Enoch and Kendalf exchanged a quick, knowing look. "Of course, you have to be right, Zendedari," Enoch agreed for both of the ancients. "A vampire would avoid us, not try to draw us to him. So whom did you anger enough to warrant this much hatred?"Zendedari shrugged calmly. His own hatred was deep and smoldering, a rage so ingrained that he knew the demon would rise within him the moment he encountered any of those involved in his torture and imprisonment. Whoever hated him so much had created a like feeling within him, hatred that not only matched but surpassed anything the vampire might feel. "You know more of my past than I do, but it really does not matter, as long as he believes I wronged him," Zendedari said. "It is here. The door is here.""The human is dozing." Enoch probed the mind of the unseen man carefully. "He is supremely confident that he will be undisturbed."Kendalf , too, was probing the human. "I like none of this, Enoch. It seems too easy. The vampire knows we ca
Zendedari bent low, caught the bloodstained shirt, and dragged the human closer, his need for death erupting. The call was wild and strong. Every word Caitlin had spoken concerning this man and his partner and what they had promised to do to her echoed in his mind. The need of the male to protect his mate and the hunger for retribution urged him to feel every moment of the taking of life.Enoch could see the war raging in Zendedari. It would be a difficult thing for him to live with, the taking of blood during a kill. Kendalf and he had both done it, but the rush was addicting and dangerous. In Zendedari’s state, it could be forever damaging. He approached cautiously. "Zendedari, do not do this thing. You have too much to lose."Zendedari whirled on him, baring teeth, a warning rumble bringing Kendalf to once again insert his body between them. "Leave him,Enoch . If he makes the kill and consumes the rest of the idiot’s blood, it is only what they owe him. He is no longer a child yo
Zendedari bent low, caught the bloodstained shirt, and dragged the human closer, his need for death erupting. The call was wild and strong. Every word Caitlin had spoken concerning this man and his partner and what they had promised to do to her echoed in his mind. The need of the male to protect his mate and the hunger for retribution urged him to feel every moment of the taking of life.Enoch could see the war raging in Zendedari. It would be a difficult thing for him to live with, the taking of blood during a kill. Kendalf and he had both done it, but the rush was addicting and dangerous. In Zendedari’s state, it could be forever damaging. He approached cautiously. "Zendedari, do not do this thing. You have too much to lose."Zendedari whirled on him, baring teeth, a warning rumble bringing Kendalf to once again insert his body between them. "Leave him,Enoch . If he makes the kill and consumes the rest of the idiot’s blood, it is only what they owe him. He is no longer a child yo
Caitlin stared out the window of the cabin into the driving rain. The droplets looked like tiny silver threads streaming from the gray sky. She shivered for no reason and crossed her arms protectively across her breasts."What’s wrong, Caitlin?" Raven asked softly, not wanting to intrude."Zendedari just cut himself off completely from me." Caitlin swallowed hard. All this time she had been so certain she needed her freedom from the continuous bond between them, but now that He had withdrawn, she felt almost as if she couldn’t breathe. "I can’t reach him. He won’t let me."Raven sat up straighter, her face going very still.Enoch ? Leave me for now,Enoch ordered. Raven caught the impression of fear for Zendedari’s sanity, the swirling, violent rage that had welled up in the males just before Enoch broke the mind contact with her. She cleared her throat cautiously. "Sometimes they try to protect us from the harsher aspects of their lives."Caitlin whirled around to face her, eyebrow
Reluctantly, Caitlin began to gather up reams of paper and carry them to the fireplace. Her notebooks she hesitated over. She had collected a tremendous amount of folklore, beautiful stories really, along with scientific data. She hated to lose them. Taking a huge breath, she tossed them into the hearth as well and threw a match in after them.She had to fight back tears. They seemed to burn her eyes and clog her throat until it was nearly impossible to breathe. And she knew it wasn’t just losing the papers; it was Zendedari’s absence from her mind. She felt utterly alone, desolate. She found it harder and harder to concentrate without his presence.When had she become so needy?She hated the feeling of emptiness, barrenness. Where was he? Maybe something had happened to him. Maybe he was dead and had left her completely alone."Caitlin!" Raven said sharply. "Snap out of it. You aren’t alone. Nothing is wrong with Zendedari. It’s amazing his silence is affecting you so severely when y
Raven glanced up, startled. A soft smile curved her mouth. "You can’t leave your lifemate. One, he knows what you’re thinking, and two, he can find you wherever you are. Besides, you can’t be away from him for very long - it’s too uncomfortable, both physically and mentally. If you left Zen, what you’re feeling right now would not stop, it would only get worse. You can’t leave him,Caitlin. You have to learn how to live with him.""I know. I don’t really want to leave," Caitlin admitted. She was close to tears. The feeling of dark malevolence was becoming stronger, yet she still couldn’t explain it. She felt very mixed up. She wanted Zen close to her, but this world was so frightening and bizarre. She was completely out of her element.Raven immediately jumped to her feet and put an arm around Caitlin, misunderstanding her distress. "He doesn’t hurt you, does he?" She was examining the faded bruises and wounds on Caitlin’s neck. "He did this, didn’t he?"Self-consciously, Caitlin put a
