Dark Destiny (5 page)

Vernon snarled at her, exposing his long fangs. "You won't be smiling when I drain the blood from your veins." Spittle ran down the side of his mouth and he coughed, holding his hands over his wounds.

"Now, now, Vernon, she does have a point. A mere woman and she stuck you like a pig." The taller vampire smiled, exposing his sharp incisors. "No need to get nasty with her over your own incompetence."

Look for something more. Another perhaps. It seems unreasonable that they would be in the same lair, but he is drawing your attention for a reason. They are afraid of you. You have twice plunged a dagger into one of the undead and you are a woman, a puzzle to them. Look with more than your eyes but do not turn away from him
. Destiny sensed Nicolae at the cave's entrance, and her heart began to beat much faster.

Do not show fear, even if it is of me. They will think you weak, and you want them worried. They have never encountered a female hunter before.

She had to trust Nicolae; she had no choice. He had hunted her for years, wanting her for himself or for some plan she could not fathom. She couldn't imagine him betraying her to other vampires at this late date. And she knew from experience that he was right. Vampires did not share lairs. The situation was unusual and highly dangerous. She scanned the chamber, utilizing all her senses. She scented the third adversary immediately. She couldn't locate him, but she knew he was there. She shared the information with Nicolae.

Destiny laughed softly, feigning unconcern while Vernon snarled his hatred of her. She turned to the more powerful vampire. "I don't understand. Usually when one so powerful as yourself enters my home territory, I hear rumors." Deliberately she flattered him, managing to sound breathless and slightly flirtatious.

The tall vampire bowed low. "I am called Pater. And you are?"

"Not fooled." Destiny whirled around, crouching low, and extracted a dagger from her boot and drove it up into the newest attacker's soft belly. As he shrieked, she drove her fist hard through bone and muscle, straight to the heart. Her fingers closed around it and she jerked hard as she leapt backward to avoid as much of the poisonous blood as possible.

Flinging the heart as far from the flopping vampire as she could, she struck a spark off the rock wall, fanning the embers as she raced up the wall, then tossing the flames at the pulsating blackened organ so that it incinerated immediately to a fine ash.

Vernon waved his arms recklessly, forgetting for a moment his terrible injuries. Destiny had destroyed the third vampire who had waited so patiently to attack her from behind while Pater distracted her. She dropped to the ground, ever conscious of the damp spots and the yellow vapor swirling thickly.

"I hope he wasn't a friend of yours, Pater," she said, smirking a little. Her leg, where the reptile's tail had struck her with such force, was beginning to throb and burn. "I certainly hope you aren't calling yourself Father. You're much too young, you know." She focused on the tall vampire, knowing Vernon posed little threat unless she was close to him. His strength was waning rapidly from loss of blood and the terrible wounds she had inflicted upon him.

The tall vampire merely smiled at her. He inhaled deeply, his eyes widening as he took in her scent. "You are one of us—the blood of our people flows in your veins." He looked slightly puzzled. "Haven't you heard the whispers of the movement? We are banding together, one by one, growing strong within our ranks. One piece of straw can blow away in the wind, but a bundle is solid. Too long our power has been hidden. We've been forced to fear while lesser creatures, beings no more than cattle to us, rule the earth. Why? Because we have never joined forces. Together we can defeat the hunters. They are few, and most are close to joining our ranks. We have eyes in the hunters' camps and we have been growing in our dominion over the cattle, infiltrating into positions of influence and power. Join with us."

A strange tingling had begun in her calf muscle, alarming because it radiated up her leg toward her thigh and also down to her foot. She tilted her chin, suddenly afraid of what he was going to say. Was this why Nicolae had hunted her for so long? To convince her to join the ranks of the undead in some new bid for power? The idea was chilling. Could she possibly stop such a movement on her own? Who would believe her? If she told anyone what she was, they would destroy her.

"You belong with us."

She winced at his words. She couldn't help the shudder that ran through her body, the sudden memories that sickened her. She slammed the door on them hard, terrified of what they would do to her.

