Dark Song

by Feehan, Christine

  The moment Ferro heard his woman say Josef was not alone in his fight to keep from exploding into violence, he and the other ancients moved to surround Elisabeta with their protection.

  Gary, is it possible Sergey set a trap for her?

  Give me a minute. Josef has powerful friends. They cross oceans for one another. I will feel them if I get close enough.

  Ferro had a moment of near anxiety while he watched as the thick wall of vicious red, woven so tightly together, refused to even thin in the least. Elisabeta didn’t seem to notice. That slight breeze never changed but continued to flow gently toward the violent painting, changing angle occasionally to come in at one corner and then another, all the while providing Josef with her calming serenity. It was impossible to feel anger and hatred in the face of very real compassion.

  The ancient is Dimitri and his lifemate, Skyler. Josef and Skyler are childhood friends. Josef helped Skyler save Dimitri’s life and then when all was lost, he helped Dimitri save Skyler’s life.

  Even a hunter who cared nothing for rumors, legends and the outside world had heard the story of the three young ones who had defied all odds and had gone into the very heart of werewolf country to save Dimitri from death by silver, a sentence passed on him unfairly to start a war between Carpathians and Werewolves. Josef, Skyler and Paul, the human nephew of the De La Cruz brothers, had prevented that war.

  Elisabeta, can you remove such a deep scorching? Gary asked.

  Yes, of course. There was complete confidence in her voice. It will take time. Sergey will attack before I am finished.

  Ferro felt her hesitation. She turned to him alone. We will need to be under some kind of shelter where we cannot get out. Josef will try to reach a gate or entryway just the way all of those that have been infected will try. Gary included. I have no way of knowing how hard any of them will fight to reach their goal. I can only surmise that the deeper the hook in the brain, the more they will try to open the compound for the vampire and his army to enter. You can put him to sleep, but there are so many others, and we may not know all of them.

  She gave Ferro the information as if she knew he would know exactly what to do. He relayed the supposition to Tariq. We need to set up our warriors at every entrance to stop anyone who might try to open those accesses to the vampire, he concluded. Anyone with deep burns, like Danny, Amelia and Josef, needs to be locked away or put to sleep until we can see if they need to be controlled. That includes any of the humans in the security force that Gary feels were particularly heavily burned.

  Take Elisabeta and Josef to the house Dragomir and Emeline shared. We can safeguard it so Josef can’t leave. Hurry, though, Ferro. The illusion Julija wrought was extremely good. Already I can feel an unease in the night creatures. The stone dragons in the courtyard are beginning to rumble, their bellies glowing with fiery coals in preparation to fight the vampire. That only happens when the vampire draws close, Tariq said.

  It wasn’t difficult to scoop Elisabeta’s body into his arms while Traian took Josef. They hurried with their charges across the courtyard to the house Dragomir and Emeline had lived in until their daughter had been born. To Ferro’s surprise, Lojos paced along behind them. Trailing after him was Joie, Traian’s lifemate. She looked very small, someone others might overlook, but there was something about her, and Ferro had been too long in the world to be fooled. The woman was lethal, and if Lojos was a threat to any of them, there was no doubt in his mind that the Carpathian hunter would be dead before he could carry out that threat.

  Tariq and Charlotte went with Danny and Amelia to the safe room, where they were locked in. Genevieve took Lourdes and Bella to a second safe room and again, they were locked in. The older couple, Mary and Donald, followed suit.

  Tariq was the ultimate general sending his best warriors to the gates to prevent anyone from opening them from within. Isai and Julija stayed at the main gates to defend them. Together they held extreme power. Warriors spread out. Security guards were placed in defensible positions.

  He is coming, Elisabeta announced. Her calm was gone. She pulled abruptly out of Josef’s mind. She staggered and threw back her hand to catch herself before she went down. Ferro caught her around the waist, holding her upright.

  I am sorry, Ferro, I cannot do this while he is close. I cannot concentrate. I am leaving this poor boy in a terrible state and it is not right, but I cannot . . .

