Dark Slayer

Ivory's throat was clogged with tears. She doubted she could say another word without bursting into sobs. She refused to look away from the vampire, not even for a moment, although it was much more difficult to think of him as an enemy when his form was so dear and familiar. She longed to fling herself into the comfort of his arms and rest her head against his shoulder, crying for her lost past.

She sought the path she might best use to warn the human. Take the boy and slip away. Get far from this place. I am not certain I can defeat this one in battle.

Sergey. He'd been a genius fighter. Few compared. Now he had centuries of battles with some of the best Carpathian hunters, not to mention the vampires that he'd defeated to add to his experience. She tried not to see the sly, cunning intelligence slipping into the depths of his eyes. She didn't want to believe her first vision of him. She had avoided her brothers once she'd confirmed the whispered rumors.

Gary caught Travis by his upper arm and began to slowly ease him back into the woods. The vampire's head turned slowly toward them, and for a moment that soft, dark color was ringed in red and glowed at them like a feral animal.

«Do not look at them, Sergey,» Ivory snapped. «Or should I call you han ku vie elidet-vampire, thief of life.»

His gaze flicked back to her and he looked sad. «You are my beloved sister . . .»

«Do not call me beloved when you betrayed me. You are in league with those who would have stolen my life.»

«They have been brought to justice.»

«Have they?» She stood, tall and straight, the moon gleaming off her blue-black hair. «You cannot lie to me, Sergey. Others perhaps might believe you, but I have hunted the vampire for many centuries now and I know the ones who took me to the meadow of our father and chopped my body into pieces and left them for the wolves. I know they live, so do not tell your pretty lies to me.»

«Did they really do that to her, Gary?» The boy sounded fearful with his loud whisper.

She caught a glimpse of the man holding the boy closer, trying to soothe him. Each time they moved, the ghoul stepped with them in a macabre dance of death. Every time the ghoul shifted, the wolves circled and darted toward him, teeth bared.

«Leave us, Sergey,» Ivory said, «and take your kuly with you.»

«What is kuly?» Travis asked.

She turned her head toward the boy, but she kept her gaze on the vampire. «It is a worm that lives in the intestines, a demon who possesses and devours souls. So really, that is what Sergey is, as he possesses that worm's soul.» With her chin she indicated the ghoul.

«I need a weapon,» Gary hissed at her.

Ivory sighed. What man would run into the forest chasing a ghoul who had taken a child without a weapon? At least neither was hysterical, and that was a plus when she needed every ounce of concentration she could have. In any case, there was no use whispering; any vampire, let alone a master vampire, had excellent hearing.

«You have forgotten your manners, Ivory,» Sergey reprimanded, looking more sorrowful than ever. He dragged the arrow from his body, watched it disintegrate in his palm and dropped the metal scraps in the snow. «Your arrow nearly pierced my heart.»

Ivory marked where the pieces fell. «If you still had a heart, those who desecrated my body would have been brought to justice. Instead, you torture a child with your pathetic puppet. Take your servant and go, Sergey. You do not want to fight me.»

He laughed, a soaring wicked sound that seemed to fill the skies around them. The trees shivered, shaking the snow from their branches so that ice crystals were flung into the air. The vampire lifted his head and coughed hard. As the icy flakes hardened and changed form, raining down, Ivory threw out her hand and the snow turned to vapor, a great gust of wind blowing it back into Sergey's face.

He coughed again and gagged, choking, holding one hand to his mouth. Behind his palm she could make out a small trickle of blood, then crimson drops stained the snow below him. He coughed and more blood spilled. Above his hand, his eyes glowed bright red and she heard the child give a strangled, frightened cry.

Keep his face against your chest, she ordered Gary. He put his parasites in the snow and they can be lethal. You cannot allow the boy to breathe them in.

Sergey spit into the snow, staining the pristine white powder with tiny wiggling wormlike creatures. «I am losing patience, Ivory. You must join with me now.»

She felt her body respond to the sweet compulsion in his voice. Her fingers closed tighter on the crossbow. «Do you believe I am still that young girl you last saw? I do not respond to compulsion.»