“Why won’t you put yourself in the ground?” Emeline asked. “You need to heal.”
“I need to know why you are so afraid all the time. Even afraid of your friend,” Dragomir said, no inflection whatsoever in his voice, yet she shivered, aware, without knowing how, that if Blaze had done something to make her afraid, he had no problem removing Blaze and Maksim from existence. He’d appointed himself her champion and would follow through, even if it meant putting him at odds with all Carpathians.
She shook her head. “Blaze would never do anything to hurt me.” But she didn’t know that anymore. She couldn’t be certain.
“Emeline. I have a need, not a want, to know why you’re afraid all the time.” Again, there was no inflection, but his gaze was very focused. “There is a difference and this is no idle question.”
Somehow, it was easier because his voice was so soft, almost gentle, as if he wasn’t judging her. She sank into the chair by the window. She was exhausted. He had to be even more so. “If I tell you the truth, you’ll want me thrown out of the compound. Vadim will get to me. This is the only safe place I have.” The truth came out in a hurried rush.
“You are under my protection, woman. I do not give that lightly. I do not take it back just because circumstances are difficult.”
She believed him. He was… extraordinary. He might sound arrogant and look even more so, but he was an unusual man and he deserved the truth. He had to know who he had committed to protecting. She didn’t want to tell him. She didn’t want him to look at her with contempt. She wouldn’t blame him, but she didn’t want to see it in his eyes. In such a short time, she felt as if she knew him more than she’d ever known – or trusted – anyone. That in itself was strange. She didn’t trust many people.
“I’m Vadim’s lifemate.” She just said it. Aloud. Feeling sick, disgusted. She couldn’t look away from him, waiting for condemnation.
Dragomir stared at her for a long time. “Woman, you’re insane.” He gave her what he must have thought was a faint smile, shaking his head as if she amused him. His smile was a very indistinct curve of his lower lip.
She blinked. She’d expected all sorts of reactions, but that was not one of them. She tried a scowl. She’d never been particularly good at scowling, but then until recently, she hadn’t been great at weeping, either, and now she was a faucet that couldn’t seem to be turned off. “I just told you that I’m Vadim’s lifemate, and you’re telling me I’m insane. Do you know how difficult it was to admit that to you?”
“What do you know of lifemates?”
She wished he would do something. He stood leaning against the door, looking far too pale, and it occurred to her the healer wouldn’t have bothered arguing with him. Gary Daratrazanoff had told him he needed to go to ground, an unnecessary comment – unless the healer was directing it toward her. He expected her to convince Dragomir to go to ground. She couldn’t convince him of the truth, let alone of something that was good for him.
“Blaze told me that when a Carpathian male is born, his soul is split and the other half is put into his lifemate’s keeping. She will be born again and again if he fails to find her.”
“And knowing this you realize there can only be one lifemate. The soul fits together when the ritual binding words are spoken by the male.”
“Yes, that is my understanding.”
“So if I said the ritual binding words to you, they wouldn’t work.”
She nodded.
“Did Vadim say them to you?” He looked so invincible standing there, but she could see he was exhausted. She scooted to the end of the couch and patted it. “Please come and sit down.”
“Did Vadim say the ritual binding words to you?”
Her hand crept defensively to her throat. “He said… did… horrible things. I don’t remember any words he spoke to me. I fought him. Everything he did hurt me.” She could barely tell him that much, her voice a whisper of raw horror.
Something flickered across his face but the expression was so fleeting she couldn’t catch it. “It is impossible for Vadim to be your lifemate no matter what he said or did.”
She shook her head. “I know that he is.” She was so ashamed. Blaze and Charlotte both had wonderful men. Her lifemate was one of the worst vampires in the history of the Carpthian world. He’d done terrible things, killed countless men and women. Killed children. Fed live children to his puppets. He was the worst nightmare visited on earth in the form of a monster, and she was his other half.
“You are my lifemate, Emeline.” He proclaimed it softly, but the vow carried, resonated deep inside her.
She gasped. “No. Don’t you dare sacrifice yourself for me or think that will keep everyone from throwing me out. No. I’m going to tell Tariq. I just needed time to come to terms with having to leave the protection of this place. I’ve already put those children in jeopardy…”
He straightened from where he’d been leaning lazily against the door. One swift, almost brutal movement. Fierce anger stamped pure aggression onto his face. “Those children put you and every other person living in this compound in jeopardy. They are spoiled and lack discipline. I will have a word with Tariq about them, but that is for another time.”
