Blood Red (9781101637890) by Mercedes Lackey Read Free Book Online Page B

leadership of our Brotherhood!”
    Rosa managed to get her mouth closed again. She had not expected any of this! But the part of her that always stayed calm, no matter how terrified or perplexed she was, nodded in approval.
    And she could not help but think of her own situation, when her mentor had made her a Hunt Master, a position she had desired so much she scarcely dared think about it. Many in the Bruderschaft had been against it, even though her performance was impeccable. But he had supported his decision, and her, and now no one even thought twice about a woman being a Hunt Master.
    Hans was an Earth Master. He had long ago earned the right to decide where he wanted to go and what he wanted to do. He could breathe new life into this nearly defunct Brotherhood, and bring new protection to these woods. Hadn’t she trusted him to hunt the
vampir
nest alone? And hadn’t he done well?
    She let out the breath she had been holding in a long sigh. “It is your decision, Hans,” she said, handing him the tail and the medal. “But I think it is a good one, and I shall tell the Bruderschaft as much.”

2
    T HIS was certainly the longest and most complicated trip Rosa had ever taken. Hans too. Hans had been very intimidated; Rosa refused to let anything like a
trip
intimidate her. People crossed three countries all the time, perfectly ordinary people who had no magic to help them. She reckoned she should be able to do as much without requiring her hand be held.
    She
almost
wondered if half the reason that Hans had decided to stay in Romania was because he didn’t want to take the trip back.
    The trip out had been something of an endurance trial. First, they had been taken by coach and local train to Stuttgart, and then to Munich. Then they had traveled from Munich to Vienna, from Vienna to Budapest, and from Budapest to Bucharest by three separate trains. Then from Bucharest they had taken a series of coaches to get to the village where Matei and Gheorghe had met them with horses. It was rather telling that the journey had probably been more exhausting than the Hunt itself. It had involved learning two new languages as well, Hungarian and Romanian. Hans had been in a state of terror lest they lose their luggage and the special weapons they were bringing with them—not to mention the three sets of special leather gear, one for her, one for Hans, and one in case one of the Romanians would fit it. No matter how many times Rosa had pointed out that they
were
going to another Brotherhood Lodge, and presumably many of the same weapons—or possibly better—would be available to them, he had still fretted through every train change.
    To an extent, not having Hans come along for the return trip will be a bit of a relief.
    It had not taken her much effort to persuade Hans to go make his dramatic appearance, wolf tail in hand, crossbow and coach gun at his back and belt, just as the villagers were dealing with the hysterical girl and the mystery of the man-shaped burn spot at the mill. Hans had done very well, but then, when he wasn’t fretting himself to bits that something would go wrong, he was quite imposing and had a flair for the dramatic. He had stalked into the village as the villagers were gathering around the ominous patch of ground, announced himself as the slayer of the
vampir
that had been stalking their streets that very night, and brandished the wolf tail and unholy medal declaring he had slain the
vampir’s
consorts and servant as well.
    As luck would have it, someone recognized the medal. There was a rush for the man’s house—and lo, beneath the rug in the main room was magic circle painted on the floor, and a search of the place turned up all manner of nasty things and occult instruments.
    And when Hans declared himself prepared to remain in the forest and guard the area, the villagers fell all over each other with gratitude.
    Rosa had watched all this from a