Christine Feehan: Dark Demon 16

The air grew still. No one moved. There was no shuffling of feet or rattle of weapons. Vikirnoff gripped the hilt of his sword, silently swearing. The Carpathians were severely handicapped without the use of their magick. Maxim had the full use of his powers and an army he could replenish at will.

The sky erupted right in front of them with an army of vampires and clones, so many they hindered one another as they flew at the small band of hunters. Mikhail stepped forward to meet the attack, but Vikirnoff, Falcon and Manolito stepped in front of him. Lightning swords streaked through the air, cutting everything in the path. As fast as body pans fell to the ground, animals sprang up, rats with sharp teeth rushing at their legs to cut them down.

Sara stepped forward and began to fire steadily, one bullet at a time, a calm display of marksmanship in the midst of the chaos. Raven caught up the sword Dominic threw to her while he forged a new one. She went back to back with her lifemate, fighting off the airborne attacks.

Suddenly Maxim appeared behind Manolito, ripping the sword from his hand and slicing a razor-sharp talon across his throat. He moved with such speed he was a blur. Vikirnoff whirled around, slicing through the vampire's leg with his sword, but Maxim was only a shadow, insubstantial, already gone, melting away behind his frenzied army. Manolito went down and several rats rushed him. Vikirnoff kicked two of them away and was forced to fight off several clones flying straight at him.

Natalya! Get the damned thing open, they are ail over us.

I've got a, small opening. Dominic is covering it. Can you get the information to Gregori? I'll keep working to bring it down. It is very complicated

Hurry, Natalya. We cannot hold them off much longer.

Keep your panty hose on.

Vikirnoff wasn't about to ask what that meant or where she got the phrase. Most likely a movie. He had tried to convey the urgency of the moment, but he knew unraveling a spell of such magnitude wasn't easy and in some cases, impossible.

His sword cut through two others. Sara and Raven rushed to his side and dragged Manolito back behind the fighting hunters to Dominic. Raven knelt beside him, her hands pressed to his throat, the healing chant filling their minds as they fought. Mikhail took Manolito's place, and the sight of him whipped the vampires into a killing frenzy.

Falcon staggered back, several deep cuts on his chest and face. Vikirnoff leapt the distance between them to cover him, taking great sweeping cuts with his sword. When he glanced back at Mikhail, he couldn't even see the prince with the army swarming around him. Darker shadows swept across the knot of fighters and Vikirnoff's heart sank as Maxim appeared. He had no choice but to abandon Falcon to aid the prince. Should they lose Falcon, they would lose Sara and her unborn child.

Vikirnoff took two steps toward the prince and was driven back by several clones. He heard a groan and turned his head just in time to see Gregori burst out from behind Dominic who was shuddering with pain. Small dots of blood beaded the Dragonseekers brow. The burns had spread across his shoulder, down his arm, up his neck to his face. He clenched his teeth together as Jacques pushed past him, rushing to join the battle. Only then did Dominic free himself from the barrier and slump to the ground.

Gregori went straight for the knot of vampires, wading through them with his incredible strength, his silver eyes blazing. Jacques dragged Falcon back and together with Vikirnoff tried to hold back the growing army. It didn't matter how many they cut down, Maxim simply replaced them, replicating them at an astonishing speed. The barrier had to come down soon or they would all die.

Gregori kicked aside a rat, tossed a clone into the barrier where it sizzled and howled, and snapped a second clone's neck to make his way to the prince's side. As Maxim reached for Mikhail, Gregori slammed his weight into him. He went through the vampire, staggered and caught himself, whirling around to find the master vampire close, a small, smug smile very much in evidence.

«I had hoped you would join us.» Maxim greeted him.

«I always oblige.» Gregori circled to the right.

Everything is connected! Natalya's voice was filled with excitement. Tell the prince. It is all connected. When the barrier falls, so will all of his other shields. All of you will be able to shift and use whatever works to win this battle.

Bring it down now, ainaak enyem, or none of us will survive the next ten minutes.

Maxim stepped even closer, matching Gregori's steps as if dancing with him. All the

while that small ugly smile of contempt played over his thin lips. As Gregori slammed his fist deep, Maxim twisted slightly, taking the punch, trapping the hunter's hand in his body, his ribs squeezing sharply, acting like a guillotine. Gregori's face blanched and he dragged his arm back without his hand. A fountain of blood poured out. All of the Carpathians could hear Gregori's lifemate's scream of agony reverberating through their minds.

Maxim plunged his own fist into the hunter's chest cavity, driving through bone and muscle to reach the beating heart of the prince's second-in-command.

«It's down! It's down!» Natalya cried and whirled to join the battle.

«Stop.» The single word was issued with such authority and power everyone stilled. Mikhail stepped close to Gregori. «Release him, Maxim.»

«I am going to tear out his heart.» The fingers dug deeper, ripping at arteries. «You have far too high an opinion of the Daratrazanoff family as your second-in-command, Mikhail. You would have been better to look to the Malinov family.»

Gregori, instead of making a second attempt to get at the master vampire's heart, reached back toward Mikhail. His torn body shuddered. The only thing keeping him standing was the fist burrowing around his heart. He made no sound, but he reached for his prince with his bloody stump of an arm.

Mikhail stepped forward and gripped Gregori's wrist, cauterizing the wound as he leaned close and sank his teeth deep into his jugular.

There was a stunned silence, broken only by Maxim's scream of rage as he dug frantically, trying to remove the hunter's heart. Mikhail's other hand caught Maxim's forearm and pulled as he swept his tongue across Gregori's neck to close the pinpricks. When Mikhail lifted his head, he looked different. His skin glowed a warm golden color. He forced Maxim's arm out of Gregori's chest and the hunter fell to the ground, clutching his mangled body.

Mikhail stepped away from the other Carpathians, his arms outstretched, his eyes closed, his mind reaching, drawing, expanding. Streaks of light flashed from Mikhail to Gregori, to Falcon, Dominic and Jacques. The bands of light connected Raven, Sara and Natalya, leapt to Vikirnoff and Manolito. The power swelled until the earth vibrated with it.

Natalya felt the connection of all Carpathians, near and far, ancient and new, vampire or hunter. Every skill, every talent, every bit of knowledge poured from their minds into a single person. She blinked rapidly in astonishment as Mikhail's feet left the ground. Blinding light shot from his fingertips, from his mouth and eyes, streaking across the army of clones, shattering them, so that they fell empty and lifeless all around the master vampire.

The lesser vampires began to burn, skin smoking and melting, faces distorting. They ran

in circles howling in fear.

Maxim tried to shift, sliding back to his shadow spirit, a form he often used to move quickly and without being seen, but Mikhail's light was too strong. There in the dark of night, there were no longer any shadows to slip into. The light struck his face, his skin and small holes began to form, little pinholes enlarging slowly all over his body. He roared his hatred. He thrashed, spewing insects and acid, fighting to get away from the light.