“Those children are victims —”
“Vadim nearly reacquired you,” he interrupted. “If you thought your life was hell the first time, you would come to know that it wasn’t even close.”
She shuddered. “I am prepared to confess to Tariq. I don’t want anyone else to suffer because of me. Thank you for standing up for me and for the fact that you are so willing to continue, to say to others that you’re my lifemate. I appreciate that more than I can say but —”
“So you have no objection if I attempt to bind you to me with the ritual words. My soul to yours, understanding it cannot possibly work if we are not true lifemates. With the full understanding that if it did work, you would be bound to me for all eternity.”
She patted the couch again. “If you lie down right here and rest, then you can say the words to me and see for yourself that they won’t work.”
“Your hair is black. A true black. No Carpathian can see a true black once he is beyond his two hundredth year. In my case, it was even before that. He only sees color if he is in the presence of his lifemate and hears her voice.”
She was very self-conscious of her tangled hair, and he seemed a bit obsessed with her hair. “I think you’re overwrought. Please come and sit down. The healer made it clear you need to be in the ground. I know he couldn’t have possibly given you enough blood, and I can’t give it to you because my blood is… tainted.” It was Vadim’s blood mixed with a Carpathian’s, one he’d held prisoner for a long, long time. Vadim’s blood burned and his parasites spread through her body, burning and torturing her, trying to force her obedience to their master. She wasn’t about to share her blood with him.
His eyebrow shot up. “Overwrought?” He repeated the word slowly as if he’d never heard it before. “Woman, a Carpathian hunter cannot possibly get overwrought. I just want to give you every possible opportunity to say you do not want me to bind you to me. I know you are my lifemate. I am ancient, and I do not always understand your modern world or the way women act toward their men. I believe it is my duty and privilege, my honor, to make you happy, but I am not certain I am capable of it when I believe strongly that my woman follows where I lead.”
She patted the couch again. She wasn’t about to say she thought he was delirious on top of everything else. He needed blood and he was obviously exhausted. He’d appointed himself her guardian and protector, but he was stubborn as hell. His duty, privilege and honor to protect her? Even knowing she was Vadim’s lifemate? She changed tactics.
“Dragomir, please come and lie down on the couch. Just for a few minutes. If you need to slay dragons for me, you can do it later. Although I love those dragons. Ever since the children got them, I’ve secretly wanted one. I love the idea of having the freedom of soaring in the sky.” She smoothed her palm over the cushions. “Please.”
His gaze drifted over her face. His eyes were a strange amber most of the time, but right then, they were pure gold. Burning hot, molten gold framed with black eyelashes that were far too long for a man to have. He crossed the room to the sofa and took her at her word, shocking her by stretching out, his head in her lap.
Her breath caught in her throat. It was one thing to have his head resting on her thighs when he was asleep, another when he was awake. It felt… intimate.
“You are most certainly not Vadim’s lifemate, Emeline,” he said, closing his eyes as if he was so weary he couldn’t keep them open one moment longer. “You are mine.”
Her heart stuttered at his proclamation. For the first time, there was a bite in his voice, as if no one had better try to take her from him. She wanted the fantasy. This man. One who would want her when she looked like a hag from a horror film. One determined to save the lifemate of a master vampire conspiring to take over the world.
The healer had cleaned the blood from him and repaired his clothing, but even with the hours of work, Dragomir still looked as if he’d been in an epic battle. She couldn’t help but smooth back the hair falling around his face. “I wish that was true, Dragomir, but we both know it isn’t. I would know. I dream about things that happen. I would know.” She knew she couldn’t have a man like Dragomir – someone with courage and integrity. She was lost to that world. Lost to any world where there was a good man.
He angled his head and opened his eyes. Her heart jolted. Pure liquid gold blazed at her. “I do not want you to be upset when the ritual works and you are bound to me. I am giving you fair warning. I know binding you to me will work.”
“I would be honored to be your lifemate, Dragomir,” she said, being honest. “Thank you for saving the children. And me.” The last wobbled a little. He had kept her from Vadim. That was worth everything to her. Watching him fight for them, for her and the children, bending his shoulders and back to shelter the two youngest from the horrific burning threads falling from the sky had been so humbling. He was the most courageous man she’d ever known. She was a stranger to him and she knew ancients rarely associated with humans, yet he’d been the one to come for her. To save her.
