Brothers to the Death (The Saga of Larten Crepsley) Read Online Free Page A

the world. He doubted that Franz would smile so much then!
    Mika clasped Larten’s shoulder and squeezed. “Stay alert,” he warned. “These men are dangerous. They might try to trap you if they suspect that they’re being led astray. If that happens and they block all avenues of escape, you’ll better serve the clan dead than alive. Understand?”
    “We will do whatever we have to,” Larten said steadily.
    “I trust you completely,” Mika said, “but Gavner is young. Maybe I should send Arra with you instead.”
    “No!” Larten yelped. When Mika looked at himstrangely, Larten forced a weak chuckle. “I have faith in Gavner Purl. This will be a good test for him. If I think that he is struggling, I will send him back to Vampire Mountain. But I believe he will prove himself.”
    “Very well,” Mika said, covering his face with his right hand, placing the tip of his middle finger to his forehead and spreading the adjoining fingers. “Even in death may you be triumphant.”
    Mika departed. Arra followed but paused at the door and glanced back with a veiled smile. “This isn’t over,” she purred. “We’ll discuss our relationship in more depth later.”
    Before Larten could protest, she slipped out, leaving him alone in the large, ornate suite to marvel at the fact that he was more worried by Arra than he was by the army of Nazis that would soon be hot on his and Gavner’s trail.

Chapter
Four
    Larten was ready to strangle Gavner. He had endured more than three months of his assistant’s snoring and it was driving him mad. He’d tried herbal medicines, pegs on Gavner’s nose, even a gag, but nothing worked. He rarely got more than a couple of hours’ sleep most days. He was tired and irritated, and he blamed it all on Gavner Purl.
    “What’s wrong with you?” Gavner yawned, sitting up and stretching. They had spent another day in a coffin in a crypt. Gavner had enjoyed a perfect day’s sleep, but Larten had been up for the past hour and looked as sour as a pinched baby.
    “Three guesses,” Larten snapped, shooting Gavner a dark look.
    Gavner laughed. “Don’t tell me I was snoring again.”
    “I think you do it just to annoy me,” Larten growled.
    “You should move to another coffin if it’s that bad.”
    Larten’s expression darkened and he muttered foul curses beneath his breath. It had been his idea to share a coffin. They holed up in graveyards most days, although sometimes they slept in barns or old ruins. They could easily have slept apart, but Larten thought it would be safer if they stayed together. He worried that the Nazis might divide and capture one of them otherwise.
    The Germans had been pursuing them for the past three months, ever since Franz realized Mika wasn’t returning. Negotiations had broken down and the officer was replaced by one who never smiled and who demanded Larten agree to his terms immediately—or else. Sensing that he had pushed them as far as he could, Larten stole away that night, and he and Gavner had been on the run since.
    Larten was enjoying the game of cat and mouse. He and Gavner kept one step ahead of the Nazis, moving swiftly every night, but never so fast that theycouldn’t be tracked. The Nazis had almost trapped them a few times, surrounded graveyards where they were sleeping and moved in for the kill. If Larten had been human, he and Gavner would have been caught, but his sharp sense of hearing had alerted him to the threat each time and they’d managed to break free.
    On one occasion the Nazis outsmarted them and sent their forces ahead of the vampires to stake out a number of graveyards in advance. That had almost been the end—they’d faced a desperate dash at dawn to find somewhere safe to rest, ending up beneath the roots of an ancient tree. Ants and other insects had made it a long, uncomfortable day. Since then Larten had varied their route, following no set pattern, deciding each day at dusk which direction to take.
    Larten