Dark Nights Part 32

Instinctively he knew, this was the master's p.a.w.n, sent to slow Traian down, a sacrifice the master hoped would wound him enough to allow the kill. He heard the vampire grunt with pain and he rolled. The undead refused to let go, his teeth clamped hard in Traian's shoulder. As he rolled, he felt flesh and muscle tear. He reached back, gripped the head with both hands and wrenched hard, throwing the body over his shoulder as he leapt to his feet.

The vampire landed with a thud against the same tree Traian had run into. The force of the body hitting it shook the trunk so that branches rocked and leaves and twigs rained down over the thin, stick-like figure. Traian almost didn't recognize that this vampire once had been a childhood friend. The man was every bit as old as he was and the fact that he was a fledgling, commanded by a master, meant he'd only recently turned. He'd held out against the growing darkness as long as he was able and rather than seeking the dawn, he'd succ.u.mbed to the whispers for the rush of feeling a kill would bring.

Deliberately, Traian ignored the blood oozing from the bite marks and torn flesh on his shoulder. He bowed slightly toward the vampire.

"Emilian, I scarce recognized you. It has been many long years since last we met."

The fledgling vampire climbed clumsily to his feet. His bloodshot eyes met Traian's and slithered away, unable to see himself in the eyes of a hunter. He dusted his clothes off and made an effort to settle an illusion of who he had once been over his rotting body. His hair changed from all gray to black and gray. His skin, pitted and sunken, filled out to once again look smooth. He pulled himself up to try to look dignified.

"Traian. You have angered the master. Come, join us. He will forgive you if you aid us."

Traian's eyebrow shot up. "I never thought to hear you say you have a master. Carpathians are free. We roam the earth, take to the skies, go below the ground, wherever we choose, with no one commanding us, yet you give up freedom to become a slave to a master. That makes no sense to me, Emilian."

Deliberately he continued to use the vampire's name, distracting him, perhaps even confusing him from his goal. Traian shifted a bit to his right, a barely perceptible movement that took him a few inches closer to the lesser vampire.

"You are slave to the prince," Emilian accused, showing his teeth. Once immaculately white, they were stained brown and beginning to take the shape of serrated spikes.

"The prince of our people does not command us, Emilian, you know that."

"Have you forgotten that he sent us from our homeland, banished us and kept the women for himself and those he favored?" Emilian snarled the words, hatred pouring through his voice.

"Is that what your master has told you?" Traian risked another couple of inches, the glide smooth enough that the agitated vampire failed to notice once again. "Have you forgotten so much? The prince allowed each of us to make our own decision, as is the way of our people. You chose to leave our homeland and I did as well. Do not blame your failure to keep your honor on our prince."

Emilian bared his teeth, the bloodshot eyes turning ruby red as his temper flared. "If you chose to cow down before him and crawl like a dog at his bidding, more fool you. I will enjoy power and have the world bowing at my feet."

Traian managed another two inches, within striking distance now. "As you crawl like the dog you have become to your master, whining for a pat on the head as you bow at his feet?"

He moved with blurring speed, streaking across the short distance, slamming his fist deep into the chest of his old friend, fingers burrowing deep for the beating heart. Emilian tore at him with claws and teeth, desperately trying to break free from the hunter's merciless grip.

Black blood burned Traian's skin as he tore the heart free and threw it a distance from him. Emilian faltered, staring at his own heart, crying out and reaching toward it. He went down to his knees and fell face down, stretching his arms pleadingly toward his heart.

Traian took a few steps to get clear of the trees to call down the lightning. The ground spewed dirt and rocks into the air just a foot in front of him, a geyser erupting violently. A rock hit his chest, driving him away from Emilian's heart and back toward the vampire lying on the ground.

Another relatively new vampire sprung at him, leaping on his shoulders, clawing at his eyes. Traian dissolved, or attempted to; Emilian caught his ankle and sank lengthy talons deep to keep him from shifting shape. Gleeful laughter erupted from the sky as the master vampire once more was certain he'd gained the upper hand against the hunter.

