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.It’s Balthazar, too.”“A defector from Balthazar’s group told me Upton’s there now,” Ross said.“On the island.”“So that is where he is now.Then they’re close to combining forces.I think they’ll come here.”“Because Upton wants us,” Dolan said.“And Balthazar wants Malachi,” Ross added.“So who will they go after first?” Mentor asked.“I think they’ll want to get to us first,” Ross said, flicking imaginary lint from his pants.“Upton’s been waiting a long time.”“Why can’t we get some Predators together and go to them?” Dolan asked.Mentor turned to him, interested.“Yes, why don’t we?”“I’m pulling my clan together,” Ross said.“We’re getting prepared.Before we could go to Balthazar, I think he’ll be here.I think we’ll be ready.”Later in the night after Ross had left and Dolan had retired, Mentor sat alone in the dark and moved his intelligence across the globe, searching the Canary Island of Lanzarote and the caves beneath it.While in this trancelike state his body sat immobile, a mere statue waiting for the master to return to it.He would not be able to pick up conversations, but he would be able to tell how many vampires were gathered in one place.He was surprised to discover the caves nearly empty.He searched for any presence at all and found two, a male and a female.He knew it was Balthazar and his woman.But where were the others? His followers? Upton and his new clan? Where had they gone?He came back to himself and opened his eyes.Instinctively he moved from the room to the windows and pressed his hands against the glass.They weren’t here yet.At least they weren’t in his area of town.He’d know if they were out there, near his home.Ross, who had left for his own home earlier, spoke from behind him.Mentor turned to see he’d come back.“What’s wrong? I felt your alarm.”“They’re gone.No one’s on the island, but Balthazar and the woman he keeps.”“The other Predators are gone? Upton, too?”“Vanished,” Mentor said.“Then I’ll go to the island and do away with the two there.If Balthazar’s followers find out he’s dead and they have no leader, maybe they’ll turn back.”“Be careful, Ross.Balthazar’s as old and experienced as you.Maybe I should come along.”“No, stay here.If Upton’s on his way, you’ll have enough to deal with.Call my clan if that happens.They know something’s coming.And, damnit, don’t underestimate me,” he added heatedly.Ross shimmered and disappeared.Mentor sank into a chair near the window and tried to find out where Upton might be but after a few minutes realized his former prisoner was still cloaking himself so he couldn’t be detected.He was keeping his mind as empty as a dried desert lake.Devoid of personality and emotion, Upton was like a tree or a mountain.He couldn’t be penetrated.Realizing he should do the same so that Upton would not know where he was, Mentor shut down his own mind so that he was operating in stealth mode.Just a few sparks in the frontal lobe allowed him to preserve his thoughts and keep them private.He hated doing it, as it shut him off from any new vampire who called for his help, but he would not let himself be at a disadvantage.Dolan, noting the activity in the house, came to the living room entrance.“Something’s changed,” he said.“What can I do to help?”“Go to the clans and tell them to hide.”“Hide? All of them? Even the Predators?”“Especially the Predators.If they’re found, they’ll have to fight.We think Upton’s already here.I don’t want the clan to fight until we know where the enemy is concentrated.”Dolan didn’t need to hear more.If a militant band of Predators had invaded the city, an alert had to be sounded.He swiftly left the house by the door, blending into the night to fulfill his mission.Mentor stayed behind trying with all his might to find the hundreds of Predators who might have already descended on the city.If he couldn’t find where Upton was, he’d have to find his minions.He wondered why Balthazar had not accompanied them and what it meant.He wondered if he could believe he had the power to stop them.~*~Sereny busily swept the long corridor leading into Balthazar’s chamber.Her broom left a neat pattern on the hard-packed clay floor.When agitated the best thing to do was keep busy.Otherwise she’d argue too long and hard with Balthazar, and that was always dangerous.He wasn’t patient with her temper.She had known Balthazar was half-mad.Why else would an immortal spend his days deep in the earth surrounded by bone memories of his conquests? It was … medieval.People might as well have never walked on the moon or created the Internet or invented fiber-optics for all Balthazar benefitted.He was really a being stuck in a far past.On the other hand she had known Predators who built crypts of solid gold, Predators who took to the sea and sailed ships without ever coming on land except to replenish their blood supplies with more human seafarers, and Predators who abducted humans and kept them as pets, as slaves.Like Balthazar, they were thought too eccentric to bother with and therefore were left to their own devices as long as they caused no commotion.She never would have guessed, however, that Balthazar would stay behind when it was time to lead his Predators to the United States.“Charles can do it well enough,” he had said.“Two commanders will only weaken our front.”“But, Balthazar, I thought this was what you wanted.I thought we were going to fight with them.I told you not to trust Charles.Now you’ve let him leave with the whole army.He may never come back.” This really worried her the most.Upton had only joined them to use the ferocious Predators they’d gathered.He cared for no one but himself.“Why wouldn’t he return?” Balthazar raised an eyebrow in question.“Besides, we’ll join them later.Once everything’s under control.”Sereny didn’t believe him.“When? When it’s all over? When the dhampir’s dead? Are you afraid of the dhampir, Balthazar?”He hadn’t answered.She had scowled at him and even pummeled him with her fists in a fit of temper until he winced, but he wouldn’t talk to her anymore.When his eyes had grown deadly, she backed away.She didn’t understand him.She’d never suspected he was a coward.She knew he really believed the American dhampir was a danger to the Predators, but was he actually scared of him?Or was he afraid of Mentor? She thought that might be closer to the truth.Mentor had been around forever.They’d all heard of him soon after becoming vampire.He had lived longer than anyone they knew and it was true he possessed terrifying tricks none of them had even imagined yet, but Balthazar would have had over six hundred followers at his back.What could he be afraid of?One Predator, even one as old and advanced as Mentor, couldn’t hope to defeat six hundred [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]