Page 1 of Master Slobozia

Chapter 1

Slobozia

My keen eyes observe the group I’ve been given to hunt one of the most devious and cunning vampires of all, a pureblood turned traitor who wants nothing better than to destroy us. My gaze shifts with annoyance, taking in the dark-haired beauty who had the audacity to sass me in front of the others after allowing Lucas to get closer than he should. I don’t have time to babysit, no matter why she wants to come along, nor the multitude of witches who for all we know could be up to their old tricks and planning to attack. Overmaster Descallia has asked a lot of me with the request to lead the hunt for Lucas and make him pay.

That’s the directive. I’ll do what’s been asked but it’s not without a nagging doubt that we’re headed for more trouble than we can handle with a team that I’m not sure I can trust.

Destiny may be showing us the way to find Lucas and safeguard our key, but allowing the witches to go with us to one of our most sacred and secretive caverns deep in the Carpathian Mountains was never the plan. No matter what the masters who’ve taken the cackling biddies as mates might say. Enemies for years and we trust them now?

Knowing Lucas, Overmaster Descallia’s right hand man turned traitor, the evil bastard won’t be happy until he has that key in hand and reaps the revenge he believes is owed. We’ll deal with that, but there’s no telling what he will do to Embry if he captures her. She is sure to have moved up to his number one spot for vengeance after selling him and Magnus out the way she did. And she certainly didn’t help matters by flying after him in a rage without a word to anyone around.

He may not have been successful the first few times he tried to put us in the ground, but there’s no way that evil fuck is going to give up without a fight to the bitter end. But a battle like that is exactly what the prick will get from me and the other vampire masters after what he’s done.

My eyes meet Master Bistrita’s, and the lock of his jaw tells me everything I need to know. He, too, is feeling the strain of this conflict, knowing it may be our only chance to stop Lucas from taking what does not belong to him and disappearing until he and the others regroup and are ready to battle another day. Against us.

A quick glance toward the others tells the same story. A few of the master’s eyebrows are raised slightly, just a hint that they are as worried about Overmaster Descallia’s seemingly one-eighty in trust with the witches as we are since the masters took them as mates. They may have helped us recently, but that doesn’t mean Devora, the head witch and Raven’s aunt and all the other witches aren’t doing it for some ulterior reason of their own. It’s always been the same with those witches and why we would think it would be different this time, I haven’t a clue.

I don’t know why we would truly trust them now, or why Overmaster Descallia thinks we should after everything we’ve been through with them. But still, he’s the overmaster, and for now, I’ll respect his lead and keep my mouth shut. At least until we see how this little charade with the witches plays out. Butstill, if Descallia’s making me lead this part of the battle, we’re going to be careful, because one false step, being this close to the key that everyone wants, could drive all the factions into a bloody war that puts everyone at odds all over again.

Looking around, I have to admit, things seem calmer than I would have anticipated as we prepare to hunt our enemy. Romano, Sardinia, and Campania seem completely absorbed with their witchy mates. Romano wraps an arm tightly around Raven’s petite frame as she snugs in the last of her weapons and the masters and their mates prepare to move toward the region of Slobozia. I watch as Master Campania helps Willow with her dagger and Sardinia keeps his arm protectively around Madria. It all feels a little too calm for me. My concern deepens, having never seen any of them use any of these weapons. Usually, it’s all electricity from their fingertips and a high-pitched cackling before a curse in the form of your worst nightmare appears, or they turn you into a frog or any other such undesirable aberrations.

I try to settle my ire at the situation I’ve found myself in but it’s hard to tamp my temper down at being saddled with a bunch of witches and a novice who doesn’t have a mate to take care of her and thinks she should come along for battle just because her friend is going. I almost growl in frustration but rein it back in, just in time.

The entire Slobozian region is mine, and what I say goes. Now we have witches traipsing through our most sacred grounds. I eye the sneaky creatures with disdain. Raven, Willow, Madria and who knows which other of the masters’ mates are really not psychics at all, but witches too? It takes effort to keep a low growl of frustration from barreling up from the bottom of my chest and into the night.

I turn away from the group who are preparing to go after Lucas with me tomorrow night. I inhale deeply, and with effortmanage to calm the inner beast who still knows better than to allow all these people with no known battle skills to go. Bistrita joins me, and I try to calm the rest of my emotions before he reaches my side. It’s not his fault Descallia wants to bring everyone along and that he put me in charge. “Instead of heading to the cavern tonight, we’ll make camp here. Lucas isn’t going to double back, especially if he has to deal with Embry. She’s probably making his life an ever-living hell. I hear she’s relentless.”

