Dark Legacy (Dark 27)

There was the ring of truth in her voice, and yet, Dragomir had the feeling the girl was either very close or might have figured it out. Clearly there was a spell holding Elisabeta to the underground city, the part Vadim wanted vacated. Sergey couldn't leave his prisoner there, a prisoner his brother wasn't even aware of. That was an added complication for Dragomir. Even if he could kill all three vampires, he wouldn't be able to free Elisabeta unless this girl could actually remove the holding spell.

Without warning Sergey's hand lashed out again, sending Julija tumbling back against the stone table. "You will unlock this spell or die right now." There was no anger in his voice. He was a cold killer. This was the man Elisabeta feared. The one the vampires feared. He raked his talons down Julija's forearms, shoved his fist into the air, which lifted her body and slammed her down onto the top of the table like a human sacrifice.

Elisabeta kicked at her cage frantically, still not speaking, not making a sound. Part of the holding spell had to include being unable to speak. That made sense--Xavier would have needed to keep his victims silent if the Carpathians were close. But what else had Sergey given away? Julija had the chance to escape and she hadn't taken it. She'd stayed, risking her life on the gamble that she might be able to rescue Elisabeta. That said a lot about her character and courage. Dragomir couldn't allow Sergey to kill the mage, no matter the danger of any of the others escaping.

Sergey suddenly lifted his head and looked around the chamber, searching inch by inch. He looked up at Elisabeta, who kept her head down. He smiled at her. "You have earned another lesson, my dear. You know you deserve punishment for what you've done." He uttered the words very softly, his white teeth snapping together. Elisabeta shuddered and kept her eyes to the ground.

He whirled back to the mage lying on the stone table. He slammed one long talon--spiked like a thick ice pick--right through her throat. Leaving it there, pinning her to the rock with one long dagger, he waved his other hand toward Elisabeta.

To Dragomir's horror her body began to dissolve, to become part of the rock her cage rested on.

"Keep her alive or you die," Sergey said to his vampire servants. "If she lives, the rewards are vast," and then he was gone. That fast. So fast Dragomir couldn't see him move. He must have gone under the door of the chamber, or even through it, because he didn't open it. One moment he was there, and the next there was an empty space.

Blood bubbled from the horrendous hole in Julija's throat. She coughed and blood sprayed across the room. Eugen sprang toward her at the same time as Artur. They bumped into each other, but it was Eugen who covered the wound with his hand, applying such pressure that the girl couldn't breathe.

The Carpathian woman was still dissolving, her body melting until there was no way to see her, not even when directly looking at the place she'd been. The cage remained. The hook where her hands had been suspended above her head, but not the woman. The woman had been absorbed by the stone around her until there was nothing left of her.

In this chamber. Sergey fleeing, Dragomir warned the others.

All the vampires are exiting, Ferro reported. It happened so fast that half of them are already deserting the place.

Engage. These men are Sergey's soldiers, not Vadim's. What was he going to do about the mage's injuries? Elisabeta's imprisonment? Gary, I have great need of you. He had skills. So did Sandu, but Gary's skills were far superior. If he got there in time he might save Julija.

Sandu sauntered into the chamber, Andor behind him. Andor didn't waste time--he flew at Artur, his indigo eyes every bit as piercing as Sergey's talons had been. His inky black hair fell to his waist in a braid as thick as his arm. He blew past Eugen and slammed his fist into Artur's chest. Dragomir materialized behind Eugen and hit him with his fist. A short, powerful punch that crashed through bone, driving straight toward the withered heart.

Eugen twisted, screaming in fear and hatred. He thrashed, sending Julija tumbling from the table. Sandu caught her in a firm grip, his hand covering the gaping wound in her throat as he did so. He took her to the floor, on the opposite side of the table from either of the vampires and the hunters fighting them.

She started to struggle, and he simply waved his hand and her body stilled, but her eyes radiated pure fury. He kept his hand over the wound on her throat and slipped from his own body, right there with two vampires in the room, leaving behind a shell to become pure spirit. He moved through her body quickly, noting all the signs of torture. The woman had endured a lot over time. He saw scarring that indicated she could have been held as long as six months. Maybe even a year.

