Dark Song

by Feehan, Christine

  “No worries, Emeline,” Elisabeta said. “I promise I will see to them without them realizing anyone is checking for trouble. You have a little one to protect.”

  “You’ve been through hell,” Emeline protested.

  “It helps me to concentrate on others.” Elisabeta told the strict truth. “I do not have to think about all the little details I am expected to learn about this new life.”

  Dragomir’s broad shoulders filled the doorway, his golden eyes moving over his lifemate, seeing everything. He gave a courtly bow to the other women as he stepped inside and took Carisma from Emeline, his mouth brushing a gentle kiss on his lifemate’s temple. He took her hand and tugged until he brought her under the protection of his shoulder.

  “Ferro and the healer will be careful with the children, Emeline. Elisabeta will keep them in line.” He smiled at Elisabeta and then he was gone, taking his family with him.

  Isai came in next, Andor right behind him. Elisabeta folded her hands in her lap, uncertain of what to do. This wasn’t her home. Apparently, it wasn’t Emeline’s home, either. Isai saluted her and Julija waved as he all but carried her out.

  It was good to see you out with just the girls, Elisabeta, Julija said. I’m so proud of your progress. Isai is railroading me back to our home. Will you be okay until Ferro gets there?

  Would she? Elisabeta didn’t move, frozen in the comfortable chair. Of course, I will be fine. He is bound to turn up soon. She wasn’t going to ask him where he was. He would come for her. He knew the others had come for their women.

  “Do you want us to stay with you until Ferro gets here, Elisabeta?” Lorraine asked.

  Andor shook his head before Elisabeta could answer. “Ferro gave very strict instructions. He wants Elisabeta to sit in here. When we leave, we will leave the door open behind us. Amelia will come in at Genevieve’s request to check the house and, Elisabeta, you introduce yourself and tell her you are waiting for Ferro to come. He will be here, unseen but close, should there be trouble.”

  Elisabeta nodded, hurt that Ferro hadn’t given her the instructions himself. It felt strange to her to have Lorraine’s lifemate speaking directly to her. Did that mean she needed to answer him? Her fingers twisted in the skirt of her dress. She couldn’t look up at Andor or Lorraine.

  He does not expect you to answer, piŋe sarnanak. I am Ferro, after all, and I do not share my lifemate. Just sit there and look demure. Lorraine will lose her mind again and call me a caveman. The night air will be cooling to you when they leave the door open.

  “That horrid Ferro has commanded you not to answer Andor, hasn’t he?” Lorraine demanded.

  Before she could shake her head, Ferro laughed. You are not to answer Andor, Elisabeta.

  You said that on purpose. She was relieved all the same. She gave the tiniest of nods to Lorraine.

  Yes, Ferro admitted to her, making her want to laugh.

  “I am going to strangle that man,” Lorraine proclaimed. She went out the door. Ferro, you had better not bully that girl. I thought we cleared this up.

  Elisabeta heard Lorraine’s voice in her merged mind with Ferro. He didn’t respond until Lorraine and Andor were gone completely.

  You really like to get her riled up.

  She has a bit of a temper. Andor finds her very appealing when she gets fired up and passionate. I like to give her an outlet to vent.

  Someone is coming up the stairs. I can hear them. It is definitely the younger girl.

  Amelia. Gary and I are in the house with you. Do you feel me close, sívamet? You will have to talk to her.

  Elisabeta felt his hand sweep down the back of her head in a long caress.

  She is fifteen now, but has had vampires assault her and use her as a spy. Her life has been turned upside down. She needs and wants to be converted but not without her brother, Danny. She does not want him to be alone. Her little sister and Lourdes can both be converted, but she refuses to allow at least Bella to be converted until Danny is safe.

  Elisabeta knew Ferro wanted her to feel compassion for the teenager to make it easier to speak with her. A young girl stalked right into the room without hesitation. She was very slim and had thick, dark hair and vivid green eyes.

  “Who are you? What are you doing in here?”

