In the instant when Nicolae would have dissolved to allow the whipping tail and crushing jaws to pass harmlessly by him, one of the creatures opened its hideous mouth wider to reveal the prize in its mouth. His legs held prisoner by the rows of teeth, a man screamed helplessly, flailing his arms wildly, his horrified gaze locked with Nicolae’s as the giant beast began to exert pressure.
Vikirnoff dropped from above, emerging out of the dark clouds to land on the lizard’s back. In his hand was a spear glowing red-hot. He thrust the weapon straight through the back of the neck of the reptile. As it screamed in pain and hatred, the great jaws opened, releasing the human inside. The man plummeted toward earth, his cry a thin wail of terror.
Nicolae plunged straight down, chasing after the falling man as he dropped toward the rising funnel cloud. The splinters and spears of ice targeted both Nicolae and the victim of the undead. Nicolae hastily constructed a net woven of silken strands below the falling man while at the same time moving his hands in a complicated pattern, drawing fire from the sky to melt the ice weapons.
The vampire’s victim hit the net, bounced and caught desperately at the thin strands, hanging on grimly. He was fully aware of the bizarre happenings and yet he was fighting to stay alive. Needing him conscious, Nicolae chose not to shield him as he swept him into the comparative safety of his arms.
“Hang on!” Nicolae ordered. He recognized Martin Wright. The man clasped his hands around Nicolae’s neck, sliding around to his back, then closing his eyes against this terrifying reality. Blood dripped steadily from his legs where the teeth had bit into him.
Don’t let anything happen to him. Destiny’s plea was strong in Nicolae’s mind.
Nicolae glanced down toward the mountain even as the reptilian creatures lunged after him, streaking away from their fallen companion. The giant lizard Vikirnoff had lanced was falling through the sky, somersaulting with Vikirnoff stubbornly clinging to its back. The vampire was roaring in rage and terror, but the others did not go to his aid. Instead they were hurtling toward Nicolae and Martin at an alarming rate of speed.
Evading them with blurring speed, Nicolae almost missed the shadow near the entrance to the mountain. A dark shape slithered over the ground silently, moving from shadow to shadow. Nicolae barely caught the sliding tail disappearing into the ground far below him. His heart slammed hard in his chest. The undead knew that if he managed to kill Destiny, he would destroy at least one of the hunters for certain. Her lifemate would never continue without her, and it was possible both hunters would follow her or turn.
Destiny!
I feel the evil one approaching. I have smelled his stench before. There was a confidence in her voice Nicolae did not feel. Pater was a powerful and dangerous adversary. Destiny was seriously injured, ill and fighting the poison in her body.
Nicolae, let the human go. You will need your full strength to fight off the undead. Vikirnoff was always the same, his voice without inflection, even when he was sentencing a man to certain death.
You will not! Destiny was furious with Vikirnoff. Do not listen to him, Nicolae. I do not need your help with one slimy vampire.
The boiling chemicals that had mixed together in her stomach to form the explosive device were beginning to burn through her insides, as if releasing some terrible gas. Destiny studied the compound, felt Nicolae, and Vikirnoff through Nicolae, studying the chemicals with her.
The first is nitric acid or something similar, Nicolae identified.
And they have found a way to introduce glycerin, uniting the two chemicals, Vikirnoff pointed out.
Destiny winced. Nitroglycerin. Unstable. Dangerous. Sitting inside her and waiting for some signal to explode. Even a change in her body temperature could set it off. The virus itself could be the detonator if it raised her body temperature. Destiny controlled her panic, thinking, determined to use her brain. Their kind existed on blood. Blood would have no effect on that raging mass. A laser blast of pure energy would ignite it. The vampire would expect her to think like a hunter, not a human. He would never expect her to ingest anything other than blood.