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)
“Offer freely of your healing blood, brother,” the imposter Petru said eagerly.
You believe Justice has finally turned vampire? Mataias asked.
Tomas hoped not. It would be difficult enough to track and kill the beast, let alone a combination of beast and vampire, but his reluctance had nothing to do with that. He would do his duty to his people and humanity without question. Justice was a legendary Carpathian. He had followed his code of honor for more centuries than any other. In the end, he had sacrificed his life and sanity for his brethren, saving them and condemning himself to a torturous existence in the very bowels of hell.
It is possible he has turned vampire, but more likely he persuaded the nine to impersonate ancients to throw us off. After all those centuries of living by his code of honor, Tomas believed Justice might be insane, but he doubted if he would become vampire. Maybe he just wanted to believe there was still hope for his brothers and himself.
To what purpose? Lojos asked. What would he believe he could gain from such a parody?
A delaying tactic? Tomas ventured.
We do not know it is Justice, Mataias said. If it isn’t and a master vampire is close, we will have to be prepared for his attack.
It was unnecessary advice—they had been battling vampires for centuries—but those continual reminders aided them in never becoming complacent.
The imposters spread out, circling each of the ancients, sniffing the air, trying to find the trail to the elusive scent of ancient blood. They swayed back and forth, long, hard nails clicking together, feet stomping into the ground in a locking pattern very familiar to the ancient hunters.
“Come to me,” the Benedek imposter ordered. “Give me your blood to sustain me on these endless hunts.”
Obediently, Tomas bent his head toward his wrist as he stumbled forward two steps and appeared to trip. At once, the three vampires rushed him.
Out of the corner of his eye he observed the three vampires nearest Lojos swaying and chanting, their hands in the air.
A locking spell, Lojos, he warned.
His brother would recognize the mesmerizing patterns the imposters created to hold Lojos in place, making it less dangerous for them to approach, but the warning would serve to remind his brothers, as well as himself, of the various tricks vampires often used.
The three vampires facing Mataias didn’t bother with niceties or pretending to be civil. They rushed the ancient, confident they had him trapped and helpless.
Tomas slid across the ground seconds before the three imposters reached him. As he did, he targeted the legs of fake Benedek, hitting at full speed with centuries of experience striking his target. He knew exactly where to hit on the body to do the most damage. His heels slammed into Benedek’s knees, shattering them. It only takes eighty pounds of pressure to break a kneecap. He applied far more than that.
He moved with lightning speed. As Benedek began to topple, screaming and shrieking, Tomas drove his fist into the imposter’s chest, fingers seeking the withered, desiccated organ. The momentum of the heavy body crashing to the ground aided him in dragging the decayed heart from the chest. He leapt behind the writhing, cursing vampire and simultaneously tossed the heart into the air while calling down the lightning.
The jagged bolt answered his summons, piercing the blackened heart dead center as it tumbled from the sky. The trajectory of the bolt continued, unerringly finding the Benedek imposter, reducing him to tiny ashes.
In the ensuing shocked silence, Tomas streaked through the air straight at the vampire impersonating Petru. The vampire hadn’t even fully turned to try to comprehend or react to what had happened in the mere seconds it had taken Tomas to destroy fake Benedek. Tomas slammed his fist through the rib cage, found the withered heart with strong fingers and began to extract it.
Imposter Petru shrieked and buried his talons into Tomas’ chest, ripping great gouges of flesh away—or he tried to. Tomas had armor in the thin material of his clothing, a kind of natural silk that was strong enough to break the thick talons the vampire was trying to use against him.
There was no way to stop the acid blood pouring over his hand and forearm as Tomas extracted the heart. The acid burned through flesh and muscle straight to the bone. Tomas cut off all feeling of pain and jerked the heart free, swinging fake Petru’s body around as he did so in order to place the vampire between him and the one impersonating Nicu.
The shrunken heart made a terrible sucking sound as it was extracted from the body. The sound accompanied the earsplitting screams of the vampire as he thrashed and fought to get away from Tomas. Tomas shoved his body into the imposter Nicu as he threw the heart into the air and called down the lightning.