Blood Sin (33 page)

When he reached the main road, he slowed to a walk, grinning to himself because he’d outsmarted everyone and gotten his sword back. Now he’d head back to the airport, get the first flight home to the States, and put the sword in a safe-deposit box. He wouldn’t get to look at it much, but hey, he’d never done much of that anyway. At least it would still be his and he wouldn’t have that nagging feeling of having let his father down.

His father, who’d believed in all of those things Josh had denied until this week. Dad had been right all along, and Josh entirely wrong to doubt him. He supposed, as he began striding along the road and scanning for taxis, that he should feel guilty, even ashamed of his determined skepticism, but in fact, what he chiefly felt was a pleased pride in his dad that made him grin.

He was still grinning when the car skidded to a halt with a screech of brakes just after passing him. An instant later it reversed at speed, narrowly avoiding the horn-blaring truck forced to swerve into the next lane. Josh didn’t even feel the lurch of panic until Travis jumped out of the car and grabbed him.

Instinctively, Josh tried to shove him off, but the travel bag was wrenched out of his hands and flung inside the car. Josh yelled in fury, but a second later, he was flung after it, just as if he weighed no more than a tennis ball.

Dmitriu swore long and fluently in an impressive mixture of languages, finishing in English with, “Stupid little shit. I didn’t even hear him leave. And now I have to go and find him before Saloman notices his bloody sword is missing again. Wait here.”

“I’m coming with you,” Elizabeth said grimly, grabbing up her jacket.

“You can’t,” he said irritably, already leaping down the stairwell in one jump. His voice floated back up to her as she ran down the steps. “I need to move too fast. Wait there.”

Elizabeth forced herself to be sensible. Dmitriu was right. He could move faster without her; he certainly didn’t need her to track Josh. So as the door banged shut behind him, she sat down on the dirty, broken steps and tried to think. Dmitriu wouldn’t hurt Josh; Saloman had told him not to. There was no need to call in Saloman’s protection now. In fact, Saloman might well be so pissed off at Josh’s stealing the sword so soon after his getting it back that he could hurt Josh himself.

Maybe it would be better if Josh did escape with the sword; only, that left him alone and unprotected and the sword open to any evil being fast enough to grab it first. Elizabeth rested her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands, rubbing hard as if to restore her own powers of thought.

The trouble was, her heart wanted Saloman to have his cousin’s sword. It was her head that knew he couldn’t be allowed its power to add to his own. Could the hunters get to Josh before Dmitriu did? She doubted it, and yet now it seemed abundantly clear that the only safe place for either Josh or the sword was with the hunters.

She ran back upstairs for her phone, and got as far as scrolling down to Mihaela’s number before she hurled it onto Dmitriu’s leather sofa. “Oh, bloody,
bloody
hell! I can’t have them running up against Saloman and Dmitriu and fighting over Josh like dogs with some particularly juicy bone!
I
need to find Josh.”

Unlikely that she’d get to him before anyone else, but she certainly wouldn’t if she just sat here and waited. Picking up the phone, she dialed Josh’s number instead. Getting no answer, she stuffed it in her bag and ran back downstairs.

Elizabeth felt slightly numb as she left Budapest airport for the second time in twelve hours. She had been so sure Josh would either be there already or arrive soon after her. But she’d been here for nearly three hours, pacing the entrance hall, haunting the cafés and the American airline desks, and still there was no sign of him.

Outside, it was daylight. The sky was bright blue, building up for a fine summer day. Dmitriu would be back in his “penthouse,” hopefully with Josh. She hoped without reservation now that Dmitriu had found him, because the alternative was unthinkable.

Walking toward the airport taxis, she wondered if she could actually direct the driver to where she wanted to go. She’d gotten here from the warehouse by a mixture of running and taxi, but Dmitriu’s new home was not in a part of the city that she was very familiar with. She had no idea of districts or street names.

Elizabeth.

The voice in her head was electrifying. From a slightly numb dejection, she suddenly seemed to feel everything at once—the seductive effect of his voice, the joy of his presence that was pointless to deny, the wonder of Dmitriu’s words to her last night. And hard on the heels of that, the knowledge that somehow she and Dmitriu had lost his sword, and that there were worse people than Saloman who could have it by now.

She halted, leaning one elbow against a railing.
Saloman. Where are you?