His unblinking gaze searched her face as if looking for hidden traps. “Te avio päläfertiilam. You are my lifemate.” He reached up and took her hand, pressing it against his chest, right over his heart. His fingers began to move in slow caresses over her bare skin. “Éntölam kuulua, avio päläfertiilam. I claim you as my lifemate.”
Emeline felt a shiver go through her. Her body felt hot in comparison to his. That worried her. She knew he needed to be in the healing soil, and the fact that he refused to do so made her anxious beyond her comprehension. “Dragomir,” she whispered his name. Fearing for him. “Please do as the healer asked.”
“Shh… Listen to the words I say to you. First, in my language, the ancient language of my people, and then in your language so you understand the enormity of the sacred vows I am saying to you. I am tying us together. Giving you my heart and soul and body. I will take into my keeping your heart and soul and body. You will be safe with me.”
His fingers tightened around hers, his thumb still moving until she felt that caress go right through her skin straight to her heart. He had an effect on her she didn’t understand. When he spoke his language, his voice was deep, the timbre commanding, vibrating through her body as if he was striking chords in her that were already prearranged and tuned immediately to that frequency. Bonded with him. She was so susceptible. She wanted every single thing he said to be true – but she knew it was impossible.
“Ted kuuluak, kacad, kojed. I belong to you. Élidamet andam. I offer my life for you.”
Tears welled up again. The words were so beautiful. He couldn’t do that, of course, but she understood why Blaze was so enamored with Maksim. Dragomir brought her hand to his mouth, his lips moving over the center of her palm as he kept declaring his vows to her.
“Pesämet andam. I give you my protection.”
He’d already given her his protection, and he was so torn up, his body ripped to pieces, yet he refused to take care of himself, refused to go into the healing earth as he should have. She felt the words go right through her skin, his lips brushing the center of her palm, so that his vow sank into her veins. Her blood carried them straight to her heart.
“Uskolfertiilamet andam. I give you my allegiance. Sívamet andam. I give you my heart. Sielamet andam. I give you my soul.”
She couldn’t stop the tears trickling down her face. Her throat felt raw. Her lungs burned for air. What man could give a woman such a vow and mean it? She could hear absolute honesty in his voice. She wanted him for herself with every breath she took, but he deserved so much more. She was a mess. A terrible, hot mess. A man like Dragomir had no business tying himself to her, even if it was only in his mind.
“Ainamet andam. I give you my body. Sívamet kuuluak kaik että a ted. I take into my keeping the same that is yours.”
That lower lip curved again into his almost smile, and she couldn’t help it, she had to touch it with the pad of her finger. A light caress. The compulsion was so strong there was no stopping that little stroke, but his gaze jumped to hers and she fell into all that hot burning gold.
“You have a beautiful body, sívamet, and, although mine is a bit torn up right now, I assure you, I will take proper care of you. All the time.”
Her heart skipped a beat and then began to gallop. What was she thinking sitting here with this decent, honorable man? She made a move to slide out from under him, thinking to run, to keep him from knowing the worst. He thought he knew the worst, but he didn’t.
Dragomir rolled onto his side and clamped his arm around her thighs. “Stay still. Listen to me, Emeline. Every word must be said to you.”
She shook her head. “Don’t. Don’t, Dragomir. Not because I don’t want it to be true. I do. Every single part of me is saying this is the most beautiful moment of my life, but you can’t think to throw away your life. I won’t let you. There’s Genevieve…” She broke off. She’d want to kill Genevieve if the woman came near Dragomir. That knowledge shocked her. Already, just because he’d said his vows as if they truly belonged, she wanted it so badly that a part of her was believing he was hers.
“Ainaak olenszal sívambin. Your life will be cherished by me for all time. Te élidet ainaak pide minan. Your life will be placed above mine for all time. Te avio päläfertiilam. You are my lifemate.” His thumb slid down the tracks of her tears. “Did you understand me, Emeline? You are my lifemate, not Genevieve. No other woman can possibly be. There is only you for me.”
