They have gone soft. They have women to protect. Hunters lose their edge when they worry over the loss of a lifemate. We hunt and worry about no one so we have the advantage. Join us, Rafael. Our ranks grow strong while the hunters allow their numbers to dwindle and their skills to weaken. Most are artisans, forced into service by the prince, not true hunters. I have destroyed thousands of them. Call to your brother and join us. We will not be defeated.
The rain turned from water to ice, a storm of spearing icicles dropping from the sky, piercing the trees from every direction, driving through bark to the very heart of the trees with the intention of killing them. Slivers drove through the bushes and foliage, seeking targets, hoping to find Rafael should he be hidden there.
Inside the body of the bird, a safe distance away from the ice storm, Rafael smiled. Kirja was in rare form, on the run, but fighting back, turning each weapon to his advantage as he tried to score against Rafael.
Seems like old times.
I live to hear the shriek of the trees when the ice pierces their hearts.
You always enjoyed feeling the power of holding life or death over living things, Kirja.
As did you, Rafael. Do not fool yourself. Your nature demands domination over others. You know you are a powerful being and forcing yourself to submit to lesser beings chafes at you every moment of your existence. Join us. They cannot hold against our growing ranks.
Rafael knew there was an underground labyrinth here. He had spent time in the caverns and beneath the surface in the rich soil. He had listened to the whispered songs of the earth and knew there was an abundance of water flowing from various sources. He called them together, a whisper of command, certain Kirja directed the battle from beneath the surface where most of his traps might protect him.
First the trickle began. As tuned as he was to the earth, Rafael could feel the slightest vibration as the underground river began to form, water pouring in from all directions until it was a powerful, moving force. He directed the current so water pounded through the ground to the area he was certain Kirja occupied. In the churning waves he sent jagged roots pistoning, deadly spears hidden in the depths of the frothy
waves. The water would saturate the soil, diluting the poisons Kirja had injected, allowing plant life to grow once again after the vampire was gone.
The underground river swelled to a monstrous rapid, roaring through the ground, sweeping aside everything in its path. A scream of rage and pain shook the ground and several trees exploded, raining sharpened stakes throughout the cloned grove of trees. Blood bubbled up through the dirt, pooling into a smoking, noxious puddle, a sure sign the vampire was injured.
From his vantage point in the tree just to the east of the cloned trees, Rafael waited for Kirja to surface. There was no way he could withstand the power of the water rushing underground or the sharp roots shooting through the river with deadly intent. He would have to emerge.
Water burst through the earth, geysers spewing high into the air, boiling hot as if fed by a simmering volcano. Great globs of mud spat from the holes, still bubbling with heat as they flew through the air in all directions. In the midst of the steam, a darker column rose, shooting toward the clouds. The edges of the shadowed vapor trail gleamed a deep red.
At once Rafael attacked, slamming a barrier across the sky so that the vapor hit it hard and clung to the transparent surface much like droplets of condensation. He sent heat pulsing through the barrier, drying the condensation, forcing the vampire into another form.
Immediately the sky blackened, with a huge swarm of killer bees that began attacking every living creature, whether insect or mammal, massing over the bodies in clumps and flying at the trees and shrubbery in a frenzy of hate and rage.
Rafael sent a voracious backlash, sucking all the oxygen from the air over the grove of cloned trees. The bees fell to the ground, inches deep, covering the soil, a carpet of bodies, dead and dying. From the ground rose a transparent dark shadow. It streaked to the nearest tree, sliding inside the blackened trunk. At once the remaining leaves withered and shriveled into brownish black curls. The branches gnarled and knotted, great tumors bursting through bark, the wood splitting in places as the evil swelled.
Rafael slammed a lightning bolt from sky to tree, going for
a direct hit and quick incineration, but even as the tree split in two, the shadow within leapt to a neighboring tree.
Kirja. This is so unlike you. I am on your heels. Do you feel my breath on your neck? Does it itch between your shoulder blades?
As he spoke, Rafael slammed another bolt, a jagged whip that blew the tree into pieces. Once again the shadow slipped into the next tree.
Why do you run? I thought you wanted to play, old friend.
