What’s happening?
Colby touched the hard rock forming rapidly around her.
Rafael please. Really, I’m not going to be able to do this. You have to get me out of here. I don’t understand why you won’t take me out of the ground. Is it the birthmark?
He read the desperation in her mind. Was he burying her alive? Leaving her to die a terrible death? Terror was returning fast. Her pleas were far worse than her anger. He had never felt so tormented in his life. His heart ached, a physical pain, and his belly churned with fury while fear was a knot in his throat.
You can open your eyes, meu amor. You are safe now. He cannot get past a chamber of diamonds. They are too hard. He is far too weak. When he pushes his way through the soil, I need you to look at him, keep your eyes on him at all times, no matter what he does. Can you do that, pequena?
He couldn’t prevent the gentle coaxing note from creeping into his tone. He ached to hold her close to him, to comfort her.
Colby opened her eyes with slow reluctance, terrified of seeing the dirt and bugs. She was lying in a rich, black soil, but encased in glass. She lifted her arm to touch the wall, shocked at how heavy her limbs felt. Not glass. Crystal? Her breath caught in her throat. Diamonds. He had constructed a fortress of diamond to keep her safe. She wasn’t ready to forgive him, she doubted if she ever would, but at least she wasn’t going to have a heart attack now, if she didn’t look up to see the dirt over the top of her prison.
Are you certain Paul is alive? That he’s all right?
She would
never
forgive him for holding her captive beneath the earth when her brother needed her.
Rafael allowed his memories to replay for her.
His love for you and Ginny is very strong. Kirja did not take that into account.
Colby was caught by a sound. By a feeling of being watched. She turned her head and there he was. Her heart stopped beating, and then began to thump frantically inside her chest. She had never seen such malevolence and twisted hatred on anything or anyone’s face before. The creature no longer appeared human. He had dragged himself through the mountain to reach her with the sole intent of killing her. Spittle ran down his chin, and his eyes glowed a fiery red. He was bloody and horribly burned. His chest had several puncture wounds.
Kirja reached for her with long, twisted stilettolike fingernails. He attacked the wall with a hard, driving stab, his red-rimmed eyes staring directly into hers. The talon shattered. The vampire screamed. He threw himself against the barrier.
Colby winced and tried to scoot back from the hideous creature. Only then did she realize she was naked and the undead could see her, vulnerable to his inspection. It made his grotesque leer all the worse.
He held up a hand, fingers spread wide as he stared at her throat. Slowly, oh, so slowly, he began to close his fingers. She
felt the crushing squeeze, closing like a vise around her neck. For one moment she panicked, fighting for air.
You are underground, buried alive, remember, pequena? You do not need air. I am almost to him and do not want to give away my presence.
Her lips pressed together. Rafael was right, she was buried alive, something he was damned well going to answer for. She didn’t need air. Let the undead try to strangle her. Deliberately, with defiance, Colby came up on her knees, tossing her long hair as a taunt. She didn’t even care that she was naked. If the damned vampire could resist the terrible lethargy, so could she. Ignoring the way her insides burned like hell, she brought up her chin and her eyes blazed right back at him.
This was the terrible creature that had tormented her brother. He had tried to kill Rafael, but he was in for the shock of his life. The vampire had never met an honest-to-God cowgirl. “We breed them tough here,” she said as she allowed her fury at everything that had happened in the last few weeks to come together into a raging inferno. “And we don’t lie down for anyone, not even vampires.”
Flames licked along the dirt floor of the tunnel Kirja had burrowed through to get to her. As if fed by a ferocious wind, the tongues of orange-red sprang to life, leaping high, enveloping the vampire in a whirling firestorm.
Colby!
The command was sharp. Angry.
The vampire screamed, howled with rage and pain, too weak to continue the battle. He dared not remain longer; his strength was ebbing fast. He scurried through the tunnel, heading away from the hot springs, away from the rich soil that would heal his wounds. He needed a resting place where the hunters would never think to look. They knew he was severely injured and that he would have to have time to rejuvenate. He would need prey close as well as shelter and rich soil. He moved in the opposite direction fast, using every ounce of remaining strength to flee before Rafael could find him.