She took a deep breath and let it out. She wasn’t going to dissuade him, and he desperately needed to go to ground and heal. If she didn’t agree with him, tell him the things he thought he wanted to hear, he would stay there until the sun came up. She stroked a soothing caress over his hair. That beautiful head of salt and pepper that flowed like a waterfall to his waist. She’d never been fond of long hair on a man, but it didn’t detract from his fierce warrior persona. Neither did his long lashes or that lower lip she was beginning to fixate on.
“All right. It’s done. Now, really, you have to get into the earth and let it heal you.”
“Almost. Ainaak sívamet jutta oleny. You are bound to me for all eternity. Ainaak terád vigyázak. You are always in my care.” He turned her hand over and brushed his lips over her knuckles.
The gesture was pure intimacy, sending heat waves through her body. Her heart seemed to have found the rhythm of his. The longer she spent in Dragomir’s company, the more she fell under his spell.
“Now, will you please go to ground?” She needed him to do so. The moment he did, she intended to find Blaze and Maksim and tell them the truth. She had to save Dragomir from himself.
“Not until I remove the parasites from your blood.”
“After. Tonight. That doesn’t give you much time to heal.” She kept her voice low and soothing, because more than her next breath, she needed to take care of Dragomir. She didn’t want him out of her sight, but he had to heal properly. The healer had made that clear. And no way in hell was Vadim touching him with his disgusting parasites. She was determined to protect Dragomir. It was the least she could do after what he’d done for her. He’d made her feel human again, beautiful and worthy.
“Can you go to ground under my home, so I know you’re close?”
She had no idea why the thought of him leaving her made her feel anxious and even desperate, but she needed to make certain he was alive and well.
“I’m going to remove the parasites from your body and heal you. I took Daratrazanoff’s blood twice so I would have the strength. It was imperative that I live so I could ensure there is no trace of Vadim’s attack left on you. I will remove his parasites and any possible way he can contact you.”
She caught his long hair in her hand and leaned over him, burying her face in the thick mass. All along, when he’d been so wounded and torn, he hadn’t been thinking of himself or his pain, or even if he would live or die; he’d been thinking of her. Living for her. She could love this man. She really could. But she wasn’t surviving for herself.
Emeline straightened and forced her fingers open so his hair slid from her palm. “Go to ground, Dragomir. I have things to do now. Important things.” Like pack a bag, pull every cent she’d stashed out of her hiding place and run before the sun set on the next day. “I don’t want you to take the parasites from my blood, not until you’ve spent at least one full day in the soil. I mean it.”
“I am unused to women believing they can give orders to their men. Make no mistake, sívamet, I am your man. Your…” He frowned, propping his head up with one hand while he tried to remember the correct word. “Spouse. Husband. We are wed. Our souls are complete. I cannot go to ground when my woman is hurting, and you’re…” He broke off again, his gaze searching the room and hallway. “Who else is here?”
She stiffened and tried to slide off the couch. His arm kept her thighs locked in place, preventing her escape. “No one.” Her voice was small. Too small.
His gaze jumped to her face. Those golden eyes refused to allow her to look away. “I hear a heartbeat. Not mine. Not yours. Fast. Galloping. I thought one of the children, but it’s faster, out of rhythm.” He frowned. “Painful. As if something is squeezing the heart.”
His eyes left hers and began to drop lower. Her lips. Her chin. Her throat. Breasts. She held her breath as his speculative gaze dropped to her stomach. There was no way she could stop the involuntary gesture – she covered her womb with her hand protectively.
Dragomir sat up slowly. Stood. Flowed across the room with the grace of a lion. Turned and stalked back toward her, as if she were the prey. Terrified, she held up one hand, a pitiful defense against him as she surged to her feet with the hysterical idea of fighting her way out of the house.
“Köd alte hän.” The guttural words came out like a curse. He towered over her. Close. Their bodies almost touching. “Tell me.” It was a command, nothing less. “Sit in the chair over there.” He indicated the most comfortable seat in her home with a jerk of his chin. “You tell me everything. Everything. You do not leave a single detail out.”
She shook her head. The tears were burning behind her eyes. The endless, useless fountain she couldn’t seem to turn off. She’d lived without hope for so long, weeks of pain and torment, afraid to sleep, unable to eat, terrified someone would learn her secret and force her to leave the safety of the compound.
