Read Online Blood on Silk by Marie Treanor - Free Book Online

a lot safer. I’ve just had word from my informant that Zoltán is in Transylvania.”
    “Zoltán?”
    “The regional leader of the vampires of Hungary, Romania, and Croatia. He’s heard about Saloman, and about you. And he wants you both dead. The attack on you tonight might even have been instigated by him, or by someone trying to curry favor. He’s summoned the local vampires to him. Elizabeth, it really is time you got out of here.”

    Dmitriu wasn’t stupid. When they made it unmolested to the farmhouse door, he obligingly kicked it open and stood aside for Saloman to enter first. So it was that as Saloman strolled inside, it was he rather than Dmitriu who bore the brunt of the attack.
    What interested Dmitriu was that although perhaps fifteen vampires filled that bare kitchen, just one of them flew at Salo - man’s throat. Dmitriu saw no reason to intervene. Saloman barely needed two hands to catch the stupid creature, before sinking his fangs and draining him dry. The body fell at his feet and exploded into silver dust that danced in the light of the flaming torches on the wall.
    “Thank you,” said Saloman, as if grateful for the welcome, and walked forward into the room. Dmitriu elected to follow him.
    The whole house reeked of human death. Zoltán was easy to spot, sprawled in the only armchair as if it were his throne. His foot rested on a pale, human body, which in death was bent into a grotesque shape.
    In the corner behind him, two vampires had obviously been fighting over the last living creature in the room, a woman perhaps in her forties, whose eyes reflected madness and horror. Her family had been butchered by monsters in front of her eyes.
    “My pleasure,” drawled Zoltán.
    He’d had time to prepare, to assume this position of careless power while Saloman and Dmitriu had openly crossed the field. He was a big, fair vampire, a lock of his untidy hair falling across his forehead. His face was not that of a thoughtful being, but it reflected a certain amount of intelligence and cunning as well as considerable self-confidence—and strength. He was stronger than Dmitriu remembered.
    His gaze locked on Saloman’s as the Ancient stepped over the bodies in his path. Zoltán smiled, lifted one hand, and snapped his fingers. “My guest is hungry. Since you can’t agree, give her to him.”
    “You’re too kind.” Saloman didn’t so much as glance at the outraged vampires or their traumatized victim.
    “You need to gather your strength,” Zoltán said with such obviously false consideration that Dmitriu had the urge to kick him. “Three hundred years is a long time to starve.”
    “Tell me about it,” said Saloman. “I take it I need no introduction.”
    “I take it neither do I.” His malevolent gaze flickered to Dmitriu in contempt. Dmitriu contented himself with a curl of the lip.
    Saloman said, “Of course not. I can see at once that you are Zoltán, the great leader.”
    Zoltán’s eyes narrowed with suspicion, but he’d learn nothing from Saloman’s face. The two squabbling vampires, meanwhile, had dragged the terrified woman to the side of Zoltán’s chair.
    “That disobedient idiot was not my hospitality,” Zoltán explained. “This is.” He jerked his head, and with ill grace the two vampires pushed the woman at Saloman, who caught her before she fell. However, he didn’t feed at once, but instead held her to his side. “He imagined that by killing you, he would become strong enough to usurp my place.”
    “Idiot indeed,” Saloman agreed. The hand that held the woman slid up her shoulder to her throat and began to stroke idly.
    “Obviously,” Zoltán said, “I told them all you were not for the likes of them.”
    Dmitriu stiffened, recognizing a challenge when he heard one.
    “Assuredly not.” Saloman continued to stroke the woman’s neck while regarding Zoltán. The woman turned her head and stared up at Saloman, confused, presumably, by his entirely misleading