Draga mea, go. Hurry. I am entering the lair now. I need to know you are safe.

I'm on my way, she a.s.sured Maksim. Please be safe.

Relief swept through Maksim as he entered the hidden lair of one of the master vampires. Immediately he realized this was Vadim's lair. It had been many centuries since he had encountered the Malinovs' particular brand of cruelty, but his lair said it all. There were several humans chained to the walls. Most were women, and all hung limply, in various stages of decay.

There was a woman on the floor by a bed with a shackle around her ankle. Clearly she had been pregnant and she had died recently-very recently. Vadim had killed her by cutting the baby from her. The baby lay on the bed, a twisted corpse that had to have been stillborn. He started to turn away, and something about the baby's features caught his attention. His breath caught in his throat as the truth hit him-confirming what he feared all along. Vadim was looking for a mate, and he thought he found her in Emeline.

He is trying to breed-to have children. That is why he wants Emeline. She proved to be a powerful psychic and he wants her to have his child. He sent the message to all the hunters.

The command center is for three things, Tariq said, obviously in the control room. They are tracking Carpathian hunters, telling one another where we are, when there are signs of us in an area and to lie low or get out until we move on. They have the database of psychic women. And they are going after the women.

Maksim stepped away from the dead woman and baby. No one imagined that a vampire could breed-or would consider it. The Malinov brothers were different-very different-and they were taking steps to incorporate humans into their war on the rest of the world. They were trying to own businesses and create the image of a crime lord family humans feared.

This cannot be their only base, Lojos added. This is far too big an organization. They have moved their operations away from the Carpathian Mountains. Before they were focusing on killing the prince. Now, it seems, they are trying to build forces and incorporate into the human world. We didn't find evidence, but you know they have to have at least one more place of operation.

Maksim was on the move, following the scent of Emeline's perfume. The lair had several exits, and Vadim had used one running beneath the city-a long, narrow tunnel with no torches to light the way. He knew Emeline had to be terrified.

Sergey is with Vadim, Val Zhestokly added. He was close behind Maksim, moving fast. They are experimenting with children. Seeing how much blood they must give them in order to change the children to become like them. They mostly use humans to guard them, but sometimes a puppet finds their way into the prison and they devour the children. Vadim retaliates, but they lose one or sometimes several and have to replace them.

Maksim kept his emotions away by reverting to the hunter he'd been for centuries. He couldn't think about those children or what they had gone through. There was nothing he could do about it. Lojos and Tariq, circle around to the north side of the tunnels. Vadim has to come out somewhere with Emeline. He is heading in that direction. Split up and see if you can find other entrances to the north.

Maksim streaked through the tunnel, shifting as he did so, becoming nothing but molecules, moving fast without form so that he could add more speed to his hunt. Emeline couldn't be alone with Vadim-not even for a moment. He would know they were after him. He would throw up obstacles to give himself time with her. He didn't want her dead-he wanted her to carry his child. He couldn't escape the tunnels with her, so he had to have time with her before the hunters found her.

Swearing in the ancient Carpathian language, he followed Emeline's elusive scent. This was Emeline-Blaze's friend. More, Blaze regarded her as family. A sister. All she had left until he had come into her life. Emeline had to be found.

Please, Maksim, Blaze whispered in his mind. Please save her. Please bring her back to me.

I will not let him have her, he promised. He shouldn't promise her. One couldn't predict the outcome of a battle with a master vampire, but he wouldn't stop until he got Emeline back. None of the hunters would.

He stopped moving abruptly because the scent changed. It went from delicate and afraid to sheer terror. More, the scent was mingled with that of Vadim. His powerful scent had permeated his lair and there was no dismissing that the master vampire was close.

Behind him, Zhestokly closed ranks, guarding his back as he carefully moved to the door of a chamber. The door was heavy and wooden. Very thick and ancient. He felt the safeguards instantly. He had no choice but to shift into his real form and begin to unweave the shields on the door. It was a slow, painstaking process. He couldn't make a mistake or he would have to start over, and Emeline didn't have that kind of time. Fortunately, Vadim was in a hurry and he couldn't have used a very difficult safeguard.

Emerging from the wall, Zhestokly whispered softly and shifted into his real form, facing the master vampire coming at them. Clearly he was the protection for Vadim.

He cannot run with her knowing he can get away. He will send everyone he has to slow us down, Maksim said. He must have an escape route there in his second lair. You are weakened by long years of torture and short on blood. Take down his safeguards.