Sandu bypassed all of it, even the fresh lacerations and tears, to get to the puncture wound on the girl's throat. He had to stop the bleeding. That had to be done or they couldn't leave with her. He closed the wound from the inside out. There was damage to her larynx. The two-inch tube was shredded. If she was going to speak again, he had to at least address that.

It took longer than Sandu expected, and by the time he'd managed to get some of the tubing to stick together in the beginnings of a repair, someone or something hit his body, knocking it sideways, and his spirit abruptly was pulled from the girl back to his own shell. A boot stomped down close to his thigh and even closer to the girl.

He threw himself over her, covering her smaller form easily. The boot narrowly missed his back as the vampire stumbled backward, trying to escape Dragomir.

Dragomir kicked Eugen in the head, driving him farther away from Sandu and Julija. He spared them one glance to ensure they both were alive as he leapt over them, following Eugen. Eugen tried hard to take another form, but Dragomir was on him, preventing the change. He pinned him against the wall and slammed his fist deep, searching for the elusive heart.

Eugen roared and somersaulted, taking Dragomir with him as he rolled across the dirt floor, acid blood pouring over Dragomir and soaking into the ground. He landed on top of the Carpathian so they stared into each other's eyes. Dragomir never wavered, his fingers still digging relentlessly for the heart.

Behind Eugen, Andor loomed above them both, his indigo eyes fierce, his features brutally savage. He slammed his fist through the hole in Eugen's back that Dragomir had originally made. The vampire screamed, throwing his head back in an effort to strike the Carpathian attacking from behind. On the ground, he had no leverage, so he slammed his head forward into Dragomir, hitting him in the skull, trying to crash through it, to shatter the bone. When that didn't stop the hunter, he bit down with all his might, letting the rich ancient blood pour into him.

The moment he tasted that blood, his world went white. Narrowed. He felt nothing but craving. A dark, terrible craving that took hold and refused to release him. He thought of nothing else but getting more. The hole opening inside of him was enormous, yawning open so that the blood could fill it. Rich. Satisfying. The only taste that would ever do.

He was aware of Dragomir extracting his heart, but Andor bunched Eugen's hair in his fist and yanked his head back so hard it cracked bones in his neck. That didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was getting to the blood. He could see it, just out of his reach. Dark rubies. Gems of the purest blood he'd ever tasted. He had to have more.

Lightning arced around the room, jumped to the heart on the floor, incinerating it, turning it to ashes. The white-hot energy bathed away the blood on both Carpathians and then the floor. Sandu had kept his arms and body over the mage but now he slowly released her.

"I stopped the bleeding, but she can't talk yet," he announced, lifting her easily to carry her to the stone table out of the way.

Andor finished the job by incinerating the bodies of the two vampires.

"Gary is on his way," Dragomir said. "Her name is Julija and she's mage, a direct descendant of Xavier or one of his brothers. Sergey is also holding a Carpathian woman named Elisabeta."

Andor's eyes went wide. "There was a young girl, Elisabeta. Traian Trigovise's sister. I would go to her home and somehow she coul

d make me feel lighter, as if I had emotions again. The longer I stayed in her company, the longer the effect lasted. She has been gone for centuries. She disappeared one day and no one knew what happened to her. No one could trace her. I know Traian looked for centuries. She was quite a bit younger than him, younger by at least five hundred years. Maybe more."

"It could be the same woman," Dragomir conceded. "She kept Sergey from losing his temper." Ferro, Benedik, where are you?

Sweeping the underground city. The vampires left quickly. We've systematically gone through every room here, and they are all gone.

Sergey had clearly sacrificed two to save his army. The vampire had to have felt their presence. Julija had been deliberately injured, the extent bad enough that the master vampire knew they would have to heal her or she would die.

"The healer is on his way. We can't leave here without figuring out how to save Elisabeta." Dragomir stalked over to the cage and walked around it, studying it from every angle, trying to see what wasn't there. "He made her part of the stone. The rock. I was looking right at her and she disappeared into the walls." He glanced back at the mage. Her eyes were open and she regarded him with suspicion, but there was also a faint trace of hope on her face.

"Can you bring her back? Do you know the spell?"

She visibly took a breath, flinched and started to grab at her throat. Sandu caught her hand and shook his head. "Wait for the healer. You don't want to have permanent damage."