Legacy in Blood (Book 1 of The Begotten of Old Series) by Masha Dark

not strictly specialize, brilliantly combining the roles of both field agents and analysts simultaneously. Some, it is true, would have rather worked exclusively in one field, but the majority successfully coped with the office routine, as well as with fieldwork. The agents worked with partners or in teams. The trainees, the young graduates of the Academy, became agents after an initial performance review, which was essentially a ‘trial by fire.’ The addition of ‘Special’ to their title gave agents a series of privileges and perks, which mainly revolved around the agent’s work situation. Pavel Volsky, a handsome man and in the past an excellent cadet, who incidentally had driven a good half of the female student of the Academy crazy, preferred to work in conjunction with a team of highly skilled professionals. These were thirty men, individually selected by Agent Volsky and instructed by him ‘in his own image.’ As far back as Marisa could remember, Pavel constantly mocked her and Ruslan, regarding them as unequal partners, who labored under the secret motto, ‘the broken horse carries the load’. By ‘broken horse’ he meant Marisa, insinuating that Ruslan had broken her in and was profiting from Marisa’s benevolent attitude towards him. The young woman frequently disagreed with Volsky. Once, long ago, at the very beginning of her training at the Academy, she had been in love with Pavel. But her feeling had quickly faded, yielding to life’s more serious challenges. Now, as professionals, they maintained an excellent collegial relationship, apart from the occasional moment of tension during an operation. Pavel dealt with Ruslan rather poorly, but they both managed to conduct themselves within the constraints of departmental propriety.
    Nevertheless, now Marisa chose Volsky and his people. There were nine such immediate response teams in Goldberg’s department. Almost three hundred agents and professional soldiers were ready around the clock, seven days a week, for the most unpredictable situations in the name of international security. But Volsky’s team was the best. And Marisa knew this.
    A picture of Ruslan’s disfigured body swam into Marisa’s overwrought mind, followed immediately by the beautiful, smiling face of that beast in the airport, winking at her. Well, tonight her brotherhood would get it good.
    2.
     
    In hostem omnia licita.
    Everything is permissible with regard to an enemy.
    An ancient Roman law.
     
    The club to which Vasilisa brought Dalana had the annoyingly appropriate name, Bat Wing, though this was usually – thankfully – shortened to Wing. The owner of the club, a transmog with two centuries of ‘life baggage’, according to Vasilisa, apparently did not excel in originality of thought. Many Goths gathered in this nightclub, but every now and then members of other youthful and not so youthful subcultures also stopped by. One thing united the crowd of Wing – they were all vampires, without exception, and Dalana was sure they were all transmogs, though she had yet to verify that. Wing was a ‘members only’ club.
    They pulled up to the doors in a stylish, sporty, mulberry-red BMW. Dalana decided to give the girl her due; she did drive quite well, if daringly, but she couldn’t keep herself from pestering Dalana with questions during the drive.
    “Can you read the thoughts of everyone around you?”
    Yes, when I want to. And it would be more accurate to say ‘hear thoughts’.
    Dalana decided to switch fully to telepathic communication. Many transmogs, especially those who were older, were almost pathologically afraid to converse mentally. Others, on the other hand, thought that discoursing mentally was chic. But either way, it was extremely difficult for converted vampires to forgo human speech altogether.
    “Wicked,” Vasilisa said. “We can only hear each other. Well, sometimes we can hear humans, but it’s not really all that coherent. But we get by