Zhestokly didn't pretend he hadn't been weakened and that he was holding on by sheer willpower. He needed the rejuvenating soil that he'd been kept from. He needed the blood of the ancient Carpathians to help heal him and give him strength. He would take on a master vampire because it was his duty. He knew he had the skills and experience, but perhaps not the strength. He stepped up to the door, raising his arms, as Maksim whirled and rushed Reginald c.o.o.nan.

At the last moment c.o.o.nan disappeared to reappear behind Maksim, slashing at his throat with claws as he went by. Maksim had already dissolved, shimmered transparently, his back still to c.o.o.nan. c.o.o.nan took the bait and drove his fist hard through Maksim's back. His punch was so hard, so brutal, that when there was nothing there but air, he fell forward, stumbling with his own momentum.

Maksim was already in front of him, the illusion of himself disappearing as he slammed his own fist home, driving through muscle and tissue to reach for the withered heart. c.o.o.nan didn't wince, or scream. He simply leaned his head down toward Maksim's arm and bit through it with his serrated, pointed teeth. His teeth met through the thick muscle, and he jerked his head back to try to tear a chunk of flesh away. Maksim moved into him, hard, using his strength to drive c.o.o.nan's head back with the heel of his hand up into his nose, forcing c.o.o.nan to open his mouth.

With one hand still moving inside the chest cavity, seeking his prize, he kept punching with the other hand. Throat. Nose. Eyes. Back to throat. Over and over. Hard, chopping punches. So fast his fist blurred, but each punch knocked c.o.o.nan's head back until the punches could include the mouth. He smashed at the teeth. Knocked them loose. Knocked them out. Sent them down the vampire's throat.

All the while c.o.o.nan ripped at Maksim with both hands, tearing strips of flesh from his ribs, but unable to get loose. As Maksim's fingers closed around the heart, c.o.o.nan realized he couldn't get away. He opened his mouth to scream. He was the first line of defense, but there were others. He needed to warn Vadim. He needed to call for aid. He'd been certain he could take the hunter, but Maksim had been too fast.

He screamed and howled, but nothing emerged from his throat. Not a single sound. Worse, each time he tried to swallow, his serrated teeth dug deeper into his throat and vocal cords as if they had a life of their own and were sawing at him viciously, cutting his insides to pieces. His throat, his esophagus, his intestines, everywhere inside his body as if the teeth had multiplied.

c.o.o.nan realized he'd become complacent when he hadn't fought hunters in over fifty years. He hadn't considered an ancient would find him. They were protected. Sergey and Vadim had all kinds of guards around them. He reached out, using the telepathic communication of his kind-the path of all Carpathians.

He is killing me. I need aid. Come to my aid! Even as he sent the message, he knew Vadim wouldn't release his other guards to allow him to live.

Vadim had a master plan, and he'd been working toward it for centuries. He found the woman he believed was strong enough to survive and keep his child alive. He wasn't going to risk it all for Reginald c.o.o.nan.

In any case the hall filled with Carpathian hunters. Ancients. He recognized some of them from his childhood, but there was no appealing to them. They had dead eyes. Emotionless robots that dispensed the prince's justice far and wide. He was caught and there was no escaping.

He felt his heart leave his body. No. No. He tried to moan. Even that didn't leak out into the hall, not even that despairing sound. There was nothing left of him, not with his own teeth devouring him from the inside out. Not with the hunter extracting his heart and tossing it like so much garbage onto the floor of the tunnel.

Humans are garbage. Fodder for us. We are superior to all of them. He tried to reason with them, stretching his hand toward his heart, willing it back into his body.

We can rule them. Take their riches. Their women. Feed on them. Make them serve us. See what we could be. Listen to Vadim and Sergey. They both share a splinter of Xavier and have his knowledge, his ability. Keep me alive. Join us. Join our cause and become great.

He repeated nearly word for word the mantra that had ensnared him. That he had come to believe in. If he could just convince them. His body swayed and his knees suddenly couldn't hold him. He smelled fire. Not just any fire, but white-hot, as if they had called down the lightning. That was impossible because they were beneath the ground, another layer of protection from the Carpathian hunters. Still, he smelled it. Saw the bright orange-red flames leaping from Maksim's fingertips to his heart on the ground.

c.o.o.nan lunged toward his heart, crawling on his belly, trying to cover the blackened organ with his body to prevent the flames from reaching it. He was far too late. The flames engulfed his heart just as he flung his body over it. The fire burned so hot, the organ disintegrated almost instantly and burned through c.o.o.nan's body at the same time so that orange-red tips danced across his back, bursting through the center of him macabrely.

