Dimitri nodded. "I had hoped to avoid them."
"We know Mikhail is the target. I'm almost certain Abel has come here on a mission to assassinate the prince. It can't be personal, Mikhail is far too young and I doubt Abel ever crossed paths with him. He would gain nothing from destroying an entire species."
"But you believe someone else has something to gain?" Dimitri asked. "You've mentioned this before, but whom?"
"I don't have that answer, and at this point, we have to deal with one thing at a time. Try to remember Abel as a young man. He was closer to my age than yours, but he would have been around. Anything might help."
Dimitri frowned, trying to call up old, faded memories. He shrugged. "The only thing I remember of him, other than that he was a good man who answered questions when I asked him about various weapons, was the one time he took me out to the lake to show me how to fight in the water."
Fen swung around. "The lake. He was obsessed with that lake. When anyone needed him in the old days, they would find him there. That's where he is, Dimitri. He's found a lair somewhere near the lake."
"There's a small island in the lake; it's actually close to the shore and he might be able to use it," Dimitri suggested. "It would be unusual for a vampire to do something like that. Wouldn't he have to have a retreat, an exit? There's not much on that tiny island, some trees and a few rocks."
"I say we check it out," Fen said. "He would have safeguards. No Carpathian will go to ground without safeguards and he was a Carpathian for centuries. He'll fall back on what he knows best."
"Let's do this," Dimitri said.
The moment both stepped from the circle, it disappeared as though it had never been. Before either could move, an owl settled into the tree above them. They spread out, moving quickly so that the owl was in the middle. Jacques Dubrinsky shifted, leaping to the ground to land closer to Fen.
"Tatijana sent me to you. She said you were going to hunt the Sange rau and you would need blood. She sent your message, that the prince needed to be guarded and we've got him protected. Have you sent word to the Lycans?" As he spoke he used his teeth on his own wrist and extended his arm toward Fen. "I offer freely," he added, using the ritual between battle mates.
Fen took the proffered wrist, ingesting a small amount, making certain there would be enough to sustain his brother and yet not taking so much Jacques would grow weak.
While Dimitri fed, Fen answered. "No. The Lycans would handicap us at this point. They would do better guarding the prince with you. If Abel gets through us, I doubt he'll stop trying to go after Mikhail. Better to have all of you there. We'll have to fight as Guardians, not Lycan or Carpathian, and we can't worry whether or not we're observed."
Jacques nodded. "That makes perfect sense."
Dimitri politely closed the laceration on Jacques's wrist. "Good luck this day."
"Good hunting," Jacques replied. He gripped Dimitri's forearms hard and did the same with Fen before shifting and taking to the air.
They waited until Jacques was out of sight and then both brothers shifted to owls and took to the sky in the opposite direction, heading for the lake. The forest was thick, the canopy hiding the ground below, but twice, Fen sensed wolves below him. Not animals, but small groups of werewolves making their way toward Mikhail's home.
We could be wrong, Dimitri ventured. He could be making an all-out assault on the prince's home.
He has to believe the prince would never be left in his home. We already found out the safeguards wouldn't hold up against Abel, Fen said with confidence. He knows the prince isn't there. He wants everyone to think that's what he's doing.
I hope you're right, Dimitri said. I've got this feeling . . .
One person with a feeling was bad, two was far worse. Fen believed in instincts. His gut told him Abel had made his lair somewhere near the lake. He would be sending what was left of his army as a diversion, but he would have another plan altogether.
Tatijana had a feeling as well. We'll have to be doubly careful. Abel knows that realistically, we're the only ones standing between him and Mikhail, Fen said. His plans include us. He'll want to wipe us out first.
He plays chess or at least he's studied it. Take the King's Queen, his best defense. In this case, we're his Queens, Dimitri speculated. He's left with Bishops, Rooks and Knights.
Fen, in the body of the large owl, flew out of the forest into open air, flying over the meadows and farms. He saw the marsh below and in the distance, the glacier mountain where Bardolf had established a lair. Dimitri, from Bardolf's position, could see both Mikhail's home and the lake.
You have to be right. Bardolf was his lookout. He used him for information. Bardolf would have told him if anyone was poking around the lake, Dimitri agreed.
Reeds choked the shoreline of the lake on the west side. The island looked deserted and had little to offer in the way of shelter, but Fen knew better than to take chances. There was a mud bank to the left of the reeds with a suspicious looking slide on it, as if a heavy body had been dragged from the tall grasses growing on shore, down the embankment and shoved into the lake.
The lake seemed placid enough except the few ripples the wind caused. The water was murky, but tinged with blue. It was fed by the glacier and very cold, if Fen remembered correctly.
The island first? Fen suggested. Watch my back. Let's see what he's got.
The owl circled the island and then dropped down fast, talons extended, in hunting mode, as if it had spotted a mouse and was homing in for the kill. Several meters from the largest rock, the bird hit an invisible force field and bounced backward. Squawking, feathers floating toward the ground, it flapped its wings hard to get airborne again.
He's down there all right, Fen said. And that hurt. He used silver against us. He's managed to make it so thin it's impossible to see.
We did that at the farm and again at Mikhail's, Dimitri reminded. He stole the idea from us. So where on that tiny island is he? Where could his lair be?
Fen studied the island from every angle. That might be part of his escape route somehow, although I can't figure out how.
Or it's simply a trap or diversion, Dimitri suggested.
Dimitri, what if he's in the water. Underneath the water. Is that possible? He was so obsessed with the lake and learning to fight beneath the water. Most of the others ignored him, thinking he was a little strange. After all, what vampire would choose the water as a battleground? Fen asked, as he looked at the large beaver lodge built close into the reeds.
Dimitri studied the lake. A beautiful trap. That would appeal to a vampire. He could kill anyone fishing, or bringing their animals close, he would have a wealth of victims to choose from. They would simply disappear beneath the water and no one would ever find them.