Chapter 46

Chapter Forty-Six

T atyana was crouched in a corner of the ballroom, an axe from the garden clutched in her hand. Every other vampire around her—all in Oleg’s druzhina—had a weapon. Swords and pikes. One man had a spiked ball on a long chain and a heavy shield. Most carried short blades the length of their forearms, and there were more than a few axes.

The intricately tiled mosaic floor was swimming in blood and gore. Tatyana stayed low so she wouldn’t slip in her bare feet.

She felt naked and exposed in her damp silk camisole and shorts, but no one seemed to pay her any attention. Oksana ordered the other vampires around as they dragged the bodies of the humans and vampires out to the front terrace of the house where the sun would reach first.

The stench of coagulated blood and shit was nearly overwhelming.

She swallowed hard, trying to keep from vomiting up the blood she’d drank from the men who invaded her room.

Oksana walked over and sank down. “What do you need? Do you want a robe? A bath?”

Tatyana shook her head and stayed in a crouch, clutching her axe.

Oksana patted her shoulder. “You did well. I saw you fighting one of the humans. You have good instincts with the axe.”

“I’ve never used a sword.” But she’d used an axe plenty of times at the farm. Chopping firewood. Cutting branches off trees.

Oksana nodded at the small garden axe in her hand. “Then you may have your weapon. Oleg prefers an axe too. He and Lazlo are experts; they will teach you.”

She didn’t want to be taught. She didn’t want this life. She didn’t want to be afraid. She wanted peace and quiet and a computer. She wanted a serene farmhouse and a cozy library. She didn’t want to be covered in blood and gore.

She wanted Oleg. And she wanted Zara too.

Emotions rocketed through her, her heart battling with her mind.

“Wait here.” Oksana rose. “Just keep to this corner and protect yourself. It’s almost over.”

It’s almost over.

Zara had told her the same thing before she sent her out into the garden to find the axe. The axe had been Zara’s idea, but it had served Tatyana well. She’d slashed two humans and had seen their guts spill out in front of her. Then she’d taken off a vampire’s head when he fell at her feet.

It had been similar to killing a chicken, but the scream had been louder and she knew she would never forget the blood.

So much blood.

“Come now, daughter. We have things to discuss.” Oleg’s voice echoed down the hallway, and Tatyana rose to her feet.

The fearsome fire vampire backed into the room, his army at his back while Zara swung a sword wildly.

Tatyana’s breath caught at the sight of him. He was ferocity and beauty. His chest and arms glistened with a shimmering fire that clung to him like a second skin. He wore nothing but a pair of black pants that hung low on his hips, exposing musculature that looked like a classical statue she might see in a museum.

He was a god of fire and blood, and the punch of longing that struck Tatyana’s chest almost brought her to her knees.

Zara’s eyes scanned the room in a panic. She knew she was surrounded. There was no escape when her borrowed army lay in pieces at Oleg’s feet. She was alone, outnumbered, and all she had was a sword to defend herself.

Tatyana wanted to run to her, protect her, but she was frozen in fear.

“Is this how you will kill me?” Zara sneered. “With your servants and lackeys watching?” She lifted her voice and shouted into the ballroom. “You cowards! You all bend to him and pray as if he’s a god.” She swung the sword at Oleg’s neck. “He’s a murderer, and he’ll kill any of you the moment you fall down. The moment you are weak, he will leave you to die if he doesn’t kill you himself.”

There was a low murmur of voices around the room.

Mika strolled into the ballroom, his hands in his pockets and his eyes fixed on Zara. “Do you pretend to know your sire better than those who have fought alongside him for centuries?”

“I know him.” Zara hissed. She raised the sword and pointed it at Oleg. “I know him.”

“Leave us,” Oleg murmured. “My loyal druzhina, I am proud of you this night. You have protected our territory and destroyed our enemies. Now leave me with my daughter.”

There was more murmuring around the room and more than one expletive, but Oleg’s people did not protest.

Oleg kept his eyes on Zara even as Oksana, Ludmila, and the rest of Mika’s soldiers moved toward the doors, leaving at least a dozen bodies still on the floor.

Tatyana remained frozen in the corner. No one gestured for her to follow them. No one seemed to remember that she was there. She watched while Mika lingered in the doorway, shutting the double doors as the rest of Oleg’s people left, leaving Oleg, Zara, Mika, and Tatyana in the ballroom alone.

And Mika’s eyes weren’t on Zara and Oleg anymore. They were fixed on Tatyana.

Oleg stretched his arms out and stared at Zara. “Get on your knees now. Beg for my forgiveness and I might grant it. I might give you your inheritance. I might allow you your freedom.”

“Might.” Zara still held the sword between them. “Not will. You might .”

“I guarantee nothing until I hear your apology,” Oleg said. “You are part of the Sokolovs, Zara. You have always rejected this, but you carry our blood. The blood of Truvor and Ruda. The earth beneath us belongs to our clan, and we carry the weight and the duty of that. Honor that legacy, honor your clan. For once in your life ,” he spat out, “think of something other than your own pain.”

This was not how Tatyana had expected this conversation to go. What should she do? She was torn between her sire and her lover. The axe was in her hand.

Zara lifted her chin. “I apologize…”

Oleg’s shoulders released. “Good?—”

“…for nothing,” Zara whispered. “I apologize for nothing. I will hate you until the day I die. I apologize. For nothing.” Her eyes drifted to Tatyana for a moment; then she charged.

Oleg’s fire came to his arms.

Zara ran toward him, her blade lifted.

And Tatyana moved from her corner, racing to the center of the ballroom.

She slipped in blood, but she struggled to her feet, running toward the two vampires battling in the center of the room.

Oleg’s fire rose over his shoulders, and as it reached, a wall of water came from the fountain, showering him and Zara both, devouring his flames. He looked at the floor, searching for a weapon as Zara ran toward him with her blade pointed at his neck.

“No!” Tatyana screamed. She lifted her axe and rushed toward Oleg.

Mika bared his fangs and arrowed toward Tatyana, a silver dagger raised.

Tatyana slipped again, the blow she’d aimed at her sire glancing off Zara’s shoulder, missing her neck.

Zara’s eyes went wide when she saw Tatyana strike out. “What?”

The blade that Mika had aimed at her glanced across her abdomen, raising a line of blood.

“Mika!” Oleg’s roar was ferocious.

But Tatyana could only stare at Zara and the red gash on her shoulder that was not a killing blow.

Zara’s eyes were wide. “What are you doing?”

Tatyana wanted her freedom. She wanted Zara gone. She wept bloody tears as she lifted the axe again, but before she could land a blow, the weapon was snatched from her hand and Oleg knocked Tatyana to the floor.

She looked up at him with pleading eyes.

Zara lifted her hands. “Papa, no!”

Oleg curled his lip, baring a fang at Tatyana, and then turned, lifted the axe, and swung it, slashing Zara across the neck. Her head detached from her body and flew across the room.

A scream ripped from Tatyana’s throat as Zara’s head thudded against a wall and her body fell to the bloody floor.

The pain seared through her veins like fire, and for a moment her heart felt as if it would burst before an icy pull swept through her body like a wave.

Tatyana screamed, curling into a ball on the blood-soaked floor as the water from the fountain rose and covered her, washing her clean even as she vomited the blood from her stomach and twisted with the pain of her sire’s death.

The water washed over her again and again, like waves along the shore, cleaning the blood and the battle that clung to her skin. Moments after Zara’s death, Tatyana’s amnis was spent and a drugging wave of darkness pulled her under.