Immortals After Dark 12 - Lothaire

thrilled if you show up.”
    “I felt her emotions, I know she loved me.”
    “Before you broke her heart.”
    Long moments passed. In a low tone, he asked, “Am I never to have her love again?”
    “I’d hold on to the finger, Lothaire. It might be all you ever have of her.”
    Family is her key. He threw back his head and yelled, “Stelian!”
    When the big vampire traced inside, he gave a courtly bow to Nïx, who smiled absently.
    Lothaire wasted no time. “Go and buy my queen’s family mountain. Put it in her name. Lie, steal, cheat, or kill to see this through.”
    Stelian saluted sarcastically. “We have intermediaries who deal with humans. Consider it done.”
    “And get the mountains next to it, just in case.”
    “I see we’re planning to buy the queen’s forgiveness. It’s about time.”
    “Cease. Speaking.”
    Stelian disappeared.
    Nïx nodded approvingly. “Now you’re starting to get it, vampire . . .” She trailed off, shooting to her feet, her eyes swirling silver. “Lothaire, something’s wrong .”
    He’d also felt a heavy sense of dread. His connection to Elizabeth was clearer now, more so than it had ever been. “What do you see, Nïx?”
    Gaze gone wild, she murmured, “Ellie spinning in blind circles, blood pouring from her mouth. Go to the mountain, Lothaire, follow the screams!”

59
    E lizabeth!” Lothaire found her on her knees in a sunlit field, covered in coal dust, holding her hands over her bleeding ears. He was half-tracing, but still the light burned him.
    “L-Lothaire?” Tears tracked down her cheeks, more blood spilling from her mouth. She was frail, obviously hadn’t been drinking enough, and was newly injured.
    Battered mortals lay on the ground all around them.
    “I’m here, tell me what’s happened.”
    She shook her head in confusion. She couldn’t hear, could barely speak. “Help . . . me. . . .”
    He clasped her in his arms, tracing her back to her home.
    “No!” she shrieked, thrashing against him. “Back. Go back!”
    Lothaire steadied his breathing, struggling to match his heartbeat to Elizabeth’s frantic racing. As her heartbeat began to grow loud in his ears, Lothaire briefly closed his eyes—seeing into her mind, speaking directly into her thoughts.
    “Shh, shh, love. Calm yourself.”
    “Take me back! My kin are dying!”
    “I will fix this! Show me what’s happened.”
    “I have to get back!”
    “I will save any who live. You know I can do anything. Trust me?”
    Her lips trembled. Another pair of tears streaked down her face. “Can I?”
    “You alone can trust me.” Words in Russian slipped out from his lips: I will fight any battle for you, crush any adversity. Because you are mine, beautiful girl. I love you so madly that the past before you feels sane. . . .
    “Lothaire?”
    “Depend on me. You must, for your family.”
    At length, she nodded, and he wanted to bellow with satisfaction.
    “Then drink.” He bit his wrist, shoving the gash against her lips. “Heal.” When she resisted, he yelled into her mind, “Now, Elizabeth!”
    She jerked, eyes going wide, then she pressed her lips against his wrist. When she softly sucked, pleasure rippled through him, but he ordered himself to focus, reminding himself that his Endgame was at stake.
    As she drew strength from him, beginning to mend, he said, “Let me see what happened. Show me.”
    Suddenly, he saw pandemonium.
    An explosion in a mine, dozens of men trapped . . . Elizabeth trying to trace her relatives out as rocks continued to fall . . . She could only take one at a time, quickly weakening . . . Another explosion burst her eardrums . . . A support beam swung down, striking her torso, damaging something internally.
    “If more rocks fall, Lothaire, if it catches fire . . .”
    “Where should I trace to? Imagine exactly that location.” She did. “Let me see your relatives’ faces.”
    Images of one after another arose. Twelve men left. Lothaire memorized them.
    “Remain here, Elizabeth. Do not leave this place. I will save any who live.”
    He traced away, but as their immediate bridge broke, he thought he heard her say, “Make it back to me.”
    Two little tasks: find key mortals, get back to Elizabeth.
    Inside. Total blackness. The gloom engulfed him, the kind of darkness found only underground. Even he strained to see down here.
    The dust stung his eyes and filled his lungs, as if they were compacting with dirt.
    He froze in comprehension. He could