Carpathian 16 - Dark Demon

to them all .

    Will do.
    Natalya's heart nearly exploded in her chest it was pounding so hard. The urge to run was nearly overwhelming. She glanced at the other two women and saw the same desperation on their faces. Sara's hands covered her stomach protectively and Natalya's heart lurched.
    She met the other woman's gaze and Sara nodded slightly at the question in Natalya's eyes.
    Vikirnoff! We have to get out of here right now .
    Already the fireballs were slamming into the house, this time coming through the sides of the structure. We have to fight our way out . Mikhail sounded calm. Keep the women in the center .
    Natalya drew her guns. Not this woman .
    Vikirnoff bent low, his fingers biting deep into Natalya's wrist as the smoke swirled heavy around them. Stay close to me. Right beside me .
    Sara is expecting a baby. Keep an eye on her . Natalya refused to allow him to treat her as less than the warrior she was. If he couldn't handle who she was, he needed to know it now
    —and so did she.
    We need to get out now . The entire house creaked and strained as it crumbled. The men burst through the doors and windows in a synchronized escape, the women right behind them. Natalya fell back to cover Sara as the vampires leapt on the hunters, ripping and shredding, masked with animal forms and teeth and claws.
    They were everywhere. So many of them Natalya's heart froze at the sight, an army of what had to be clones, tearing at the hunters aggressively. She saw Falcon shove Sara back as a huge monster of a bear dropped from the branches of a tree directly onto his shoulders.
    Sara rushed the creature, intending to use her bare hands if necessary. Natalya shot the thing, emptied a full clip into the throat and heart as she ran toward it, pushing past Sara to protect her. She kept running, snapping a fresh clip into her gun and firing again almost at point-blank range. The bear fell back under the assault, shifting to its natural vampire form.
    Falcon punched his fist through the chest cavity and tore out the heart. Lightning streaked from the sky to destroy the heart and incinerate the body.
    Natalya caught sight of Vikirnoff, battling three of the creatures. Already his clothes hung in strips and blood gleamed on his back from several blows the vampires had landed.
    One already lay on the ground and she could see a fifth one creeping up behind him. Her heart in her throat, she leapt between the vampire and Vikirnoff.
    She shot the huge creature again and again but it kept advancing until it was on top of her. She felt hot, foul breath on her face, saw the hatred in the red-rimmed eyes. Shoving the gun against the chest she fired in rapid succession straight into the heart. The vampire jerked with each explosion, but the claws only dug into her arms deeper. Natalya dropped the gun and palmed a knife, slamming it with all of her force into the monster's throat. "Get off of me!" She pushed him away from her, kicking out with repugnance, scoring a hit to the chest, knocking it farther back.
    Vikirnoff thrust Natalya out of his way, his eyes wild with fury. Lightning arced in the sky, zigzagged overhead and punched into the earth, sizzling through the vampire's body, taking the heart as it did so. "Do not dare put yourself in danger like that again for me." He was shaking with rage and his fury spilled over into his voice. He would not lose her, not like this. The other women were accepting the meager protection of their lifemates, but not his Natalya. She had to be front and center in the battle.
    Protect Sara if you must, but do not try to protect me. Damn you, Natalya. You cannot ask me to allow you to put your life in danger to save mine. I will not have it.
    Damn you right back. I'm not going to let some wannabe badass kill you because your ego is too big for words. I won't have that.
    Vikirnoff snarled, baring white teeth at her, but he had no chance to say anything else, meeting the rush of another small army of vampires.
    Natalya glanced to her right and noted Dominic and Manolito were fighting with lightning swords, long flashing lights that sizzled with heat as they sliced through several clones. She drew her sword and grinned at Sara. "I want one of those." She indicated the light sabers with her own sword.
    "You said we could use weather?" Sara asked.
    Natalya nodded. "They couldn't prevent that. Razvan and Xavier were upset about it because they wanted to prevent the Carpathians from calling down