Page 27 (1/2)

It was after ht when Austin&039;s cell phone buzzed By his respectful tone and the way he kept glancing at her, Shanna suspected he was talking to her father She&039;d been worried all evening about the possibility of a vampire war Her attempts to contact Roman mentally had failed

"I understand, sir" Austin handed his phone to Shanna "Your father wants to talk to you"

She lifted the phone to her ear "Dad?"

"Shanna, I thought I&039;d let you knoas going on We have a tap on Petrovsky&039;s phone, so we heard hi? Are they going to war?"

"Well, it appears Draganesti was ready for one He claims to have two hundred warriors Petrovsky&039;s been on the phone all evening, ordering his followers to show up We think he has about fifty at the most"

Shanna exhaled with relief "Roman has hianestiin Central Park Instead of a war, the two of them are supposed to duel to the death"

Shanna&039;s knees buckled and she collapsed on the bed "What?"

"Yeah, they&039;re supposed toSilver swords and only one left standing"

Shanna struggled for air Ro to the death? "This¡ªthis can&039;t be true We have to stop this"

"Don&039;t think we can, sweetheart But I&039;m a bit concerned about your friend You see, we heard Petrovsky order his anesti will be co his whole arasped "Oh anesti&039;s people don&039;t knohere the duel&039;s taking place So there&039;s no way they can help hihter to ht back over the conversation Two ahlanders know

"Gotta go, sweetheart Just wanted to give you an update Bye"

"Bye" Shanna gripped the phone tightly and glanced at Austin and Alyssa "I have to make a call"

Alyssa stood "We can&039;t allow that, Shanna"

Austin lounged on the second bed "What&039;s the harm in it? Even prisoners are allowed one call"

Alyssa pivoted toward Austin "Are you crazy?"

"No" Austin gave her a pointed look

Shanna quickly punched in the nue Too convenient First her dad told her the infor her use his phone But it made no difference She still had to save Roman

"Hello?"

"Connor, is that you?"

"Aye Shanna? We&039;ve been worried about you"

"Can you, uh, do that phone thing?"

"Teleport? Aye Where are you?"

"A hotel roolanced at Austin and Alyssa "There are two other people here, but I don&039;t think it should be a¡ª"

Connor materialized beside her

"Holy shit!" Austin scrambled out of bed

Alyssa&039;s mouth dropped open

"Sorry for the intrusion" Connor took the phone from Shanna "Ian, are ye there?"

"He¡ªhe&039;s wearing a kilt," Alyssa whispered

"Aye, that I aent "And ye&039;re a bonnie lass"

Alyssa sputtered

"How the hell did you do that?" Austin asked

"Och, about the sarabbed hi went black

When the darkness faded away, she found herself in the foyer at Rohlanders, all ar over theus MacKay strode toward her "Connor, why have ye brought her here?"

Before Connor could answer, Shanna broke in "I have news Roht"

"That is no&039; news, lass" Connor regarded her sadly

"But Petrovsky is bringing an arus muttered "I knew that bastard wouldna keep his word"

"How do ye know this, Shanna?" Connor asked

"My father bugged Petrovsky&039;s house He heard their plans and toldPetrovsky on the East Green in Central Park at two alances

Angus shook his head " Tis no use, lass We promised ouldna follow hi him alone!" Shanna reached for Connor&039;s sword "I "

"Wait," Connor shouted "If Shanna goes, we can follow her We never prorinned "And the lass will need our protection Roman would want us to follow her"

"Great" Shanna faced the Highlanders and lifted her sword in the air "Follow arnered from his confession quickly withered ahen he arrived at the East Green Petrovsky had broken his agreement He was not alone

His coven spread out in a semicircle Roman estimated fifty vampires, mostly male About two dozen carried torches

Petrovsky stepped forward "It will be a pleasure killing you"

Roripped the hilt of his sword "I see you were too afraid to coht a feomen with you to wipe your nose"

"I&039;ave my word I wouldn&039;t harm any of your people, but I never promised that my folloouldn&039;t attack you if I&039;ht you will die"

Roured as much The prayers of one priest and three friends were not enough God had abandoned hio

"Are you ready?" Petrovsky drew his sword

Roift from Jean-Luc, it was razor sharp, the steel blade plated with pure silver The hilt was steel and leather and fit perfectly in his hand He swished the blade through the air and saluted Petrovsky He allowed hiht of Shanna, then focused hisonly¡ªsurvival

As Shanna ran to the East Green, she could hear the clash of swords The sound was terrifying, yet reassuring If Rous stopped beside her "I knoe&039;re supposed to be following you, lass, but we need to do it faster" He swung her up into his arht The Highlanders e of the clearing

Angus set her down on her feet "I&039;ed you Here" He handed her a sword "Noill follow you"

"Thank you" She stepped into the clearing

The warriors spread out behind her, led by Angus MacKay and Jean-Luc Echarpe Ro, circling each other As far as Shanna could tell, Roman was untouched Ivan&039;s clothes were slashed in a few places Blood oozed frolanced her way and cursed "You bastard, you had her all along And you brought your bloody arlanced quickly at Shanna and the Highlanders He focused once ave me your word you would not follow us shouted back "We dinna knohere ye were It was the lass we followed"

Roed He spun about and jabbed the Russian in his hip Ivan cried out and pressed a hand against the wound

"Shanna!" Roman yelled "Get out of here"

"I&039; you" She stepped forward "And I&039; you die"

Ivan looked at the blood on his hand "You think you&039;re winning, don&039;t you, Draganesti? But you&039;re wrong Just like you rong about Casimir"

Roman circled him "Casimir is dead"

"Is he now?" Ivan pivoted to keep Roman in view "Did you see him die?"

"He fell just moments before sunrise"

"And you and your friends fled to shelter So you didn&039;t see what happened next I took Casi the Highlanders

"You lie," Roman whispered, his face pale "Casi his ared forward and slashed his sword across Roman&039;s stomach

Roman leaped back, but the slice still found its mark Blood seeped froasped at the sight of Ro Then, behind hi their weapons "Rohtning speed, Angus caught her "Nay, lass" ¡ª Roman spun around to defend hilared at Shanna "I&039; the air with his sword

Angus shoved her behind him and drew his weapon, but Jean-Luc leaped forward first, his sword raised He brought it doith a loud clash Ivan stu Ivan back in retreat

Shanna gasped when she saw Roh the heart The round and crumbled into dust The other Russian dropped his sword and backed away

Rous, take her back home where she&039;ll be safe" He pressed a hand to the wound across his mid-section

Shanna tried to run toward hius held her back "Roritted his teeth "I have unfinished business" He charged toward Petrovsky

Jean-Luc juainst Ivan&039;s Petrovsky was caught by surprise With a quick rasp The sword flew through the air and landed close to one of the Russians

Ivan ran toward his sword Ros, and he sturound He rolled over, but Ro his sword at Ivan&039;s heart "You lose," Roman whispered

Ivan looked frantically about