“Sívamet.” His voice softened to a brush of velvet, a stroke she felt over her skin. He cupped her face in his hands. His hands were big and surrounded her with his strength. “I am your lifemate. It is my duty and my privilege to see to your happiness. You must give me the details. All of them. You must tell me what you want. The truth of what you want. I cannot do what is best for us until I know these things.”
“You can’t help me. No one can help me.” She was so damn tired of feeling sorry for herself, but the last thing she wanted was to trap Dragomir into her mess. There was no way out for her. She knew because she’d had weeks to try to find one. “You’re like a beautiful white knight in the movies, riding on your horse, or in this case maybe a dragon to save the damsel in distress. Believe me, I know if anyone could do it, you could, but there isn’t a solution I can live with.”
“There are ways to remove it.” Again, his voice was gentle and there was no judgment of any kind. He wasn’t trying to persuade her one way or the other, he simply was voicing what she already knew.
“Of course, my first thought was I had to get rid of it. A child of the vilest creature on the face of the earth? There was no question. I couldn’t stand the thought of it growing inside me like some monster with claws ready to tear me apart from the inside. The pain was so excruciating. I was terrified of what it would be, what horrible thing Vadim had conjured up and put inside of me. Every bad horror movie ever made played through my mind over and over.” She was shaking so hard she could barely stand.
He moved into her and gathered her into his arms. His body was large, strong; his arms felt like security, a security she hadn’t known ever in her life. He sheltered her against his heart. She could feel it beating, strong and steady, just as he was. He felt invincible.
“You’re the most unbelievable man,” she whispered, awed by his reaction. He hadn’t yelled at her, or accused her of betraying those in the compound by bringing a child of Vadim’s into the only small part of the world safe to them. He simply ordered her to tell him everything so he could find solutions.
“Stop crying, sívamet. I am unused to dealing with a woman’s tears, and I find yours – unsettling. You aren’t alone anymore.” He walked her over to the large armchair, sank into it and pulled her onto his lap. “Talk to me, Emeline.”
His voice was perfectly pitched. That deep timbre was difficult to ignore, but so velvety it softened the command. He created an intimacy she couldn’t resist. She knew it was wrong to sit on his lap, to allow him to be embroiled further into her insanity, but she couldn’t stop herself. She had to tell someone, and for some reason she couldn’t understand, that someone – the only one she would consider – was asking her at a time when all her defenses were down.
“I made up my mind to get rid of it, but then I heard screaming. Crying. A baby in such pain. I realized she was in pain, just as I was in pain. When I didn’t obey Vadim and go to him when he demanded it, his parasites would attack. Not just me, but the baby as well. He tortured her, and she wasn’t even fully developed. Not nearly so.” She pressed her hand over her womb and lifted her head to look at him. “How can he do the terrible things he does?”
“He is incapable of feeling unless he invokes a strong enough reaction in another. Vampires get high if they kill while feeding. The blood is laced with adrenaline. They can get a rush from someone feeling terror or any strong emotion. The negative emotions are intense. If their puppet eats their prey alive, all of them get a rush. Torturing an unborn child, especially if it distresses you, would be a rush for him.”
“Even his own child?”
“He doesn’t feel. He cannot feel any attachment.”
“Then why go to such lengths to get one?”
His fingers came up to the nape of her neck in an effort to ease the tension out of her. “A tool. He has some plan in mind and children factor into it. Vadim was always incredibly intelligent. All the Malinovs were. He has embraced technology, and clearly Carpathians must do the same if we want to survive in this world. He has a master plan.”
Emeline pressed her forehead to his chest, unable to meet his eyes. “I know she’s alive, aware, and she’s innocent. She didn’t want what happened any more than I did. I have to protect her. There’s no one else. I don’t know how she can survive much longer, not with him torturing her to get to me. I know if the others find out about her, there is a very large possibility that they will want me to leave the compound, and maybe rightly so. I don’t know how much control Vadim will gain over her as she grows. I know you can’t possibly understand…”
“You are not thinking clearly, sívamet. The baby will not survive his torture. He knows that. As she grows, his tortures will worsen. Eventually, as you grow to love the child, he will use that against you. He knows you will go to him in an effort to save your daughter.”
It was true. Knowing she would end up in the hands of a master vampire, she had still gone into the underground city to save children she didn’t know. Strangers. The only thing she had in common with them was that they were street kids like she had been. She hadn’t been able to stop herself. Vadim knew her better than she knew herself. Already the baby’s piteous cries day and night, echoing through her mind, were wearing on her. She had already considered – and discarded – the idea of giving in and going to him, but as the child grew, so would the connection between them. If Vadim stepped up his torture, what other recourse would she have?
