Carpathian 10 - Dark Symphony

head to see Celt racing toward them.
    The borzoi had sensed trouble and managed to nose open the hidden door. A silent hunter, the animal ran full out, his long legs covering ground like a well-oiled running machine. The eyes were fixed and focused on prey. It mattered little that it was human. Celt leapt over Byron and Antonietta, going straight for Paul, teeth slashing at the arm holding the gun. Paul screamed in pain and dropped the weapon.
    "Antonietta! I didn't know it was you!" Paul yelled, struggling to hold off the dog.
    Already his arms were a mass of cuts from the slashing teeth. "Call him off, call off the dog!"
    "Celt!" Antonietta used her most authoritative voice. She could see nothing. Byron's
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    Dark Symphony
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    motionless body covered hers, pinning her to the floor. Her back hurt as well as the front of her shoulder. "Stay, boy. Paul, if you make one move toward me or Byron, I'm letting him loose, and I won't call him off." She had no idea what had happened, but she smelled blood.
    Her sensitive fingertips found liquid, warm and sticky. Pools of it.
    "It was an accident. I didn't know it was you. The gun just went off by itself. You startled me." Paul realized he was babbling and started toward his cousin.
    The borzoi stood between them, head down, eyes alert, still in hunting mode. Paul stopped at once. "He won't let me get to you, and Byron's bleeding all over the floor. Dio, Antonietta, I think I've killed him."
    "You shot him?" Antonietta fought down hysteria and panic. "Get over here and move him off of me. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and help me save him."
    "The dog—"
    "Is going to tear you apart if you don't do exactly what I say! Now come here and move him. Be very careful, Paul. If he dies, you're going to spend the rest of your life in prison. I won't even help with your defense!"
    "I'm telling you, Antonietta…" Paul carefully skirted around the dog. "I didn't shoot anyone on purpose. I didn't know what was down here, so I brought protection with me. I never even came in the tunnels when I was a child."
    Antonietta felt Byron's body shift, move off of her, allowing her to crawl out from beneath him. "You were an idiot to bring a gun with you. Where in the world did you get a gun, anyway? Why would you even have one?" She was frantically trying to find the wound, searching for a pulse.
    Paul moaned loudly. "He's dead, Antonietta, there's no pulse."
    She shoved her cousin hard. "Get away from him! He's not dead. I won't let him be dead.
    Byron! Don't you dare leave me alone. Come back! Damn you, Paul, how could you do this?"
    She couldn't find a pulse either, and for a moment her world stopped. There was no air to breathe. Her vocal cords wouldn't work. There was nothing. Emptiness. A black void where there had been life and laughter and her music. She had nothing.
    The struggle started in her mind. A voice whispering to her from far away. Soothing her.
    Telling her it wasn't so. I must see him. The words were the first she understood. Look at him.
    I must see him. She had never heard the voice, but it was low and compelling and insistent on obedience. He spoke in her language but with a definite accent, so velvet soft he seemed to purr.
    Antonietta took a breath, let it out slowly, her hands gripping Byron as if she could hold him to her. She forced herself to follow the path of that faraway voice. She wouldn't waste time on fearing it. She feared that the meaning of her entire life was spilling blood on the tiles there in passageway. Nothing mattered to her but to save Byron. I am blind. I cannot show you what I see. The borzoi pushed his nose against her face as if to remind her he was there.
    A dog is with you? This dog was Byron's dog? I have it now. Yes, the wound is bad. He is not dead but has shut down his system to conserve blood. He will need special care. Do you have help?
    My cousin. Paul is the one who shot Byron.
    There was a moment of silence and Celt shifted his body, his dark eyes focusing on Paul.
    "I don't like the way that dog keeps looking at me," her cousin said, "I think it wants to tear my throat out."
    "I should let him," Antonietta snapped, furious that Paul would want sympathy.
    Are you near soil of any kind? Rich soil? You will need to pack the