Of course they had to turn the book over to the prince. What else would they do with it? He paced away from her, knowing she would read his agitation, but he didn't care. «What would you want to do with the book?» He made every effort to keep his tone flat, without any inflection whatsoever.
Natalya shrugged. «I haven't decided yet, but I'm not about to be railroaded into something I'm not certain is the right thing to do. The book is enormously powerful. It contains thousands of spells, magick so complicated and so dangerous that I don't think any but a mage should ever possess it.»
Vikirnoff stiffened. «You would use this book?» His gut churned with protest and his lungs began to burn for air.
Her eyes took on a faint amber glow. Bands of light streaked across her face and hair as she shifted closer to the candlelight, reaching for the long sword in its scabbard against the wall of the cavern. At once she was far more difficult to see, blending into the shadows.
«If I chose to use the book it would be my business, Vikirnoff. You cannot dictate to me that I must retrieve this book and then turn it over to someone I don't know, I don't trust and I don't respect.»
Vikirnoff remained silent, forcing back his first response. She knew very little about his people and it was true, he had arbitrarily decided for her what she should do with the book once she had recovered it. And he was pushing her to recover it. Natalya was not a woman to be forced into anything. Right now she felt cornered and she was fighting back. «Have I earned your respect?»
Her amber eyes glittered, taking on the eerie glow of the night creature. «Yes, of course. One has nothing to do with the other. You aren't Mikhail Dubrinsky. You aren't asking me to give you the book for safeguarding, you're telling me to give it to him.»
«Would you give me the book?»
«Yes.» She didn't hesitate. «But not to give away. Only to safeguard.»
Vikirnoff let his breath out. She disarmed him so easily. The tension began to ease from his body. «Do you want to keep this thing? I think of it as evil. Am I wrong to feel that way about it?»
«The blood of my grandmother and two others sealed this book. Of course I think of it as evil and more than ever, that means it can't fall into the wrong hands. I don't know your prince and I don't find memories of him in you. How do you know his heart or his soul, Vikirnoff? You want to hand him a weapon that could be the ruin of us all and yet you do so on blind faith.» She shook her head. «I can't do it.»
«Are you concerned that Mikhail will be in more danger?»
«Partly.»
«No one has to know he has the book. He will not try to wield the power, only to study Xavier's plan to rid the earth of our species. Xavier must have spent centuries developing a spell to use against my people.»
«I'm certain he did. The point is this. You asked me to locate the book and I did. Now you want me to recover the book and hand it over to someone I don't know. Does that make sense to you?»
«If you trust me, then there is no problem. We do not want to keep this thing.»
«Isn't it better to leave it where it is for the time being and if it becomes apparent Xavier is getting close to discovering its whereabouts, then retrieve it?» Natalya stepped out of the shadows. «Don't ask me to do this, Vikirnoff. I can't go against what I feel is right, not even for you.»
«You believe it is better to leave the book there? Why do you think vampires are looking for psychic women who have the ability to touch objects and read the past? Why do you think so many have gathered here? A war between vampires and Carpathians? I believe they are searching for the book. Xavier knows your father was found near the peat bogs. He has to be searching there.»
«The safeguards will hold.»
«Will they? Who taught your father the safeguards? Who taught you? Even Razvan knows the safeguards you use. They will not hold and I think you know that.»
«Then I'll guard the book. I'll hide it somewhere else, halfway around the world, somewhere he'll never think to look.»
«Natalya.»
She threw her head back, exposing her throat, but her fists were knotted at her sides. Her name. Just that, nothing else, a wealth of expression in his voice. «I'll find the damn book, Vik, but I'm not handing it over to the prince until I'm certain it will be safe.»
«That is good enough for me, ainaak enyem, I cannot ask for more.» He held out his hand. «Let us go find it.»
Chapter 17
The peat bogs were unexpectedly as beautiful as they were eerie. Natalya paced carefully around the nearest edges just along the pine forest, where the water drained from above and seeped up from below to form the enormous marsh. Sphagnum moss grew in abundance, the feathery stems and leaves stretched out invitingly over the surface beckoning her to come closer. Orchids and a dozen other plants flowered in or around the dark water. The ground, even close to the edges was spongy and each step she took shook the nearby trees. «Some of these plants are huge.»
«They are carnivorous. They eat insects,» Vikirnoff said.
«Still…» Natalya glanced up at the mountain rising sharply above them. Parts of it were totally obscured by the thick mist. Pine trees grew in abundance and some low branches partially dipped into the wide bog, so that needles floated on the surface along with the thick vegetation. She pressed her palm over the birthmark that warned her when vampires were near. «I don't think we're being watched. Do you feel any danger?»
