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The vampires scrambled in all directions, looking up at the sky, watching for the owl as it dropped out of the darkness, having already selected its next victim. Addler’s high-pitched giggle gave his position away. He was definitely the master vampire hidden within the tree trunk at the very edge of the grove.

Do you know Sergey’s exact location, Elisabeta? It suddenly occurred to Ferro to ask. She had known where he was going and pointed the ancients in the right direction.

There is a tree, a large one in the center between five others. Addler is directly in front of him, although Sergey is higher, so he has good visibility of the lake and the surrounding area. Cornel is to the right. Dorin to the left. Directly behind him is Ambrus. Do not ever make the mistake of discounting Ambrus.

Each time Elisabeta mentioned Ambrus, Ferro not only could hear but could feel her nervousness. That told him that, although she admired Cornel, and Dorin’s intelligence, Ambrus had a cunning in battle that was frightening to her.

The owl approached again in attack formation; razor-sharp talons extended as it came straight at the vampire standing awkwardly frozen, motionless onshore. The mouth of the newly made vampire was open wide as he screamed, but he still didn’t move. The other vampires dove for cover, although one did manage to make it into the air. He took off into the night, triumphant, presumably following the coordinates placed in his head by one of the master vampires.

The owl struck the frozen vampire hard, knocking him to the ground, ripping the flesh from the bone, shredding his face from eye to chin, removing it completely.

Elisabeta made a single sound of pain and sorrow. Before Ferro could order her to leave him so she would not continue to see the cruelty the vampires were displaying toward their newly made brethren, she began reporting the conversation between Sergey and Cornel. Her voice was tight and dripped with tears, but she held herself together.

Cornel is arguing for a compromise. He wants Sergey to allow each of the master vampires to bring seven to ten servants with them.

Seven to ten? There were seven master vampires if one counted Sedrick and Edward. If they weren’t bringing all of their servants, that meant the Carpathians were outnumbered by far more than they had counted on. The Malinov brothers had planned their coup for centuries. They’d had a tremendous amount of time to find a way to get other vampires to follow them. No one had ever thought it possible.

They will call some to go with them, but not all, because they do not want a bloodbath in the city. That would draw too much unwanted attention. Cornel still wants to draw Josef to the underground club using a woman he would be attracted to. At that time, he would bring more servants to feast.

Ferro had wanted to kill Sergey. That had been his primary mission. Now, for the safety of the Carpathian people, as well as the humans who had thrown their lot in with Tariq and were helping to guard the children and even the Carpathians, the ancients had no real choice but to get the information back to the compound. With Sergey and the other master vampires traveling with such a large army, they wouldn’t be able to attack without the vampires becoming aware that they had overheard their plans and even knew their numbers. It went against the ancient hunters’ code to leave the master vampires without killing a single one of them. It was almost painful to let them go.

Ferro studied the exodus of vampires, the way each of the master vampires and his servants left the forest. Ambrus was the last to leave and he kept circling above the twisted trees with their dank, gray netting of poisonous webs. He showed the suspicion of a wild animal. At one point he even put his nose to the ground and sniffed and had his servants do the same. Eventually, he gave up and took to the air, heading in the same direction as the others.

He will come back. Do not move, Elisabeta warned.