Sandu leapt out of the way of the whip of lightning. More crashed through the crack, swinging around in the air like sizzling snakes seeking a target. Gary threw his body over Emeline’s, taking her to the ground, while the ancients scattered in every direction. Each took a corner, ducking as the lashes bit into the ground, slamming all around Dragomir.
In the midst of the chaos, the parasites had to be watched so that none slipped into the ground. They all knew that the high mage, Xavier, determined to drive the Carpathian people into extinction, had developed microbes to infect the soil and cause miscarriages in the women. They couldn’t risk that taint spreading here.
Emeline’s cries nearly drove Dragomir mad. Every instinct he had – Carpathian, ancient and lifemate – pressed him to get to her at any cost. To protect her, ease her transition into her new life and protect their child. As he turned toward her, lightning whips lashed all around him, striking the ground, shaking the entire house and healing grounds as they sought him.
Emeline needed his blood. He felt the first pain blossoming in her body, a blowtorch taken to her insides – the start of the conversion. She needed him desperately. They had given her so much Carpathian blood, the transformation was imminent.
Sandu, I must get to Emeline. The lightning strikes are directed at me. You must seize control from Vadim and his spy.
As he sprinted back toward her, Sandu wrested control of one of the wildly flailing whips to incinerate the parasites. Several of the wriggling creatures leapt off the cement wall in an effort to gain the safety of the soil, but Sandu had the presence of mind to dive beneath them so they landed on his body rather than in the earth. The parasites tried to burrow into him, desperate to live, to carry out their master’s commands. Sandu kept moving, driving his heels into the dirt and launching himself to the cement barrier. He swept the parasites off his chest and lashed the whip right across them, incinerating them.
Lightning cracked across the healing grounds, running along the ceiling above them, springing out from a main fork to strike at the chanting Carpathians above the grounds. The bright light illuminated the dark, rich soil, so that one could see the minerals sparkling throughout. The whips were nearly blinding, so bright, forcing the Carpathians to cover or close their eyes against the white-hot energy. The moment they did, the whips danced, slapping at the grounds, the upper balcony and all around Dragomir.
Dragomir, using the preternatural speed of his kind, rolled beneath the lightning whips and then dove over them in somersaults that had him back on his feet running. No one could take to the air in molecules; the electrical energy was too strong. Hair stood up all over his body as the whips continued to strike. The ground should have been the deadliest place to be as the arc current spread out in a circle from each strike – and there were dozens of them – but instead, the ground itself was protected.
When he was nearly to his goal, the whips went into a frenzy, slamming all around him, making it very clear that he was the target. He hesitated for a moment, continuing to time the strikes, dodging them, testing as he inched closer to Emeline. Sparks rose over and over from the healing grounds as lightning struck, but it couldn’t arc through it, spreading out to do more destruction, because powerful safeguards protected the healing earth.
As he neared her, the strikes lessened and came at him from behind or sideways. Not one hit near where she lay, the healer’s body stretched over hers, his hands plunged into the soil, aiding the safeguards. Andor and Ferro were on either side of her, their bodies, and the safeguards woven with Gary, protecting her from harm.
They couldn’t protect her from the conversion. The three men tried to lessen it for her, hoping to keep the baby from letting go, but Emeline needed Dragomir – her lifemate. That bond had forever sealed them together. A woman could go through the conversion without her lifemate, but he knew it would be much more difficult for her.
He knew the exact moment Tariq and the healer made the decision to strike back at Vadim. He knew it was the combination of the two; no Carpathian could fail to recognize the decisive Daratrazanoff touch. Even as he shielded Emeline, Gary wove his power with Tariq’s and the two struck at the wielder of the lightning. As they did so, Sandu took back complete control of the whips of lightning. It was a three-pronged attack, the two ancients’ strike concentrated, and unexpected, not one hint of their communication with each other spilling out. That told Dragomir that Tariq and Gary had a past connection he knew nothing of.
The moment Sandu had the lightning back under his control, Dragomir was on the ground beside Emeline, dragging her into his arms almost before the other ancients could relinquish their guardianship positions. “I’m here,” he said, stroking back her hair. “Look only at me, Emeline. I will not leave you or the child.” He caught her chin and forced her head around, away from the display of power and into his eyes. “Look only at me, sívamet.”
