Read Online Dark Slayer by Christine Feehan - Free Book Online Page B

Sergey. Others perhaps might believe you, but I have hunted the vampire for many centuries now and I know the ones who took me to the meadow of our father and chopped my body into pieces and left them for the wolves. I know they live, so do not tell your pretty lies to me.”
    “Did they really do that to her, Gary?” The boy sounded fearful with his loud whisper.
    She caught a glimpse of the man holding the boy closer, trying to soothe him. Each time they moved, the ghoul stepped with them in a macabre dance of death. Every time the ghoul shifted, the wolves circled and darted toward him, teeth bared.
    “Leave us, Sergey,” Ivory said, “and take your kuly with you.”
    “What is kuly ?” Travis asked.
    She turned her head toward the boy, but she kept her gaze on the vampire. “It is a worm that lives in the intestines, a demon who possesses and devours souls. So really, that is what Sergey is, as he possesses that worm’s soul.” With her chin she indicated the ghoul.
    “I need a weapon,” Gary hissed at her.
    Ivory sighed. What man would run into the forest chasing a ghoul who had taken a child without a weapon? At least neither was hysterical, and that was a plus when she needed every ounce of concentration she could have. In any case, there was no use whispering; any vampire, let alone a master vampire, had excellent hearing.
    “You have forgotten your manners, Ivory,” Sergey reprimanded, looking more sorrowful than ever. He dragged the arrow from his body, watched it disintegrate in his palm and dropped the metal scraps in the snow. “Your arrow nearly pierced my heart.”
    Ivory marked where the pieces fell. “If you still had a heart, those who desecrated my body would have been brought to justice. Instead, you torture a child with your pathetic puppet. Take your servant and go, Sergey. You do not want to fight me.”
    He laughed, a soaring wicked sound that seemed to fill the skies around them. The trees shivered, shaking the snow from their branches so that ice crystals were flung into the air. The vampire lifted his head and coughed hard. As the icy flakes hardened and changed form, raining down, Ivory threw out her hand and the snow turned to vapor, a great gust of wind blowing it back into Sergey’s face.
    He coughed again and gagged, choking, holding one hand to his mouth. Behind his palm she could make out a small trickle of blood, then crimson drops stained the snow below him. He coughed and more blood spilled. Above his hand, his eyes glowed bright red and she heard the child give a strangled, frightened cry.
    Keep his face against your chest , she ordered Gary. He put his parasites in the snow and they can be lethal. You cannot allow the boy to breathe them in .
    Sergey spit into the snow, staining the pristine white powder with tiny wiggling wormlike creatures. “I am losing patience, Ivory. You must join with me now.”
    She felt her body respond to the sweet compulsion in his voice. Her fingers closed tighter on the crossbow. “Do you believe I am still that young girl you last saw? I do not respond to compulsion.”
    He opened his arms. “Come to me, sister. You belong here, with us. We fight against the prince—for you . But for the cowardice of his father, but for the sickness in his lineage, none of what happened to you would have. He sent you away, knowing there was danger to you, against the wishes of your brothers. Would you fight for his son? Would you join with the brother of the man who set in motion a war?”
    Was he maneuvering closer? She couldn’t tell. His body swayed when he talked and she couldn’t tell if he was using that to inch forward, not with the snow swirling around her head. Each time the ghoul moved, the wolves reacted, but their attention was centered on the puppet, leaving the master to her. Her vision seemed a little hazy. Or maybe it was her mind. When he talked, his voice conjured up images she kept buried deep in order to keep her sanity. She could