Dark Destiny Page 0,97

ears or tearing at her head to remove the voice.

The long fingers tightened around her arm like a vise. "Destiny, the vampire has not missed you yet. His poison is in your bloodstream, destroying your cells while we waste time talking. We must seek shelter, a place we can defend."

The urgency in his voice told her, even more than the raucous sound in her head, that they had to hurry. Taking the image of an owl from his mind, she immediately began to shift her shape. Only it didn't work. Her form shimmered, but nothing happened. "Get out of here, Nicolae." She shoved him hard with the flat of her hand. "He's using me as bait to trap you. Get away from me."

Nicolae swore in the ancient language. "What happens to you happens to me. We stay together."

She shoved him again, this time hard enough to rock him. "That's what he wants. I'm weighing you down, a stone around your neck. Get out of here. If you care about me at all, leave me here." The worm stings were getting worse, not only in her head now but spreading through her body until she thought she might go mad. She couldn't tone it down, or control the pain at all.

More than the madness, more than the pain, her one thought was his protection. She knew she was right. The vampire had realized that Nicolae was his most powerful enemy. Though she had failed to detect Nicolae's power, the undead had sensed it. The vampire recognized an ancient and knew that if he were to succeed in his plans, it was important to destroy Nicolae.

Nicolae ignored her protests, simply blocked out the sound of the tears in her voice. He couldn't afford to feel emotion. He swept her up in his arms and took to the skies. She went still, knowing better than to fight him, sensing his utter resolve. He would force compliance from her, and both of them knew that if he did such a thing, she would be unable to view it as anything other than a complete violation.

She slipped her arms around his neck and concentrated on their back trail, trying to focus despite the strident voice shrieking in her head and the fiery stings in her body. She would not leave the entire fight to Nicolae, no matter how difficult it was to concentrate.

Her pain was excruciating. Nicolae could feel it coming from her in waves. He shared her mind and heard the hideous voice of the vampire. Her heart was beating far too fast, galloping with the effort to overcome the strain of the poison and the stinging army attacking her from the inside. She was fighting to stay focused, to weave holding spells and throw up flimsy battlements to delay the vampire following them. To give Nicolae more time.

Nicolae buried his face for one moment in her throat, inhaling her scent, whispering softly to her.

Without warning, the world darkened around Destiny, so that only small pinpoints of light burst behind her eyelids. Then all light faded, all sensation. The voice in her head ended abruptly, and the world dropped away.

Chapter Thirteen

How much time do you have? It was Vikirnoff, calm as always. He was far off, but moving rapidly toward his brother.

Her blood calls to the undead like a bright beacon. You will not be able to hide her from them.

I have no intention of hiding. Nicolae sounded grim. Supremely confident. Merciless. He sounded exactly like the brother Vikirnoff had known for centuries. His power filled the skies, bursting into bolts of lightning, zigzagging whips attacking in every direction. Nicolae was taking the offensive. The skies opened up and torrents of rain pounded the earth.

Let them come for us.

In the distance, Nicolae heard the echo of a cry of hatred, of rage. A second and a third cry followed as his weapons found targets. The skies lit up with fire, and thunder shook the earth. The ground heaved, buckled and rolled. Below, in a small lake, a huge wave crested high, racing across the surface in foaming madness. Stars seemed to explode around him, an answering war call from the vampire.

Nicolae swept one hand across the sky, stirring the wind to a furious assault on the white-hot bursts of light, blowing them away from the woman in his arms. He raced straight for the mountains, away from humans, where others might be caught in the coming battle. Deliberately he took her far from