Traian turned and ducked forward all in one motion, hurtling the vampire off of him and slamming his fist hard into Emilian's back, breaking the spine with an audible crack. Emilian screamed and released him and Traian leapt into the clearing, calling down the lightning. The sizzling bolt struck the heart with deadly precision. Emilian convulsed, his mouth opening wide, maggots pouring out, attempting to abandon the dying corpse. The bolt of lightning jumped from earth to sky and back, this time incinerating the body, leaving ash to blow away in the wind.

The second lesser vampire attacked with blinding speed, rushing toward Traian and at the last moment, shifting, taking to the air as a giant, winged bird with a wedge-shaped head, wicked curved beak and claws the size of a grizzly's. Traian managed to duck, allowing the bird to skim past him, cutting a razor-thin fiery streak across his back and shoulder as the thing went past.

The ground rolled, tossing Traian off balance, a signal that the master helped his p.a.w.n from a distance and he had to gain the upper hand fast or the master would come in to finish the kill. He was losing blood and that was the whole point of these attacks by the lesser p.a.w.ns-to weaken him. No master vampire would risk his existence unless he had an advantage. They always used the fledglings, unless they had no puppets to control and then, as a rule, they avoided hunters.

Around him, in a large loose circle, the ground shook and rolled and geyser after geyser exploded upward. Out of the raining debris vampire after vampire stepped, fiery eyes glowing red in the dark, staring at him, raising heads to sniff the blood dripping from his wounds, pulling back thin lips to bare blackened, stained teeth.

"Join us," they whispered, hands stretched toward him.

Feet stomped the ground, setting up a peculiar rhythm. The sound echoed through his mind, like the dripping of the water in the cave and the clacking of the branches, a hypnotic, mesmerizing sound evading his mind. The vampires swayed to the beat, blurring images until all he could focus on were the red eyes streaking back and forth as the bodies moved in unison.

"Join us." This time the entreaty was louder, moving through his mind. "Join us. Join us." The refrain became a chant echoing through the forest and reverberating from the roiling clouds to the rolling ground.

Traian shook his head, trying to get the terrible buzzing out of his mind. The ensnaring refrain moved through his mind and his blood seemed to respond, reaching toward those calling to him. Out of the corner of his eye he caught movement and his brain filled in the pieces. This master, strong enough to command another powerful master vampire, had taken his blood. He could reach inside of him through the blood bond, influence his movements, track him at will and push him toward taking that last step to giving up his honor.

He forced a laugh. "You think to trap me as you would one of your p.a.w.ns? I am a hunter with centuries of experience."

"Join me or die an ugly death and I will strip the very flesh from your lifemate and feed it to my dogs," the voice taunted from the safety of a vantage point close by. There was a hint of anger as the master realized Traian wasn't as far under his spell as he'd hoped. His confidence was a little shaken.

"You have enough dogs to do your bidding and still, as many times as you have set them upon me, you have failed. Sooner or later they will tire of your continual defeats and see you are all words with no real power."

Traian clapped his hands together hard and thunder boomed in answer. A white-hot whip of lightning streaked across the sky and slammed to the earth in a large circle, striking the master vampire's apparitions with a vicious, well-aimed cut. The illusions burned like paper dolls, dust flying into the air along with ashes from the debris.

He spun to face the lesser vampire coming at him out of the dark, springing like a great jungle cat. Before the creature reached him, Traian shifted as well, taking the heavier form of a tiger, teeth and claws meeting the smaller leopard in midair. The two bodies crashed together, raking at one another's bellies, trying for a throat hold. The force of the larger cat drove the leopard backward and as they fell, the leopard landed on its back.

The two cats rolled together, the growls and roars shaking the ground as they tumbled, each fighting for a hold on the other with vicious teeth. As they rose up a second time on hind feet, Traian gripped the throat with his larger muzzle, driving the teeth deep, puncturing the neck of the other cat. At the same time, he shifted one great paw back to his true form. He drove his fist through the armor of fur, muscle, and sinew to go after the heart of the undead.

