Heart of Ashes

Dragoi Fire

Dmitri lay awake, staring at the ceiling. Katrina was curled up beside him with her head on his chest. He absently stroked her hair then noticed a small sliver of golden light on the floor. The sun was setting but the rays still entered the room through a crack where he hadn't closed the curtains properly. He hadn't slept a wink, he kept thinking about the Armour and how he was supposed to retrieve it. Nothing came.

He found himself wishing for Caine to return because he always seemed to know how to find things and how to go about the business of a coven head. He heard the door open slightly and the sound of a chain jingling. He looked up to see Valkyrie, Freya's dog, entering the room. She quietly padded over to Dmitri's side of the bed and rested her head on the sheets. Dmitri scratched her between the eyes, recalling a conversation he'd had with Freya in which she'd mentioned that Valkyrie liked that. What he would do to have Freya back. She was one of the few he could really call a friend. He missed her. Caine had asked him to care for her dog. He rubbed her head and sighed. He stayed like that, Katrina on one side and Valkyrie on the other, for quite some time.

The line of sunlight got thinner and thinner until it finally disappeared and the moon took the place of the sun in the sky. There was a distant rumble of thunder and the heavens opened soon after. Torrential rain thrashed down outside and lighting illuminated the room every time it flashed across the sky in brilliant silver. A wind had also blown up and the curtain was billowing in where Dmitri had left the window open.

He lay there listening to the rain and the steady sound of Katrina breathing. He placed his hand on her back, feeling her warmth. Feeling her heart. That was when his own heart thrust itself forward in his chest. Just once. He groaned softly, thinking about all the things he had to do. All the search parties he had to send out. The long list of duties that Theodore seemed hell-bent on preparing for him each night. He looked at Valkyrie, searching for sympathy. He found it in her eyes. He may not have been Nosferatu but he felt that Valkyrie understood him almost as well as she did Vlad. He decided it was a dog thing.

The wind screamed outside and another clap of thunder shook the skies. Valkyrie's ears pricked and she ran to the set of French doors that opened onto Dmitri's balcony. She started barking loudly. Her hackles were up and sharp teeth set in red gums were bared as she growled at the door. Dmitri frowned. Next to him, Katrina stirred and groggily rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"What's going on?" she slurred, sitting up, still half asleep.

Dmitri threw back the covers and went to the door. He lifted the latch and opened them. Valkyrie dashed out immediately, her barks contained a new, more intense, viciousness. Dmitri shook his head, thinking she was overreacting to the storm.

"Dammit, Valkyrie," he said, "it's just a storm. Come inside."

The young Alsacian didn't budge, not even when Dmitri tried to pull her back in. She just stood there, her bright, furious eyes fixed on something in the distance and a deep, ominous growl in her throat. Dmitri was about to lift her but as soon as his hand made contact with the dog's wet fur he heard it. The roar of many engines was carried to his ears. His head snapped up and he saw them coming through the storm. Seven vans and fourteen motorcycles.

Dmitri's eyes widened in shock, he wasn't sure what the convoy was there for but he knew that, whatever the reason, nothing good would come of it. He dashed back inside and began gathering his armour.

Katrina was wide awake now and she was panicked, "Dmitri, what's going on?"

"I don't know yet," he replied while pulling up his leather pants, "there's a convoy of hostile-looking vehicles coming up the pass. Get up, get dressed and prepare for conflict."