Dark Nights Read online

  “They’re breaking through above us,” Jubal said. “Gary, keep Gabrielle close to you. If anything happens, get her out and somewhere safe. Joie, I’ll take the ones coming through from upstairs, you keep the ones at the door out.”

  Jubal and Joie each knew the way the other worked, what they were capable of and that each would have the other’s back. Gary was an unknown and they preferred to rely on each other despite his expertise.

  “I’ve got it,” Joie replied, not certain what she was going to do to prevent vampires from invading the room. “I need a shotgun.” She kept her eyes on the door.

  “Gary, do you have one? Where is it?” Gabrielle asked.

  “Under the bed.” Gary indicated his bed with his chin, his eyes remaining on the door.

  Gabrielle retrieved the gun and handed it to her sister.

  The ceiling shook a second time, and more debris rained down. Wood splintered and cracked, caving in just as the door burst inward, splintering through the middle. A swarm of insects flew straight at Jubal, bringing in the wind and the wild rain. Above their heads, a creature with glowing red eyes and stained teeth glared triumphantly down at them. The whirling blades of Jubal’s bracelet rose swiftly into the air, spinning, giving off a low hum as the metal grew hotter and began to glow red.

  A second dense cloud of stinging bugs swarmed through the hole in the door, attacking exposed flesh, biting viciously. Gabrielle screamed as she fought them off, slapping at them as they clung to skin and hair. Gary threw a blanket over Gabrielle’s head, wrapping her face and arms to protect her from the worst of the bites.

  Jubal cursed and beat at his face and neck in a frantic attempt to keep the insects off of him; at the same time, he refused to take his eyes from the widening hole in the ceiling. The vampire beat at the wood and ripped the beams away. He reached down through the hole toward Jubal’s head, claws lengthening.

  Gary dragged Gabrielle away from the danger of the swinging claw. He met the eyes of the vampire. “You cannot enter this room, foul thing. You are not welcome here.”

  The arm smoked. Little flames licked up the rotting flesh. The vampire screamed and jerked his arm away, thrashing around on the floor of the bedroom above them before thrusting his head just outside the widening hole and spitting venom at them. The spinning blades rose into the air and smashed into the exposed head, tearing through the face, burning and cutting as it went. The vampire screamed horribly and fell back out of sight.

  Jubal closed his eyes, shutting out everything but the bracelet, forming an image in his head of the spinning weapon targeting the vampire’s heart. He was oblivious to the insects swarming over him, Gabrielle’s cries, or Gary’s chanting. The only thing, in that moment that was real for him, was the mage weapon and the vampire.

  The scent of burned flesh and hideous screams that cut off abruptly were his only confirmation that he’d been successful. He called the bracelet back to him. It came through the door with the master vampire’s retaliation—hordes of bats. The bats covered his body, driving him to the ground with their weight, teeth biting into his flesh with the intention of devouring him.

  Gary shoved Gabrielle behind him, toward the bathroom. “Get in there, cover every crack,” he ordered and turned back to try to clear the bats from Jubal, knocking them to the floor and to incinerate them with a small torch he took from atop his dresser, ignoring the ones using their wings as feet and walking menacingly across the floor toward him.

  A vampire appeared in the hole and Joie shot him with the shotgun, blowing him backward. Immediately the gun grew too hot to hold and she dropped it hastily, inhaling sharply when she saw what she faced. The vampire was back, the bloody hole blown through the body spewing maggots, but he was still standing as though unfazed.

  Through the door, Joie could see that this was the real enemy. She stood stoically facing the monster outside in the hall. His smile was a terrible parody, as was his bow. He looked smug as he watched the black horde of insects biting the occupants of the room and the bats covering the body of her brother like a living blanket. Joie knew she was staring at something far more foul than the creature she had knifed in the cave. He beckoned to her with his clawlike fingers, and she felt a tremendous pull. It was only the pain from the vicious bites of the insects that kept her from stepping out of the room and into the hallway. She had no doubt that this vampire would kill her—that he would kill all of them.

