Dark Wolf

by Christine Feehan

  Dimitri was not a man who argued. Razvan swooped low, coming out of the sky fast, a streak of vapor, to materialize at the last moment and gather Byron up in his arms, taking him high before the Lycans even knew he was there.

  Dimitri instantly shifted into tiny molecules impossible for a Lycan to latch on to. He shot through the trees, back into deeper forest, seeking the men Nicolas had found. They had started the fight between the species, just as they'd been ordered to do, but they weren't taking chances on getting hacked apart by the skilled warriors.

  They'd done their job, stirring up the camp, poisoning minds against Zev, or at least raising doubts about him. They proclaimed the council was behind them and that Zev had done something to cut off all cell phone contact, leaving them isolated. They sent their pawns into the battlefield, right beside those who were still on the fence, or even loyal to the council.

  Sitting up in the trees and watching the battle from a safe distance with night vision goggles, they acted as commentators at a sports event, even laughing when some of the council's loyal followers suffered amputations. The limbs would grow back, but still, the severe injuries would definitely make up the minds of those who hadn't fully believed them.

  "This couldn't get any better," one of the Lycans stated. He had blond hair and considered himself quite handsome. He had believed in the sacred code, all of it, including the place of women in their society. Too long things had been influenced by human interaction. The old ways, the traditions and codes had long been forgotten. "We definitely managed to stir things up, even without Gunnolf."

  Another nodded, peering through the branches to watch the chaos below. "They'll join us now. Half of them have been shot with arrows or hacked in two, just like Gunnolf predicted."

  "Don't pat yourselves on the back yet," said a third. "Zev is charismatic. Everyone listens to him, including the council. He's got to die before he starts talking again."

  "I haven't heard if we succeeded at the meeting, the talks for an alliance," another commented. "Keeping everyone from using their phones means we don't have the ability either. We can only hope they did their part and wiped out the council. The moment that news hits, everyone will take up arms against the Carpathians."

  "Do you believe Zev is truly Sange rau? Or that the Carpathian prisoner was? If he was so powerful, why couldn't he free himself?"

  "What difference does it make?" the blond snarled. "The woman is the one who freed him and set up that fortress we couldn't penetrate. If anyone's Sange rau, it's her. She used some kind of blood spell, I could smell her everywhere."

  "Her name," Dimitri said, coming up behind him, "is Skyler." He plunged the silver stake straight through the blond Lycan's back so hard the tip came out through the wolf's chest. In one motion, Dimitri's sharp sword sliced through branch and neck so that the head tumbled to the ground below.

  He whirled like a dancer, never actually placing his feet on the branches, but rather performed the brutal ballet there in the air, keeping the close quarters so that the Lycans were hampered by the branches and leaves. Even as they tried to scramble out of the trees, he cut down a second one, using his sword to sever the head from the neck.

  "You could have waited," Rafael complained, driving a silver stake through the heart of the headless Lycan wedged in the tree. He whirled around in midair, using a silver knife to scoop out the heart of a third, dropping it in the crotch of the tree right in front of a shocked Lycan. He stabbed the knife through the center of the heart to nail it to the trunk and glided back to allow Dimitri's sword to send the head tumbling to the ground beside the other two.

  One Lycan managed to extract himself from the branches. He leapt toward the ground, realizing, too late, that a third Carpathian stood waiting. The man was so still he could have been a part of the very landscape. When he moved, he flowed like water, striking so fast the Lycan was dead before he actually hit the ground, a silver stake in his heart and his head completely severed.

  The three remaining conspirators pretended to surrender, fingers on the triggers of their weapons. "We haven't done anything to you," one pleaded, moving his head to the left to peer around the branch, trying to get a look at Dimitri. "We give up. You can have our weapons." Three swords and two knives were thrown to the ground below.

  As the first of the trio bargained, the other two slipped their guns ever so quietly forward in an effort to find a target. One thought he saw a Carpathian for just a moment, and he nudged his companion and pointed to the brush below.

  Behind them, Dimitri leaned down to whisper into their ears. "I can smell lies. And the three of you stink."

