"Hang on, Charlotte," Tariq said softly, wrapping his arms around her and lifting her easily to cradle her against his chest.
She had no option but to put her arms around his neck and hold on. She looked around for a car. Any kind of vehicle. They weren't anywhere near the parking lot. Genevieve and Lourdes had gone to bed, as had Danny and his sisters. Emeline's lamp was still on, but other than that one faint beacon of light, the night was very dark on the side of the property away from the lake. She tightened her fingers convulsively when the ground began to drop away, grateful she'd had playtime with Lourdes again before deciding to go with the men to the tunnels. The idea had seemed sound then; now she wasn't so certain, but soaring across a sky was maybe worth it after all.
"Tariq." She breathed his name, wanting to hide her eyes, but unable to do so, not when she could stare at the house and lake from above. He didn't hesitate or falter. Neither did the other men, still grouped in a tight circle around her.
"It's easier and faster to get from one place to the other this way," he explained.
That so wasn't an explanation. But flying through the air was totally kick-ass. She opened her mouth to speak and the wind whipped every word away from her. She chose to use their more intimate path. Will I be able to do this by myself?
Male amusement. At last. Something about my world that pleases you.
You please me. Flying really pleased her. Flying was possibly the coolest thing in the world, once you got over the shock that someone could actually fly. She would be doing a lot of flying in the future.
Tell me why Dragomir thought it was too dangerous for me to go with you. Because, honestly, if a man like that was worried, maybe she should be as well.
Tariq was silent for so long she didn't think he'd answer her. She watched the houses and lights below her and then finally looked up at his face. Every single time she did that--looked fully at him--he took her breath away. Not just the beauty there, but the depth of feeling he had for her.
His blue eyes drifted over her face. You are so brave, Charlotte. Many, even most, Carpathian males do not want any danger touching their lifemates. However, each lifemate is different, with different needs. For instance, Blaze, Maksim's lifemate, is a warrior through and through. She doesn't particularly want to have to fight vampires, but she certainly wants to know how to do so and to become skilled at it. She needs that. So Maksim can do no other than provide for her what she needs.
And I need to do this. She made it a statement because it was the truth. She didn't want to fight vampires, but she certainly wanted to know how. She wanted to become the best fighter possible. She wouldn't want to actively go hunting, but she wanted to know she could defend herself and her children--all the children--from the undead should she have to. Blaze has the right idea.
Yes. I spent a lifetime or two training young men for battle. I talked it over with Maksim and have no problem teaching you and Blaze and any of the other women here on the property who would like to learn.
You're very progressive. She couldn't help but bury her face between his neck and shoulder so she could kiss behind his ear and tug at his earlobe with her teeth. I need a progressive man.
When we go into dangerous situations, I expect instant obedience.
She flinched. There went his progressive status. Tariq, I'm actually quite intelligent. I know enough, without you or anyone else telling me, that you're far more equipped and experienced at this type of thing than me. It's your world, not mine.
He started to speak and she shook her head, feeling his thoughts forming in her mind. It isn't my world yet, but even if I were fully in it, I would still expect you to take the lead and kill the monsters. I don't mind helping you in any way that I can, but all by myself I can figure out that I don't have the experience you have.
She didn't try to keep the attitude out of her voice. Did he think she was crazy? She had no problems wading into a fight. She backed up her friends, and she'd back up her man. She totally would take care of her family, but the idea that he thought she'd be silly enough to try to battle it out with the likes of Fridrick if she didn't have to do it was just plain crazy.
I told you not to touch the horses and you did.
Okay. He had a point. She'd totally done that. It was an accident of sorts, but still, she'd done just that. When I'm around old things, I like to touch them. It's a compulsion. As she answered, she stroked his face with the pads of her fingers, hoping he'd laugh.
I can see my woman has a lot of sass in her.
At least she could feel his amusement. I have to keep up with your bossy tendencies. Remember the part about you giving me what I need? I need you to lose the bossy business.