He gives a nod. “That she is my friend. Look, you don’t have to pretend that being foisted with a ton of females who are new to battle isn’t bothering you. We all know and would feel the same. But the witches have skills, and they’ve proven their uses advantageous in other battles. You’ll see, my friend.”

I’m not known to lie, and I won’t do it now, not to one of my dearest friend’s faces. “Not only do I have to deal with witches, who I personally don’t think we should trust, and Embry, who we need to find, but now we’re saddled with Natalia, Chara and Taylen, too.”

His eyes heat knowing I probably feel the same about any of the females coming with their mates. It’s not a social gathering and fuck if I’ll apologize for that but it gives me pause and I soften my words. “It’s not that I have anything against either of them, but if captured, they would work perfectly for exacting Lucas’s revenge. You know this, Bistrita. It’s dangerous.”

“I don’t take what you say lightly, but the witches are strong and powerful, and luckily whether you believe it or not, on our side.” He grins. “As for Taylen, I personally don’t think you’ve ever been put in your place like that. I couldn’t help laughing as she chewed your ass. You should have never told Taylen she wasn’t coming on this trip or scolded her for Lucas sneaking up on her. Taylen’s been training a long time in hopes of becominga warrior one day. Lucas had us all fooled, he could have gotten the drop on any of us. Give her a chance.”

“Perhaps.”

Bistrita grins. “I don’t think she was giving you a choice. You may have met your match with her my friend. Has the dark-haired beauty gotten under your skin?”

I avoid the question although my eyes seek the beauty out from the group, watching as her head tilts gently to the side while listening to the others. One minute the little she-devil’s tongue is going a million miles a minute and the next she’s as docile as a house cat. I turn my focus back to Bistrita, eager to get a few more things done and end this night. “Lucas is one evil- ass vampire. He’s had us all fooled for longer than any of us want to admit. You want to let the others know we’re camping here tonight? I have calls to make to some of the lords in my region.”

“No problem. Consider it done. In fact, I’ll let the witches know and they’ll conjure up a fantastic little camp,” he says.

I roll my eyes. “Fine.”

He grins. “Suck it up my friend. You’re stuck with us all, including the witches and Taylen. Consider it a leadership challenge,” he says, turning to stride away.

My gaze rakes over Taylen’s sexy little length and then to the witches and the stones that glow around their necks, a light purplish color that’s supposed to be lighting our way to Lucas, the key, and according to the witches themselves, many things of value to them. Well, I haven’t seen that yet. I haven’t seen them or the stones help us that much yet. No matter what Bistrita and the others think, they still need to prove themselves to me.

As if to spite my doubt of the witches, one of them waves a wand and the entire area is filled with tents. I find myself looking at one that has my name over the door, along with one just like it for every couple and person along. Maybe it’s not so bad having a few witches here.

I head to my tent to get calls out to the lords, ensuring they will be ready to assist when we get near the cavern tomorrow night. I sit on the long cot, testing its firmness before pulling off my boots. Sheets, blankets, cots, even a rug on the floor. I stretch out and smile. Fucking witches.

Time will tell if the cackling biddies are on our side or just up to more of their tricks. Romano, Campania, Sardinia and Overmaster Descallia may be fooled, but I am not, no matter how much the witches from Devora’s coven have tried to pretend they’re helping us. What reason really do they have for that? No, there’s bound to be something they’re up to, the rest will see. The others are just too blind to see it through the wave of love or whatever they call it.

I scoff at the idea of love, inhaling a deep breath while my frustration with the situation calms, my fangs ascend and the heat of my eyes cool. If the other masters believe love conquers all, they are in for a very rude awaking. Love is like a chain around your neck, a heavy-ass chain that keeps you bound until it’s rung every last little bit of happiness from your desolate heart. I should know, learning that the hardest of ways, and no one, not even destiny with her meddling ways will ever change that no matter how hard she tries.

No, the only reason the witches would help us is to protect the land they believe to be their own. The same land that falls between Master Romano’s estate and the Witch’s Academy in Romania. The very sacred area the two factions have been fighting over for centuries. That has to be the reason and the vampires would do well not to forget that little fact.