Tariq nodded, wincing a little at the idea of Matt and his men being descended upon by the ancients, especially those from the monastery. He kept a discreet eye on them as they fed from the security detail as well as the two prisoners and the three society members. Only the guards were spared, as no one wanted them to be weakened.
Dragomir saw to the wounds of all those injured in the battle and then he had to take more blood. Tariq and Maksim stood silently by as he used the three vampire hunters, Daniel, Bruce and Vince, once again. Tariq noted he wasn’t gentle, nor was he unkind—he simply didn’t notice the three as important in his world. They were truly nothing more to him than a source for sustenance.
Tariq was grateful when Dragomir joined all the other hunters gathered together, making their way to the other side of the basement, where the workroom contained the cursed carousel.
“With each splinter destroyed, more of Vadim’s power will be taken from him. This is a small victory for us. Vadim is out at sea, unaware that what we do here will begin to diminish his abilities. He will feel it when we destroy them, but I doubt he will realize we have taken a very real strike against him,” Dragomir stated.
“If we can track him at sea,” Tariq said, “that might be the place to destroy him. Less mess to clean up in the city.”
Lojos shook his head. “Vadim has a very good detection system. He’s out there on the ocean and can see and scan for miles. He’s running right now, with Fridrick and Georg destroyed as well as half of his hybrids and most of his puppets. He lost seven lesser vampires, pawns to him, but still needed. It was a decisive victory for us, even though Vadim, Sergey and Fridrick’s youngest brother, Addler, remain to build another army.”
“Out of curiosity,” Maksim said, “what are we going to do with our resident vampire hunters? Nothing seems to faze them. I took their blood and they still want in. Every hunter has taken their blood, and they haven’t panicked or protested.”
“Let’s hand them over to Matt and his team to train. If Matt thinks they’re up to it then we’ll get involved. At least they can be monitored so we can keep them out of trouble,” Tariq decided.
Maksim nodded. “That’s a good idea. If we try to train them ourselves, some of the other hunters might decide to join in.”
Tariq raised an eyebrow and the two men looked at each other with faint smiles. It was good to share a little bit of humor after such a harrowing time.
The Carpathians gathered, forming a circle around the splintered carousel. They wove safeguards around the circle between them and the carousel to keep the splinters from escaping. The safeguards were strong, the strands interwoven by each separate hunter until they blended together with a strength impossible to penetrate. They had never taken a master vampire down this way, destroying him by inches. If Dragomir was correct and the high mage had told him that splintering one’s self diminished power, then the hope was that destroying Vadim’s splinters would eventually damage his strength as well.
Tariq lifted his hand to move it in a circle, commanding the chariots and horses to reclaim every bit of wood as well as the blood and splinters of shadow. The horses jerked and rocked, but couldn’t escape the powerful command. The dust and debris shifted, swirled and then coated the various horses and chariots until, when they settled, the carousel was completely intact.
Chains rattled, hovered over the wooden pieces and then hooked into them, lifting them so they could spin off the ground. The Carpathians began to chant, their voices rising, filling the basement with power until the entire carousel shuddered and rocked, cringing to escape the assault on it. Blood began to seep out of the sides of the wooden carvings. Droplets ran down the sides. Dark shadows appeared, several of them, scurrying like tiny parasites in an attempt to flee the attack, moving over the wooden horses and chariots, seeking grooves to hide in, but there was no way to hide from the combined power of the ancient Carpathians commanding them to show themselves.
Lightning zigzagged through the room. Thunder shook the house, booming from inside the basement. The carousel began to spin faster and faster, as it had done in the yard, but the ancients slowed it down, so that it pushed and fought against the power. Suddenly the lightning forked, slamming hard into all eight pieces, the four horses and four chariots.
A hideous shriek rose, deafening in the confines of the basement. The carousel turned dark, smoke rising and with it, Vadim’s face, swirling in the smoke, eyes wide with shock, mouth open as he emitted the shriek. The face distorted, elongated, wavering in the smoke to slowly disappear. All the while his voice screeched and wailed. His teeth snapped viciously, but there was nothing he could do to stop the relentless assault by the hunters. The splinters blackened, curled up and were reduced to ash. The horses and chariots followed suit until there was only a pile of ashes and silence.
