Dark Peril (48 page)

Solange wiped the sweat from her face, her stomach lurching. She’d never seen anything like the chaotic bloodbath taking place. The undead devoured everything in sight, tearing at each other, snapping and biting like a wild pack of starved animals. She was used to the laws of the forest, but this was something altogether different. Sweat dripped into her eyes and she reached again to wipe it away. Her cat leapt just as the muffled sound of powerful wings from above registered. She rolled from the cradle of the tree, catching a liana and using her forward momentum to carry her to the next tree. She’d lost the rifle, but her crossbow and arrows were around her neck and she had a knife strapped to her thigh.

The harpy eagle screamed as it missed, the huge talons snatching empty air. Razor-sharp, the size of a grizzly bear’s claws, she would have been seriously injured had the large bird managed to sink those talons into her.

Solange, talk to me.

Dominic’s calmness steadied her. She fit an arrow into her crossbow and studied the night sky. The eagle was circling, preparing for another attack. Lightning forked the sky, allowing her to see the huge bird coming closer.

A little glitch. Your friend Akos sent the harpy eagle after me. He’s directing the attack. You might want to take him out for me so I don’t have to shoot this beautiful bird.

Do not take chances, Solange. Shoot it if you have to.

Solange timed the bird’s attack, allowing her cat to guide her reflexes. As the eagle approached, soaring low in the canopy, dropping rapidly, the heavy wingbeats were a warning in her head. She waited, counting silently to herself. She didn’t want to kill the magnificent creature, not when she knew a vampire was using it to attack her. Ordinarily the bird would never have done such a thing—unless she was too near a nest.

The talons nearly raked her face as she ducked back, but the bird had no way to turn, the branches too close and severely limiting the maneuverability of the eagle. The wings used powerful strokes to gain enough height to clear the branches and rise once more into the roiling sky. Heavy black clouds lit up around the edges with the sizzling lightning, revealing the eagle as it circled around toward her once more.

She tracked the bird with the crossbow, but something in her refused to kill it. There’d been too much killing today. She could still hear the screams, the terror, the sound of gunfire, and knew the remaining men were being slaughtered. All of those working at the laboratory had been fully aware that they were targeting women for kidnap, rape and death. She didn’t have to like the manner in which they were dying, but at least they had chosen their own path. The harpy eagle was being forced into unnatural behavior.

Dominic hissed at her.
I cannot find Akos. Kill the eagle and get to safety quickly. I will track him.

A warning. A command. Worry. Dominic thought the vampire was coming after her. She thought it more than likely the undead was using the opportunity to escape.

She braced herself to obey, watching as the eagle made its approach and then dropped fast out of the sky, talons extended for the grab. She timed the dodge a second time, realized those claws were larger than she had thought, and hurled herself out of the way. She flung her hand out, expecting to catch the liana she had marked for her safety rope, but she missed it, her palm scooping empty air.

There was no shifting in midair; all she could do was make herself as limp as possible and try to find soft vegetation. She landed hard, her air whooshing from her lungs, leaving her gasping for breath and unable to move. Stars exploded behind her eyelids. She lay in the thick vegetation, desperate to breathe, her body aching in a million places. Eyes closed, she let a small groan escape, considering just going to sleep right there. It seemed too much of an effort to get up.

Tell me you are alive and well, Solange,
Dominic demanded.
Akos is coming after you and I have to stop him.

Be my guest. I’ll just lie here and rest.

Dominic took to the air, following the faint blood scent Akos had left. The vampire was vicious, with a streak of cruelty he’d had since childhood. In shredding the humans he had gotten blood all over him. He hadn’t bothered to take the time to clean himself, probably reliving the experience and basking in the memory of the bloodbath. He enjoyed the suffering and terror of his victims, and the scent of their blood permeating his clothing would heighten the memory.

Dominic heard the eagle scream and abruptly changed direction. Akos was fleeing, calling the harpy to him as he streamed through the forest, winding his way in and out of the trees, unaware he was leaving droplets of blood behind. Dominic didn’t want to get too far from Solange, not with all the vampires in the area. At this point, they had fed well and would disperse rapidly, fearing Giles’s wrath. None but his lesser vampires would be aware that he’d been destroyed and they would leave immediately. Still . . .

He caught up with the mist a few minutes later. Droplets of blood scattered through the gray vapor trail identified the vampire instantly. Dominic used a rare Carpathian command. Vampires had been born Carpathian and therefore were still subject to the law of blood.

“
Veriak ot en Karpatiiak
—by the blood of the Prince,
muonìak te avoisz te—
I command you to reveal yourself.” His voice boomed through the forest, shaking the trees. The ground rolled beneath his feet, and above him lightning split the dark clouds.

Monkeys howled and rushed through the canopy, agitated. The harpy eagle screamed again, his flight stuttering in the sky before he recovered and settled into the branches of a tree, slowly folding his great expanse of wings. Rustling in the underbrush betrayed a multitude of wildlife. A snake lifted its head and lizards skittered across boughs and trunks.

The vapor wavered, grew substance until Akos, transparent, fighting the command, landed hard on the ground and staggered quickly to his feet. His clothes were drenched in fresh blood and his mouth, teeth and jaw were smeared. Blood spatter caught in his hair appeared as shiny black dots when a burst of lightning lit up the darkened forest. He grinned, showing his spiked teeth. “Dragonseeker. I should have known.”

