Dark Song

Ambrus triumphantly reached for the sky, hands wide in an effort to snatch the lightning bolt from Ferro, but the sizzling, white-hot whip danced through the air, crackling ominously, heading with unerring accuracy right to that tiny object. Ferro dropped his hands to his sides and regarded the master vampire who shook his head in denial, unable to believe what he was seeing. The tip of the whip hit the heart, incinerating it, so that black, noxious smoke billowed up for a moment and then was cleaned in the bright hot burn of the electrical current. Ambrus stood swaying, head tilted toward the sky. He was still standing that exact way when the whip of lightning hit him and he turned to that same black ash, burning until there was nothing at all left behind.

Something heavy hit his body, nearly knocking Ferro down, and he reacted, spinning, catching at one of Ambrus’s servants as he tried to dive into the air to get away from Petru. Ferro blocked the snarling beast of a vampire from the air by throwing his body fully in front of him. The vampire immediately attacked, raking at him with claws and snapping viciously with teeth while hurling dozens of poisonous arrows behind him in an effort to keep Sandu from approaching from that direction.

Most of the lesser vampires were trying to follow Cornel and Dorin in their orders to retreat, taking to the air, but there were too many hunters pulling them out of the sky or tracking them on the ground. There was nowhere to hide. The few that had nearly made it into one of the clubs because a door had been opened had been immediately stopped by one of the hunters inside. The Carpathians had too many experienced warriors waiting for them, an impossibility to fight against. Retreat was the only reasonable solution, and when the vampires tried to flee, they were set upon immediately.

Ferro managed to slide out from under the raking claws as if giving the vampire a way out, and then as the creature redoubled his speed, it impaled itself right on Sandu’s outstretched fist.

* * *

“Traian and Josef killed Edward Varga,” Tariq reported. “Benedek disposed of Sedrick. Petru killed Addler, and Ferro destroyed Ambrus. Cornel and Dorin Malinov managed to slip away, but that doesn’t surprise me.” He looked around him at the Carpathian warriors with various wounds as they aided one another, giving blood and helping one another to heal. “While some of us are making certain there are no traces of the vampires at the clubs and the male psychics are either free of all influences or they met with very sad accidents, we are not yet finished. Ferro says Elisabeta can call Sergey back to her. If she can do this, we can destroy five of the seven master vampires and most of their army in one decisive blow this night. Sergey is very dangerous with the knowledge he carries in his head from his brothers and the high mage. Can Elisabeta really call him to her, Ferro?”

Ferro nodded his head decisively. “Yes, absolutely she can. He will be unable to resist answering her. He will come.” Gary was working on healing him. Three of the ancients had replenished his blood. All of them would need to be in their best shape of the night. Even better than they had been if they were going to win this next battle.

* * *

“Call to him, Elisabeta. Bring him to you. Sergey is unable to resist your call.” They stood together, Ferro and Elisabeta, at the very edge of the meadow. Before them was a long expanse of grass and flowers. The flowers looked asleep, petals closed, while the clouds moved across the sky overhead.

Her long lashes lifted, her dark eyes liquid with tears. She gave a small shake of her head, resisting his command for the first time. “You are injured, Ferro. He may not be the most intelligent of the Malinov brothers, but he makes up for it in both cunning and cruelty. He will smell your blood and crave it. That will spur him to greater heights of viciousness.”

“Call to him, minan piŋe sarnanak.” He was implacable.

“He has a sliver of all of his brothers in him. He has not one but two of Xavier, the high mage, within him. If you defeat him, the moment you extract his heart, all of those slivers will desert him and seek a host. They will scatter, tiny, very dangerous shadows impossible to track. They will find human hosts, possibly children. Each sliver is evil and will corrupt their host and lead them back to the nearest mage or vampire.”

The plea in her voice shook him. The liquid in her eyes spilled over and tears tracked down her face. Ferro wrapped his arm around her and pulled her beneath his shoulder.