Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 118860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
“As are my brothers. Where are your servants, Gustov? Where are my brothers? It seems fairly quiet, and yet your pawns outnumbered Lojos and Mataias. Do you see them? Do you feel them? You don’t because, like me, my brothers are phantoms. Impossible to kill. If you’re waiting to attack me until your servants can help you, they are gone. Carpathian hunters destroyed the undead, sent them to the afterlife, where they can bear the consequences for their choices in this life.”
He’d never talked so much in his life before a battle. He preferred to wade in, strike fast and get it over with, but if Gustov provided even one more scrap of information, the tedious wait would be worth it.
Already Tomas could feel the need for battle taking hold. That addiction to the rush of feeling he couldn’t prevent. It wasn’t a good thing, the taking of life, but there was nothing else for him. He was a hunter, and he had been for centuries, and that meant finding the undead and destroying them.
Secreting himself away in a monastery, even for a short period of time in order to find a way to cope with the loss of evil whispers, hadn’t stopped the scarring that covered his soul. He was a scholar, a conservationist and an environmentalist, but first and foremost, he was a hunter—a killer. Nothing was going to change that, not even his lifemate.
He didn’t take his gaze from Gustov. The vampire swayed, his feet moving slightly, a dancing rhythm meant to subtly mesmerize his prey. It might work on humans, or even new hunters, although Tomas doubted it. Gustov was calling up some hideous pattern and chant that was meant to keep Tomas from moving.
He’d warned Gustov, and the vampire knew his reputation, yet he didn’t heed a single word Tomas had said. When Gustov made his move, rushing Tomas with blurring speed, Tomas appeared to stand his ground. The clawlike talons Gustov tried to dig into Tomas’ chest met with no resistance. The claws found empty air as Gustov’s forward momentum continued, so his body moved straight through the apparition that appeared to be Tomas.
Gustov roared with rage as he stumbled forward, unable to stop. Tomas appeared behind him, slamming his fist into the undead’s back, shattering bones and ripping through muscles. Acid poured over his arm and fist, burning past skin to bone. Tiny parasites tried to burrow under his fingernails and into the cuts inflicted by the razor-sharp bones he tore through.
Gustov spun in a circle, fast, in an attempt to dislodge Tomas. As he did so, thick roots burst through the ground, dangerous wooden vines carrying poison as they struck at Tomas over and over like a nest of vicious snakes. All the while Gustov hurled himself in a blurring circle, he screamed and spat so a multitude of parasites hit the leaves and debris on the forest floor. The moment they did, they rushed toward Tomas.
Tomas was relentless, not allowing the vampire to shake him off, no matter how fast he spun or how deep Gustov’s claws dug into him. The vampire nearly contorted in an effort to find a target with his wicked talons. Tomas’ feet stayed just above the ground, although it was impossible to avoid the striking vines and roots. The spear-like heads drove again and again into his thighs and calves, but the master vampire was spinning so fast the heads snapped off, which aided Tomas.
His fingers found the withered, blackened heart, wrapped around it and began to rip it free from the whirling, fighting body of the vampire. All the while Gustov chanted command after command, directing the roots on the ground to do his bidding. One of the vines reared up as they spun toward it, the spear-shaped head stabbing Tomas viciously in the back.
Unbidden, Kinta roared out of the forest, spouting a steady stream of flames, completely engulfing the roots and thick vines striking at Tomas. That was one of the things Tomas liked most about his dragon. The creature seemed such an extension of him that he didn’t have to give commands as a rule; they tended to be in sync when they went into battle. He rarely shared with other hunters that he even had a dragon or that his brothers did. One never knew who he would have to pursue in the future. It wasn’t always an easy way to live, but having his two brothers with him throughout the long journey of their lives had helped to alleviate the worst of the temptations they’d encountered. The dragons, as companions, had aided them as well.
He continued the relentless pull of the heart through Gustov’s back while the master vampire raged, twisting to strike at any part of Tomas that he could reach. Claws hooked into him multiple times, but between Kinta’s fire and Tomas’ determination, he managed to extract the withered black organ that had once been a heart.