The safeguards are gone. The room is filled with Vadim's p.a.w.ns. I feel them. Some are gleeful, others know to feel fear, but they face us to give him time to escape, Zhestokly told the others.

Maksim knew his use of the telepathic path for all Carpathians was deliberate-an announcement in the calm, measured way of the hunter. Vadim and his p.a.w.ns would know the hunters were on them. Vadim would have to abandon the woman if he wanted to escape. Maksim finished incinerating the master vampire and turned with the others to the entrance.

They went in hard and fast, six of them. Maksim tried to stay close to Zhestokly. The ancient was weak, and Emeline's blood wasn't going to give him much strength. He'd been starved for years. It was a miracle and a testament to his honor that he had been able to keep himself from taking too much of her blood. He had stopped before he threatened her life or weakened her to the point of absolute vulnerability.

The chamber was large with a high ceiling. There were two arched doors with the same heavy wood. Maksim fought his way toward the door to his left, following Emeline's scent and Zhestokly, who had taken her blood and would know where she was. The Malinov brothers had recruited an army of lesser vampires. Many had no idea of how to fight experienced hunters. Maksim kept a firm grip on his emotions, pushing them deep so he could fight without feeling the kills of so many of his kind.

Malinov was recruiting from young males, convincing them they had a better chance of finding a lifemate with him than with Mikhail-prince of the Carpathian people. Some of the lesser vampires couldn't have been more than two hundred and fifty years old. They had no business turning. Nothing would drive them to that. Vadim and Sergey had to be very persuasive. They both had a splinter of the high mage Xavier in them. He was devious and cunning, but he also had a way of charming others, convincing them with his golden voice that he could rule the world and give to others what they deserved.

The slaughter was horrific. Bodies were strewn across the chamber floor. Maksim and Zhestokly fought through the lines to get to the door, and they made it with relative ease. Zhestokly went to work on the safeguards and Maksim fought off all attackers, to give the hunter the time to bring down the safeguards.

The undead appear to be nothing but cannon fodder, Lojos said. There are at least three master vampires, and there have to be many others capable of fighting. Not children untried on the battlefield, yet none have come forth to fight us.

They ran, Maksim said. Vadim and Sergey have lost their brothers, and they retreated from Europe and South America, coming here to make their stand. They have learned to retreat and set up elsewhere. They probably have several lairs set up in other cities just like this one. There is no reason to stay and fight. They know they will die eventually facing us. So they throw their raw recruits at us to slow us down, giving them time to disappear.

Maksim glanced down at the three bodies lying practically at his feet. The new recruits might be raw and inexperienced, but they were fanatical.

Safeguards are down, Zhestokly said.

Maksim went through the door first. Emeline was lying on the floor, her body wracked with sobs. Her face was swollen and bruised. Her clothes were torn and bloodied. She scrambled away from him when he approached her. He could see the evidence of Vadim's feeding on her neck. She had black blood smeared across her mouth where he'd forced her to feed.

He held up his hand. "Emeline, look at me. See me. Blaze sent me to get you. I will take you to safety."

The woman shook her head, pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, rocking herself.

"Emeline." Maksim approached cautiously. "You know you cannot stay here."

"Don't," she whispered. "He made me unclean. You can't come near me. Blaze can never come near me."

"I will take you away from here," Maksim said. "Someplace safe."

"He said he would come for me. He will. I know he will." Emeline kept her chin on her knees, raising stricken eyes to Maksim. "He'll be able to see all of you through me. I can't get near any of you."

The other hunters were there in the room. Silent. Watchful. Maksim waved his hand at them. "All of us will protect you from him. Let me take you out of here."

Emeline took a deep breath, choked on a sob and nodded, but she didn't move. Maksim walked to her cautiously, carefully, taking his time so as not to startle her or frighten her any more than she already was. He didn't know all that Vadim had done to her in the short amount of time he had her, but now wasn't the time to ask. Vadim's scent was all over her.

With torn clothes and evidence of a terrible struggle, he could see that Vadim hadn't been able to control her with his mind. That would frustrate and infuriate him because he had so little time.

Maksim reached down, again keeping his movements slow, holding out his hand to her. "Can you walk? Do you need me to carry you?"

She swallowed hard. "You'll have to carry me. Can you really protect me from him? Otherwise I can't go near Blaze and I need her."

"We can protect you," he a.s.sured.

She nodded slowly, tears running down her face. "Then please take me to Blaze. I need Blaze."