She reached out to trace the road map of scars on his rugged face. She had first thought him striking but too rugged to be considered handsome. Now, she looked at him and found him gorgeous, the best-looking man she’d ever met. More, he was just plain the best of the best of men. She let herself fall into that hot, liquid golden pool of his gaze. It should have burned, but instead she felt cleansed. She had been tainted by evil for so long she hadn’t thought she could ever feel this way again.
She stroked his face, traced one of the many scars, her touch loving, but she couldn’t help it. He’d given her back more than just her life. He’d given her courage. He’d given her hope. Somehow, despite her looking her absolute worst, despite evil permeating her body, Dragomir still had seen her – the person under all of that.
“I am falling in love with you so fast,” she murmured. “I don’t want to do that to you, and there aren’t any strings, but just know it’s there. It’s so deep inside me now, so much love for you.” She ignored the fiery pain bursting through her body. She could do that because she was melting into all that glittering gold. Because his arms were around her and his chest pressed tight against her body. Because he was Dragomir and always standing for her. She had to give him the truth. “I’ve never felt like this before, given my heart to someone. So much love, so many threads binding us together, it’s terrifying and beautiful at the same time.”
It was a confession, one of love growing deeper by the moment. She truly didn’t want him to feel obligated to love her back, but she was so tied to him now, she wasn’t altogether certain how she would survive his leaving her.
“I want the strings,” Dragomir murmured, reaching down to trace a line along the heavy muscle of his chest. “As many as possible. You are the only one, sívamet. Your heart is safe with me. Feed now. My blood is clean. I am an ancient and strong. This will get you and our baby through the conversion safely.” He paid no attention to the chaos that had been going on just moments earlier. She was his entire focus. He was in her mind and could feel the beginnings of the change in both her and the baby.
He cradled the back of her head in his palm and pressed her forward until her mouth was against his chest, even as he distanced her from what she was doing. She was still aware, but he took all human abhorrence from her so she only saw the beauty. Only tasted the essence that was Dragomir. His blood ultimately was hers. His body was hers. Everything he was belonged to her.
He felt the first tentative touch of her tongue. His body reacted unexpectedly, a strong, hard jerk as if waking from a long sleep. He’d had that reaction before, but this was even stronger, more urgent. The first caress of her tongue sent a burst of pleasure rushing through him. Her declaration of love sank into his bones, wrapped around his heart and pierced his soul like an arrow, settling there for all time.
He wrapped his arms around her tightly, holding her to him, throwing his head back as she drew more and more of the ancient blood from him. He felt the rush in her as the blood hit her system, as it flooded her organs and moved through the placenta to the baby. Even as his blood gave her strength, it swept through both mother and child, fueling already saturated organs to speed up the change.
You know me now, he said to the child. Please accept this offering of my blood to make you strong. I offer it with my protection and this promise – to cherish you, to love you, to always protect you. Be strong for us, for your mother and me. Once the conversion is complete, you will both, mother and daughter, be wholly in our world. You will always be my daughter, close to my heart. Be strong, little one. Stay very strong and know I am with you. The healer will be with you. Listen to the song our people sing to you. It is for you, all of them helping you to hold on. All of our people waiting to meet you when you come to us whole and healthy.
In response, he felt a faint flutter in his mind, as if the baby had reached out for him, trying to connect back. At the same time, just as he could feel Emeline’s pain, now he could feel the child’s. Healer. The baby.
Gary immediately shed his body and entered Emeline’s to help ease the baby’s transition into their world. Dragomir had lost count of the times Gary had given blood or shed his body to fight for the child against Vadim’s attacks. The man had to be immensely strong to continue, but Dragomir believed in him now. The healer was a Daratrazanoff through and through, willing to pay the ultimate price if necessary to save the child. Dragomir would always be indebted to him.
The chanting around them continued. Half the Carpathians sang the lullaby and the other the healing song, all in the language of the ancients. The Carpathian hunters had regrouped and were now surrounding Emeline and Dragomir, shouldering the pain as much as each of them could to help ease the mother and child into their world.
Dragomir monitored them closely. He knew the moment he had to stop Emeline from taking more blood. He would never forget that soul-destroying second in time when she transitioned from feeling him, his love, his caring, building that addiction to his taste, the pleasure great enough to drown out the alarming and painful changes in her body, to pure pain. Nothing but pain.
