It's a decent plan. Are you on him yet?
Not until he fires again.
Dimitri hissed a curse out between clenched teeth. He risked another run, streaking past the fallen sniper, slashing down with his silver sword to sever the head from the body as he ran. He made it to the hole in the wall, and instead of going through it, as the assassin would expect, he leapt back through the hole in the roof and sprinted for the other side.
A succession of bullets followed him, one smacking into the tree trunk on the other side of the meeting hall, head level. He zigzagged, and then dropped low, shifting as he did so. If Fen couldn't find the bastard after that, he was going to do it himself.
Fighting had died down in the streets. He saw a few bodies as he sped away from the meeting hall, trying to trace back the last bullet that had been fired. He didn't use vapor-the Sange rau would be expecting it.
He isn't vampire, Dimitri informed Fen. How can he be Sange rau basically committing murder, if he isn't rogue or vampire?
Whoever is behind this has built himself an army and they're fanatical. Hemming is either a mercenary, or he believes what he's doing is right. I'm coming around downwind of him. He's packing up his rifle to make a run for it. I'm not close enough to stop him yet.
Deliberately, Dimitri shifted, moving stealthily through the buildings, giving the sniper just a glimpse or two of him, enough to make him hesitate leaving. If he had a mission to fulfill and he had been trained in the military, he wouldn't stop until he'd managed to kill his target.
He's buying into it, Dimitri, be careful. He's intelligent. If you overplay your hand, he'll know we're on to him.
I'm going to give him a shadow to fixate on and then I'll swing around and come in from the other side.
Dimitri projected his shadow on the shop closest to where he had revealed himself to the sniper. The shadow crouched low, keeping within darker shadows as much as possible as it wove in and out of the buildings, moving toward the church. Once he knew his shadow clone appeared realistic, but stayed where the sniper could only catch glimpses of it, he began to circle around to close in on Hemming from the side opposite Fen.
He's settled back on the roof and is hunting you, Fen reported. I'm in position and staying still. I don't want to spook him.
Pack hunting was new to most Carpathians, but Dimitri and Fen had used the tactics of the Lycans often over the last few centuries. They worked well together. There was little difference between hunting the vampire and hunting the Sange rau-not now when they were evenly matched in speed, intelligence and skill.
Dimitri closed in from the other side and signaled that he was ready. They had to be fast, stripping Hemming of his rifle and any other gun quickly. He, no doubt, was deadly with them.
Fen struck from the left, streaking fast, keeping his energy contained, slamming into Hemming, rolling him out of the tree and riding his body down, so that when they hit the ground he could slam the stake into the assassin's heart.
Hemming was struck so hard he dropped the rifle, but as they fell and Fen's legs clamped around him, he drew his own dagger and stabbed Fen's thigh. He was fast, piercing flesh and muscle three times before they hit the ground. Fen didn't flinch, ignoring the wounds, waiting his moment. He slammed the stake into Hemming's chest as they landed in the dirt, using the momentum from the fall and the unforgiving ground to ensure he struck deep enough. Hemming had been thrashing so much, the stake cut through the edge of his heart, but failed to pierce the center.
The breath was driven from their lungs, but Hemming retained possession of his dagger. He rolled, slicing at Fen's chest and throat in desperation, trying to pull the silver stake from his body as he did so. Before he could rise, Dimitri was there, silver sword flashing. He severed the head and Fen jerked the stake free and slammed it home again, this time penetrating the heart all the way through.
The two of them sat in the dirt beside the body, trying to get their breathing under control. "We're getting better at this," Fen said.
Dimitri surveyed the damage to his brother. "I can see that." He pushed his hand through his hair before kneeling up to stop the flow of blood leaking from the wounds on Fen's thigh. "He had military training, Fen, but wasn't like us. He didn't have centuries of growing as a mixed blood. Where are they coming from?"
Fen sighed. "We've got one of them alive. The council members and Mikhail will question him. I did notice that he had a small tattoo on his wrist, an intricate kind of tribal design, in a circle. Arno has that same tattoo."
Dimitri pulled back the sleeves of the sniper. "He's got it as well. So do most of the dead Lycans I encountered in the street."
"So if someone wants to kill all of the mixed bloods, why are they using them to aid their cause?" Fen asked. "The deeper we get into this puzzle, the less any of it makes sense."
"I'm at a loss for an explanation," Dimitri admitted. "But that symbol they all wear means something."
"We'll have to ask Zev what it means." Fen took a deep breath. "If he lives. They're still fighting for him."
"Let's go help," Dimitri said. "I reached out to Gabriel and Lucian, and they have everything under control and we're not needed right now. They'll do cleanup and burn any bodies."
Fen nodded and accepted his brother's help rising. "Andre, Tomas, Lojos and Mataias took the remaining council members back to the inn. Mikhail and Gregori are sorting all that out. We just have to make certain Zev survives."
Dimitri and Fen made their way back to the rubble that was the meeting hall. Skyler and Tatijana had taken turns working inside Zev's body. Arno had given blood more than once and clearly was dizzy, lying down beside Zev's body.
Skyler looked so pale Dimitri rushed to her side, wrapping his arm around her and immediately offering her blood. The energy it took to heal such a severe wound required a tremendous supply of life-giving blood.
Zev needs blood much worse than I do. Arno couldn't keep up and both Tatijana and I have had to work to clean and close this terrible hole in his body. The stake went through numerous organs, Skyler reported to both of them.
Fen immediately dropped down beside his lifemate. "I can give him blood."
Tatijana glanced at him, taking in the sight of his wounds. She sighed but said nothing as he tore a laceration in his wrist and held it over Zev's lips to drip the ancient blood into his mouth. Zev didn't respond and the drops ran down to his jaw.
Zev, you must take this offering of blood, Branislava called to him. Allow Fen, your brother-kin, to give to you what you need.
Zev heard that angelic voice, but he didn't respond. He heard the call and answer chant, the swelling volume of voices, so many warriors and women and even children, attempting to draw him back.
Yes, come back.
That voice was a melody, a sweet, soft melody playing through his mind as elusive as the wind. He knew he should recognize it, but he was tired and trying to work puzzles out was too difficult. I am weary of this life. I have lived far too long. War and killing have become all that is left to me. Letting go would be so much easier than facing the pain of his horrendous wounds and the endless loneliness that would follow. He had done his duty a million times over. What was really left for a man such as him?
Stay. We are bound together, you and I. Our spirits are woven together. There was no other way to save your life. If you go, you take me with you.
That made no sense to him. He was bound to no one, forever alone. The blood dripping into his mouth became bothersome. He licked at the drops to remove them. The taste burst through his system, a rush of adrenaline. Fen. Fen was there. Of course.
The adrenaline allowed him to identify that soft melodic voice. Branislava, the woman he couldn't get out of his mind. He didn't ever get involved with a woman. His lifestyle forbade such a thing. No one had ever intrigued him or had drawn him the way she had. She was off-limits and yet, he couldn't get her out of his head.
I'm dreaming. That was the only answer, and men like him didn't dream of beautiful women weaving their spirit with his in order to fight for his life. No one would do that. No one. The risk was far too great.
Stay with me. Take the blood Fen offers. It is ancient Carpathian blood. It is the blood of the Lycan. We will go together to the ground, allowing the earth to heal you. You will not be alone. I have tied my fate to yours.