I’m at Dmitriu’s. Alone.

Oh, shite.
She dragged her hand through her hair.
Josh ran off with the sword. Dmitriu and I went looking for him—he shouldn’t have been able to get far in the time he had, but he’s not at the airport, and if Dmitriu isn’t back . . .

Her hand fell back to her side.
Why isn’t Dmitriu back? The sun is well up.

Saloman was silent for so long that Elizabeth wondered if he’d actually broken the connection. There had been no trace of anger, or indeed of any expression at all in his brief greeting, but he could hardly have been pleased. Even Ancients must be subject to the odd temper tantrum.

Only, Saloman’s tantrums killed people. Like his cousin.

Return to Dmitriu’s
, he said curtly.
Wait for me there.

Elizabeth bristled at his tone of command. Did he imagine she was one of his minions?
Why, where are you going?
she demanded.

I have a takeover to finalize and some people to organize. In fact, I’m late.

Elizabeth turned away from a woman with a luggage trolley who was staring at her, presumably because of the appalled expression on her face.
You’re going to a fucking business meeting? Saloman, Josh could be anywhere! Dante and probably Travis are here, to say nothing of the homegrown vampires who would love to drink his blood!

My plans don’t halt because you’ve mislaid your cousin.

I mislaid the sword too
, she snapped.
Don’t you even want that back?

Oh, I’ll get it back. Again. I’ll even get your wretched Josh back. Later.

Saloman, couldn’t you even—
She broke off the thought, feeling it bounce back on her as if from a brick wall.
Saloman?

He’d gone. In frustration, she kicked the bottom bar of the railing and called to him. There was nothing. He was blocking her. While continuing to take over the world.

“Elizabeth!” Mihaela threw her arms around her in such enthusiastic welcome that the café table shifted in noisy protest. Laughing, Elizabeth hugged her back and grinned over her shoulder at Konrad and István, who waited their turn to embrace her.

It almost felt like a homecoming, meeting at this street café where they’d drunk coffee together last year. The hunters’ unabashed pleasure in seeing her again warmed her heart.

“So how come you’re available at this time of the afternoon?” she asked as they sat down with their freshly ordered coffee. “Are you playing hooky?”

“We’re just back from the mountains,” Konrad said, wrinkling his nose. “Emergency clear-out of a troublesome fledgling commune. Messy business, but we have the rest of the day.” Konrad winked. “Thanks for Severin. We owe you.”

Mihaela nudged her. “Bloody well-done, Elizabeth. How did you manage it all by yourself?”

“Luck, largely,” Elizabeth said deprecatingly. “That and the fact that I seem to be turning into a bit of a vampire magnet.”

“You are an Awakener,” István said seriously. “And stronger than any on record. Because Saloman hasn’t killed you. Most Awakeners were killed very soon after the event.”

Elizabeth closed her mouth. “I never thought of it quite like that before.” Was this the potential Saloman had talked about? Her strength?

“Whatever, Konrad’s right,” Mihaela said. “We owe you for Severin.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, I was hoping you could help me find Josh. He followed me here and now I’ve lost him. He’s got the sword.”

Mihaela frowned. “Josh has the sword again? I thought you said Dante had it?”

Elizabeth took a mouthful of the excellent coffee to bolster her courage and set down her cup. “There have been a couple of developments since then. Dmitriu—your old mate Dmitriu—took the sword from Dante. Josh nicked it when his—and my—back was turned and made off into the night. Neither Dmitriu nor I could find him, and now I don’t even know where Dmitriu is.” She looked around at their stunned faces and gave a faint, sardonic smile. “In a nutshell,” she finished.

Konrad let out a sigh that was half whistle as he sat back in his chair. “Okay . . . I think you’ve been misled. Dmitriu was never our ally, merely an erratic informant. I think he fed us tidbits of information from time to time to keep us off his back, but his loyalty, as I think was clear from his stance in St. Andrews last year, is still to Saloman.”

“I know that,” Elizabeth murmured.

“The likeliest scenario,” István said heavily, “is that Dmitriu caught up with Josh and either killed him or took him back for Saloman to kill. In which case, Saloman has the sword too.”

“No.” Elizabeth glanced around the three surprised faces across the table. “I happen to know Saloman’s still looking for it.”