  One whirled, firing as he did so, the gun exploding next to Dimitri's chest, but Dimitri's dagger had already gone deep, the blade finding a home in the liar's heart. The hand holding the gun stiffened and then went limp, the body sliding toward the ground, only to be caught in the lower branches where it lay sprawled out in a macabre manner.

  Nicolas took the head, allowing it to drop to the ground with the others. With great contempt, he shoved the body out of the tree with the toe of his boot, so that it, too, landed in the mess that had been live Lycans only minutes earlier.

  The two remaining wolves opened fire, shooting off round after round in all directions, desperate to kill their attackers. Unfortunately for them, the Carpathians had disappeared, and in the chaos of terror, the two Lycans left alive couldn't read the energy coming at them from all directions.

  One clawed his way down the tree, shredding the bark, nearly sobbing. He landed in the middle of a puddle of blood and when he looked down, the eyes of his friends were staring accusingly at him.

  "Don't leave me, Don," the other shouted. "We have to stick together. Wait for me."

  The Lycan named Don didn't even look up at his companion, he ran for his life, the gun still clutched in his hand with his finger on the trigger, but he didn't even remember it was there. He had taken no more than five steps when he hit something sharp. Painful. He stopped abruptly, stood there swaying. The gun dropped from nerveless fingers.

  Don looked down at his chest. A silver spiraling stake protruded. Shocked, he stared down, cupping his hands underneath it as if he could catch the blood pouring from around the wound. Twice he shook his head and then managed to look up. A tall man stood in front of him, one with terrible burns around his head and neck.

  "You really shouldn't have shot her," Dimitri said dispassionately. "You were dead the minute the bullets left your gun. If I hadn't found you now, I would have hunted you down with the very last breath in my body." He lifted the silver sword and swung it, the movement graceful and deadly. Don's head rolled toward the others.

  The Lycan left in the tree threw his gun down and tried to stand on trembling legs, raising both hands in the air. "You can't kill me. I'm a prisoner of war. You can't kill me."

  "There is no war between our species," Nicolas said, his disembodied voice coming eerily out of the night.

  "Unfortunately for you," Rafael added, projecting his voice from both above and below, "my brother doesn't believe in taking prisoners."

  The Lycan leapt from the tree, clearing the branches, his arms flung out from his body as if he had wings. In midair, a silver sword appeared. There was no way to change his trajectory. He hit the tip of the sword with his chest, his momentum impaling him on the blade, right through his heart.

  "Your brother doesn't believe in a lot of unnecessary talking either," Zacarias said, materializing behind the sword. He gave his brothers a dark scowl. "You do like your games." He withdrew the blade, severed the head with one stroke and wiped the blade on the body almost before it hit the ground.

  Nicolas and Rafael exchanged a small secret smirk.

  You've managed to draw a lot of attention, Fen said to his brother. Get out of there.

  Zacarias looked up at the sky and immediately the clouds obeyed, churning black and blowing straight up. Lightning forked throughout a towering cloud. He directed the sizzling
bolt into the middle of the pile of dead Lycans.

  The flames leapt high, burning the bodies. Rafael left behind a message for the other Lycans. Traitors of the council, murderers of children. Brought to justice.

  I'm not leaving you behind and Zev is losing the battle here with his numerous wounds. Get moving.

  I'm on my way, Dimitri said placidly.

  Fen might be his older brother, but Dimitri was an ancient warrior and had hunted vampires for centuries, mostly on his own. No matter how much he loved his brother, he went his own way and made up his own mind. These Lycans had been killers and they had dared to accost his lifemate. He wasn't about to let them live. Sooner or later he would have caught up with them. He was grateful they had been ferreted out by Zacarias and his brothers. Who knew what more harm they would have done if they hadn't been destroyed?

  He knew Fen was worried about him, but he refused to acknowledge that Fen had been right all along and his body wasn't yet up to bringing justice to anyone. He took to the air, heading back toward his brother. Razvan had made a clean getaway with Byron, yet Fen and Zev had refused to leave until Dimitri was safely away. Dimitri was fairly certain Zev was every bit as stubborn as his brother and neither was budging until they knew he was safe.

