Lucan's scowl was dark, anger building in his tense stance. Dragos and several others battled the one who sired him. Dragos was the only one to come out of the skirmish alive. He was severely wounded--
All part of his ruse, Savannah said. After they killed the others, Dragos helped hide his father in a protective crypt he'd built specifically for him in the mountains outside Prague. Dragos's wounds were from his father, but only to help conceal the truth of what actually happened. The plan had been to leave the Ancient in a state of hibernation until things settled down with the Order. Then the Ancient would be awakened to feed again, and to start a new generation of his Breed offspring.
Holy hell, Gideon muttered, ripping off his pale-blue glasses and rubbing his eyes. Did Kassia know if Dragos ever got the chance to go back and free the bastard?
Savannah shook her head. I don't think so. I'm not picking up anything to indicate that she knew the outcome. Dragos told her where the crypt was located, and that's what she stitched into the tapestry. She wanted Lucan to have the clues in case anything were to happen to her.
Oh, Lucan, Gabrielle said, wrapping her arms around him.
There is...something more, Savannah said. There was a child. Kassia was pregnant when she made this tapestry. Dragos was away on a mission for nearly a year--so long that she had her son in secret and sent him away to live with another Breed family before Dragos returned. She refused to let her only child be a victim of her mate's dangerous alliance, so she took steps to protect the baby and give him a safer future.
Let me take a wild-ass guess about the name of the family Kassia turned to, Gideon drawled.
Savannah nodded. Odolf.
You know, Kade interjected, I've heard that under the right conditions, the Ancients were capable of hibernating for generations.
Try centuries, Tegan said, reflecting on the savage otherworlders who spawned him and the rest of the Breed's first generation progeny. For all we know, that last remaining Ancient is still out there, holed up near Prague and waiting to be unleashed.
Christ, Dante hissed. The world would be a very different place if an evil like that was turned loose again.
Niko clucked his tongue. And if someone thought to ally himself with that kind of deadly power? Somebody like Marek...
We can't afford that risk, Lucan said. So, it looks like we need to haul ass to Prague and see what we can find.
Reichen's only a few hours away from there in Berlin, Tegan said. He's offered us his help in whatever way we can use him.
Lucan narrowed his eyes, considering the idea. Can he be trusted?
Yeah, Tegan said, nodding in certainty. I can vouch for him.
Give him a call then. But keep the details to a minimum. Let him know we're on the way and we're going to need transportation. We can rendezvous with him on arrival at Tegel Airport.
Shouldn't we head straight for Prague instead and meet up with him there? Brock asked. Tegan shook his head, picking up on Lucan's tactic. Reichen may be trustworthy, but we don't know about anyone else around him. Marek's already aware that we've got an interest in Berlin. No sense tipping our hand about Prague.
Lucan nodded. We'll fill Reichen in once we arrive.
Right, Gideon said. I'll get clearance for a flight out tonight.
There was none of the usual bravado as the lab emptied out and the warriors each went to prepare for the mission ahead of them. Tegan normally would have gone off to suit up by himself and think in peace. He thought he probably should now, but then Elise linked her fingers through his as the two of them paused in the vacant corridor.
Are you all right? she asked, her gaze as sober as his must have been. If you want to be alone, or if you have something you need to do...
No. I don't.
He thought about calling the denial back and feeding her some line of bullshit that he was needed somewhere else right then, but the words wouldn't come. And he found he couldn't let go of her hand.
He'd be leaving in a few hours, and the odds were pretty damn good that he wasn't coming back.
He was going in this time with one goal: to personally take out Marek. Even if he had to take himself out in the process. Tegan was more than ready to bring the war to Marek, and, one way or another, that son of a bitch was going down.
Come on, he said to Elise, tipping her chin up to meet his kiss. There's only one place I want to be right now. Elise and Tegan spent the rest of the day in his quarters, making love, and, it seemed, avoiding talk of what the future might bring them. She knew the secrets the tapestry had revealed weighed heavily on him--on all of the Order--but Tegan seemed especially remote as dusk drew near and the group of them prepared to head out. He had withdrawn in some way, as if he were already gone, fighting the ghost of an enemy that had haunted him for too long and had to finally be exorcised.
His call to Reichen earlier that day had brought troubling news: Petrov Odolf had slipped further into Bloodlust and was not doing well. The word out of the containment facility was that the Rogue had become increasingly unstable in the hours after Tegan and Elise left him that last time. At some point overnight, he lapsed into violent seizures and attacked one of his handlers, nearly killing the attendant in a fit of rage.
As for Tegan, he seemed skeptical of Director Kuhn's report to Reichen. He didn't trust the facility director, and, as he hung up with Reichen, he left the Darkhaven male with a mission to get more answers about the Rogue's condition.
Be careful, Elise told him as they walked out of his quarters to meet the others who were gathering in the main area of the compound.
Tegan paused and kissed her passionately, but there was a distance in his eyes.
I love you, she said, stroking his strong jaw and trying to tamp down the worry that was beating like a caged bird in her chest. You'd better come back to me soon, you understand? Promise me.