“I’m not weak, Aleksi.”
Elena’s heart sank. Being attached to her was weakness? Stupid brutes. Loveless, horrible creatures.
“Well, then do what you have to do,” Aleksandra said. “Turn her, fuck her, and get rid of her.”
Nikolai sat on the bed across from Elena in the total darkness for a long time after Aleksi teleported out. Fydor suspected Elena was the Uniter. Why then, would he want her destroyed? The Uniter would end the war that was brewing… Surely Fydor didn’t want the war. Surely…
He stood and paced in a small pattern between the beds. It was essential to turn her in order to make her safe. Could he do it? He’d never witnessed a human change into an immortal of any kind. He didn’t know the first thing about it. Only that his blood triggered not only her eyes to change but also the markings to come to the surface. His blood was the catalyst. He was the catalyst.
The words were branded on her very skin. “From the blood of a warrior I rise.” His blood.
Could Elena be the Uniter? It certainly looked that way. Perhaps it wasn’t physical power that was needed to save the Underveil. Maybe it was inner strength, and in the limited time he’d had with her, he’d come to discover she was more powerful than anyone else he knew.
She would become a vampire. The very thing he’d sworn vengeance against. The species he’d hunted and slaughtered every time he caught one breaking the law. And yet, somehow that didn’t make a difference at all to him. He wanted her. Needed her no matter what she became. She was his.
Sitting on the bed, he laid his hand on her, getting oriented in the dark. She was on her side, facing away. He smoothed his palm over her shoulder to her neck, then leaned over and kissed her jaw. She didn’t react. “Elena?”
He ran his fingers over her cheek and found it wet. Tears.
“Are you okay?”
“Just do it.” Her voice waivered, and it felt as though his insides had crumbled.
Perhaps she assumed he still planned to execute her, or maybe she was emerging from a bad dream. “Do what?”
She jerked away and shuffled to the top corner of the bed. He reached for her through the darkness and found her crouched on the mattress against the wall, trembling.
Night had fallen long ago, and he had failed to even light the fire. He needed to see her. He reached over and pulled the matches from the bedside table and struck one. The look of horror on her face froze him in place. “Do what?” he repeated. The match burned down to his fingers and snuffed out, leaving the smell of charred flesh.
“What you have to do to break this cord and free me from you,” she said in the darkness. “Just do it and get it over with.”
Something was up. Something bad. “Exactly what is it I’m supposed to do to break the cord, Elena?”
When she didn’t answer, he struck another match and lit a lantern hanging on the wall. Surely, a tiny bit of light just for a few moments wouldn’t give them away. The cabin was buried under feet of snow, and no one knew of it other than Aleksi, and he was sure she’d been careful to not be observed when she had teleported in. Since his mother’s traitorous marriage to his uncle, she was the only person he could really trust…well, aside from Elena, but right now, he wasn’t even sure of that, based on the look she was giving him.
“Talk to me,” he whispered.
“You’re the talker. You talk.”
So hostile. Not like her at all. Then the problem dawned on him. “You were awake when Aleksi was here.”
No response.
Shit, shit, shit. “Elena, I’m trying to help you.”
“Oh, yeah, sure you are. It all makes sense now. Get the worthless, weak human off a few times so you can, what? Oh yeah. Turn her, fuck her, and get rid of her.”
His chest caved in on itself. “Not my words.”
“But a great plan, and you’re a big one for plans, aren’t you? Let’s see. Your first plan was to use only your hand, then only your mouth to get me off.” She crawled to the end of the mattress and stood at the foot of the bed. “Well, I make plans, too. See, I can do the same thing. Only, I’m going to use only my hand and my mouth to tell you to fuck off.” She flipped the bird at him right as the helicopter roared overhead.
Nikolai instinctively grabbed his sword. They’d been discovered. And if it was Fydor’s Elite Team, they were as good as dead.
Chapter Fourteen
Nikolai knew the Slayer Elite Team would have night-vision goggles, poison bullets in long-range rifles, and elven-forged Slayer swords.
He and Elena were like fish in a barrel unless he had enough strength to teleport them out. His injuries had taken a toll, and he had no idea how far he could get them before his energy waned and they landed…anywhere.
Perhaps the snowmobiles were still where the wood elves had attacked them several miles away. Surely, he could get them that far.