2
“True black is the absence of light,” Tomas Smolnycki told his brothers, Mataias and Lojos. “Technically, it isn’t a color.”
Mataias gave an exaggerated sigh. “At least you aren’t lecturing us on saving the rainforest and all its inhabitants.”
“That’s coming,” Lojos warned. “You know how he is.”
The three were triplets. Tomas and Lojos nearly always had opposite points of view, and Mataias was the peacemaker. Down through the centuries, their discussions had become habit more than anything else. By taking different sides of an argument, they were able to look at situations completely rather than just one-sidedly. They always gave input on every subject to one another. Many times, throughout the centuries, those varying points of view had saved their lives.
“I find, as the years go by,” Tomas said, “that the two of you are becoming more contrary than ever. And perhaps you’re losing your faculties. Slipping just a bit.”
“It makes no sense that, as Carpathian hunters who have lost the ability to see color, we see gray and not black, if black is the absence of color,” Lojos said.
“He does have a point, Tomas,” Mataias pointed out. “We do not have the side of our souls that provides light. We are wholly dark andwithout color or emotion other than remembered, so how is it we see in gray rather than in black?”
Tomas heaved a sigh. “Seriously? Because we see in gray versus black doesn’t negate the fact that black isn’t truly a color. It’s the absence of light.”
“So you say,” Lojos said.
“It’s a science-based fact. I didn’t just make it up,” Tomas said.
“Everything with you is supposedly science based,” Lojos protested. “How many times, over the centuries we’ve been alive, has science proven itself wrong? Everyone is told one thing as absolute fact, and then a century later someone disproves that theory, because it turns out it wasn’t a fact after all. It was a theory.”
Tomas paused in his argument to take a slow, careful scan of the dark forest around them.We’re being stalked.He used the telepathic communication the three brothers had used for centuries.Three in the trees ahead. Three coming up behind us. Three in root systems of the trees to our left and right.
He continued their conversation in a mild, even tone. “You probably are still going to give me your ridiculous theory on why the earth is flat, not round.”
It isn’t Justice.Mataias named the beast they hunted. He wasn’t quite vampire. At least as far as they could ascertain. He wasmore. Much more dangerous than a vampire—or a Carpathian hunter. Justice had been one of the legendary ancients, the one about which stories were handed down through the centuries.
“It wasn’t my ridiculous theory,” Lojos objected aloud, not giving away the fact that they knew they were being hunted. “I merely told you about it.”
Do you think it is possible Justice recruited the undead to stop us?Lojos asked his brothers, staying to the telepathic means of communication when asking pertinent questions.He knows we’re on his trail, and he knows we won’t stop until he is dead—or we are.
“You did defend it,” Mataias contributed.
We don’t yet know what he’s capable of,Tomas answered.I wouldn’t think he would have had the time. Nicu went to warn the prince and to help guard him, but we set out immediately after Justice. But again, we don’t know his full capabilities.
Tomas was several steps ahead of his brothers, taking the lead, which he normally did when they were hunting the undead. He was the bait. A man wrapped up in his philosophical discussion and seemingly unaware of his surroundings. Tomas always looked the part of a scholar when he became the bait.
The triplets wore their chestnut-colored hair long and pulled back at the nape of their necks. All three had peculiar aquamarine-colored eyes. Tomas had teardrop-shaped scarring from the edge of his hairline to his jaw on his right side. Sometimes, like now, when he wanted to lull his opponents into a false sense of security, he wore black-framed glasses to enhance the first impression of being an easy target.
The three in the tree roots are beginning to grow restless. They haven’t gotten the command from their master to attack, but they won’t be able to hold much longer,Mataias warned.
Tomas gave a fleeting thought to the possibility that Justice had turned vampire and had recruited these lesser vampires. He had no doubt that when Justice turned, he wouldn’t go through the disorienting stage most Carpathians did when first turning.
The brothers had hunted the vampire for so many centuries it seemed like child’s play to them. In the world of Carpathians, they had a certain reputation, but all three knew from their vast experience that battling vampires was a dangerous business. Not that they thought about the danger. It was their job. They gave little thought to wounds, mortal or otherwise.
They were Carpathians, ancient hunters of the vampire. Throughout the long centuries, even their prey had changed, developing the ability to band together and fight as a unit. That hadn’t changed the ultimate goal for the hunters—keeping others safe from the undead. It did, however, change strategies. They learned from each battle.
“I wasn’t defending such a ludicrous theory, I was merely informing you so you had ideas to make your head explode,” Lojos informed his brothers. “We’ve traveled the world numerous times, and we’ve never fallen off the edge.”
“We’ve never even come to an edge,” Mataias said. “Seriously, Lojos, how would you ever endorse such an idiotic theory?”
Tomas didn’t look skyward, but he began to build a storm, the dark clouds drifting across the sky, slowly blotting out the stars and moon. In a few of the darker clouds, veins of lightning sparked jagged lines, coloring the dark gray with a lighter shade.
“Are you going to deliberately misunderstand me, adding to the discussion on the world being round or flat? There are numerous theories. If Tomas wants to play the part of the mad scientist, then I think he should be aware of every theory before he decides which one he ascribes to.”
The earth is shuddering. Those attempting to conceal themselves in the roots are poisoning the ground,Lojos warned the others.
