Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 165649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 663(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 165649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 663(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Ferro knew the other ancients tied to him felt the terrible struggle in her. She had gone back to that place of insecurity, yet she braced herself, sliding her spirit up against his in an attempt to find strength and recoup.
I am with you, sívamet, he assured.
It is silly, really. The hook is so tiny, a barb, turning toward the brain and eventually driving into it. Not at once. I have seen it in the lighter scoring with the hook upright, then in more medium stages to one side, but in those that are dark and angry, such as Josef ’s, it is buried. It was the difference that caught my attention when everything else looked the same. I suppose my conclusions are simply fanciful.
Elisabeta sounded somewhat disparaging, and Ferro found himself tightening his arms around her, wishing he could just take her back to their woods where she laughed in a carefree way, with no worries about what others thought of her. He went very still, realizing she wasn’t concerned with how others viewed her for herself. She was his lifemate. He was a legendary warrior of the Carpathian people. She didn’t want them to think less of him because of her.
He had to suppress a groan. Of course she would think that way. Elisabeta put him first. She always would. He would always have to take great care to do the same for her.
Can you show me the images in your mind, Elisabeta? Gary asked and then hastily retracted his query as she retreated even more. Show them to Ferro and he can share them with us.
Elisabeta, Ferro and the others left the human, Elisabeta pale and weak. Ferro immediately turned her face to his bare chest, away from the others, sheltering her so she wouldn’t have to look at them while she fed.
Give me the various images of this strange little hook, piŋe sarnanak. He kept his voice very gentle. Very loving.
She did so, and he immediately shared with the others the tiny speck that seemed as if it were part of the brain and looked no different to Ferro.
14
When evil seeks a place, deep within your mind;
I will be your shield, protecting what’s inside.
Tariq and the ancients immediately carried out their supposed exodus from the compound. Ferro noted that Lojos didn’t go with them. He remained a short distance from Ferro and Elisabeta while Ferro fed his lifemate. Charlotte, Blaze, Lorraine and Julija had come to join the tight circle of those waiting to be rid of the infection.
Julija wove a spell, her voice murmuring softly in the night as her hands moved gracefully, creating illusions—Ferro, striding purposefully with the other warriors, taking to the air once outside the gates. Gary and Maksim close to Tariq as they took to the air following a different scent Sergey had laid down. Lorraine and Blaze clearly were there to guard the group while the others waited for Elisabeta to clear them of infection.
Elisabeta worked fast, trying to get through as many of the security guards as possible in the shortest amount of time. Gary tried to help her, but the burns didn’t react at all to the Carpathian way of healing. The lighter scoring showed the strange little speck with the hook upward, and he could deal with removing that. The medium scoring had the hook sideways and, taking his time, he could get the speck to move to him, but no manner of work could get the one embedded into the brain to release itself.
Elisabeta has to be right, Ferro. The infection is to turn all of us against one another, but it is also for introducing this little tiny suggestion into whoever it comes into contact with. Big or little. Old or young. It does not matter the sex. The more implanted with the suggestion, the better his chances that one will succeed, and all Sergey needs is for one person to open a way into the compound for him and his army, Gary said. Someone will have to check my brain for this nasty hooked speck. Josef, for certain, will have this branded into him. Tariq, to keep the gates from being opened from the inside, what do you propose?
It mattered little that Elisabeta had worked so hard to stop the infection and clear the brains of the terrible burns. She may have kept the ancients from turning on one another, but every single person who had been touched by the infection could potentially betray the entire compound. Maybe all of them at once—including their leader. If there were any they had missed and weren’t watching, it would be easy enough for the gates anywhere around the massive compound to be opened from the inside and the vampires invited in. It was far too big of an acreage to be kept safe if those inside were determined to open it to their enemies.