Caitlin opened her eyes and looked first at Raven’s broken body. The blood lay like a thick red pool around her. Her blue-black hair lay across one cheek like a shawl. She made herself move on. Her gaze swept the room, settled on Ray. He was kneeling beside Raven, examining her to assure himself she was dead. He stood up, backed away two feet, cleared his throat, and spat at the body. He reached behind him for a canvas bag and yanked it open. Gleefully he seized a thick, pointed stake and held it out for her to see."Spawn of the devil," he whispered insanely. "Bride to the one who killed my brother. You die this day while he sleeps unaware. I am fortunate that the Vulture hates you and the one that created you as much as I hate you both. I don’t know why he wants the other female alive, but again, our wishes coincide.""Not quite, Uncle Ray. We keep this one for ourselves. You promised we would kill the Vulture like the others this time," Walter protested.Ray lifted the stake highe
Walter felt a sudden burning sensation, glanced down, and saw his arm smoking. It burst into flames, red and orange. The smoke whirled up, shaping itself into a malicious, laughing face. He knew that face, had created every tormented line in that face. He screamed and shoved Caitlin away from him, slapping at his arm with his other hand to try to stop the fire racing up his flesh. He could smell himself charring like so many of the victims he had enjoyed torturing.Caitlin fell heavily, clutched at her arm, wanted to remain lying on the ground with her eyes closed tightly. The compulsion to turn and face Walter was too strong. She sat and stared at him helplessly.Walter found himself floating in the air, his scattergun on the ground below. The flames died as suddenly as they had begun, but his arm was a mass of charred flesh. Still screaming, he struggled with his one good hand to pull his revolver out of his shoulder holster. He was horrified when it seemed to take on a life of its
When they clambered to the surface of the ground, away from the lab, the girls breathed in relief, freed from the nightmares they had been subjected to for years. It was then that Olivera took a blood bag from the polythene in her arms, feeling better in the night hair, and took a sip, wary of how the blood would taste. She had heard Jacob talking about the heady feeling, worse if it came from an ancient. But it still hadn’t prepared her for the kick of pleasure. She found herself moaning as she greedily drank the blood, until she drained the bag. When she was done, she looked at the others. They were staring at her with unexplainable emotions on their faces. At least it wasn’t disgust. Olivera thought with a shrug, before handing the bag over to Miriam. When her friend hesitated in collecting it, she piqued an eyebrow. “You want to do the dismantling of the structure, without alerting the soldiers?” Miriam huffed, and took the bag. As much as she had great magic, she didn’t want
The first thing Olivera saw when she stepped into the hole where the passageway stopped was the largeness of the space, which could contain more than five thousand people. Then she saw the tubes, the boiling liquids and the lab rats. A modern lab.‘Where are you?’ She asked the girl, needing to get out of here; it was making her nauseous. Ten more minutes here, and she might be vomiting all over the place. And there was the fact that she didn’t know when the soldiers would be waking up. ‘At the far end of the cave…’Olivera nodded as if the girl was speaking to her physically. And gesturing with her head, for Miriam to follow her, she sauntered toward the end of the hall, making sure not to look at the tubes housing different organs and parts of an organism. What the hell! She screamed mentally when she saw a full brain at a table which looked like a butchering table. “Oh, my god…what are they doing here?” She heard Miriam ask beside her and sighed. Whose brain was that? A human
Miriam’s heart pounded erratically as she followed Olivera, who seemed very confident on what she was doing, and on where she was going. Three times she thought of grabbing Olivera and walking away from the region, but she also knew it would have been a futile attempt. Her friend’s mind was already made up. She watched as the latter walked past the last barrack, and stopped by a pole, the only pole in the backyard. Behind it were the gates towering them. They have come to a dead end. “Olivera, there is nothing here? Are you sure this girl is real?” Olivera gave Miriam no answer, instead she concentrated on looking around her, waiting for the signal. When she got nothing, she traced the vibration residue, touching the girl’s mind. A jerk in her mind path told her that the girl was surprised she had breached her mind guards. But should she be surprised? Or was something else at play here? ‘Where next should I go?’ She continued, because she knew she was at the right place, that t