«Not from vampires, but lately I haven't been able to feel them close by. I think it has something to do with the parasites in their blood. I have no idea how they mask their presence, but it seems to be effective.» He was still uneasy. The forest pressed too close and the smell of the peat bog was overwhelming. «Can you unravel the safeguards from here, Natalya?» There was more fighting room. He preferred the solid ground to the spongy, waterlogged terrain.
«No. I'll have to be in the exact spot my father was. He'll have set it up that way as part of the protection. If they come, you'll have to keep them off of me while I retrieve the book. Once they know we're looking here, they'll drain the bog before giving up.» The marsh was huge with sinkholes everywhere. In the moonlight, the stagnant water appeared deep and treacherous, despite the many plants blooming on the surface.
«You be very careful, Natalya.» It was an unnecessary thing to say, but her hesitation, coupled with the heavy oppressive weight settling between his shoulder blades, increased his feelings of unease.
Natalya tossed him a quick, saucy grin. «Careful is my middle name.»
Vikirnoff scowled at her. «This is a serious situation, Natalya.»
Her eyebrow shot up. «Really? I would never have guessed. I thought maybe it would be cool, campy fun like in The Creature from the Black Lagoon. It didn't actually occur to me that it could be serious.»
«There is such a thing as overconfidence.» There was a small pause. «What is The Creature from the Black Lagoon?»
Natalya shook her head in disgust. «Just what have you been doing all these years? Don't you ever watch television? The Creature front the Black Lagoon is a classic. A must-see movie right up there with King Kong and Godzilla. You had to have watched them.» When he looked blank, she sighed. «A scientist becomes this mutant creature and lives in the lagoon…» She trailed off. «Never mind, but we have to work on educating you about movies. You're missing some great stuff. It's education. How do you think I learned about vampires?»
Vikirnoff shook his head. «I do not even want to know.»
«Movies, of course. I've decided I'm going into the film business. I can make great vampire films.» She took her first step onto the thin layer of earth that stretched over the waters of the bog. «These mountains make a perfect setting, with the way the wind can't reach certain areas and blasts others, and how the fog lies in so thick, not to mention all the bogs and ice caves.»
«I think it's been done,» he answered. His voice was husky and she glanced at him sharply.
Vikirnoff's heart beat in his
throat as he watched her following in her father's precise footsteps, a pattern they had both memorized. It didn't matter that she was so careful and light on her feet, almost gliding as she placed her feet on the tufts of grass, he was afraid for her. Fear took on an entirely new meaning when it was for a loved one.
Love. He tasted the word-tried it out tentatively. How did one equate the terrible, overwhelming emotion that had somehow crept up on him with that small word? Did he feel this way because she was his lifemate? Or because of who she was? What she was? He couldn't image wanting a woman without her penchant for late night movies. And as exasperating as it could be, when she didn't have a sassy, smart comment to make, it worried him. Was it love to wake up thinking of her before anything else? For centuries hunger had been his every waking thought and yet now, even that had taken a back seat.
Natalya paused staring down at the two small blocks of grass, side by side, both looking as if they were solid. «Look at this, Vik, does this look the same? I don't remember two patches so close to one another.»
He swore under his breath as he took to the air and hovered just above her. There had not been two patches so close together. Over time, the bog had changed, plants growing, multiplying, and dying off naturally. Natalya was risking stepping into a sinkhole by following the pattern her father had provided. «We could try finding the last step and I could carry you to that spot.»
Natalya shook her head, glancing at him sharply. «The pattern is part of the safeguard.»
Vikirnoff was ashamed of himself. He had known the steps were important, just as she did, but as she got deeper into the bog, his uneasiness grew stronger. He was well aware of the weather patterns in the Carpathian Mountains, of the places where there was a lack of wind and the fog hung for weeks on end. He knew there was fire and ice beneath the mountains and that many oddities were really natural and not made by either Carpathian or vampire, yet the stillness in the valley was oppressive to him and the stagnant water, so naturally the color of old blood had become sinister.
«I do not feel easy about this, Natalya.»
Her eyebrow shot up. «You aren't helping. I'm trying to remember if he stepped forward with his left foot or with his right.»
«His left.» The answer came out of his memory, minute details recorded automatically without thought. «He switched leads.»
She flashed a grin at him as she wiped beads of sweat from her face. «You might be useful after all.» She pointed toward the edge of the bog. «Wait over there. I don't want you hovering over me, making me nervous.» She waited until he complied before leading with her left foot.
Vikirnoff folded his arms across his chest, assuming his expressionless mask. «It is good to know you are finally coming to the conclusion that I am useful.» His fists clenched so tight his knuckles turned white and his muscles began to ache from the terrible tension that continued to rise in his gut.
