Page 115 of Blood Mosaic

Tatyana felt the guttural moan crawl up from her chest and out her throat.

No, no, no, no.

Zara glanced at Tatyana, then at the man shouting from the shadows.

She wiped her hand along her mouth, tasting Elene’s blood as she stretched her jaw and bared her fangs. “Well, she should have been a vampire.”

Tatyana’s entire body hurt from sobbing. Her eyes ached. Her head ached. Her stomach ached. She tried to throw up, but nothing came out. Her throat was parched and dry as she wept over Elene’s still figure in the low light of the cargo hold.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Zara knelt down in front of Tatyana and lifted her head. “Your turn. You’re going to get my money back for me, or I’m going to beat you to death like I did your friend. It will be painful, and I will take my time. So start talking.”

Tatyana’s eyes watered, and her mouth split again when Zara slapped her. She was lying on her side and tried to hunch over to protect her belly when Zara kicked her. She felt something tear her skin as the heavy platform heel landed.

Something broke inside her, and there was a gush of warmth in her belly.

No. This couldn’t be all. This couldn’t be the end of her life.

It wasn’t fair.

Her vision became blotted and spotty as lights flashed in the periphery.

She didn’t want to die yet.

Tatyana heard Zara muttering under her breath.

“Shit.”

A sickening numbness pulled at her mind and Tatyana’s eyes flickered shut.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Oleg raced over the black waters of the sea, staring into the darkness at the silhouette of the Greek freighter in the distance. The moon shone on the water as they followed the churning wake of the freighter headed toward the Turkish Straits.

They would not reach their destination.

The water vampires of his druzhina had already reached the vessel, and he could see them climbing up and over the sides as wind vampires began to dive-bomb the freighter from above.

It was his sniper Ludmila who had found them after his wind vampires had spread out over the Romanian coast, looking for the ship the Albanians had named before Oleg killed them all.

Oleg had put a cold wall around his emotions, cutting off everything but his rage and his need for vengeance. Anything other than that was contrary to results.

He couldn’t think about Tatyana. Or her mother. Or the soft scent of saffron and amber on her skin.

He definitely couldn’t think about Elene, about Dmytro, or about the two babies he’d held in a church over twenty years ago and promised to protect.

Their mother had been taken by his own blood.

He’d sent no explanation when he sent a small army of men to Elene’s house. Said nothing when he sent his plane for her daughter in London and sent men to her son’s house in Rome. His godchildren would know that something had happened, and he’d taught them to cooperate.

Oleg cut off any softness or human emotion as he focused on the boat that cut across the ocean. His blood surged when he heard the first cry.

“The druzhina will kill every vampire on board,” Mika said quietly. “The humans?”

“Find the women,” Oleg said quietly. “Then make it a ghost ship.”

Mika nodded. “Understood.”

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