Carpathian 13 - Dark Destiny

pulled out before he finished, Nicolae would die of a brain hemorrhage.
    Gregori's instincts were to save his lifemate from the vampires first, yet he would give Destiny an opportunity to protect them all. He had been immersed in Nicolae's mind, read his many battles, his brilliant strategies, and knew he had passed his skills on to Destiny. Gregori could just as easily read the battles Destiny had fought. He was determined to give her the chance to save her lifemate by keeping his Savannah safe. If Savannah were in imminent danger, he could do no other than act in her behalf, but he Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    was willing to allow Destiny to do what she did best, destroy the vampire.
    Destiny understood that reasoning and accepted it, just as he accepted her own determination to save Nicolae.
    Savannah was already moving to place her small body between the danger and her lifemate and his patient.
    Destiny leapt upon her, one arm circling her throat, claws emerging to press tightly into her delicate skin.
    "Trust me." She mouthed the words against Savannah's neck, praying the healer would realize she was buying them time. Vikirnoff would be in the city now, taking much-needed blood. He would return with all haste.
    "Brethren!" a vampire called. "Come to me in haste. I have the daughter of the Prince as a gift to buy my way into the alliance. Hurry before the other hunter returns and this one regains his strength. He is stuck in the body of the other. Our blood is strong and holds him there."
    Savannah struggled, looking as helpless as she could. Destiny dragged Savannah's arm behind her back and placed a dagger in her palm, their bodies concealing the weapon between them.
    The first intruder erupted from the ground, spewing dirt in a dark cloud as he rose. A second scaled the cavern wall, much like a human lizard, clinging to the rock above their heads. Destiny watched them, her mind assimilating the threat, choosing quickly which of the two was the more experienced and more dangerous.
    "Take her," Destiny invited, thrusting Savannah toward the lesser vampire. "I'll kill the healer." She did a back-flip, raced up the wall toward the creature overhead, trusting Savannah to make the kill.
    Savannah had never hunted the undead. Gregori had been adamant that she not ever place her life in danger, but she had been in his head enough to know what to do. She acted at once, without hesitation, stumbling forward as if unable to control her momentum. The vampire's fetid breath scorched her face.
    She felt his hands on her shoulders, reaching to yank her to him. And she went, the dagger concealed along her wrist. At the last possible second she plunged the razor-sharp instrument deep into his chest, straight into his heart.
    Blackened blood poured over her hand, burning abominably. The vampire screamed, stumbling backward, his hands going to the dagger. Savannah leapt away from him, careful to keep her body between her lifemate and the undead.
    Destiny reached the other vampire as he paused to witness the capture of such a prize as the Prince's daughter. He saw her coming too late to move, or shape-shift, relying on attack instead. They came together in a furious assault, bodies slamming together.
    They fell to the cavern floor, only inches from the wounded vampire, both scrambling to regain their footing. Destiny threw herself into a scissors lock, weaving her legs through the vampire's and twisting as they both came down again, dropping him to the ground and pinning him there. She drove her fist deep, needing victory fast. She could see the wounded vampire pulling the knife from his chest. Worse, she felt the presence of another one, the ancient one. Pater had arrived.
    "Get out, Savannah," Destiny instructed harshly.

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    Savannah leapt over the writhing vampire, trying to avoid the spewing blood, kicking him hard in the head so that he dropped backward like a stone. Her tactic gave Destiny the precious time she needed to extract the heart from the chest of the undead she had pinned. She threw the withered organ a distance from her and was already on the wounded one, straddling him, holding him down to take his heart.
    Savannah built the necessary energy to incinerate the first heart, successfully completing the kill. As she turned back, she saw a black shadow loom above Destiny, one hand drawn back,