  Rafael and Nicolas fell in behind him. Zacarias led the way. On some level Dimitri realized they were protecting him, flying in a formation that kept his battered body in the center of a triangle.

  I'm waiting on you, Fen, he told his brother. If you're having trouble and need a little help I'll circle back and save you as usual. Just say the word. I was just giving you a little time to work it out, but seriously, I can't have you holding everyone up.

  Dimitri had to keep the amusement out of his voice, and out of his mind as well. Laughing at Fen was a dangerous proposition.

  Very funny. You're turning into a regular comedian. Have one of the De La Cruz brothers carry your sorry butt.

  Dimitri knew he wasn't going to get away with laughing at his brother, but still, it felt good to be heading home, with Fen close by. He was free, the pain was slowly subsiding and Skyler was his for all eternity.

  Moving through the night sky with the wind in his face and the stars glittering overhead had always been relaxing and peaceful. He didn't look at the battleground beneath him, strewn with wounded Lycans. He'd had enough of blood and death and pain--enough to last another lifetime. He was weary. Exhausted. Done with fighting for a while.

  Where are you?

  She reached for him immediately with her soothing touch as if she knew his weariness and exhaustion. She'd done so in the past. He remembered once when he'd spent months tracking a master vampire and witnessing the aftermath of the death and destruction the undead left in his wake, he'd been so sickened by the depravity he couldn't find solace or peace, even in the ground.

  She had come to him then as she did now. Skyler. His miracle. She poured into his mind gently, with that slow, almost delicate touch he had grown so familiar with. She filled him, those dark places of death, the cracks that seemed impossible to mend, so many torn places inside of him caused by the numerous kills he'd made and the things he'd seen. Somehow, when she was there, when they merged like this, she managed to wipe it all out. Everything he'd seen and done was gone, replaced by warmth and love.

  Safe. I'm following close, he assured her.

  Dimitri, something's wrong. I feel it.

  It's just the distance between us. I'm a little weak. He made the admission to her that he would never make to his brother. She was there with him, in his mind, she would know anyway. It was practically impossible to hide anything from one's lifemate, and his lifemate was especially sensitive.

  It's not the distance. Something else. Something creeping up on you. It's close. Dangerous.

  He'd put himself on autopilot, basically allowing Zacarias and his brothers to direct his flight, shielding them from any eyes that might see them while he kept his strength for the long way home. He took a quick look around. Fen, in the form of a dragon with Zev on his back, flew just to his left.

  The De La Cruz brothers, like him, had chosen the form of birds, moving powerfully through the night sky. They were all on alert, but no one seemed unduly on edge.

  He believed her. He had found, over the years, it paid to believe Skyler. He was a Guardian, a mixed blood, and he had special gifts. It was more than time to begin using the special abilities being the Han ku pesak kaikak gave him. The danger was in the feeling of superiority that crept in. He was stronger. Faster. His brain could solve problems at a tremendous rate of speed. One had to temper gifts with the inevitable price one paid for them.

  His eyesight was especially keen. He took a long, slow look around, at the ground below him, to his right, his left, behind him and up ahead. His hearing was acute. He listened for any sound that might be out of place, a single note that might warn him of danger. His sense of smell was extremely sensitive, the combined wolf and Carpathian coming together to give him tremendous advantages if he just used them.

  There was something. The faintest of ripples washed over him, an uneasiness that set in and held on, yet he couldn't identify the threat.

  Fen. Reach out. There's something here. Something coming after us. Or we're heading toward it. Skyler feels it as well.

  He knew his brother would take him seriously. They had battled together on and off for centuries. As much as Fen liked to pull rank as a big brother, he respected Dimitri's abilities and would never ignore a warning.

  I feel it. But what? So subtle. What could be that subtle that none of us were aware of it? Fen asked.

  The answer was clear to Dimitri--to both of them. Sange rau. Whoever has orchestrated this war is using the Sange rau to assassinate those he wants out of his way.

