“That was very exciting to watch, ladies, but Fydor is leaving the west wing of the fortress. The bear shifter with him is in significant distress,” the vampire warned. “You should take your prisoners and go, Dhampir.”
She shook her head to come out of her blood high and focused on his face. “They are no longer prisoners.” But he was, along with the wood elf. She should free him, but something told her that might be a mistake. He was the most dangerous thing here.
“Yes, I am.” He smiled and his wicked fangs showed.
“Let’s go,” Aleksi said, striding to the front of the line of immortals. “We’re going out the back of the great hall to the stables. Stay together until I dismiss you to go report to your people.” She held the sword up. “Any funny business and heads will roll, literally.”
Elena turned to follow, but couldn’t seem to make her feet move when she reached the stairs. Something felt off. She turned and faced the vampire watching her from the far end of the dungeon, barely visible in the flickering light from the candle on the floor.
Claude rushed to her side and pulled on her elbow. “We need to hurry before Fydor finds us here.”
“You’d better run along, Dhampir,” the vampire said casually.
She couldn’t. Something was wrong. She closed her eyes and focused. Blood in the past had been the catalyst for her visions. Maybe the elf’s blood would work that way. Yes. Behind her eyelids, she saw the elf, wrapped in shiny fabric, pass her a small object. But before she could figure out what, the vision faded. A faint flicker of something else fluttered just out of reach. She took a deep breath of the stale dungeon air and concentrated harder. The image solidified enough to let her see the vampire dressed in clean clothes, all black, holding her in a tender embrace with her head against his chest. Her eyes flew open to find him studying her.
The guard pulled on her again. “Fydor’ll kill us if he finds us.”
The vampire had said he was thousands of years old, but he looked no older than thirty as he stretched his long, shackled legs in front of him and smiled. “Make good choices, Elena Arcos.”
He knew her name and used her father’s words. “Who are you?”
“The most dangerous force down here. You said so yourself.”
He was a lot more than that. She closed her eyes again and saw nothing. The seer effect of the elf’s blood had worn off.
Loud voices came from somewhere above their heads. “Fydor now knows you are in the fortress,” the vampire warned. “The guard you shocked is conscious and telling him what happened… Oops. Now, he’s dead.”
“I need to know who you are.” Elena pushed.
“It’s too late.”
“Do not kill the Arcos female under any circumstances. I want her alive. Are we clear?” Fydor’s voice bellowed from above. “Bring her to me when she is secured.”
The vampire gave a defeated shrug. “The dungeon is lined in metal mixed with elven ore. You cannot teleport out of here. I’m afraid you did not make a good choice in remaining behind, Elena Arcos.”
She pulled the key out from between her breasts and placed it in his hand. “I think I did.” She closed his cell door so it looked like he was locked in and whirled to face the stairs.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Nikolai felt like his rib cage had exploded at the last strike from Fydor’s club. “I don’t know,” he said again.
“If you don’t tell me what Elena Arcos is, and what her powers are, I will find your sister and tear her limb from limb in your presence. That Arcos bitch shocked a guard into unconsciousness, somehow freed all but two of my prisoners, and took another guard hostage. She escaped capture by shocking a bear shifter and two other Slayers to the point they can’t even talk.” He shook his head in disbelief. “She broke prisoners out of my dungeon. Nobody ever escapes my dungeon.” Fydor raised the club again. “Last chance.”
The guy was all kinds of crazy, and keeping him in the dark about Elena seemed the best tactic. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know. I could make shit up if you want.” Nikolai’s vision blurred red as some blood trickled into his eye. “You told me she was a vampire, but she was human. She escaped from me, and right as I located her at her home, your goons came in and grabbed me, letting her get away. It’s your fault she’s on the loose, not mine.”
Fydor circled the room, tapping the club in his hand. Nikolai studied his every move, hoping for a clue as to how to defeat him, which looked pretty fucking remote while chained to a wall. Still, Elena was in the building and Aleksi was alive, or Fydor wouldn’t be using her as a threat. Things could be worse.
“You don’t need him anymore,” a familiar voice said from outside the room.
Okay. So, now things couldn’t be worse.
Nikolai gritted his teeth as the sorcerer Borya entered the room. His black-eyed gaze flitted over Nik dismissively before he turned to his uncle. “He’s useless.”