  Elisabeta studied the teenager. Her fists were clenched. There was belligerence stamped on her face. There was no doubt, even without checking further, that Amelia had been infected. Elisabeta sent a sweet breeze to surround the girl, a soothing peace. “I am Elisabeta. I was visiting with Emeline, Lorraine and Julija, but their lifemates came for them and mine is late.”

  The peaceful calm settling over Amelia seemed to drain some of her anger, or at least minimize it. Ferro stepped up behind Amelia, materializing and waving his hand toward her as he did so. The teen froze just as Josef had done.

  Josef knew what was happening to him. Does she? Elisabeta didn’t want the child to suffer any more than she already had.

  “Josef is Carpathian, and Gary wanted him to know what was happening, so he shared with him all information. Once you removed the burns, he could understand and was not angry. There is no need for her to know anything is wrong.” Ferro spoke aloud, indicating to Elisabeta that they could do so.

  As pure light, Gary entered the child first, allowing Ferro to follow through their bond. Merged as she was with her lifemate, Elisabeta moved straight to the damaged areas. She was prepared to see burns, but not to the extent that they were in Amelia’s brain. The scoring was far worse in the teenager than it had been in anyone else she’d encountered so far.

  This is horrible. This has been done over a period of time, longer than a couple of days. Perhaps a week? Two? She didn’t want to think longer, the same amount of time she had been at the compound in the healing grounds. Did you find burns in anyone else?

  No other hunter. Gary and I checked Lorraine, Emeline and Julija. They show no signs of burns.

  Why the children and Tariq? Sandu? Dragomir? What of Traian and Joie? Elisabeta felt a little anxious over her birth brother and his lifemate.

  No trace of burns. Neither were infected. I wish I had an answer for you, piŋe sarnanak, but I do not, and neither does Gary. We can only try to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. Can you rid her of these burns?

  Elisabeta studied the terrible, angry dark red slashes. They were deep, and so many it looked as if they were one continuous mass coloring over the areas of the brain affecting Amelia’s abilities of judgment and rational thinking. She was shocked that the teenager hadn’t had far more outbursts.

  She has more damage even than Josef, yet Emeline was not certain if Amelia was infected.

  Gary answered her. This child is extremely strong. She fought a master vampire’s hold on her. She did her best against him, although eventually he did wear her down, and she still feels guilty over it. She most likely has restrained herself in order to keep from lashing out, knowing instinctively something is wrong.

  Elisabeta immediately felt kinship with the girl. She began to flood the teenager’s brain with a cool, healing breeze, this one much stronger than she had ever used on the others. It was going to be a very difficult and long process to remove the deep scoring in her brain, but Elisabeta was determined.

  Someone must examine Danny. If Amelia is this bad and Danny actually pushed Genevieve, then he could be worse. Can Sandu inspect him? Tariq or Maksim must be able to lead him into the boy’s brain, Ferro suggested to Gary.

  Elisabeta could tell Ferro was worried for her, not for the unknown boy. He didn’t know the children, but she was expending a great amount of energy on Amelia. If Amelia’s brother was as bad or worse, to clear out the burns and rid him of the infection, Elisabeta would be exhausted beyond measure. She wanted to surround Ferro with soothing peace but she knew she couldn’t waste even a small amount of energy to reassure him. The task before her was too great.

  I am worried for the boy. And what of the little ones? She kept
working as she addressed both Carpathians.

  Tariq would prefer either Dragomir or Andor go with him into Danny’s mind. Gary addressed Ferro’s concern. They have lifemates to anchor them.

  That made no difference to this infection, Ferro pointed out.

  That is true, Gary agreed, in no way perturbed. But Sandu is still without his lifemate and, this infection aside, would be a threat to Tariq’s children. He has adopted these children, human or not. He loves them.

  Elisabeta stayed silent through the exchange, hoping the healer would address her concerns and allow Ferro to understand what Gary had said about Tariq and the children. Ferro had been sequestered in the monastery while the world around him changed. He had little to do with humans before that. He might have caught up with knowledge simply by extracting it from those around him, but that didn’t give him the emotional understanding needed in these circumstances.

