Dark Destiny Page 0,101

into his brother hard, driving him out of range of a white-hot lance. It skimmed his own shoulder, burning through muscle and tissue as it whistled by him.

You are getting too old for this. The reflexes are going, Nicolae taunted his brother even as he circled around to get behind the vampire.

Just checking to make sure you were in this battle and not with your woman.

Nicolae grunted as he blasted through the thin cloud straight at the vampire. Immediately the sky erupted from three sides with monstrous lizard creatures, much like the ones in the cave where he had first faced Pater. Clearly the ancient vampire had orchestrated this battle as well. The hideous creatures attacked even as the vampire shifted to the same shape, reaching for him with enormous, wicked claws, its huge head swinging toward him.

Fetid breath smelling of rotted flesh was hot in his face, but Nicolae drove forward, slipping away from the claws by a hair's breadth. He put on a burst of speed, and his fist shot out toward the beast's scaly chest. At the last moment, the vampire spun, whipping with its spiked tail, the barbs tipped with a paralyzing poison.

The other three beasts lunged at Nicolae, snapping with crushing jaws, their great wings flapping hard, creating a windstorm, stirring up dust in the sky. Clouds swirled and churned; blackened bits of debris torn up from the earth below towered high in a tornado funnel. The force of that wind created its own weather; a storm of ice like splinters and spears of crystal hurtled out from the center, looking for a target.

In the instant when Nicolae would have dissolved to allow the whipping tail and crushing jaws to pass harmlessly by him, one of the creatures opened its hideous mouth wider to reveal the prize in its mouth. His legs held prisoner by the rows of teeth, a man screamed helplessly, flailing his arms wildly, his horrified gaze locked with Nicolae's as the giant beast began to exert pressure.

Vikirnoff dropped from above, emerging out of the dark clouds to land on the lizard's back. In his hand was a spear glowing red-hot. He thrust the weapon straight through the back of the neck of the reptile. As it screamed in pain and hatred, the great jaws opened, releasing the human inside. The man plummeted toward earth, his cry a thin wail of terror.

Nicolae plunged straight down, chasing after the falling man as he dropped toward the rising funnel cloud. The splinters and spears of ice targeted both Nicolae and the victim of the undead. Nicolae hastily constructed a net woven of silken strands below the falling man while at the same time moving his hands in a complicated pattern, drawing fire from the sky to melt the ice weapons.

The vampire's victim hit the net, bounced and caught desperately at the thin strands, hanging on grimly. He was fully aware of the bizarre happenings and yet he was fighting to stay alive. Needing him conscious, Nicolae chose not to shield him as he swept him into the comparative safety of his arms.

"Hang on!" Nicolae ordered. He recognized Martin Wright. The man clasped his hands around Nicolae's neck, sliding around to his back, then closing his eyes against this terrifying reality. Blood dripped steadily from his legs where the teeth had bit into him.

Don't let anything happen to him. Destiny's plea was strong in Nicolae's mind.

Nicolae glanced down toward the mountain even as the reptilian creatures lunged after him, streaking away from their fallen companion. The giant lizard Vikirnoff had lanced was falling through the sky, somersaulting with Vikirnoff stubbornly clinging to its back. The vampire was roaring in rage and terror, but the others did not go to his aid. Instead they were hurtling toward Nicolae and Martin at an alarming rate of speed.

Evading them with blurring speed, Nicolae almost missed the shadow near the entrance to the mountain. A dark shape slithered over the ground silently, moving from shadow to shadow. Nicolae barely caught the sliding tail disappearing into the ground far below him. His heart slammed hard in his chest. The undead knew that if he managed to kill Destiny, he would destroy at least one of the hunters for certain. Her lifemate would never continue without her, and it was possible both hunters would follow her or turn.

Destiny!

I feel the evil one approaching. I have smelled his stench before. There was a confidence in her voice Nicolae did not feel. Pater