Sensing her vulnerability, Pater took a gliding step toward her, barely skimming the ground. Destiny stepped to the side, not wanting to back into the wall of the chamber. She was certain there was something there. Unexpectedly, her leg went out from under her. She went down hard, a shocked look on her face. The strange tingling was a paralysis creeping up from the bruising on her calf muscle toward her thigh. Her foot was rigid, unable to move.

Snarling triumphantly, Vernon pushed past Pater, rushing her, greedy for blood. He stumbled in his haste, lunging forward. She saw his foot lashing out and she rolled awkwardly, the blow catching her on the temple, but without most of its original force. In retaliation, Destiny launched a rock straight at one of the wounds on his chest. She could see Pater gliding toward her with his unhurried stride, that same smile on his face.

The heavy rock smashed solidly into Vernon's mangled chest. He howled, spittle and blood spraying from his mouth as he nearly collapsed. "I'll kill her," he vowed, so incensed he could barely get the words out. His hatred manifested itself in the chamber. The yellow vapor swirled closer to Destiny, circling her as Vernon approached.

Destiny waited, watching his every move. Vernon was severely injured, his blood loss great. Despite her inability to move her leg, she was certain she was still the stronger of the two. She could take his heart if he was close enough. She would have to kill at least one of them—before she found a way to destroy herself. She was determined she would not be taken alive by either of them.

Something in her stillness made the vampire pause. Even Pater stopped moving to regard her uneasily. Vernon's hate-filled gaze narrowed, and he lunged at her.

The chamber exploded with fireworks, bursts of flame and a shower of sparks. A tall, powerfully built man landed solidly in the midst of the pyrotechnics.

It was far too late for Vernon to retreat. The newcomer's hands caught his bullet-shaped head and wrenched hard, snapping bones. The attacker moved so fast he was a blurred image, his fist driving deep through the undead's chest cavity and extracting the heart from the screaming vampire. As Vernon fell, Destiny caught the glint of a dagger. It dropped from the vampire's nerveless fingers and landed a short distance from her.

Destiny stared up at the stranger. She knew him. She would know him anywhere. He was raw power and pure elegance with his long hair and strong face and piercing eyes. Eyes of death. Whirlwind of death. He took her breath away. She couldn't think of him as anything but her mortal enemy. A dangerous vampire who had killed again and again.

"How badly are you injured?" Nicolae demanded tersely, his brilliant gaze slashing through the heavy yellow vapor that was gathering around them. "This entire chamber is a death trap. We have to get out of here." He took a step toward her, leaned close, reaching for her to gather her into the safety of his arms. Pater had disappeared, and the feel of the chamber was alarming. The very air vibrated with tension and something far more sinister.

Destiny flung herself forward to meet him, a dagger concealed along her inner wrist. She would have only one chance to save herself. As Nicolae loomed over her, all muscle and sinew and flowing grace, her stomach lurched alarmingly, her resolve weakening for just a moment. Then she saw his eyes. Dark. Dangerous. Flames flickering in the depths. She thrust the knife at his heart.

Hands clamped around both of her wrists in a vise-like grip, pinning the flat of the blade against her skin. Someone caught her from behind, jerking her backward against a hard chest. Her captor was enormously strong, his grip unbreakable. Destiny threw her head back, attempting to make contact with her captor, hoping to smash his nose. The back of her head hit a chest so hard that pain exploded behind her eyes and in her temples. She could only watch helplessly as Nicolae bent ever closer toward her. Destiny brought up her one good leg, attempting to kick him.

"We have to get out of here," said a voice behind her. Low. Musical. Compelling. "You were careless, Nicolae. She nearly did you in." Her unseen captor twisted the dagger from her hand, and just that quickly slit her wrist.

The action was swift and unexpected, the cut deep and extremely painful. Blood poured from her wrist. Destiny scowled, unable to understand why they would do such a thing. Vampires craved blood and the power of
feeling
their prey die. They needed the rush of adrenaline in their victim's blood as much as the blood itself.

"Damn it, Vikirnoff, it wasn't necessary to hurt her." The low murmur of the voice registered even as she felt the combined power of the two men merge, thrust deep and hold her in their thrall.