Maksim lifted her gently. A shudder ran through her body and she held herself tight, withdrawn. She didn't look at him, nor did she relax into him. The other hunters closed ranks around her, showing her without words their intentions to guard her. She closed her eyes and stayed very still, her fingers curled into two tight fists.

SIXTEEN.

"IT'S BEEN A week, Maksim," Blaze said unhappily, frowning at the door to the cabin on the Asenguard property. The house was more of a luxury guesthouse than a cabin, but it was made of logs, was two stories with a wraparound deck. "Emeline won't talk to me about what happened. She barely says anything at all."

Maksim reached for her hand, threaded his fingers through hers and drew her close, her front to his side, tucking her beneath his shoulder protectively. The moment Blaze woke each rising, before anything else, she checked her friend. The last thing she did before she went to sleep was reach out to her as well.

Blaze pressed her face against his chest, her fingers curling into his shirt. "I'm so worried about her. Emeline and the children. But it's Emmy I don't know how to reach."

Maksim looked up at the closed door of the cabin. Emeline was safe on the Asenguard property. Tariq had a sweet setup. He'd been there long enough to establish himself. His safeguards were strong, and when Maksim had joined in his efforts there to fit into the world and the century they lived in, he had added his protection to Tariq's property first and then, when he'd acquired the land bordering Tariq's, his own. Together they bought and slowly renovated a nightclub.

"Tariq has provided a good counselor for the children. They were living on the streets and now they have a good home. Tariq's boathouse is safe. I set up safeguards so the baby cannot possibly have an accident and fall into the lake. They understand that as long as they are on this property-or ours-we will protect them. Tariq is arranging for a teacher to educate them. They will have everything we can provide for them to be healthy and happy," Maksim a.s.sured her.

He began walking her away from the cabin. She loved Emeline and he couldn't rea.s.sure her that her Emmy was going to be all right. Only time would do that. Vadim could talk to her. Whisper to her. Try to draw her out into the open. None of them had the power to stop that. Eventually the master vampire would drive her mad if the Carpathians couldn't figure out a way to stop him. They could protect the air around and above the compound, but they couldn't stop a master vampire-one who had exchanged blood with his victim-from getting inside her head.

"I have no idea how to help her. I don't know if it did more than take her blood because she won't tell me." Knowing they were doing their best, but even that might not be good enough, Blaze asked, "Honey, what should I do?"

"You have to keep doing what you are doing, draga mea, keep going to her every day. She does not want to leave her house, that is fine. Just keep insisting she see you every single day. Tariq and I will keep trying to remove Vadim's blood from her system. We will take each day as it comes. That is all we can do for now."

Blaze sighed softly. "I'm so grateful I have you, Maksim. Thank you for getting her back for me."

"It was a team effort, Blaze. We had no idea Vadim and Sergey Malinov were anywhere close, let alone in our city. Their operation is enormous. It could take years to ferret them all out and destroy them. This will not happen overnight, and Emeline will not heal overnight, either. The children were traumatized. She was as well."

"She knew what would happen to her and she still went into those tunnels," Blaze whispered. Her fist tightened in his shirt. She pressed closer to his warm, hard body. "I couldn't get out in time to stop them from taking her. Even being Carpathian, I couldn't do it."

"We prevented Vadim from taking her," Maksim pointed out. "She is here in the compound. We have Danny, Amelia, Liv and little Bella. Val Zhestokly is in the ground being healed. So is Tomas. The ancients gather each rising and supply him with blood. Mataias is searching neighboring cities for signs of another lair. We've sent word to Andre to come here to help us. We will take care of her."

"I didn't get to her in time," Blaze repeated.

"I think you did just fine, Blaze. We destroyed Reginald c.o.o.nan and all of the Hallahan brothers. You exposed all of us to a terrible threat, allowing us to do our jobs in the future. Emeline made her choice, and it was her choice. She has the respect and protection of half a dozen ancient hunters and hopefully more will come to aid us. She went into those tunnels to get those children out and she succeeded with your help. She took that chance and we got her out. At this point, Blaze, we have to call that a success."

Blaze nuzzled his chest. He was right. The vampires were gone, but she knew they wouldn't stay gone. All of them knew it. Vadim would be coming back at some point, when he determined he was strong enough to take on Emeline's protection, or, hopefully, when he decided Emmy wasn't worth his trouble and he moved on to a different plan.

"Tariq will have legal guardianship over the children in another few days. One of the Carpathian techs is making certain of that. No one will be able to dispute his claim. Danny and Amelia are very happy to stay within our protection. They know what is at stake," Maksim said. "They are good kids and the girls have tested very high for psychic abilities. Vadim chose his victims carefully."