Rafael’s reprimand was a slap in the face. Her own rage boiled over.
It’s just like you to leave me buried underground, you swine, a sitting duck for your foul-smelling friend, and then dare to yell at me for protecting myself!
Colby’s fist clenched. She ached to smash Rafael right in his too handsome
face.
I hurt so bad I want to throw up. Get me out of here.
She stared in horror as the vampire’s broken fingernail began to vibrate, to scrape at the diamond chamber encasing her.
I am so not kidding, Rafael. Hurry up. Now his fingernail is alive. It’s scratching at the wall.
She didn’t want to be afraid, but the thing seemed alive, determined to get at her.
Get me out of here!
Rafael flinched at the undiluted anger in her voice, at the way it swirled in her body, but at the same time, his blood thickened and heated.
You’re impossible. I’m in the middle of a crisis here. One you put me in, Rafael, and you’re thinking about sex. You’re perverted. Get me out of here.
Colby began to run her hands over the surface of her diamond cage, opposite to the scratching nail, hoping to find a weak spot and crawl out. When she couldn’t, she concentrated once more on focusing her fear and anger on the ghastly thing. It blackened slowly, smoked, and finally burst into flame. Pressing a hand to her wildly beating heart, she sagged against the wall. She just wanted to go home.
Your world scares me to death. Rafael, I need to see Paul and Ginny. Come get me out of here.
She was weary of arguing, tired of being afraid. And her insides were beginning to feel as if someone had taken a blowtorch to them. She wanted comfort. She needed it. She deserved it.
Rafael wanted to gather her into his arms and hold her forever, but he had to find Kirja and destroy him. He would only have a scant hour or two to find the vampire’s hiding place before his own lethargy would take over. He hardened his heart against the weariness in her.
You will remain beneath the ground as I have commanded and go back to sleep and heal properly.
It was a decree, a command delivered with hard authority. He issued the order and followed it with a hard push, one that sent her sinking into sleep, but not before he heard her curse him soundly.
In spite of the gravity of the situation he felt the warmth of joy spreading through him. So this was what it was to have a lifemate. The calm, bleak emptiness of his previous life had been replaced by a roller coaster of emotions. Love yes, but also aggravation, worry, the fiery clash of tempers, and an incredible wanton desire. At least, now, he always knew he was alive.
He circled slowly above the ground where Colby lay, looking for signs of Kirja burrowing through the earth, but as always with the ancient vampire, there was no sign of his passing. Rafael shifted into his human form as he dropped to the ground, running his hands over the ground, feeling for a vibration, feeling for the telltale signs of the undead.
His fingers curled into a fist. He might just introduce Colby to how pleasurable a punishment could become after this mistake. He had to kill Kirja. The vampire would take his revenge and she had eliminated Rafael’s chance of easily trailing the creature back to his lair.
An owl hooted, a soft cry in the night. The sound beckoned to him, an unusual call from this bird of prey. Not a near miss, not satisfaction, but a calling. Wary, he raised his head and looked cautiously around. Even with his acute vision, it took a few minutes to spot the large owl tucked high in the branches of a fir tree several yards away.
Rafael straightened slowly. It was no indigenous owl in the tree. The bird regarded him from his position high in the branches. It wasn’t Nicolas—he was with Paul and Ginny, helping to get them ready for the move to Brazil. He would put them on the private jet and get them out of the country, using his hypnotic voice to get them through the red tape quickly.
“You may as well come out of the tree and tell me what you are doing here.”
The raptor immediately spread its wings wide and spiraled down, shifting before it touched the ground. A tall man with wide shoulders stood regarding him. “I have not seen you for far too many years, Rafael.” He stepped forward and gripped Rafael’s forearms in the familiar gesture of one warrior greeting another.
“Vikirnoff Von Shrieder. I thought you had long ago met the dawn.”
“I have often thought of doing so, but I had my brother to watch over. Nicolae has found his lifemate and now my time grows short. I have one last task to complete before I rest. What of you? What of your brothers?”
