Together Cole and Joseph left the house and made the long journey to Mikhail's home. There was a large group of hunters milling around on the porch and in the front yard by the time they arrived. They greeted The Dragonseeker twins, their lifemates, Ivory, Razvan, Skyler, Dimitri, Mikhail, Raven, Gregori, and a young boy who could only have been Mikhail's son. Cole and Joseph greeted each of them in turn.

"Everyone know what they must do?" Joseph asked

"Dimitri, Gregori, and I will stay and watch over Mikhail and his family." Skyler replied, Gregori and Dimitri nodded their agreement.

"Razvan and I will be patrolling the town for any signs the mage has sent his minions to attack." Cole nodded.

"Keep in contact with Gregori and the other hunters. Report anything suspiciously no matter how small you think it is." Ivory snorted

"We know." Cole made a slight bow.

"I'm sorry if I offend you, it's my habit to remind the people I care about of the little things. It's how my family survived." Everyone shifted a little uncomfortably at the reminder of how Cole and her family were raised. Everyone except Ivory and Razvan, but Ivory nodded and accepted her apology. Cole turned to the other four. "Shall we head out? My brother has shifted the shields around the vampires so one can break out. After that the others will be in one big shield. Then he can shield us through me."

"We are ready." Fen told her.

Together the six of them shifted shape to that of owls. When Jaxon appeared by the front door she smiled at them.

"Lucian is working on the vampire. He should be almost done." Cole could feel the state of the barrier that wrapped around the vampire. It was already starting to flicker out. Cole noted with amusement that the other shields appeared to be flickering too. Clever Gale, he was letting the one vampire think that the others were getting away too. She laugh was mirthless and sounded strange in the body of an owl. Finally Gale made the shield shatter the same moment the vampire hit the shield causing it to shatter. He turned to the others and said,

"I will report in, when you free your do what your part." The others continued to beat on the barriers that surrounded them. It was only when he was long gone did the shields strengthen back to normal then merge into one. Cole could hear her brother's laughter as the vampires screeched their rage and lashed harder at the barrier. Then they were off. Cole looked out with Maria's sight and found the vampire. She could see the haze even at this distance.

Together they flew deeper into the Carpathian mountain range. As they moved across the stark white landscape the trees began to thin along with the air. Food became scarcer as they moved on ward and night started to change into day. When the vampire laid down to rest and set his safe guards so did the six hunters. Then when the sun set the next night they waited until the vampire had few on a lone deer and began to move on before leaving the earth. The sisters made sure there was no evidence of them left behind before they took flight. As they followed the vampire the weather got progressively worse. Wind and snow lashed at their faces and beat at their wings. Eventually they were forced to land and took the forms of wolves.

Suddenly there was the overwhelming feeling of wrongness as they came to a pass leading down into a valley. Cole threw shields around her and her fellow hunters as they stalked through the raging ice storm. Even with the barrier they had to stop every few feet to shake off the access snow that built up around them. They almost missed the entrance to the caves. A thin crack at the very center of the valley and it was buried under four feet of snow. It was actually Zev who spotted the faint marks of where the vampire in mist form had managed to push through the snow. They quickly followed into dark depths of the earth. Cole glanced around warily.

I don't suppose you guys know they way to the dungeon? It was Bronnie who replied to this.

It will be at the deepest levels. He never wanted to risk anyone escaping. Cole tried to keep her heart from sinking at this and muttered sarcastically,

Oh joy, a bad guy with common sense as well as paranoia.

He would be paranoid. He's not only the only one of his brothers to survive, but he was the cleverest of all of them. That's the only reason he managed to survive for so long.

So what kind of traps are we expecting? I'm sure he has lost of very elaborate traps.

You can expect them to be nasty and that is about it. He was clever so he always switched up his patterns and types of traps he used.

What about servants? Helpers?

Vampires, shadow warriors, some of his own creations, and some of his victims.

Oh goodie, this just gets better and better. They floated through a small hallway that was big enough for them to stand in as human, but none of them dared leave the safety of their mist form. It was Tatijana who felt the first stirrings of the trap.

Wait. Cole instantly halted and prevented Joseph from going even an inch forward. They let Tatijana float forward and inspect the hall that diverged five different ways. One went forward, one was a spiral stair case down, one went left, and another went right, the last was a vent that went straight up. Tatijana didn't enter the area; instead she made a small gust of wind and gathered water molecules together. She then made them gently enter the room. Out of no were a diagram appeared on the floor and glowed. Then a giant fish bowl clapped the water and melted into molten glass. Everyone stared in horror at the diagram that was painted across the floor. They shuddered when they realized it was not paint, but blood.

Are there anymore? Cole didn't dare move knowing full well that had she gone much further she would have been melted. Tatijana sent another wave into the room. Only this time nothing happened, yet Cole could hear her internal warning system blaring. She had never ignored it before.

No, but there is something else here. Both sisters studied the room for what felt like ages. Everyone else remained as still as physically possible. Finally Bronnie gasped,

Clever man. She then gestured to the intricate tiles that lay across the floor. Cole had only glanced at them when first coming into the room. They are magic pressure plates that also act as a password lock.

How does it work? And can you figure out the password. The sisters nodded.

Give us a moment. They replied in unison.