Emeline tried to pull out of his mind to spare him. In agony from the twisting, dying organs, she still attempted to put him first – to spare him the pain of what she was going through. She hadn’t told anyone about the agony of Vadim’s parasites eating at her day and night, and he realized her reasons hadn’t just been to protect herself from the possibility of being thrown out of Tariq’s compound, it was about keeping the others from being harmed by the master vampire. She didn’t dare have any of them attempt to cleanse her, give her blood and especially not take hers. He refused to give up his connection with her.
Please. You’ve done enough for me.
This is for all of us. You. Me. The baby. We’re in this together, Emeline. All three of us. What you feel, so must I. What our child feels, so must I.
Her breath caught in her lungs and then came out in a sob. Her body twisted in his arms and he laid her down in the soil, shielding the sight of her from the Carpathians, not because he was modest, but because he knew she was. He stripped her clothes from her with a single thought. Her body temperature was rising and the barrier of her clothes to the cool air was a terrible burden.
That only serves to make me love you more, Dragomir. She whispered the declaration into his mind. She gave him the reassurance of their intimate connection when she should have been conserving her energy for the next swelling wave of agony. Thank you for accepting my daughter. I want us to give her a name now.
The wave hit and her body convulsed. He felt the healer easing the baby through it and wished he were the one. The moment he had the thought, both mother and daughter reached for him, connecting mentally, as if he was the one easing their way. He breathed with them. Sent them strength. Held them close, sheltering them as best he could. He was grateful for the Carpathian people surrounding them, just as determined as he was that the baby wouldn’t die.
He stroked caresses over Emeline’s forehead, his fingers twining in the thick mass of midnight black hair. He loved every strand. She was beautiful to him, more beautiful than he’d ever conceived. He realized she’d made an effort, showering and washing her hair when she’d been too weak, almost, to stand. She’d done that for him even knowing what was in store for her. Blaze had told her just how difficult the conversion was on human women. She had known what she was facing.
The wave subsided and Emeline opened her eyes, her long lashes framing all that true violet. No one really had violet eyes, but she did. His woman. He brushed a kiss on her forehead. “I’m so proud of you.”
Blaze told me to relax and embrace the change. That breathing and relaxing would make it easier. I mostly worry for you and the baby. Do you have any names you think are beautiful? I couldn’t make myself name her when I thought he would win.
Staring into those violet eyes, he could only think of one name. “Carisma means gift. You have given me the greatest gift a woman can give her man. We can call her Carisma when she is being our sweet girl. No doubt she’ll have your fire.”
I don’t have fire. I just go my own way.
We go together, sweet Emeline. He didn’t tell her that when she kissed him, he felt her fire. It was deep and passionate. She definitely ignited for him, and more, she made him ignite.
He could feel the swelling pain building before it was there in her eyes and in the lines of strain around her face. This time she pulled her knees to her chest and turned away from him, vomiting repeatedly to expel the human toxins. He swept the toxins away as fast as possible, keeping the air around her clean and fresh.
When the long wave subsided, she didn’t turn back to him. He felt her humiliation. He didn’t understand it. Expelling toxins was part of the process, but the fact was she was uncomfortable, and he needed to ease that for her.
“No one can see you but me,” he assured her. “The healer has all he can do with keeping our daughter safe. For us, this is part of bringing you into our world, and we celebrate each step toward your entry.”
She touched the tip of her tongue to her upper lip as she turned her head to look at him. Thank you. This is difficult, but I am happy I’m moving us closer to you. She took a breath and tried a tentative smile. Carisma. I like the sound of that. Calling her a gift sounds beautiful. I think of her as a gift, something innocent and beautiful created in a moment of evil. I want the world for her, Dragomir. I want a home and happiness. Love filling it. I want her to have one of those stone dragons Tomas, Lojos and Mataias made for the other children. I would love for us all to soar through the sky together and point out stars. Her childhood and life are going to be so different than mine ever were.
“She will be well loved, sívamet,” he assured, and once more reached out to the child. Lańa – daughter – are you holding strong for your mother and me? The healer is cradling you in his arms, easing your way into our world. I hold both of you, mother and child. Do you feel me with you? Do you feel her? We surround you with such love. Hold strong for us.