The leopard stiffened, arched its back, and tried to shift, but Traian was too fast and brutally strong, ripping the heart from the vampire and tossing it high into the air as the bolt of lightning streaked toward it. The vampire still tried, shifting to the form of a winged bat, great drops of black acid blood trailing behind him, as he tried to reach his heart before the whip of lightning did.

The bat reached the heart just as the white-hot energy struck, incinerating the heart and bat simultaneously. Traian shifted, crouching on the ground, trying to drag air into his lungs and keep a wary eye out for the master.

"I think you are losing your dogs. Perhaps you might want to show a little courage and come after me yourself," he challenged, standing slowly, bathing his arms in the white light to remove the acid burns. He looked as nonchalant as he could with rips and tears all over his body.

A tree branch snapped off just to his left, coming at him like a large spear. Traian moved with blurring speed, shifting to his right and standing tall and dignified.

"Is that your best? You really are losing your power. Come to me and receive the justice of our people."

Malevolent silence answered him.

Traian tried one last tactic, knowing the vampire might disappear for many years, avoiding all contacts with hunters in order to survive. There was one last chance to call him into the open, and Traian used it, risking revealing his position to send a summons into the night. His call was pure and commanding, his voice that of an ancient in full power ordering the vampire to ground.

In his ancient tongue he called to the master vampire, naming him for what he was. Te kalma, te jama i3kval, te apitasz arwa-arvo-You are nothing but a walking maggot-infected corpse, without honor. Muonak te avoisz te-I command you to reveal yourself.

Thunder boomed, the sound so loud it shook the ground and trees. Above him, for one brief moment the hideous creature was outlined in the sky, a ghoul as evil and sinister as centuries of deviant behavior and killing for the sake of watching others suffer could make him. He stared down at Traian with hate-filled eyes, his jagged teeth snapping together in defiance. Just the fact that he'd been unable to stop himself from resisting the ancient hunter's command made him furious.

Traian went still. The vampire was changed over the centuries of being undead, but there was something familiar about him. Could it be? Vadim Malinov? A hunter from one of the strongest Carpathian families. It was difficult to tell, but if so, he would make a powerful and dangerous enemy the likes of which they'd never come up against. His family was known for their ability to plan battles. Their fighting skills were legendary.

More than any other, the master vampire loathed the hunter he'd tried for weeks, using a small army, to kill and yet still Traian triumphed. The master vampire threw back his head and howled with sheer rage.

A sound burst in Traian's head, swelling in volume, a counter-command of death and destruction. Every cell in Traian's body reacted. He was a jangle of nerve endings, paralyzed, forced to stand vulnerable out in the open, at the mercy of the vampire.

I am your master. The echo reverberated through Traian's muscles and tissue, through every organ.

No! Joie's whisper was a soft, sensuous counterpoint to the poisonous command. He took your blood. He's using that as a weapon against you. Shut out his voice. He has no dominion over you, over either of us. I don't care how strong he is, Traian, or what he is. We're stronger. He can track you through your blood, but he cannot command you.

A part of Traian recognized that she was there with him, in his mind, ferreting out the memories of what this vampire and his pack had done during those days of captivity in the ice cave. The torture, enduring this master vampire feeding from his veins and taunting him every moment they were awake, always a shadowy figure to make him seem all the more dangerous and powerful.

Foolish woman. I own his mind. The master vampire, now that he had used his blood bond to restrain the weakened hunter, wasn't about to lose his advantage. He is my puppet, and soon all the others will be too. He cannot touch me, but I can find him anywhere. And through him, I can find you and your pitiful family. Join with me. I will one day rule both Carpathians and humans alike. If you do not, you will kneel before me and I will show no mercy to you or yours.

Joie deliberately laughed, the sound like a breath of fresh air, ripping the dark dread from Traian's heart and clearing his mind. You are the foolish one. There is only one for me. We will destroy you because you're nothing but a rotten, empty sh.e.l.l. And you're just nasty, if you ask me. The only way you managed, even for one brief moment to ensnare him, was through his wounds. He is far too valiant and strong for the likes of you, which is why he managed to command you to reveal yourself when you can't get him to lie down and die for you. I'd rather be dead than spend a moment with you.

So be it.