Christine Feehan - Dark Demon 16

Wind swept through the ice chamber, clarifying each individual warrior. They straightened slowly, one by one, and turned to her, swords raised toward the ceiling, once again motionless awaiting her orders.

You did it.

If only it was that easy. Natalya racked her brain for the proper wording to countermand their long-buried commands, for a way to set them against the vampires when the undead knew not to move and draw the shadow warrior's attention.

On the floor of the cave, Cezar's mangled body began to wiggle. The head jerked, then rolled. Natalya's stomach lurched and she couldn't pull her horrified gaze from the sight.

Concentrate.

You concentrate. That is just gross.

Vikirnoff's fire whip snapped out again and again, reaching parts of the lesser vampire, raining fire, incinerating everything it touched. He searched out the heart with the flames, wanting to at least ensure Cezar could not rise against them again.

Natalya took a deep breath and let it out. She had the attention of not only the shadow warriors, but also the master vampire. She had to bind the warriors to her fast. «Hear me warriors of the ancient past, warriors of the ancient law. Whose blood was shed, who died with honor.» As she chanted, she studied the squares with symbols embedded in the ice on the floor, grateful it was hidden from the others. If she could figure out the pattern, she was certain she could unlock the hidden door.

They are paying attention. Keep going!

Her gaze shifted to Vikirnoff. This isn't exactly easy! She had to go through thousands of spells she had learned to pull out the right words, all the while trying to figure out how to escape. «Hear me warriors of old, whose souls are lost, this night I call you, this night I summon you to my aid. Hear me, warriors, a new cause has arisen, your body gone, now spirit be…»

Maxim struck without warning, thrusting his mind and will hard against Natalya's mind, pushing to break through any shields. She felt the thrust of his mind, ugly, oily, a filthy abomination touching her, oozing inside and spreading quickly like a cancer. Every evil thought and deed, the countless murders, the depravities, everything Maxim had been and was, poured into her mind.

Vikirnoff. She screamed his name in desperation. The sickness flooding her mind drove her to her knees. She gagged, clutched her heaving, protesting stomach. She was unclean. She would always be unclean. Nothing would take away the dark poisoned stain of evil.

I am here.

Vikirnoff was. Calm. Surrounding her with warmth when she was so utterly cold. Filling her mind with a radiant light, the sun bursting through her mind. How had she ever thought there was darkness in him? She saw darkness, evil of the worst kind and it was nothing like Vikirnoff. He entered her mind with confidence, his every thought, past and present, open to her. As he moved with purpose, he built a reflective light, a mirror turned onto the vampire, forcing him to see what he was. The dark shadows retreated before him, so that Maxim had no choice but to reluctantly flee. Inch by slow inch, Vikirnoff drove the master vampire from her mind. Behind him, Vikirnoff built high, thick shields, weaving them from the strongest safeguards he'd learned over the centuries.

Natalya didn't leave it at that. She wouldn't. She could protect herself. She knew things others didn't know and nobody was going to walk in her mind. «Shield of smoke, earth and fire, come to me, hear my desire. Mold to form, both front and back, protecting me from attack.» She had no idea why her shields weren't holding, but she wasn't going to let her guard down again around the vampire.

Maxim hissed his displeasure, the sound loud in the hush of the ice chamber. Throwing out both hands, he slammed his palms forward, toward Natalya. The chamber shook with the force of his blow, driving the bitter cold air straight at her, a fist to her solar plexus. The air left her lungs in a rush, doubling her over so that stars danced in front of her eyes, but he could not penetrate her mind.

Heat seeped through the terrible cold, warming her. A soft wind fluttered over her face, pushed into her lungs. Vikirnoff breathed for her. In and out. She felt him surrounding her, holding her up and it gave her the strength to straighten her body and face Maxim, her gaze cool and hard.

«By your spirit I summon you. Each of you I enlist. I call you, warriors lost, come to my aid.»

Maxim's face twisted with fury. He blasted Natalya a second time, raining sharpened stalactites down on her head. Vikirnoff answered with an umbrella of ice.

He does not want you dead. He is stalling. Anxiously he studied the hand stretching to the ice wall where Natalya stood. The rust colored fingers were already creeping up the side of the wall, reaching for her. He is waiting for whatever the puddle bides to reach you. I am coming over to you.

Wait! Don't move until I order the warriors. They will attack you. Natalya couldn't quite catch her breath, even with Vikirnoff's steady breathing, her lungs burned and felt squeezed of all air. She had to figure out the pattern. «Hear me, fight at my side. Protect me from harm. Come to my side, protect me from harm.»

The shadow warriors moved, tall and ethereal, cloaked in clouds of whirling gray smoke, ghosts really, insubstantial one moment and dressed in armor the next. They formed a lose circle around Natalya giving her a reprieve from Maxim's smoldering hatred. She kept her eyes on the patterns. I've got it, Vikirnoff. I can open the floor.

«Hold this circle, give no ground, battle that which is still, but cannot be bound.» Natalya couldn't help the triumphant smirk she flung at the master vampire. «Be it vapor or foggy mist, hold it fast though it turns and twists.»

Maxim roared with rage and raised his hands toward Natalya. The low ice wall Natalya stood on obeyed his shouted commands, shifting, sweeping through the circle of shadow warriors, brushing them aside as though they were feathers in the wind. Icicles spears hurtled toward Vikirnoff, the sharp ends spinning with flames straight toward his heart. Maxim leapt at Natalya so fast he was no more than a blur.

Already the shadow warriors were reforming their protective circle around Natalya and just feet from her, Maxim saw he had no chance to take possession of her. In midair he turned, choosing to kill Vikirnoff instead.

Vikirnoff picked an ice-spear from the air and used it to deflect the barrage coming at him. On the ground, Natalya! Before he could give any more warning to remind her of the creeping puddle of water, Maxim had landed behind him and reached for his throat with piercing talons. A sword slammed between them and the master vampire shrieked with rage, fingers falling to the floor of the ice cave. Even as Maxim turned to meet the attack, digits were already growing back. He caught the head of the shadow warrior and twisted sharply, flinging the warrior away from him and turning toward Vikirnoff.

Shadow warriors surrounded him. Maxim waved his hand and both he and Arturo were replicated over and over, a hundred clones whirling like madmen between the shadow warriors.

The rust-colored fingers reached Natalya, creeping up her boot in silence to circle her ankle. Vikirnoff sprang off the floor, using dizzying speed, vaulting over the ice floor crowded with fighting shadow warriors and vampires. For a moment bright, blinding light flashed in the cave as lightning forked, slamming into the wall just above his head, evidence that Maxim would not be defeated easily. Vikirnoff didn't hesitate or look back at his enemy. He caught Natalya in his arms and landed on the first squared pattern, the ice wall momentarily hiding them from the shadow warriors and the vampires.

«It burns,» Natalya said, trying to reach for her ankle.