“How are we getting past that?” Olivera asked Miriam as they came to stand before a huge gate that towered many feet over them. She could now see why Miriam had wanted the journey to be done in the privacy of the night. As much as she could see—as they had zapped to this point—this area wasn’t open to the city dwellers, only to the special few. She looked around her again. Barracks with soldiers sleeping within. None was even standing guard at the gates. She didn’t believe such a thing would exist at this time. City gates. Where did it lead? She piqued an eyebrow when Miriam smirked. What was the latter thinking? “As if you don’t already know…which other way, if not by mist…there is no way I am climbing that. I don’t think I am ready to fly with you above it…” Miriam spoke, covering the distance between them, and wrapping her arms around Olivera, her mouth fixed in a pout. Olivera shook her head, yet unable to stop the smile that cascaded her lips. It seemed that her friend was g
A knock woke Olivera up from her deep slumber. After bathing and eating off the snacks she had bought earlier in the day, from the shops in the new city, she had fallen like a log of wood to the bed, and hadn’t even stirred after that. Still groggy from the smooth sleep, she let her hand search for her phone which was the only thing that had gone to bed with her, should Miriam call for her. She peered at the screen. It was one in the morning. It was time then. She yawned like a hyena, causing Miriam to chuckle from behind the door. The chuckle dissipated the remaining fog fostering around her head. Taking a deep breath in, she stood up from the bed, flung a sheet around her naked body, and walked to the door. When she opened it, she saw that Miriam was alone, and carrying a tray of steaming food. “You are a lifesaver.” She muttered, opening the door wider for her friend to come in; the rumbling sounds that emitted from her stomach in agreement with her. Miriam chuckled again, an
“Where are we heading next?” Olivera asked Miriam immediately they stepped out of the borders of the town, into a city sprawling with people. After they had left the males who had tried to detain them because of her eating habits, they had walked to the largest building in the town, because if Clooney was a big name, it was probably because the man was rich. They hadn’t been right in their deduction, but they had at least gotten away from the unsettling males. Olivera had taken her friend behind the building, and had quickly switched to her mist form, turning Miriam into the same, and together they had zapped the remainder of the city without stopping, till they were out of it, till they were in a new one which looked more modernized than the previous. She looked at Miriam, who was staring at the city with artificial skylights, and wondered if her friend had ever been here before. “I never get over the culture shock, you know, seeing the drabness of the town we just left. The cont
What now? Olivera thought, looking at the six males that couldn’t be a year older than twenty five years old. What were they doing in front of her? “State your names, and what you are doing in this town…” The male, slightly in front of the others, spoke with a steel voice, causing Olivera and Miriam to exchange furtive glances. What was going on?There was a minute hesitation before Olivera spoke. “I am Darcy. My friend is Lilian. Who are you?” She patted herself mentally for names well cooked and delivered. Darcy and Lilian? How had she come up with those seemingly true names? She watched the male that had just spoken, looked to his comrades behind him, and judged that he was the leader of this small group. Were they the police? She looked at them again. They didn’t look like the police. Vigilantes? Maybe. But why were there vigilantes in the town? She kept a seal on her thoughts when the male returned her attention to her. “My name is Luke, and these are my associates. Our job is
“We will kill him right?” Miriam asked, as they stepped out of the camp, and turned around to look at it again, reliving what they had seen in there. “We need to. He is evil. Why will a sane man work with a vampire? Is he crazy?” Olivera just couldn’t understand the foolishness, no matter how much she tried. Why would one make a deal with an almost eternal wickedness? Had he no fear for his life, for his family? “I think he is crazy. Evil-y crazy. But that’s by the way. What are we going to do now?” Olivera looked around the camp, and spat in disgust. “We will burn it down. We will burn it until it’s nothing but dust. We will eradicate this curse from the face of the earth.” Miriam couldn’t agree less, but then she remembered that the ancients might have use for the materials in there. Olivera, having sensed the latter’s thoughts, shook her head. “They won’t be needing it. I’ve already transferred the necessary details to Raul, and Jacob. They can take it up from there. The mater
“Do you think anyone is in there?” Olivera asked Miriam, immediately she shifted to human self. Miriam looked at her clothed self and smiled. “Seems you have gotten the best hang of shifting, and still keeping your clothes on.” Olivera shrugged her shoulders. “There was no other choice. I can’t keep going up and down with my clothes in my hands or mouth. Since I’m part ancient, I have to improvise.” She took in a deep breath, inhaling the air tainted with magic and something else. “This place is tainted with magic. You smell it?” She shook off the imaginary dirt on her clothes, just in case, whilst waiting for Miriam’s reply. When she looked up, her friend was smiling. “What’s tickling your fancy? I don’t think my question has that much prowess…” Miriam cackled. “I never thought riding on a wolf would be so exhilarating. If I had known, I would have befriended a werewolf, and snagged rides every week at least. It’s quite freeing and therapeutic.” Olivera nodded. It was just as