeared translucent, so that anyone looking could see right through them to the dirt-covered ceiling, the blood-stained floor and the dark, ominous scratches in the walls.
Dragomir slipped into a corner and stayed absolutely still as he focused his Carpathian vision on the interior of the chamber. It only took a few moments before the images began emerging into flesh-and-blood apparitions. There was a woman of indeterminate age in the cage. Her hands were tied at the wrist, suspended over her head. She had scars on her neck from rough biting and there were more on her arms and even one up high on her thigh where her skirt was pulled up. Her hair was pulled back in a loose, disheveled ponytail.
He could tell she was tall and very thin, almost emaciated. Her hair was very thick and long, the color dark with a few streaks of silver woven through. Her face and body appeared young, but there was something about her that made him think she was older.
She appeared dehydrated, glassy-eyed and beaten. There were bruises everywhere he could see. Her head was down, but without warning, her gaze shifted toward the corner of the room--the corner where he stayed so still. She took a breath and let it out slowly. Her head moved, her chin jerking slightly toward the second chamber, the one where Valentin had been held.
Telling him something. Warning him, perhaps? She knew he was there. She was aware of him even when the vampire was not. What did that say about her? Who was she?
A vampire moved around a long stone table. He muttered to himself and kept casting murderous glances over his shoulder at the prisoner. She had once more dropped her head, looking defeated when Dragomir knew she wasn't. There was fresh blood on the floor and smears of it, small bloody footprints, leading into the next chamber.
Dragomir didn't much like the fact that the woman knew she was no longer alone in the chamber with the vampire so close. He needed to find out what was in that chamber before he made a move against the vampire. And he had to kill the vampire without alerting the underground city.
Vadim had woven a spell over the chambers, one that the Carpathians had already fallen for once. They had examined these chambers once before and believed he had abandoned his city, but it was still in use. He just hid it better now.
Dragomir moved slowly, inching his way through the chamber to keep from moving air. The vampire was engrossed in what he was doing, still muttering to himself, obviously angry at his assigned task--or the orders to leave the prisoner alone. It was the way the vampire alternated between glaring at her and licking his lips hungrily when he eyed her that had Dragomir certain he had been given orders to stay away from the woman.
Without warning the chamber door banged open so hard it hit the rock, bounced closed, swung open a second time with equal force, but this time a large vampire stood framed in the doorway. Dragomir recognized him immediately. Eugen. He had successfully escaped from the cave, but he was covered in scars from his encounter with the sun. He'd burned severely. Half of his face was a flat silver sheet with strange, almost cheesy skin around the borders. As if it were a mask, when the vampire spoke, the skin, already pulled tight, didn't allow for expression.
"Get a move on, Artur, I'm tired of waiting. We don't have all night."
Artur glared at Eugen. "You got to eat. I'm starving. She smells delicious. Her blood must be . . . powerful. I want just one taste. I'm
hungry." The last was almost a whine.
"I don't give a rat's ass if you're starving. I'm not going to let you get me killed. Sergey wants the information and I told him I'd get it for him." Eugen glanced behind him, bared his teeth and swung around. "I can see you're anxious for your treatment today," he said to someone behind him.
"I don't have anything to prove to him," Artur snapped, almost gleeful, although he shot a glance toward the door behind him, as if Sergey Malinov might step through at any moment.
Dragomir inched closer to the open door. Inside he could see a second female, and this one looked very young, maybe in her early twenties. She was chained to the wall and hadn't fared any better than the other woman, maybe worse. She'd been severely beaten. Her face was swollen and bruised. Streaks of blood were smeared at her rib cage and along her right arm, where there was a large cut.
Eugen stomped back to the girl and grabbed her throat, his thumb forcing her face up. "If you don't give Sergey the information he wants this time, I'm going to hurt you like you've never been hurt." A malicious smile revealed his spiked, stained teeth. "Or I'll tell him you've deceived him all this time and you don't know how to undo Xavier's spell."