  I will ask Tariq to inspect the little ones, with one of the ancients to guard him, Gary assured Elisabeta.

  You have seen Elisabeta work, Ferro said. Can you rid them of this infection?

  She knew the answer even before she felt the healer’s negative reaction.

  I wish I could say that I could, Ferro. I have the memories of my ancestors and all the many situations and experiences they encountered. None have ever run across this before. What Elisabeta does seems unique to her. This is not a poison or injury, although it appears as a burn.

  Elisabeta felt Ferro’s frustration and knew what he was going to say before he actually said it, and her heart sank.

  She cannot possibly erase these destructive burns from everyone, especially if they are as deep and as massive as this girl’s are. Elisabeta is still weak from long years without proper sustenance. If these children are infected—and you know they are—that is three more right there. That is without the older couple, who most likely are as well.

  I am sorry, Ferro, Gary replied. As a healer, I feel my failure even more than you. I am merged with you. We are tied together. I already know the exhaustion she is feeling.

  Elisabeta despised that she could not comfort either of them. It wasn’t their fault that some mysterious infestation was creeping through the compound. She didn’t want to think that she may have brought it with her, but looking at the violent scorching in Amelia’s brain, she knew the damage had happened over the last few weeks, not just since Josef had arrived. She was almost certain if they measured the injury, they could pinpoint the exact night of her arrival.

  I am an ancient, Gary, Ferro replied. This is my failure as well. I am her lifemate and I have always been able to heal every wound, no matter how bad, yet this eludes my skills.

  Elisabeta couldn’t stand it. Neither of you has failed me. Please just find out about the children and the older couple. I will work as long as possible. If Sandu and the other ancients are willing to give me blood, I will be able to continue. It just takes time.

  Minan piŋe sarnanak, we do not know what is causing this. You may remove all traces of the infection only to have it back this next rising, Ferro said.

  Elisabeta knew he was right, but she couldn’t help the need in her to help. That trait overrode all else, the centuries of conditioning, the strange reaction to large spaces, her fear of giving her opinion, everything.

  Perhaps we do not know what is causing this infection, Gary said, but we might be one step closer to identifying it if someone who previously had it gets it back. We need to find something they all have in common.

  Because the scoring was so thick, it took much longer to heal, and a concentrated breeze centered on the heavy swath of red, but in the end, the burns gave way, first thinning and then floating in tatters before simply dissolving completely. Elisabeta took her time with the deep scoring, working on healing those crevices the burns had created before she was finally able to withdraw from the teenager.

  She found herself dizzy and disoriented. At once, Ferro pressed her head to his chest and she blindly drank from him. Strength poured into her, along with the very essence of her lifemate. He filled every one of her senses. She became aware, after a few minutes, that he was completely supporting her, his arms hiding her from several others in the room. Someone, and she vaguely realized it was Sandu, was giving Ferro blood. Benedek was there, along with a couple of others she didn’t really recognize.

  Once she was back up to strength, Tariq strode in with two little girls on either hip. His lifemate, Charlotte, was with him. Lourdes was her niece and now adopted daughter. Bella was Amelia’s little sister. All of the siblings had been adopted by Tariq and Charlotte. The little girls were four. They were beautiful and looked remarkably alike.

  They have faint scorching on their brains, Tariq greeted. He sank into one of the chairs opposite Elisabeta and Ferro.

  Charlotte sat in the chair beside him and took Lourdes from him to hold on her lap. Charlotte had very curly, thick auburn hair and was on the smaller side, with generous curves. The moment she had secured Lourdes, Tariq waved his hand and both little girls, who had been squirming to get down, immediately froze.

  “I don’t believe they were exposed to this infection very long,” Tariq said grimly. “It is strange that neither Charlotte nor Genevieve have it when I did and the children all do.”

  “We’ll figure it out,” Gary assured.

  With both Tariq and Charlotte looking so anxious and staring at her, Elisabeta felt the familiar recoiling, the need to bury her face and retreat from all those around her. Immediately, Ferro shielded her. “Elisabeta will be very gentle with the girls.”

