I love you, sivamet. You are my heart and soul. She had just given him hers, he needed her to know she wasn’t alone in that.
Andre spotted the first filament and elation swept through him. On his own, he couldn’t hear the discordant notes jarring nature’s symphony, but through Teagan, he knew the vampire was below him and to his right, smack in the middle of what appeared to be solid rock.
I am going to drift as close as I can to that boulder just to my right. Do you see it, Teagan? I think he may be somewhere in that vicinity. I cannot pinpoint his location.
The female owl made another slow circle, dropping lower.
Do not touch the mist, he cautioned.
I think I can make a pass just beneath the fog, come down as if I was hunting and missed my prey. I might be able to feel his exact location.
He was grateful she waited for his permission. If she allowed her owl to actually scan the ground looking for mice or any other food source, and then allowed the bird to take over, giving it very little guidance, she would be safe enough. The vampire wouldn’t expect a female owl to be any threat to it.
Still, Andre was uneasy. If Popescu hadn’t fed in days, he might be just starved enough that he would go after an animal—a bird flying that little bit too close.
Csitri, if he catches you, he would tear you apart with his teeth before I could get to you.
I don’t have to get that close. I just need to get below the mist, drop as if I’m hunting and feel the strength of those notes. I can pinpoint his exact location.
Popescu wasn’t under the ground, not if those filaments were anything to go by. The master vampire had set his lure and he was waiting—hoping—a victim would come by so he wouldn’t have to move. Moving meant leaving a trail. He was staying very still and waiting for the hunter to leave the area, just as he’d done for centuries.
I can do it, Teagan said.
Her fear beat at him, and Andre was grateful he had had the presence of mind to mask her presence just in case they had come across the master vampire. At the same time she felt fear, her determination poured off of her. She wanted this. It made her feel a part of him. Maybe she even needed it.
She wasn’t asking to go into battle, just to be of aid, to feel as if she gave him some advantage. It was the most difficult thing he’d ever done, and it went against his nature, but he was in her head and he could see, this was everything to her. By giving his consent—and it said a lot about her that she waited for it even when she wanted to give him this—he knew he would be giving her self-respect. More, he knew she could live with the division of their partnership, if he could concede.
I want you to remember, to always hold in your heart, in your head, what will happen should anything happen to you. I need you, Teagan, far more than you will ever need me. I love you. I have never really had anyone in my life until you. I cannot go back to emptiness. Do you understand what I am saying to you?
He still was uncertain he could give her his consent. He drifted even closer to the boulder where the filaments seemed to lead. He wanted to be close just in case the vampire made a grab for the bird.
I understand that and I also understand what you’re giving to me. Her voice was soft. A caress. Filled with love.
Do it then. Feed me the information and then get far away. Into the trees where the owl can hide. I will need you when I am done. No matter how bad the wounds are, take me to ground and I will heal. Do you understand? Get me into the ground.
Absolutely. I won’t let you down, Andre. Just stay connected to me, even when you’re afraid I’ll feel pain. Don’t shut me out, because if you do, I’ll panic. As long as I know you’re alive, and you have a plan, I can stay where you tell me.
Teagan didn’t hesitate, but then he knew she wouldn’t. She dropped out of the sky, sliding beneath the bank of fog, talons extended toward a mouse rustling in the vegetation.
An actual mouse. Luring the owl in. The mouse wasn’t close to the boulder Andre suspected held the vampire. The mouse was near a thin sapling shooting out between two smaller rocks.
Get out of there. Andre called the warning just as the owl veered away from the ground, away from the straggly tree nearly bent double from the winds that often raged over the mountain.
He heard the crash of notes, the cacophony of sound that jarred every cell in Teagan’s body. She heard it as she had come in, following his instructions, allowing the owl to be close to the surface. At the last possible moment, when she heard the discordant notes, she had reacted, taking control back.
Andre hadn’t expected that, not so soon, but he was grateful as the vampire lunged out from between the rocks, throwing the decoy of a sapling off of him as he reached for the bird.
Andre used his speed, shifting as he rushed through the distance separating them, inserting his body between Popescu and Teagan, slamming into the vampire with the force of a freight train, driving him backward, his fist slamming home, deep into the chest of the undead. The fierce momentum sent both of them tumbling together over the cliff. Andre locked onto the vampire with his free arm, even as he dug through tissue, muscle and bone to try to find the withered, blackened organ that ensured Popescu would rise again and again.
Teagan rose behind them as the two men went over the cliff and landed in the canopy of the taller trees, breaking branches as they fell through to the lower, heavier limbs. She could see Andre clearly, his free arm deflecting teeth and talons, while his fist continued to burrow through the agonizing acid blood. She felt it burning through his skin, right down to his bones, but he didn’t stop. Didn’t flinch. He kept after his prize, no matter that the vampire leaned forward and tore open his neck.