Again, he felt that small flutter in his mind and knew it was his daughter. He tasted the word – lańa. Daughter. He had never had much of a family and the memory of the one he’d been born into was dim. Now he had a lifemate and daughter. We wish to call you Carisma. Your mother and I consider you a gift, a precious treasure we are honored to love. Carisma means gift. Does this name suit you?
That little flutter came again. An awareness. The child was reaching out as best she could and he took that as a yes. He had the impression of fear, pain, courage – a little fighter, then. She was stealing his heart, that little presence struggling for her life. He would always be indebted to the healer. Always. For eternity. He knew Gary’s lifemate couldn’t possibly be old enough yet for him to find as he’d only been recently born again as a Carpathian, but if he could aid the healer in holding on over the next few years, he would do so.
The waves were starting again, and this time the pain was even stronger. The chanting and song also swelled in volume, and more Carpathians joined the ancients in shouldering the agony of conversion. He felt the women in the mix, working to aid Emeline and the baby, to keep them safe and as far from the pain as possible. No one could stop the convulsions, or the body’s purge, but the combined strength and power of the Carpathian people distanced both mother and child from the agony, allowing them to get through that violent wave.
Dragomir gathered Emeline to him, opening the earth in the richest spot he could find. He would place her in it the moment he could safely command her and Carisma to sleep the healing sleep of their people. Until then he needed to hold her – not for her, but for him. He nuzzled the top of her head, the shadow along his jaw catching in her thick hair. He loved those silken strands, every single one of them, and she had a lot of hair. It was the color that had caught his eye, all that midnight black.
“You’re almost there, sívamet. We’re so close.”
“What happened? All the lightning. It was terrifying. I couldn’t see much because Gary threw me to the ground and covered my body with his. Beneath me, I felt the ground sizzling, almost like it was fighting back, but I knew it was him – Vadim. I knew he was attacking you. He kept saying he was going to kill you and the baby.”
The little catch in her voice, almost a sob, made his heart clench so hard it hurt. That catch was there for him. He couldn’t remember a time when someone worried about him enough to cry. He brushed at the tears on her lashes, wanting to kiss her. Wanting to tell her the things welling up in his heart.
“The baby is safe. I’m safe. He can’t talk to you anymore.”
“He took my blood.” She sounded ashamed, as if somehow, she could have prevented it.
“He did. But your blood isn’t the same, Emeline. We used me as a filter and removed every drop of your blood. It was replaced with the blood of the ancients. He can try to talk to you, but your blood will resist his invasion. When we replaced your blood, we replaced Carisma’s blood as well. He cannot harm either of you.”
“He’ll be so angry,” she whispered. Her lashes fluttered and then went down, covering the welling pain in her eyes.
He took a deep breath as if he could breathe air into her lungs as the next wave arrived. He shared her mind. He felt the fire blazing through her organs, an endless, agonizing flame. She didn’t make a sound. He was aware of Gary, taking that heat, deflecting it from the baby. Both ancients held fast, trying to shield mother and daughter as the conversion raged through them.
Dragomir knew he’d never given much thought to love. He’d thought about his lifemate often. He’d been obsessed with finding her for centuries, but he’d never considered what he would feel when he found her. Not love. Not this overwhelming, terrifying feeling that shook him to his core. He hadn’t known love could be felt through one’s entire body. That it could manifest itself physically.
Emeline’s body twisted, convulsed, her temperature raged, an alarming heat radiating from her body.
Gary. She’s like a furnace. Is the baby burning up? Dragomir was alarmed at the heat burning through Emeline. I am doing my best. Her temperature must come down soon. She must die and be reborn, but this heat has to affect the baby. What happens to her when Emeline succumbs?
She is either strong enough to hang on through those vital minutes, or we will lose her.
He detested the detached way the healer gave him the facts. He knew the process, what it entailed, but he had been looking for reassurance, hoping Gary could perform a miracle and make certain his daughter came back when Emeline’s body surrendered to the conversion. She was rolling with it, breathing through it, not fighting, but she wasn’t surrendering. That knowledge hit him hard. His woman wasn’t just giving in to the inevitable. He waited, breathing away her distress, his. He matched her laboring lungs, her struggling heartbeat, and waited for her to recognize it.
It didn’t take long. The moment the wave subsided, her lashes lifted and she rubbed her palm along his thigh. What are you doing?