  Terror was building beyond anything he had ever experienced with her. It filled the room so there was no way to shield the others from what she was feeling. Her body shivered continuously, her hands rubbing up and down her arms as if trying to peel the skin from her body. Ferro very gently stopped the movement with his hands.

  Josef will feel nothing. I have made certain of that. He is frozen until the time you are able to heal him.

  Aloud, to steady her, he spoke matter-of-factly. “We knew he would come, beloved. This was the hope. We wanted to draw him to us. I know it is frightening, but all those with the scorching will be watched so that they do not betray us.”

  They are programmed. You know he has succeeded in doing this.

  Ferro nodded, his hand moving up to the nape of her neck, a gentle, soothing massage. “Yes, Elisabeta. He has programmed even our ancients to betray us, to open our gates from the inside, but we are aware of this, thanks to you. Tariq has given orders and all who carry the burn marks will be contained.” Deliberately his eyes met Lojos’s.

  The ancient immediately understood what Ferro meant and the repercussions. “I have the scorching,” he admitted.

  Ferro inclined his head. “That is so. Even had Elisabeta removed the burns, we believe the programming would still be there. That is speculation only. We do not know for certain.”

  Lojos turned his attention to Elisabeta. He bowed from the waist, a courtly, elegant gesture from centuries earlier. “Forgive my continued suspicion, Elisabeta. I am from another time, when one questioned everyone and everything. Ferro’s word should have been good enough.” He raised his gaze to the warrior. “What would you have me do?”

  “We are weaving a safeguard to hold Josef inside, but we may need your fighting skills,” Ferro admitted. “The healer said the burns were light, so although you are showing signs of having to fight against the tendency for violence, you are winning that battle. You know what you are up against. The warriors at the gate will prevent you from opening them should you try.”

  Traian and Joie stood to one side as Ferro walked with a very reluctant Elisabeta out of the house and onto the porch. The safeguards were woven so that Josef, should he manage to break free of the frozen state he was in, could not escape the house.

  Ferro, he is so close now. He whispers to me. I hear him.

  Ferro could hear him as well. A dark, ugly voice, like nails on a chalk-board, a high-pitched note that scraped at the walls of Elisabeta’s mind, trying to force its way inside. When Sergey could not break through the barrier Ferro had constructed, the vampire became enraged and began throwing himself at the shield, battering at it, desperate to bore his way through. He was so determined that Ferro had a clear image of the vampire’s surroundings and was nearly able to pinpoint his exact location before the creature realized he was throwing such a tantrum he was putting his life in jeopardy and pulled back.

  “He is about six miles away,” Ferro reported. “His pawns are close to the gates. We should know if we were right about the programming. At any moment we should see if those with the small specks Elisabeta found will try to walk to the gates to open them.”

  As he spoke, Tariq, who had joined Gary after helping Charlotte put his children in a safe room, peeled off from their circle and both began to walk briskly toward the front gates, striding with great purpose. He neither looked left or right. Maksim called out to Tariq but he didn’t look up or miss a step. Ferro waved his hand toward both men, sending out a command to stop them both in their tracks.

  Elisabeta, how long do you think the command to
open the gates will last? Sergey is directing them to obey him. He had to stop trying to get to you in order to give the command to those with the branding in their brains. Is it a lasting command or a temporary one?

  It was an impossible question to answer. How would she know the answer? Still, he asked her for two reasons. She needed to concentrate on something other than the terror that was reducing her into a ball of nothing but sheer nerves. She wanted to curl up in the fetal position and disappear. The other was, Elisabeta really did know Sergey better than anyone else, probably better than he knew himself. If anyone could anticipate his every move, she could. She might actually guess the right answer.

  Her moan was her only response. He caught her thick braid at the nape of her neck. Elisabeta. I need you to stand with me. Now is the time we must fight against this madness. I need an answer.