Hot lava poured through the vents the geysers had opened, spewing up from beneath the earth, ejecting ash and fire high into the air. Molten rock exploded and slammed to earth as fiery meteors. Trees burst into flames and beneath the earth the river turned to a stream of lava.
I can play.
Gnashing teeth accompanied the words.
You will not like how I play this game, Rafael. You should have taken the chance I gave you to join our ranks. You will die a horrible death, but before you do, I will destroy everything and everyone you care about. That is my promise to you.
Rafael kept his sharp gaze fixed on the trees as the vampire’s shadow raced from one trunk to another in an attempt to make it out of the cloned forest to safe ground. Wounded, he fled, staying to cover so Rafael had no chance of getting a clear space to deliver a mortal blow. Kirja couldn’t hide in the trees; the twisted, gnarled branches gave him away each time, bursting open to reveal the venom so that it oozed like sap through the splits.
To combat the fires and hot destructive lava streams, Rafael called on the clouds to darken and at once snow poured from the sky, great volumes, a swirling blizzard that only added to the steam obscuring his vision. He cooled the lava rapidly, taking to the air, wary of traps, but knowing Kirja had no choice but to run. He shape-shifted, using the sharper eyes of the harpy eagle as he circled above the cloned forest, now burned and damaged. The snow and rising steam made a nearly impenetrable veil, but he caught sight of a dark shadow at the very edge of the grove emerging from a twisted tree. Droplets of blood stained the snow as the vampire disappeared into what could only be a lava tube, a tunnel formed by the stream, leading deep into the caverns. Gases normally flowed through such tubes once the lava began to cool, but
obviously Kirja still had enough power and energy left to blow a forceful wind in front of him and clear his path.
Cursing softly, Rafael followed. It was dangerous to follow a wounded vampire, especially such a master at battle as Kirja. Rafael pressed him hard, unwilling to give him the time to throw up a defense. He was not going to risk losing Colby and he knew Kirja, knew he would never forget that bitter promise of retaliation. Kirja would one day, even if it took a thousand years, find a way to revenge this battle. Even as a boy he had always evened the score against perceived slights. Rafael had wounded him and that would never be forgiven.
You betrayed our friendship.
Kirja spat the words, a venomous poison in his voice. He was moving fast. Rafael caught the impression of the sloping tube, the blackened ropy surface as the vampire rushed toward the safety of the mountain interior.
Just as you betrayed it so many years ago by allowing that fool Vlad to send you to your doom. He isolated us on purpose. You know he did. He literally sent us into exile while his chosen ones took the women and lived the life meant for us.
Rafael remained silent as he flew into the tunnel, shifting into the smaller form of a bat. Whatever trap Kirja managed on the run would be flimsy and in the smaller body Rafael would have a greater chance to avoid an ambush. The lava flow had twisted and turned as it formed the tube, making it difficult to see ahead. Rafael relied on all of his acute senses to warn him of impending danger.
Rounding a turn, the surface of the tube abruptly went from the nonthreatening roped
pahoehoe
surface to the
’a’a
shell, a loose rubble with knifelike protrusions and sharpened spikes. Kirja had ensured that the surface was honed to a razor edge to cut anything moving through it. The tube narrowed as it descended beneath the earth and forged deeper into the caverns beneath the mountain. Rafael, even in the form of the small bat, was forced to slow down.
He tried something he had not done in centuries. As small boys, Kirja and he had tried to “see” through each other’s eyes. They had essentially done so without using a blood exchange. Instead, they had followed the mental path and tried touching other senses. It had been successful with practice. Although rusty, Rafael was far more powerful than he had
been as a child. He reached out to touch the vampire’s brain. The connection was almost instantaneous and Rafael wasn’t prepared for the mass of churning hatred and cunning. Kirja was stumbling over the uneven surface, attempting to close the tube behind him. He was far weaker from his wounds than Rafael would have guessed, or he would have been using more power. The undead was conserving for a fight if needed.
