“More than that,” Kezia said. “Even though you may have been sired to water,theyare fundamentally an earth clan. They’re protective of their blood, and that blood has suffered. Even though Truvor was a bastard of the highest order, that blood tie still means something to all his remaining sons.”
“You think Oleg will protect Ivan?” Tatyana asked.
“Protect?” Kezia shook her head. “No. Not at all. But I don’t think Oleg is going to kill another one of his brothers. Not for a long time.”
“I know.” Tatyana leaned closer and whispered, “That’s why you and I are going to do it ourselves. I want your help to kill Ivan Sokholov.”
Chapter 11
Oleg
Oleg waited in a forest some distance outside a small town in rural Mordovia. Lazlo joined him, and they watched as the last trucks pulled away from a ferromanganese processing plant. Oleg almost felt sorry for the human industrialist who owned the facility, but depending on Ivan for his security arrangements had been a stupid decision.
“It’s a soft target,” Lazlo said. “Well chosen.”
“And the humans are gone?” As much as he wanted to cause harm to Ivan and his organization, there was no reason to harm average humans who were simply working in manufacturing and providing for their families.
“They should be,” Lazlo said.
“Night security?”
“A few guards, but nothing I do should harm them.”
“Good.” Oleg nodded. “Then go to work.”
Lazlo was an earth vampire who had a particular affinity for iron, so destroying a processing plant that was full of the stuff should be no problem.
His brother narrowed his eyes. “Are you doing this because Ivan annoyed your wife?”
Oleg shrugged. “Partly.”
Lazlo was the only one of his brothers Oleg had told about his marriage, and that was solely because Lazlo had once made a vow to execute Tatyana should she kill any humans within Oleg’s empire.
A threat that needed to be lifted, of course, now that Tatyana wasn’t a newborn and was also Oleg’s mate. Oleg trusted that if his wife ever killed a human in the Kievan Rus, she would have a perfectly good reason for it.
“Very well.” Lazlo sat on the ground and began taking off his boots. “So this human pays Ivan for security?”
“Yes.”
Lazlo stood and started walking down the hill, his feet sinking into the ground more and more with each step. “Well, that was stupid.”
“Yes, he will feel quite foolish, I expect.”
A moment later, Lazlo disappeared, and Oleg’s phone buzzed with an incoming call.
“Ah.” He smiled. “Hello, my wife.”
“Did you call me?”
“Yes, I wanted to make sure the workmen arrived to work on your mother’s barn.”
“They did. I’m sure a few of them had questions about the damage, but they didn’t say anything.”
“Good.”
“We could have used Poshani workmen.”
“And have to explain scorched palm prints on the walls?”