"He was tracking hunters," Blaze pointed out. "Warning other vampires to move out of an area if a hunter came into it. He's very sophisticated and has really incorporated the use of technology into his plans."

Maksim took a deep breath. "That was part of our downfall, Blaze. We studied the world around us, but we kept to ourselves. None of us believed that the vampires would be able to overcome their need for cruelty and selfishness in order to band together. Vadim recruits the very young. They do not want to wait for a lifemate. They see the ancients still do not have one and they want to take a shortcut. He exposed the weakness in our society and word has been sent to the prince. We need to correct our mistakes immediately."

He wrapped his arms around Blaze and took them both into the air, back toward their home. I have need of you, sufletul meu, he whispered into her mind.

Intimate. s.e.xy. Hungry. Predatory even. She shivered. She loved that-the way he poured himself into her, filled her mind with him. Filled her heart with him. She wanted him deep in her body, connecting them.

Blaze turned her face up to his. Ready for him. Always ready for him. The future was a little dark, but she was a warrior and she would stand with him to protect Emeline and the children. He would always make her world bright no matter what was happening around them.

I love you, Maksim. Always know that. I love you.

His face went soft, his eyes warm. His mouth curved into a smile. I love you, Blaze. His voice was tender, and when his mouth took hers, she ignited for him. Because he was her world now. She was his everything.

Keep reading for a special peek at DARK CAROUSEL, on sale now, as the adventure continues for Tariq Asenguard!

There were all kinds of ways to hunt for his quarry. Tariq Asenguard stared down from the balcony at the ma.s.ses of people below. He and his partner, Maksim Volkov, had long ago converted the palatial theater into a dance club to bring in the crowds. He could stand up above them and look down all the way through four stories at the gyrating bodies below him.

Tariq had drawn up the plans for the renovations himself, making certain that the center was open, so one could see each dance floor and bar when looking over the railings to the floors below. The arrangement was unique, and customers loved it and returned as often as possible. The only place he couldn't see was the bas.e.m.e.nt, which he'd renovated for use as an underground club for the goth, grunge and vampire lovers that came out at night to live their lives the way they chose, accepted by others like them.

Every floor had a different type of music and drew in a large variety of people. The more diverse, the better for him. The better his hunting. He could hear their heartbeats and the blood pounding in their veins, calling to him. It was easy to hunt in the confines of the building with so many bodies packed in close.

He could use the eager men or women for sustenance when he was in need. It was easy enough to portray the image of the city's resident playboy with a woman on either arm. He was slowly building a reputation. A rich, eligible bachelor, co-owner of one of the hottest nightclubs in the city. Women flocked to him. That was exactly the result he'd wanted when he'd come up with the idea. He had four other clubs in various cities, and each had a different partner, one who watched over the club while he was at his main residence.

The design with the opening in the center of the dance floors was even more important now that he knew his greatest enemies had invaded his city. Vampires had gone underground. These weren't the undead of old. They were thinking, technology-using, planning-a-war vampires. Sophisticated and organized. Tariq could scan minds for news of bizarre killings signaling the possibility of a vampire close, one taking over the humans in the area in order to create an army aboveground.

"Anything new?" Maksim came up behind him. He gripped the balcony and leaned down to observe the ma.s.s of bodies dancing on each floor below them.

"No. That worries me more than if I'd discovered someone tainted." Tariq inhaled sharply. Frowned. "There is a scent . . ." He trailed off.

"Sweat," Maksim said with a wry smile.

Tariq had no sense of humor. For him, there was no riot of color as he looked down on the men and women dancing. He saw only a dull gray. He felt . . . nothing. He lived to hunt. To kill. Even in the doing of that, he felt . . . nothing. He inhaled again, and once more, it was there. That scent. Calling to him. Making his heart pound. Pumping hot blood through his veins. He leaned out farther over the rail.

"It's elusive. Faint. Barely there."

The smile faded from Maksim's rugged face. "What scent, Tariq? Vampire? There's been no hint of activity since we discovered the underground lair. We've been patrolling . . ."

Tariq shook his head. "No. Orange blossoms and vanilla and something else. It is faint but it is there. You can't smell that? Somewhere . . ." He broke off again, searching each individual floor for the source of that extraordinary fragrance. He inhaled again and caught the elusive scent, drawing it into his lungs. Instantly his body reacted of its own accord, something that had never happened. A stirring. His blood hot. Thick. Beginning to pool low and wicked.