She felt more of his amusement and liked it a lot. That blossomed into full laughter, and she absolutely loved that.
They settled to the ground just outside a vacant building. "There's an entrance right here. The tunnels lead to a little underground city. The Malinov brothers prepared very well for this." Tariq put her gently on the cracked sidewalk. "They bought up most of these properties, and we think they're using the harbor to go out to sea on boats. They buy men and women from the trafficking rings and take them out where no one can see them all die."
A little shudder went through Charlotte. "Is that what they wanted us for? To feed on and kill?"
"No, Charlotte." He shook his head, his gaze moving broodingly over her face. "Down there, you'll find the reason hopefully just by touching the cages. We think we know what they're doing, but need to be certain. We found the bodies of several young women in various stages of pregnancy. We believe they are trying to find mothers for their children. Those women have to be capable of becoming lifemates."
Maksim led the way down into the tunnels. Tariq followed him. Charlotte stuck her hand in Tariq's back pocket in order to feel more at ease in the labyrinth with all the twists and turns.
"They're looking for their lifemates so they can have children?" she echoed faintly. Who would want the likes of Fridrick as the father to her children? That was the worst possible thing she could imagine.
"It is impossible for them to find lifemates. Even if one stood in front of them, they have chosen to give up their souls. They cannot bind her to them. No, they are looking for gifted human women strong enough to carry their children. How that is possible I don't know, but it is certain they are trying. We found . . . remains. We removed the bodies but had not gotten to the skeletons and bones. Those are still buried in the debris."
Charlotte felt a little frisson of fear creep down her spine. She couldn't imagine what someone like Fridrick would put a woman through, and according to Tariq, he was not the worst, not the man in charge. She really didn't want to be around to meet him.
They halted beside a door that was broken and held up by just one hinge. Beyond that, there was nothing but dirt, concrete and what looked like twisted steel. Tariq turned to her, put his hands on her waist and pushed her back two steps.
"Right there, Charlotte. I want you in sight at all times. All of us will clear out the rubble and then you can do the reading for as long as you can take it. When you tell me, I will pass every word along to the others. But stay close, don't wander off."
There wasn't going to be any wandering. This place gave her the creeps. The sconces remained high up on the walls and Dragomir waved a hand toward them to light them. She didn't think that made being in the tunnels any better. She could see splashes of blood on the curved walls here and there, as if the hallways had been deliberately and artfully decorated that way.
"Say you understand, sielamet."
His tone could be a whip or a caress. This was the whip. He meant business. She nodded because already, even without her hand hovering on any object, she could hear the whispers. Agony. Waiting for death. Praying for death. She choked down the bile and did deep breathing. At the first test of true fire, she wasn't about to vomit all over the floor and prove to Tariq that Dragomir was right. She might be sensitiv
e, but she was still a woman with a woman's power, and no way would she fold before she even got started. If there was any way to help other women Vadim and Fridrick were torturing, she would do whatever it took to save them.
"Honey, I'm not moving from this spot," she assured.
Tariq studied her face, seemed satisfied and then turned back to the door. A wave of his hand sent it floating to the ground out of his way. He pressed both palms down over the mess of concrete and dirt and slowly raised his hands. To her shock, the debris lifted away, leaving half-smashed cages and the remnants of a table and revealing another door beyond the first. The moment Tariq cleared the front room he moved to the second one, removing that door, glancing over his shoulder at her, giving a silent command not to move.
She glanced uneasily around her. It was quiet. The Carpathians had spread out, going to other rooms in order to clear debris, and they worked in absolute silence. They communicated telepathically so there was no need for conversation. For some reason, that annoying spot on her finger throbbed painfully and without thinking she stuck the injured pad into her mouth.