  He poured command into his voice. She understood and responded to absolute authority, and he gave that to her. He felt her stiffen. Snap to attention. Her mind, chaotic and fearful, cleared. Became once more sharper thinking. Intelligent.

  It will be momentary. He rules by fear. He believes all will obey him once he gives the order. No one will dare disobey his given command. They will continue to try until it is done.

  Thank you, piŋe sarnanak. It is important we do this together. Stand with me.

  Once again, to give her courage, he swept his hand down her braided hair as he walked the two of them closer to the gates. She straightened her shoulders, wrapped one arm around his waist and kept pace with him. Only he knew the cost to her. Her body shook terribly with each step, but she kept her head up and she didn’t falter.

  Around them, his brethren gathered, fanning out in a semicircle to take in a wide area behind them. Tariq and Gary stood frozen, while Sandu joined them at the forefront, waiting for the first wave of Sergey’s pawns. These would be the lesser vampires. They had learned his “cannon fodder” were newly made vampires in the form of human psychic males, eager to be turned so they could have the same power as the vampires they chose to serve. They would expect the gates to be wide open because Sergey had said they would be.

  The human security force had weapons designed specifically to kill the vampires, and they were stationed along the top of the fence in safeguarded positions where they could defend the compound yet not get taken prisoner by the enemy. With the safeguards woven so tightly, it was nearly impossible for even a stray arrow or bullet to slip through to injure or kill one of them, yet they could fire their unique weapons at the vampires at will.

  Ferro released Gary and Tariq so they could participate in the upcoming battle after Julija had woven safeguards to prevent anyone from inviting vampires into the compound.

  Hold fire, Tariq ordered Matt, head of his security team, as the first wave of vampires approached the gates. Hold your men steady.

  He clearly was still fighting the compulsion to open the gate. Julija countered the impulse in Tariq and Gary with a spell, helping to ease the need to obey that vicious hook in their brains.

  It was always unnerving to see newly made and starving vampires coming all at once. They were hideous creatures with twisted faces, once handsome, some still partially so, but most decomposed and rotting in places, as they weren’t experienced enough to hold illusion through the desperate starvation they’d awakened with. Hair fell out of scabbed scalps, so only a few long stringy strands hung oily and loose. Teeth were pointed and jagged, the thin lips drawn back from shrunken gums. Maggots crawled on them, wiggling over the rotting flesh as they rushed forward, eager for blood promised to them—the rich satisfying blood of an ancient.

  The newly made vampires were so frantic they would take any blood. Sergey had kept them in the ground for a longer period of time so they would wake starving. He wanted this killing frenzy, this madness, a desperation that would ensure they would kill and devour every living creature they came into contact with.

  Sergey needed a bloodbath, the insanity of a chaotic seige, so he could slip in and reclaim Elisabeta. Once in the compound, he knew he could find her unerringly. He had lived with her scent, her soft, soothing presence, and he would never be able to live without it. She had been the one to give him the small details that allowed him to defeat his brothers. They had intelligence, but he had Elisabeta, his secret weapon, and he needed her back. He couldn’t continue without her. He had relied on her for all those long centuries and he didn’t know how to move forward without her.

  He is furious. Do you feel him, minan päläfertiilam? Ferro asked Elisabeta to keep her grounded with him. Do you feel his fear that he has already lost you? You are too important to him. Do you know why? He cannot continue without you. He needs you. You are powerful. That is why he kept you starved and under his control. That is why he made you so weak and unable to care for yourself, made you so dependent on him for everything. You are much more powerful than he is, and he knows it.

  “Hold steady,” Tariq ordered both aloud and then again telepathically to his security force protected on the walls. “Let them come close and think the gates will open for them. Stay sharp that those of us programmed will not obey the order to allow them inside.”

  You plan on going out there to hunt him. Elisabeta made it a statement.

  Ferro could not deny it. As long as he is alive, hän sívamak, he will continue to come after you. He cannot help himself. You are a necessity to him, just as blood is.

  Ferro could feel her turning over the things he said to her, trying to absorb them, trying to believe them when her mind held such terror for the master vampire.

