“He’s the one they call the dark one. I’ve seen him, of course, but only once. Mikhail has voiced his fears for him often.”
Raven’s breath wheezed in and out, a harsh sound in the quiet of the cell. “He’s a great healer, Father.” She took another shuddering breath. “And he is loyal to Mikhail. Do you believe there is hope for their race?”
The priest made the sign of the cross on her forehead, on the insides of each of her wrists. “You are their hope, Raven. Don’t you know that?”
Mikhail touched her mind with his. He was closer, the bond between them powerful. He flooded her with love, enfolded her in strong, protective arms. Holdon, my love.His voice was a black-velvet seduction of tenderness in her mind.
Do not come to this evil place, Mikhail. Wait for Gregori,she pleaded.
I cannot, little one.
Lights flickered in the cell, on, off, back on again, as if a generator was being powered up. Raven’s hand found Father Hummer’s. “I tried to stop him, to warn him, but he will come.”
“Of course he will.” Edgar’s eyes were blinking in the sudden light. Father Hummer was worried about Raven. Her breath sounded strangled, labored.
The heavy door clanged and creaked as it swung open. James Slovensky peered at them. His eyes fastened on Raven’s face as if drawn irresistibly. Her blue eyes met his across the room. “What’s wrong with you?” he demanded.
A faint, taunting smile curved her soft mouth. “I’m dying. I think that’s plain enough even for you to see.” Her voice was low, a mere thread of sound, but so musical that it was impossible not to be entranced by it.
Slovensky advanced farther into the room. Raven could feel Mikhail in her, building his strength, his power, crouching, waiting to strike. She also felt a sudden uneasiness. Wait. The vampire comes.She dragged a shuddering breath into her laboring lungs, the sound loud and distressed in the room.
Slovensky was shoved carelessly across the room with one powerful swat from Andre’s hand. He stood framed in the doorway, flushed from a fresh kill. His eyes were flat and held a kind of contempt, a merciless promise of savagery. “Good morning, my dear. I am Andre, come to take you to your new home.”
He glided across the room, clearly enjoying his power over them all. As he approached her, his eyes darkened with rage. “You were told to feed on the priest.”
“You were told to go to hell.” She said it in her soft, musical voice, deliberately baiting him.
“You will learn it is better to obey me,” he snapped. Angry at her defiance, he caught the priest by the front of his shirt and hurled him against the stone wall. It was done coldly, callously, without thought of the consequences. “If you are not going to use him for food, we have no need of him, do we?” The vampire’s smile was wholly evil.
Father Hummer’s body had fallen to the floor heavily, his skull cracking audibly on impact. There was a gasping sound as his lungs fought for air, then a soft sigh as they gave up the fight.
Raven bit back a scream, struggled for air, her grief so overwhelming, that for a moment her mind couldn’t function. Mikhail, I’m sorry. I angered him. This is my fault.
She felt the warmth of his love surround her, the brush of his fingers so tender on her face. Never that, my love.She felt his sorrow mingle with hers. Raven lifted her blue-violet eyes to the face of the vampire. “Now, how do you expect to control me?”
The vampire bent down, his smile evil, his breath foul. “You will learn. Now you will feed.” He snapped his fingers, and Slovensky nearly tripped over his own feet to run out of the cell and return with a glass of dark, murky liquid. His hand trembled as he passed it to the vampire, careful to avoid the razor-sharp long nails. “For you, my dear; breakfast.” The vampire held the glass close enough for her to smell the contents. Fresh blood tainted with something else, some herb she didn’t recognize.
“Drugs, Andre? Isn’t that stooping a little low even for one such as you?” She had to fight every moment just to breathe, to keep from breaking down and sobbing out her grief for the priest. If only she hadn’t angered the vampire.
Andre’s face darkened when she uttered his name with such contempt, but he simply stared into her eyes, flooding her with compulsion, the need to obey him.
Loathing him as she did, fearful for Mikhail and grief-stricken over the priest and Jacques, Raven summoned every ounce of strength she possessed and fought a mental battle with him. Her head nearly exploded with pain and only when little beads of blood appeared on her forehead did he relent.
The vampire pushed down his fury at her rebellion. She was close to death and if she died all his scheming would be for nothing. “You will die if you do not feed. I know Mikhail knows this. Do you hear me, prince? She dies. Force her to accept what I offer.”
You must do this, little one.Mikhail’s voice was gently coaxing. Youwill be dead before I can reach you, and above all else, you must survive.
The blood is drugged.
Drugs do not effect Carpathians.
Raven sighed, looked once more at the vampire. “What else is in it?”
“Only herbs, my dear, herbs that will confuse you a bit, but will ensure that my friends have plenty of time to study Mikhail. They can keep him alive, a prisoner here. Is that not what you want? That he remain alive? The alternative is to kill him immediately.” He pushed the glass at her.
Her stomach knotted in rebellion. It would just be so much easier to close her eyes and stop struggling for every breath. She could barely stand the pain in her head. She was responsible for Jacques’s grave wound, for Father Hummer’s death. Worst of all, her beloved Mikhail was racing straight into the arms of the enemy because of her. If she just stopped...
No!Mikhail’s voice was sharp and imperious.
Do not!Gregori added his strength to Mikhail’s protest.
The vampire wrapped his hand around her throat in his fury that she might choose death and defeat him.
His touch made her skin crawl; her stomach roiled in protest. Suddenly the vampire screamed and leaped back away from her, his face contorted in fury and pain. Raven could see his charred and blackened palm, still smoking as he held it to his chest. Mikhail had sent his own warning and challenge.
“You think he will win,” the vampire snarled at her, “but he will not. Now drink!” His hands closed around her wrist, steadying her hand.
Raven’s mind splintered and screamed at the close proximity of such evil. The crumpled body of Edgar Hummer lay in plain sight, no more than a heap of refuse to the vampire. Touching Andre, she could read his mind easily. He was the most depraved being she had ever encountered.
The drug would confuse her enough that he could make her believe she belonged to him. Mikhail would be kept alive, living in pain and torment, too weak to attack his captors. Slovensky enjoyed inflicting pain. His brother was eager to dissect a vampire, experiment on one. The vampire was certain the Slovensky brothers would die at the hands of the avenging Carpathians. She read it all, the betrayal and the hideousness of the undead’s plans.
Mikhail! Do not come to this place!She resisted the compulsion to drink the tainted blood, struggling feebly in the vampire’s foul hold. I will not allow you to fall into their hands. I will choose death.
“Drink!” The vampire was becoming alarmed. Her heart was stuttering with effort. There was a smear of crimson across her forehead, indicating agony.