Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 165649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 663(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 165649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 663(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Ferro. Her soft little protest trembled, but Elisabeta pulled it together for him. Addler is sending two of the newly made vampires to the door of the nightclub. He is watching to see what happens. A couple just drove up in a car. He wants to use them as bait. The vampires will tear them to pieces.
He heard the trepidation in her voice. How many servants does he have left? He knew the master vampires had counted on their servants coming through the city, but the hunters had quietly wiped out most of them.
Only two. He is very upset. He has two servants but also two of the newly made vampires with him as well.
That meant that the Carpathian numbers were growing as the hunters were tracking the last of the servants of the master vampires to the nightclub. That was a plus.
I have Addler in my sight as well as the vampires and the couple. Have stopped the couple from getting out of their car. They are driving away, Petru reported.
All of them felt the buildup of energy in the air as Addler attempted to force the couple to turn around. Both newly made vampires took to the air to fling themselves at the windshield. Petru waved his hand and both dropped from the sky, feathers bursting from their shrunken bodies so that they appeared to be nothing more than two owls. As he did so, lightning forked across the sky and thunder crashed.
Lightning had been lashing the city for what seemed nearly a quarter of an hour as the storm stalled, bringing heavy roiling dark clouds, thunder and an endless electrical show that kept everyone off the streets. A series of lethal sizzling bolts hit dead center on the roof of the extremely popular Asenguard Nightclub. Sparks flew in every direction, rising into the air, a colorful display rivaling that of fireworks.
Over and over the jagged lightning bolts continued to hit in exactly the same spot. Each hit was precise, as if directed by laser beam.
Elisabeta tried not to wince each time a bolt struck. The weaves of protection held, but that didn’t stop the shaking of the building from the strength of the blow. Each time the rocking was so strong it nearly knocked the three women off their feet.
“That is Cornel, knocking politely,” she announced solemnly as they clung together.
Lorraine and Julija burst out laughing with her. Elisabeta found herself amazed that she could be sharing laughter when the night was lit up with bolts of lightning aimed specifically at the rooftop where the three of them were standing.
“How very polite of him,” Julija said. “I suppose we should be just as eloquent in our response to him.”
Lorraine and Elisabeta automatically stepped back to give Julija room. She was from a powerful Carpathian lineage, but she was also a direct descendant of one of the most powerful mages in the world. She lifted her hands and began to weave her spell, concentrating on that small pinpoint where the tip of the bolt was directed with each strike.
Julija timed her response so that when Cornel slammed his next attack onto that weave of protection in order to penetrate it, her spell countered his. A blue ring whirled around the tip for one brief flash and then rushed up the jagged electrical bolt, seeking the sender.
The strikes abruptly broke off and black smoke trailed through the sky. A thick, noxious vapor poured into the air, smelling of rotting and decomposing flesh.
“Cornel,” Elisabeta said, a little shocked. “Julija, you not only incapacitated him for the moment, but you brought him out into the open.”
“As I meant to do.” Julija spread her arms wide to encompass the sky, taking in as much of the dark, spinning clouds as possible. “I reversed his intentions. It won’t last long but it should give you enough time to find his heart.”
Elisabeta closed her eyes and sent her mind seeking Cornel’s while Julija began to move her hands gracefully, murmuring her powerful spell as she did so. Cornel was stunned almost beyond comprehension. He had no idea what had happened to him and he was incapable of protecting himself. His heart, a black, withered organ he protected by moving it continually around his body, was still for the first time in many centuries while he was awake. She found it near his belly, a shriveled lump. Immediately she directed Julija to the target.
Lorraine held the whip of lightning, ready for Julija’s magic to penetrate the inevitable shields the master vampire would have around him while Elisabeta pinpointed the target with absolute precision. Julija struck at the shields and Lorraine simultaneously sent the bolt of lightning straight at the master vampire’s heart.
The white-hot sword hit an impenetrable shimmering barrier, sending a tower of sparks high into the air, thunder crashing, roaring so loud it threw all three women to the ground. Fireballs rained from the sky, a meteor shower of bright, hot spinning orbs pounding down on the roof, aimed directly at the heads of the three women. A dark shadow swept back and forth over them, wings spread wide, mouth open wide spouting a long, steady stream of fire at them.