  She struggled to keep her mind her own, rather than allow his soft voice to intrude and command. “You are Valenteen,” she named him. “A master vampire without equal. Tell me why you do the bidding of the other, the one who hides behind your strength.”

  The only weapon she had was to flatter the vampire’s ego—stall him in the hope that Traian would come before Valenteen could entice her out to him. “It’s clear you’re much more powerful. Why would you serve such a creature?” She forced interest and admiration into her voice. “I find it hard to believe that a man like you needs someone like him.”

  Valenteen’s lip curled, exposing blackened gums. “I allow him to think he commands me. It suits me to fall in with his plans. We both seek the same thing. If he finds it, I will take it from him.”

  Joie was being compelled forward, one slow step at a time. She struggled to stay grounded, flinging her hand out to Jubal. Her brother crawled to her in spite of the weight of the bats, clawing his way across the floor, pushing with elbows and toes until his fingers grasped hers while Gary continued to throw the bats off his back and legs. Jubal gripped her hand without hesitation.

  “Of course you’ll take whatever it is the two of you seek. He’s a fool to think he can treat you with so little respect. I’ve been all over the world and have never encountered a man as powerful as you.” Joie tried to interject a flirty note in her voice, but her acting skills didn’t stretch that far. “You should lead them all. Everyone would benefit from your knowledge.”

  In spite of Jubal’s restraining hand, she was jerked another step forward. Joie felt like a puppet on a string. She couldn’t stop her body from going toward the beckoning hand, even with Jubal trying to hold her back.

  Gary flung up his hands to stop her. “Leave this place,” he commanded.

  Valenteen sent a thrust of foul air toward Gary’s face. Gary stumbled, grasping his throat and going down to one knee. At once the bats began to climb his legs, biting with vicious teeth.

  Ignoring the others in the room as though nothing had happened and his conversation with Joie hadn’t been interrupted, Valenteen nodded his head. “It is true that I have much experience in leadership. Perhaps killing you is not the best answer. Perhaps bringing you to my side would serve us both better.”

  Jubal let go of her hand and caught her around the waist, lifting her away from the threshold. At the same time, he tried to send the mage weapon spinning toward the master vampire. At once the vampire closed his hand, staring at Jubal’s throat. Joie’s brother went down hard, choking, coughing, fighting for air. The insects instantly swarmed over him, clogging his throat, attacking his exposed face. The weapon retreated toward Jubal, obviously trying to protect him from the insects and bats without the guidance of his thoughts.

  Gary made a valiant effort to stagger to his feet, still fighting the bats, making a grab for Joie, but she shook her head and deliberately stepped into the hall.

  “Help Jubal,” she ordered. She kept her gaze on the vampire, trying to appear fascinated. Traian was close. He was with her, moving in her mind, giving her strength. The vampire believed he was still compelling her to do his bidding, but with Traian’s aid, she moved on her own. She didn’t look behind her to see if Gary was able to clear out the bats, she had to trust that he would. Intuitively she knew it was better for all of them to keep the vampire’s attention centered on her.

  Her stomach lurched at the prospect of being close to such an evil creature. She could see him clearly now, without the illusion the undead often used on their victims. Flesh hung from his bones. Tufts of hair clung to his scalp. His long, thick fingernails were in the shape of hooked claws, sharp and twisted and black. His eyes appeared red, streaked with yellow. The hole she’d put in him showed the rot in his insides. The black insects and wiggling white worms spilled from inside of him. Malevolence clung to him, sickening her and fouling the air around him. Instead of trying to stop herself from moving toward him, now Joie had to force her shaking legs to take a step.

  Impatience crossed his face and he showed his teeth.

  Her heart jumped, accelerated in spite of the need to stay calm. “Joining with a man so powerful and knowing he’s certain to rule those around him sounds like a good idea. I’ve always admired strength.” She tried to appease him even when it was obvious her reluctance showed.

  Inches from his outstretched hand, Joie purposely tripped on a piece of the splintered door and stumbled. She protected herself with a palm to the ground, her body slightly turned, giving herself precious seconds to slide her other hand along her leg to grab the knife in her boot, the blade hidden flat against her wrist.