She kept choosing the more intimate telepathic method of speaking instead of the human one. She interspersed it with speaking aloud, but it was rare in their communication here, in the Carpathian healing grounds.
“What do you mean?” He waved his hand to bring in a cool breeze, mindful of the cracks running around the structure, woven in to allow the night to spill onto the healing grounds. He kept his heart and lungs completely tuned to hers, and slowly, painfully slowly, he began to take over for both, giving her more air in little increments so she didn’t notice. His heart slowed just a bit, just enough to keep hers from racing.
Why are you wheezing? Why is your heart so fast?
“Because you are wheezing. Your heart is beating too fast.” Her lashes fluttered, drawing his attention. He brushed a kiss on her forehead because he couldn’t stop himself. “Why are you prolonging your agony? Give in, Emeline.” His voice was demanding. If she didn’t of her own free will, he would have to take over and he didn’t want to do that, but she was leaving him no other choice.
The baby.
“She needs her strength. The longer this goes on, the less she will have. The less you will have. You’ll be drained and so will she.”
I don’t want to lose her.
“The healer is with her. I’m with you and can feel her. Trust me again. You’ve given yourself to me. Trust me with our child.”
The tip of her tongue touched her bottom lip in an effort to moisten it. He took care of the dryness immediately, annoyed he hadn’t thought to do it earlier. When the convulsions had started, he had waved his hand to tidy her braid, keeping most of the long length away from her body, knowing the heavy weight would hurt her skin, but he hadn’t considered that her raised temperature and the ridding her body of toxins would dehydrate her.
Her lips curved into a sweet smile that shook him. You can’t think of everything. You were a little busy. And you didn’t tell me what was going on when Gary threw me to the ground.
“Vadim took control of the lightning we used to incinerate the parasites. He must have a spy here, a traitor inside the compound working with him. There is no other explanation. That’s how the safeguards were lifted.”
She frowned. I thought Liv did that so the children could fly their dragons.
It was a sad state of affairs that he found her frown adorable. He rubbed his finger lightly over it as if he could erase it when he didn’t really want to. He wanted to commit it to memory so when he pulled up images of her in his mind, it was there.
“I felt the thread of evil twisting beneath the ground. The safeguards had been in place beneath the ground, yet evil tainted the soil. Liv couldn’t have done that. It had Vadim’s touch to it. I can recognize the signature of the master vampires, the ones I’ve chased or encountered throughout the centuries. That had Vadim’s mark all over it.”
She turned her face up toward his with an obvious effort. Her eyes, a deep violet that reminded him of twin amethyst gems, looked up at him with a clear reprimand. You don’t believe Liv is tainted?
“She is Carpathian. She opened up the compound and allowed the vampires access, but there was another working behind the scenes to make it all happen. Liv needs to be punished, to be shown just how bad the situation could have been. Any death would have been directly on her shoulders. Every injury. If Vadim had reacquired you… ” He broke off, feeling that – the near miss. He could have lost her. “That girl has a lot to answer for.”
She’s only a child.
“She’s Carpathian, Emeline. There are consequences for every mistake one makes in our world. Let go for me. Do it now, with this wave. I feel it coming and I want you to give yourself to me. To our life.”
The baby…
He tightened his hold on her, afraid if she waited too long neither would be strong enough to make it into their world. “She will be fine. Sívamet, you need to trust in your strength and your love for her. She’s a fighter. Give her the chance to live. Let go for me.”
The next wave hit her before she could answer him. She caught her breath, looked up at him and deliberately followed the rhythm of his lungs. He took her hand and put it over his heart, holding her palm tight against his bare chest. She pulled her knees to her chest, but kept her hand over his heart, her eyes staring straight into his.
He saw trust. Complete trust. It was a gift, a precious one, and it humbled him. I’ve got you, Emeline. I will always be with you.
He was in her mind and saw that first acceptance of their true bond. She was tentative, reaching to touch his mind. She could, he was open to her. She was his lifemate and he refused to hide his past from her. Not even now, when she was making that connection. She was aware of Carpathians and what they were. Predators. Every single one of them. She would be one as well. Her touch might be tentative, but it was intimate, even in the face of her physical distress. His body stirred, an inappropriate reaction when she was suffering.
Never inappropriate, she whispered into his mind.
