“These lunatics are like Medusa, the snake woman. Cut off one head, and another grows in its place. If we take this one, we can hope they will at least be forced to regroup for a while,” Darius said softly. “It will give us time to collect more information on them.”
Julian nodded solemnly. “Human vampire-hunters have plagued our people for thousands of years. As long as our males turn, there will be those humans who become suspicious and continue to hunt us all.”
“Perhaps the solution is to find out more about these fanatics and actively hunt them,” Darius suggested grimly.
“We have some of our people gathering information on them. A toxin was developed by one of their laboratories. Injected into the body of a Carpathian, it can paralyze,” Julian informed him almost soothingly. “Our healer-your brother, Darius-has found an antidote. But these are determined men. Even if we take this Wallace, they may come after us again and continue to develop new and more deadly poisons against us.”
“Not if, Julian,” Darius returned with quiet menace. “I will destroy this man. If it gives our people respite, so be it. If it does not, we will not back away from our duty.”
“Do you have the scent of our prey?” Julian asked.
“It is a stench in my nostrils. He cannot escape his fate this night.”
“Your lifemate still lives,” Dayan said softly.
Darius’s head snapped around, his eyes blazing with smoldering fire. “I am well aware of the state my lifemate is in, Dayan. There is no need for you to remind me.”
“Tempest is one of those unusual women who never hold a grudge,” Julian said to no one in particular. “It is difficult to imagine her harming a fly.”
“Thank you for pointing that out to me, Julian,” Darius snapped, and he launched himself straight upward.
Few could accomplish such a feat. He was in the sky, a stream of vapor streaking through time and space. Julian laughed softly and followed suit, not to be outdone by his brother-in-law. Dayan shrugged his powerful shoulders, grinned at Barack, and took a running leap.
Barack shook his head at them all and went after them. Someone who had some sense had to go along.
The dark, ominous cloud grew heavier as the separate streams of vapor gathered together and moved rapidly overhead, blotting out stars as it went. Below them animals scurried for cover or cowered in trees and dens. They sensed the dark predators moving rapidly overhead and chose to remain as small and still as possible.
The cloud abruptly stopped, as if the wind had ceased to blow. Darius allowed the breeze to blow around him, through him. It told him exactly where he wanted to go. He had the scent of Brady Grand’s companions. He would know them anywhere.
Far below, tucked into the side of a hill, a ranch house sprawled in an L-shape. At first glance it appeared deserted, but there was no way to stop the wind from carrying the stench of their prey to Carpathians. The cloud moved slowly, spreading a dark stain over the hill. The wind rose sharply and should have carried the cloud away, but it stayed stubbornly overhead, a portent of death and destruction.
The wind tugged at the windows of the ranch house, looking for a way in, searching for weaknesses. It grew stronger, rattling the glass in the panes, banging the shutters insistently. Then there was movement at the south side of the house; someone opened a downstairs window and reached out into the night to try to close the shutter.
The ominous black cloud struck hard and fast. It poured out of the sky and streamed into the house through the open window, filling the room like suffocating smoke. The man staggered backward, his mouth gaping open in a silent scream. The sound failed to emerge, muffled by the thick vapor as it moved through his body, taking his breath, removing the air like a vacuum.
One by one the Carpathians shimmered into solid forms. Darius was already moving. He could hear every sound in the house. Four men were playing pool in a room three doors to their right. Overhead, two others were moving around. Someone was watching television in a room upstairs and to their left. Darius glided through the house, a silent predator stalking his prey.
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