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Fueled by visions of darkness and blood, Lyssa twisted and spun out of the arched ay along the castle wall, spearing up over the east side of the castle to get a view of the ocean and garden side where most of the explosions had occurred On the way, she saw hunters traveling close to the castle walls on the outside levels, roups of vampires and servants who&039;d not been in the ballrooer had the advantage of surprise It was a fair fight at this juncture, and would soon swing to the vaes had turned the sweeping verandah into rubble, as Malachi had reported They had blown out the ocean-facing walls of the ballrooar- dens Bodies lay in the wreckage More vampires than she would have expected, but she could tell they&039;d not been killed by the explosion, but by the hunters who&039;d rushed upon thee of their dazed state to stake or decapitate the waged battle with the hunters Danny had spread the aging the hunters, slowly closing together to forroup of Council allies could retreat into the castle, seeking to intercept Carnal and his group and coh she saw approximately three hundred hunters, she still wondered at the absolute foolhardiness of an attack on two hun- dred vaht But as she hovered at her vantage point, she saw the open verandah and ball- rooht was the one night they were all gathered in the sa And somehow Carnal had fed them that information, was part of this, of why the hunters were here The Council&039;s unexpected and timely departure had likely ave her black satisfaction He could not count on the hunters&039; assistance to assassinate the Coun- cil Successful hunters were those who struck quickly and retreated Even those three- incursions into the castle&039;s interior They orking their way along the walls and likely would disappear back into the rain forest cover once they reached the end of their assigned area She noted dispassionately that they were purposeful, caled and took the turn around to the all, she could tell these were mostly hardened veterans, not zealous youths There was a leaden weight in her chest where her heart should be She used it now to tip her into a circle, bring her into a tight, silent glide Carnal wasthe ay on the second level to- ward the Council chambers He was in the lead of a cluster of va and stupid So vicious Carnal bore a silver ax and a look of deadly confidence Enjoy your five minutes of power and fame, you bastard Because of the communication she and the Council had made with Danny and others like her, it was now ihter the Council, clai up a blood war on the human race But if they did take out the Council, they would have chaos, civil war Wholesale attacks on humans would result in the widespread realization that vampires did in fact exist

Mortals would turn all their technological resources toiping out vampires entirely And since the hunters already knew about the Delilah virus, they&039;d si to carry the inert virus as a deterrent against va up the only food source va that could happen in the future For her, there was only this s pierced her lips, goading her lust for blood with the pain She swooped doard Carnal Apparently she drew the attention of the group of hunters in the courtyard below hi fire in her blood She turned her head, hissed a warning and kept on in a straight line toward her prey But as was the ith all creatures of pure evil, Carnal had a second sense when it came to self-preservation At the last moment, he looked up His eyes widened, and he bolted Narrowly ed into the wall behind him instead As it crumbled, slabs of concrete showered around her to create a cloak of dust She are of the startled group of va Several were brave enough to throw the to attack her She didn&039;t see Carnal Screah their ranks Saliva pooled in her ht hold of one of them, tore hi the The predator in her rejoiced More Run, for there shall be nowhere you can hide Out of the peripheral vision of her widely spaced eyes, she saw Mason and the other Councildown the open ay Mason&039;s coat flapped around his torso, giving the impression of a hawk&039;s dark feathers as the Council ed out across the expanse of the ay just behind hie Nearly five millennia of experi- ence, and there was no fear in any of their faces, whereas Carnal&039;s va from her attack such that they&039;d not yet presented a real threat to her But the Council was still outnumbered

She did a so to feed the panic and her own bloodlust with another couple of corpses Just before she reached the The upper ay exploded, erupting in the expanse of space re several of them down in the blast Lyssa flipped back fro in fury as hot bits of debris showered her skin She launched herself into the sh the obscuring clouds She heard Mason&039;s battle roar and knew he&039;d recovered quickly enough to take advantage of the e The fact the ay had blohere it could endanger Carnal and his followers told her that he hadn&039;t been working as closely with the hunters as she&039;d sup- posed He&039;d perhaps fed the hiotten all the details of their attack Such was his arrogance, he assumed he would murder the Coun- cil and deal with the "disturbance" the humans caused afterward He&039;d never considered the the execution of his own plot Based on their pattern with the previous explosions, the location of this detonation e this level She needed to disrupt the hunters to give the Council tiain control They couldn&039;t afford the distraction the hued to slow the forward progress of Carnal&039;s challengers She had a reedy, Mason Save Carnal for e snarl in her ed in combat I&039;ll do h I&039;d prefer she not sully her fangs with his filth She hoped when she got back, Carnal would still be on his feet She wanted hiain How did it survive that blast?"