He fell hard. Fast. So deep he was out of breath. Every beat of his heart was for her. She was – extraordinary. All those weeks she had suffered Vadim’s attacks, his parasites hurting her, over and over in an attempt to force her into compliance with the master vampire’s wishes. She’d held out. She’d kept her baby alive even when Vadim turned his attacks to it. Now, when her insides were dying and being reborn, when she was suffering because of him…
Silly man. Not because of you. This is my choice. Keeping the baby was my choice. Defying Vadim was my choice. You are my choice.
Her body writhed, twisted, was lifted up, jerking, as he held her to him to keep her from slamming down. That didn’t matter to her. Her mind was peaceful. Serene. She’d chosen, and her choice was him. Dragomir Kozel with his road map of scars on his face and the tattoos carved, rather than inked into his skin. His vow – to her.
Tell me. I need to feel your touch.
There was a catch in her voice. One that told him she was hurting beyond measure, even with all of them helping to bear her burden.
Not beyond measure. Talk to me. Tell me what those symbols and letters mean. It helps to distract me, and I really want to know.
He rocked her, more to soothe himself than her. Stroking back her damp hair with long caresses of his fingers, he told her using the more intimate form of communication because his explanation belonged only to her.
A few of us believed it was cowardice to suicide. We were at the end, monsters growing worse by the hour, and we wanted – no, needed to keep our honor. We wanted to wait for our lifemates, to hold true to our course. The trouble was…
The twisting fire in her body slowly eased and her long lashes lifted. She reached up to touch his face, drawing in air for both herself and the baby. The trouble was… she encouraged.
He was a big man. Tall, like most Carpathians, but with heavier bones and muscles. She wasn’t petite by any means, although thin from her ordeal, but she seemed very small held up against his heavier muscles. His protective instincts were working overtime as he gathered her back to him. “Only once more, sívamet, and I can send you into our healing sleep. You and Carisma did well.”
Tell me.
He sighed. He’d hoped to distract her, but she refused to let it go. His woman had a mind of her own, and she would get her way with him. Easily. That didn’t bode well for him, but he understood why it had been ridiculous for him to think his time was over – that he couldn’t live with a woman from this century. As her lifemate, he would do whatever it took to make her happy.
He felt her stir in his mind, soft feminine amusement. “Within reason, woman. You are my heart and soul and I protect my own. You will not always agree with the way I choose to do that, but as my lifemate, you will do your best to see to my happiness.”
This lifemate business is a two-edged sword. Now tell me. Already I feel the next wave building and it is the worst yet. I need to hear your voice. In my head. Talk to me so I can concentrate on how mesmerizing you sound. You provide me with all sorts of fantasies I can hang on to when things get really rough between us.
“Things? What things? I intend to provide you with a life without rough.”
She smiled up at him, but the building wave reached higher and higher, crashing through her internal organs. He felt Gary’s white-hot spirit, a ball of pure energy, shudder and dim with the assault as he surrounded the baby and took on the growing wave of pure fire racing through their bodies. Dragomir was in Emeline’s mind and he felt the pain the way she did. The Carpathian healing chant swelled in volume. The women’s voices sang the lullaby, trying to give the baby strength to hold on through the last transformation. All of them connected to share the pain, easing it enough that hopefully mother and daughter would get through it.
Be strong, Carisma, for your mother. She fought for you. Fight for her. Fight for us. You are not alone. You have all of us waiting for you. Prepared to love and defend you. He didn’t know the slightest thing about babies, and all he knew of children was that parents spoiled them and didn’t teach them the things that would keep them safe.
The softest touch in his mind held a trace of that feminine amusement he knew was his woman laughing at him.
Tell me. Those scars.
On my face or body?
The ones you call a tattoo.
Dragomir sighed. He couldn’t deny her anything, let alone a simple explanation that wasn’t really so simple. “I cannot tell you what it was like to live centuries in the darkness. Not even darkness.” He ran his fingers over her hair, those silken midnight black strands he loved. “Gray. A gray void. No feelings, none, Emeline. Just the battle and the kills. Men who had been my friends. Watching everyone that had been in my childhood turning from lack of one thing – finding a lifemate.”
The wave was almost at its peak. He tightened his hold on her, bringing her front to his, so that her breasts pressed into his chest. He cradled the back of her head in the palm of his hand, feeling every ragged, labored breath she took. Every wheeze. The inevitable struggle for life. “At first there is the whisper of temptation. Soft at first, then as time passes, that whisper becomes the only thing one hears. Kill. Terrorize. You will feel the rush. You will feel.”