Go outside and wait. Right now. Do not talk to anyone. You are not safe. Go outside and wait. Right now. Do not talk to anyone. You are not safe . . . The words were soft. Insidious. Compelling. Repeated over and over like a loop in her head she couldn't get rid of. A warning? Her own radar telling her she was in trouble? She shook her head to try to clear the sound, but it persisted, like a broken record that was stuck on those phrases only.
Twisting her fingers together, she tried to place the voice. Was it one of the other Carpathians trying to get inside her head? It didn't sound like them. The voice didn't sound like anyone she knew. Tariq. She defied the voice, needing to get anchored--and Tariq could do that for her.
Right here, sielamet. Step into the room but don't touch anything until I'm with you. I'm at the far wall working in the second room. I can see you.
She gave a little sigh of relief. Not only did Tariq's voice calm her, she felt a fresh breeze coming from somewhere, pushing out the stale air and the odor of blood. That little bit of wind couldn't block out the whispers growing louder. Children's voices crying for their mothers or fathers. A woman weeping. Screams of many, both adults and children. She wasn't touching anything and yet already the walls in her mind were tunneling. At least the voice was gone. The hideous, sweet, compelling voice, trying to force her to leave.
Charlotte took three steps into the chamber and shuddered. Vile things had taken place in this room. A room of torture. Experiments with human beings. The cries were louder here. The anguish stronger. She could barely breathe.
You are not safe. Leave now. Get out of there. You are not safe.
The voice was back, whispering, not as loud, but no less strong. Tariq. She was afraid to say anything out loud. There was a feeling of danger, of doom. Her heart pounded so hard it felt like it might explode, and everything in her wanted to obey that voice, to turn and run, to get out of that unholy place.
What is it, sielamet? He must have heard something in her voice because he came back to the opening, the door that had kept ten-year-old Liv locked in with a monster feeding on her. His blue eyes searched her face and he stepped closer.
At once his warmth hit her, driving out the cold that she hadn't even known had crept into her bones. She found herself trembling and she held out a hand to him. She needed to believe in something right then because she suddenly realized the world Tariq lived in held real monsters. Horrible deeds were done, and he lived knowing that every single moment of his existence. He hunted these creatures--beings capable of committing the kinds of torture on children that surrounded her.
Tariq instantly closed his fingers around hers and tugged until she was against his body, against all that heat and steel. He seemed invincible. Strong. For the first time she was very glad he was a predator, and she knew he had to be in order to find and destroy monsters. She inhaled him, taking his scent into her lungs, tucking herself beneath his shoulder, her front to his side so she could wrap her arms tightly around him, holding him close to her.
What is it, Charlotte? His voice was nothing less than a caress.
She loved the way he could soothe her with just that intimate voice stroking through her mind like the touch of his fingers on her bare skin. I'm hearing someone else. I'm not touching anything, but I hear a voice telling me to get out, that it's not safe here. I don't recognize the voice, but a strong compulsion is anchored in it.
She was very close to him so she felt the jerk of his body. The sudden coiling in him. She was anchored in his mind and knew he didn't like what she'd said at all. In fact, his first thought was total rejection. Then wariness.
Open yourself to me, sielamet. You are mine to care for. To cherish. To protect. I would never harm you. Let me into your mind all the way.
She hadn't realized she had barriers up. She didn't know how to do what he asked.
I can push through them, but it would be very uncomfortable. You have natural shields, which is why compulsion doesn't work on you. You feel it, but you don't have to act because it is nearly impossible to use mind control on you with the strength of the shields you have. That's why this is so bizarre.
He didn't say he didn't believe her, but she could tell he was shocked. She bit her lip hard and tightened her hold on him.
If you can talk to me like this, mind to mind, can't all Carpathians?
On a common path. If he were using the common pathway, all Carpathians, including me, would be able to hear. Sometimes you can direct to one individual, but in your case, we've exchanged blood. I'm in your mind. I would hear.
