Dark Demon (50 page)

Vikirnoff drove Natalya to the floor, covering her body with his own as he threw up a hasty shield, trapping oxygen inside. Mikhail and Raven and Falcon and Sara huddled together, while Manolito and Dominic raised similar barriers. The breath slammed out of Natalya's lungs, leaving her gasping and fighting the weight of Vikirnoff's larger frame. She pushed at him, trying desperately to get at her weapons.

"Mikhail is creating a vacuum, sucking all the air from around us to put out the fire. Be still." Vikirnoff gripped her shoulders, holding her down with the casual strength of his species.

"Freakin' idiot, next time warn me. I might have slit your throat thinking you were the enemy," Natalya snapped. Her heart was pounding. The world was in flames around her. The fire roared so loud it hurt her ears and the faces writhing in the conflagration stretched their lips wide with wild shrieks of laughter. The tigress didn't want to be held down. Every survival instinct was roused, desperate to fight for freedom; Natalya focused on lying still beneath Vikirnoff to keep from running.

There was a
whooshing
sound that rocked the house as Mikhail removed the oxygen and immediately the flames vanished, leaving a blackened shell with most of the roof gone. The eerie silence clawed at Natalya's nerves. Before they could move, the orange-red fireballs began pounding what was left of the structure again and the flames leapt to life. Several bombs rained down on them from directly overhead, tearing gaps in the floor, exposing the chambers beneath in the basement.

We have to get out of the house. Get to the underground chamber and go through the ground to safety.

Natalya recognized Mikhail's voice. He was calm, but there was an underlying urgency. At once their shelter disappeared and Vikirnoff's weight lifted from her body. She sprang to her feet and raced toward the nearest hole in the floor. Walls of flames raged around them, the heat so intense she could barely breathe.

No! We cannot go that way
. Vikirnoff gripped Natalya's arm before she could jump, dragging her back against him, pressing her face into his chest to help alleviate her burning lungs.
That way is closed to us, Mikhail. They await us with traps in the ground
.

You are certain
? Mikhail asked.

Vikirnoff nodded.
Trust me
.

Natalya touched Vikirnoff's mind and realized he was using her connection to Razvan. He had turned the tables on her brother, reaching out on her telepathic path to her twin, unraveling the familiar safeguards and searching his mind for information.

I should have thought of that
. And maybe she had. Maybe she just couldn't accept what Razvan had become.
I'm sorry
.

Vikirnoff hissed something at her between clenched teeth, the images he was receiving from Razvan evidently infuriating him.
We'll have to shift. I will hold the image of mist uppermost in your mind and we will shift together as soon as it is safe to move
.

Natalya nodded. She was furious at being trapped like a rat in a cage. It took two heartbeats to realize it was Vikirnoff's fury she was feeling more than her own.

Get down. When I extinguish the flames after all of you escape quickly, and remember, they will know we are coming
. Mikhail accepted that they had no choice but to use the common path of communication in the midst of the roaring flames and black smoke.

Natalya went to the floor, not waiting for Vikirnoff to drag her down. This time smoke mixed with oxygen within the hastily erected shield, but the air was still breathable. Vikirnoff settled on top of her and the tigress growled in protest, but remained still.

She was more prepared this time for the ground trembling and the force of the air being removed from the building. Again there was the same eerie silence. The Carpathians threw off the shields and began to shimmer into mist. Vikirnoff's fingers curled tightly around hers as he pushed the image of vapor into her mind.

Stop
! The order came from Vikirnoff again as he delved even deeper into Razvan's brain, reading the battle plan.
They have devised a method to keep us from restructuring. Xavier and Razvan have constructed a net to entrap us. If we shift, we will be caught in that form, unable to change. It is what they expect of us
.

Are there any flaws in it
? Mikhail didn't waste time with argument or bother to hide the conversations from the vampires. They wouldn't know yet where the Carpathians were getting their information.
Let us all see what they have done
.

It is much more than that
, Natalya confirmed.
If we try to use much of our magick it will backfire on us. I think we have only the weather left to us. He could not prevent that
.

Dominic backed her up.
She is right. Do not try to shift or use magick of any kind other than the lightning or the wind and rain. They think to force us to use the old ways to fight. And they hear us. Feel their triumph
?

Natalya reached for Vikirnoff on their private telepathic path.
Razvan and Xavier cannot spread the shield too thin. If we get to the forest we will be able to shift. Find a way to get that message to them all
.

Will do.

Natalya's heart nearly exploded in her chest it was pounding so hard. The urge to run was nearly overwhelming. She glanced at the other two women and saw the same desperation on their faces. Sara's hands covered her stomach protectively and Natalya's heart lurched. She met the other woman's gaze and Sara nodded slightly at the question in Natalya's eyes.
Vikirnoff! We have to get out of here right now
.

Already the fireballs were slamming into the house, this time coming through the sides of the structure.
We have to fight our way out
. Mikhail sounded calm.
Keep the women in the center
.

Natalya drew her guns.
Not this woman
.

Vikirnoff bent low, his fingers biting deep into Natalya's wrist as the smoke swirled heavy around them.
Stay close to me. Right beside me
.

Sara is expecting a baby. Keep an eye on her
. Natalya refused to allow him to treat her as less than the warrior she was. If he couldn't handle who she was, he needed to know it now—and so did she.

We need to get out now
. The entire house creaked and strained as it crumbled. The men burst through the doors and windows in a synchronized escape, the women right behind them. Natalya fell back to cover Sara as the vampires leapt on the hunters, ripping and shredding, masked with animal forms and teeth and claws.

