Read Online Polar (Prequel): The Turnagain Arm by Julie Flanders - Free Book Online Page B

obedient dog.
    When they got outside the saloon and out of earshot of its proprietor and customers, Aleksei stopped and turned to James.
    “I’m meeting Mr. Dzubenko to talk with him. I’ll need you to come with me. But stay back so he doesn’t know you’re there. I don’t want him to panic and run off. I think he’s realized we’re on to him and he may want to confess.”
    “What if he’s planning on killing you now?”
    “Give me a minute to talk to him. If it goes wrong, make yourself known.” Aleksei stared solemnly at James. “I’m trusting you with my life here. I hope I’m not making a mistake.”
    “You’re not. I gave it some more thought and I think you’re right on the money about Dzubenko. You can count on me. Everybody in the camp just wants this over.”
    Aleksei nodded. “You’re a good man, James.”
    He headed off towards the tent he nominally called home and entered the woods behind it. He heard Vasyl’s footsteps crunching through the leaves and twigs that dotted the floor of the forest. If his heart was still beating, he knew it would have been racing with anticipation. He turned towards his nemesis with relish.
    “Mr. Dzubenko. This is an odd place to call a meeting.”
    “I don’t want anyone else getting hurt by what I have to do, Nechayev.”
    Aleksei glanced at the tattered book Dzubenko held in his hand, his finger clearly serving as a placeholder.
    “What is it you have to do? Are you going to read to me? What story are we reading?”
    Vasyl gingerly set the book beside the lantern at his feet, leaving it open to the page he had marked. He thrust a crucifix towards Aleksei.
    “Never mind about the book. I won’t be reading to you. Just keep your distance.”
    Aleksei chuckled. “I will, but only because I’m so curious what you’ve got planned. Haven’t we already established that I could knock that crucifix out of your hand and break your arm before it so much as singed me? It really doesn’t protect you like you think it does.”
    “For all your taunting about it, I notice you don’t come near it. You don’t like it.”
    “That’s true, I don’t. I didn’t say I liked it. I said it won’t stop me from doing whatever I want to you.”
    “We’ll see about that.” Vasyl glanced down at his book and grimaced as he realized he couldn’t read the text from this distance in spite of the lantern light. He should have known that would be the case. He cursed silently to himself and squared his shoulders. He didn’t need to be able to read it, he told himself as his eyes left the book and returned to the monster in front of him. He could recite it from memory. He was a Dzubenko, and no vampire was a match for his family’s power.
    “At what point do you plan on telling me what you called me out here for?” Aleksei said. “Your wife seemed terribly worried about it. Surely it wasn’t just to talk about the power or lack thereof of your crucifix?”
    “YA zaklykayu BEELZEBUTH~, LUCIFER~,” Vasyl said, his eyes boring into Aleksei. “MADILON…”
    “What are you saying?” Aleksei asked. “What is this about?”
    Vasyl ignored him and continued his incantation. “SOLYMO~, SAROY ~, Заходьте! ”
    “ Dzubenko?”
    Vasyl’s eyes rolled back into his head. “ Bогонь!” he yelled. “ Cпалювати!”
    Aleksei felt a flash of panic as the grass as his feet started to smolder with flame. He stepped back, only to have the flames follow him.
    “James!” he yelled. “I need you, quickly!”
    Vasyl was too entranced in his incantation to hear Aleksei’s calls for help. His head jerked up towards the sky. “ Bогонь!”
    Flames licked at Aleksei’s boots and the legs of his pants. “James!” he yelled.
    James burst through the trees, his gun and knife at the ready. “What’s happening?” James called out. “Aleksei? What’s going on?”
    “It’s the black magic, just as I told you,” Aleksei said. “Do you hear him? He’s