Completely helpless, unable to move or to deny them anything, Destiny could only watch in horror as Nicolae gathered her to him, opening his chest with a single slash. He pressed her close, offering his ancient blood, blood she knew would bind them together for eternity. She struggled in her own mind, heard the scream of fear and panic wrenched from her soul, a scream that never made it past her throat. But she drank because she had no choice. They were far too powerful together.

It is necessary to remove the tainted blood from your system. Relax
—
we have to do this fast. We need to leave this place, and the vampire has poisoned your body with something new to us. Go inside yourself, analyze the compound, break it down and push it out of your body
. As always, Nicolae's voice was gentle and steady.

She heard her captor chanting, words Nicolae had used in her mind before, a rhythm of soft, soothing music that somehow took the pain from her calf and her wrist. From her shoulder and arm where the vampire had managed to mark her. Strangely, as Nicolae's blood poured into her, the terrible burning that was with her day and night seemed to ease. She became aware of Nicolae's hand at the nape of her neck, cradling her head, massaging her neck. Gently.

Destiny closed her eyes to shut out what was happening to her, the helpless feeling of being utterly and completely vulnerable. The ground beneath them shivered, a forewarning. They couldn't dissolve into mist with the poisonous vapor surrounding them, and she couldn't run with the poison in her body paralyzing her. She had no idea why they were forcing her blood to run in a steady stream onto the ground and filling her with the powerful blood of an ancient, but it occurred to her that they were risking their lives by staying in the chamber with her.

A part of her brain was working furiously, considering her options, testing her strengths, determined to find a way to escape. Another part of her was relaxing into Nicolae's hold, sinking deeper into his compulsion, accepting his strange connection to her.

"You will have to do it for her, Nicolae." The voice floated up from behind her, sounding far away. "She is not capable. We will have to take her from this place ourselves. The trap is closing, and the one who escaped hopes to keep us locked here."

That pricked her pride. She could do anything they could do. She was strong and Nicolae had taught her well, perhaps far better than he realized. Destiny sought inside herself, past the pain and fear, past the knowledge of what and who she was. She simply dropped away, finding pure energy, finding a place of power and healing. Her blood was fascinating, and she could clearly see the difference between the blood pouring onto the ground and the blood being forced into her body. She could see the ancient blood at war with her own, driving it from her body, a battle fought in her veins for her heart and soul. There were thick dark spots spreading up from her calf, invading her muscles and multiplying at a rapid rate.

She turned her attention to those spots, the dark bacteria that had invaded her bloodstream to do the vampire's bidding.

Hurry. We must go now. I will carry you as close to the surface as possible, but you will have to be able to shape-shift in order to get out of here safely
. As always, the melodic voice was unhurried and unconcerned. But Destiny was aware of the urgency of their situation. She knew the vampire Pater had escaped. His lair would be a dangerous trap designed to ensnare them. The shifts in the earth were all the warning she needed. Destiny concentrated on the spots of bacteria, breaking them down, pushing most of them out of her pores, pushing the threads that had rushed toward her heart back to the huge gash in her wrist.

The terrible paralysis was gone, along with the bacteria. Strength poured into her body with the ancient blood. Nicolae brought her wrist to the warmth of his mouth. Her heart stilled, skipped a beat, began to pound heavily. The fiery pain of the laceration eased, was replaced by a curious throbbing, a sudden heat creeping into her bloodstream. The two hunters loosened their mental hold on her, allowing her mind and body freedom from their compulsion. She snatched her hand out of Nicolae's possession, held it against her heart. She became aware she was cradled in Nicolae's arms as he rushed through the maze of subterranean chambers. Destiny swept her tongue across the gash in his chest, an automatic gesture to close the wound.

Deliberately she stayed limp in his arms, gathering her energy, waiting for her opportunity. She turned her attention to the grim-faced man running close to Nicolae's side. He was an inch or so taller than Nicolae, with the same flowing black hair and piercing eyes. He glanced at her, turning those flat, emotionless eyes in her direction, and a shiver went down her spine. She recognized death when she saw it.