Dragomir had continued floating, inching his way around Eugen, but that brought him up short. Xavier had been one of the most powerful mages ever born. He was wholly evil and had almost succeeded in stamping out the Carpathian people.
There was a stir behind him and both vampires trembled, fear removing the cocky looks on their faces. Eugen had always been a fighter. He was no newly turned vampire. In fact, Dragomir would have thought he was well on his way to becoming a master vampire, yet whoever was coming to the chamber had inspired pure fear. It permeated both rooms. Even the two women looked scared.
Artur quickly began to lay out a tray with instruments of torture. That was purely psychological for the humans. No vampire needed such things to hurt a victim. Dragomir studied the older woman. Her gaze was glued to the door, but he felt a warning, a distinct push to leave the chamber. To leave the women to their fate.
Everything in him stilled when he felt that delicate push. He studied the woman much more closely, moving slowly to the cage. She wasn't human, this one. She was ancient. A Carpathian. The Malinovs had a Carpathian woman in their possession. He couldn't begin to recognize her. He'd been gone far too long to identify her. He'd heard news, of course, of lost women, those who had disappeared, but too many centuries had gone by. He didn't remember who they were or if they'd been found.
Eugen's fingers tightened around the throat of the girl hanging by chains on the wall. He squeezed down hard, cutting off her airway. Immediately the woman in the cage reacted, throwing herself at the bars, kicking at them. She didn't call out or speak, but she made such a ruckus with her body against the bars that Eugen whirled around with a hiss.
"Stop it or I'll kill her."
Instantly the woman in the cage subsided. The girl in chains gasped for breath, coughed, wheezed and then drew in a lungful of air. The outside door to the chamber opened and Sergey Malinov strode in. Dragomir had encountered him several times. In the pack of five brothers, Sergey had never stood out. He seemed to disappear when there was a fight and almost never voiced his opinion, preferring to follow his brothers' lead.
The temperature in the chamber dropped several degrees. Sergey looked handsome, a man made for the present century. He first looked to the woman in the cage. He smiled at her, and bowed slightly, an old-world, courtly gesture. "Good evening, Elisabeta, I trust you slept well."
The woman inclined her head, but didn't speak. Her eyes, on Sergey through lowered lashes, held a kind of terror, yet there was defiance in every line of her body.
Sergey's eyebrows went up. "Really, Elisabeta, I tire of your continued behavior. This girl is not a good influence on you."
Elisabeta seemed to shrink, looking smaller and defeated.
Sergey turned to the vampire standing beside the girl in the second chamber. "Have you gotten the information I require?"
Eugen turned stark white beneath the sallow, grayish skin. "There hasn't been enough time. She is strong and doesn't react to the--"
Sergey raised his hand, one finger apart from the others, his nail a long, thick talon. He slashed down, and Eugen screamed as the good side of his face was torn nearly in two. The master vampire did it casually, with no expression on his face, sending a chill through Dragomir. Sergey wasn't weaker or less dangerous than his brothers. This man was fully in control. Fully in charge. Those in the chamber knew it. Both women had gone utterly still, as if faced with a venomous viper, and neither wanted to draw his attention.
Sergey ignored Eugen to focus on the girl. At once the chains holding her began to smoke. She gasped but didn't cry out. The skin on her wrists where the cuffs held her began to blister.
"I suggest, Julija, that you give me what I want, or you are of no use to me. I have run out of patience." He snapped his fingers, and the chains fell to the dirt floor and slithered there like snakes. He pointed to the stone table behind him and the girl's body jerked and then began to come toward him, one unwilling step at a time.
Sergey had escaped death several times, and watching the casual way he wielded power, Dragomir was reminded of Xavier, and recalled that Sergey had a splinter of the high mage in him. He had obviously utilized it, learning from it. This was a dangerous adversary. Clearly he had been all along, but none of the hunters had recognized that he was far more powerful than his brothers. More cunning--hiding his skills and biding his time. He allowed his brothers to shine, to be the most feared while he worked in the background. That made him the most unusual vampire in the history of Carpathians.
