Dark Goddess

fused together. Billi stepped forward and saw his face. She closed her eyes too late. The image had burned itself into her.

It was as though his face had been wax and put against a fire. No features remained, just rivulets of skin.

The man’s face had been melted with acid.

There were dozens of them. They didn’t look human, more like malformed statues, failed human shapes that had been abandoned. Then Billi saw the bites. Along the arms. Along the thighs and necks. Chunks had been bitten off where the ghuls had gnawed at the flesh.

“No fingerprints, no features. No way of finding out who they were,” said the woman. “Every month Koshchey delivers a container of fresh ones to the vampires. They pay him well and he keeps them fat and off the streets. A few decide they would rather hunt than pay. Those Koshchey eliminates.”

“Koshchey arranged this?” Billi asked. Even for him this seemed beyond inhuman.

“Yes. That is why the vampires no longer hunt on the streets. They do not need to. Koshchey delivers them all the fresh blood they could want. They pay him well. And think of what the vampires have offered him for a Spring Child.”

“Just for money? All this just for money?” Billi had thought, despite their brutality, that the Bogatyrs fought for the same cause as the Templars. But she knew that ghuls, vampires, supped on the soul of their victim. That’s why they couldn’t survive on blood from animals or blood bags. It was those last few drops of blood, the drops that carried the last heartbeat and with it the soul, that strengthened ghuls. And the soul of a Spring Child, an avatar, would be the richest of all.

“You call us evil, when all we do is defend what is ours. You call the sacrifice of the Spring Child evil, when she will renew the world.” The woman waved her three companions away. “I have seen what evil is, and it is mankind. You do this for paper.” She spat on the ground. “Perhaps you are right and Baba Yaga will bring Fimbulwinter. But she will save us from it. My goddess is old and wise, and if she thinks that the world will be purged of mankind and born a new, I will not question her wisdom.”

“No. Not all of us are like that.” Billi grabbed the woman’s wrist. “You came here to thank me for saving you and the girl, but I haven’t. Not her, not anyone, if Baba Yaga gets her way. We will all die! Tell me where Vasilisa is, please.”

Doubt briefly crossed the paisley woman’s eyes. She could see that Billi believed what she was telling her.

“Please,” Billi begged. “Just because Koshchey is a monster doesn’t mean we all are. You know that, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. Tell me where they’ve taken Vasilisa.”

“I’m sorry. I cannot defy the will of the goddess.” She waited for Billi to release her.

“You’re making a big mistake.” Billi dropped her grip. She turned away and looked at Ivan. He stood as rigid as a statue, eyes fixed on the contents of the rusty container.

“Let’s go, Ivan.” The smell of decaying flesh fogged her brain.

“Look at what he’s done, Billi.”

“We’ll deal with him later,” she promised. She’d never seen anything so horrific. The Unholy had done the killing, but it had taken a human’s capacity for cold, heartless logic to make it happen, month in, month out.

Ivan shook his head. “No. I will deal with him.” There was a conviction in his voice that Billi found chilling. “I will kill Koshchey.”

26

“I’M CALLING THE OTHERS. WE’RE LEAVING.” Billi started dialing her father’s number. The Templars had to get out, tonight, and meet up with Arthur. Vasilisa’s granny was the only lead they had now. There was no way they could trust the Bogatyrs. The moment Koshchey had Vasilisa, he’d no longer need the Templars. Billi had no illusions of what would happen then: they’d be eliminated without a thought.

Ivan put his hand on hers. “Koshchey is monitoring your phones.” He took it and switched it off. “It is standard KGB procedure.”

“And you talk about trust?” Billi snapped. The moment she said it she regretted it. Ivan was in a bad place right now and he needed her. She could see it in his eyes: his whole world teetered on the brink of destruction. Koshchey had betrayed his father. The Bogatyrs were involved in the vilest trade with the ghuls. Everything he knew was a lie.

Billi held his hand. “We’ll get through this.”

Ivan gritted his teeth, holding down the rage that was like a tidal wave inside him. “How shall we proceed?” he asked. Obviously he didn’t trust himself to keep his head, not right now.

“Act like nothing’s happened. Let’s get back to the Ministry and get Gwaine and the other Templars.” Billi walked back toward the waiting car. “Who else in the Bogatyrs can you trust? Really trust?”

Ivan pointed to his bodyguard. “Dimitri.”

“Anyone else?”

“No one for certain.”

Billi thought about it. Ivan had to come with them. A look from Ivan confirmed he knew that too. Koshchey had already tried to kill him; it was obvious now. He’d rushed off to fight that ghul, assuming the Bogatyrs were right behind him. If Billi hadn’t saved him, Ivan would have been murdered by Koshchey’s vampire, and Koshchey would have gotten rid of him without dirtying his hands. No blame. No suspicions. Sooner or later Koshchey would get rid of him, especially if he got a hint that Ivan had uncovered his trade with the ghuls. He would throw caution to the wind and there’d be a straight and simple killing.

“You’d better stick with us,” Billi said.

Ivan stopped by the car door and looked down at the pistol clipped to his belt. Billi knew exactly what he was thinking. How he wanted to take that pistol, put the barrel against Koshchey’s head and pull the trigger. “Ivan, you’ll get your chance. But we’ve got to get Vasilisa. She has to be our priority.” Ivan nodded, his honor as a Bogatyr guiding his decision.

Billi respected him even more than she had before. She touched his arm. “Don’t pack. Just find out what you can-if Koshchey has any leads he’s not sharing. We’ll call my dad on another line and plan our next step.”

“Which is?”

“Buggered if I know.” She needed a phone. “Dad was looking for Vasilisa’s grandmother. The woman knew a lot about Baba Yaga. He’s hoping she might point him in the right direction. He thinks the witch is nearby; the area’s been flooded with wolves. But it’s all just guesswork. We don’t know anything for sure.”

Billi looked up at the moon. Almost full.

“We have to stop her, Ivan.”

Ivan opened the car door and squeezed Billi’s hand.

“I will help you, Billi SanGreal.”

A crash on the motorway meant it took them almost three hours to get back to the Ministry, and Billi couldn’t think for the turmoil her emotions were in.

How could they have known that Koshchey was a monster? That the Bogatyrs had become human traffickers?

Lance had suspected Koshchey was no good, but never that the entire order had been corrupted so swiftly.

Ivan was right: Koshchey had to die.

But not today.

As they entered the lobby they passed two of the Bogatyrs, who each nodded to Ivan.

“You get Lance and Gwaine. I’ll get Elaine,” Billi murmured, glancing at the large clock above the main staircase. It was two in the morning. “I’ll meet you in the garage in ten minutes.”

Minutes later Billi banged on the library door.