Triumphantly, the vampire shimmered back into his form directly behind the Lycan. He had defeated countless hunters in just this way for hundreds of years. Pain spread through him, radiating through his chest like a starburst. He tried to look down but couldn’t see at first. There was too much brightness, which didn’t make sense. There was only the palest sliver of a moon. They had created cloud cover on top of everything else, although the clouds seemed to have deserted them.
The light was a blazing blue and the pain was fierce, as if a flame had gone right through the middle of his chest, tearing a great holethrough it. His heart felt on fire. Burning. The stench was atrocious. He blinked rapidly until his vision cleared. First, he saw the woman. She looked beautiful. Serene. Far too calm when he was going to destroy her. Then her brother was beside her.
“You should never have set foot on my lands, vampire. Go to hell, where you belong. This time, you cannot return,” Garald announced.
If Rufus squinted against that blue flame, he could make out the sword in his hands.
“You are bound by the laws of Mother Earth and all who serve her,” Vasilisa said in her gentle voice. “I command you to the depths of hades, never to return in any form.”
Garald swung his sword so fast, the vampire heard the whistle as the blade cut through the air and took his head. Vasilisa’s sword had incinerated the vampire’s heart right there in his chest. She had been waiting for him at her brother’s back.
CHAPTER
4
Afanasiv waited as Mars continued his swaying and constant moving. The “bull” was staying true to his battle form, just as Rufus had. Siv touched his mind, keeping a very delicate connection. The mind of a vampire was disgusting and riddled with obscene, hideous images of the torture and destruction of entire villages, crimes they’d committed in their past and enjoyed remembering.
There was elation, even glee, despite the fact that, or maybe because, Rufus and the pawns had been defeated. Mars took a kind of malicious pleasure in knowing they were gone and Prince Vitus, with his favoritism and continual preening, did not save them. No, it was more than that. Mars was certain he could not be defeated. He was protected, and he would be given his ultimate prize—one he had longed for and believed he had been cheated out of by Dimitri Tirunul. Skyler should have belonged to him. He had nearly had her some years earlier, but she had escaped his trap. A mere human had eluded him, and she would pay for the constant ridicule Prince Vitus and Rufus subjected him to over the last few years.
Skyler? That bit of information alarmed Afanasiv. Skyler and Dimitri kept a residence in Siberia. Not just anywhere in Siberia but in the vast forests that fell under the rule of the royal house of wolves. Dimitrimaintained a wolf sanctuary. He fought hard to keep the wolves healthy and their habitat from shrinking. He’d had the foresight to realize humans would begin to cut down the trees and kill the wolves, seeing them as a menace to livestock. From the beginning, he had made it his priority to keep land for the wolves. Whether or not he had known all along that the massive tract of forest fell right in the middle of Lycan territory, it had, which added an additional safety feature for the wolves—but not necessarily for Dimitri or Skyler.
Siv processed the information at high speed, as he did all things. Mars had made a bargain with the head of Lilith’s army. He believed himself invincible. There had to be other vampires just like him. Prince Vitus very well could have made the same pact. Vampires lied with every breath they drew, yet they expected the demons from the underworld to keep their word. That made little sense. Siv pulled away from the obscene contact, sickened by every image in Mars’ head.
The bull continued his swaying and moving, taunting Siv. “You don’t really know who I am, do you?”
Afanasiv shook his head. “The real question should be whether you know who I am. Allow me to introduce myself. You should know my name before you kill me. I am known as Afanasiv Belan to our people. I have lived in a monastery for centuries, but prior to that, and for some time after, I have hunted ones such as you for more centuries than I care to count.”
There was a long silence. The wind answered him, blowing hard through the snow. The powerful gusts disturbed the branches in the trees, setting them clicking wildly. Flurries of snow fell from the needles clinging to the branches as the wind whipped through the canopy and brush. He heard the soft whisper of a voice in that wind, cleansing the images tainting his mind that the vampire had put there. His lifemate. Magical. How did she know what to do? How was she able to reach him without connecting and sharing those foul images?
“Afanasiv Belan? The ancient?” Mars asked for confirmation.
