“Testing us,” she murmured again.
“We need to continue on as though we’ve failed to spot them,” Tora said. “The only thing we have going for us is the element of surprise. They can’t know our strengths or weaknesses. We must outsmart them and hope our reinforcements get here on time.”
Silke knew they needed the Carpathian warriors to aid them. There was no hope of winning an intense battle, even in the forest of secrets, without help. She was very conflicted over who would be coming. Every year from the age of two to twenty-three, Silke had opened a package on her birthday containing recordings from Astrid, her mother. Prior to giving birth, she must have had a premonition she wouldn’t survive. Silke came from a long line of women with special gifts. All who knew Astrid testified that she had special talents in abundance.
Silke was fourteen when Astrid’s now familiar voice told her to go to Tora and ask questions about a species of people called Carpathians. Silke always looked forward to listening to her mother’s voice and hearing her advice. This was the first time the recording hadn’t been just personal advice from mother to daughter. There weren’t her usual thoughts on the recording or even tips on fighting demons. Astrid instead detailed how important it was for her to learn about the Carpathian species and reiterated several times that she was to rely on Tora to educate her.
Silke had grown up speaking an ancient language, one that Tora referred to as Carpathian. She’d asked, of course, where its origin was, but Tora had simply said she would reveal all to her in time. Silke was so busy learning everything from fighting skills to other languages that she had stopped asking. Now, her mother had specifically instructed her to learn what she could about the Carpathian people from Tora.
Tora had been her best friend almost from the first day Silke could remember, even before she could walk. Tora was kind and patient, and Silke considered her family, a sibling. Since both of her parents had died, as a child Silke clung to Tora. She always seemed older, although when they were children, she couldn’t have been more than five years older—at least that was what Silke had thought at the time.
“When I first asked you about the Carpathian species, you told me they were warriors, hunting vampires,” Silke said to Tora. “At that time, you said they slept in rejuvenating soil and drank blood without killing their donors. You told me they had tremendous powers, including shape-shifting and flying. You were very matter-of-fact. I didn’t have any trouble understanding or believing. Mostly because I knew you. When you told me that every gift comes with drawbacks, and you explained that Carpathians were nearly immortal but would become paralyzed during daylight hours and come out only at night, I realized you were Carpathian. You visited me at night, never during the day. Only once in that conversation did you mention demons and Carpathians in the same breath. I thought you meant vampires, but you didn’t, did you?”
Tora shook her head. “Carpathians view vampires as just that—vampires. They’re wholly evil and prey on every species on this earth they can. They create flesh-eating puppets and ruin the land. They have made alliances in the underworld recently. Banding together and making alliances is new, from what I’m told.”
That didn’t explain the demon reference Tora had so casually made all those years ago. Silke knew where vampires came from. When sheturned fifteen, she learned that aside from being a demon slayer, her mother had also passed on another responsibility—a huge one. Silke guarded the soul of a Carpathian warrior. If that wasn’t fantasy, what was? When a Carpathian male was born, his soul split. He retained all the darkness, and somewhere, a female child was born with the other half of the soul made up of his light. His task was to find her and bind their souls together. It wasn’t easy to find their lifemate, and many of them succumbed to temptation, turning vampire, forcing friends to hunt them. The woman could die, and the soul would be born again and again for as long as the Carpathian male still existed.
The thought of such a responsibility at fifteen was disconcerting. Still, at fifteen, none of the things she learned about Carpathians seemed real. They were larger-than-life heroes, hunting vampires and keeping mankind safe. They were warriors fighting for others despite the constant whisper of temptation to kill while feeding just so they would feel a rush. Those were facts she’d learned from Tora.
Tora had told her that male Carpathians lost their ability to see in color or feel emotions. They lived in a bleak, gray world century after century. She’d also revealed that Carpathians choosing to give up their souls to feel the rush when they fed became vampires. Silke had lain awake often over the years thinking of how horrible it would be to live with honor for centuries and then, in a moment of weakness, become the very thing you hunted.