  Valenteen leaned over her, spittle drooling from his mouth as he caught her by her hair and wrenched her to her feet. He dragged her against his body, jerking her head back to expose her neck, and sank his teeth deep, gulping as he drank.

  Joie registered the fiery pain of an acid burn as he tore a gaping wound in her neck. Her vision blurred, and the ground lurched as her legs went rubbery. She could hear the sound of his heart, although she couldn’t feel it beating. She made no sound of protest, made no struggle, giving herself up willingly. Some of the tension slipped from the undead’s body. With every ounce of strength she possessed, everything she was, Joie plunged the knife deep into his chest, driving straight for his heart.

  Lifting his head, Valenteen screamed horribly, the sound shattering glass from windows. Gripping her hair, he dragged her backward as his body fought to stay up in spite of the knife in his heart. With his other hand he grabbed her chin with every intention of breaking her neck.

  Blood gushed from the wound in her neck so that his hand slipped off. Joie clamped both hands on the back of the fist clutching her hair to hold his hand to her head. Dropping low, she spun around and stood up fast, snapping bones in his hand. He howled as he let her go, raking at her with poison-tipped talons.

  Traian emerged from the darkness, his eyes flaming red, dragging the vampire off of her, wrenching his head around hard. The knife handle dropped uselessly to the floor of the verandah, the blade completely eaten away by acid in the blood of the undead. Traian’s fist shot out, plunging deep, following the trail of the knife. Valenteen matched the move, driving his good hand into the wall of Traian’s chest, through the muscle and tissue, seeking his heart.

  Valenteen and Traian stood eye to eye, toe to toe, both driving toward one another’s heart. Traian ignored the pain of a claw tearing through muscle and tissue, ripping his flesh. He had one purpose. He had to reach that heart and kill the vampire, even if Valenteen managed to kill him. His lifemate and her siblings had no chance without him succeeding. His fingers burrowed deep. Acid blood poured over his arm, burning through to his bones. The vampire raked at him with his other arm and bent forward to try to tear his neck open with his teeth stained with Joie’s blood.

  Staring into the vampire’s eyes, Traian ripped the shriveled, blackened organ out and tossed it aside. “You lose, Valenteen. You are dead.”

  “Not yet,” Valenteen’s teeth snapped around Traian’s neck.

  Chapter Twelve

  Traian felt stabbing pain as teeth sank into his neck and the fist continued burrowing through his chest toward his heart. No master vampire would go down so easily. Already the rotten heart rocked to the summons of its growling, snarling master and began to slither across the floor to its host. Traian staggered under the weight of the heavy body trying to bring him to the ground. Insects abandoned the room to rush to the aid of their master. Bats darkened the hallway, rushing from the bedroom abandoning the two men they were trying to drain of blood, to serve Valenteen.

  Gary and Jubal both stumbled to their feet, half blind with blood dripping from hundreds of bites, bodies swelling from insect bites, both trying to make their way to aid Traian. Gabrielle burst from the bathroom, sweeping up the shotgun as she ran, turning it as she would a baseball bat and as Valenteen lifted his head to spit blood in Traian’s face, she slammed the butt of the shotgun full force into the vampire’s face, driving him back and away from Traian.

  “Get off of him!” She followed the vampire, hitting him a second time just as hard, with just as much adrenaline as the first strike. She stepped in Joie’s blood and slipped. Instantly she dropped to her knees beside her sister, hands clamping around her torn neck in an effort to slow down the bleeding. “Jubal! Help me.”

  The hand groping for Traian’s heart fell free as Valenteen fell backward. Traian went to his knees as the bats went into a frenzy, eager for the hunter’s blood. Jubal tore handfuls of bats from Traian. Gary did the same. At Gabrielle’s cry, Jubal turned to see his youngest sister lying in an alarmingly large pool of blood.

