away the intriguing sound of Pater's voice. Tilting her head to one side, she smiled again, a slow, sexy come-on, her small white teeth perfect and gleaming. "Why would anyone as powerful as you follow another?" Her tone was flirtatious, flattering, admiring. Her hands fluttered gracefully as she talked. Destiny noted Pater's chest swell visibly. Like all vampires, he was susceptible to flattery. "You look like a leader to me. You survived three hunters the other day. How many others could accomplish such a feat? Could your leader? He's hiding behind you, cowering, afraid, while you face the hunters."
"He has vision," Pater told her.
"Have you even seen him? Has he dared to show himself to you?" She sounded curious, feminine. Filled with admiration. Her hands were flowing as she spoke, a graceful swaying that matched the beautiful allure of her voice. She smiled, a conspirator's smile, lowering her pitch. Her voice was husky. Sexy. Tempting. " you join with me . We don't need an alliance with others. This is my territory. All of it. Share it with me. We can defeat the others."
At once the snarls and rumbling began; the vampires shifted tensely, fangs exposed, talons curling in anger. It didn't take much to drive a wedge between unholy allies. They were deceivers, betrayers, preying on each other as well as on human victims.
Pater again waved the others to silence, a sign of his leadership among the worst of abominations. He held out his hand to Destiny. "Come to me now, join us. You are weak with hunger. You cannot possibly defeat us all. Let me give you my blood to sustain your life. Join our family."
His words cracked open a door in her mind, spilled out a memory. A small, dark-haired girl crawling in the dirt, dragging herself along a damp cave floor, weeping useless tears and trying to drown out the sounds of begging, pleading. The horrible screams, the river of blood. The monster dropping his latest victim and turning to look at her in slow motion. He always turned in slow motion, his teeth still black from his victim's blood. A dark shadow looming over her. Maniacal laughter.
Take my blood to sustain your life.
Hands roughly squeezing and probing her small body. The slaps, the fetid smell, the teeth tearing at her tender skin. A brutish savage pounding into her, ripping her body in two, while burning, coppery-flavored acid poured down her throat.
Destiny couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. Her throat closed, her lungs seized. She began to choke. The violation of that child was more than she could endure. Sweat broke out on her body, a terrible trembling took over, one she couldn't control. She was no longer standing in the streets of Seattle, a full-grown adult, a powerful hunter; she was trapped back in that cave, mindlessly dragging her little torn body along the damp, blood-covered floor.
I am here with you. The voice came out of nowhere, was simply there in her mind. Calm. Steady. A rock that always anchored her. When there was nothing left, when there was no sanity and no reason, there was always that voice.
I will always be with you. You are hunted, Destiny. They are closing in from above and below. Come back to this time and place. Come with me now.
She followed him out of the labyrinth of her nightmares. Out of memories that would never go away.
Nicolae.
Her sanity. Her life. When had it happened? Why hadn't she known? The wind hit her face. The clean rain was soaking her clothes and hair. She became instantly aware of her surroundings, of the vampires facing her, moving swiftly toward her.
Knowing how vulnerable she was at that moment, Destiny dissolved into mist, abandoning her attempts to weave a holding spell on Pater. She was certain he was the strongest of the band. He would orchestrate the battle. He was the one she must defeat if she were to succeed in ridding her neighborhood of the undead. At once she became part of the weather, mixing with the gray fog.
Pater snarled as he grasped empty air, his talons scraping at the mist all around him. At once he began chanting a spell to lure human victims to him. His voice was powerful, a call for blood. His followers took up the words, sending their call into the buildings and along the narrow streets. A retaliation for losing the female they had been so certain they would acquire.
Do not panic, Destiny. Nicolae's council was gentle