“How do you know this?” Mihaela demanded, leaning forward. “Elizabeth, what’s going on here? If you’re working with Dmitriu, you might as well be working with Saloman. If anything, Dmitriu used you, got what he wanted, and has now disappeared off your radar.”

Elizabeth held up both hands in a gesture of acceptance before closing both of them around her coffee cup, despite the warmth of the afternoon. “I’ve made mistakes. We all know I’m not a real hunter. But the main thing is to find Josh. I’ve been thinking and I’m sure he’s not dead.”

“Why?” István asked.

Elizabeth shrugged a little uncomfortably. “It’s an empathy thing. Maybe I’m kidding myself, but I sort of understand Josh, know what he’s thinking when I’m with him, and I’m pretty sure I’d know if he were dead. I can still . . . feel him.”

Mihaela and István exchanged hasty glances, but Konrad kept his gaze on Elizabeth. “You’ve discovered some kind of telepathy?”

“It’s been growing,” she said with odd reluctance. “Since last year.”

Konrad nodded. “As you’re getting stronger. I have it a little, though only with kills so far.”

“The vampires you kill speak to you?”

Konrad’s lips twisted. “Not for long. But occasionally I’ve heard them, yes. Is that what you hear?”

“No, but . . .” She hesitated, then took a deep breath. “I hear Saloman. When he chooses.”

“Fuck,” said Konrad with awe.

István pursed his lips in a soundless whistle.

“Does he choose often?” Mihaela asked, and some inflection of her voice made Elizabeth glance at her more warily. Her friend’s dark, perceptive eyes gazed back at her with more concern than suspicion, and she had to fight the sudden urge to lay everything at Mihaela’s feet.

But sharing the pain was a luxury she couldn’t afford. It would distract from the main issue, which was to find Josh and stop Dante from using the sword to become undead.

“No, not often,” she said steadily.
Not often enough.

“Do you think he can read what’s in your head?” István asked anxiously.

It was a good question and one she still wasn’t quite sure of the answer to. “I don’t
think
so,” she said cautiously. “I think I have to . . . project? . . . for him to receive. It’s a bit like a radio conversation.” She glanced around them all. “Don’t look at me like that. He doesn’t ask me about you or tell me anything about what he’s doing. He just does it to entertain himself, to keep me on edge. . . .”
To keep me in thrall.

“When was the last time he contacted you this way?” Konrad asked.

“This morning,” Elizabeth said steadily. “That’s how I know he doesn’t have the sword or Josh or even Dmitriu.”

“He’s as concerned as we are?” Konrad gave a short laugh. “Well, well, maybe we’ll get the upper hand this time after all. So what’s your theory, Elizabeth? Where are Josh and the sword?”

Elizabeth picked up her cup. “I think they’re with Dante.”

Konrad cast a quick glance around the nearby tables, which were filling up as the afternoon wore on. “Come on,” he muttered. “Let’s go somewhere more private.”

As they drove across the city to Mihaela’s bright, almost impersonal flat, Elizabeth explained her fear that Dante sought not just immortality, but instant power in the vampire world.

“Is that possible?” Mihaela said doubtfully, taking her eyes from the road to glance at Konrad in the passenger seat beside her. “Could he really become as powerful as Saloman just like that?”

“I don’t know,” Konrad admitted. “It depends what power this sword actually has. No one reliable has ever studied it; it’s been effectively hidden since the eighteenth century, so we’ve no way of knowing how much of the legend is true. However, the fact that Saloman himself is looking for it probably tells us enough.”

“You’ve seen it, Elizabeth,” István said. “Did you feel or witness any special power?”

“It burned me when I touched it, threw up a vision of Saloman demanding its return. It did the same to Josh, but only after Saloman was awakened. I think it recognizes us as descendants. Which is worth your remembering, Konrad, if and when we find it. Don’t touch it.”

Konrad peered back between the front seats and nodded.

They drove the rest of the way in thoughtful silence, and István insisted on carrying her slightly battered traveling bag up to Mihaela’s flat.

“Sometime,” said Mihaela, opening the fridge door to find milk for her coffee, “we must meet without a crisis.” She flicked her hand at the wine bottle, but only on her way to the milk. “I got a nice bottle of wine in, but I think we’d better leave it until this is dealt with.”