  The terrible growls and snarls of the lesser vampires could be heard as they approached the compound, groups of them coming at the various entrances, some on the ground, some in the air, some clones, others very real. All had the same intent. The hunters were used to seeing those hollow, starved faces, nearly caved in, with sockets for eyes, but Ferro was a little surprised at Tariq’s human security force. They were stoic, waiting for the signal before they began to fire their specially designed weapons at the vampires.

  The moment they did, the ancients dissolved into mist, taking to the air, while Julija wrapped her arm around Elisabeta, taking Ferro’s place as he streaked into the sky toward the wooded area by the lake where Sergey had stayed while his army had prepared to take the compound.

  Tell me where he is, Elisabeta, Ferro ordered, staying merged with her, making it an order so that she didn’t have time to dissolve into terror because he was no longer physically with her. We do this together. He kept his voice calm and matter-of-fact.

  Straight ahead. Can you feel his anger growing? He is concentrating on opening the gates of the compound again. He cannot understand why he was not obeyed.

  Ferro went very still. At the same time, the other hunters tied to his soul— Andor, Gary, Dragomir and Sandu— did as well.

  Piŋe sarnanak. Ferro strove to keep his voice extremely calm. He didn’t allow any emotion into his mind. Deliberately, he used his nickname for her so she would feel at ease, as though any question was not one of great importance. How do you know he is trying to open the gates and that he does not understand why he was not obeyed?

  He moved toward the woods, taking the straight route over the lake. The fog helped to hide movement in the mist. Sandu and Gary were on his right, Dragomir and Isai on his left. Benedek and Petru circled to the east to try to get behind Sergey’s position. He would have other, much more experienced vampires guarding him, most likely master vampires. He wouldn’t be alone. His desperation wouldn’t make him careless—yet.

  Maksim, Siv, Nicu, Val and the triplets remained at the compound with Tariq, Traian and Joie to ensure no gate was opened and everyone there would remain safe while they hunted Sergey.

  I just know. Elisabeta sounded puzzled. Ferro? Do you not know this?

  He felt the tiniest bit of alarm spread into her mind, as if she were doing something wrong. It was the last reaction he wanted from her. If she had th
at great of a connection to Sergey, they could use it to destroy him.

  I have long hunted vampires and little else, Elisabeta, he replied gently. It was no real answer, but he knew it would soothe her.

  He was nearly across the lake and he could feel the threat emanating from the woods ahead. It was dark and still in the trees. There was no wind, no breeze whatsoever, no sound of any kind other than clacking that sounded like tree limbs rubbing against one another. Insects had ceased all noise, as if cowering away from the unnatural beings hidden near them. No mice or lizards scurried in the leaves or rotting foliage.

  I do not have your empathy, nor can I, while hunting, move through your mind to find what I would need to tap into his actual thoughts.

  Could she do that? Ferro didn’t break away from her, but it took his centuries of discipline to keep away excitement.

  There is no need, then, Ferro. I will tell you what he is going to do before he does it. He has abandoned his plan of storming the compound. He knows he cannot get inside and is leaving those he regards as his pawns to their fate. He realizes it must be a trap and that you are coming for him.

  Ferro had Gary share that knowledge with the other hunters unable to hear Elisabeta.

  He is directing those he has set up to guard him to remain, and he is fleeing with two other master vampires. He told those remaining that you are coming and will be there any moment. They are expecting you.

  Anxiety was in her voice, in her mind. Ferro couldn’t believe she was able to know exactly what Sergey was saying to his “soldiers.” He couldn’t hear the vampire and he was merged with Elisabeta.

  Ferro, they know you are coming. They will ambush you. There was a catch in her voice.

  Which direction is he fleeing?

  He should have reassured her. She was worried about him. He had been hunting and fighting vampires for so many centuries without emotion, without thought for his safety. He hadn’t considered that she would be concerned for him.

  This is what we do, sívamet. Believe in my ability.