Dominic circled to the right, keeping a wary eye on the sky. Akos would use the harpy eagle for distraction and he would try to end the battle fast. A vicious fighter, he only chose the battles he could win. His eyes had taken on a glowing red, but they were darting back and forth, as if Akos thought he could still escape.

“There is no escaping justice,” Dominic said quietly, watching the shifting eyes.

The gaze went up just for a split second and Dominic used his blurring speed, slamming into Akos as the harpy eagle dropped from the sky. His fist penetrated the chest wall as the talons reached for his eyes. He whirled them both around, the vampire shrieking, the black blood pouring over his fist and arm, burning through to the bone. The eagle’s claws wrapped around the back of Akos’s skull, ripping and tearing for a purchase.

Solange didn’t really dare rest, lying there unprotected, afraid the vampire would send the eagle after her. She cautiously opened her eyes to look up at the darkened canopy. Three pairs of cat’s eyes glowed back at her, staring with a predator’s intense focus. Her heart jumped in her chest and began to pound. Jaguar-men. They hadn’t gone far from the laboratory, had probably found a safe haven in the canopy and watched the bloody massacre. Her first instinct was to try to run, or to shift and run, but these were strong males, fast and ferocious, used to hunting. She didn’t have a chance so she stayed still, willing herself not to panic.

Dominic.
She kept her voice very calm.
How far away are you?

Tell me, beloved.

She savored the sound of his voice, so calm, so confident. Her heart settled. This time she wasn’t alone. These men would never take her alive. She had vowed that a long time ago. She knew Dominic would come for her. She just had to hold them here.

Brodrick and two of his soldiers. Give me an estimate. I can keep them distracted.
She felt the crossbow in her hand. She hadn’t dropped it. And she had the knife.

She felt his hesitation.
I must destroy Akos. Can you manage until I get there? Tell me the truth.

Her fingers tightened around the bow. She brought it up and fired. The arrow went straight and true, streaking through the sky, up through the leaves and branches to drive into one of those glowing cat’s eyes. On impact the arrow ignited, burning through the skull. She heard the thud as something heavy dropped from the branches. She rolled over and over toward the slope that would take her into some semblance of cover.

I’ve got this covered.

She got a mouthful of leaves and ants as she tumbled down the ravine and skidded through the mud to land in a small creek that was pouring into a larger stream. She hastily crawled into the cage of one of the larger trees on the embankment. It offered a little protection. They couldn’t come at her from behind, and she was armed and ready for them. It was only a matter of time before they figured out how to get her, but she just needed to buy time. They expected her to shift and run, but she wasn’t playing their game.

Akos is just ahead, I am circling around behind him.

His eagle may be with him now,
Solange warned. She could hear swearing. One of the two jaguar-men had shifted, probably to check on their companion. He was dead. There was no way he could have lived through that shot.
Pay attention to the sky.

As if answering her, lightning forked in a spectacular display, streaks stretching across the sky. The dark clouds went purple, laced with fire. She wiped the sweat from her face with her sleeve. A twig snapped and her entire body tensed.

“Clever girl.”

Her heart sank. She’d known all along it would be him. Brodrick. She clenched her teeth to keep them from chattering. The wind rose suddenly, completely unexpected, and unexplained, howling through the trees, carrying the voices of all the women this man had murdered, calling on her to bring them justice. The rain beat steadily, a mournful sound accompanying the moaning wind.

“Do you hear them?” she asked, her voice surprisingly steady. Keep him talking. Maybe, if she was lucky, he would get into her line of fire.

“Who?” Brodrick asked.

“The dead.” The howling rose to a fever pitch. “They’re calling you.” She kept her voice pitched low, hoping he would have to come a little closer to hear her. And where was the other one?

“You’re the one they’re calling,” he corrected with a growl. “Come out of there and throw your weapon away.”

“I may have your blood running in my veins, but I managed to get my mother’s intelligence. You want me, come and get me.”

She heard another twig snap off to her left. The other man was working his way around, trying to come in while she was distracted by Brodrick. She whispered to her cat, making certain she was alert.

“Solange, you have to know our race is dying out,” Brodrick said in a reasonable tone, as if they were old friends discussing a long familiar topic.

She could barely make him out, a good distance from her, pulling on a pair of jeans. She averted her eyes. He was smart enough to keep out of her line of fire, although . . . She wiggled, pushing with her feet until she had enough room to lie prone. She went to her belly inch by slow inch, using her cat’s freeze-frame ability so as not to alert him to a change of position.

The thick, twisted, finlike root coiled as it rose up to join the tangle of roots supporting the tree and forming her cage. She slowly slid her crossbow to the very edge, under the root. There were only a couple of inches of clearance, but enough for an arrow to shoot through. It was a tricky angle, and she couldn’t use one of the special vampire arrows, but the smaller, more traditional one would do.

“Of course I know, Brodrick. You did that and you did it with deliberate malice. You knew exactly what you were doing so spare me the ‘you need to save our species’ speech. Who is your friend? The one sneaking around louder than the cicadas? You’d think if he was supposed to be your guard, he’d learn how to be silent.” Sarcasm dripped.