Page 109 of Blood Mosaic

Oleg set his palette to the side. “What has happened?”

“Elene.” Mika choked on her name. “Elene’s car. She was going home and there were rockets.” He was speaking so quickly in Estonian Oleg could barely make out what the man was saying. “They rammed the front car; she collided with the truck.”

Oleg’s fangs fell, and he bared his teeth as the fire on his neck and arms roared to life. Somewhere in the distance an alarm rang. “What happened?”

“It was an ambush.” Mika could barely get out the words. “There were a dozen at least. Human. And then four vampires.”

“Where is she?” Oleg grabbed his boyar by the collar and threw him against the wall. “How could this happen? It was your job to protect her!”

“There were three cars. A fucking rocket launcher.” Mika was shaking, and the water in the air drew to his skin. It looked like he was sweating, but the water vampire’s amnis was roused, and the damp sea air clung to him as adrenaline rushed through his system.

“Where is she?” The flames on Oleg’s body rose, and he felt his trousers char to ashen scraps.

“Stop.” Mika sent a cooling mist over Oleg. “Stop and think. They can’t have gotten far.”

Oleg froze. “Elene’s not dead?”

Mika shook his head. “There was a human guard who survived. He was burned by the rockets, but he said the Albanians took the women and shoved them into the back of a delivery truck. But they took themalive.”

Oleg’s fire erupted again. “Them?” He bent down in Mika’s face, grabbed him by the neck, and snarled. “What do you mean, them?”

“It’s Tatyana.” Mika managed to choke out the words. “Zara has Tatyana and Elene. She’s taken them both.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Tatyana’s head was aching. Her whole body was aching. Her mind was woozy as she tried to understand what had happened. One moment she and Elene were watching Oleg’s guards ease into the intersection and the next…

Crash.

Grab them!

Voices coming from everywhere. An explosion and hands grabbing her from the crumpled car. Everything happened at once.

She’s no one!Elene had shouted.My secretary. Leave her alone!

More voices in a language she didn’t understand.

What was happening?

“Tatyana?”

Elene’s familiar voice cut through the haze and the pain. Why did her body ache so much? Everything had gone black. Where was she?

“Tatyana.” Elene’s voice again. “Are you awake?”

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Something was dripping in the background, like when a pipe burst in the bathroom. She’d woken to dripping, and she would never forget that sound.

Drip. Drip.

“Tatyana.” A soft hand on her face. “Try to wake up. You’ve been asleep for hours.”

Hours? It felt more like days.

Her eyes fluttered open, and sunlight streamed through a round window. The floor around her rocked.

“Where am I?” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Bright.”

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