Authors: Gabrielle Bisset
"We
don't have a few nights, Nico. Terek might very well be planning to attack him
tonight. He could be walking into something he can't handle."
"I'll
do what I can, but I'm afraid we're looking at a few nights. I'll let you know
as soon as I hear something."
Vasilije
hung up the phone. "We need something else."
The
room fell silent, and a sense of desperation come over Ilona. Terek needed
them—he needed her—and there they sat unable to do a thing. There must be
something more she could remember, some tiny fragment of a memory that seemed
meaningless but could be the answer they needed.
"You
tried calling him, right?"
The
men along the far wall made groaning sounds while Vasilije narrowed his eyes to
slits. "Dante, you're not helping."
"I
just figured I'd ask. Sometimes in situations like this the obvious can be
overlooked."
As
he said that, Ilona remembered what Jasmine had told her and Terek about the
hunter when they'd found the women at the house. "I know where to find the
hunter and so does Terek. He told Jasmine he'd be back in two nights to force
him to give me up."
"Back
in the house in Spain?" Vasilije asked, surprised.
"Yes.
Terek doesn't have to search for him. He just has to wait."
Dante
clapped his hands together. "Then that's where we find him! Perfect! We
dust him, Terek's safe, easy peasy."
"Not
that easy, Dante. Whoever goes needs to get there before the hunter shows up,
but all we know is he looks like millions of other men in Spain."
Dante
turned toward the largest man at the far wall. "What do you mean whoever
goes, Ramiel? I'm going. Period."
"Not
to encourage your ego, Dante, but you're the only goddamned clyten here. As
much as I hate to admit it, you're too important to lose."
"Save
it. I'm going. I owe Terek and I'm sick of being stuck here like some caged
fucking bird."
Ilona
cleared her throat. "I'm going too."
Every
head turned to look at her and suddenly there wasn't a friendly face in the
room. Even Dante was against her.
"I
was with you until that point and then you lost me. No way." Suddenly,
Dante's boyish charm had vanished.
"I'm
sorry, Ilona, but we can't let you do that," Vasilije said in a tone that
reminded her of Terek.
"You
can use me as bait to draw the hunter away from Terek. It's me he wants."
Ilona
saw by the shocked looks on their faces that they weren't warming up to her
plan. "Dante, you can be nearby and just transport me somewhere else if he
gets close. I'll be fine."
"That's
a bad plan on so many levels, I don't know where to begin. How about what
happens when we disappear and he kills Terek because I'm not there to help? And
the pain Terek is going to inflict on me when he finds out I used you as bait?
Didn't you just hear Ramiel say I'm too important to die, which is what Terek
would cause to happen if I let you be harmed?"
From
the side of the room, Ramiel said, "Actually, I like her plan."
"Shut
up, Ramiel. Now isn't the time for your dark humor. Ilona, I'm sorry, but I
won't use you as bait."
"Fine.
But I'm going. I'm the only one who knows what the hunter looks like."
Dante
seemed to deflate as she finished speaking, and she hoped he'd agree. The truth
was these men could stop her right now and other than insisting she was going,
there was little she could do about it. She hadn't been a vampire long enough
to master the traveling guided by her thoughts. She might rematerialize
somewhere hundreds of miles away from where she intended, or worse yet, in a
lake or ocean.
But
they didn't need to know she knew she was at their mercy.
"So
it's decided?"
Dante
looked uncomfortable but said nothing. She looked around the room and saw no
resistance now. Finally, she faced Vasilije, who nodded his approval.
"I
promised Terek I'd take care of his vampires. Don't make me regret agreeing to
this. I know how much you mean to him."
Ilona
smiled at the words Vasilije used. She liked the idea that Terek had told his
friend about her. If they got through the next night alive, she'd make sure she
let him know how much she liked it.
Chapter Nineteen
Every
cell in his body knew when night had fallen, and Terek opened his eyes in a
flash. He'd slept the sleep of angels as the day had held sway over the world,
but now he awoke, ready for what he knew awaited him.
When
he'd finally returned to Cocentaina just before dawn, he'd climbed into bed and
closed his eyes to think about Ilona. She was everywhere around him there. Her
delicate scent clung to the sheets, a gentle reminder of her next to him in his
bed. He inhaled deeply, wanting her inside him, missing the feel of her near
him.
He
would protect her—do what he must to ensure she was safe. He'd failed Serena
and the others. He wouldn't fail again.
Even
as he lay there, his body readied for the fight to come. He was no stranger to
defending his world. He'd done it for centuries against humans who'd sought to
exterminate his kind. This hunter would end up just as so many humans had.
Dead.
He'd
wondered if the warrior was all but lost in him. Years away from battle in
favor of siring and women may have dulled the fighting instinct, but as he lay
remembering the feel of the sword in his hands as it sliced through the Archon,
cutting flesh and bone, he knew the warrior was still inside him.
Bodies,
mangled and bloody, lay scattered for as far as the eye could see. Humans and
vampires alike made up the carnage, victims in a war his kind fought for the
right to exist and their enemy fought to be sure they didn't. The dust of the
staked hung in the air, as if suspended like a veil over the sorrow.
The
sounds of the battle had been deafening. Horses' hooves pounded into the hard
ground, a hollow hammering noise as two forces in nature met with each fighting
to destroy the other.
The
break in the fighting would only be temporary. No matter how many bodies
littered the ground between the two sides, the battle would resume. He knew
that. Neither side would surrender—could surrender now.
Tugging
the reins of his horse, he directed him away from all the death and rode to
where what remained of his troops waited. As he came upon them, he saw the
haggard looks on their faces. Different from their enemy, they still felt the
toll of war the same as humans did.
Terek
stopped in front of the new division of healers that had arrived hours earlier.