She moaned and shook her head in defeat. “I don’t know what to do. I considered ending both our lives. All those women down in the tunnels. Dead. Their unborn children dead. I didn’t want to be like that.”
“Tell me what happened.” His voice was so gentle it turned her heart over. She had never had gentle. Never. She’d been homeless. She didn’t even remember her mother and father, only relatives that treated her like a burden. Never gentle until this man.
She closed her eyes and leaned into him, tried to burrow into him, become part of all that strength. She had tried to forget. To put those minutes – not even a full hour of her life – behind a solid steel door in her mind, but she couldn’t. Those seconds and minutes were carved deep into her soul and would never fade. She hadn’t told anyone, not even Blaze. She couldn’t.
The thought of telling it, reliving it… But she had to. Dragomir deserved to know. He was sticking by her, even going so far as to believe she was his lifemate, mostly, she was certain, so others would believe it. He made her feel cherished, sitting in the chair, on his lap, his arms holding her securely, as if he could keep her safe from evil.
“Vadim had several others with him. They were so hideous. Teeth so pointy and stained with blood. They dug their nails into me, into my arms to hold me. Not like regular fingernails, but these long, thick claws like a grizzly bear.” She rubbed her arms, from her biceps to her wrists, feeling those long talons digging into her flesh, right down to the bone. The pain had been unlike anything she’d ever experienced. The wounds deep, burning, as if they’d poured acid into her veins.
“Even so, I fought him. I kept thinking if I fought, someone might come. Someone would help me.” The lump in her throat grew until she thought she might choke. “Someone would save me,” she whispered, remembering the hopeless feeling she had had when they took her to the ground. “I kicked him hard, really hard, and he just smiled at me.” Her body shuddered and she pressed her forehead to his. “I was scared. So scared.” Her confession came out in a whisper because she couldn’t speak above that mere thread of sound. She didn’t want Vadim in the room with them.
“You are safe now, sívamet. I am with you, and I am not going anywhere.” He rubbed the nape of her neck, his body rock solid, arms strong as they encircled her. “He didn’t control you with his mind?”
Another tremor shook her. “He tried. I thought he’d be furious when he couldn’t, when I continued to fight him, but he seemed pleased. Why? Why would that make him happy? He tries now and when he can’t he is extremely angry. It doesn’t make sense.”
He framed her face with his hands. “You’re strong. Psychically strong. He needed that in a host body. He hunted you because you could resist his compulsions. Now that he needs to reacquire you, it isn’t an asset for him. He wants you back and he can’t force you.”
She searched his eyes. Those strange, golden eyes – so hot they burned. She brought her hands up and tried to put her fingers around his thick wrists. She felt his pulse beat beneath the pads of her fingers. Strong. Steady. So like him. He should be dead, or at least unconscious in the ground, but he was holding her close, like she mattered to him. Giving her a feeling of safety in a world she knew wasn’t safe and never would be again.
“They held me down by pinning me to the ground with long claws, almost like ice picks only much thicker. They stretched my legs so far apart I thought they’d tear them off and then they pierced my arms and legs, driving what felt like spikes through my muscles and bone right into the ground. I was surrounded by them, so many.” The shaking was impossible to stop, and Dragomir pulled her close again, holding her against his chest, his arms a sanctuary. “I didn’t know anything could hurt like that.”
He stroked his hand down her hair, and she wished she’d brushed it, that the tangles were gone and she was beautiful for him. He deserved beautiful. It was a strange desire, when she was reliving the worst moments of her life, but the way it felt, that hand moving through her hair, made her want to look her best for him.
“Vadim knelt down, between my legs, and I thought…” She touched her tongue to her top lip, her brain trying to shut down to protect her. “He gripped my body right over my ovaries, squeezing, pressing so hard it felt as if he was trying to shove his fingers through my skin. He kept massaging and then he…” She turned her face away from him, a sob escaping. She shoved her fist into her mouth.
He immediately pressed her head into his chest, his hand on the back of her skull, fingers in her scalp, creating a soothing massage. “I would not ask you to relive this moment, Emeline, if it didn’t matter. I need to know what he did. I can take these memories from you, or ease them to make the burden lighter, but I must know. I do not ask idly.”
