I came across his kills more than two centuries ago, Sandu said. He is very bloodthirsty and likes to make his victims suffer. He called himself Benard Farmington. He liked the name because he stole it from a family of victims. He had been particularly brutal with them.
Lorraine closed her eyes. She couldn’t think of this vampire surviving so long. She knew he’d survived on the blood of human victims.
Carpathians as well, Andor reminded.
Isai wouldn’t have been wounded so severely by lesser vampires, even a group of them attacking him. He was wounded so badly he’d been forced to shut down his heart, just as Andor should have done but couldn’t once she was with him.
Gary, can he be saved? She asked the question she knew none of the others would ask. They were logical about life or death. Either one lived or one died. Worrying didn’t make things better.
I believe so. Gary gave her the human answer.
Lorraine took a deep breath and nodded. Thank you. Can you see the children?
I caught a glimpse of them when the flap was raised, Sandu said. Two boys and a girl. The boys appear to be ten and eleven or so. The girl is more like five. They are very scared and subdued.
Lorraine glanced toward Adam and Herman. She wanted to punch them. Hard. It wasn’t their fault that the family was in danger, but neither of the men, although they’d acted like they’d had a change of heart, had warned the ancients of the danger.
They were hedging their bets. If we lost the battle, they could tell Sergey how loyal they were. If we won, they could fall back on the fact that they didn’t want to invite the puppet into the circle of safety.
I’m beginning to think they were more worried about the puppet eating them alive than giving me to it.
I believe you are correct.
She wished she’d kicked Adam a little harder. Andor took her hand and brought it to his mouth, kissing her knuckles. His lips felt cool and firm against her skin.
“Let us start this. Everyone is in position.”
“How many are there?”
“The brethren counted six pawns. Four underlings and, of course, the master vampire.”
Lorraine stopped in her tracks. “Oh my God, Andor. That’s eleven of them. Eleven. How can we fight so many and protect the campers at the same time?”
Andor put his hand gently over hers. “Take a breath, Lorraine. You know how to do this. You have been trained from the time you were a child to fight opponents larger and stronger than you, some even better equipped than you. We will win because we have no choice. That is what you tell yourself. If we fail, those monsters will kill those children. That is unacceptable.”
She nodded. She knew Andor, like the other Carpathian males, had assessed their chances and knew, with him so wounded and now Isai injured, they would need everyone to aid them. They wanted to win quickly and decisively. The longer the battle raged, the more the odds swung in the favor of the vampires.
“Are you ready?” Andor prompted.
“Yes.”
“If they have a child hostage and try to get you to give up your weapons, the only thing possible to do, Lorraine, is to attack. Giving up your weapons will not save the child. More than likely, they will kill a hostage in front of you after you have complied. I have seen it happen century after century. Vampires live for torture of any kind. They know women, in particular, are very sentimental when it comes to children. Oftentimes it is an illusion that they have a child in their custody.”
“In this case, we know they do have them.” She wanted to be clear on that.
He nodded. “You have to be ready for that tactic. If you do not think you can hold out, you must stay here and allow me to go to them alone.”
“That’s not happening, so just forget it,” she said. “I can do this if you can.” Deliberately, she poured confidence into her tone, when she didn’t feel it.
Ferro will battle the master vampire. Sandu and Dragomir will take on the stronger of the rest. There are four, I believe. Gary, Lorraine and I will destroy the lesser vampires, Andor clarified to all of them. Gary, we will need your healing abilities and your knowledge of humans to work with this family.
I understand.
It was the logical thing to do, Lorraine knew. Each of them had a job to do. Gary was the best at healing and they would need him for Isai, and most likely others. Andor held out his hand to her and she put hers in it, feeling his fingers close around hers, enveloping her smaller hand. Instantly, she felt his strength and that gave her the confidence she needed.
They began their walk through the trees, avoiding the small rolling slope where Isai lay so quietly. They strolled, murmuring to each other, knowing that they were being watched.
“Do I have other family members of yours to meet to get their approval?” she asked.
“The brethren are my family. Dragomir, Isai, Sandu, Ferro and three others you haven’t met as of yet. Fane, who has found his lifemate. We hope to get them to relocate with us. Petru, who is at the compound guarding Tariq, along with Benedek. There were eight of us who stayed there over the years. Several others joined and then left, but these men are my core family.”