Taking a breath, careful to keep his touch light, Rafael pushed through the icy rage and rotten core to try to find sight. He needed to be able to see ahead of Kirja, to set up an ambush of his own. It took only seconds to see the long expanse of blackened lava he needed. At once he weakened the surface several yards ahead, keeping the outer layer looking smooth and even, but paper thin. Beneath the surface, he pooled the lava, a makeshift dam that wouldn’t hold long, but might give him an edge.
Rafael pulled out of Kirja’s mind as gently as possible, not wanting to give away the fact that he’d made the contact. He knew the exact moment the vampire stepped on the thin surface, cracking it and falling through. A hideous scream shook the walls of the precarious tunnel and the noxious smell of burning flesh permeated the air. Rafael rounded two corners and found himself staring at the vampire only a scant few yards away.
Kirja was pulling himself from the hole. Most of his legs were burned to bloody stumps, the skin falling off in ashes. He raised his hate-filled gaze to Rafael.
Your woman will suffer as no other woman has ever suffered.
He made the promise in a harsh, hissing voice, all pretense at friendship long gone.
Rafael rushed him, going for a kill, determined to separate heart from body. Halfway to the vampire, the entire tube collapsed and above it, the underground cavern itself. Tons of dirt and rock rained down between them, driving Rafael back. He was forced to use his power to keep from being buried under the debris, forming a protective cave around him and waiting for the earth to settle.
Kirja was in no shape to attack Colby or the children. They were safe while the vampire healed, but he had to get to her. He had run out of time. Colby had to be brought fully into his world, where Rafael could protect her from revenge. Even
digging through the debris would not net him a vampire. He knew Kirja, knew he would find a hole and crawl into it, maybe waiting years to rise before attempting to exact his vengeance, but he would eventually make his move. Now or later, it would happen.
Rafael reached to touch Colby, to assure himself she was waiting at the Everett ranch where he had sent her. To his shock, she was in the bar. For a moment he simply stood there in outrage, buried under the mountain, the earth above him ravaged by the battle between two ancients. Colby hadn’t listened to him, hadn’t paid any attention when he tried to warn her. She hadn’t wanted to hear him.
He made his way through the dirt and rock until he found where he had last seen Kirja. There was no blind spot. No trail of blood. Not even a scent. In the closed-in cave he should have smelled the taint of vampire, but Kirja was an ancient master and he could conceal what he was when he desired. There would be no following him and taking advantage of his wounds.
Back aboveground, Rafael cleared the evidence of the storms. He incinerated the damaged trees and sent the underground streams back where they belonged. The lava was gone as quickly as it had been wrought, back in the small pool beneath the sleeping mountain. When it was done and he had cleaned himself up, he turned his attention to his most important task. Seducing Colby and taking what was rightfully his.
Natalya sat in the darkest corner of the bar, with her back to the wall, her gaze moving constantly over the crowd. She nodded when Colby sat down. “You know everyone, don’t you?” There was a wistful note in her voice.
“Pretty much, yes.”
“Must be nice. I can never stay anywhere for very long.” Natalya leaned close. “I can’t take a chance on one of the hunters finding me.”
“Why? What do they want with you?” Colby asked, rubbing at her suddenly throbbing temples. “I have to have some
answers or I’m going to go out of my mind. I’m honestly at the point where I can’t tell reality from illusion. Are there really vampires? I encountered a horrible creature, but I swear I might just be going insane and I’m being fed illusions. Mass hysteria.” Briefly she covered her face with her hands before looking again at the other woman. “I wanted to talk to Ben about this—he’s the sheriff, a friend I’ve relied on all my life—but do you know how insane this all sounds? He’d lock me up and throw the key away.”
Natalya regarded her with compassion. “I’m sorry, I know how difficult this must be for you. I wish I could help you.”
“You said if I wanted to come with you . . .” Colby trailed off as Natalya shook her head.
“He can follow you. You said he talks to you.” She indicated Colby’s neck. “He took your blood. You’re having problems because he must have given you his. He won’t let you go. I know little about the hunters, other than that they have tremendous powers and can become the very thing they hunt.” She tapped her fingernail on the tabletop. “I don’t honestly know how to help you. I thought about it a lot after we spoke, but I can’t come up with any answers.”