[Dark Ages Clan Novels 11] • Dark Ages Clan Novel Tremere · Book 11 of the Dark Ages Clan Novel Saga

A vast dread lodged itself in her, shook her frail bones. Somewhere a boundary had been trespassed. The sense of alien intrusion was no less immediate and absolute than it would have been if Osobei had put his hand between her legs. But which boundary? She began making her way through the encampment, rising slightly on her toes as though that would really help her see better. Osobei fell into step beside her, his expression more curious than concerned.

Then they heard the first scream.

She broke into a stumbling run. The scream was immediately joined by others. They came from near the warriors’ gers. She smelled plenty of roasting meat, horse-sweat and qumis, but the rising scent of vampire blood quickly threatened to overwhelm them all.

From the campfire protruded the lower half of someone Deverra was sure she should recognize. Qarakh stood in the center of a knot of his Cainite soldiers. Long earth-colored claws extended from the tips of his hands and also from his feet, shredding through his soft leather boots. As she watched, he bodily picked one Cainite up and threw him a good ten yards. Another he seized by the throat, then he snapped the man’s spine over his knee and began to drink lustily from the outstretched neck.