She sent him a small smile. “Lots of family, then. And intimidating.”
“They would never harm you, sívamet. They might, however, tell you what to do.”
She laughed, keeping her voice very soft. It took effort not to look around her. The forest felt different. She’d spent a great deal of her life camping. Every summer, her family had camped. Often, during the winter. Her father had liked the wide-open spaces and had also wanted Theodore and Lorraine to be prepared to survive in any type of weather.
She felt at home in the forest, or just about anywhere outdoors. Now, there was a different feel altogether. A frisson of dread crept down her spine. Fear settled in the pit of her stomach. Nothing felt the same, not the birds moving from branch to branch, or the ground beneath her feet. There seemed to be an inordinate number of flying insects.
Squirrels chattered at them in alarm. Little lizards scrambled up the trunks of trees, and snakes slithered through leaves and vegetation on the ground. Andor didn’t appear to notice. He kept walking, and she took her cue from him. Still, it wasn’t difficult to see the way fronds curled back, brown and withered. The way the carpet of grass that should have been green was as shriveled as the older leaves and needles on the ground. Trees wept black tears of sap that ran down their trunks and pooled in tarry collections at their roots.
Lorraine found herself holding her breath, trying not to breathe in the noxious air. There was a heaviness to it, a tainted smell, much like rotting eggs—or meat. Her heart skipped a beat.
Do you think they have another puppet waiting? Scaring that family?
He glanced down at her sharply. Why would you ask that? What are you thinking?
I smell one. I can barely breathe with that scent so strong, and it’s getting worse.
Andor inhaled. I scent vampire. They are rotten inside and out. Their bodies are decaying. That is what you smell, but that is not to say they haven’t created another puppet. It is possible.
She didn’t like the way he glanced away from her. He knew there was a puppet close by. If she could tell by the horrible stench, then he could as well. Why don’t you want me to know for certain? I don’t like you trying to deceive me.
I do not know for certain, he protested. No one has caught sight of a puppet, and they are difficult to hide. Still, the odor has permeated the entire area, so I suspect there may be a second one. Or the first was held nearby for some time before being sent to you.
Lorraine’s stomach lurched. She’d rather face a vampire than the puppet. Knowing all along that it had once been human sickened her. Knowing that it wanted to feed on the blood and flesh of another human being horrified her. “Is anyone watching Adam and Herman?”
He nodded. “Ferro sent sentries, animals, to watch over them. We are all needed.”
She had to be satisfied with that. If the master vampire knew they were close—and, of course, he did—he might send someone or something to kill them. As long as they were alive, they might be of use to the Carpathians.
Did Ferro question them?
Of course he did. He extracted a tremendous amount of information from both of them. That was how we knew they were more concerned for their own lives than yours.
What more use would they be if Ferro got all the information already? She could see the tent now. It was pitched out in the open away from the trees. She stared at it, trying to will the occupants to move around. A grown man sat in front of a fire pit that he’d dug and carefully stacked rocks around. He kept glancing toward the forest and then toward the tent. His wife sat beside him and it looked as if she was crying. The man put his arm around her and leaned close to speak to her.
Sergey has recruited others like them, and we need to be able to identify the human males. If they get jobs in the nightclubs or try to infiltrate Tariq’s security force, they could do a lot of damage.
Andor gripped her hand, swung it up to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the inside of her wrist. “Ready, csecsemõ? Stay close—if necessary, we will be back-to-back. We will get the prisoners free and the others will deal with the remaining vampires.”
“I’m ready.” She had to steel herself in order to face the puppet—and she was certain that smell meant that one was close, probably in the tent.
Gary?
Drifting on the wind. I want to get close enough to know what is happening inside. Give me another moment or two.
Lorraine closed her eyes and tilted her face up to feel the wind. It was drifting in the direction of the tent. No more than a slight breeze, it was cool and felt nice on her warm face. She waited, her heart pounding.
Good, the flap is still up. Children inside. Puppet is there, and even while I watched, the vampire had to stop it from taking more bites out of the oldest boy.
More bites. That meant the puppet was already trying to feed on the child. That sickened her, but it also steadied her. She wasn’t standing around waiting while some horrible creature was terrifying a little boy. They had to get the other children and their parents to safety so Gary could help the oldest child.