Lightning zigzagged through the room. Thunder shook the house, booming from inside the basement. The carousel began to spin faster and faster, as it had done in the yard, but the ancients slowed it down, so that it pushed and fought against the power. Suddenly the lightning forked, slamming hard into all eight pieces, the four horses and four chariots.

A hideous shriek rose, deafening in the confines of the basement. The carousel turned dark, smoke rising and with it, Vadim’s face, swirling in the smoke, eyes wide with shock, mouth open as he emitted the shriek. The face distorted, elongated, wavering in the smoke to slowly disappear. All the while his voice screeched and wailed. His teeth snapped viciously, but there was nothing he could do to stop the relentless assault by the hunters. The splinters blackened, curled up and were reduced to ash. The horses and chariots followed suit until there was only a pile of ashes and silence.

Matt rushed in, his gun cradled in his arms, his face a grim mask. “What the hell is going on? The two prisoners are screaming their heads off, on the floor with their hands over their ears. The woman, Emeline, is doing the same thing. I tried to get in there to see if I could help her, but she wouldn’t allow me inside. Genevieve went to her.”

Tariq sighed. “We’ll take care of it, Matt.” Blaze. I need you and Charlotte to go to Emeline now. They hadn’t considered that anyone with a splinter inside her would feel the loss just as Vadim did. It made sense. The splinters were a part of Vadim, and when any were destroyed, the others felt it. If Emeline trusted them more, she would have told them. She had to have felt it when they removed Charlotte’s splinter. “Charlotte and Blaze will help Genevieve with Emeline, and we’ll take care of the prisoners.”

He was tired. They all were. But getting rid of the splinters was essential. Vadim would retaliate. He had held off when he knew the two men had betrayed him – and he had to have known instantly – but he thought he could use them in some manner.

“The two men, Ryan, the blond one, and Andrew, the dark-haired one, had to have a shield similar to Charlotte’s,” Tariq explained as they followed Matt to the guardhouse. “It allowed them to resist Vadim’s command somewhat, just as Charlotte was able to resist Fridrick’s.”

Siv sent him a cool glance from his strange, aquamarine eyes. They swirled with colors constantly, blue and green, both vibrant. “If she can resist a master vampire’s commands, she will be able to resist yours.”

Tariq hadn’t planned on commanding Charlotte to do much of anything unless one counted in the bedroom. Playing was fun, but in real life, he wanted his woman to stand beside him. He wanted her opinions. He was counting on her advice. He wanted her to go to the club with him and become part of that world he’d created. He hoped other Carpathians would come into their world and perhaps, through his club, find lifemates.

More, he was working with Josef, the young tech, and the database the Carpathians had taken from the Morrison Center in the hopes of reaching the psychic women before Vadim did. Now he knew he would have to figure out something to do with the men as well. He still had two working for Vadim undetected in his club and that meant finding them. He hoped Andrew and Ryan could help with that, but if not, he was confident Maksim and he would ferret them out soon enough. All in all, they’d done fairly well. They killed two master vampires, several lesser ones and nearly destroyed Vadim’s puppets and hybrid army without losing any of their hunters. He’d take that any day of the week.

Ryan and Andrew lay on the floor, blood trickling from their ears, but both were aware as the hunters entered the room. They looked very apprehensive.

“We’re going to remove the shadow splinters from you,” Tariq assured. “You’ve come this far. You’ll have to trust us.”

Both men nodded, and that added two more to his ever-growing family.

20

Charlotte left the nightclub with Blaze a little early. She wanted to check on the children before she sprang her surprise on Tariq. Nearly a week had flown by since the battle with Fridrick and Vadim’s army. Vadim had disappeared. Even looking at sea, none of the hunters had been able to follow him. Still, she felt it was the calm before the storm. She meant to enjoy every moment they had before things blew up in their faces.

Tariq had explained to her that it was the Carpathian way of life. Even if had they gotten Vadim this round, another master vampire would take his place. There were always more vampires. There would always be vampires and as a hunter, Tariq would defend those humans and Carpathians alike in his territory.

Danny and Amelia had opted to wait until the healer arrived from the Carpathian Mountains before being converted. As long as Bella and Lourdes had to remain aboveground during daylight hours, they wanted to as well, just in case, and neither Charlotte nor Tariq wanted to chance converting Bella or Lourdes without a powerful healer present. Charlotte loved the two teens all the more for insisting on staying with the little ones.

Charlotte looked carefully around her, scanning for people, for enemies, for anyone in the vicinity that might witness her shifting. She’d practiced shifting often because she loved that she could do it. Loved that she could fly. Loved that she could always touch her children and know they were safe. Liv was still in the ground healing. Charlotte, Tariq and Val took turns giving her blood, but then sent her back to sleep. Charlotte wasn’t quite as good at that as the other two, so she made certain Tariq reinforced the command.

“That’s good, Charlotte. You’ve got scanning down very well,” Blaze said.

Charlotte sent her a quick grin. “I love being Carpathian. I’ve been working on Emeline, telling her all the benefits. She seems interested.”

Blaze exchanged a smile with her. “I’m happy that she’s letting you into her life.”

“It’s slow. She doesn’t like me in her house. She likes to sit outside on the porch with me, but she always comes out when I visit, which is every night now. Genevieve comes with me most times.”

“She’s still getting headaches,” Blaze said, her voice expressing worry.

Charlotte understood. She knew Emeline was getting the headaches, but she had indicated that Vadim had left her in peace since the attack on the compound. No one knew if he’d given up on acquiring her, or if he was too far out at sea to reach her. Tariq didn’t believe Vadim would give up, but like all of them, for Emeline’s sake, they hoped so.