The vampire covered his ears, grunted oaths, swore vilely, yet his feet continued to drag through the dirt toward Desari. From behind Julian another crawled forward from the bushes. His eyes were red and glowing with hatred. He was staring at Desari, his jagged teeth snapping together, his hot, fetid breath heralding his arrival. He was more ancient, more skilled than the first one, evidently using the other vampire as his pawn to draw out the hunter. He was fighting Desari’s compulsion with every breath in his body.
But he was not the one.
Julian knew immediately that he was dangerous and cunning. There was a ruthless set to the ancient undead’s mouth and something alarming in the way his eyes never left Desari’s face.
Take care not to look at him,
Julian cautioned her, a rush of fear invading his calm confidence. He cursed the fact that she was there, that his senses were divided by such overwhelming emotion—terror for her.
Julian struck without preamble, moving with the speed he was so famous for among his kind. But the vampire was not there. He had somehow broken the spell Desari had woven and was on her before she could move. Julian whirled immediately and went for the second target, his fist slamming into the wall of the chest, driving through muscle, bone, and sinew until he reached the one thing that could destroy the lesser vampire. The corrupt, pulsating heart was in the palm of his hand when he withdrew it from the chest, stepping back quickly from the screaming undead.
The tainted blood spewed everywhere as the vampire insanely spun around in circles before falling to the ground, where he convulsed hideously. Julian was moving again, drawing energy from the lightning arcing from cloud to cloud overhead. The bolt hit the writhing body, incinerating it immediately. The flames then jumped to the heart where Julian had tossed it. In seconds the lesser vampire was nothing more than smoking ashes. And Julian simply vanished as if he had never been.
Desari’s breath slammed out of her lungs when the clawed fingers of the ancient vampire circled her neck. His touch was vile, making her skin crawl. The air around him was foul, and she didn’t want to breathe it. Julian had destroyed the other vampire so quickly she was barely aware he had done so before he dissolved, leaving no trace of himself anywhere. She was completely confident in him. She didn’t stop to think why, but she knew with a certainty beyond anything she had ever known that he had not deserted her.
“Why have you been stalking me, old one?” she inquired softly, using her voice as the weapon it was. The musical notes raked at the evil one.
The vampire flinched and hissed, his poisonous talons pinching her skin in warning. “You will not speak,” he ordered, spitting and growling as the words burst out of him.
“I am sorry,” she replied gently, her voice soft with innocence. She was determined to give Julian every advantage.
The vampire was turning her in every direction, using her slender body as his shield, all the while keeping a razor-sharp talon pressed over her jugular vein. The tip pierced her skin, sending a thin trail of blood trickling down her neck onto the white silk blouse she had donned on shifting. Her captor desperately scanned the forest around them. He could find no trace of Julian.
Above their heads, the owls began to shift their weight. Two of the mountain lions screamed, the human-sounding cries eerie. Other animals paced restlessly, outside the invisible circle Desari had created. Their eyes glowed fiercely as lightning continued to arc among the clouds.
“Your hero has deserted you,” the vampire taunted her, his hate-filled eyes searching the night endlessly.
“You believe that I need him to save me? I am an ancient. I can defend myself. Besides, you do not wish to slay me. You have not stalked me time after time simply to rid the world of my presence.” Her voice was like velvet, the notes musical. “You have challenged two of the most powerful ancients I know to get to me. You would do this and then slay me? I do not think so, old one.”
His fingers tightened around her throat with bruising force, threatening to cut off her air. She laughed softly, tauntingly. “You think to frighten me with your empty threats? Your stench is more likely than your fingers to take my breath from me.”
The undead hissed in her ear, spat curses and threats, but suddenly he screamed, dragging her backward and spinning wildly, attempting to escape the flames erupting all over his rotting clothing and flesh.
The vampire wrenched Desari’s hair cruelly in retaliation for Julian’s unexpected assault. But as he did so, the owls launched themselves from every direction, a hundred strong, talons extended, going directly for the vampire’s glowing eyes. The beating wings created a swirling frenzy of leaves and twigs and pine needles, obliterating sight. Desari ducked as the owls rushed at the vampire’s head. A huge owl, his feathers soaked in blood, materialized out of thin air, strong, curved talons outstretched. They bypassed the vampire’s eyes and went straight for its chest. Even as the talons bore into flesh, the other owls were raking and slashing at the vampire’s face, keeping him howling and off balance, unable to use his power and ancient skills.
Desari dropped to the ground and covered her head, but not one of the birds even scratched her. Julian had orchestrated the battle perfectly, giving the undead no time to harm her. She lay perfectly still, forgetting for the moment that she, too, could disappear. The sound of ripping flesh was terrible, the screams of the vampire unearthly. It wasn’t until his foot touched her that Desari remembered to dissolve into droplets of mist and streak quickly into the safety of the trees. Perched in the top of one tall tree, she turned around and reappeared, biting her lower lip nervously as she watched.
The scene was like something out of a horror film. Darius had always sheltered her from his hunts, as had Julian when he put her into a deep sleep. This was brutal and terrifying. The vampire’s stink of evil intensified; he was deliberately attempting to foul the air, making it impossible for beast or man to breathe. But as hard as the vampire tried, Julian countered every poisonous hiss, bringing forth a cooling wind of fresh air.
The undead was nearly blinded by the owls raking at his eyes. His chest cavity was cracked open and spewing a geyser of tainted blood that seemed to purposefully spray every creature in its path, burning like acid, even killing some of the birds. The animals were closing in tighter and tighter, a ring of restless, hungry beasts aroused to a fever pitch by the spectacle of violence and the smell of fresh blood.
Her gaze was drawn to the huge owl she knew to be Julian, her lifemate, terrible to see in his role as destroyer. Touching his mind tentatively, she discovered he had pushed out all thought of her, was as ruthless and merciless as the most efficient predator. He attacked from every angle, again and again, swift, deadly, wearing down the evil one with every razor-sharp slash, every deep laceration, always driving for the heart.
The vampire had no chance to dissolve and escape, but his claws and tainted blood were doing immeasurable damage. Even in the shape of the owl, Julian was still severely injured by the first vampire’s surprise blow. She could see the feathered creature protecting one side, its wing never spreading its complete span. Desari realized he would have escaped even that blow if his only thought had not been of her. He was incredibly fast, moving like lightning, striking and moving, striking and moving, giving the ancient undead little chance to gather his energy and wield his considerable evil power.
Its howling was terrible to hear. The ugliness of it hurt her ears. She wanted to close her eyes, not see the dead and dying birds, the spray of blood shining black in the moonlight, hissing and sizzling as if it were alive.