Gideon paused on the second level, staying close to the wall for cover, his eyes everywhere The flying creature that looked like a cross between a gargoyle and a harpy swooped over the courtyard, seeking theed in close to a pack of the rear guard behind the into the shad- ows of the lower-level defi les for cover The va, sounding allirappling, a feeapons flashing But there were no other hunters up here, just his teao order to charge forward into the fray They&039;d ht inal blast, but he knew every ainst thee in, to take those disoriented vampires out before they could rally their defenses, but the sounds of battle were throwing him Besides which, he couldn&039;t move forward out into the open on the reed threat First things first He notched an arrow to his crossbow and took aim "Let&039;s hope it&039;s so even ut told hiotten in too easy When two of theirthe inner gates, he was certain they&039;d been sold out But they&039;d forged ahead Too , too much invested Already they&039;d taken out ed all year Three dozen, though of course they&039;d lost a third of their own people They were supposed to be in and out in fifteen minutes Guerrilla warfare, not toe-to-toe corettable, but hell, who knew they&039;d fight so fucking viciously for the bloodsucking fiends who had enslaved the a servant was soly He shoved that away So far, everything was going as planned Better than planned Perhaps that as s never went as planned Why did he feel as if a trap was closing around theed into the resort?

Fuck it He raised the crossbow, steadied as the creature poised inThen it turned in the air and saw hih his head, locked his trigger hand, over- whelht in the electric field of a thun- dercloud He fought it, even as he saw the beast dive, co toward hiet his damn arms to move LetGoOfMe You son of a bitch He closed his eyes at the last ivable betrayal so sharp he almost welcomed his own death The creature&039;s heat encompassed him like the sharp burn of sulfur Tobias screamed Gideon&039;s eyes snapped open, and he spun to find Toby sprawled on the ground The creature had one set of talons on his torn throat, the other claround though he hadn&039;t released his grasp on it Its head was turned to gaze directly into his face At this level, he realized only the wings were big Though sleekly muscular, she was definitely female The mounds of her slim breasts were obvious, as were the folds of her bare sex Her body was s to overthrow the Council right now, Gideon " Her voice in this forrowl "Up on that ay They infiltrated your ranks, used your attack They&039;ve set up patrols all around the perimeter of the com- pound so when they succeed they&039;ll have all of your hunters who sur- vive trapped They probably plan to torture and dine on your friends in grand celebration of the new order " Looking down, she nudged Tobias with a toe For the first time, he noticed the man had been taken doith a knife clutched in his hand "This was apparently one of the spies, " she said in that ser- pentlike hiss "Chosen to take you out as one of the leaders, I assu ready to put this be- tween your shoulder blades "

He knew her eyes and thattone, despite the mutation of her vocal cords Gideon took a deep breath "You " She gave a faint ser than his fingers, and blood staining thelanced up at the por- tion of the sky from which she&039;d struck "Help coo down to the third level belowground, accessible through the kitchens, you&039;ll find a dungeon It&039;s been round Behind the iron eway underground that will take you a half le You&039;ll take no reen eyes, round and spaced widely, narrowed in pure h his body "Don&039;t expect that passage to be there again I&039;m not stupid, nor is the vampire ns this place Did you have a plan to spare your brother, or did you even care to check that he was here?" Gideon&039;s jaw flexed "We both ed in her expression that ainst a ith no ability to lift the crossbow in defense "I should have let him stab you in the back, " she hissed "Why did you even come down here?" he snapped "Jacob held me back with no effort Why not just disarm Toby the same way? And when did you teach Jacob how to do your mind tricks? Servants can&039;t do that kind of shit You finally figure out how to exploit his psychic power for your own benefit?" Lyssa blinked "No one controlled your mind I can&039;tI move too swift ly to be hit with one of your arrows He&039;sDead They" His stomach dropped at the words With his free hand, he reached out to clamp onto her arm, demand what she meant But she was aloft, headed back toward the second level as though she&039;d been launched fro out of a children&039;s nightmare " The comment came from one of his people just behind hilance,his back instead of intending to spear hi

Jacob, dead? No, he&039;d heard him, loud and clear But froht he was dead Suddenly the ravages of pain he&039;d seen around her eyes, the ones he saw every time he forced himself to look into aThere was a wave of new shouts and curses and the clash of ion of vaht Instead, the vamps swatted him and his hunters out of the way The faction that mowed over Gideon and his old-blond hair She looked like a blood-soaked version of Barbie, another disquieting ie he didn&039;t want iriers and drew their attention, spinning them around They snarled in return Both sides accelerated into a lightning charge, cos, snarls, weapons The overthrowing faction and the faction loyal to the Council, just as Lyssa said His people were se and shoot ar- rows into theplace at the wrong ti, because whatever side won, they&039;d obliterate his sinal plan needed to be followed Strike swift ly, get out Their fifteen minutes were up, for now He snatched out his radio, even as he began to shout out com- mands

