were so close to victory. Killing a hunter of Traian’s stature would be a significant victory, and with the taste of blood already in their mouths, they refused to allow such a prize to escape. Traian’s blood rained down on the shivering leaves, the scent of the ancient gift driving the vampires into a frenzy of rage and hunger.
Traian had long been fighting these battles and weariness settled over him even as he raced across the night sky, forced to flee with the poisonous acid working its way through his body and his blood spraying across the forest, the hounds of hell nipping at his heels. He glanced up at the sky. Sunrise was still a good hour away. The vampires would pursue him until they had no other recourse than to go to ground to avoid burning in the sun.
Cursing under his breath, he used a flash of tremendous energy to cut off the bleeding and repair his torn neck as best he could in flight. He needed soil and saliva, but flying as mist precluded both. Shifting took energy as did staying in the air, and he was running on empty. He needed to shake his pursuers fast. The hounds had become the hunters and they had a pack.
He glanced at the sky, calling softly for aid. Clouds responded, moving across the stars, dark and boiling, lightning edging the bottoms, the energy building fast, looking for targets. Deliberately he slowed just a little, just enough to draw excited, triumphant shrieks from the lesser vampires. They increased their speed in an effort to capture him.
Traian dove toward earth, the three vampires spreading out like a vee behind him, Gallent leading the way. Heavy forest rose up to meet him. Fog lay along the ground, thick and heavy, a dense mat of mist obscuring the thick vegetation of rotting trunks and leaves. He slipped into the layers of fog, turned sharply to slide behind a large rock basin hanging over a stream. Casting a trail of running footsteps leading away from his actual position, he stayed very still, waiting for the three vampires to descend.
Gallent, with his years of experience, dropped back to allow his hounds to sniff the ground and rout around for the scent of the wounded Carpathian. Eager to find the treasure of rich blood, the two grotesque creatures crawled on the ground. One whined eagerly, finding the faint trail of kicked up leaves. He rushed after his prey. The other abandoned his sniffing just a few feet from where Traian was concealed in the layers of fog. He’d cut off the spraying arc of blood from his torn neck, but there were hundreds of bloody bites covering his body and the vampire had only to take another couple of steps and he would have scented his prey. Fortunately, the undead was far too greedy and didn’t want his companion to get the jump on him.
Gallent hesitated, torn between caution and greed. The first lesser vampire shrieked again with joy as he discovered a twisted piece of moss right on the bank of the stream. Gallent made his decision and followed, dropping to earth, shoving aside his two underlings to peer down at the trail.
Traian struck hard and fast, slamming bolt after bolt of lightning into the area, blanketing the forest and stream with forks and whips of white-hot spears burning through the sky to earth. Thunder shook the forest, reverberating through the night. The trees lit up in macabre orange and red, glowing hot.
The vampires screamed horribly as fire ravaged the earth around them, burning pure, turning foul breath to ash. On the other side of the ferocious storm, Traian once again took to the sky, retreating to find a place to rest and heal before he returned to the hunt. It was his way of life, one he had known for far too long now.
He traveled quickly through the night. The Carpathian Mountains were riddled with networks of caves, where rich soil deep beneath the earth waited to welcome him. He was close to home. He had been steadily traveling back to his homeland to see his prince but had become sidetracked when he came across the vampires. He had spent the last few risings leading them away from the area where Mikhail Dubrinsky and his lifemate, Raven, were known to dwell.
His shoulder throbbed and burned. His neck was a fierce torment. There were a hundred places on his body that ached from the embers