The vampire shouldn’t have made such a grave mistake. To ask Sivto clarify his identity was the same as admitting he was taken aback by the information. He should have played it cool. Simultaneously, the ice around the waterfall began to crack. At first the sound was a mere crackle here and there. Then the force of it began to roll like thunder, picking up speed as icicles broke off, falling to the ground. Sheets of ice calved off the waterfall, crashing to the jagged ice-covered rocks below.
Siv nodded slowly. Mars seemed mesmerized by the sound of the ice breaking and Siv’s nod. Afanasiv burst into action, using his speed as Mars suddenly went into motion, rushing straight at him. Siv used their combined speed to penetrate the solid chest of the vampire, shifting his arm and hand into that of a solid burning spear, incinerating the black acid as he made his entrance.
The vampire screamed and tore at Siv’s neck and shoulder with his teeth. He used his claws to tear at Siv’s chest to try to get at his heart. Afanasiv shut down all ability to feel pain. One part of him monitored the crumbling ice sculpture that had been the waterfall. Vitus was either fleeing or he was coming to Mars’ aid. Siv never stopped the steady extraction of the heart from Mars’ body.
There was no hint of sound to warn either the hunter or the vampire, but suddenly Garald was there, his sword catching the blinding blue light of Vasilisa’s crystal ceremonial sword as he raised the blade high. The edge came down between the hunter and vampire, flashing blue and black as it cut through the vampire’s wrists so the massive claws fell to snow-covered ground, where they tried to dig their way back to their master. The blade never stopped moving, arcing back up toward the vampire’s throat to slice right through his neck cleanly.
Mars’ head, with vicious teeth still snapping wildly, bounced halfway down the slope, pouring wiggling parasites and black acid onto the pristine white snow. The moment the parasites and acid touched the surface, blue flames erupted, springing from one to the next untilthe fire had consumed the head, parasites and acid completely. Even the teeth were gone. The hands and talons suffered the same fate.
Siv tossed the withered heart into the air, and the whip of lightning hit it, incinerating it on contact, then the whip followed it down to the body, burning it as well. Afanasiv immediately bathed his arms and chest in the healing energy as he surveyed the waterfall. Vitus was gone. He’d fled, abandoning the others, choosing not to aid them.
Garald held the blade of his sword in the blue flame his sister’s ceremonial sword provided. Afanasiv regarded the two of them with his unusual eyes. They were both staring at him openly. He knew his eyes were very different. One moment they could be green. The next blue. Not just any blue. Deep blue. Vivid blue. The same with the green. His hair was blond. Like the other ancients, he kept it long. It was thick and he wore it pulled back away from his face and tied tight at the nape of his neck. The length was knotted with cord every few inches to keep it tidy.
He studied his lifemate. In fact, it was rather impossible to take his eyes off her. He hadn’t known what to expect, but he had certainly never dreamed or imagined he would end up with a woman as physically beautiful as Vasilisa. In the Carpathian world, physical beauty meant nothing at all. Age meant nothing. Perhaps all lifemates felt this way. He was certain they must after searching through centuries for their other half. Up close, she was truly gorgeous.
“Lifemate.” He whispered the word. It came from his soul. Felt as though it were wrenched from him. Sacred.
She smiled. Her blue eyes soft. “Lifemate,” she returned.
Garald groaned. Shook his head. “No. No. Vasi, no, it can’t be. You know it’s impossible. He’s Carpathian. Can’t you see he’s Carpathian? That’s what they call each other when they claim each other’s souls. That’s an unbreakable bond. You can’t be any part of that. You’re Lycan and you’re of royal blood. Do you have any idea what kind of controversy that would cause? Absolutely not. Say no.”
“It’s too late, Garald,” she murmured, still looking into Siv’s eyes.
Garald groaned again and waved his hand between them in an attempt to break their connection. “You two aren’t thinking straight. I’m actually trying to help you. This is a physical thing. I get it, Vasi. You’re going into heat. It happens. You can’t mate with a Carpathian. We’ll find you a perfectly respectable Lycan.” His voice was soothing when he spoke to his sister.
He turned to the hunter, his tone changing to steel. “I’m sorry, Afanasiv. You’re a good fighter. I’m sure in your world you’re an admirable man, but you and I both know what happens when our blood mixes. It isn’t accepted. You’ve seen Dimitri. No one accepts him. They pretend to but they don’t. We watch over him, but we worry someone will still try to harm him or Skyler.”