The moment he tasted that blood, his world went white. Narrowed. He felt nothing but craving. A dark, terrible craving that took hold and refused to release him. He thought of nothing else but getting more. The hole opening inside of him was enormous, yawning open so that the blood could fill it. Rich. Satisfying. The only taste that would ever do.

He was aware of Dragomir extracting his heart, but Andor bunched Eugen’s hair in his fist and yanked his head back so hard it cracked bones in his neck. That didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was getting to the blood. He could see it, just out of his reach. Dark rubies. Gems of the purest blood he’d ever tasted. He had to have more.

Lightning arced around the room, jumped to the heart on the floor, incinerating it, turning it to ashes. The white-hot energy bathed away the blood on both Carpathians and then the floor. Sandu had kept his arms and body over the mage but now he slowly released her.

“I stopped the bleeding, but she can’t talk yet,” he announced, lifting her easily to carry her to the stone table out of the way.

Andor finished the job by incinerating the bodies of the two vampires.

“Gary is on his way,” Dragomir said. “Her name is Julija and she’s mage, a direct descendant of Xavier or one of his brothers. Sergey is also holding a Carpathian woman named Elisabeta.”

Andor’s eyes went wide. “There was a young girl, Elisabeta. Traian Trigovise’s sister. I would go to her home and somehow she could make me feel lighter, as if I had emotions again. The longer I stayed in her company, the longer the effect lasted. She has been gone for centuries. She disappeared one day and no one knew what happened to her. No one could trace her. I know Traian looked for centuries. She was quite a bit younger than him, younger by at least five hundred years. Maybe more.”

“It could be the same woman,” Dragomir conceded. “She kept Sergey from losing his temper.” Ferro, Benedik, where are you?

Sweeping the underground city. The vampires left quickly. We’ve systematically gone through every room here, and they are all gone.

Sergey had clearly sacrificed two to save his army. The vampire had to have felt their presence. Julija had been deliberately injured, the extent bad enough that the master vampire knew they would have to heal her or she would die.

“The healer is on his way. We can’t leave here without figuring out how to save Elisabeta.” Dragomir stalked over to the cage and walked around it, studying it from every angle, trying to see what wasn’t there. “He made her part of the stone. The rock. I was looking right at her and she disappeared into the walls.” He glanced back at the mage. Her eyes were open and she regarded him with suspicion, but there was also a faint trace of hope on her face.

“Can you bring her back? Do you know the spell?”

She visibly took a breath, flinched and started to grab at her throat. Sandu caught her hand and shook his head. “Wait for the healer. You don’t want to have permanent damage.”

Her gaze shifted to him. She studied him for a long time and then she looked back to Dragomir and nodded.

Relief flooded through him. “Did you work out the spell to reverse whatever is keeping her here?”

He could tell by her face she wanted to protect Elisabeta from all of them. She didn’t trust them, and he didn’t blame her. She didn’t know them. She might think they were part of Sergey’s plot to get the information out of her.

Her gaze went to the terrible wound that had coated his neck and shoulder with blood. She frowned and looked back at Sandu.

“She wants me to heal you,” Sandu said. “I’m not the healer. I’m a peje hunter.”

“Stop complaining. You didn’t have to stick your arm in acid up to your elbow,” Dragomir said.

Where are you? he asked Petru and Isia. We need to regroup.

We need to wipe this pipeline out for good. Vadim is using the sea to escape. He’s created his own city down here complete with a fresh smorgasbord, Petru answered. We need to call everyone in and destroy this. Now. Tonight.

Come back to the underground city. I’m calling the third team back as well. We’ll include Tariq and come up with a plan. In the meantime, I’ve got two women here that need healing. One needs to go directly into the healing grounds. I think we have solved the mystery of the disappearance of Elisabeta Trigovise.

There was silence. Elisabeta had been legendary in the Carpathian world because she could restore emotions to those warriors at the very end of their ability to continue. She hadn’t exactly restored them, so much as lightened their burdens for the time in her presence. She’d smiled and the world had seemed filled with joy.

Dragomir hadn’t seen her smile, but he felt her peace. That enduring serenity. There was calm in her that spread through the room the moment it was needed. She was clearly conserving strength, and she needed blood. Her hunger had beat at him, but so gently he barely registered it until she was gone, made to be part of the walls of the chamber.

Elisabeta? The name was whispered for all the brotherhood to hear. That magical girl. All of them who had ever crossed paths with her would never forget her. She’d been considered an angel, her gift nothing short of miraculous. The child had grown into a beautiful young woman, still as angelic and as selflessly giving as she’d been as a child.

More than one warrior had crossed oceans to get back to her, to just be in her presence. If they had found Elisabeta, they had found a treasure unsurpassed.

Did Vadim have her? Benedik made the demand.

I do not believe Vadim knew of her existence. Sergey had her. He has had her for some time and has hidden her from his brother. He is much more dangerous than we ever gave him credit for. In fact, I believe he is our true enemy. Vadim thinks he is in charge, but Sergey has quietly built an army, and he’s learned much from the splinter of the high mage.

I thought Vadim has a splinter of the high mage as well, Ferro said.

Just because he has it, doesn’t mean he uses it, Dragomir pointed out.

Power burst into the small confines of the chamber. Gary Daratrazanoff strode in, his long hair flowing behind him. The muscles beneath his thin shirt rippled in an impressive display of sheer strength. His gaze fell first on the mage, jumped to the injuries on Dragomir and then slowly slid over the wall where the empty cage sat.

“I feel her presence,” he said softly. “She is very powerful and a boon to any man such as I. Before we try to bring her back, I will do what I can for the mage and you, Dragomir. I grow weary of you and your injuries.”

Sandu nudged him. “I told you to learn to be a little faster.”

Dragomir sent a very rude gesture Sandu’s way.

19

Dragomir held council in the much larger chamber while Gary worked on healing the young female mage. Tariq had joined them, and all agreed the city inside the pipeline had to be destroyed. The humans Vadim had taken there for sustenance were mostly vegetables, incapable of recovery. He left them just enough sanity to feel fear. The undead needed the rush of their victims’ fear. It was the drug every vampire craved.

The task was distasteful, but they had no choice. They spent some time working out the details and then Dragomir returned to the smaller chamber where Gary had worked on the mage and the ancients had supplied him with blood.

“I was able to repair the damage, but she shouldn’t speak for a couple of weeks. If she does, she will cause permanent damage to her vocal cords.” Gary directed his attention to Julija. “I cannot emphasize that enough. You can write down what you need to say, or better yet, someone should take your blood and exchange with yours so you can speak telepathically.”

Julija shook her head adamantly. She glared at the healer.

He shrugged. “It is your choice. If you wish to help Elisabeta, that is the only way. I may have some input, but without your guidance of where to look for answers, I can be of no real help here and should go with the others to take down Vadim’s city.”

Frustration had Julija’s brows drawing together. She drew a question mark in the air and pointed to him.

“Dragomir told me you didn’t see the entire holding spell that is locking Elisabeta here to this underground city. I have the ability to access very ancient memories. It is possible one of my ancestors saw something or heard something that will help you.”