Radiance (Brotherhood of the Blade Trilogy #3) (11 page)

A few times, when we stopped in the stations, he got off the train to walk her and then got right back on. He fed her very little, so she wouldn’t get sick, but plied her with small treats when she got restless and kept the tranquilizers and water coming at regular intervals if she paced the small room. She didn’t like the leash much, but at least she wasn’t flipping out. There was a lot of panting. If I knew one thing about that wolf, she trusted Corbin. The poor thing, her teats were leaking all over the place.

“
This is weird, Corbin. She’s completely ignoring Ambra and me, not even looking at us. It’s bizarre.”

“
Wolves don’t like direct eye contact with strangers. Don’t push it. They use direct eye contact with others in the pack. That is not you.”

“
All right.”

After thirty-something hours on Eurail, Corbin, Ambra and I arrived in the train station that was closest to Bran. Corbin stayed on the train with his wolf, as he would need to continue his journey on toward Pripyat.

Ambra and I got off the train and rented a car to drive to Bran. She hated my winter driving—ice and snow were not really my thing behind the wheel.

“
It’s a half moon,” she observed.

“
At least no werewolves will be out and about tonight,” I said.

“
Werewolves are not our current problem,” Ambra said.

“
When are you going to forgive Corbin for trying to turn you?” I asked.

“
I don’t know. Forgiveness can’t be rushed.”

“
He feels bad that he ruined the friendship between you.”

“
He hasn’t come to me to apologize. It’s pretty cowardly of him to tell you what he should be saying to me.”

“
Well, he’s not just ashamed. He’s probably a little scared of you right now.”

“
He should be. I’m packing silver.”

“
He’s a good person, Ambra.”

“
He’s not a
person
. He’s a supernatural creature who wanted to make me into his werewolf girlfriend without my permission.”

“
If it wasn’t for me, would you have wanted that?”

“
Of course not. Who wants to be bound by the moon?”

“
Hypothetically speaking, there are tradeoffs. Except for silver, he’ll probably live forever.”

Her eyes flickered away from the road and fixed on mine for a few moments and then went back to the road.

“I don’t want to live forever,” she said.

“
Why not?”

“
I wouldn’t want to outlive all the people I love, and I sure wouldn’t want them to join me in the hell that is a werewolf’s life.”

“
What’s so bad about it?”

“
Haven’t you ever listened to him howl? It is a sound to curdle the blood and chill the bones.
Mon Dieu,
I’m never going to make that sound.”

She drove the rest of the way in silence, even when I tried to engage her in conversation. Obviously, she was not over Corbin’s attempt to make her into a werewolf and wouldn’t be over it, anytime soon.

She pulled the Dacia Logan MCV station wagon right alongside the curb in front of our destination, Lucian and Uta’s butcher and sausage shop in Bran.

“
The lights are on in the shop but I don’t see anyone. I don’t like it.”

Ambra looked up. “No lights are on upstairs in the apartment.”

“Maybe he’s in the back, cutting up meat.”

Ambra suddenly gasped and I stiffened.

“What?”

“
Look at the snow in front,” she said, getting out her scythe.

“
What do you need that for?”

“
See those two parallel lines in the snow?”

“
Yeah?”

“
Someone was dragged into that butcher shop.”

“
Oh no.” I got out my weapons, too. My eyes followed the origin of the drag marks. “Ambra, he got dragged from their upstairs apartment into the butcher shop.”

Her breath hissed through her teeth. “I hope he’s alive.”

We took several deep breaths and when she said, “Let’s go,” we burst out of the car into the night.

When we ran through the unlocked door into Lucian’s all-night butcher shop, we walked into an unholy mess.

The counters, the walls, the floors, the sinks…everything dripped with blood.

Chapter Nine

My heart pounded in my throat.

Back to back, Ambra and I searched the entire butcher shop, including the bathroom and looking at the ceilings, in case anything was hanging upside down from the rafters. Hey, it was Transylvania. We weren’t taking any chances. Samantha Moon had once jumped me from above, after I had shot her in the shoulder with a silver arrow. It had been an important life retention lesson for me as a vampire hunter:
Look up.

“
Hello!” I finally called out softly when we seemed to be alone. “Lucian, are you here?”

Ambra pointed to the walk-in freezer, which had a padlock on it and bloody handprints.

“Lucian!” I yelled and pounded on the door.

“
We’re coming! It’s Ambra and Rand!” she said.

“
We need to get a tire iron to snap off this lock,” I said.

“
We stay together. I’m coming out with you.”

Together, we ran to the rental car and within seconds, Ambra had the tire iron in her hand.

We ran back into the bloody butcher shop. She tried a couple of times to snap the lock and couldn’t do it.

“
Let me use my legs,” I said. “Step away and cover your face, because metal’s going to fly.”

She jammed the tire iron in the lock and ran to the other side of the room. She covered her face but peeked through her fingers. I gave the tire iron a vicious kick and the lock did indeed break.

“Nice kick!” Ambra said.

“
Thanks.” I swallowed. “There’s a lot of blood in here. I hope he’s alive.”

