Page 161 of Blood Mosaic

He dropped the blade, spun the man around, and gripped him from behind, pulling the burning mask from his head and yanking it to the side before he sank his fangs into the man’s neck, drinking deeply from fresh blood as the room around him burned.

When he’d had his fill, he dropped the man, picked up the hunting knife, and waded through the writhing bodies on the floor as he made his way out to the hallway where a battle had already commenced.

Where had Zara collected so many soldiers? Who had given her money?

These were questions to ask after he’d rid his house of his daughter’s infestation.

He heard a bullet coming toward his head and ducked out of the way before he raced toward the gunman, tackling him from behind and twisting his neck to kill him before he stabbed the hunting knife through the human’s eye.

Oleg continued down the hallway and toward the stairs, hearing commotion in the entryway along with Mika’s skeleton crew.

In retrospect, they probably should have had more people stationed around the house. It looked like all the soldiers Mika had hired had been eliminated by the navy-clad mercenaries Zara brought.

Wherehadshe gotten the money?

Oleg leaped from the landing to the marble-tiled entryway, walking toward Oksana, who had a human solder in one armwhile she battled a wind vampire who was trying to throw her off-balance.

“The ballroom!” Oleg shouted. “Go. There’s water.”

“For this?” She grinned through bloody lips. “He’s a lamb.” She tossed the human toward Oleg and he caught the man in his arms, twisted his neck, and sent a ball of flame toward the wind vampire, who shrieked and immediately flew toward the windows, shattering the glass, which rained down on the humans and vampires battling below.

“Get to the ballroom and gather the rest of the druzhina there,” Oleg snarled. “I’ll take care of these ants.”

“Áno, Knyaz!”

Oksana and the other two vampires who’d been holding the entryway raced toward the ballroom while Oleg brought the flames to his arms, coaxing his fire like a man teasing a woman.

Come now. You can feel it, can’t you?He fed the flames his amnis and felt them curl around his body, teasing his skin and leaping toward anyone who threatened him.I’ll give you want you want, my darling.

Bullets went wild. Humans screamed, and Oleg’s fire gleefully danced through dry air of the entry hall, wrapping around humans who twisted and cried out as their bodies charred like so much meat.

The sound of weapons dropping to the marble was delightful. Oleg had never cared for guns.

“Oleg!” Mika shouted from the second floor, and Oleg looked up to see his second with a red gash across his neck. The gash was healing, but his face was grim.

Oleg lifted his chin as his fire smoldered around him. “Tatyana’s room?”

“The door was broken,” Mika said. “She’s gone. Two men in her day chamber. Both dead. She fed from them.”

Good. If she was feeding, she was alive. “And Zara?”

Mika shook his head. “She knows this house as well as I do. She could be hiding anywhere.”

A low growl rumbled in his chest. The question was, was she hiding with Tatyana? And had the young vampire succumbed to her sire’s influence? Did his little wolf still want her sire dead? Or was her ire now turned toward Oleg?

“Where would she go?” Mika asked. “She wants her gold.”

“I moved it.” Damn his sentimentality. He’d had visions of draping Tatyana in jewels and showering her with gold necklaces, diadems, and nothing else. “My office and Luana’s day chamber. Let’s start there.”

“I’ll take the office,” Mika said. “The others?”

“I told them to gather in the ballroom.”

Oleg ran to Luana’s day chamber, and he knew before he entered that Zara was already there. He walked through the open doorway to see his daughter standing in the center of the room, staring at the empty bed where his mate had once slept.

Finally.

Seeing her was still a punch to the chest. Oleg didn’t have many children, but most of them he treasured. He’d protected them and taught them. They were scattered across his territory, guarding his people and upholding his rule.

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