Their hopeful expressions contrasted with those who they'd been charged to
help. A month from then he'd be staring into another line of fresh faces to
replace the ones he saw now.
The
cycle was never ending, but the supply of healers wasn't. Specially bred to
nurse the army back to health after each battle, their numbers would be
exhausted if vampires didn't find a way to defeat humans in this latest round
of fighting.
Centuries
old, this current war had sparked after a long period of peace following the
fall of that often fickle friend to vampires, the Roman Empire. The years
humans had called the Dark Ages had been halcyon times for the vampire world.
Free from the intermittent attacks of overzealous emperors seeking to curry
favor from a restless populace that saw the Empire's demise coming long before
its leaders, vampires had flourished unrestrained.
Never
before had their numbers grown as they had in those years. Free to live
peacefully, they'd mistakenly believed the human world would finally agree to
co-exist with them.
The
Black Death's arrival showed them how wrong they'd been.
Sure
vampires were to blame for the epidemic, they drove them out from every town
and city, refusing to see that their enemy wasn't immune to the disease's ravages.
By the time the plague had run its course, humans were sure vampires must be
eliminated, whatever the cost.
Since
then, they'd battled each other, humans hell-bent on exterminating vampires and
vampires driven to do whatever was necessary to stop them. Both sides employed
the most vicious tactics available, desperate for victory.
Terek
thought about all that had passed before he became vampire as he sensed the
night losing its hold on the land. A man of God as a human, he'd answered the
call to defend his kind soon after being sired.
Looking
across the field, he knew the humans would push back as they did every night
just before the break of dawn. They knew when his kind was weakest and wisely
exploited their Achilles' heel, for if he and his army saw mere minutes of the
sun, it would succeed where human battle techniques and weapons hadn't.
Each
night, he lost men to that natural attacker, trapped as the sun slowly began
its rise in the sky. The clyten divisions could only save so many, and every battle
saw some left behind. The anguished cries as their skin burned carried across
the battlefield, striking terror in the hearts of all vampires.
Tonight
there would be even more heart wrenching sounds. The time had come for more
than mere fighting and retreating for another night. Tonight, he and his kind
would make their stand on this broken piece of land, throwing everything they
had at an enemy as exhausted as they were.
Extra
clyten and healers waited far behind the line for his signal. His troops had
their orders—no retreat. Not for sun and not for defeat. Their clyten brothers
weren't there to ferry them away tonight. They were there to fight.
Terek
looked beyond the encampment and past the torches that lined its edge to where
the extra troops hid in the darkness. A nod of his head to the commander next
to him set the wheels of fate into motion. Quickly, the injured were rushed to
the side and troops that would normally be preparing to rest for the day,
guarded by the clyten division, lined up behind Terek. Some rode horses, as he
did, but most were foot soldiers.
Raising
his hand, he held it high as he stared across the field. His enemy went about
their usual business of aiding the injured, never suspecting what was to
happen. Turning his head, he saw the clyten commander give final orders.
Terek's heart pounded in his chest and then with a deep breath, he lowered his
hand, the signal for his troops and the clyten reinforcements to attack.
In
an instant, his soldiers disappeared, followed by the clyten, leaving only
those on horseback to charge the enemy line. As they galloped toward the
humans, he saw their attack hadn't been entirely unexpected. Their cavalry rode
toward them, swords drawn and ready for battle as they were.
This
was the warfare he excelled at. From atop his horse, he could strike down his
enemy with his falchion, slicing him as he scrambled to defend himself. He'd
killed countless numbers like this, slashing through the air until his weapon
met flesh and bone.
The
first man to reach him came up fast. From his left side, Terek brought his
sword down into the man's chest, making a gash he wouldn't recover from. The
next came quickly and Terek swung for his neck, taking his head clean off his
shoulders. The dead man's blood covered him and his weapon, but there was no
time to spend thinking about that. The next horseman and then another rushed
him, each in turn feeling the deadly sharp edge of his falchion as he plunged
it into their chests.
As
he raced to help his men, he saw the first rays of the sun come up over the
horizon. But their enemy hadn't been vanquished. Charging into the hand-to-hand
battles raging in front of him, he felt the pain of the sun begin to settle
into his skin. It burned, yet there could be no retreat.
Before
him, his vampires fought through their pain, their agonizing cries mixing with
those of their victims. Beside them, clyten blessed with the ability to endure
the sun's rays fought with honor like never before. Finally, he saw their hour
of triumph had arrived, and he gave the order for the clyten to save their
brethren. One final look at the human army dead before him and Terek turned his
horse toward his line and raced to escape the daylight, content in the
knowledge that if it was his time to die, he'd broken his enemy, at least in
this one battle.
Terek
toweled off from his shower and dressed. The time had come. Either the hunter
or he would lose his life tonight.
As
he waited, he thought not about the battles of his past but the love of those
he'd willingly kill for. His human wife and child. Vampires who had made his
life as a sire richer than they could ever know. Jasmine, his first vampire and
dear friend. Serena.
He choked back the sorrow at the mere thought of
her, a soul so kind and gentle and one he'd failed to protect.
Ilona.
The soul he'd waited centuries to find. The one woman he finally wanted to let
in.
He
remained in the family room for hours, never doubting the hunter would return.
Archon hunters may not have been warriors, but they understood orders. This one
had to finish what he'd started that night by the fountain.
Finally,
shortly after midnight, he heard the front door open. Clutching the handle of
his falchion tightly, his body tensed as he waited for the battle to begin. From
the hallway he heard a voice call his name. Prepared to strike down the hunter
and whoever he'd brought with him, he heard the voice say, "Terek? You
here?"
He
knew that voice. Relaxing, he lowered his hand to his side and from around the
corner he saw Dante with someone behind him.