They were everywhere. So many of them Natalya's heart froze at the sight, an army of what had to be clones, tearing at the hunters aggressively. She saw Falcon shove Sara back as a huge monster of a bear dropped from the branches of a tree directly onto his shoulders. Sara rushed the creature, intending to use her bare hands if necessary. Natalya shot the thing, emptied a full clip into the throat and heart as she ran toward it, pushing past Sara to protect her. She kept running, snapping a fresh clip into her gun and firing again almost at point-blank range. The bear fell back under the assault, shifting to its natural vampire form.

Falcon punched his fist through the chest cavity and tore out the heart. Lightning streaked from the sky to destroy the heart and incinerate the body.

Natalya caught sight of Vikirnoff, battling three of the creatures. Already his clothes hung in strips and blood gleamed on his back from several blows the vampires had landed. One already lay on the ground and she could see a fifth one creeping up behind him. Her heart in her throat, she leapt between the vampire and Vikirnoff.

She shot the huge creature again and again but it kept advancing until it was on top of her. She felt hot, foul breath on her face, saw the hatred in the red-rimmed eyes. Shoving the gun against the chest she fired in rapid succession straight into the heart. The vampire jerked with each explosion, but the claws only dug into her arms deeper. Natalya dropped the gun and palmed a knife, slamming it with all of her force into the monster's throat. "Get off of me!" She pushed him away from her, kicking out with repugnance, scoring a hit to the chest, knocking it farther back.

Vikirnoff thrust Natalya out of his way, his eyes wild with fury. Lightning arced in the sky, zigzagged overhead and punched into the earth, sizzling through the vampire's body, taking the heart as it did so. "Do not dare put yourself in danger like that again for me." He was shaking with rage and his fury spilled over into his voice. He would not lose her, not like this. The other women were accepting the meager protection of their lifemates, but not his Natalya. She had to be front and center in the battle.

Protect Sara if you must, but do not try to protect me. Damn you, Natalya. You cannot ask me to allow you to put your life in danger to save mine. I will not have it.

Damn you right back. I'm not going to let some wannabe badass kill you because your ego is too big for words. I won't have that.

Vikirnoff snarled, baring white teeth at her, but he had no chance to say anything else, meeting the rush of another small army of vampires.

Natalya glanced to her right and noted Dominic and Manolito were fighting with lightning swords, long flashing lights that sizzled with heat as they sliced through several clones. She drew her sword and grinned at Sara. "I want one of those." She indicated the light sabers with her own sword.

"You said we could use weather?" Sara asked.

Natalya nodded. "They couldn't prevent that. Razvan and Xavier were upset about it because they wanted to prevent the Carpathians from calling down lightning."

"I'll just bet they did." To Natalya's astonishment Sara jerked a knife from Natalya's belt and held her hand to the sky. What appeared to be lightning leapt from the sky and melted onto the shaft. She held it out to Natalya.

Natalya took two experimental cuts with the sword, feeling the balance, hoping she could control the dazzling light. It felt alive, a source of power, but when she gave two practice cuts it handled like a dream. She felt something behind her, and spun around, slicing with the lightning sword as she did so. A furry arm ending in long claws dropped to the ground and the creature howled in pain.

"Whoops. Sorry. Back off furball or I'm going for something much more precious to you." She held the sword at the ready, coming up on the balls of her feet and without another word, thrust straight into the furry chest. The heart incinerated immediately and Natalya grinned. "This is way cool. Much better than hairspray."

There are too many of them. We have to break through their line.

That was Dominic. Natalya could see him battling several vampires, back to back with Manolito, trying to keep them from the prince. The vampires concentrated most of their clones on the hunters, but there was no doubt they were after Mikhail and his lifemate, Raven. While the clones occupied the hunters, the more skilled of the undead attacked the prince. Raven had a sword and fought beside her lifemate, but there were just too many.

"Look to the north, toward the forest. There is an opening." Falcon caught Sara's arm and thrust her toward that direction. "Fight toward the north and perhaps we can break free."

Blood smeared all of the hunters, deep wounds they didn't have time to heal. Natalya couldn't look at Vikirnoff. He stayed close to her, battling too many opponents to handle and the slices covering his body had to be weakening him. She knew they were running out of time. She had killed several clones, but they kept coming, more and more until it seemed impossible to defeat them.

"Maxim is here and is subtly influencing us to believe we will be overwhelmed." Vikirnoff kept striding forward, slicing through the clones and burning as many as he could. It seemed an impossible task. "The forest, Natalya. Keep moving that way."

"I'm trying." The one facing her was in human form and he was no clone. He answered her lightning sword with one of his own and he looked both proficient and confidant. When his sword met hers, the shock waves went right up her arm. She staggered under the blow and just managed to party his second blow, which came straight at her heart. She glided to one side, deflecting a third blow, allowing the force of the contact to take her sword in a small circle and right back into her opponent.

He screamed with rage, driving at her hard, forcing her to retreat
away
from the north and safety. Natalya parried blow after blow, all the while trying to move away from the direction he was taking her. There was something in his eyes, a glow of triumph that frightened her. Determined to stop backpedaling, one of the worst mistakes any fighter could make, she stepped to the left. Roots erupted around her foot, circling her ankle and holding her captive. Natalya swung her sword at the vampire and let the blade continue on its natural path, slicing through the vines. Blood erupted and the plants withered and fell lifeless to the ground.