God. He was so amazing. So perfect. She was desperate to protect him, but she couldn’t stop the compulsion to tell him the entire vile story. It was almost as if he were taking part of the pain, the suffering, onto his shoulders and off hers. She pressed her forehead into his chest, staring down at the rows of muscles his tight shirt revealed. Concentrating on them, on the beauty of his body, she continued.
“He was kneeling between my legs and my clothes were suddenly gone. He’d removed them without touching them. I was already feeling so vulnerable, and that made it all the worse. They were all staring at me, grinning macabrely. He put his hand in me.” She stuttered over that, her heart pounding. Her mouth went dry. “It hurt. Really, really hurt. Then it felt like he was moving in me, oily and foul, moving through my body, but he was kneeling right there.”
“In the same way a healer does? Going outside his body?”
“Maybe, but the healer completely left his body. I could tell. He was pure spirit, pure energy. Vadim was still in his own body.” Somehow talking about it with Dragomir being so matter-of-fact, as if it didn’t disgust him that Vadim had touched her body so intimately, the way it disgusted her, made her feel stronger.
“He wouldn’t risk his body to other vampires. They are not a loyal lot. He couldn’t take that chance. Emeline, you’re being so courageous for me. I know this is difficult for you, but it helps me understand.”
She nodded, keeping her head tight against him. He was her courage. He gave her that when it had been long gone. “He suddenly became gleeful and he started yelling to the others that now was the moment, to hurry. He gripped my body both inside and out, and one of the vampires, one he called Sergey, brought him this enormous needle. The tube was about ten inches long and filled with a dark liquid. I knew. I knew exactly what it was. The needle was very long. He shoved it into my skin, and it burned like hell. Then he began moving it around as if searching for something. There was so much pain.”
She closed her eyes and inhaled, needing the scent of him in her lungs. He filled her with strength. “It seemed to take forever. I was so terrified. I felt sickened by what they did. I am so afraid they might have done the same thing to Amelia. She’s just a little girl. Fourteen or fifteen. She doesn’t really talk about it and I’ve tried to get her to open up. I know something terrible happened.”
“We need to concentrate on what he did to you. We will help the girl once we know how. What did Vadim do next?”
“I was bleeding everywhere. They… he… they licked at the blood on my body and between my legs. It was horrible. Foul. Then Vadim sank his teeth into my neck.” She brought her hand up and touched the scars there. “He took so much I was dizzy and hoped he would kill me. I knew he wouldn’t, but I thought he might accidentally go too far. He was acting so crazy, like it was the best blood in the world —” She broke off abruptly.
“And then?”
She shook her head. She’d told him the worst. The absolute worst. “He forced me to take his blood. He said it was laced with ancient Carpathian blood to make the child survive. I could feel the parasites wiggling inside me. From that moment to this, I can’t sleep or eat, and I hurt with every breath I take.”
“It makes no sense that he didn’t give you a male child. I would think that for his ego, he would have done such a thing.”
She was silent a moment and then she sat up and looked him in the eye. “He thought he did. He isn’t the only one able to manipulate the human body.”
“You changed the sex of the baby?”
Emeline nodded slowly. “Yes, I changed the sex by fertilizing the egg with female chromosomes. He had no way of knowing. I dreamt so many times of what would happen to all of us down in those tunnels. I knew Vadim would rape and impregnate me. He wanted a male child; it was always there in his mind when I dreamt of him.”
“Are you telling me that when he had a long painful needle in you and you were surrounded by vampires, nailed to the dirt naked, you had the presence of mind to make certain the baby was female?”
There was both awe and respect in his voice. She shrugged. “ I didn’t know I would be rescued, but I thought maybe if I was able to get out of there with her, she wouldn’t be like him.”
“Woman, you are amazing.”
The admiration in his voice shocked her. She expected condemnation, not praise. Once again, stupid tears burned behind her eyes. She let him hold her, her ear against his heart so she could hear that steady, reliable rhythm.
“I will need the healer to help me, but we must get rid of the parasites. Vadim will be unable to harm you or the child. As for the child, we must get rid of Vadim’s blood. That is what is torturing her. I will need to examine her, Emeline. I will not tell you a lie. If she is evil, I will destroy her. If she is not, she will live and be our child.”