“As Matushka Katrina is now.” Dymitri’s lower lip trembled, but he firmed his chin and cleared his throat. “Their oldest son is returning to the village tomorrow, Lord Oleg. Their daughter is already home.”
“Good.”
Oleg would make sure the whole of the family was taken care of, but the murder gnawed at his mind. Fire licked under his skin, searching for a target for his anger.
“I can feel you heating up.” Dymitri patted his hand. “Father Izaias would say to forgive. He was the kindest man I have ever known. The best, Lord Oleg, save for yourself.”
“You are too kind, Dymitri. I am nowhere near the man that Father Izaias was.” It was nothing but the truth. Izaias had been a human of tremendous character and charity.
And Oleg was a selfish bastard. He was fine with it, but he didn’t need the adoration of humans. That would be false praise.
Dymitri looked Oleg in the eye. “Father Izaias would not want you to be angry or commit a sin because of his death.”
“Yet there is a righteous anger, Dima.”
The murder of any priest was troubling. The murder of this priest in particular was alarming. Izaias had far more knowledge of Oleg, the citadel, and his trusted inner circle than nearly anyone else in the village. It was Izaias who baptized the many children born in the citadel over the years for whom Oleg acted as godfather. Izaias had buried his most trusted humans in the citadel’s cemetery.
And Izaias had been the priest to marry him and Tatyana in truth.
Oleg did not have time to reminisce. That could come another night when there was not a human roaming the earth with Oleg’s priest’s blood on his hands. “Tell me about the man you remember.”
“I thought he was there for confession. Something about him appeared troubled. But I assumed it was a sickness of the heart, Lord Oleg, not the mind.”
“He was human?” The old man had said it was before dark, but he wanted to be sure.
Dymitri nodded. “Most definitely human. He had a scent about him.” The old man frowned. “Fish. He smelled like fried fish. I thought he had been eating fried fish earlier in the day. I’ve never met one of your kind who eats fried fish, have you?”
“No, that is a good observation.” This was new information. Oleg looked over his shoulder at Mika, who nodded. “Thank you, Dima. That is helpful.” So Ivanhadsent a human to interrogate the priest.
But why?
There had been a number of curious things about the crime. It had happened at dusk, which would indicate vampire attack, but the body of Father Izaias showed clear evidence of torture. A vampire would have no need to torture a human—they could manipulate their mind, even a mind as strong as Father Izaias’s.
There was blood in the priest’s office at the church, but none had been taken from the body, another indication that the killer was human.
The priest’s body had been found in the snowy woods by hunters. Perhaps the murderer thought it would take days for anyone to find the dead man, but he clearly didn’t understand the people of Oleg’s village.
The residents of this remote town in the Carpathian Mountains were old-fashioned, protective, and suspicious of outsiders. The moment those hunters saw fresh footprints and drag marks in snow that should have been undisturbed, they had tracked them and found Father Izaias’s body before it was frozen. Then they had tracked the footprints back to a mountain road where they had disappeared into some vehicle that had left tire tracks.
The hunters even had pictures of the tire tracks for Mika to examine.
The murder might be reported to the human authorities, but Mika and the men of the village would find the perpetrator.
And Oleg would kill him. Personally.
“I already told Mika the description as well as I could see,” Dymitri said. “And to Petr and Yonas too. He kept his face hidden, but I thought confession, so I did not look too closely,and now I see why he was acting that way.” Dymitri’s shoulders slumped. “I should not have left the dear father alone.”
“Dima.” Oleg put a hand on his shoulder. “You must not think that way.”
The old man only let out a heavy sigh and looked at the ground.
His sadness angered Oleg on a fundamental level. These were his people, and while he had guards around the village at night to keep watch from immortals, he had not expected this, and he was angry with himself for overlooking the simple human threat.
“Dima, you know how they treated him.”
Dymitri nodded.
“So you know that I will make sure he is punished for this.” Oleg kept his voice soft. “Do you believe me?”
