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Drago the pain and the injury as he sla Kaiser’s own momentum to penetrate the ar into his eyes, he stared straight into the vaan to extract it

Behind hioan to withdraw the heart Kaiser fought hard, raking Drago forward to bite chunks fro pulse calling to hi Kaiser around as well, the heart in the ancient’s fist, using his chest as a pivot to bring the replicas raked talons down Kaiser’s back, tearing through his flesh to bone The vaomir ripped his heart from his body He tossed the heart into the air and followed it with a spinning, fiery spear

All replicas and Kaiser leapt into the air to try to get to the heart Leon waved his hand to send the spear off course, but Afanasiv launched another right behind the first one Drago toward the now-dropping heart One went straight through Kaiser He was closest to the withered organ, stretching to reach it The spear penetrated his back, right at his spine, and ca behind the first hit the heart dead center By the ti to the earth The replicas faded froht as Kaiser’s body, in flames, dropped to the floor of the cavern

There was a moment of silence Leon stepped out froain He s ti for tiht others with omir was very aware Leon probably already knew that when they hadn’t co, but his hope was that daould break and leave the ancients helpless They were old and had tooeven earlyhours, at least not without severe repercussions

Leon shrugged and casually touched the rock One finger Two He tapped as if nervous, but Drago to do; he started forward The cavern trembled The floor buckled Dirt ran down the walls, first trickling and then in a steady streaoiant fissures appeared in the ceiling

Scorpions poured out of the rock and swar with poisonous tails, the strikes penetrating his calves and thighs to inject their veno the solid wall of the master vampire’s chest Great chunks of rock rained down on their heads Around thereat seisht of the ceiling as it fell He stood in the center of the cave, legs wide apart, knees slightly bent, both ar down on top of Dragoht to extract the heart from the master va into sharp daggers He sla the nails deep, piercing the artery on both sides Dragomir didn’t waver, not even when Leon slowly pulled the nails loose so the ancient’s blood spurted out Leon opened his ulped as his arhs

Get it done, Afanasiv snapped

It wasn’t easy extracting the vah skin to penetrate bone It felt as if each individual finger was burned off Drago pain as he closed his fist around what he perceived to be the organ He cut off all ability to feel and kept pulling

Leon was bathing in blood, rubbing his face in Drago at the blood as it ran down the neck and shoulder to the chest He sers He didn’t appear to notice that Dragomir’s fist had retracted froomir’s chest and the blood there, Leon waved them away, so they fell off the ancient’s body and retreated back to the base of the rock where they’d crawled froered and went to his knees, the venoht hi him close as he licked and sucked at the blood, a frenzy of need, a euphoric high Dragomir opened his fist and looked down The heart pulsed there, black and withered, but alive It jerked in his pal back to its htly, as if offering his neck and the hideous wound there

Leon oround and roll a few feet froht blurred In theinto the sky His skin hurt, began to smoke and then blister Leon didn’t even notice his own skin was s just from the presence of the sun It round, the presence of the sun still was felt Soon the paralysis of their kind would strike all of theht down so that the point penetrated the center of the heart and flaan Leon lifted his head, clearly shocked He somir’s head "You’re dead, too You know that, don’t you? I’ve killed you" He was still soet far Weakness hit His legs felt useless He rolled over and stared up at the chunksAfanasiv cautiously allowed one hand to drop so he could begin to weave a holding spell

Above their heads, the rocks began to reconstruct the interior ceiling Immediately Sandu and Andor floated down into the cavern

Sandu crouched beside Dragoreeted

"I know" There wasn’t much more to say

Ferro joined the out veno to the vicious wounds All of theave up working and went to ground for the rest of the day

Dragomir woke just before sunset For the first ti hurt His body protested the slightestthe feel of the soil cocooning him like a warm blanket He knew he needed the healer His wounds had been mortal, but he counted himself lucky Leon, for all his idiocy, was a master vampire and he had endless skills He hadn’t had a taste of ancient blood in centuries – clearly Vadis The reed overtook all else

Dragoest downfalls for master vampires It wouldn’t work on Vadi off him That blood had been ancient and Vadih it would cause in others Still, it was a difficult way to defeat a va them to inflict mortal wounds and try to drain their opponent dry He used his mind to move the earth above hiht air Sandu, Andor and Ferro had worked hard on Afanasiv and Dragomir while Nicu cleared the cavern andsoil Dragoe

He s were on fire His neck throbbed His arht up to his bicep where he’d slammed his fist into Leon’s chest, was burned and painful He was starving Starving At that rateful he had found his lifemate No human would have been safe for him to feed fro hi, and you are in need I can’t find you and the healer won’t allow o to you