She was responsible for guarding the soul of a Carpathian warrior. It was told in the stories handed down from her ancestors that he would come with others to help them in their final battle with Lilith’s demons from the underworld. She feared he wouldn’t arrive in time. She was also very nervous. The idea of a stranger having a claim on her bothered her immensely. And there was that casual line about demons Tora had mentioned when Silke was fourteen. Tora wasn’t volunteering an explanation.
Once more, Silke looked up at the black rolling clouds. The edges seemed frayed, as if the vicious wind would suddenly reverse directionsand rip at the clouds to pull them apart before once more aiding the demons in their quest to spy on the village and forest.
Tora had covered the forest in a shroud of dense magic weaves that appeared as fog so that even with the canopy swaying in the wind, it was impossible to penetrate the layers to see inside the forest. Silke had done her best to seal the ground to make it impossible for demons to enter that way. They needed the forest to remain a mystery to their enemy. It would be their chosen place of battle, just as it had been in AD 28 when their ancestors fought off the Romans.
“Tell me what you’re afraid to say about Carpathians and demons, Tora.” She wasn’t going to be a coward, and she needed as much information as possible.
Tora sent another wave of capricious winds to counter the violent storm, this time toward the waterspouts whirling their way toward shore. The wind shifted at her command, stilling just on the surface beneath the spouts, so the rotating winds propelling them abruptly ceased and the spouts collapsed.
“Stay still,” Silke advised. “I feel their scrutiny. They’re wondering if something or someone is countering their commands.”
“They won’t be able to detect my touch,” Tora said with confidence. “They can try, but I’m hidden from them.”
“One of them is a sniffer,” Silke cautioned. “That isn’t his official demon name, but I call him that. He has a long snout, and the others depend on him to ferret out their prey when they fail. If you left any trace behind, there’s a good chance he’ll catch your scent even if he can’t track you.”
Tora tilted her head up to better look at the faces in the clouds. The wind she’d sent pulled more of the clouds apart, so the faces were even more distorted than before. “I thought I knew a lot about demons, but your knowledge is much more than mine.”
“It’s the only area I might have an advantage on you,” Silke conceded. “I was born with the knowledge of my ancestors imprinted on me. Every demon slayer in the family contributed until now I’m awalking encyclopedia of demons.” She made a face. “That’s not a good thing when I try to sleep.”
Tora had a strange expression on her face, one that indicated guilt. Or at least she was anxious, which was so unusual for her friend that it alarmed Silke.
“We’re back to what you don’t want to tell me,” she said. “Just say it, Tora. We’ll figure it out.”
Tora reached for her hand. “You’re my family, Silke. I love you the way I would a sibling. Or even a daughter at times. I’m always proud of the way you face every new threat. You have such courage.”
That little speech didn’t bode well, although she knew Tora meant every word. She waited in silence for Tora to explain. The heavy rains lessened, along with the wind. The overhead clouds lightened from ominous black to a dark gray. The faces faded as if they’d never been, but Silke wasn’t deceived.
“They’re still there, hidden in the gray.”
“For demons, they have quite a lot of power,” Tora observed, speculation in her voice.
Silke frowned, the puzzle pieces turning this way and that in her head. Those particular demons were at the top of the hierarchy, but they couldn’t command weather. They had various skills, such as the one she named Sniffer. Two others had excellent vision. One had amazing hearing. Altogether, the skills would allow them to ferret out secrets or find their potential prey easily. But Silke and Tora had unusual training, allowing them to hide from the demons.
“Someone else is controlling the weather,” she mused. “That must be the answer. As powerful as each demon is alone, even together they couldn’t possibly do that. Someone else with your skills, Tora, is most likely commanding the weather we’ve been getting.”
Tora dropped her hand and rubbed her arms as if suddenly cold. Silke knew Carpathians controlled their body temperatures. More than once, Tora had done so for her.
