Charlotte crooned softly to her, rocking her little body beneath the blanket of soil. Val began to sing a lullaby softly to her in his language. “Tumtesz o wäke ku pitasz belső. Hiszasz sívadet. Én olenam gæidnod. Sas csecsemõm, kuńasz. Rauho joŋe ted. Umtesz o sívdobbanás ku olen lamt3ad belső. Gond-kumpadek ku kim te. Pesänak te, asti o jüti, kidüsz.”

As Val sang, Tariq translated the words for Charlotte and Liv in their minds. Feel the strength you hold inside. Trust your heart. I will be your guide. Hush, my baby; close your eyes. Peace will come to you. Feel the rhythm deep inside. Waves of love that cover you, protect until the night you rise.

Charlotte had tears in her eyes as Val sang to her child. She was Tariq’s lifemate, fully in his world, and this was the first of their children to follow her into it. The sweetness in Val’s voice, coming from a hardened, scarred warrior, moved her, just as the love she felt pouring into Liv’s mind from Tariq did. She lifted her gaze just once to Tariq’s and he saw the answering love. The commitment he needed from her that she was his and she would help him with these broken children and the damaged adults he claimed as family.

“It is time. I can send her to sleep,” Tariq said softly after what seemed like an eternity. Converting an adult was bad enough, but to see a child writhing in pain, her stomach cramping and the convulsing that accompanied the transition, was difficult, even shouldering the brunt of the pain among the Carpathians.

Charlotte kissed Liv’s forehead and Tariq smoothed back her hair as he commanded she go into the healing sleep of their kind. Tariq wanted to crush the child to him, but he forced himself to just continue stroking her hair until the terrible fear inside him subsided. Liv was safe. She was in their world and hopefully they could find a way to ease the trauma enough that she could be a happy, healthy child again.

Val trailed his fingers over her hand. “She is very brave, but I’m grateful that this is over and she survived. She has a will of iron, this one.”

“That is true. She was determined to come into our world. I don’t think there’s going to be any stopping Liv once she recovers.” Tariq had his doubts about Liv recovering – health, yes – but from the things that happened to her, perhaps not. Still, with Charlotte, he would do everything he could to see that Liv lived a happy and healthy life.

“I am grateful it is over as well, but we’re not finished,” Tariq said. “We have to destroy every single splinter Vadim carelessly put into the carousel horses and chariots – that’s eight of them – and the ones he put into the two male psychics we’re holding prisoner.”

“We need to feed after this,” Nicu said. “We cannot take the chance that Vadim’s splinters will escape us. Some of us have wounds that need attending.” He glanced pointedly at Tariq.

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.