  There were Bardolf and Abel. Fen named the two Sange rau they had defeated weeks earlier. The two had been sent to kill Mikhail Dubrinsky. How could he control a mixed blood, a vampire at that. He has to be pretty powerful to do something like that.

  If he was Carpathian before he was Sange rau and we warn the others, he would hear, Dimitri pointed out.

  Neither Fen nor Dimitri had ever exchanged blood with Zacarias or his brothers. They would have to use the common path--which would allow a Carpathian-born mixed blood to hear.

  Skyler, can Paul reach out to his uncles? If so, have him convey the news that we are being pursued by an assassin. We're certain the assassin is Sange rau.

  There was a brief silence, presumably while she conferred with Paul. He has exchanged blood with Nicolas.

  Tell them to keep moving as if nothing has changed, but one will have to take Zev from Fen. I'm going to start dropping back just a little at a time, giving the impression I'm hurt and the flight is beginning to tell on me, Dimitri said.

  You are hurt. Dimitri, you can't fight this monster, not in your condition, Skyler objected.

  He laughed softly in his mind, reaching for her to surround her with love. Csitri, I've got no intention of fighting him. I'll leave that to Fen. He needs to feel needed and I'd never take that away from him.

  For a moment he thought Skyler wouldn't catch on, but she did. He's listening, isn't he? You're provoking your brother again.

  Of course I am.

  Fen gave a little derisive snort. He just can't handle that I'm better in a fight.

  Says you. As I recall, the last time, it was me saving your sorry butt, Dimitri pointed out.

  You have to take this threat seriously, Skyler insisted, somewhere between laughter and exasperation.

  No worries, sivamet. We've got this, Dimitri said with confidence.

  He was confident. He'd survived the Lycans' worst torture and he had his lifemate. It didn't matter that his body was torn and exhausted, his mind was stronger than ever. His senses were rapidly developing.

  You and I both know, the Sange rau will be difficult to kill, Fen cautioned on their private path of communication. I know you're trying to keep Skyler from wo
rrying, but don't get overconfident.

  In all the centuries we've been traveling, different continents even, how many times have either of us ever run across the Sange rau? Dimitri asked his brother.

  I've seen four, counting Abel and Bardolf.

  I've only come across Abel and Bardolf, and they were specifically sent to kill Mikhail, Dimitri said, waiting to let the implication sink in.

  Dimitri knew the precise moment Paul conveyed the warning to Nicolas and Nicolas sent it to Zacarias. There was no change in them, but he felt the difference. He hoped their pursuer didn't as well. He faltered just a little, looked as if he tried to recover and slipped back, away from his protectors. Nicolas and Rafael in bird form flew past him, hesitated a moment and then continued on as if he'd told them to keep going.

  Fen got the meaning fast. Someone is creating them, using mixed blood to enhance them and using them as assassins. They aren't necessarily vampire.

  And they're probably newly made. Abel and Bardolf were most likely their most experienced and oldest. They would never send an amateur after the prince in our territory. Whoever is behind this is creating his own army of mixed bloods.

  Dimitri allowed the body of his bird to dip a little, seeking a lower altitude, his wings beating double the time the others did, but not actually getting anywhere. The wind shifted just a little, blowing into him, making him falter more. He tried to redouble his efforts--the others seemed to be moving away from him faster--but he was too worn-out.

  The large bird of prey--a bald eagle--seemed to come out of nowhere, dropping fast, talons extended, its beak a strange color. Dimitri shifted from an owl's body to that of the larger eagle, so fast it was impossible to detect the change until the other was nearly on top of him. Dimitri had just enough time to realize the talons and beak were silver weapons, designed to shred, stab and kill fast. He met the bird's talons with his own, locking them together so that they tumbled from the sky, end over end. Neither could shift, and the ground seemed to be rising fast to meet them.

  The assassin tore at Dimitri's body, stabbing repeatedly in the chest, seeking the heart. He never heard or saw the attack from behind, Fen streaking through the sky, going for the kill. The Sange rau didn't even feel the stake going through his body to penetrate his heart. When Fen removed the head and the bird landed dead on the ground, Dimitri called down the lightning to burn it.