To his shock and dismay, Emeline’s mind stroked caresses in his. Soothing. Comforting. In the midst of the pain, she still thought of him first. There was a persistent burning behind his eyes – one he’d never felt before.
Keep talking. Hurry. I need your voice. It keeps me centered. Grounded. I can do this if I have your voice.
I thought that whisper was the worst of what could happen and I learned to live with it, to ignore it. Time passed. So much time. And then even that was gone. There was no whisper of temptation, only time moving and no letup in sight. I was growing weary, and that is a dangerous time for a Carpathian hunter. Every battle, every kill, takes its toll. So, those like me got together, and we found our place in the monastery. Alive but not. Dead but walking. We found a gatekeeper, one close to his time like us, but unwilling to meet the dawn. His job was to keep us from killing anyone. His job was to feed us.
He fed all of you? What a good man.
No one had ever called any of them a “good man.” Most ran from them, and with good reason. Every one of the monks was dangerous to mankind.
Those nights were difficult. To get through them, we practiced fighting, pairing off most of the hours to engage in hand-to-hand or weapons training. Sometimes one of us had to take on the rest of the brotherhood.
One man against so many. Her breath hitched and she exhaled a long wheezing rush of sound like a ragged whisper.
He loved her beyond all imagining. She made him feel such a wealth of emotions, all centered around her. The ink embedded into my skin was carved deeply by my brothers in the monastery. We took vows, and were a brotherhood, but those vows weren’t said to a higher deity, but to the ones holding our souls. The ones keeping us safe. Ones like you, Emeline. Those vows were made to our lifemates, not anyone else.
He’d meant every word of those vows he’d taken to become what he was – a part of that brotherhood. The first line is Olen wäkeva kuntankért. That translates in your language as staying strong for our people. The second line is Olen wäkeva pita belső kulymet. That means, staying strong to keep the demon inside. We all know we have that demon. It is powerful and at any time could consume us or those around us. The third line is Olen wäkeva – félért ku vigyázak. That is our most important line and the one we repeat when the demons are too close. It means staying strong for her. The last line is very simple but it says it all. Hängemért.
He knew his voice had changed. He knew that last word was said with reverence. It always was. Hängemért means only her. It is simple, but it is everything. You are everything to me. You always have been. I lived a life of honor for me, but also for you. There is only you. None came before you and none will ever come after you. There is only you.
The terrible wave was receding and her breathing changed, became less labored. She needed respite. She needed the healing soil. He checked her, every part of her, and then checked their daughter. Gary had kept her shielded enough that as her little organs changed, she had hung on through the terrible, painful transformation.
Dragomir pushed back strands of damp hair from her face. She was sweating blood. There were dots of it on her forehead and smears on her body. He opened the earth right next to them, making it deep. Seeing the shimmer of rich minerals made his heart a little lighter.
This is the scary part. Buried alive.
Her voice tried to make light of it, but he felt the undertone of horror. You will sleep and the baby will sleep. When you wake, you will be out from under the soil. On your rising we will practice opening and closing the soil until I know you are always safe and feel confident in your abilities.
He brushed a kiss across her mouth. He, as always throughout her ordeal, had swept away the dots of blood on her forehead and the smears on her body. All toxins were gone and the air was sweet-smelling and fresh. Still, she turned her head away.
I am not clean.
You are very clean. I will put you under before the next wave starts. I’ll sleep beside you this night. He waited for her consent. It was a long time coming.
Her gaze clung to his and then finally she nodded. He reached out immediately to the healer. It is time.
I agree. The child is ready.
Dragomir touched his daughter lightly, just to make certain. She was sleepy. Weary. She needed the ordeal over. Gary was back in his body, slumping to the ground. Immediately Tomas offered him his wrist and the healer gratefully took it.
Dragomir kissed Emeline again and sent mother and daughter to sleep. They went under without a fight. He floated into the deep hole with Emeline in his arms. He was gentle as he placed her carefully in the soil before rising again. One wave closed the blanket of rich dirt over her. He turned as Sandu offered him his wrist. His gaze found Tariq’s.
“We need to find the traitor aiding Vadim. We need to do that now, before they have another chance to strike at us.”