Carpathian 21 - Dark Peril

everywhere, enough to feed everyone.

    More heads turned toward the guard. Two of the vampires licked their lips and one’s disguise slipped just a bit, his dark, thick hair, disappearing to reveal his true nature, the graying wisps that were left covering his scalp.

    Solange, the two vampires, Faviu and his buddy Henric, are getting very hungry. I am going to send them your way.

    About time, she responded. I was thinking about taking a nap.

    “We have a three-point attack planned, but first we will hit Dubrinsky where it hurts. He has a weakness for the people in the village near where he lives. We will attack the humans, his women and children. They will believe the main attack will be centered there, but in fact we will follow his movements by satellite. He will not expect an attack from the air, from the ground and from beneath the ground simultaneously. He will be destroyed.”

    The guard had disappeared around the corner of the laboratory, but Dominic replicated an image of him, blood dripping, heading into the forest, and he projected that image into the heads of Henric and Flaviu.
    The two vampires looked at each other and then at the others. Saliva dripped from Henric’s mouth and Flaviu exposed his fangs twice. Dominic simply waited, allowing the image of the guard to replay in their heads.

    “We will, of course, have a few practice runs. We will try such an attack first on a couple of our greatest enemies in order to perfect the attack on the prince.”

    Dominic’s heart lurched. Zacarias! Are you getting this? They have to mean your family. Your people are in danger.

    Power flowed into his mind. Zacarias. There was no edge, as if the continual call of the vampire had been pushed away by sheer will. Zacarias had more will—more heart and courage—than any other warrior Dominic had known. He would do his duty, protect his family, and there would be no worry of turning until after the job was done.

    I hear. I have sent the news to my family and it is being sent to the prince as we speak. Josef is nearly finished copying the data from the computers. Get out of there.

    Dominic smiled a little at the absolute authority in Zacarias’s voice. He would expect obedience. Everyone obeyed Zacarias. They always had. Zacarias was swift and deadly, and held tremendous power. He didn’t have patience for those who didn’t follow his word. He didn’t speak lightly, and if he said something, that something became law.

    Will do as soon as my task is complete.

    Dominic broke off, needing his attention centered on Solange. She was in the trees, moving fast, drawing the two vampires away from the safety of the conclave. He moved a little deeper into the circle of vampires, wanting to make certain he was seen and couldn’t later be blamed for the disappearance of the two. More than anything, he wanted to destroy Giles. The vampire had grown powerful and arrogant.

    Solange. Can you kill them?

    Solange sighed. Of course she could kill them. Dominic persisted in worrying. Before it would have aggravated her, but now she knew loving someone meant you fretted about their safety. She was certainly apprehensive about Dominic surrounded by a crowd of very hungry undead.

    Henric dissolved into vapor, searching through the trees for the missing guard or the blood trail that would lead to him. Solange positioned her arrows over her shoulder, the crossbow behind her back, and used a liana to slip from the canopy to the ground. She did her best to look helpless, fluffing out her hair and humming, trying to look like a lost tourist. She wandered aimlessly, leaving tracks an amateur could find, but all the while making her way toward the second vampire, the one Dominic had called Flaviu.

    Flaviu stepped out from behind a tree and bowed low. “You look lost.”

    Solange sent him a tentative smile. She had practiced a million times with the crossbow, now she had to get it right. “I am lost. My friends and I are backpacking and I got separated from them.” As she talked she moved into position. Now or never. Henric wouldn’t be gone long. Now, Dominic.

    Solange didn’t wait for an acknowledgment. The crossbow slid into her hand, the arrow fitting smoothly as she brought it up and shot almost in one continuous motion. The head of the arrow pierced Flaviu’s chest and ignited, the flash white-hot. He opened his mouth but his heart had incinerated in his chest and his body slowly crumbled to the ground, the fire