  Traian, still kneeling, covered in insects and biting bats, a hole torn in his chest, ignored all of it, blocking out pain and weakness from blood loss. He lifted his hands toward the hole in the ceiling of the bedroom. In answer, the clouds roiled with energy, silver streaks edging each of the spinning, dark fountains. Lightning forked in the sky, spun until it was a bright white sphere, hurtling down from the heavens like a streaking comet.

  Valenteen shrieked and threw himself toward his heart, grasping at it with his outstretched hand. Gary slammed his booted foot down on his wrist to prevent him from reaching it as the spinning white-hot ball of lightning struck the heart, incinerating it. Valenteen grasped Gary’s ankle in his talons, driving them deep, digging through flesh to try to get to bone in an effort to force him to move.

  “Get away from him,” Traian ordered, his voice hoarse. “If I destroy his body, his servants will leave as well, but you have to get back.”

  Gary jerked a long-bladed knife from inside his loose jacket, took a breath and slammed the blade as hard as he could across the wrist of the vampire, the edge going through skin and bone. The hand fell away from the arm and he leapt back. Valenteen shrieked and the bats and insects renewed their frenzied biting, swarming over Traian, trying to drive him to the ground.

  With a tremendous effort, Traian reached for the lightning once more, commanding a single bolt through the hole in the above bedroom floor to strike the body of the master vampire. Valenteen’s body began to incinerate, exploding outward with wiggling white parasites, spewing ash and cinder. His mouth gaped wide, teeth bared, fiery eyes promising retaliation and then that too was gone. Only the hand remained, the talons digging long lines in the floor as it tried, with one last effort of pure malevolence, to get to the Carpathian hunter. The lightning forked, jumping to the hand to incinerate it as well.

  The moment the last remnant of Valenteen had been reduced to ashes, the bats and insects fell away from Traian to flit aimlessly through the halls as if, without the direction of their master, they had no idea what to do.

  Traian bathed his hands and arms in the energy, removing the acid burning his flesh before he attempted to stagger over to Joie. Joie lay on the floor in the hallway, watching him with a kind of awe. She couldn’t talk because of the wound in her neck and loss of blood. She was barely conscious but seemed to know they were all there. Her fingers moved a little against Gabrielle’s thigh as if to reassure her.

  “Your wound must be attended first,” Gary told Traian. “She’ll need to be brought over and you cannot do that without strength. Jubal, we’ll need soil. There’s a bag in my closet. Get it as fast as you can.”

  Jubal nodded and forced his body, covered in bites and throbbing in pain, to move. He tore open the door to the closet to find the bag of rich Carpathian soil.

  “I don’t understand how they could get in from above us,” Gabrielle sobbed, pressing harder on Joie’s wound. “Do something, Traian. I can’t stop the bleeding.”

  “Whoever had the room above mine must have allowed the vampire in,” Gary explained. He very casually sliced a long line in his wrist and held the welling blood out to Traian. “Drink now. You’ll need more later. You know what you have to do here, if she’s going to survive.”

  “What?” Gabrielle demanded. She took a breath and looked from one man to the other. “Tell me what we have to do. Don’t let her die, Traian.”

  “Pour a handful of soil into that bowl and bring it here,” Gary instructed Jubal.

  Traian drank from the man’s wrist, his eyes on Joie, his mind in hers. Stay with me, sivamet—my love. You must give yourself into my keeping.

  Joie tried to smile at him in reassurance. She was cold, very cold, but she didn’t hurt anymore. She knew she was drifting away from all of them. Gabrielle, her beloved sister, trying so frantically to close the wound, Jubal, hell-bent on action to save her, and Traian . . . Traian. She didn’t remember if she’d told him she loved him. She’d never thought it ever possible that she would find a man to love. She regretted that she hadn’t had time with him.

  You will stay with me. This time it was a command.

  Traian closed the wound on Gary’s wrist with a small nod of his head in thanks. He buried his face against Joie’s torn throat, using his own healing saliva to close the wound. She needed blood and soil, but more, she needed strength to get through the conversion and they had very little time.

  “Carpathian soil,” Gary said, taking the bowl from Jubal’s hand. “We’ll need your saliva to mix this. I have to plug that hole in your chest.”