Was he hiding those same skills from his brothers? Dragomir compared him to Vadim. Vadim was always the one in charge. He directed everyone, including Sergey, taking the lion's share of whatever they received for himself. He was always the first to feed and the one to make the decisions. Vadim considered his brother as less than himself--and he was making a big mistake. Sergey was recruiting quietly behind his brother's back. He had a plan, a strategy, and so far, it seemed to be working.
Before Dragomir made a move, he had to determine just what was going on. He needed information. He would have to send for backup in case one of the vampires escaped the chambers, but that required energy and Sergey would feel it. He remained very still. If Sergey tried to kill the girl he would have no choice but to intervene immediately, information, backup or not.
Julija made it to the stone table, her eyes on Sergey the entire way. There was fear, but there was defiance. She was a fighter, this one, and she was angry.
From the cage came waves of soothing peace. The feeling settled over all of them, vampire, hunter and enraged female. Sergey glanced up, his face softening. He smiled at Elisabeta.
"I see you are determined to work your magic on all of us, my dear. You don't have a mean bone in your body. I would give you anything you asked, but this one continues to defy me. We must move you. We must find a way. Vadim wants this part of the city abandoned. If he knew I was returning here, he would know I had a very good reason, and he would find you. I keep you safe from him. The least you can do is be grateful and tell this idiot mage to give us the proper spell. She isn't helping us, Elisabeta, and I cannot have that."
"If you move her, you know you will hide her away somewhere the Carpathian hunters will never find her," Julija said. "Giving you the spell will harm her, not help her."
Sergey turned the power of his penetrating glare on the mage girl. Both Eugen and Artur took a step back as if any moment he would explode into violence. "I spent a good many years searching for a direct descendant of Xavier . . ."
"Well, you didn't find one."
The vampire's hand struck like lightning, slapping her face and then catching her arm, turning it over to show the mark on her forearm. "This is the mark of a high mage. You must be born with it. No one can wear such a mark without a direct lineage.
" He hissed each word. Enunciated as if she were a child and wouldn't understand.
"I am aware I was born with the mark," Julija answered. She didn't touch her reddened cheek. She didn't rub at the blisters circling her wrists. She stared up at the vampire with a calmness that belied her years. "I am the direct descendant of Xaviero. Or perhaps Xayvion." She shrugged. "Maybe I am from Xavier's bloodline. Who knows? I understand they liked to share. At least Xaviero and Xayvion did. In any case, I am far more powerful than you know."
"I am aware of that. I was aware of it when you had the chance to escape and you stayed to help Elisabeta escape. She is precious to me." He changed tactics, his voice softening. "My brother would be cruel to her. Elisabeta and I belong." He lifted his head to smile at the caged woman.
"Because you have emotions when she is near. Xavier imprisoned a Carpathian female in the hopes of children. Vadim is experimenting in the hopes of children. What is it you want? A child? I don't think so." Julija's voice was speculating. "I think you crave the emotions she gives you. It is Elisabeta that allows you to think and plan so clearly. She keeps the negative traits at bay, doesn't she?"
Sergey inclined his head. "Clever girl. I will never let her go. If you cannot help me, you are of no use, Julija, so I suggest you figure out very quickly how to undo the spell that holds her here."
She sighed. "It's complicated. You used a spell you chose from Xavier's memories without knowing the consequences."
"I showed it to you."
Again, Dragomir had the impression that Sergey's patience was wearing thin. The moment that happened, that wave of soothing peace filled the room. It wasn't just Sergey affected by Elisabeta's wave of peace. The other two vampires, the mage and Dragomir all felt that peaceful surge moving through them, quieting tempers.
"Yes, Sergey, you did," Julija admitted. "But it wasn't the entire memory. I need more. I have started to unravel it, but it's complicated. Very complex. Xavier put a holding spell on a Carpathian. He held her prisoner for a very long time, just as you have done to Elisabeta, using those same methods, but this spell, this is extremely difficult to undo. I cannot do it without seeing his entire memory."