She moistened her lips and took another look around at the terrible torture chamber. Chains lying in the pile of dirt and concrete. Tariq had brought the objects to the surface and in some cases, as with the cages, he'd repaired them without touching them. If she wasn't surrounded by the evidence of torture and didn't have a freakish voice in her head attempting to command her, she would think that ability Tariq had was way cool. Right now, she just wanted to run.
I don't like your world, Tariq. It's terrifying. Still, she rested her head against his heart, letting the steady beat calm her. How else could this voice be speaking to me? Can he hear what we say to each other?
Tariq didn't answer right away. She felt the push further into her mind and it was--intimate. Heat rushed through her veins. Her body went soft against his. She pressed her face into him and consciously tried opening her mind to his, knowing he would see everything. Her thoughts. Her doubts. Every fear. Every desire. It was both humiliating and exhilarating. He would know her better than anyone else ever could.
I love who you are, Charlotte. Every single thing about you. The parts of you that make you afraid of sharing with me, I'll handle with care. I do not see anyone else in your mind, but if I stay here with you and he speaks again, I will be able to hear.
How could he do this? she repeated. Anxiety shook her. She didn't want anyone else in her mind. Tariq was different and she accepted his presence even though she kept admonishing herself to marshal her thoughts.
He would have to take your blood or somehow get his blood in you. You've been with me. No vampire could get into the compound. There are safeguards there. Strong ones. All the Carpathian hunters wove a shield in order to protect Emeline and the children from Vadim Malinov and his brother, Sergey. Vadim exchanged blood with Emeline and we believe he or Sergey did with Bella and Liv. But you?
Relief swept through her. I've never been near either of those two vampires. Until you mentioned them, I'd never heard of them. She took a deep breath and looked around her. Maybe I conjured up the voice because the pain and suffering in this room is so horrific my mind is playing tricks in order not to fall apart.
His hand came up to cup the back of her head, pressing her face deeper into him. You have not conjured up anything. Dragomir was correct in saying you are very sensitive. I should have taken care of you, not allow
ed you to come here.
She didn't like the word allow. She just didn't. The rest of it, okay, that was all fine, but . . . Strike the word allow from your vocabulary.
Instantly amusement spread throughout her mind. I'm old-fashioned. Really old-fashioned.
I'm a very modern woman and if you've been in my mind you know I am. I carry wasp spray in my purse just in case. That should tell you something right there.
It tells me you're strong enough to do this, and that you want to.
Maybe want was a little strong. She glanced around the room, took a breath and then stepped away from Tariq to lay both hands on the top of the table. Screams erupted in her mind. She winced but held on. There were four victims before the man. The male Carpathian. They have such glee that they were able to capture him. They lost seven of their best men and it took eight others to take him, but now that they have him, they can drain him of blood and keep him weak. He would be the base for the experiments.
She looked up at Tariq, her heart once again pounding. "I hear his voice. The same voice speaking. Did you hear it?" she whispered to him, afraid to speak telepathically now that she recognized that the man in charge of capturing a Carpathian and torturing him there on that table and in that room was the same man speaking to her.
Tariq nodded slowly, a muscle jerking along his jaw. "I recognize that voice. That was Vadim Malinov speaking. He's the one giving the orders to his men. Are you absolutely certain that's the same voice you heard warning you earlier?"
She nodded and moved on now that she had identified the strange voice in her mind. "Four women came before the captured Carpathian."
"When you tell me what happened, use the common path so the others can hear as well."
She'd forgotten that the others could hear her through her link with Tariq. She nodded. The four women were on this table before the Carpathian hunter. They were used at first for food; several vampires took their blood on a regular basis and they hurt those women for their own amusement. And then . . . She broke off. She hated this. Hated what was done to those women and what came after. They raped them and impregnated them. Each of them. One at a time. They forced the women to consume a mixture of blood from the Carpathian and from the oldest and strongest of the vampires. The one called Vadim. He wants children so they can rise up with him to take control of the human fodder as is their right. Her knees were shaking. She feared she might just fall down.
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