“Riordan has also found his lifemate. There is hope with the knowledge that some human women can be converted. My lifemate, Colby, is human.”
“I was drawn to this place by the sound of the earth screaming, yet now there is no evidence of a vampire.”
“He has vowed to kill Colby. I must destroy him. He has managed to take the blood of her younger brother and reaches out to use him against us.” As he spoke, Rafael continued to search along the blackened terrain for hints of the vampire’s passing.
“Then I will hunt with you. It will be like old times.” Vikirnoff reached up to pull his nearly waist-length hair to the nape of his neck, securing it with a leather tie.
“Colby carries the mark of the Dragonseeker. She is a descendant of that lineage.” Rafael sent his senses deep into the earth, stretching first north, then west where the fertile soil might draw Kirja to heal.
“We thought the Dragonseeker line long gone from us. A good alliance between two powerful houses. The prince will be pleased.” Vikirnoff scanned the skies.
“How is it you came to this place, Vikirnoff?”
“I am following a woman. Nicolae and I, through accident, became aware that a master vampire had put out the word to his pawns that this particular woman was necessary to him. I have been trailing her with the intention of warning her and protecting her.” He pulled a photograph from his pocket. “Have you seen her?”
Rafael reached for the picture but Vikirnoff retained possession of it, holding it up so Rafael could see it. His thumb moved in a small, involuntary caress over the beautiful face. “I am certain I am close.”
“She was here, tonight, talking in the bar with Colby. Colby said this woman, Natalya Shonski, told her a hunter would kill anyone bearing the mark of the Dragonseeker. She is not only running from the vampire, but from you.”
“She, too, bears the mark of the Dragonseeker clan? Why would she believe such a thing?”
Both men cast for signs along the ground. They laid their hands over the earth, willing the soil to give them news. They listened to the wind, to the rustle of the leaves in the trees. Even the insects and night creatures usually told tales, but there was no lead to the vampire’s trail. It was as if he had vanished into thin air.
“If what she said is true, Rhiannon had triplets, two girls and a boy. They are not children of her lifemate, but of the wizard Xavier. He held her captive for some time, no one knows how, but she somehow managed to join her lifemate in another world, leaving the children behind. Or it is possible—even more, probable—that Xavier murdered her after the children were born. Xavier hated all Carpathians. He would have raised his children to fear us.” Rafael shifted his focus to the south and then to the east. “This young woman you seek is a direct descendant. She has been long in this world, avoiding our people.” He pushed his hand through his hair in utter frustration at finding nothing, no sign of the vampire. “
Deus!
This is getting us nowhere. Where would Kirja hide?”
19
“K
irja?” Vikirnoff swung
around, slipping the photo into his shirt next to his heart. “He is the vampire?” There was a thoughtful note in his voice. “No wonder this one is difficult to find. Kirja was a great warrior.”
“I fear he is involved in a conspiracy to kill the prince.”
“I have spoken recently with Gregori and all of us suspect that a large army is massing against us. What of Kirja’s four brothers? Do you have news on them?”
“I believe they are all involved, but I do not know for certain. When he talked, he implied it was so.”
Vikirnoff examined a pile of boulders that had shifted slightly out of position. “What is off in that direction?”
Rafael studied the landscape. “The mines.” His dark eyes blazed with grim realization. “Vikirnoff, he has gone to the mines. Colby told me they boarded the entrances up years ago because they were dangerous. No one goes there.”
“So he wouldn’t have access to ready prey?”
Rafael shook his head. “No, but he would be able to call the unwary to him. He is incredibly powerful.”
Vikirnoff nodded. “I remember all of the Malinov brothers. They were very powerful even while young.” His cool black eyes studied Rafael. “As was your family.”
“We were good friends, and yes, we tested the limits of the law, but we agreed, all ten of us, my brothers and Kirja’s brothers, that we would follow our prince and live with honor. I do not know why the Malinov brothers chose the dark path.” There was a lingering sadness in his voice.
Vikirnoff glanced at him sharply. “He is no longer your childhood friend. Let us hunt the undead, and remove the threat to you and your lifemate before the sun rises too high and forces us to ground.”