“Good,” Gregori approved. “But this one is very adept. I am uneasy over the way this is going, Mikhail. Let us take to the air above the wires and approach from different directions. I will go in first. Our people cannot afford to lose either of you.”
“Gregori,” Mikhail reminded him softly, “if the child is your lifemate, and you do something careless, you are condemning her to death. Keep that in mind when you enter this place of madness.”
Gregori’s silver eyes slashed at his old friend. “Do you think I would chance harming her in any way? I have waited several lifetimes for her. These humans are nothing. They have persecuted our people for far too long. I mean it to stop.”
Mikhail nodded, his dark eyes, so like his brother’s, black ice. “You are up to this, Jacques?”
Jacques’ smile was a humorless promise of retaliation. “Have no worries about me. I am looking forward to this.”
Mikhail sighed. “Two bloodthirsty savages thinking they are in the dark ages.”
Jacques exchanged a humorless grin with Gregori. “The dark ages were not such a bad time. At least justice could be dispensed easily without worrying about what the women would think.”
“You both have gone soft,” Gregori snickered. “No wonder our people have such problems. The women are ruling, and you two besotted idiots just follow along.”
Jacques’ solid form wavered, became transparent. “We will see who proves to be the soft one, healer.” His body completely disappeared from sight.
Mikhail glanced at Gregori, shrugged, then followed suit. None of this was to his liking. Gregori was a time bomb waiting to explode. And only God knew what Jacques was capable of. It seemed the worst possible time to confront an enemy, just as they were weakening from the light of day.
Gregori waited until Mikhail and Jacques had disappeared before allowing his body to dissolve. He launched himself skyward, wincing as the sun’s light, penetrating the dark clouds, hit his eyes. He cursed silently. Raven was alone with a woman who knew next to nothing about their people’s capabilities. She was very weak. The child was his only hope, and it was stupidity to rescue a Carpathian male who was on the verge of turning. A few more years and Gregori would be hunting him.
Jacques moved across the meadow, high above the gleaming wires. Water danced off the thin strands like crystal droplets. He moved around the blackened ruins in a slow circle, looking for the entrance hidden in the ground. It bothered him that he didn’t know exactly where it was, or that the others might know before him. It made him feel as if he were ill, totally incompetent.
Soft laughter sent warmth curling through his body. Since when have you ever been incompetent? You made me crazy even when you were lying allegedly helpless, in bed. The first time you kissed me, I forgot my own name. That is not incompetent.
Jacques found the tension easing out of his body. Shea had a way of doing that for him with just the sound of her laughter, her warmth. I am looking for the entrance to the cellar. The ground appears to be completely undisturbed.
As I walked across the meadow and approached the burned area, the stone fireplace was on my right. I circled the perimeter from the right side. The door was buried in the dirt. I couldn’t see it, but I felt it with my hand. I remember the fireplace was to my right by about ten feet or so.
Thanks, little red hair. Jacques crouched in the rain, ran his hand along the mud-slick soil.
“There is something over here,” Mikhail said softly, his eyes searching for a hidden trap. His body hovered over the area as he examined the ground. “There are marks on the ground, as if a branch has been dragged over it. Dirt and rocks have been scattered over the spot.”
“Do not touch it!” Jacques ordered sharply. “The fireplace should be to your right and farther out.”
“You remember this?” Gregori asked skeptically.
“Shea remembers. It must be another trap. The rain would have removed those marks.”