Dark Ghost by Christine Feehan

silver.
    The owl covered ground fast, familiar with the countryside and the best places human men would choose to camp. He also looked for signs of vampires. They’d been severely wounded, every single one of them, and he was fairly certain they had gone to ground to heal, perhaps even for a couple of days, but the master vampire wouldn’t be happy without fresh blood.
    Popescu wouldn’t go looking for blood himself. Not with his heart nearly ripped from his body – and Andre had come close to disposing of the undead. The four lesser vampires had returned in the nick of time, saving their master, inflicting damage, but receiving terrible wounds themselves. The price of battle had been high for both sides.
    Popescu would definitely send his least valuable minion. The newest recruit. He would expect the vampire to return with human fodder for the master to consume first. If he left any blood, the others could use the victim as well. Sometimes they kept their prey alive for several nights in order to remain beneath the ground and hidden from a hunter. Many, many times, Andre had found the remains of the vampire’s human food source. In each case, the human had died hard and brutally.
    The owl suddenly banked sharply, its sharp eyes finding their target. There was a small tent pitched away from the wind, down in a slight depression where it was protected on three sides by rock. A small fire burned. The owl flew to the nearest tree above the tent and settled on the branches, slowly and carefully folding its wings, never taking its gaze from its prey.
    A single man emerged from the tent carrying a pouch, which he tore open and emptied into the boiling water. Instantly Andre recognized him from Teagan’s memories. This was Armend Jashari. He was alone, and he clearly was comfortable being alone.
    Jashari dropped down onto a rock beside the fire and pulled a small object from his belt. A handheld radio. Andre knew cell phones didn’t work along this particular stretch of wild mountain range. So there were others – Jashari’s friends – probably out searching for Teagan’s trail.
    “Armend here, all of you report in, over.”
    “Giles.” The radio crackled with static as Giles gave his dismal news. “Didn’t find crap. She’s disappeared. Vanished. If she gets down the mountain and tells anyone, Armend, you could be in trouble.”
    Armend scowled. “Who’s going to believe the bitch? She’s a stupid tourist, although I don’t need the hassle. My dad’s been a bastard lately. Insists I get a job, make something of myself. He’s pissed because he had to have our lawyer settle with a couple of women who claimed I was overexuberant with them.” He laughed. “Anyone else out there find her trail? Gerard?”
    “I found a faint trail leading up the mountain, but it disappeared. The fog is so thick I couldn’t see anything at all, but it’s the only thing I found so maybe I should continue to try to scout around and see if I can pick it up again in the morning. If it’s her, she’s good in the mountains. She knows what she’s doing.” Gerard’s voice came over the radio.
    So that made three men who were enemies of Teagan. Andre remained very, very still, the owl partially hidden by sweeping branches.
    “I got nothing either,” another voice said. “I’m just a little south of you, Armend. She hasn’t come this way.”
    Armend cursed under his breath. “Keep looking, Keith. She has to be somewhere. I would have picked up her trail if she’d gone down the mountain. Kirt, what about you?”
    “Nothing here either, Armend,” Kirt reported.
    So Armend had four friends who had gone out in different directions to try to pick up Teagan’s trail while Armend stayed close to the first camp area to see if she would go back to it. That told Andre a lot about the man. He used his friends while he did the least amount of work. He definitely thought himself entitled to take anything he wanted. So Andre needed to