Carpathian 21 - Dark Peril

through the trees to the laboratory as he allowed his clone to dissolve.

    Solange breathed a sigh of relief and turned her attention back to the chaotic scene at the laboratory.
    Screams of terror filled the air and the scent of blood permeated everything. Bullet after bullet rained down from the roof. The undead, now riddled with bullet holes, looked up to mark the guards as prey. She had wanted these men dead, but not like this, not in such a horrific manner. The vampires had lost all control, devouring everything with blood. She couldn’t spot either of the jaguar-men. They had definitely made themselves scarce at the first sign of trouble.

    She fit the rifle to her shoulder again and squeezed the trigger a split second after a guard fired. A volley of shots drowned out hers. Lightning slammed into the downed vampire. She searched through her scope to try to find one of the vampires Dominic had wanted destroyed. It was difficult to identify any of them now.
    The images had faded, leaving them as rotting corpses, skin peeling away, sunken eyes with tufts of gray or white hair sticking to their skulls.

    Blood was everywhere, on their clothing and faces; their hands were slick with it. She went by clothes recognition, hoping she had it right. She spotted the one she thought was Carlo standing at the foot of the building, under the eaves, out of sight of the guards. He went up the side of the building fast, skittering up the wall like a lizard, leaping onto Felipe’s back, teeth tearing at his neck. The first shot got him through the back of his skull, the second through his back and straight through his heart. His form shattered, he spun around, face covered with blood, eyes blazing madly, looking toward the forest. He leapt into the air, beginning to shift when the lightning struck him, incinerating him so that ashes rained down into the mass of frenzied vampires ripping and tearing, gulping bright, hot blood.

    Solange wiped the sweat from her face, her stomach lurching. She’d never seen anything like the chaotic bloodbath taking place. The undead devoured everything in sight, tearing at each other, snapping and biting like a wild pack of starved animals. She was used to the laws of the forest, but this was something altogether different. Sweat dripped into her eyes and she reached again to wipe it away. Her cat leapt just as the muffled sound of powerful wings from above registered. She rolled from the cradle of the tree, catching a liana and using her forward momentum to carry her to the next tree. She’d lost the rifle, but her crossbow and arrows were around her neck and she had a knife strapped to her thigh.

    The harpy eagle screamed as it missed, the huge talons snatching empty air. Razor-sharp, the size of a grizzly bear’s claws, she would have been seriously injured had the large bird managed to sink those talons into her.

    Solange, talk to me.

    Dominic’s calmness steadied her. She fit an arrow into her crossbow and studied the night sky. The eagle was circling, preparing for another attack. Lightning forked the sky, allowing her to see the huge bird coming closer.

    A little glitch. Your friend Akos sent the harpy eagle after me. He’s directing the attack. You might want to take him out for me so I don’t have to shoot this beautiful bird.

    Do not take chances, Solange. Shoot it if you have to.

    Solange timed the bird’s attack, allowing her cat to guide her reflexes. As the eagle approached, soaring low in the canopy, dropping rapidly, the heavy wingbeats were a warning in her head. She waited, counting silently to herself. She didn’t want to kill the magnificent creature, not when she knew a vampire was using it to attack her. Ordinarily the bird would never have done such a thing—unless she was too near a nest.

    The talons nearly raked her face as she ducked back, but the bird had no way to turn, the branches too close and severely limiting the maneuverability of the eagle. The wings used powerful strokes to gain enough height to clear the branches and rise once more into the roiling sky. Heavy black clouds lit up around the edges with the sizzling lightning, revealing the eagle as it circled around toward her once more.

    She tracked the bird with the crossbow, but something in her refused to kill it. There’d been too much killing today. She could still hear the screams, the terror, the sound of gunfire, and knew the remaining men were being slaughtered. All of those working