In the forest behind them the trees started to sway gently, almost imperceptible at first, but Vikirnoff's acute hearing picked up the rustle of the pine needles and he swung around alertly. There was a little moonlight shining through the woods and the branches were illuminated in a ghostly silver. The needles appeared more like skinny fingers with sharp nails reaching out toward the bog. The ripple of unease grew stronger. Vikirnoff turned so he could watch both the forest and Natalya as she proceeded through the swamp.
She stepped forward a second time with her left foot, swayed precariously so that his heart jumped into his throat. Natalya regained her balance and took several more steps, each with more confidence, so he was surprised when she halted again abruptly.
«What is it?»
«I don't know.» Her hand slid to her sword, touching the sheath for the comfort of knowing it was close. «Did you hear something?»
«The wind?» But it wasn't the wind. There was barely a wind. Voices sounded in the distance, wailing and crying, the rise and fall faint, but discernable.
«You wish it was the wind. It's going to be something nasty,» Natalya predicted. «The sound has increased with every step I've taken. And look at the surface of the water.»
Vikirnoff stepped closer to the edge of the bog. The ground shook and several plants vibrated with the motion. He halted instantly, his gaze riveted to the surface rather than the plants. The water was stagnant and should have been still, but it moved in peculiar patterns, not fast or abruptly, but rather so slowly that it was almost imperceptible, yet when he peered closer, faces seemed to stare back at him.
«Are there bodies in the bog?»
«Ugg!» Natalya drew back, staring down at the surface, her fingers grasping her sword hilt. «That's gross. I didn't even think of that. I don't think there are bodies in the swamp, but now I'm worried something dead is going to reach up and grab my ankle and yank me in.» The moment she uttered the words there was a small silence. She reached down to rub at the finger marks on her ankle. «Do you think he's here?»
Vikirnoff knew she meant Razvan. «Let's get out of here, Natalya. You do not have to do this.» He took another step toward her and sank to his ankles.
«Don't!» she said it sharply, shaking her head adamantly. «I have to do this. We both agreed. If I don't now, I'll never come back. I need you to give me confidence.»
He swore under his breath, resisting the urge to take to the air and snatch her back from the center of the bog. «You do not ask very much of me, do you?»
«You know, when you started in about the entire lifemate thing, I didn't protest too much, because you were kind of cute.» Natalya pulled her gaze away from a shimmering face with its mouth open in a scream. She took several more careful steps, sure of the pattern, and stopped only feet away from where her father had hidden the book. «At the time, I didn't realize how incredibly bossy you are or how grumpy you can be.»
«Kind of cute? You didn't protest too much?» Vikirnoff echoed. «In all your late night movies did you ever come across a character named Pinocchio?»
Natalya burst out laughing. «Of all the movies, you had to have seen that one. That's so you.»
He grinned at her. «Actually, I did not see it. I read the book, but I knew it was made into a movie and the character was someone you could relate to.»
«It's a good thing you're over there and I'm over here. I'd push you into one of the sinkholes and just leave you to contemplate your sins.» Natalya gave a little sniff. «I may have stretched the truth slightly, at least the kind of cute part, but I didn't lie.»
She took the last few steps through the bog, until she was standing in the exact spot her father had stood in years earlier. «This is it. I feel my father here. Now it gets complicated.»
All around the small island of grass where she stood, the faces forming in the surface of the water gathered, mouths gaping open, sightless eyes wide. Some of the faces were larger than others, rising up like small waves and trembling as if made of gelatin. «See, this is the kind of thing to put in movies,» Natalya said. «Only no one would believe it. It's plain freaky.»
«What do they want?»
«They are the guardians of the book. I imagine, if I make a wrong move, they're going to let me know very fast.» She took a breath and let it out, slowing her pounding heart and stilling the strange roaring in her ears. «If they grab me, I have high expectations that you'll dive into the water and do something to get me back.»
He shrugged, feigning nonchalance. «It has taken me a while to train you in the ways of submissive lifemates. I would not want that time to be wasted.»
She flicked a quick glance at him. Just his presence, calm and confident, his wide shoulders and strong, beloved masculine face calmed her churning stomach. «So let's get it done and when it's over, you are going to strike the word 'submissive' from your vocabulary right along with your 'little slip of a girl.'»
«At this rate I will not be allowed to speak.»
«And your point would be?»
«I am not making any promises.»
She
smiled. It was barely there, a brief curve of her mouth and then gone again, but his heart contracted. «Somehow I knew you'd say that.» The warmth faded from her eyes to be replaced by fear. «Seriously, Vikirnoff, if anything happens to me, remember that whatever is in this book, is worth dying for. Xavier killed to seal the book and he's killed again and again to get it back. You have to find a way to destroy it. Don't let anyone try to use it.»
«I will be damned angry if anything happens to you and you have never seen me truly angry before. Get it done and let us leave this place.»
She rolled her eyes. «I love it when you get all bossy on me. It's silly and never works, but it's kind of cute.»
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