Carpathian 11 - Dark Descent

meal if you don't move it," she cautioned.
    "It might be my last meal anyway," he groused. But he was on his feet and rushing after Gary and Gabriele.
    "Cal him back, Joie," Gary ordered over his shoulder. "Cal Traian and get him back here. We don't have much time."
    Joie didn't hesitate. There was too much urgency in Gary's voice. Traian. They are here. The undead are here at the inn. Garysays it's urgent that you return as quickly as possible.
    Do as Garysays. He will know what to do until I am able to return. They cannot get their hands on any of you. Go for the heart if you have to defend yourself.
    They often inject poison into the bloodstream, and they are great deceivers and shape-shifters.
    But ego is their weakness.
    One of their few weaknesses.
    Gary shoved open the door to his room. "Quick, get inside and stuff everything you can find in the cracks around the doors and windows." He tossed Gabriele shirts as he hurried to the door leading to the verandah. "We'l have to hole up in here. They'l try to cal us out, using compulsion. Jubal, there's a smal CD player on the desk. Pick some obnoxious music from the colection and turn it up loud. Very loud."
    Joie locked the doors behind her and shoved the dresser against it. "The keyhole, Gabriele—stuff something in that as wel." If vampires could do what she had seen Traian do, stream through tiny spaces as vapor, she didn't see how they were going to keep them out. "So why are they here?"
    "Most likely because you are," Gary answered. "The surest way to bring a Carpathian male out into the open is to go after his lifemate. They'l want one of you to invite them in. If you hear a voice talking sweetly, it is a deceiver. Put cotton in your ears, put your hands over your ears. Do anything to keep from listening. If one of you observes another going to the door or even talking, inviting someone into the room, stop him, even if it means knocking him out."
    Shadows passed across the window, moving back and forth as if searching for something. The wind picked up so that the tree branches scraped against the inn with a sickening screech. Clouds spun and boiled, casting hideous apparitions across the moon. A stain spread across the sky, slowly blotting out the stars, creeping insidiously until nearly al light was extinguished. The wind howled against the windows, slammed into the verandah door, carried with it voices. Soft. Cunning. Sweet and enticing. Pleading voices. Cries for help. A woman caled out just beyond the door, begging for entrance, her voice rising on the wind.
    "Joie?" Gabriele looked to her sister for guidance.
    Gary was close to her and he put his arm around her protectively. "Traian wil be here soon. We can hold out until then."
    Jubal cranked up the CD player so that it blared loudly. Something grabbed the door handle and shook it so hard, the door rattled and splintered. Joie leapt to place her body between the door and her brother and sister.
    "Gary, get them out of here," Joie ordered.
    "Believe me, we're safer inside this room than anywhere else right now. And there's less danger if we stick together," Gary said. He took up a position at her side. "Jubal, watch the windows. If you see anything that looks like smoke or fog trying to get in through a crack, you have to stuff in a shirt, the blankets, anything at al to keep it out."

    The door was struck again from outside, hard enough to shake the frame. Gabriele clapped her hand over her mouth to keep from crying out.
    "You can't come in," Gary said, not raising his voice. "You have not been invited and you can't gain entrance into this room."
    Maniacal laughter greeted Gary's calm words. A great weight thudded against the door and began a steady pushing. The wood began to bulge inward.

Chapter Eleven
    In the shape of an owl, Traian streaked across the darkened sky. Joie had no hope of fighting off a master vampire, even with Gary's vast knowledge of the undead. The most they could hope for was to delay the vampires until he arrived. The wind increased in speed so that gusts hurled branches and twigs into the air like missiles. A funnel cloud whirled and spun ominously, from ground to sky, a dark, turbulent monster leaping with greedy outspread fingers toward him. He flew into an invisible barrier, hit the obstacle hard and plummeted toward the ground below.
    The black mass stretched wide, forming a ghastly head with a gaping mouth and long, bony arms, reaching for the body of the owl as it tumbled