Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
His lifemate wouldn’t be getting a bargain. Still, she would have his unswerving loyalty, something he would demand in return. She might be capable of slaying demons, but she would never have the expertise to kill him. Lifemates had access to the mind of the other. He would monitor her to know her thoughts and intentions. That way there would never be a moment when she could plot his demise without his being aware.
We are surrounded. Nicu’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
Benedek knew the enemy had begun to stalk him and the others as they made their way through the darkness toward Nachtbloem. The night was cold. Icy cold. Frost covered bushes and grass. Icicles dripped from the branches of trees. He knew the night would be considered beautiful with the way the moon peeked through the rolling clouds to cast light on the ice, turning everything silver. Yet he saw…gray. Only gray.
How many times had he listened to humans describing colors? He had vivid memories of his past—the treachery and betrayal of his family and others he had considered friends or allies while younger, but he had no memory of color. He saw the world in a gray void. He couldn’t remember a time when he saw in color. Sometimes he wondered if he ever had.
They believe we are surrounded, Benedek conceded. The Smolnyckis have seamlessly blended into the night. Those believing us caught in their trap have yet to realize there are three other hunters with us.
He felt nothing for his prey. Not contempt or fear or animosity. He was a hunter, and he was good at what he did. This was all so familiar to him after centuries of battling the vampire. Over time, the vampires had changed, grown more cunning. A master vampire had protection now from lesser vampires, as they banded together to be more effective against the Carpathian hunters. Benedek and the others had adapted to what was the new normal. They knew they would face multiple vampires of varying skills. That in no way bothered any of the ancients. In centuries of hunting, they’d seen it all.
Benedek was the bait. It was a role he was comfortable in. He drew out the enemy by striding, seemingly unaware, deeper into the large orchard of Caucasian wingnut trees. Most of the trees were mature, tall at variations from forty to sixty feet. The trunks were wide, round and deeply creased with dark gray bark. Due to the time of year, the leaves had fallen, leaving the enormous branches bare of their finery. Many of the trees still carried nutlets, although they had turned brown.
The trunks were enormous, and the root system large and complex, running beneath Benedek’s feet as he strode through the grove. Mixed in with the wingnut trees were a few ash and alder trees. As he rounded each of the trunks, he noted whether the tree shivered with animosity, appeared ill or had sap running down a crack. All would be indications that a vampire had taken up residence inside the tree.
Vampires were an abomination against nature, and nature always retreated when they were close. Grass withered and turned brown. Flowers shuddered and closed their petals, turning from bright colors to a dull, shrunken, sickly yellow. Even clean river water would retreat with repugnance from the vile undead that went against the natural order of the universe.
Three inside tree trunks. One in the ground inside the roots, he reported to the others.
One has taken the form of an owl, Nicu added. Two are in with the group of bats. They’re making their way toward you.
No master vampire so far, Benedek said. To have so many pawns, he’s been around for a while. To keep this many pawns, he has to be capable.
He must be close, Nicu added. He will want to be the general, orchestrating the battle. His ego will demand that.
Benedek had skills he’d developed over the centuries. Like Nicu, he’d become feral and as dangerous as the animal predators they encountered. He had all the instincts, the ability to smell and see the most minute traces of his enemy when he hunted. Every cell in his body, every hair on his head and on his body, provided him with information on his prey. When Benedek locked on to whatever he was tracking, he never stopped until he had found and destroyed it.
Have not caught the scent of the master, Tomas reported. Two more pawns moving through the grove toward you, Benedek. I recognize one. He was called Elek. Slimy little toad. He turned some centuries ago and doesn’t seem to actually fight off a hunter. He leaves that to his companions.
The one with him, Lojos added, is named Odon. He thinks quite a lot of his abilities. He has killed two hunters, which elevated him to a higher status.