Matt rushed in, his gun cradled in his arms, his face a grim mask. “What the hell is going on? The two prisoners are screaming their heads off, on the floor with their hands over their ears. The woman, Emeline, is doing the same thing. I tried to get in there to see if I could help her, but she wouldn’t allow me inside. Genevieve went to her.”Tariq sighed. “We’ll take care of it, Matt.” Blaze. I need you and Charlotte to go to Emeline now. They hadn’t considered that anyone with a splinter inside her would feel the loss just as Vadim did. It made sense. The splinters were a part of Vadim, and when any were destroyed, the others felt it. If Emeline trusted them more, she would have told them. She had to have felt it when they removed Charlotte’s splinter. “Charlotte and Blaze will help Genevieve with Emeline, and we’ll take care of the prisoners.”
He was tired. They all were. But getting rid of the splinters was essential. Vadim would retaliate. He had held off when he knew the two men had betrayed him—and he had to have known instantly—but he thought he could use them in some manner.
“The two men, Ryan, the blond one, and Andrew, the dark-haired one, had to have a shield similar to Charlotte’s,” Tariq explained as they followed Matt to the guardhouse. “It allowed them to resist Vadim’s command somewhat, just as Charlotte was able to resist Fridrick’s.”
Siv sent him a cool glance from his strange, aquamarine eyes. They swirled with colors constantly, blue and green, both vibrant. “If she can resist a master vampire’s commands, she will be able to resist yours.”
Tariq hadn’t planned on commanding Charlotte to do much of anything unless one counted in the bedroom. Playing was fun, but in real life, he wanted his woman to stand beside him. He wanted her opinions. He was counting on her advice. He wanted her to go to the club with him and become part of that world he’d created. He hoped other Carpathians would come into their world and perhaps, through his club, find lifemates.
More, he was working with Josef, the young tech, and the database the Carpathians had taken from the Morrison Center in the hopes of reaching the psychic women before Vadim did. Now he knew he would have to figure out something to do with the men as well. He still had two working for Vadim undetected in his club and that meant finding them. He hoped Andrew and Ryan could help with that, but if not, he was confident Maksim and he would ferret them out soon enough. All in all, they’d done fairly well. They killed two master vampires, several lesser ones and nearly destroyed Vadim’s puppets and hybrid army without losing any of their hunters. He’d take that any day of the week.
Ryan and Andrew lay on the floor, blood trickling from their ears, but both were aware as the hunters entered the room. They looked very apprehensive.
“We’re going to remove the shadow splinters from you,” Tariq assured. “You’ve come this far. You’ll have to trust us.”
Both men nodded, and that added two more to his ever-growing family.
20
Charlotte left the nightclub with Blaze a little early. She wanted to check on the children before she sprang her surprise on Tariq. Nearly a week had flown by since the battle with Fridrick and Vadim’s army. Vadim had disappeared. Even looking at sea, none of the hunters had been able to follow him. Still, she felt it was the calm before the storm. She meant to enjoy every moment they had before things blew up in their faces.
Tariq had explained to her that it was the Carpathian way of life. Even if had they gotten Vadim this round, another master vampire would take his place. There were always more vampires. There would always be vampires and as a hunter, Tariq would defend those humans and Carpathians alike in his territory.
Danny and Amelia had opted to wait until the healer arrived from the Carpathian Mountains before being converted. As long as Bella and Lourdes had to remain aboveground during daylight hours, they wanted to as well, just in case, and neither Charlotte nor Tariq wanted to chance converting Bella or Lourdes without a powerful healer present. Charlotte loved the two teens all the more for insisting on staying with the little ones.
Charlotte looked carefully around her, scanning for people, for enemies, for anyone in the vicinity that might witness her shifting. She’d practiced shifting often because she loved that she could do it. Loved that she could fly. Loved that she could always touch her children and know they were safe. Liv was still in the ground healing. Charlotte, Tariq and Val took turns giving her blood, but then sent her back to sleep. Charlotte wasn’t quite as good at that as the other two, so she made certain Tariq reinforced the command.