  She took that as her cue to follow the healer into Lourdes first. It was Charlotte who led them, not Tariq. She wasn’t surprised. Had she been the child’s mother, she would have insisted she be there as well. Charlotte didn’t know her at all and had no reason to trust her.

  The red streaks were so faint on the developing brain that they were actually more pink than red. It gave Elisabeta, Ferro and Gary the chance to study the faint layers and how they lay over the frontal lobe. The burn hadn’t settled into the brain itself yet, nor had it covered it. Elisabeta was able to simply blow the easiest of breezes to remove it. She did the same with Bella’s. It took no real effort, as both girls had the same faint streaking.

  “Do you have any idea what is causing this?” Tariq asked Elisabeta directly, rocking Bella gently. It was clear he expected an answer.

  Elisabeta’s stomach churned. She pushed her hand tight against the gathering knots and pressed closer to Ferro.

  “The three of us were just discussing that,” Ferro said, coming to her rescue. “We don’t know. Send in Mary and Donald Walton. Andor found very few burns on them. Less so on Mary than Donald. We will lose the night if we don’t hurry, and Elisabeta will grow too tired. She still has Liv and Danny to heal after the Waltons.”

  Charlotte rose. “Thank you, Elisabeta, we’re in your debt. I hope to get to know you better when you have had the time to adjust to being with your lifemate. I know that is important. And now the entire compound is counting on you. This must be so difficult for you. I just want to say how much we all appreciate you.”

  11

  Hand in hand we are strong;

  Sing with me, it’s to you I belong.

  Ferro called to Elisabeta with the rain first. Their song. The drops played through the rich soil, reaching to tease her body, to wake her gently. It had been a very long night and she had been so exhausted after tending to Liv, the older couple and lastly Danny, who had very violent burns, that even after Ferro had given her blood along with Andor and Dragomir, he had to carry her to the healing soil beneath their home and place her in it. She had been pale. Ethereal-looking. Entirely unaware of her surroundings.

  Ferro vowed this rising was going to be very different for his lifemate. It was going to be about the two of them. He would give her as many wonderful experiences as possible without the continual interruptions from those living within the fortress Tariq and th
e others had formed. He needed time with his lifemate, just as Charlotte had suggested. It was important to form those close bonds outside the merging of their minds.

  The one good thing coming out of the continual need the Carpathian community had of her was that Elisabeta was growing more confident, understanding that her gift was unique and of great value. He wanted her to have the same confidence in herself with him. He had always thought there was an equal balance of power between Carpathian couples no matter how dominant the male might be simply because it was the male’s duty to always see to his lifemate’s happiness. It was impossible to set up a dictatorship if his partner wasn’t happy.

  Come to me, minan piŋe sarnanak. Rise and come to me. You have no need of clothes. Practice opening the soil above you and freshening your body and hair.

  He gave her the command and waited, his body already anticipating her and what lessons they would learn this rising. What they would practice from the rising before. He had risen before her and gone hunting for blood. He had closed the earth over her so that she would have the experience of opening the soil for herself. On his return, he had deliberately woven strong safeguards around the property to keep everyone out, including other Carpathians, in the hopes that he could have his lifemate to himself.

  Intertwined with notes of their song and in the drops of the rain, he threaded the deep passion he felt for her. Elisabeta. His world. His center. He needed her to realize how much she meant to him. How much he wanted her, both physically and emotionally. If she knew, she would have all the confidence in the world.

  Ferro felt her then, that first moment when she awakened, hearing the raindrops beating in a rhythm with his heart. He scanned her carefully and noted immediately that she was different this rising, more anticipating than fearful, although trepidation was still there. In spite of all the energy she had expended ridding so many of the mysterious burns, she seemed healthier, most likely due to ancient blood given to her freely in large amounts.

  I want to be selfish this rising, sívamet. I have safeguarded our home from the rest of the world. It will be just the two of us. He poured seduction into her mind.