Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

O leg raced over the black waters of the sea, staring into the darkness at the silhouette of the Greek freighter in the distance. The moon shone on the water as they followed the churning wake of the freighter headed toward the Turkish Straits.

They would not reach their destination.

The water vampires of his druzhina had already reached the vessel, and he could see them climbing up and over the sides as wind vampires began to dive-bomb the freighter from above.

It was his sniper Ludmila who had found them after his wind vampires had spread out over the Romanian coast, looking for the ship the Albanians had named before Oleg killed them all.

Oleg had put a cold wall around his emotions, cutting off everything but his rage and his need for vengeance. Anything other than that was contrary to results.

He couldn’t think about Tatyana. Or her mother. Or the soft scent of saffron and amber on her skin.

He definitely couldn’t think about Elene, about Dmytro, or about the two babies he’d held in a church over twenty years ago and promised to protect.

Their mother had been taken by his own blood.

He’d sent no explanation when he sent a small army of men to Elene’s house. Said nothing when he sent his plane for her daughter in London and sent men to her son’s house in Rome. His godchildren would know that something had happened, and he’d taught them to cooperate.

Oleg cut off any softness or human emotion as he focused on the boat that cut across the ocean. His blood surged when he heard the first cry.

“The druzhina will kill every vampire on board,” Mika said quietly. “The humans?”

“Find the women,” Oleg said quietly. “Then make it a ghost ship.”

Mika nodded. “Understood.”

His boyar dove into the water, cutting through the waves faster even than the speedboat Oleg was riding.

It was fifteen minutes later when they pulled up close enough to board the ship. Oleg jumped onto the side, grabbing the rungs of a ladder and climbing easily up to the deck. He nodded at the men and women he passed, most of whom smelled of blood and gore.

It was satisfying but not what he wanted.

Blood trails led to crumpled human bodies. Not a vampire took a breath as he passed.

Oleg met Mika at the last open door and said nothing when he saw the vampire’s reddened eyes.

Mika led him down to a hold that reeked of blood, and no one said a word as Oleg took in the scene.

Someone had found a sheet somewhere and covered her body, but Oleg felt the rage gather and burst out when he smelled Elene’s blood.

So much blood.

Too much blood.

His fire burst out in rage and agony, and he cursed in words that no one had spoken in centuries.

Mika walked toward him, but Oleg put a hand up as flame raged around him. He smelled his own hair singing from the ferocity of the angry inferno.

His people shouted and ran from the hold as the room filled with fire.

And Mika stood in a corner, bloody tears running down his cheeks as he drew the water in the damp hold toward himself so that Oleg’s flames would not burn him alive.

Oleg didn’t know how long his fire raged, but he found himself kneeling beside Elene’s body, lifeless but warm from his fire. The remnants of his clothes were smoking and falling into ash. His skin was burning but his element had died back.

And Elene was just as dead.

He gathered her broken body into his arms and rocked her as his rage cooled and grief wracked his soul. He wept with no shame over a woman who had been his dearest friend.

After some time, Mika walked over; Oleg could see his old friend’s pain was as great as his.

“If there had been even a hint of life,” Mika said, “I would have tried to turn her.”

“She would have hated us.”

Mika whispered, “I wouldn’t have cared.”

Oleg blinked back the bloody tears that dripped onto the white sheet that covered Elene. “No sign of Tatyana?”

“According to the captain, Zara took her and left about an hour ago. He didn’t know where she was going. I used amnis; he was telling the truth.”

“She wants her money back.” And Tatyana was the one who could find it.

“It sounds like Tatyana may be injured, but she’s alive. Zara said something about getting her medical attention.”

So Tatyana was injured but alive. For now.

But Zara would die. She was already dead.

There was no place in the world his daughter could go that Oleg would not find her.