Ambra nodded and pulled open the walk-in freezer door.

Nothing could have shocked me more than the sight of Uta on the floor, bound at the wrists and ankles with coils of butcher’s twine, with blood dripping from her hands and feet and freezing on the floor around her. She must have been struggling against her bonds for quite a while. Tears were frozen to her cheeks. She was also gagged.

“
Uta!” Ambra said.

“
Hang on, we’ll cut you loose,” I said. “Hold still.” I carefully cut through the wrist bonds with my silver blade and Ambra used her scythe to cut through the ones on her ankles.

Uta reached up and pulled out a rag they had stuffed in her mouth. “They came and took Lucian. They’re going to kill him!”

“Which vampires have him?” I asked.

“
Not vampires!” she said. “Vampire
hunters
.”

“
Oh, no!” I said.

“
What vampire hunters?” Ambra asked.

“
The villagers. Just after I put the children to bed, they descended on us like a lynch mob. I heard the commotion. I came down the stairs and they shoved me in the freezer.”

“
Merde!
” Ambra said.

Uta grabbed a boneless steak from the meat display and held it to a bruised cheek. “They don’t want his kind here and they don’t care that he just wants to live a normal life. This retribution goes back hundreds of years, because, well, it’s Transylvania.”

“What did they say?” Ambra asked.

“
A woman was found dead with bite marks on her neck and they’re blaming Lucian. They’re going to kill him.” She dissolved into tears and I didn’t blame her.

“
What are we facing? How are they armed?” I asked.

“
They are amateur vampire hunters, a local group of ruffians who want to be famous vampire slayers. They aren’t very knowledgeable—I’m sure it’s their first vampire hunt—but they took him away to kill him with silver. I tried to stop them and they hurt me because I got in the way. They said when it was over that they would come back and let me out. I’m sure I would have died or lost limbs if you hadn’t come and freed me.”

“
Uta, I’m so sorry.”

“
He could have killed them all, but he won’t, you know? Not even to save himself.”

“
Where are the children?” I asked.

“
Upstairs, sleeping. They only wanted Lucian.” She choked out, “Please get my husband back before they kill him.”

“
Where did they take him?” I asked.

“
To the Raven Citadel, where you rescued all of the kidnapped children. It’s become something of a notorious place.”

“
That horrible place. I can’t believe we’re going there,” I said, shuddering. “We know the way.”

“
How did they overpower him?” Ambra asked as we rushed outside and into the apartment upstairs so Uta could check on the children.

“
They stabbed him with silver forks, cutlery! It weakened him and it hurt him. He tried to escape, but they told him if he escaped that they would kill me.”

“
Would they?” I asked.

“
She’s not a vampire. They must see that,” Ambra said.

“
These are my friends. My neighbors. Even my former sausage-making helper. I want to kiss my children,” Uta said.

I nodded. “Go.”

Bruised and bloody, she checked all of their beds and kissed their sleepy heads while we waited quietly in the living room.

“
They’re all fine.” She went to the sink and washed the blood from her face and wrists. She was quite bruised.

“
We’re going to go get him, Uta.”

“
They’ll just follow you back here.”

I looked at Ambra and then at Uta. “We have a safe place for your whole family at Blackstone Castle”

“In Switzerland?”

“
That’s right. We came here to recruit Lucian as a vampire hunter.”

“
What? I don’t understand. He’s a
vampire
.”

“
We know. There’s no time to explain. We do have a place for all of you, and we can help you get away,” I said.

“
We don’t have money to start over somewhere, or even to buy train tickets for all of us.”

“
Don’t worry about that,” Ambra said. “Can you get your children ready to leave in the next couple of hours and we’ll take care of the rest?”

“
Yes. Of course, but…”

“
Don’t call anyone and tell them you are leaving. Do you understand?” Ambra said.

“
Not even my only sister?”

“
You can call her from Switzerland.”

“
All right.”

“
Whatever you want to take, get it ready. Get
them
ready,” I said.

“
I’ll prepare us to leave the country,” Uta said. “Our passports and documents, too.”

“
Good. Pack up in the seven-seat Dacia MCV parked in front,” I said, handing her the key to the rental car.

“
We’ll need to take your vehicle, Uta,” I said.

“
Our van’s in the shop. The engine is blown. Sorry.”

“
Oh, no!”

“
We have a new electric motorbike with a sidecar. It’s a two-person one, to replace the other one you bought from me.”

“
Talk about déjà vu,” I said. “Okay, pack the car, Uta, with you and yours. When you’re ready, sit in it with your stuff and your kids. Don’t run the engine with the windows shut. It’s dangerous.”

“
Everyone knows that,” she said.

Ambra released a shuddering sigh.

“When we come back, the three of us are going to jump in and then, we’re all going to the train station.”

Uta nodded.

Ambra promised, “We’ll be back!”

“
With Lucian,” I added.

“
Go!” she said. “Go!”

Chapter Ten

Ambra and I soon found ourselves at Raven Citadel. This time, we were facing wannabe vampire hunters and we were going to steal a vampire from them
. Our vampire.