Page 60 of Magic and Medicine

‘Are you telling the Weaver of Fate what she can or cannot do?’ The elderly woman turned to the sea goddess, and Jurata fell back. ‘Change is coming to the world whether or not you like it, and the Guardian of the Land needs his companion,’ she said, the finality of her words sealing the mouth of even the most vigorous opposition.

‘Come, Sara, we must go now,’ Leszek pulled me toward destroyed doors, but before I left, I nodded to Stribog, mouthing a thank you, and the deity of wind acknowledged my words with a nod and smile.

Chapter thirty

Sara was gone. One moment, we’re hand in hand; the next, all hell breaks loose, and she’s nowhere to be found, with no one noticing her departure.

‘Sara!’ I bellowed, but the only replies were the sounds of gunshots and the screams of the injured, reminding me why we’d rushed forward in the first place. ‘Sara.’ I whispered, and dread washed through me. It could be Rostov with his temporal distortion spell, but I remembered this place from before there were fortifications. There used to be a sacred glade here, with idols of the gods that ruled over these lands. I could even point to the spot my own statue stood.

‘Where is she?’ I turned to the shifters, but both men shook their heads.

‘The melody, I remember hearing a strange melody…’

Jurata? We were far from the waterfront, but I only saw shifters confused like this when my former flame decided they were fair game for her amusement.

With a roar of fury tearing from my throat, my body grew, changing as fear for Sara overtook me. I had to go to her. This world be damned if they took the light in my soul from me.

‘Find her. If you cannot do that, find the place she disappeared. If you cannot do that, then don’t bother coming back alive,’ I said to the witch, who looked at me fearfully, her hands shaking as she tried to form a spell. ‘Just find her.’ I said before rushing up the hill when shots blasted out more frequently.

I scanned the area, picking out Adam and his team, pinned down on the left, the shifters creeping from cover to the right as Adam’s men drew fire. The strategy was sound, but my Firefly was in danger, and these bastards were in my way. The ground shook when I poured my power into the land. I felt it shudder in protest, but I didn’t care. My oath to protect the land, the people bound to it? None of that controlled me now that my powers were returning, and I would destroy it all for Sara.

I felt every twig, every root, every worm digging in the ground beneath my feet and every heartbeat that fought on this hill. A stray bullet hit my shoulder, burning through my flesh when the alloy lodged itself close to the bone. I reached up and dug it out with my claws, sneering when corrupted blood poured from the wound before it sealed itself. More bullets followed, and I heard Adam shouting at me to take cover, but it was too late for this; too late for me. The bloodlust that boiled in my veins demanded a sacrifice, a painful, bloody sacrifice. I would take revenge on those who hurt my men, took my Sara, dared to step foot on my land, and when I was finished here, I would find Czernobog and shove the dagger that started it all deep in his rotten heart.

‘Come to me,’ I said, letting the wind carry my command.

Shifters. Rostov had shifters working for him. I recognised their slow heartbeats between the others. The fluttering of the human heart and the void where the vampires stood and between them, the steady, slow beat of the shifter’s heart. ‘Come to your Lord and Master.’

Master of Beasts, Lord of the Forest, the trickster, and the devil, meaningless titles used to describe the power that pulled the strings of their essence, forcing the menacing soldiers to step forth, guns and rifles hanging limply from slack hands. Mercenaries, deserters from the Russian army, whoever they had been, now they were reduced to puppets whose strings I pulled.

I prowled to the first one, swiping out with one clawed hand, knocking the sniper rifle he held to the ground.

‘Where is Sara?’ I asked, and the battle-worn man paled. ‘Where. Is. Sara?’ I repeated, but his blank stare told me he knew nothing, and in a fit of anger, I snapped his neck like a twig.

‘Where is Sara?’ I asked the next one, and the mercenary with a face marred with scars wet himself, trembling like a leaf. I looked at the puddle of waste growing around him, grimacing in disgust. My claws sliced through his throat, opening his arteries, and fresh blood sprayed over me, overpowering the stench of urine. I licked my lips before spitting on the ground. It tasted of nothing but fear, but fear was only helpful when it led to answers.

I turned to look at the twenty helpless soldiers, my power holding them in its thrall, their minds still intact for now.

‘Soldiers, brave men. The best and brightest of your country’s army used to torture pups and sirens or burn humans unlucky enough to be in the wrong place.’ I stalked back and forth, searching for the leader, someone, anyone who might have some answers. ‘Where is my Sara?’ I roared, on the verge of tearing them limb from limb.

The thunderous bellow had even my own men falling back in fear, my captives falling to the ground in abject terror.

‘Leshy, my Lord. They may not know Sara’s name,’ Adam’s voice broke through the haze, and I saw the vampire cautiously approaching me, holding his hands up to prove he wasn’t my enemy.

I looked at the row of people, then closed my eyes to maintain the last thread of sanity. ‘Where is Rostov? Where is that bastard?’ I said, fighting the urge to rip them apart.

‘Not here. Lady Jurata ordered us to secure this place, Rostov… he didn’t want to split our forces but didn’t dare contradict her.’ The man who spoke looked me in the eye. Rivulets of sweat flow down his face, his gaze trailing over my hands, his focus on my claws.

‘Jurata? What does she want from this place?’ I asked, trailing the tip of my claw along his jugular, smirking when a thin red line appeared on his skin.

‘I don’t know, my Lord, I swear I don’t know. She comes this way, and we must keep the amber gate open. Rostov fears her but keeps bringing victims to fuel the gate. He came today and said the time was up and took the other team with him… you, you surprised us.’ He said, and a chill crept under my skin. If Jurata opened a gate here, and Sara stumbled through… I needed to go to Gedania before they hurt her, before Jurata could hurt her.

I looked at Tomasz and his wolves, heads bowed in submission before I turned to Adam. ‘Check the compound. Any human who liaises with that bastard is fair game.’ I saw a cruel smile on his face. Adam loved the hunt but obeyed the rules I’d forced him to follow centuries before, forbidding vampires to take lives whilst feeding. They could only live off, as he called them, charitable donations. Today, I gave him free rein.

Before I knew it, he took off, and his people followed, rushing into the corridors and passages of the fort like a wave of darkness. I shook my head, trying to focus. I needed to find their Gate and go to Gedania.

Tomasz approached me slowly, his head bowed when he avoided looking me in the eye, fearing it would be taken as a challenge.

‘What?’ I said harshly, and he flinched, ‘Raise your head and tell me. I won’t challenge you over the pack. You are all mine anyway.’ I wasn’t even malicious. It was simply a matter of fact. Shifters were mine. They were born from Veles’ blood but were mine to rule.

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