The tapestry swayed, although there was no wind. Gazsi’s smirk widened. “That’s right, my lovely. You know me. They do not treat you right here. You should not work for them. Others would work for you.They would bow before your beauty. Come to me. Whisper your name to me. Just take one small step. One foot in front of the other.”
The tapestry swayed again, the threads blazing with colors of protest this time. A woman’s low moan could be heard. There was a distinct creak. Behind the tapestry, a crack appeared in the wall as if a door slowly inched open.
“That’s it, my dear. Come to me. You must come to me yourself. One foot in front of the other,” Gazsi instructed in his mesmerizing voice.
He nearly danced with glee but kept himself under control, staring at the tapestry of safeguards as it fought to warn the woman to stay behind it. A foot inched past the fluttering threads, and then, with infinite slowness, she appeared. She looked to be about sixty, but with Lycans, it was impossible to tell age. They had longevity, so she could have been much older. Her hair was dark with a few silver threads that seemed to take on the glow of the threads in the tapestry. She kept her head down, arms crossed over her chest, and trembled continuously. It was very clear from her body language that she didn’t want to obey his voice, but she couldn’t stop herself.
Gazsi was careful not to leap on her, but the need was there on his face. His once handsome features were gray and lined with cracks. Those seams had tiny wiggling parasites nestled in them. The creatures were as gray and gaunt as their host but were now awakened at the sight of prey coming toward them.
She halted, one hand braced on the door to her hiding spot, the other looking as if it clutched the tapestry to keep from moving forward. She looked up slowly, horrified, giving Gazsi even more satisfaction. She didn’t look at him but at the center of his chest, where his clothes hung on his thin frame.
“Ah, my dear, you are so perfectly delicious, everything I could have wanted or needed.” He used his voice and beckoned to her with his long, bony fingers. “Come to me now, all the way, let go of thedoor.” The last was nothing short of a command, so much so that the boom of his voice broke through his sweet beckoning. “Tell me your name.”
The woman swallowed nervously but then licked her lips, making them glisten. They weren’t pale at all, they were red. Bright against the olive of her skin tone. “Maria,” she whispered.
Gazsi’s eyes glowed. He held himself in check, so close to victory. One step. That was all that was required, and then she would be his. “Maria, come to me now.”
The woman let go of the door and tapestry, obeying the hypnotic, compelling voice as all his victims inevitably did. The battle raged outside, and he didn’t care in the least who was winning. He was starved, and this woman was the key to everything—to getting him to full strength and allowing him to leave while the others engaged the Lycans.
Maria kept her head down as she stepped into his open arms. He inhaled her scent. She smelled like Lycan under all that human form. That would give him extra strength. Her heart... Gazsi frowned.
“Is something wrong?” Maria asked. “Perhaps you were expecting my heart to be pounding out of control. You want adrenaline in my bloodstream. It would give you such a rush.”
She lifted her head finally to stare him straight in the eyes. Her eyes were strangely colored. Blue and then green, the colors swirling and changing rapidly. Gazsi stared, trying to place those eyes. There were only a few people in the world he had come across with those eyes. They mesmerized him.
She moved. It seemed a subtle movement. One arm, the muscles rippling, came alive, the arm not that of a woman but a man. He gasped and hunched as pain exploded through him and his glowing eyes filled with hate.
“Hunter,” he hissed, his voice now high-pitched. “You are Dragonseeker.”
Afanasiv gave up all pretense of the illusion of docile Maria. He ripped the heart from the shocked vampire. Clamping his fist around the heart, he streaked through the house toward the back door, calling the lightning as he did so. The heart pulsed and burned, spewing black acid desperate to get back to its master. As he reached the door, it slammed closed, nearly hitting him in the face.
Vines erupted from the floor to wrap around Afanasiv’s legs. He’d encountered such vines before, the hooks poisonous as they sank into flesh, holding the hunter nearly paralyzed and unable to shift shapes while the vampires rushed in for the kill. He waved his hand, and the hungry vines burst into flames.
There was no dropping the heart into the flames using the vines as fuel. The wizened organ would never incinerate before the master vampire had gotten to it. Now the heart was tearing at his palm in a frenzy to get back to Gazsi.
“I will burn this house down around you, hunter. There are Lycans here. They think to hide from me, but they cannot. Give me what is mine and I will go quietly.”
The vines collapsed back to the floor they’d been made from. The flooring now appeared twisted and scarred. The blood from Olga’s body no longer stained the flooring. Instead, there were blackened blemishes on the wood, like wounds.
“Vampires are ever the deceivers.” Afanasiv circled back around to the wider part of the room, where he could lead the vampire away from where the mage might have lingering power to aid one of his chosen army.
“And hunters are not? I heard of your contract with Lilith. She told Olga, and the mage heard everything. You did not fulfill your contract.”
Gazsi followed Afanasiv slowly, trying to cut him off but not succeeding. That confirmed that the vampire had his ability to work his spells, but his physical body was too much energy to maintain withoutan infusion of blood. Had Xayvion been watching, he would have learned quite a bit from his experiment.
Afanasiv would have felt guilty had he spoken with anyone about the contract he had made with Lilith, but the other Carpathians, men of honor, had assured him following the contract to the letter was what was expected of him, even with an enemy such as Lilith. His parents hadn’t made it out of the underworld, but Lilith’s side of the contract hadn’t specified the conditions of their health. Technically, Afanasiv had killed his father by ripping out his heart. Lilith hadn’t done that. He had made the pact with his father and followed through, even though it was the most difficult thing he’d ever done. He had welcomed losing his emotions after that.
What are you doing? I’m making my way back to you. Stay near the door.
Was there a little bit of panic in his confident lady’s mind?I am an ancient hunter, sívamet,he soothed.I need a larger space. Have no worries, I know how to kill a vampire after all these centuries.
He tried to keep a shield between them in his mind—not because he feared she couldn’t take the battle with a vampire, but he disliked her seeing the way the demon in him embraced the battle.
I need to know you are all right, Siv.
Again, there was that note of anxiety. Part of him was happy for it, another part mystified.Vasilisa, you wanted me to have faith in your abilities. Why are you questioning mine?That made no sense to him.
I can’t touch you.