Jacob Jacob It was in her head, a cry in the darkness She reached out, looking for hi of clouds, confusion A clip of a thought There was so y and death around She knocked vampires out of her way, tossed hunters out of her path, screale when she swooped down the corridor and saw the Council roo inside, she spun in a circle, but in a blink she knew Jacob wasn&039;t in the cha here who had worked their way down fro on the ay Brian had put Debra in the corner, and she was crouched down as he shielded her, fighting off one of Carnal&039;s followers, his face a mask of protective fury Lyssa picked up his opponent, dashed hiest her sudden appearance before him, Debra scra "Lady Lyssa, we didn&039;t abandon hi her heart farther up into her throat She tucked in her wings and shot back out, circling over the area, eyes franticallyover the battlefield Blood everywhere, the flash of fangs Weapons that had been in the hands of the hu- ainst Carnal&039;s followers There werecapably as so many of them could The communication link between Masters and Mistresses and servants was turning the tide Froanized, mobilized The loyalist servants were commanded to turn their attention to the re- treat of the vampire hunters Their Masters and Mistresses focused on Carnal and his group She briefly saw Danny smeared with blood, her hair tied back hastily with a strip of the dress she&039;d torn off coht in just corset and short slip With her bare feet, she looked like some type of petite Rolea, eyes hard A stray arrohizzed past Lyssa So busy seeking Jacob, she barely avoided it and it scored her shoulder Where are you?

Gideon plunged back down into the courtyard with a set of wooden knives and the rage of a berserker He&039;d watched Lyssa charge into a roo dives over the had hap- pened to Jacob She was looking for hiht need him

So while he&039;d ordered the retreat of his own people according to Lyssa&039;s direction and they wereback as the front line held their retreat, he&039;d surged forward, helping with the coverage He&039;d be da on Lady Lyssa didn&039;t need to know that he&039;d had one of his people pose as one of thebeacon to Jacob&039;s cuff earlier in the evening He had knohere his brother was at all times Jacob&039;s call to the chaure out a way to haul his ass out of the ball- roo beacon said Jacob was still in the Council chaain, he knew sootten separated fro Reached out with his own senses He&039;d always kno to find Jacob when they were on a va It wasn&039;t words, a call It just was An instinct And there he was He stepped out of the shadows at the opposite end of the ay God kno he&039;d gotten past that snarl of va, shirtless,bloody But there was a wandering look to his eyes, suggesting some type of disorientation as if he&039;d been hit in the head Then he was gone, an- other cluster of struggling vah he wouldn&039;t be for long, standing there dazed and unprotected When he pulled his ive Gideon anytiiveness any He turned, looking toward the sky No question who--or rather what--he was looking for, though his ti was lousy Wake up, you stupid bas- tard Gideon broke into a run, yelling it Carnal was bearing down on Jacob,from one of the side hallhere he&039;d prob- ably decided to take a coffee break while his lackeys did his blood work

No one was taking his little brother dohile Gideon lived Even if the bastard had given his heart and loyalty to a vaone, retreating down an- other corridor into the castle, Carnal in pursuit Son of a bitch He&039;d been drawing hi himself as bait Gideon cursed, took the stairs three at a tiained his feet and charged after them When Gideon reached the corridor he found it was a tribute hall and practice room for different periods of ancient weaponry Jacob had seized a nimcha blade as his first choice Carnal unfortunately had chosen a mace Jesus, that thirdpace with the vampire remarkably well, such that Gideon could barely follow their ht on the blade, wrapped it "Jacob!" As the ball swung toward the guard, forcing Jacob to release the handle, Gideon ripped the closest available weapon from the wall, a flat-headed Danish battle ax They were turned so he couldn&039;t attack Carnal&039;s back, and there was no time with that superhuman speed anyhow Desperately, he tossed the heavy weapon with a grunt the few feet in Jacob&039;s direction, hoping to give hied for a sword, planning to spear Carnal from behind while Jacob held his attention In its heyday, the Danish battle ax was assigned only to the burli- est fighters, for they were the only ones strong enough to wield it ef- fectively Jacob was likely to get gutted by thefor a swing Instead Jacob caught the ax one-handed and swung upward, faster than Gideon could follow Carnal roared, shock coursing over his features, but it was a final act of defiance The blade severed cleanly through his neck, his head rolling off his shoulders and thud- ding to the ground In real life, it had all the macabre look of a badly done special- effects movie Gideon didn&039;t like horrorbreath, his blue eyes alight with a rage that made Gideon oddly hesitant to draw closer

Then Jacob&039;s knees buckled, and it didn&039;this brother&039;s arm over his shoulders to help draw hi unusually still and focused about his eyes "That was so fucking satisfying It was almost better than sex Let&039;s put his head back on so I can do it again " "You&039;ve lost your iddy relief at the humor in his brother&039;s eyes "Are you hurt, you idiot?" Jacob chuckled, his head dropping forward as if he suddenly didn&039;t have the strength to hold it up "I was dead, Gid Absolutely dead You knowWhat you said? About Mo like that?&039; I think I heard Dad for a moood that feltThe answer to every- thingI need to findet you out of here " Jacob nodded "I feel like shit But I&039; to live, Gid Even if you don&039;t want lea hell "